Your rating of this hotel:
6.0
from 10
Hotel ratings by criteria:
Rooms:
6.0
Service:
5.0
Cleanliness:
5.0
Food:
6.0
Amenities:
6.0
6.11. 2010-13.11. 2010. When writing a review, I catch myself thinking that a lot (and maybe all) has already been written in other reviews. Nevertheless, I decided to write, because they themselves made mistakes because useful details are scattered in various reviews, and it is difficult to find them on multi-page printouts ...
ACCOMMODATION and ROOM. They were the last to get on the bus from the airport - out of 47 people; -) We arrived at the hotel around 9.00. The bus warned that according to "international standards, check-in from 14.00". This caused a storm of indignation among the "experienced" from 5 * View, who claimed that the check-out time and check-in was 12.00. The hotel said to come to the reception at 11, put on bracelets, it will be possible to go to the beach and have lunch (from 12.30), and the rooms will probably be in the afternoon.
We took from the suitcases that were standing in the very sun outside, near the entrance to the hotel, things for changing clothes, changed in the toilet, and went to the pools on the territory - to ride the slides.
Actually, this was our only visit to the swimming pools. In general, the slides are "cool". And there are a lot of people around the pools.
Arriving around 11 at the reception, we found out that some (apparently those who were sitting in the lobby did not leave) had already put on bracelets and tried to put them in rooms. True, the room was offered with some kind of "small windows" and so on, but people were not the first time, and refused this. At 11 we were wearing bracelets. Bearing in mind the stories on the forums, we provided an area near the elbow as a place to tighten plastic bracelets. This made it easy to remove the bracelet afterwards. True, he could fly off himself, so they always filmed in front of the sea.
The man took me to room 610 to check in. This room is on the first floor, and the closest to the hotel entrance. Pluses - a standard room, with a tiny room, with a large window leading to a balcony overlooking the courtyard with plants, and then - the entrance to the hotel.
To the bus to the beach - 25 m, to the reception and restaurant - 50 m, well, this is the closest point from the entire hotel to any object outside (Soho, beach, shops, etc. ). Away from the pool with its splashing people and evening animation. It cannot be said that the room is dead - apparently the old furniture was recently opened with varnish, and perhaps the walls were painted. Nice tiny bathroom.
Cons - from the room a few meters from the security booth at the entrance to the hotel. Accordingly, voices are heard from there, including at night. But against the background of flying planes (next to the hotel, as you know, the airport strip) and fatigue, or animation at the rooms near the pool, is not fatal. And also, like, guarded all the time; -) In principle, we wanted the 2nd floor, so that there was no access to the balcony from the outside. When they began to talk about the second floor to the man-jack who brought us, he naturally answered that the room was super, and so on.
Since in return they could offer that illiquid asset that they had already offered to someone (see above), and they would probably have demanded money for the shift, they decided not to risk it. We checked the integrity of the remote controls and the operation of electrical appliances, everything seemed to work, we didn’t see any obvious defects for which they could be bred for money when leaving. They gave the man a dollar. Another man brought things - they gave him too.
It soon became clear that the refrigerator was not going to cool - it turned out to have a separate switch. When turned on, it began to cool slightly over time, with the switch position "5" (maybe, however, it should have been "1" - they did not bother to test it). More importantly, when leaving the room, a key with a card is taken, which turns off the air conditioner and most of the outlets. Most - but not all, and we threw the refrigerator to the outlet where the lamp was originally connected, which continued to burn even when the card was removed.
A few days later, one of the table lamps stopped working. They repaired it themselves - there was a screwdriver with them, the wire inside the switch came off.
At the first show of the number, the man-jack told something about the safe. Since there was an instruction manual next to the safe, they looked inattentively - and in vain. Apparently he locked it, but we did not notice the code. Then they called - probably his own, he brought "Mr. X" in a black vest and white shirt, who easily opened the safe. I had to give them a dollar (for two).
The room turned out to be dirty (in secluded places - drawers, etc. - apparently no one cleans it there, but they clean the floor and change the linen. Well, there's nothing to climb in these places! ; -) A couple of times small centipedes were seen in the bathroom. There were no cockroaches, mosquitoes were also not noticed, although a fumigator was specially bought, bugs, thank God, were not noticed either. Small flies flew in a couple of times, but then they disappeared somewhere.
The door to the balcony was rarely opened - the stuffiness in the room was overcome by air conditioning.
In general, the check-in and room turned out to be better than the worst options described on the forums. Perhaps all this showdown with the settlement time is a performance to lower the expectations of customers, and so that later they would rejoice at any improvement in relation to expectations, and lower their requests.
The prospect of figured unfolding of our things by the cleaner was not encouraging. That's why we put up a "do not disturb" sign all the time. It was blown away by the wind, so they fixed it by sticking the tip into the gap of the door. In the middle of the term (the day before the tour) I called the cleaner who was cleaning nearby and asked the next day to clean the beds and the bathroom in our room, but not to touch things. The replacement towels were thrown on the floor. Left 2 dollars. And the same number - at the departure. So he did not lose much because of our unwillingness to constantly use his services.
FOOD and DRINK. Normal food.
No frills. True, there is not much to compare with - I was in Turkey in 2002 also on all-inclusive - though it cost $ 125 then; -) The level of food is about the same. And in the Egyptian restaurants outside the hotel have never been.
I kept waiting for seafood - squid and crabs promised on the forums. Can't wait for the squids. Crabs in the end managed to wait. They were small and overcooked. There were few claws (that is, most crabs did not have them). Meat inside the shell - a little, and overcooked. My understanding is something like this. Probably, the broth for sea soup is cooked from crabs in an Italian restaurant with a menu that is on site. They also prepare a salad with claws. Part of the salad is left for the general restaurant, crab carcasses are also brought here. The same multi-stage food processing is probably for everything. For example, an omelet is made for breakfast. The one that is not eaten is processed for egg desserts at lunch, and so on.
Well, how else - everything that is not eaten in one distribution is not thrown away. (True, all these are the results of my observations of the dishes on the buffet - I have not been in the kitchen, I have not observed a specific technology for using what was not eaten). The main thing here is that processed products do not spoil. And there were no signs of damage. Disorders of the gastrointestinal tract were also not observed.
We must not forget to go out on the terrace every dinner, where something is cooked on the grill. It's hot and delicious. We missed the first few days. Then there were once chopped cutlets from lamb-mutton ("jacket"), well, beef - liver, meat, burgers, etc. from the grill, fish, etc. Actually, I'm mainly interested in lamb, again it (in the same form ) managed to eat in a barbeque bar near the pools, where you can and should sign up for free for 1 time immediately after arrival (see also below). Also, 1 time you need to sign up and visit an Italian restaurant (see below).
also below). They ate exclusively seafood - pizza with them, "pasta" (spaghetti + 2 heaps of seafood for them), fish in a batter-batter (or maybe there were squids in the dough). Everything is delicious (albeit simple). Probably, if possible (did not ask), they would order 1 pizza for each, instead of the 3 listed dishes (pizza was the tastiest).
Alcohol everywhere - local. The first glass is given out by the waiters quite willingly. The next one, not so much. One of the reasons is the lack of glasses. Another - apparently, the desire to receive a tip. Several times I went to the bar of the restaurant myself (the "window" from the restaurant where the bartenders give wine to the waiters), mostly asking the bartenders for undiluted strong drinks or wine. They poured, but somehow reluctantly, with some comments that did not stimulate a second visit to them. Pure "tequila" - did not impress. Whiskey - nothing.
Good undiluted ouzo (anise vodka, this is not for everyone) - as always, in fact - probably, the anise flavor clogs all tastes; -) Beer is normal, especially when freshly poured from a fresh cold barrel. Wine - red, on the first day in the bar of the restaurant was clearly flavored, and white too. That's why I didn't drink them for several days. Then I tried it in the bar near the pool - a good red tart wine, like Shiraz. The white in the Italian restaurant is a good Chardonnay. They poured from bottles - it was necessary, probably, to see what was written on the bottles, but it did not work out. In an ordinary restaurant, then, too, the wine was not as bad as on the first day.
The question of alcohol, and the quality of service in general, is associated with tips. We did not tip at all in the restaurant - only on the last day they gave 10 pounds (a pound was 5.
7 per dollar, changed mainly from my grandfather in a bank near the Concord Hotel) to one waiter who brought us wine several times a few days earlier - but on the last day he, unfortunately, removed the plates. The system of waiters is multi-stage - one at the entrance - such as a manager or administrator, distributes the line to the tables, from where the waiters wave, which prepare tablecloths and cutlery - in light shirts with a small dark pattern, others with green patterns - remove plates, others carry drinks. Such a system makes it difficult to determine who to tip. In addition, he gave it once, which means they will expect it every time, and so on. Waiters - varying degrees of swagger.
One handsome, lively young dandy especially took out - he always strove to take a full plate of food (not only from us, he watched his hilariously surprised physiognomy when customers scolded him for trying to steal a freshly collected full plate of french fries from a child), and addressed like "brother". It looks like a demonstration of the fact that "Yes, I know yours, you are gaining full plates, then you cannot eat, so let's immediately take your grub to the trash. " (I must say, we took as much as we could eat, and left practically nothing - it’s better to go several times if you liked something ... ) It’s good that only once this guy worked on the fence of plates with us (another time he served alcohol, just on the last day, and of course, unlike his colleague, he did not receive anything).
Well, I think they don’t drink - maybe they won’t appreciate it - we’ll also give a couple of dollars (someone wrote that they gave 3 at the end of dinner) - in the hope of wonderful service. And that's how it all developed. First the waiter asked what kind of drinks would you like. We say - depending on what we will eat - if fish, then white wine, meat - red. He says - food then, what with drinks. Ordered red. It turned out good. He immediately brought assorted salads, a little bit of each, and a menu. We liked two salads, thought to order more. Well, a jacket. But he says like - no, you tried the salads, let's order the grill. Moreover, it is not entirely clear whether he understood correctly what we are talking about salads - in Russian and in English. We ordered a jacket. He says what else? Other meat, fish, etc? We say - "no, just a jacket. And what, with the salads" drove "? "He says, like yes, they drove. And again - there is no offer of wine, and so on. I called him and speak English. - What language do you speak - Russian, English?
He speaks better English. - I heard that you don't drink vodka. So? He grits - no, we don't drink. I already wanted to break out into a tirade "well, give it to someone, " but he says - you can’t at work, but after work - you can. I'm asking, so can you have a drink after work? He says yes. I say - well, it's wonderful, here I brought our best vodka, people's choice (people's choice) this year, drink with your friends after work. He was surprised, thanked, took the bag (and there are also seeds - someone wrote that the Egyptians value them). We say - I would like wine. Well, there was no shortage of wine - he wore it all the time, good wine. Learned our names. We pretty quickly "mastered" the jacket - we ask if there is something else from lamb. He says - only a jacket, but I will bring you chicken and other meat. No, make-up, no need, sweatshirts are enough. He brought dessert and more wine, without asking - and we had already "removed" glasses of 5-6, and we didn’t want more tart wine for dessert.
So I took the glasses to him - I say, thank you, we didn’t touch them, but the wine is wonderful, not like in a restaurant, and the service is wonderful (meaning the last part of it), but there’s nowhere else, and here’s a couple more dollars for you, and thanks . Well, bring rum-cola for dessert. He brought it, and the wine did not seem to be gone - he took it to the bartender. So it turned out that he would like to do something to us in return for the gifts, but there was no special opportunity. And if from the very beginning everything was handed over, then there would be more maneuver. I suppose he was waiting for us, as his best friends, in the following days - but there was no time to approach the bar.
The next day - an Italian restaurant. The beginning is similar - two glasses of good white wine. I drain mine in one gulp, no one offers yet, I call the wine peddler (again, there are two waiters, more impressive, who brought the menu, order, and then food, and younger, who took the first order for wine, and then brought wine) and I say - two white guilt.
He walked somewhere, brought one, and then not full, something murmured incomprehensible. Well, I don't think it's possible to live like this. I call the one that is more impressive, I say - what language to speak - well, he, like "in Russian. " I say, your food is delicious, we ate it, and we will eat it up - but in order to fully reveal the range of tastes, it is necessary ....Here he says "I don’t understand this. " I tell him in English - in order to fully reveal the range of flavors, you need to drink a lot of your delicious white wine. And I give him a dollar. He says, like "understood, thanks. " And he brings the boy right with a bottle of wine - he pours us glasses from the bottle, and takes the bottle away. Again a pause - but not a big one - I immediately call him again, or just ask for wine at a distance - they bring it quickly. I give him shortly after the first and second dollar. He is very pleased, he asks - what is his name, very pleasant - Yasser introduces himself (in fact, his name is also on the plate).
At the end of dinner (which actually had already come, we didn’t stay too long) - he came up, was interested in how the food was, how the service was - we say everything is fine. Another guy brings wine - but they didn’t, like the day before, refuse. And they gave the guy a dollar - I suppose the chef would not share ....The next day, in an ordinary restaurant, he approached more impressively, said hello, called by name - well, I did not blunder, not looking at his card, I say "hello Yasser" (they say "I won't forget you - never").
So, did you like the food at the hotel? As I wrote above, "normal food". But, in principle, for lovers of gastronomy, all-inclusive is not a suitable scheme. Half board (HB) costs $200 less. And, as we were told, lunch at a seafood restaurant on the Old Market for two cost $ 25, that is, 12.5 per person, with a tip. We get 200 / 12.5 = 16, that is, 2 restaurant visits per day, where you can expect more variety than in a hotel. On the other hand, it's all theory. We have never been to a restaurant outside the hotel.
We need feedback from those who have actually eaten this way. And also, you will need to constantly solve problems - which restaurant to go to, how to get there, what to order, and whether the new restaurant will turn out to be bad, the food is tasteless or missing, and so on ....
SEA. It is most important. Beach - from the hotel 5 * Sunrise Island View. Where does the bus take you from 8 to 17 in 15 minutes, or go for 10 minutes - like in Soho. Both are not stressful. You can take off the bracelet and use some services for the View Hotel (some benefits - such as food at the beach bar, etc. - can be used with a bracelet. I read that some of them dined there, but I doubt that their food is much better All-inclusive, and ultra all-inclusive, they seem to have special cards). Beach Sunrise Island View - Pobol than neighboring hotels.
Water - 25-26 degrees (like air temperature at night, daytime 30-31). The vast majority are engaged in snorkeling - hanging at the edge of the reef in a mask and snorkel and watching corals and marine life - grandparents, children, and intermediate ages.
There is nothing to do without a mask and a tube - but you can buy them on Soho for 60 pounds (the price is written on them like that, maybe you can bring down ... ). Somewhere they wrote that they bought two masks for $ 10. You can do without fins, and even without slippers (which I did. Slippers are needed only in order to stand on the reef, or not to retire from the coral. Fins - in order to quickly return if you "swam"). We swam for 1.5 - 4 hours in one "swim". The underwater world is fascinating, and out of habit, time flies by very quickly. You don't need to know how to swim. As soon as you lower the mask into the water, the legs rise to the surface, and all that remains is to paddle with your arms and legs to move around - no effort is required to maintain buoyancy. If you swim without a shirt for hours, your back burns ...
The hotel has two plastic pontoons. To the right (to the south) are the pontoons of the Savoy Hotel, and further - the southern tip of the bay. On the left - Concorde, Hilton Sharks Bay, Savita, and further - the northern tip of the bay, behind it is the lighthouse.
Between all the pontoons, you can move by swimming, removing the cables with buoys (when they meet) under you or above you. There are places where boats moor - they must be overcome with your head not in the water, but vigilantly look around! At 17 o'clock it gets dark, and swimming ends - the pontoons are closed.
It is most interesting to swim along the edge of a large reef, or along the perimeter of small individual reefs. I recommend routes - Once to swim to the southern tip of the bay (it's more than 1 hour one way, slowly, with turns and freezes). Another time - to the northern tip - it's more than 2 hours. You can sometimes climb on the pontoons of neighboring hotels to warm up. If you swim back without delay, then you can probably manage in an hour (there was no watch on your hand).
Then, in more detail, you can comb through the areas you like.
I liked the sites just near our pontoons more (maybe because I looked into the underwater "aquarium" there for the first time - and was stunned ; -), as well as in the Savita area (and behind it, closer to the northern tip of the bay), and near the southern end of the bay.
Of the rarer fish, we saw moray eels (one near the last small reef just before the "boat" pontoon in front of the Hilton), rays, lionfish, tylosur, flutes, etc. Unfortunately, nothing was filmed from under the water - there was no desire to mess around with a box for a large camera. And it was already too late to see the sealed cases for mobile phones - and with it the video could be filmed ...And so, people, of course, had fun - they would throw a little food and take pictures in a flock of rushing fish ....
When we flew away, we saw completely different pontoons in the neighboring bay - and maybe piers - seemingly wooden from above, some are very long (maybe almost 5-10 times longer than "ours"), with intermediate platforms at half the length - I wonder, from there too can I swim? ....And is there another underwater world ....
SURROUNDINGS AND TRAVEL. A few hundred meters from the hotel is Soho - a square with new buildings, shops, clubs, cafes, illuminated fountains, an ice rink, etc. Apparently tourists from other places come here, not to mention the surrounding hotels. From seen in Egypt - the most not killed area. The prices are certainly not small - for example, in the White Knight department store and in the department store at the end of Soho. In the middle part - duty-free (only in dutiks in Egypt, alcohol. Within 48 hours after arrival, with a note in the passport, up to 3 liters per person). Prices for alcohol - in dollars are the same as in Kyiv in euros (and EURO / USD, after all, was about 1.4). The choice is richer than at Sharm El Sheikh airport, and cheaper.
It is interesting that in this dutik there is not a single Egyptian product (alcohol, sweets, etc. ). No beer, no.
We went to OldMarket by minibus (blue-blue! ), after breakfast. To go quite far, but the price paid only 3 pounds from the nose - as someone taught. Also trade, like everywhere else - the driver wanted more, but when we said goodbye to him, he agreed.
Arriving at OldMarket, we first decided to swim in the recommended place (partly because the first counter stores were still closed). Namely, they went to the sea - and to the left, along the coast, almost to the tip of the bay, behind the police post. There is a good reef there. Saw several species of new corals and fish. It is necessary to swim from the place of entry even further. Ships with excursions with underwater windows come very close.
The sightseers waved their hands (what an interest to sit outside the window and wave, if you can swim and wave it from the sea ; -) In principle, all the most interesting is in the area from the police pontoon to the tip with the "separated" stone. Further, it is quite far to the next "separated" stone, but no new underwater "pictures" were noticed.
In the afternoon we reached the Market itself. It was already open. On average, everything is cheaper than in Soho. Yes, you have to bargain. If you leave after that, there is a real reset of the price. For example, if the notorious scarab in Soho stores costs 10 dollars, then they start trading from 5, and they gave away 3 pieces for 40 pounds without demonstrating care (that is, apparently, they did not reach the last price). Arafatka - 10-15 pounds. Slippers for the sea - 20 pounds (without special trade). Lots of duty free shops. They also have something local - for example, beer - 7.5 pounds per 0.5l can (or maybe cheaper. In the cafe, they wanted 20). Many sea-food restaurants of varying degrees of prettiness.
We decided to make some grocery purchases in the supermarket (like, in the shop they offered 1 kg of coffee for $ 40, our guides offered 1 kg of coffee + 1 kg of halva + 2 kg of something else for the same 40, and here 1 kg of coffee cost less than $ 10) . We went to the previously mentioned bank to change dollars. But the bank has already closed. The tourists learned that they had been charged a commission in some exchanger (I suppose they should have threatened the police, and they would have returned the commission), a local resident offered to change his acquaintances in the shop, but allegedly there were no pounds there. Someone advised to return to our store - there they changed it in a special machine at a good rate of 5.5.
We went on one excursion - the Abu Galum reserve, in jeeps, for $ 65 per person. Departure "at 6:40". We actually left that way an hour later (this is normal for them - delays). We were based behind a poster with a photograph of the presidents of all countries, which, it seems, took place in Sharm El Sheikh in 1996 (? )
By 8 o'clock, the remaining jeeps and people like photographers, cameramen, etc. pulled up (poor fellows, a film about our excursion on DVD for 25 or 30 dollars was ordered by 1 person, as far as I saw ...I don't know how many people bought a photo for 4 dollars ... ) and moved into the desert. We got a young driver, and there were no especially old passengers. He did all sorts of riding tricks with us - "roller coasters", turns, "washboard" and so on. About the same as the drivers of the other seven jeeps combined. We groaned and squealed. We arrived at the Bedouin camp. We were helped by the stocked Arafats. Then, under a canopy with pillows, tea was given, and the guide Ali told about the history and local customs. Interesting. For example, 1 dollar costs 4 liters of gasoline or 3 liters of water. Every guy has been collecting kalym almost since childhood. It is necessary to buy gold like 10 thousand dollars for 1 dowry.
But with what means then to raise 6 children from his wife - no matter how important, there are no such problems. Those who have 3-4 wives are respected people. 18-20 children, of which 15-16 guys - that is, the army. Someone offends - everyone will come to understand. They kill one or two - it's not a pity. The father does not know the names of the children. "Hey, Mohammed! No? Ahmed! No? Said! But what's the difference - well, come here quickly! " Etc.
Then, again with turns, we drove up to the camel camp. Each of the adults was given one, small children were put on the same camel with adults. When a camel stands up, and especially sits down, you must hold on tight! One Bedouin leads 3-5 camels. One of ours was allocated to a boy of 5 years old - he received buns from the ration (he ate one right there), and after the transition 30 minutes. to the next parking lot - and a dollar for dowry. It's fun to ride a camel - it's high, and it's not weak.
We ate at the parking lot. Then by jeep along the highway - to the Blue Hole (or the Abyss - in short, Blue Hole). It is near the city of Dahab.
On the way, they brought oils, silver, papyri, souvenirs to the store (the price tags on souvenirs are expensive, I didn’t try to bargain). The Blue Hole is a round hole 90 meters deep, it starts right from the shore, there is a pontoon on it. The far edge is bordered by a semicircular reef. In principle, a good route is to walk along the coast further from the Hole (to the left, if facing the sea) to a crevice in the sea, and swim into the sea there. And another 30 meters to swim even further. Then from there swim to the pontoon, that is, to the Hole, and swim there. About 1.5 hours flew by quickly. Lots of small fish. There are no new corals to be seen. They say that it is a very interesting place for diving (with scuba gear). And that sinks a lot. We saw some tablets on the rock - either with the names of the dead, or greetings from those who were diving. Previously, tourists were led on camels right on the water, but now it’s not like that.
The driver rushed back in less than an hour (we returned about 17).
Everywhere I went 100-140 km / h, I overtook everyone, except for a couple of cars. Everyone "did not forget" to give the driver money. We are 5 bucks (although he deserved much more, but the tour itself is expensive). A more reasonable (and taking into account "free" gasoline) would be the price of $ 25 for the company + 15-25 for the driver ...But we have what we have ....
Summary - quite an interesting excursion. And the whole trip - especially the sea.
ACCOMMODATION and ROOM. They were the last to get on the bus from the airport - out of 47 people; -) We arrived at the hotel around 9.00. The bus warned that according to "international standards, check-in from 14.00". This caused a storm of indignation among the "experienced" from 5 * View, who claimed that the check-out time and check-in was 12.00. The hotel said to come to the reception at 11, put on bracelets, it will be possible to go to the beach and have lunch (from 12.30), and the rooms will probably be in the afternoon.
We took from the suitcases that were standing in the very sun outside, near the entrance to the hotel, things for changing clothes, changed in the toilet, and went to the pools on the territory - to ride the slides.
Actually, this was our only visit to the swimming pools. In general, the slides are "cool". And there are a lot of people around the pools.
Arriving around 11 at the reception, we found out that some (apparently those who were sitting in the lobby did not leave) had already put on bracelets and tried to put them in rooms. True, the room was offered with some kind of "small windows" and so on, but people were not the first time, and refused this. At 11 we were wearing bracelets. Bearing in mind the stories on the forums, we provided an area near the elbow as a place to tighten plastic bracelets. This made it easy to remove the bracelet afterwards. True, he could fly off himself, so they always filmed in front of the sea.
The man took me to room 610 to check in. This room is on the first floor, and the closest to the hotel entrance. Pluses - a standard room, with a tiny room, with a large window leading to a balcony overlooking the courtyard with plants, and then - the entrance to the hotel.
To the bus to the beach - 25 m, to the reception and restaurant - 50 m, well, this is the closest point from the entire hotel to any object outside (Soho, beach, shops, etc. ). Away from the pool with its splashing people and evening animation. It cannot be said that the room is dead - apparently the old furniture was recently opened with varnish, and perhaps the walls were painted. Nice tiny bathroom.
Cons - from the room a few meters from the security booth at the entrance to the hotel. Accordingly, voices are heard from there, including at night. But against the background of flying planes (next to the hotel, as you know, the airport strip) and fatigue, or animation at the rooms near the pool, is not fatal. And also, like, guarded all the time; -) In principle, we wanted the 2nd floor, so that there was no access to the balcony from the outside. When they began to talk about the second floor to the man-jack who brought us, he naturally answered that the room was super, and so on.
Since in return they could offer that illiquid asset that they had already offered to someone (see above), and they would probably have demanded money for the shift, they decided not to risk it. We checked the integrity of the remote controls and the operation of electrical appliances, everything seemed to work, we didn’t see any obvious defects for which they could be bred for money when leaving. They gave the man a dollar. Another man brought things - they gave him too.
It soon became clear that the refrigerator was not going to cool - it turned out to have a separate switch. When turned on, it began to cool slightly over time, with the switch position "5" (maybe, however, it should have been "1" - they did not bother to test it). More importantly, when leaving the room, a key with a card is taken, which turns off the air conditioner and most of the outlets. Most - but not all, and we threw the refrigerator to the outlet where the lamp was originally connected, which continued to burn even when the card was removed.
A few days later, one of the table lamps stopped working. They repaired it themselves - there was a screwdriver with them, the wire inside the switch came off.
At the first show of the number, the man-jack told something about the safe. Since there was an instruction manual next to the safe, they looked inattentively - and in vain. Apparently he locked it, but we did not notice the code. Then they called - probably his own, he brought "Mr. X" in a black vest and white shirt, who easily opened the safe. I had to give them a dollar (for two).
The room turned out to be dirty (in secluded places - drawers, etc. - apparently no one cleans it there, but they clean the floor and change the linen. Well, there's nothing to climb in these places! ; -) A couple of times small centipedes were seen in the bathroom. There were no cockroaches, mosquitoes were also not noticed, although a fumigator was specially bought, bugs, thank God, were not noticed either. Small flies flew in a couple of times, but then they disappeared somewhere.
The door to the balcony was rarely opened - the stuffiness in the room was overcome by air conditioning.
In general, the check-in and room turned out to be better than the worst options described on the forums. Perhaps all this showdown with the settlement time is a performance to lower the expectations of customers, and so that later they would rejoice at any improvement in relation to expectations, and lower their requests.
The prospect of figured unfolding of our things by the cleaner was not encouraging. That's why we put up a "do not disturb" sign all the time. It was blown away by the wind, so they fixed it by sticking the tip into the gap of the door. In the middle of the term (the day before the tour) I called the cleaner who was cleaning nearby and asked the next day to clean the beds and the bathroom in our room, but not to touch things. The replacement towels were thrown on the floor. Left 2 dollars. And the same number - at the departure. So he did not lose much because of our unwillingness to constantly use his services.
FOOD and DRINK. Normal food.
No frills. True, there is not much to compare with - I was in Turkey in 2002 also on all-inclusive - though it cost $ 125 then; -) The level of food is about the same. And in the Egyptian restaurants outside the hotel have never been.
I kept waiting for seafood - squid and crabs promised on the forums. Can't wait for the squids. Crabs in the end managed to wait. They were small and overcooked. There were few claws (that is, most crabs did not have them). Meat inside the shell - a little, and overcooked. My understanding is something like this. Probably, the broth for sea soup is cooked from crabs in an Italian restaurant with a menu that is on site. They also prepare a salad with claws. Part of the salad is left for the general restaurant, crab carcasses are also brought here. The same multi-stage food processing is probably for everything. For example, an omelet is made for breakfast. The one that is not eaten is processed for egg desserts at lunch, and so on.
Well, how else - everything that is not eaten in one distribution is not thrown away. (True, all these are the results of my observations of the dishes on the buffet - I have not been in the kitchen, I have not observed a specific technology for using what was not eaten). The main thing here is that processed products do not spoil. And there were no signs of damage. Disorders of the gastrointestinal tract were also not observed.
We must not forget to go out on the terrace every dinner, where something is cooked on the grill. It's hot and delicious. We missed the first few days. Then there were once chopped cutlets from lamb-mutton ("jacket"), well, beef - liver, meat, burgers, etc. from the grill, fish, etc. Actually, I'm mainly interested in lamb, again it (in the same form ) managed to eat in a barbeque bar near the pools, where you can and should sign up for free for 1 time immediately after arrival (see also below). Also, 1 time you need to sign up and visit an Italian restaurant (see below).
also below). They ate exclusively seafood - pizza with them, "pasta" (spaghetti + 2 heaps of seafood for them), fish in a batter-batter (or maybe there were squids in the dough). Everything is delicious (albeit simple). Probably, if possible (did not ask), they would order 1 pizza for each, instead of the 3 listed dishes (pizza was the tastiest).
Alcohol everywhere - local. The first glass is given out by the waiters quite willingly. The next one, not so much. One of the reasons is the lack of glasses. Another - apparently, the desire to receive a tip. Several times I went to the bar of the restaurant myself (the "window" from the restaurant where the bartenders give wine to the waiters), mostly asking the bartenders for undiluted strong drinks or wine. They poured, but somehow reluctantly, with some comments that did not stimulate a second visit to them. Pure "tequila" - did not impress. Whiskey - nothing.
Good undiluted ouzo (anise vodka, this is not for everyone) - as always, in fact - probably, the anise flavor clogs all tastes; -) Beer is normal, especially when freshly poured from a fresh cold barrel. Wine - red, on the first day in the bar of the restaurant was clearly flavored, and white too. That's why I didn't drink them for several days. Then I tried it in the bar near the pool - a good red tart wine, like Shiraz. The white in the Italian restaurant is a good Chardonnay. They poured from bottles - it was necessary, probably, to see what was written on the bottles, but it did not work out. In an ordinary restaurant, then, too, the wine was not as bad as on the first day.
The question of alcohol, and the quality of service in general, is associated with tips. We did not tip at all in the restaurant - only on the last day they gave 10 pounds (a pound was 5.
7 per dollar, changed mainly from my grandfather in a bank near the Concord Hotel) to one waiter who brought us wine several times a few days earlier - but on the last day he, unfortunately, removed the plates. The system of waiters is multi-stage - one at the entrance - such as a manager or administrator, distributes the line to the tables, from where the waiters wave, which prepare tablecloths and cutlery - in light shirts with a small dark pattern, others with green patterns - remove plates, others carry drinks. Such a system makes it difficult to determine who to tip. In addition, he gave it once, which means they will expect it every time, and so on. Waiters - varying degrees of swagger.
One handsome, lively young dandy especially took out - he always strove to take a full plate of food (not only from us, he watched his hilariously surprised physiognomy when customers scolded him for trying to steal a freshly collected full plate of french fries from a child), and addressed like "brother". It looks like a demonstration of the fact that "Yes, I know yours, you are gaining full plates, then you cannot eat, so let's immediately take your grub to the trash. " (I must say, we took as much as we could eat, and left practically nothing - it’s better to go several times if you liked something ... ) It’s good that only once this guy worked on the fence of plates with us (another time he served alcohol, just on the last day, and of course, unlike his colleague, he did not receive anything).
Well, I think they don’t drink - maybe they won’t appreciate it - we’ll also give a couple of dollars (someone wrote that they gave 3 at the end of dinner) - in the hope of wonderful service. And that's how it all developed. First the waiter asked what kind of drinks would you like. We say - depending on what we will eat - if fish, then white wine, meat - red. He says - food then, what with drinks. Ordered red. It turned out good. He immediately brought assorted salads, a little bit of each, and a menu. We liked two salads, thought to order more. Well, a jacket. But he says like - no, you tried the salads, let's order the grill. Moreover, it is not entirely clear whether he understood correctly what we are talking about salads - in Russian and in English. We ordered a jacket. He says what else? Other meat, fish, etc? We say - "no, just a jacket. And what, with the salads" drove "? "He says, like yes, they drove. And again - there is no offer of wine, and so on. I called him and speak English. - What language do you speak - Russian, English?
He speaks better English. - I heard that you don't drink vodka. So? He grits - no, we don't drink. I already wanted to break out into a tirade "well, give it to someone, " but he says - you can’t at work, but after work - you can. I'm asking, so can you have a drink after work? He says yes. I say - well, it's wonderful, here I brought our best vodka, people's choice (people's choice) this year, drink with your friends after work. He was surprised, thanked, took the bag (and there are also seeds - someone wrote that the Egyptians value them). We say - I would like wine. Well, there was no shortage of wine - he wore it all the time, good wine. Learned our names. We pretty quickly "mastered" the jacket - we ask if there is something else from lamb. He says - only a jacket, but I will bring you chicken and other meat. No, make-up, no need, sweatshirts are enough. He brought dessert and more wine, without asking - and we had already "removed" glasses of 5-6, and we didn’t want more tart wine for dessert.
So I took the glasses to him - I say, thank you, we didn’t touch them, but the wine is wonderful, not like in a restaurant, and the service is wonderful (meaning the last part of it), but there’s nowhere else, and here’s a couple more dollars for you, and thanks . Well, bring rum-cola for dessert. He brought it, and the wine did not seem to be gone - he took it to the bartender. So it turned out that he would like to do something to us in return for the gifts, but there was no special opportunity. And if from the very beginning everything was handed over, then there would be more maneuver. I suppose he was waiting for us, as his best friends, in the following days - but there was no time to approach the bar.
The next day - an Italian restaurant. The beginning is similar - two glasses of good white wine. I drain mine in one gulp, no one offers yet, I call the wine peddler (again, there are two waiters, more impressive, who brought the menu, order, and then food, and younger, who took the first order for wine, and then brought wine) and I say - two white guilt.
He walked somewhere, brought one, and then not full, something murmured incomprehensible. Well, I don't think it's possible to live like this. I call the one that is more impressive, I say - what language to speak - well, he, like "in Russian. " I say, your food is delicious, we ate it, and we will eat it up - but in order to fully reveal the range of tastes, it is necessary ....Here he says "I don’t understand this. " I tell him in English - in order to fully reveal the range of flavors, you need to drink a lot of your delicious white wine. And I give him a dollar. He says, like "understood, thanks. " And he brings the boy right with a bottle of wine - he pours us glasses from the bottle, and takes the bottle away. Again a pause - but not a big one - I immediately call him again, or just ask for wine at a distance - they bring it quickly. I give him shortly after the first and second dollar. He is very pleased, he asks - what is his name, very pleasant - Yasser introduces himself (in fact, his name is also on the plate).
At the end of dinner (which actually had already come, we didn’t stay too long) - he came up, was interested in how the food was, how the service was - we say everything is fine. Another guy brings wine - but they didn’t, like the day before, refuse. And they gave the guy a dollar - I suppose the chef would not share ....The next day, in an ordinary restaurant, he approached more impressively, said hello, called by name - well, I did not blunder, not looking at his card, I say "hello Yasser" (they say "I won't forget you - never").
So, did you like the food at the hotel? As I wrote above, "normal food". But, in principle, for lovers of gastronomy, all-inclusive is not a suitable scheme. Half board (HB) costs $200 less. And, as we were told, lunch at a seafood restaurant on the Old Market for two cost $ 25, that is, 12.5 per person, with a tip. We get 200 / 12.5 = 16, that is, 2 restaurant visits per day, where you can expect more variety than in a hotel. On the other hand, it's all theory. We have never been to a restaurant outside the hotel.
We need feedback from those who have actually eaten this way. And also, you will need to constantly solve problems - which restaurant to go to, how to get there, what to order, and whether the new restaurant will turn out to be bad, the food is tasteless or missing, and so on ....
SEA. It is most important. Beach - from the hotel 5 * Sunrise Island View. Where does the bus take you from 8 to 17 in 15 minutes, or go for 10 minutes - like in Soho. Both are not stressful. You can take off the bracelet and use some services for the View Hotel (some benefits - such as food at the beach bar, etc. - can be used with a bracelet. I read that some of them dined there, but I doubt that their food is much better All-inclusive, and ultra all-inclusive, they seem to have special cards). Beach Sunrise Island View - Pobol than neighboring hotels.
Water - 25-26 degrees (like air temperature at night, daytime 30-31). The vast majority are engaged in snorkeling - hanging at the edge of the reef in a mask and snorkel and watching corals and marine life - grandparents, children, and intermediate ages.
There is nothing to do without a mask and a tube - but you can buy them on Soho for 60 pounds (the price is written on them like that, maybe you can bring down ... ). Somewhere they wrote that they bought two masks for $ 10. You can do without fins, and even without slippers (which I did. Slippers are needed only in order to stand on the reef, or not to retire from the coral. Fins - in order to quickly return if you "swam"). We swam for 1.5 - 4 hours in one "swim". The underwater world is fascinating, and out of habit, time flies by very quickly. You don't need to know how to swim. As soon as you lower the mask into the water, the legs rise to the surface, and all that remains is to paddle with your arms and legs to move around - no effort is required to maintain buoyancy. If you swim without a shirt for hours, your back burns ...
The hotel has two plastic pontoons. To the right (to the south) are the pontoons of the Savoy Hotel, and further - the southern tip of the bay. On the left - Concorde, Hilton Sharks Bay, Savita, and further - the northern tip of the bay, behind it is the lighthouse.
Between all the pontoons, you can move by swimming, removing the cables with buoys (when they meet) under you or above you. There are places where boats moor - they must be overcome with your head not in the water, but vigilantly look around! At 17 o'clock it gets dark, and swimming ends - the pontoons are closed.
It is most interesting to swim along the edge of a large reef, or along the perimeter of small individual reefs. I recommend routes - Once to swim to the southern tip of the bay (it's more than 1 hour one way, slowly, with turns and freezes). Another time - to the northern tip - it's more than 2 hours. You can sometimes climb on the pontoons of neighboring hotels to warm up. If you swim back without delay, then you can probably manage in an hour (there was no watch on your hand).
Then, in more detail, you can comb through the areas you like.
I liked the sites just near our pontoons more (maybe because I looked into the underwater "aquarium" there for the first time - and was stunned ; -), as well as in the Savita area (and behind it, closer to the northern tip of the bay), and near the southern end of the bay.
Of the rarer fish, we saw moray eels (one near the last small reef just before the "boat" pontoon in front of the Hilton), rays, lionfish, tylosur, flutes, etc. Unfortunately, nothing was filmed from under the water - there was no desire to mess around with a box for a large camera. And it was already too late to see the sealed cases for mobile phones - and with it the video could be filmed ...And so, people, of course, had fun - they would throw a little food and take pictures in a flock of rushing fish ....
When we flew away, we saw completely different pontoons in the neighboring bay - and maybe piers - seemingly wooden from above, some are very long (maybe almost 5-10 times longer than "ours"), with intermediate platforms at half the length - I wonder, from there too can I swim? ....And is there another underwater world ....
SURROUNDINGS AND TRAVEL. A few hundred meters from the hotel is Soho - a square with new buildings, shops, clubs, cafes, illuminated fountains, an ice rink, etc. Apparently tourists from other places come here, not to mention the surrounding hotels. From seen in Egypt - the most not killed area. The prices are certainly not small - for example, in the White Knight department store and in the department store at the end of Soho. In the middle part - duty-free (only in dutiks in Egypt, alcohol. Within 48 hours after arrival, with a note in the passport, up to 3 liters per person). Prices for alcohol - in dollars are the same as in Kyiv in euros (and EURO / USD, after all, was about 1.4). The choice is richer than at Sharm El Sheikh airport, and cheaper.
It is interesting that in this dutik there is not a single Egyptian product (alcohol, sweets, etc. ). No beer, no.
We went to OldMarket by minibus (blue-blue! ), after breakfast. To go quite far, but the price paid only 3 pounds from the nose - as someone taught. Also trade, like everywhere else - the driver wanted more, but when we said goodbye to him, he agreed.
Arriving at OldMarket, we first decided to swim in the recommended place (partly because the first counter stores were still closed). Namely, they went to the sea - and to the left, along the coast, almost to the tip of the bay, behind the police post. There is a good reef there. Saw several species of new corals and fish. It is necessary to swim from the place of entry even further. Ships with excursions with underwater windows come very close.
The sightseers waved their hands (what an interest to sit outside the window and wave, if you can swim and wave it from the sea ; -) In principle, all the most interesting is in the area from the police pontoon to the tip with the "separated" stone. Further, it is quite far to the next "separated" stone, but no new underwater "pictures" were noticed.
In the afternoon we reached the Market itself. It was already open. On average, everything is cheaper than in Soho. Yes, you have to bargain. If you leave after that, there is a real reset of the price. For example, if the notorious scarab in Soho stores costs 10 dollars, then they start trading from 5, and they gave away 3 pieces for 40 pounds without demonstrating care (that is, apparently, they did not reach the last price). Arafatka - 10-15 pounds. Slippers for the sea - 20 pounds (without special trade). Lots of duty free shops. They also have something local - for example, beer - 7.5 pounds per 0.5l can (or maybe cheaper. In the cafe, they wanted 20). Many sea-food restaurants of varying degrees of prettiness.
We decided to make some grocery purchases in the supermarket (like, in the shop they offered 1 kg of coffee for $ 40, our guides offered 1 kg of coffee + 1 kg of halva + 2 kg of something else for the same 40, and here 1 kg of coffee cost less than $ 10) . We went to the previously mentioned bank to change dollars. But the bank has already closed. The tourists learned that they had been charged a commission in some exchanger (I suppose they should have threatened the police, and they would have returned the commission), a local resident offered to change his acquaintances in the shop, but allegedly there were no pounds there. Someone advised to return to our store - there they changed it in a special machine at a good rate of 5.5.
We went on one excursion - the Abu Galum reserve, in jeeps, for $ 65 per person. Departure "at 6:40". We actually left that way an hour later (this is normal for them - delays). We were based behind a poster with a photograph of the presidents of all countries, which, it seems, took place in Sharm El Sheikh in 1996 (? )
By 8 o'clock, the remaining jeeps and people like photographers, cameramen, etc. pulled up (poor fellows, a film about our excursion on DVD for 25 or 30 dollars was ordered by 1 person, as far as I saw ...I don't know how many people bought a photo for 4 dollars ... ) and moved into the desert. We got a young driver, and there were no especially old passengers. He did all sorts of riding tricks with us - "roller coasters", turns, "washboard" and so on. About the same as the drivers of the other seven jeeps combined. We groaned and squealed. We arrived at the Bedouin camp. We were helped by the stocked Arafats. Then, under a canopy with pillows, tea was given, and the guide Ali told about the history and local customs. Interesting. For example, 1 dollar costs 4 liters of gasoline or 3 liters of water. Every guy has been collecting kalym almost since childhood. It is necessary to buy gold like 10 thousand dollars for 1 dowry.
But with what means then to raise 6 children from his wife - no matter how important, there are no such problems. Those who have 3-4 wives are respected people. 18-20 children, of which 15-16 guys - that is, the army. Someone offends - everyone will come to understand. They kill one or two - it's not a pity. The father does not know the names of the children. "Hey, Mohammed! No? Ahmed! No? Said! But what's the difference - well, come here quickly! " Etc.
Then, again with turns, we drove up to the camel camp. Each of the adults was given one, small children were put on the same camel with adults. When a camel stands up, and especially sits down, you must hold on tight! One Bedouin leads 3-5 camels. One of ours was allocated to a boy of 5 years old - he received buns from the ration (he ate one right there), and after the transition 30 minutes. to the next parking lot - and a dollar for dowry. It's fun to ride a camel - it's high, and it's not weak.
We ate at the parking lot. Then by jeep along the highway - to the Blue Hole (or the Abyss - in short, Blue Hole). It is near the city of Dahab.
On the way, they brought oils, silver, papyri, souvenirs to the store (the price tags on souvenirs are expensive, I didn’t try to bargain). The Blue Hole is a round hole 90 meters deep, it starts right from the shore, there is a pontoon on it. The far edge is bordered by a semicircular reef. In principle, a good route is to walk along the coast further from the Hole (to the left, if facing the sea) to a crevice in the sea, and swim into the sea there. And another 30 meters to swim even further. Then from there swim to the pontoon, that is, to the Hole, and swim there. About 1.5 hours flew by quickly. Lots of small fish. There are no new corals to be seen. They say that it is a very interesting place for diving (with scuba gear). And that sinks a lot. We saw some tablets on the rock - either with the names of the dead, or greetings from those who were diving. Previously, tourists were led on camels right on the water, but now it’s not like that.
The driver rushed back in less than an hour (we returned about 17).
Everywhere I went 100-140 km / h, I overtook everyone, except for a couple of cars. Everyone "did not forget" to give the driver money. We are 5 bucks (although he deserved much more, but the tour itself is expensive). A more reasonable (and taking into account "free" gasoline) would be the price of $ 25 for the company + 15-25 for the driver ...But we have what we have ....
Summary - quite an interesting excursion. And the whole trip - especially the sea.
Translated automatically from Russian. View original
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