Хотели моря Wanted the sea

We rested at the Hilton Marsa Alam hotel in August 2011. Given that the hotel opened in mid-July 2011, then, in principle, all minor shortcomings can be attributed to flaws that need to be corrected as the number of customers increases. But first things first.
We flew by plane Kyiv - Hurghada. From Hurghada by minibus about three and a half hours drive to Marsa Alam. I heard that from September they will add a flight Kyiv - Marsa Alam. In the transfer and after the excursions, I was accompanied by a Russian-speaking guide Moses. In general, the impression of him is positive, but after each trip he literally extorted a tip for the driver. And he also has a favorite trouble about girls “everything through a kiss. ” This is not always appropriate. I was with my husband, a couple of times passed by the ears, and on the fifth time they drew the attention of Moses that with such conversations, you can kiss with a fist. Quiet. The settlement passed quickly, but I feel that we were deceived. But without this, Arabs are not Arabs, and Egypt is not Egypt. Was charged $20 for a pool view. J
The territory of the hotel is huge. The buildings are two-story, each with 5 rooms on the first floor, 5 rooms on the second floor. On the territory of 3 medium pools and one central large, with a bar. There are many buildings, 35 pieces. Electric cars drive around the territory. On the territory of the hotel there are no trash cans at all, for my smoking husband it was incomprehensible. Yes, and sometimes I ate an apple or a banana while walking around the hotel and did not know where to put the core. Upon arrival, it became clear that there was almost no vegetation on the territory. Palm trees, apparently replanted, tied up and hidden from the scorching sun. They promised to open them in eight months, probably then it would be more pleasant for the eyes. And the general impression is very bare without greenery. The rooms are comfortable and well thought out. Towels, bathrobes, shampoos, hair dryer, safe, iron, ironing board, air conditioning - all in the room. Large plasma TV. Electric kettle, tea, coffee, sugar. Very comfortable beds. Large wardrobes and chest of drawers. The only thing was that there was a strange smell in the bathroom. At first they could not understand where. Then they guessed from the sink, from the sewer. They began to close the drain, and the smell was gone. Sometimes some centipedes would run from the street under the front door. But this was rare, and in the end they were gone altogether, perhaps poisoned.

The biggest disappointment was the sea. To the beach of the hotel you need to walk about 10 minutes or go by mobile phone. On the beach, umbrellas are like a fence in the village - planochka, gap, planochka. My husband and I try not to sunbathe, and in the heat of the day (and in Egypt, in general, it is all day long) we don’t go out into the open sun. But under such umbrellas you can not hide from the sun. The beach itself is sand with rocks and shells. And the entrance to the sea is corals and there is no pontoon. Before the sandy entrance, you need to walk along the beach for another 7 minutes. And then swim again towards the hotel beach to more or less living corals. In short, by the time you get to the place of the snorkeling itself, you will get burned, tired and will not want anything anymore. And also to come back. They wanted to cheat - they bought slippers for corals. So a day later they put signs - do not walk on the corals. Explain to me then why these slippers are sold at every step? We went to the sea mostly in the evening, at 4 pm. At this time, there was always a low tide and even when we reached the most beautiful corals, we observed quite muddy water - sand and silt were washed away from the reef. In general, we expected much more from the sea. Although in fairness I will say that the sea itself is really beautiful and if you still get to the reefs, the pleasure is indescribable. A family of turtles lives in those places. There is a diving center next to the hotel's beach.
Nutrition. The system is all inclusive. I'm not very picky, but still it seemed to me that the food for 5 stars is quite monotonous. Breakfast is always the same. Eggs, sausages - completely inedible, cheese, crunchy yoghurts and buns. Of course, the buns are delicious, but on the tenth day, the eggs began to make me sick. Lunch and dinner tried to diversify a little, but it did not work out very well. We talked with the guys who lived next door in three stars and from the conversation I realized that the food is not much different. There were practically no fish. What did not please. There used to be one kind of meat for dinner. Lots of vegetables. Few fruits. These strange pasta and sausage salads made me stupor. Sweet, of course, tasty, but also quite the same. By and large, I ate tomatoes, lettuce, eggplant and chicken. In normal times, of course, this is enough and I did not starve. But during a vacation in a high-level hotel, you want to try something new and unusual. This circumstance did not greatly affect my mood, but it adds a few strokes to the overall picture. And one more case puzzled me. On the third day of vacation, a counter and an administrator were placed near the entrance to the restaurant, who provided a certain dress code. This is possible and correct, but when we were packing, there was no such warning in any booklet. My husband just didn't take the pants. Why are they in forty-degree heat. He was not allowed to dinner in shorts. Moreover, the shorts were denim, a rather fashionable T-shirt and he looked very decent. They let men in sports summer pants but let them in, but they didn’t let their husband in. Of course, we explained to the administrator that there are simply no trousers, and they will not appear for the next 7 days. Of course, they let us in, but with great difficulty. This event has jarred. There are rules - be warned in advance. In the end, we pay money and do not really want to experience some kind of discomfort.
Hotel service is a separate issue. And, the most interesting thing is that there seems to be no reason to complain about something, but on the little things... And the whole point is in the little things. You can't remember everything. What I remember, for example. When we returned from the tour, we were very late for dinner. Our guide from the bus called our other guide, who was supposed to call and order dinner for latecomers. We decided that dinner would be in the room. But when we arrived there was no dinner. And when my husband asked about it at the reception, everyone assumed that we just missed dinner and we want to order it to the room ourselves. Naturally for money. The situation was resolved, but the sediment remained. Not to mention the fact that for dinner there were still tomato sandwiches. But thanks for that too. Even the floor cleaner forgot to put body lotion or shampoo, sometimes he forgot to put water, although at first we regularly left the put van dollar. But when they went to swear, everything was decided without the dollar. Our guide from the Pegasus in the hotel - Karim - rather rudely and incorrectly began to tell us that with an unfixed exit from the hotel - execution. And the incident on the last day of vacation became apofigee. Somewhere, at one o'clock in the afternoon, I returned to my room from the pool. And she couldn't get into the room. The key card didn't work. I called the employee, he hardly opened the room for me and told me to call the reception. From there, after 20 minutes of talking in a mixture of broken English and Russian obscenities, they brought another key. But they found out that the batteries in the lock were actually running low, they promised to change them without me being in the room. I relaxed and went back to the pool. An hour later we returned to the room - and the card still does not work. Nobody dared to do anything. We are wet, in swimsuits, we really want to have lunch and dinner in general until 15 o’clock, and then, apparently, the execution of J. In general, after another hour of adventure, we ended up in the room and in the dining room, where we almost earned a reprimand for being late. Even though it wasn't entirely our fault. Here is such a strange service. Although all the staff knows two or three words in Russian and at first they just got sick of their “how are you? ”.
We went on excursions to Luxor and diving in the coral garden. From adventure. While driving to Luxor, the bus broke down and we spent two hours in the heat in the Egyptian outback, and then, in order to catch up with the program, we simply ran around all the temples. But this may be normal, not so stretched. It is very hot in Luxor so covered shoulders and head are a must. And you need to take a lot of water with you. There is nowhere to buy souvenirs there. All souvenirs can be bought at the airport in Hurghada in duty free. Diving rules, but I would not call these corals a garden. Basically, it's interesting.

I'll finish with this. No minor flaws will spoil the vacation if a person, in principle, has a good mood and a positive attitude.