"I booked this hotel, since it had really good reviews and a dive basis and diving is what I came for, but we also had 3 kids with us – this seemed to be good for both. My review:
- The staff is outstanding, always hustling and couldn't be nicer
- The grounds are beautifully kept and manicured
- The towel service works well
- WiFi worked well
- The fireshow was awesome
- You don't automatically get a second room card for environmental reasons, upon request and with some extra time – you can get a second key
- There's no snorkel rental - you have to buy the equipment in their shop or you bring it from home
- Snorekeling in the “tub” (the area prior to the open ocean) was beautiful. Especially shortly prior to sunset we saw lots of special sights: Lion fish, blue dot rays, larger fish, all kinds of tropical fish, even a sea snake.
- Drinks in your room are refreshed daily and are included
- Not sure why they built such low counters in the bathroom. I'm only 160cm and they reach to my knees. How does handsoap in a tube to unscrew make sense?
- You can bring swimshoes, but please make sure you don't walk all over the reef during low tide. Would be nice if the lifeguards weren't toothless tigers with a whistle as their only tool. Slap the tourists that walk across with 500 EUR fine and it won't happen again. Amazing just how ignorant people can be. One German lady and her child walked all the way into the little "tub" at the pier, despite receiving 10 minutes of direct whisteling and lots of waving.
- the pools are strictly by age and not swimmer level. Your child may be able to swim, but it won't be allowed in the swimmers areas if under 12 or maybe 10 - check details at the hotel. Frustrating for good swimmers. You thought your kids would be busy in the pool you could spend some time on a lounger.
- the dive basis charges 10-20 EUR on top if you pay with Visa (the only cc they accepted). If you want to pay i.e. 100 EUR (the cost of a normal dive trip for 1 person) in local currency, you need 5000+ EGP, the machine in the lobby will give you a max of 4k. We were 3 divers + 2 snorkelers, no chance of getting that out of the machine. Plan ahead or you will pay up. Maybe they also take EUR, ask before you go. Because we could pay for our dive computer rent (10 EUR) in cash.
- you can get the daily activities program in the lobby on a board behind the columns (see pic). There’s also a QR code you can photograph to get a map of the hotel grounds
- All Inclusive: we had ultra AI, which was as useful as having a hotel with breakfast. I’ve eaten salad most of my stay – not my type of food there. There’s plenty of it, but to me it tasted really bad, no comparison to any other AI hotel I’ve been at before. There are mountains of beautiful looking pastries, but they all taste like the same sugary blobs. Pick the things that have some fresh fruit. I saw and apple cake at one point, that actually tasted good. We ended up tossing a lot of food. One bite and then leaving it behind, what a waste of food, but to gross to eat. My son ended up getting sick eventually, so some time was spent in the room and mopping up vomit.
- Take a look at the cocktail menu – I thought I would have a nice pina colada at the beach, but this had nothing to do with a pina colada. It was some coconut water with a sip of pineapple juice and no alcohol. I’ve watched them make the drinks and they add plenty of alcohol, but all I can say is that you don’t taste it. We had some MaiTai’s and agreed that we would have no problem giving this to the kids, there was just nothing in there. For wine, the choice is red or white from a plastic squeezy bag. You of course can pay up for better stuff. The coffee at the beach bar and the slide café is good. For breakfast I suggest an espresso + adding hot milk, the coffee from the machine or even the American coffee from the thermos tasted like watery tea.
- Keep and eye on the opening hours. You have access to the 2 buffet style restaurants, the Mexican & Italian place until 4pm (if staying less than 7 nights, otherwise you get to visit once in the eve). You can also get food from the poolside burger booth, but people grab lettuce with their bare hands and the burgers were disgusting. The French fries were fine and in high demand. A few pastries are available in the lobby bar until noon and poolside in a little café. There’s also cotton candy, ice cream and popcorn during certain hours and chips in the lobby bar starting at 7pm.
- Not included in “ultra AI” are the Turkish and Indian restaurants, as well as Mexican & Italian restaurants for dinner. For lunch they have a tiny menu. Vitamin Bar, Skybar, Playroom arcade, bouncy houses and wine at the pool bars are extra charge
- our room was next to the waves restaurant. Sometimes you could hear prep start at 3:30 am with screams and hoots. Water stood in our shower from day 1, so even before the first use we started off with a puddle, that was pretty disgusting. The pillows were super high and firm, wished we had something a little more neck friendly. If you cannot use tap water for brushing your teeth – why not put some glasses in the bathroom? Are you really expecting everyone to share a bottle of water to spit out their toothpaste or are you supposed to use the coffee cups from the room?
- why not provide spoons for breakfast? What are you supposed to eat joghurt with? I don’t understand the logic of having to order one from your waiter
- I also find it really annoying to get heckled all day long to buy this and that, but I’m good at cutting them off. It’s my vacation, I don’t want to buy a cocktail from you, not even for a really good price. No, I don’t want to buy your massage or a trip or an evening at the Indian restaurant. I want my peace.
I do hope that everyone staying here thoroughly enjoys their time, to me it just didn’t live up to my previous experiences of All Inclusive and I won’t be back, leaving more availability for those that enjoyed their time in Egypt."
