Just FANTASTIC! Mars + RESTA! A huge thank you!

Written: 8 november 2017
Travel time: 7 — 19 july 2017
Who does the author recommend the hotel to?: For a relaxing holiday; For families with children; For recreation with friends, for young people
Your rating of this hotel:
10.0
from 10
Hotel ratings by criteria:
Rooms: 10.0
Service: 10.0
Cleanliness: 10.0
Food: 10.0
Amenities: 10.0
Rested with his wife and 5-year-old daughter from 07.07 to 19.07. 2016. Tour operator Join UP (7/9 E. Konovalets Street). The choice of tour operator initially depended on which of the airlines the tour operator cooperates with. Learning that Join UP, like Pegasus, is working with UIA, the choice was made. So far, no other Ukrainian airline can boast a new Boeing fleet. In Egypt 6 times, but everything is in order: part I - a comment on previous reviews, part II - a review.
PART I
It is important to remember that the remoteness of Mars-Alam from the bustling city entertainment contributes primarily to a quiet holiday. First of all, of course, I, like most tourists, began by studying the ratings of hotels on the Internet, realizing that without encountering the feedback of "interested" people I can not do.

So the first thing I want to start with is how some not-so-honest "dealers" are trying to form a fictitious opinion of the masses, so by all criteria, Resta Grand Resort Marsa Alam met my requirements. Confused by only one negative review on the site, dated August 2014, but still, given the categorical form of presentation of reviews by tourists from St. Petersburg, and knowing that the rich underwater world of the Red Sea Mars-Alam in the world according to divers second only to the island Sipadan and the islands of the Maldives, repeated, like mantras, information about the sea: "The sea as such does not exist…. But there is no sea "to the above-mentioned tourist and understanding that categoricalness is inherent in idiots, I took a risk and visited this hotel to see with my own eyes the nightmares described by tourists.
So, according to the review of the hotel Resta Grand Resort, lowering the hysteria of Russian tourist Alexander about tourists who go to cattle resorts in Africa, I want to dwell on a few quotes from this "expert" in the world of tourism. In his response, Oleksandr started the report of punctures from the first issue, but he limited himself to them: “the first puncture at this hotel. The road to the hotel really takes a whole day. Orenburg Airlines (as always) - no fish or meat ", I do not understand what blamed the hotel Resta Grand Resort in front of Alexander, who settled in Chukotka, in the transfer for the whole day, he would have gone even further to fraternal Antarctica, then two days I would agree that Orenburg Airlines is neither fish nor meat, and that the management of the Resta Grand Resort is to blame for this, which is to argue with such a mega-expert of everything.
Then Oleksandr reproaches that they didn't break the Law against him and that they didn't ask for money from him: "They didn't ask for money - they gave 2 numbers at once", what you say here is direct, a kind of "Break me completely-2". After Alexander goes on to frantic cries that the sea in Sharm is not like that: "the sea is like" Sharm is resting. " It does not …. in no way compares with the "meat of Sharma", hda… complete shock! ! ! ! ! I thought the meat ended up on Orenburg Airlines, but no…. But what is especially funny is that according to Alexander, "meat" is what this expert calls the underwater world, in Sharm is not comparable to Mars-Alam. I don't know by what criteria this St. Petersburg resident compared and saw the similarity of the fauna, but let me remind you that in Sharm el-Sheikh and Marsa Alam, the sea is the same, called the Red Sea! ! ! !!
But unlike Mars, the reef in Sharm is dead, which is easy to check by reading reviews such as the hotel Siren Aurora Resort, and yet, for example, the dugong in Sharm is not and was not! Turtles, except that in the zoo you can see like dolphins, you can still see in Sharm how to mock crocodiles at a crocodile show! , and in Mars in the bay of Marsa Mubarak or Abu Dabbab - please and turtles and dugongs and dolphins, and Satay? What can I say, Alexander, you are a disgrace and wrote a false review!

Of course, I want to note that really, if you listen to Alexander's advice and all the rest: "lie down without fear… turn to the stones", in the so-called Alexander, puddles near the deck chairs, then really nothing but small fish, stingrays and little moray eels, you You will not see, And Alexander's love for the word puddle, easily explained by nostalgia for his hometown, which is known to be built on the shores of the Marquis puddle of the Gulf of Finland.
.
And finally, there is no dude who cuts fruit in the restaurant, there is no "dude who cut fruit impressed us by hiding grapes or plums - under the counter and handed them out at their discretion, " the fruit is on the counter until the arrival of restaurant guests. the bartender on the beach pours any juice and packages, including good ice cream, however, how do I, according to Alexander - a cyclist in Africa, who was on all inhabited continents of the world, to know what ice cream consists of, the composition is not written , another thing for experts in the tundra! The same expert, who, it turns out, (every day two 1.5-liter bottles of water are added to the room, do not change, but deliver and throw away empty bottles) drained 6 liters of water daily, not including cool juices, fresh juices, coffee, tea, beer , wine, whiskey, rum, tequila, etc.
, The list can be extended for a long time, which Alexander, of course, used, as he assessed the work of the restaurant at 5 stars, apparently forgot that he had three children, and he himself could just as easily collect in an empty bottle of tap water, but how he was able to drink it ...Mystery, purified sea water is unpleasant, both in smell and taste. Well, in fact, there are three children, acclimatization, national alcohol color or a great non-cyclist Alexander, mixed with a printed bottle of water. Of course, all the wine hotel). The main thing for Alexander was not rest, but, judging by his comments, the fact that someone dares to go to the bull farm without his permission, not because of the proven Teztur)).
Here's the fatigue ...Teztur, a company that always uses the services of the cheapest and lowest quality airlines, turns out to be much steeper than the one that just appeared earlier - Pegasus and Corel Travel, everything immediately becomes clear!

PART II
************************************************* ********

Flight, transfer, check-in, internet and room.


We took off on the first night from Boryspil Airport on a Boeing 737-900 of UIA, failed to register for the day of online check-in, repeated attempts were successful only 12 hours before departure, apparently, the registration of UIA charter flights did not work. Well, no problem, because to satisfy the desire to get a place in a row at the emergency exit, which allows you to somehow straighten up, was doomed to failure. I was able to check in for the coveted 13.14 series, but did not see that we are not flying in the usual flight to Egypt Boeing 737-800, but in 737-900, where the specified emergency exit is at 20.
21 rows. Meals in charters are not included in the ticket price. If you think that you may want to eat, you need to take food with you, buying at the airport (duty free fries sell packed hot dogs, sausage, etc. , if anything…))), or buy on the plane sandwiches for three euro.
Arrived in Hurghada at 5 am, pasted visas and, given that there was no one at the airport except the passengers of our flight, easily found your bus and went to such a favorite 4-hour train between the Sahara and the Red Sea, I personally receive sea ​ ​ of ​ ​ pleasure from the road between the sands and the sea.
We arrived at the hotel two hours before the 14-hour check-in, put on our blue bracelets without any problems and took the golf cart to our room. The type of room and location did not bother us, because the reviews we understood that all the rooms are the same and equidistant, and it turned out.
If you wish to pay $ 150 for 10 days, you can rent a room with sea views. However, I have little idea of ​ ​ tourists sitting in the room and watching the sea through the window.
Internet. Well, what is the Internet in the desert, of course, after reading the reviews on the Internet, we bought an online card at Hurghada airport, to the left of the exit - 3 GB 9 dollars.
The cost of internet in the hotel is 10 dollars a day, you can take a trial for a couple of hours for three dollars, but the speed of wired internet Resty will upset you, as well as the length of the cord that can only be plugged in and sit chained in a corner. So I looked through everything I needed on my smartphone, if I needed more powerful internet, I went to Wi-Fi at the reception.

The room is spacious, with two large beds, a flat-screen TV with 35 channels (3 channels of the Russian Federation), a small refrigerator, a large bathroom with a bathtub, all in good condition. There was no extra bed, which we asked for while booking a room, but this issue was easily resolved by calling the reception.
The room is cleaned and bed linen and towels are changed daily, and stocks of tea, coffee, cream and sugar are replenished near the kettle.
I left a tip a couple of times, I can't say that the appearance of crocodiles or swans from towels in the room depends on it, but somehow I left 5 dollars, so the guy who cleaned the room in the evening brought three boxes of chocolate. Things of any value were quietly left in the room.

************************************************* ********
Excursions, leisure
Back in Kyiv, a couple of months before the trip, on the website of top hotels, I found Olga's phone from Mars-Alam and began to bother her with enviable regularity with questions about Viber and Vatsap. I was primarily interested in completing the Open Water Diver training of the PADI Professional Association of Diving Instructors. We in Kyiv had problems with passing exams in open water, I really didn't want to pass standards in quarries or the Dnieper, and in Egypt a new question arose where to leave a child for 10 hours (we are on 4 final dives + road to the bays, total spent - 8 hours) dives.
First, through the girl Maria from Join UP, a special thanks to her for her professional work, Maria was in touch on Viber around the clock, we contacted the hotel, the price of babysitting services in Rest - 10 euros per hour.

As for the representative, Join UP is cooperating in Egypt with the operator Sun International, so their representative Armeye, escorting us from the airport to the hotel, first brought us to the wrong hotel, then gave the wrong phone number, and the next day did not come to the meeting. I had to contact Kyiv tour operators, they contacted Sana's main office in Sharm, and Armaye immediately called the room. During the conversation, it turned out that the Army was working in Hurghada, not Mars, and he was not going to come to us. When I asked him how to see the order of prices, he replied that if you want something, call and hang up. I found the Army number myself and actually used it only once, the day before departure.
Although, of course, remembering the anecdote about a lighthouse worker 20 km from the shore who made postmen smile when delivering a monthly magazine, threatening to subscribe to a daily newspaper, I wanted to call him and order three or four o'clock in the evening. travel. dollars per person, in Port Galib, which is 5 minutes drive from our hotel, well, hands were busy mango, decided to joke another time. )

Olga from Mars-Alam.

I wanted to tell about Olga separately. Muscovite Olga has lived in Marsa Alam for over five years. Olga, a person of high spiritual culture, apolitical, with a heart of gold, full of love for the Motherland and family.
Now she has given a piece of her love to such a beautiful land - Marsa Alam, and tourists, for whom she spares no effort and time, unknown to most of the south of Egypt, dedicating almost untouched by man, the underwater world of Marsa Alam.
Of course, I feel a little uncomfortable, from the number of questions I asked Olga, from obtaining the right to reside in Egypt, to organizing a birthday party in one of the bays of Mars Alam. Olga will always have the answer to any question. Olga organizes dives in all the bays of Mars-Alam, both for divers and snorkeling, the prices are different. If you want to visit Sattai and swim with dolphins, the price for the three of us with a child was $ 120. Aquapark - 120.
2 dives with uniform rental + travel - an average of $ 50 per person, an individual tour to Aswan will cost about $ 400, a group tour of about $ 150 per person, Abydos - 330 individual and $ 100 group, etc. - Diving license to a depth of 12 meters $ 250.18 meters - $ 350. The price includes a textbook (300 pages) and a planner of no-decompression dives.

I advise you, if you are interested in excursions, ask for a price sheet from your operator and at the same time find out about prices in Olga, then you are guaranteed to pay a reasonable price. Also, do not forget, if you decide to go with the operator, to learn about the conditions of travel. I did not have to do this, because Olga warned about everything in advance, for example, for a trip to Aswan you had to bring passports.
During the holiday we visited: Mubarak Bay, Moore Bay and the reef of the hotel "Concord", also sailed on a tour in a boat with a transparent bottom, visited the water park and the city of Aswan. In Aswan, trade workers are smaller piers than in Luxor, but more brazen than in Hurghada or Cairo. You can write for a long time about Aswan Platinum, Hotel Cataract, fillets, local driving, Nubian houses, botanical garden, Isis Temple, reed fresh, etc. A separate review should be written about each of these excursions.
In short, we really liked everything.
Contact Olga - +201010375454. Home address: Egypt, Marsa Alam, street - I will not say, the house - white.
************************************************* ********
Restaurants, food

Fed quite decently. The range is good. You will not go hungry. Pasta, lasagna, pizza - like a cake. Crabs, salads of octopuses, artichokes, cucumbers with tomatoes, etc. , regularly chicken and beef.
One - the first two dishes, a bunch of carbohydrate dishes (mashed potatoes, stewed eggplant, rice, tomatoes with mozzarella, etc. ). Pork and tuna, rarely lamb, giant turkey (pictured) and barbecue dishes on the street. Breakfast - muesli, fruit, salads, slicing, boiled or stewed vegetables, and eggs - fried and boiled. Sometimes two or three people gathered behind the scrambled eggs. There is one Italian a la carte restaurant, by appointment once a week, you can sign up at the entrance to the main restaurant. Dishes - nothing special, the only thing that was very tasty - risotto.
You can also sign up for $ 50 for a seafood dinner with lobster. The only thing that is bad in this restaurant is that it is not allowed with mangoes, which we carried in all pockets).
Ice cream by the pool is delicious and in unlimited quantities 4 varieties (mango, chocolate, vanilla and strawberry).

Lunch by the pool consists of buns, sometimes just buns, sometimes with cheese or sausage, sliced ​ ​ carrots or cabbage and two types of cakes. Self-service. But it didn't concern us much, and we especially couldn't go to lunches and dinners, because Olga overwhelmed us with kilograms of mangoes). Here we ate slowly, although mango is mega sweet and tasty, it is very filling and you don't eat a lot of it.
Drinks - I drank a juicy mango drink, there are also orange and pineapple. Fresh fruit is produced for a surcharge of 3 euros (orange).
Delicious coffee, you pick it for breakfast from the coffee maker, there are also different creams. For dinner, breakfast, order from the waiters for free, or at the pool bar. Alcohol includes bottled beer, wine, whiskey, tequila, etc. , as well as a variety of cocktails.
Schedule:
7.00 - 10.00 - breakfast in "Space" - the main restaurant.
11.00 - 13.00 - brunch by the pool.
13.00 - 15.00 - lunch at "Space" - the main restaurant.
15.00 - 17.00 - noon by the pool.
19.00 - 22.
00 - dinner at "Space" - the main restaurant.
22.30 - 24.00 - night snacks in the restaurant opposite the main one.

************************************************* ********
Animation and children's room

I saw two animators from Italy in the hotel, it was probably not the season, every day they held some classes by the pool, in the evening at 20.30 a half-hour children's disco. At 9.30 pm every day there are some performances, I wouldn't say that they are very interesting, but for a glass of cocktail and a hookah (the cost of a hookah for a shishamen is $ 4).
Reef sharks are very rare, but possible. Do not be afraid, the main thing - do not make sudden movements, the shark near the reef will not attack, and in general the person is not found under water, and therefore is not part of the forage base of sharks. Also here is full of lionfish and moray eels, however, moray eels are small and a half meters.
Each bay in Marsa Alam is a separate world, given that there are more than 100 bays in Mars, you can choose who you want to look at.
There is a good book in English, in souvenir shops, which indicates the composition of the fauna of a bay. The only thing is that a whale shark is 15 percent easier to find in Sharm, but no matter how hard you try to get a whale shark to the Sinai Peninsula, on the way from the Indian Ocean, it will have to swim to Mars in any case.

As for swimming in the sea, at least in July, there was not a day that you could not swim from the pontoon.
I noticed the system, in the morning at 7 am the pontoon was already open, and closer to noon, from 13.00 to 16.00 the pontoon was closed and a black flag was hung out. Apparently, the pontoon worker is going on a siesta at this time. From 16.00 the pontoon started working again, although I personally do not welcome evening swimming in the Red Sea because of the large number of poisonous sea snakes.
As for the lack of toilets by the pool, this is not true, there are two toilets by the pool (seen in the photo), the only downside is that they did not have fresh water to wash the mango.

************************************************* ********
Departure

At 11.00 we decided to find out if there is a debt on the number? Everything turned out fine, although in one of the mugs in our room was a slightly broken handle. I assumed that she could be hanged on us, but remembering the tourist Alexander from St. Petersburg, I realized that this is preparing new tricks for him, he will suddenly return). About 12.
00 we were called back from the reception and told about the finish and we slowly waited for the hotel staff, who took our things to the free storage room and loaded them on the bus after his arrival. As you know, we couldn't, we had mango hands. Olga "said" that mangoes in Egypt are equated to corals - it is forbidden to take out, I had to eat) - I'm kidding! .
Our departure was repeatedly postponed, as a result, instead of 21.10 we flew at 01.30, well, nothing, but we stayed longer in Egypt. And all of us passengers of the plane, at night on the runway, had to recognize their luggage.
As a result, it turned out that one of the tourists named Artem handed over luggage and disappeared, it was decided to leave his suitcase, but ...an hour after all the passengers took their seats on the plane, Artem appeared, under the general applause and congratulations: "Asshole! ». I do not understand this resentment, and suddenly a man ran to the bazaar for a mango?

Then I fully understand and even support it.

We really liked the rest and we will definitely return to it, because we have a whole mango ball buried around the 14th building. Olga, Ivan, Lida, Christian, Vika and Lida hello! )

The price of a mango - 1 dollar for 1 kg. In connection with the change from August 1.2016, the legislation of the Russian Federation - I inform that the response is sponsored by the US State Department. I don't understand how it is possible not to go to Egypt, if the house is blown up, it is impossible to live in all the same houses? Russians, Egyptians are very bored of you!
Translated automatically from Ukrainian. View original