Достойный отель Decent hotel

Hello, dear friends, like-minded people and travelers!
I want to share my impressions about my 25th anniversary holiday in Egypt, the 3rd in Makadi Bay. Vacationing with my husband. We chose the Sunwing Family 5* hotel. We visited this hotel for the first time in November 2019. Left a review. I apologize in advance that this review will be similar to the previous one. I liked almost everything. Monitored reviews for all 5 hotels of the Red Sea Hotels group, which includes the Sunwing Family 5 * hotel. For the price, quality and basic concepts, we decided to choose Sunwing again. The hotel was booked in January, there was no talk of any pandemic yet.
Transfer: Flight Kyiv - Hurghada 4 hours, flew on a Boeing 737 model aircraft, SkyAp airlines. Great plane, great crew. Departure on time, takeoff and landing were very smooth. Transfer to the hotel about 40 minutes.

Check-in and room: We arrived at the hotel at about 6 o'clock in the morning. We asked for the room we stayed in last year, but it was not ready to move in. We were given bracelets and sent to an early breakfast. After a snack, we went for a walk along the coast of Makadi. At 8 am we were given the keys to our favorite room. No surcharges. Well done!
Room 303 on the 3rd floor with a partial sea view. 2 rooms, total area 62 sq. m. In this hotel, the rooms are only of the “family” category, ideally designed for large families. The first room has a large comfortable bed, a large closet, a safe, bedside tables and an old TV. The second room has 2 small beds, sofa, large closet, mini-bar, large TV. Large balcony with sun loungers and table. Separate bathroom with shower, separate shower behind a curtain, 2 washbasins near the mirror and another one in the toilet. There is a small hair dryer. The room is very cozy and comfortable, soundproofing is good. It looks like the room has been cleaned. Our cleaner Gomaa immediately came to get acquainted. Bring bath accessories. I want to dwell a little more on cleaning the room, because. You don't meet such conscientious workers very often. Gomaa did not just clean and make figurines out of towels, bath accessories and water were replenished regularly, shoes and accessories were neatly displayed, as if “under a ruler”, bouquets of flowers were waiting for us in the bathroom and living room. Thank him very much!
Territory: every day did not get tired of admiring it, this is the "trump card" of the hotel. Reminds me of an oriental fairy tale. You can walk around the territory of all 5 hotels of the Red Sea Hotels group (each is magnificent in its own way). It's hard to describe, it's better to see it once. We walked in cloudy weather along the coast for several kilometers right up to the Stella Di Mare hotel, but I liked the territory of the Red Sea Hotels the most.
Swimming pools and water park: on the territory of 8 pools, 2 water parks: for children and adults. Children's very large, looks interesting. The adult consists of 5 very steep slides, I really liked it. We never swam in the pools, we were only interested in the sea.

Nutrition. Since we are at the hotel for the second time, we were not interested in the main restaurants (we know that the food there is not bad, but the choice is not large, it gets boring quickly). On the first day, we immediately signed up for 5 Makadi Mall restaurants. These are a la carte restaurants located 20 meters from our building. There are dishes on the system "all inclusive", there are dishes for an additional fee. Drinks only at an additional cost. Most of all I liked Golden Dragon - a la carte restaurant of Chinese cuisine.
You can also dine in the main restaurants, but we preferred lunch in a la carte restaurants (no appointment). There are dishes on the system "all inclusive", there are dishes for an additional fee, drinks are included. Most of all I liked the Mexican and Italian restaurants. And in the Mediterranean restaurant you can have breakfast by appointment at the reception. You won't be left hungry.
Bars: 10 (Sport Bar for an additional fee, Lobby Bar 24/7 alcoholic drinks for an additional fee). The rest are all inclusive. We didn't go all the way. Favorite bar was near the beach, where they hold shows and "Africa" ​ ​ in the evening. Very cool bartenders, great service. I drank wine and canned beer, the quality is good. Large selection of local alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks: rum, vodka, tequila, brandy, beer, juices, fanta, sprite, cola. I especially liked the fact that every evening there is live music in the bars: guitar, violin, vocalists. They perform world hits for every taste. The audience is dancing. It is very cool!! ! Huge plus for the hotel!
Animation. The level of the animation team did not match the level of the hotel at all. And here it's not about the show, which at the end of our holiday began to be held not every day, but in relation to the guests. The team used to work in Sharm, apparently in a cheap hotel. On the first day of our acquaintance, the animators told us with pleasure how they liked Sharm and didn’t like it here, that they had good guests in Sharm, there were only Germans here, but they didn’t like the Germans. It is not correct. However, one of the animators sat down with us in the evening and wondered for a long time if we would help him migrate to Germany. Once, at a volleyball game on the beach, the animators turned on Russian blatnyak (prison subculture music), we were shocked. But when we heard Natalie's song "The Wind Blowed from the Sea" (an ancient worn-out pop song) in the bar, we ran out of words. I emphasize that 99% of the guests are from Western Europe. The hotel is expensive and very pretentious. If animators like this kind of shitty music, then let them listen to it at home. And at work, music needs to be selected for guests. The cost of the tour includes the payment for the work of animators. And we were very disappointed with their work.

Service: The staff has partially changed, but the service has remained at a very high level. Those waiters and bartenders who were last year recognized us and welcomed us as welcome guests. I would like to especially highlight the bartender at the Africa bar named Ahmed. He worked with great enthusiasm, we did not have time to enter the bar area, and the drinks were already on our table. Moreover, what exactly we prefer, he remembered from last year. All staff are attentive and polite. The service is unobtrusive and with a smile. They felt like guests, not customers. Thanks!!!!
Of the minuses in the service, I will note the attitude of some employees of a la carte restaurants. Let me remind you that in these restaurants there are dishes and drinks, both on an all-inclusive basis and for a fee. Other guests complained that if they refuse to take drinks for an additional fee, the employees demonstrate their attitude in such a way that they no longer want to have dinner. We only had lunch in a la carte, there were no problems. But, when we once took dinner at Fino, we regretted that we had come. When I refused to take a "special" wine, and asked for what is included in the "all inclusive" concept, the restaurant worker did not hide his anger, and looked at me as if he was launching a menu at me. Not allowed behavior.
There was a free transfer from the hotel in Hurghada to the Mamsha area. You need to register at the reception in advance.
Beach: very large and comfortable, there was always enough space. Beds and mattresses of good quality. There are umbrellas and fences from the wind.
Sea: We snorkeled from the Fort Arabesque hotel to The Grand Makadi pontoon. The coral is different everywhere, from small bumps to a large barrier wall, the palette and architecture is magnificent. There are a lot of amphiprions, butterflies, parrots, groupers, arotrons, heilins, flutes, etc. It is better to see once than to read a hundred.
We were unlucky with the weather, 3 days it was overcast, 1 day light rain. But we were able to walk around the territory of many hotels from north to south.
We took an excursion to the island of Utopia, I liked it very much, I posted a review.

Surprises with the return flight: when we came to the reception on the night of March 14 to check out, we found out that our return flight had been cancelled. We call the guide: there is no information even approximate when they will pick us up. Perhaps they will all be taken to one hotel, perhaps they will be left in “their” hotels. The guide advised to go to the room to sleep. So they did. In the morning they began to look for at least some information. It turned out that our flight took out foreigners who bought tickets from our tour operator so that they could return to Ukraine and leave it before the borders were closed. Thus, thousands of Ukrainian tourists could not fly home on time. We spent the day in anxious expectation of news: we constantly called the guide. There was no information. The hotel did not cut off the bracelets, we used absolutely all the services, restaurants and bars, but the room had to be vacated at 12-00. We sat on sunbeds by the pool. The reception staff were correct, constantly called up the guide, tried to help us. At 17-00 we found out that we were staying at our hotel for an indefinite period, though at the expense of the tour operator. Thus, the tour operator gave us 3 more days of rest. The hotel gradually became empty, fewer and fewer guests came and more and more left. However, all restaurants and bars worked as usual. On March 16, information appeared that the flight was scheduled for tomorrow morning. They took us on March 17 at the agreed time, without delay. I want to thank both the hotel and the tour operator Join Ap for their professionalism, service and correct attitude towards guests.
The overall impression of the rest: the hotel is a little bit not finalized to the ideal. This time, from the significant disadvantages, I will single out an unprofessional animation team, which does not correspond to the high level of the hotel. Unconditional pluses: a huge green area, fabulous architecture, excellent service, huge, clean and comfortable rooms, wonderful staff, live music, a large selection of restaurants and bars, an incomparable sea. There are much more pluses. The hotel has style and soul. I would still come back here.
Have a good rest, if you have any questions, write, I will answer!