Your rating of this hotel:
8.0
from 10
Hotel ratings by criteria:
Rooms:
9.0
Service:
8.0
Cleanliness:
8.0
Food:
8.0
Amenities:
7.0
RED SEA IN A ROYAL RIM
Room categories and price difference
95 Superior Garden View Room - area: 37 sq. m. , bathroom with shower, garden view, balcony or terrace - 00 (base price).
63 Superior Pool View Room - area: 37 sq. m. , one room overlooking the pool, balcony or terrace + $25.
130 Superior Sea View Room - area: 37 sq. m. , sea view +$42
50 Deluxe Sea Front Room - area: 37 sq. m. , direct sea view, balcony or terrace, one extra bed +$83.
4 Junior Suite One Bed Room - area: 95-120 sq. m. , one room, living room, bathroom with bathtub, balcony or terrace, garden view +$208.
Presidential Suites - area: 220 sq. m. , 2 bedrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen and bar, 2 bathrooms, balcony or terrace, sea view +$417.
The hotel has connect rooms.
Therefore, if you did not like the room by the view from the window, and you have a Superior Garden View Room and you would like to have the same room, but with a sea view, then it is reasonable to pay no more than $40 in total, and $25 with a pool view ( on a receipt, and for cash - half as much: black cash is black and no one, even here, pays taxes from it).
August 22.2016 Monday
Contrast
Today is my first night at the Royal Grand Sharm 5* hotel. This is the first of nine days of my stay in this hotel. And my first 5* hotel. I used to stay in 3 and 4 star hotels all the time. In order to always be on the rise of my admiration for hotels on the Red Sea, this time I also adhered to my principle: “Drink alcohol with an increase in fortress degrees, and choose hotels with an increase in “star rating”. Therefore, if there is some overestimation of my opinion about this hotel, it is only because I have not yet seen better and many times more expensive. But for the future, I still have VIP-category hotels in Egypt ...
Judging by the prices, this hotel is not the best in its category. There are also twice as expensive and, most likely, not without reason. But for me, this jump from 3 and 4 stars (before that, I was three times this year in Hurghada and in Sharm El Sheikh in such hotels) to such a prestigious hotel is a great achievement.
But, I think that it’s not evening yet, and I can describe the resorts of Miami in my essays, as an eyewitness ...
My first impression of the Royal Grand Sharm is as follows.
Vacationers. Quite self-sufficient, mostly young people under 30, less often - forty-fifty years old, for whom paying $500-$700 is not a burden and will not be difficult
Service staff.
If in a 3-star hotel (I have not been lower) the poverty of the staff is walking, interrupted by the manager (owner) of the hotel in all sorts of righteous and unrighteous ways, and which in the end is reflected in us, vacationers, then in hotels of the highest category one feels stability and quite stable the material well-being of everyone, from the cleaner to the manager. And all this is explained simply: thanks to our vacationers, sponsoring their work in the process of buying such expensive tours ($100 per day and more).
Even at the 4* Poinciana Sharm Resort, where I stayed for $25 with a flight, many restaurant workers of the “lower rank”, such as waiters, quit when there were few vacationers, and when Arabs with their families came en masse, they stayed for several days. were invited to work; on the rest of the days they "earned some money" as gigolos, offering their services to middle-aged ladies on vacation. One of these young Arabs, about seventeen years old, I had to "reject" from my friend on the beach (January 2016)
Cleaners. The Royal Grand Sharm Hotel cleans the room with high quality and thoroughness, even without a tip. There was not a single case of theft of money or things from tourists. This is explained by the fact that cleaners in hotels of such a high category receive a sufficient salary (again, from our money for the tour) and they have enough, and therefore they value their place.
I simply determine whether the servants, including the cleaners in this hotel, steal or not: I look at what mobile phones they have. If the latest brand is the 8th "iPhone" for several thousand dollars, which, with their meager salaries, you obviously cannot buy. That is, the same principle as in determining the corrupt official of our deputy or prosecutor: the correspondence of the standard of living to the salary. By the way, in one of the 3* hotels in Hurghada, I saw a janitor passing an “iPhone” with a fairly large screen to the gardener (I couldn’t identify the brand, as I saw it from afar). In all likelihood, in Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh, the chain of sale of stolen phones is well established.
I also learned a lot of interesting things while visiting 3 * and 4 * hotels, even many things are not subject to printing. But now my story is about “Royal Grand Sharm” 5 *, and if I mention hotels of a lower category, then just for comparison.
Thanks to the right marketing policy, the Royal Grand Sharm Hotel has no particular problems with occupancy.
You can’t say very well, but the hotel will be able to stay afloat during a crisis. While many hotels of a low category (3.4 stars) are on the verge of collapse. Foreign investors who have invested in the hotel business in Egypt are horrified. Previously, a thriving industry, now brings only losses. And all for geopolitical reasons.
Paradoxically, there is a blessing in disguise: Ukrainians got a real opportunity to inexpensively (at least, much cheaper than before the conflict between Egypt and Russia) to relax on the Red Sea at any time of the year. And not only in the Royal Grand Sharm hotel, but also in the highest class hotels. By the way, acquaintance with the hotels of the highest category, where the elite used to rest, somehow reminds me of excursions to Mezhyhirya - to the penates of the fugitive President Yanukovych ...
August 23.2016 Tuesday
Introduction to heavenly life
I've been in Sharm El Sheikh for a day now. Yesterday evening and night were very eventful.
I fell asleep when dawn rattled over the sea and I, already quite sleepy on a laptop, finished off the last letter of my evening and night impressions ...
From the airport, we were taken to the hotel by a luxury bus of the Anex Tour travel agency in half an hour. Already, approaching the Royal Grand Sharm Hotel, I noticed familiar places: yes, I have already lived here recently, even this winter, in January. Only a hundred meters higher - at the Poinsciana Sarm Resort. And I remember the ring of the road in front of the entrance to the Royal Grand Sharm hotel, where I filmed a smart camel resting in the middle of the road and which I posted on the Internet! That's the news! Moreover, from the height of the third floor of my room at the Poinsiana Sarm Resort 4 *, I watched how the holidaymakers of the Royal Grand Sharm hotel had fun in the evenings.
The music from this hotel flowed for many kilometers around, and the amazing illumination was pleasing to the eye, despite the fact that this holiday was like fun during the plague: around every second hotel, due to the crisis, was closed and immersed in dead, plague silence ...
And here I am in this cherished hotel. And this evening at the Royal Grand Sharm Hotel started with a settlement, which, without starting, turned into dinner, since my departure from Boryspil was in the afternoon and my arrival at Sharm El Sheikh airport was already in the evening. It was a little joy, and on a full stomach, many corners and problems with numbers have already been smoothed out, as a reason for conflict. A very true psychological move of the administration and the reception staff ...Thus, the pleasant-looking and constantly smiling Ahmed appeased the hearts of all 18 newly arrived vacationers and created the first pleasant impression of the hotel.
And this is a tactically correct move, since a hungry person, and even with the excitement and stress experienced during a more than three-hour flight without top dressing (now it has already been removed in order to save money), is very angry and was asking for any conflict with a scandal. And I didn't resist. I put on a blue “All inclusive” bracelet and went to discover the wonders of the local cuisine.
The restaurant hall impressed with its luxury and the size of the three rooms, including the terrace overlooking the sea. Unfortunately, the food in terms of variety and quality did not quite correspond to five stars: and even here, in the closed likeness of a small Paradise on the Red Sea, a crisis was felt. On the other hand, I was surprised by something that is not in other hotels - this is unlimited access to beer - drink as much as you want (and body), and even more surprising - these are juices of several names from packages, and not diluted Jupi powder, as in hotels of 3* and 4* categories.
After a hearty dinner, I introduced myself as a writer and gave the chief manager of the reception service my autographed book about my previous visits to the resorts of Egypt, and checked into an excellent room, where a wonderful view of the sea opened from the third floor. Unfortunately, it was very far from the sea: three hundred meters, and the building in which I was settled seemed to be outside the hotel - in settlements: to get to the hotel, you had to go through security with a detector frame. This confused me a little. After all, in fact, I came to the Red Sea, to a hotel on the first coastline, and I had to live so far from the sea, almost on the second line - at the Poinsiana Sarm Resort 4 * hotel on the second beach line, where I rested this winter. Moreover, I’m used to (just a month ago, not more, not less, but for twenty-two days, in the “Sand Beach Hotel” 3 * in Hurghada, to live on the very shore, when “the head is on the pillow, and the legs are in the sea”.
But with the sunset, their real life begins: trading shops and various entertainment establishments open, and the fun continues long after midnight. They have a completely different rhythm of life compared to us Europeans. And it's natural. Life requires optimal, not extreme conditions. And for me, in terms of creativity, the day began at sunset, like a Muslim during Ramadan. And only then I remembered that I was not on vacation, but on a creative business trip. And therefore, these lines appeared as a result of these reflections.
Enjoying the delights of this life in a small corner of the earthly Paradise, limited by the territory of a five-star hotel on the Red Sea (outside it, one could clearly feel almost a hell similar to ours in Ukraine, but also peppered with war in the Donbass), I began to understand that in this nothing in life comes for free. You have to pay for everything! .
August 24.2016 Wednesday
Independence Day of Ukraine at the restaurant “La Seppia”
This is my third day on the Red Sea. And today is the Independence Day of Ukraine. And I was lucky enough to celebrate this twenty-fifth anniversary of the revival of Ukraine in a five-star hotel in the heart of the Egyptian resort - in Sharm El Sheikh.
From the very morning, to meet the dawn at sea, as planned, did not work. I just overslept corny: until two in the morning I danced at a local disco. And the sea turned out to be not close - half a kilometer down, down a slope, and then under a cliff - such is the specificity of the local relief. So I've been unlucky in that regard. And therefore, already from the first day of my rest, I felt that the dose of the sea in my spiritual diet would be significantly reduced.
I appeared at the sea only at 11 o'clock, just for a couple of hours, as there should be lunch soon. The heat is unbearable. A light breeze from the sea pleasantly caressed, diluting this heat with its breath.
But when he soon disappeared, the stuffiness of the desert and the red-hot stone of the city penetrated and covered the entire coast. And since the sea was under a cliff and four meters from the lowest beach to it, I did not have to feel any fresh breath of the sea. The noise of the waves near the surf is audible, but in order to inhale the smell of the sea and feel the physical proximity of the sea - there is no such thing. And in order to plunge into the sea and see the delights of the underwater world with a mask, you have to go far to the pontoon and along it for a hundred meters for corals ...The only thing that pleased in such a heat was good and always cool beer, here in a bar on the beach itself. I was convinced that the beer was good later - from the incredibly large amount of beer drunk, the head, as in Ukraine from the chemistry of beer, did not hurt ...
The most important national holiday of Ukraine passed without any pomp and, moreover, did not stand out among other days, despite the fact that now 90% of vacationers in Egypt are Ukrainians. Only sometimes in the company of beer drinkers (in August, when the heat is under forty and above, no one drinks hard liquor, even for free in the all inclusive system) on the beach or by the pool on the hotel’s territory, they will remember the holiday and make a toast about it. Yes, in the evening the animators in their performances will remind vacationers about this holiday. And, what especially pleased the Ukrainians at the Royal Grand Sharm Hotel were several Ukrainian satellite TV channels, compared to many other hotels, where Russian TV channels are preferred and not a single Ukrainian one.
I was lucky in the evening on the Independence Day of Ukraine to visit the restaurant “La Seppia” with an international menu: dinner (one visit to which is free by appointment).
My opinion about this restaurant. First of all, I would like to note the special service in the restaurant “La Seppia” and the restaurant itself looked like a pearl in the hotel restaurant service. From the very beginning, I was surprised by the repeated question of the waiter: “How is the service? » But the explanation for this appeared a little later… The hotel management, as it were, wants to show everyone what and how they can, and with an additional payment for the chosen ones, at least every evening… But, unfortunately, only the service was exceptional, as well as the main thing, ordered in advance, with records, dish. By the way, I ordered a fillet of sea bass - a pretty decent piece both in size and excellent taste. Recommend. I didn’t dare to order beef fillet, because I had certain doubts about beef in the main restaurant “Caravanserai” (hard). All other dishes - both in terms of assortment and quality - are the same as in the main restaurant "Caravanserai".
Only here, in the restaurant “La Seppia”, against the backdrop of exquisite service, I was convinced that in the resorts of Egypt, regardless of the “star” of the hotel, all local drinks that are provided according to the “all inclusive” system are of very low quality and even harmful for health, except for bottled beer, bottled water and juices in tetra packs. I especially doubt strong alcoholic drinks, which, obviously, are not made from grain, as we have in Ukraine, but from oil. They are only painted in different colors with the addition of chemical flavors and therefore with different names: "Whisky", "Brandy", "Ouzo" ("Sambuco") and so on. Especially in the practice of Egypt, oh, horror! - in plastic bottles! Such a frank "shmurdyak" in its pure form can only be drunk by Ukrainian or Russian alcoholics, who, fortunately, you will not meet in a five-star hotel.
A little later, I ordered Whiskey, still hoping that, given the elevated category of this restaurant, “it” would be from a different, special barrel. But my hopes to celebrate Independence Day, as it should be in Ukraine, with a pile of vigorous, collapsed in an instant. I was disappointed in Viscara as soon as I raised the glass with it to my nose: the smell of furious technical alcohol from oil hit my sensitive sense of smell so that in an instant I remembered all the terrible moments of my life when, in my youth, I tried to experience everything the worst of alcoholic drinks: "Port wine 77", "Betsman" and so on. But it couldn’t have been worse… Perhaps, for bitter drunkards, such a smell is like a balm for the soul, but for me it’s not very… And therefore, a glass with this killer drink, covered with a napkin so as not to exude its “aroma”, stood untouched until the end of my visit exclusive restaurant. But against this background, my opinion about dry wine has increased by several orders of magnitude.
And therefore, I did not use the option to refuel with food in the main restaurant, as some vacationers advise in the reviews-comments. But perfectly celebrated the Independence Day of Ukraine!
5 is not 3 or even 4!
And any mathematician will say it! And not only a mathematician, but also any first grader and even a preschooler! But I did not know about this until the summer of 2016, but only guessed. And this is not just about numbers, but about the "star" of the hotel on the Red Sea in Egypt ...
For the first time, I seriously doubted the huge difference in these figures in January 2016, when in the evenings from the height of the Poinciana Sharm Resort 3 * hotel on the second coastline, located ten meters higher in level and a hundred meters further, I watched the chic life, literally, under my feet, in the Royal Grand Sharm 5 * hotel.
In those winter, swallowed up by darkness in the literal and figurative sense, in connection with the crisis of the tourist business in Egypt, this island of fun seemed to me a little Paradise and even with its illumination and loud music it reminded me of balls in royal mansions, which were shown only in films. At that time, I even had the idea to sneak into this ball incognito and take part in the fun for the elite. As it was once in the 80s in the Crimea, in Alushta, in the boarding house "Blue Wave", "Slavutich", "Golden Ear" or "Youth" ....But, thinking that the security of this hotel does not receive money in vain, I quickly abandoned this thought ...
By the way, this summer, even having survived this difficult winter and having completely exhausted its reserves (partly by reducing the prices for tours, up to $ 500 for twenty days of rest, which, in particular, I took advantage of), the Poinciana Sharm Resort hotel "ordered a long live".
And my intentions to visit familiar places and see the bartender, with whom I was friends and gave him a glass beer glass in exchange for a bottle of whiskey, turned out to be untenable after talking with the security guard - the only occupant of this hotel ...
There is an even bigger difference in the service of 3* and 5* hotels. Moreover, the impressions of the Sand Beach Hotel 3 * in Hurghada, in which I was last month, and El Samaka Beach, also in Hurghada, but last year, were still fresh in my memory. Although, I must say that the cuisine, and especially the cooked beef in the restaurant of the Sand Beach Hotel, was no worse, and even better than some five-star hotels. I say this as a “real” gourmet who loves to have fun, especially “eat” ...
But in general, I must say, the cuisine in Egypt in any hotel of any category is many orders of magnitude lower compared to the one that was a dozen years ago, when I happened to be in one of the hotels in Sharm El Sheikh (I don’t remember the name anymore ).
The crisis hit mainly that segment in the range of hotel services that was and remains the most attractive for tourists from Ukraine and Russia, the main contingent of consumers of tourist services in Egypt (and also Turkey), lovers of "balls" - food in the "All inclusive".
August 25.2016 Thursday
Evening with tuna. By the pool and by the sea.
On the third day of my stay at the Royal Grand Sharm Hotel, I made another pleasant discovery for myself: it turns out that in the pool bar, for some reason called the Gulf Stream restaurant, after lunch and until the evening you can enjoy delicacies and original dishes. Ice cream is not a novelty, although in the heat of 40? With it, by the way, it significantly increases its rating among other goodies. But the tuna burger that was offered to me today is already something! Unfortunately, it doesn't happen every day. But, nevertheless ...And even with a cold, good quality beer - this is already a heavenly pleasure!
And only one thing was embarrassing: beer here, at the pool bar, is poured into small plastic cups - almost for a couple of sips! And I had to run and stand in line a dozen times, delighting myself and the tuna, so that the tuna would not be left without another portion of beer. And only here I regretted that, when packing before leaving for the airport, I laid out a large glass beer glass: the day before I read in the reviews that there would be no problems with beer or beer dishes in this hotel. They deceived ...“And there is a hole in the old woman ... ” And therefore, my advice to all those flying on vacation to Egypt on the Red Sea, which I came up with in the form of an aphorism in January of this year, relaxing in the four-star Poinciana Sharm Resort, a hundred meters from the current hotel, remains in force: “It is not necessary to take a wife to a resort on the Red Sea, but a large glass of beer is desirable! »
The pool bar "Gulf Stream", I would even say, in the pool, since it is possible to use its services not only from land, but also from the water, where seats are installed in a semicircle flooded into the water and those who wish are happy to relax on them after swimming in the pool, drinking beer, wine or various cocktails ...By the way, I want to note that the majority of vacationers are here, by the pool and in the pool and, most importantly, "closer to the kitchen", where you can always have a bite or even dine in a restaurant " Gulf Stream”, without looking up from the pleasure of splashing in the water and without going out into the forty-degree heat to the main restaurant.
But this does not mean that the pool is better than the sea, although there is another Blue water bar by the sea, with a sufficient assortment of drinks, but with a meager supply of something to eat. But for me, a lover of fun, especially "devour" (but do not think that I am a pig-like glutton), even the kitchen is at a much lower level than the sea.
And why did I, in fact, fly here thousands of kilometers from my home? Of course, it’s not enough to eat and drink beer to the heart’s content – this is enough in Kyiv, although there is no “all inclusive” in Kyiv. Yes, and do not splash all day in chlorinated water, even if there is a convenient service and maintenance, in a word, comfort. And I came to Egypt to the Red Sea! And therefore, never in nine days did I swim in a pool with bleach, but all the daytime I was at the sea and in the sea!
Although the sea at the Royal Grand Sharm hotel disappointed me: shallow water of 100-150 meters and solid corals, most of which are dead, it is forbidden to walk on them, up to fines. And if anyone wants to go to sea, they sit near the shore at a depth of 20-40 cm, depending on the tide. The only one on the 230-meter long beach, the pontoon is located in the far corner of the beach, and it can accommodate 10-15 people at the most. And all in all, there are 350 (! ) vacationers in the hotel ...Make a conclusion.
And all because the Royal Grand Sharm Hotel is located on the highest plateau in Sharm El Sheikh and there is no access to the sea - everywhere there is a 10-meter cliff, and corals in shallow water, which are protected by the Law: they cannot be covered with sand, nor build a bulk dam, as is often done in hotels in Hurghada, where I often rested and the sea was deep and comfortable for swimming along the entire length of the beach, for example, in the Sand Beach Hotel 3 *.
As I understood here, sitting with a beer over tuna, after more than ten hotels I have known in Bulgaria, Turkey and Egypt, “The ideal resort (hotel), just like the ideal woman (wife), does not exist, but there is only a collective image of the ideal” . Then I noticed that I had a new aphorism and it should be attached to the seven thousand previously born of his brothers (Sasha Sim. Placer Aphorisms. Anecdotes. Complete works in twelve volumes. Volume 1. - Kyiv: SIM & HAM Publishing House, - 2014. - 359s. )
Either the Soul was not disposed to a lyrical mood ...But, most likely, it was not so unusual for my feelings that “goosebumps” and I began to create “masterpieces” ...For some reason, the same plots of Nature, as if they were not beautiful, but their repeated repetition is no longer so pleasing and does not affect the feelings of the Soul, as the first time. And, moreover, they become commonplace ...
Maybe I'm tired of looking for a source of inspiration and creativity within myself and it's time for these purposes to get acquainted with the Muse from this World - beautiful and inspiring? . .
August 26.2016 Friday
Low tide
Evening. The sun has already hidden behind the mountains and darkness is about to come - there are still a few minutes of evening twilight left ...I am sitting at the cliff, on the highest rocky platform of the beach of the Royal Grand Sharm hotel, framed, like the bed of the Sultan's beautiful concubine, with flowering bushes. There is a bed, alas, but there is no concubine. But I'm here, high above the sea, for a completely different reason.
Five seconds later, it was followed by the second, and there were several such waves on this hundred-meter race, but the result was the same for everyone: approaching the shore, to the finish line of their movement, they gradually faded away, thinned out and turned into a small swell a meter from the shore ...
I have never seen such a lazy sea! And I explained this passivity of the sea and its waves by the unwillingness of the sea to leave the positions won from the land during the whole day. And who will like it? And all because the owner of the Red Sea, like all the seas on Earth - Neptune, gave the command: “Retreat! " For what reason? - I myself can not even guess ...And where does the sea go? You have to obey. And therefore the sea moves further and further away from the shore, leaving behind it in shallow water no longer a swell, but an increasingly larger calm mirror of water, on which the points of corals and the tops of small stones only occasionally showed through.
The sea gradually thinned along the entire coastline, gradually giving the land an increasing area of its bottom. Low tide…
And behind the reef, a hundred meters from the shore, in the open sea it was calm and serene - not a single wave, as if it were not a sea, but a lake or a pond. It turns out that it was this reef that created coastal waves at low tide.
But all these are external visual and auditory effects that the sea emits, and I perceive them with my senses. This is just a tiny fraction of what the essence of the sea is. And therefore, for several years now, having been on the Black, and recently on the Mediterranean and Red Seas, I have been trying to comprehend the essence of the sea not with the senses of the body, but with the senses of the Soul. And I am sure that after such perceptions of the sea as today, I am getting closer and closer to this goal...And soon I will state everything that I have comprehended in words and phrases, if it is possible to do this with these instruments of our World...
That's right! And who needs food riots? Especially the authorities...
One case from my resort practice prompted me to this topic. One day, after consuming proven quality beer every day, I decided to try other drinks, in particular one of the packaged juices. And after two glasses, I developed heartburn ...The conclusion was unambiguous ...
But there is a more reliable way to determine quality drinks other than spirits. This is to observe which of the drinks the attendants drink, in particular, the bartender and waiters. After all, in the forty-degree heat they can’t not drink anything, especially since it’s for nothing ...And they probably won’t drink any filth there. Mango juice turned out to be the best drink at the Royal Grand Sharm…
August 27.2016 Saturday
Hotel evaluation criteria
Yesterday I crossed the midday of my holiday in Sharm El Sheikh and today I started the countdown. I only have four vacation days left.
And every minute this term is melting, tending to zero. It is more expedient to think so - in order to appreciate every day on the Red Sea. And then a new countdown will begin in the normal mode of life and in normal circumstances. Such as this tour to the Red Sea - inclusions, like pearls in my life, lasting a week or two, maximum - three. And in terms of quality of life - far superior to the dullness of everyday life. Although I can’t call everyday life in Kyiv absolutely gray, because almost every day I create something ...A tour to the Red Sea for me, as for a creative person, which I consider myself to be, is an additional incentive to awaken the layers of the Soul that have not yet awakened, something unusual, euphoric. And, as a consequence of this, the creative outpouring of my feelings of the Soul on paper.
But, most importantly, and what I am most afraid of, is that these pearls in my life do not turn into everyday everyday life, which, passing by me, do not touch the sensitive strings of my Soul, as happened with air travel. But in this case, I have a big leap: I immediately jumped from the conditions of three-star hotels to a five-star one! The contrast of pleasant impressions is evident. And so I try to use every moment of it.
After five days in a five-star hotel, I can appreciate it more thoroughly than the lower category hotels I've been to before. What criteria can characterize a 5-star hotel? First of all, it's comfort.
Getting into such a comfortable environment, you feel like in a completely different world, if not in a fairy tale, then artificially and originally created by human talent, his hands, head and heart, in compliance with all the requirements and desires of vacationers. These are also original architectural forms, starting from the lobby of the main building - the face of the hotel, where the porter service (reception) is located, and to landscape design throughout the hotel. But all this was created once, initially during its design, without significant changes throughout its life. This is, in fact, the concept of each particular hotel. And everyone has their own.
The second characteristic of the hotel is the service, which must be maintained at a level corresponding to the category of the hotel, every day, and even at night. And should treat every guest of the hotel, without exception and equally. Except when you want a special service for a fee.
For example, if you want waiters to serve you constantly and everywhere, not only in a restaurant, but also on the beach, constantly reward them with generous tips - they will guess all your desires before they appear in your head, and immediately fulfill them.
The third main criterion in evaluating a hotel is the quality and range of food and drinks - this is what a vacationer needs every day and several times. Unfortunately, during the crisis, all hotels, regardless of the category, save the most on this.
And the main thing that prevails over all this is the location of the hotel: in which resort (Sharm El Sheikh, Hurghada, etc. ), and at what distance from the main resort amenities that this resort is famous for (sea, first or second coastline; mountains, forests), one or another hotel is located.
At the distance of the hotel and the hotel room itself from the sea, I would like to dwell in more detail, since the sea is the main thing we go to the resorts of Egypt for. Because nowhere in the world is there such a wonderful sea as the Red Sea. And for comparison, I'll take my last three tours to Egypt: "Poinciana Sharm Resort" 4 * in Sharm El Sheikh; "Sand Beach Hotel" 3 * in Hurghada and the current "Royal Grand Sharm" 5 *, Sharm El Sheikh. These hotels are different, primarily in terms of remoteness and convenience of using the sea.
"Poinciana Sharm Resort" 4 * is located on the second coastline and to the sea in a detour around the hotels of the first line - 3 km. The bus runs regularly three times a day. But is it really a vacation at the sea, when you can’t go to the sea at any moment and plunge into its grace. But it turns out you are like a poor relative ...It's good that I was in this hotel in the winter, in January, when, due to strong winds and a storm, swimming was unpleasant and even forbidden.
"Sand Beach Hotel" 3 * is located on the first coastline and the sea along the entire coast of the beach is very convenient for swimming. In addition, my room was right on the beach. And this, despite the low level of service and comfort (after all, only 3 *), but I liked it the most. And in terms of comfort, El Samaka Beach 3 * is much better in the same place in Hurghada.
"Royal Grand Sharm" 5 *, although it is located on the first coastline, it is impossible to swim, except from a pontoon: corals. And therefore inferior to hotels of a lower category, but with excellent entry into the sea. True, such hotels are most often located in Hurghada. And although I have a panoramic view of the sea, it’s far from the sea - from half a kilometer: this is the most distant building in the hotel from the sea. No luck ...even despite the book presented by the reception about the resorts in Egypt. And again they deceived the old Jew ...
August 28.2016 Sunday
Cloudy morning on the Red Sea
For the first time, in all the days of my stay in Egypt, from the very morning the whole sky was covered with clouds.
And I was offended that in such a short holiday period, only eight days, I have to lose so much sunny time, especially in conditions of increased five-star comfort. And time flies incredibly fast here: before I had time to settle down and enjoy all the charms of this small earthly Paradise, there were already a few days left, almost hours before departure. Apparently, such is human psychology: the better and happier life is, the faster it passes; and the worse and harder the days, the longer, it seems, they stretch to infinity, and there is no end to them. So is our whole life in separate segments of its time. Nevertheless, everything is forgotten, except for the most significant and beautiful, and, surprisingly, the saddest and most unfavorable periods of our lives. For example, we remember the happy moments of our childhood - just separate plots, like glimpses of the same Sun through the clouds ...
Midnight.
And, interestingly, believe me, an old alcoholic, in such cases there comes a period when the human body takes “on the chest” indefinitely, blocking the flow of alcohol into the blood. Apparently, this is self-defense of the body. Again, up to a certain point, after which memory blocking occurs: a person lives on autopilot.
But here in Egypt it is somewhat different. Night African heat and stuffiness, especially in August, in the absence of the opportunity to cool the heated body in the sea font, does not allow you to relax. And you have to restrain yourself even with the seeming "freebie", such as "all inclusive".
August 29.2016 Monday
The seventh day of the resort
Today - already a whole week, as I am at a resort in Sharm El Sheikh. Many who have flown in with me are already flying away today ...After all, here in Egypt and in many other countries, the standard period for tours is seven days. And it still remains a mystery to me.
Why, for example, not 14 days or even 24, as was the order of the day in the Soviet Union? And what is seven days? This is a moment! I didn’t have time to fly in, to know everything, to enjoy it, especially if I took a few more excursions, and it’s time to fly away. Yes, and a flight by plane is not cheap, although it is significantly cheaper due to charter flights. And for people like me, I’m also unsafe - every time you drive the thought into the back corner of your mind that the plane can crash on the ground, especially during takeoff or landing ...And therefore, I, personally, try to choose tours with a maximum period - firstly, you rest longer, approaching the Soviet long-term rest system; secondly, you get on the plane less often (you reduce the likelihood of “flopping”); and, thirdly, you hope to save on flights: after all, for example, in 21 days of rest (three standard tours of seven days each) you fly twice: back and forth, and not six times!
This happened repeatedly when choosing three- and four-star hotels. But I can’t afford five-star hotels for such a long period of time and I chose eight days for the test at the end of August ...
The heat is terrible, as for us inhabitants of high latitudes. For the Arabs, of course, this is in the order of things - they have adapted! The sea is far away. Firstly, they settled me, albeit with a panoramic view of the edge of the sea, in settlements - in the building farthest from the sea: five hundred meters from the sea, because the territory of the hotel is huge - more than three hectares! And the sea itself is a hundred meters shallow from the shore - ankle-deep and with dangerous corals: you won’t enter without special shoes. And if you walk twenty meters, they will definitely whistle you from the coast guard with a threat to fine you for violating the environmental and environmental legislation of Egypt.
And therefore, having arrived at the Red Sea, I rarely really go to the sea and the sea, as it was earlier in the Sand Beach Hotel 3 * and El Samaka Beach 3 * hotels in Hurghada, where I lived in a building on on the very shore of the sea, when "the head is on the pillow, and the feet are in the sea. " So it’s impossible to sit in the sea for 2-3 hours and extinguish excess heat in the water. And, what’s more, it’s a shame that living in the “settlements”, practically outside the hotel (you enter the hotel as if from the street), you lose the opportunity to enjoy the landscape and park design, swimming pools and other infrastructure of the hotel, since this territory is only being equipped. And I especially felt this infringement tonight, when after midnight I was not too lazy to go down the elevator to the lower part of the hotel - to the recreation area and in the silence of the night enjoy all the delights that the hotel provides to "white people": there the category of rooms and, of course, the price is much higher …
Imagine. Night. Silence.
But the bright lighting from the lanterns and spotlights does not allow the night to completely absorb the hotel into its insides. With a variety of designs, these lanterns are strong enough to withstand the night. Night is not a time of day - it is a special world! And I realized this only today, here, in the silence of the night among the unique architectural and landscape charms of a five-star hotel.
Most of us sleep at night: this is how human physiology works. Sleeps and dreams, instead of observing the miracle of the night and writing poems or essays from it. And just enjoy the night in silence, when no one will let you interfere and distract you through the trifles of everyday bustle.
But you also need to tune in to the frequency of the night, start living in unison with it. Otherwise, except for night fears and rejection from it, you will not see anything, and you will not feel all the delights of the night world.
There will be a veil of darkness before the eyes, which closes everything and by inertia blocks hearing, sight and all other sense organs of the body, including the feelings of the Soul.
August 30.2016 Tuesday
Luggage packing scam
We get on the bus to go to the airport. On the way, the guide, making square frightened eyes, asks: "What, you weren't warned about the need to pack your luggage in a film? You can't do without it! New rules! " where to pack. And who wants to return before the flight? To be "unlucky"?...Naturally, we agree to the second option. And the second option is already $5 for one piece of luggage! . .
If you saw the smug face of the guide and his smirk, you would immediately guess about the rollback of $1 from each luggage! Fifty bucks in half an hour put in his pocket! But on me, on an old Jew, this guide passed.
Just in case, I had a supply of a cellophane bag from Auchan - in Kyiv in all Auchans - take it - I don’t want it! Self-service.
At the airport, I didn’t pack my luggage until the last moment - I was just too lazy. And he knew from Boryspil that this was a voluntary matter. But at the registration I saw a whole cart with several rolls of a free sketch, and whoever wanted to, packed it. I continued to ignore this operation. And then some airport clerk picked up my bag and began to pack it skillfully and with great passion. Naturally, for free. He was even pleased that I let him do it ...
Guys, after the second day of arrival at the hotel, the scammer guide sold you for a triple price of the tour, there is nothing to be surprised at and keep your ears sharp!
On the eve of departure from Egypt.
Evening. I am at Sharm El Sheikh airport. The mood is unusual. If you characterize it in one word, which this moment has surfaced by itself, it is the state of the winner.
I won a significant victory - overcame myself and jumped to a higher level of relaxation after decades of living in four-but, most often, three-star hotels on the Red and Mediterranean Seas.
I remember the events of ten days ago, when, after an obsessive search for a five-star hotel in Sharm El Sheikh, on the first coastline, and sorting through hundreds of options, I found the only one, not expensive and with a high, judging by the reviews, reputation ...
And so I learned the delights of a five-star hotel in the resort capital of Egypt. I overcame, first of all, myself psychologically, in my desire to save on myself, on my vacation. Although, as I have seen now, you can relax in a five-star hotel no more than in a four- or even three-star hotel, if you take a "burning" tour. And cheaper than in similar sanatoriums in Transcarpathia, near Kherson or in Odessa ...
How dangerous it is to write positive hotel reviews
It is useful to read hotel reviews so as not to get into trouble (there is such a secluded and most unpleasant place) and choose what you want. Yes, only writing positive comments about hotels is not always useful for the one who writes. For example, in early November I wrote a positive review about the Royal Grand Sharm hotel, though very broadly and emotionally, about how wonderful it is to relax on the Red Sea and in such a hotel, especially when you are a creative person. And then I decided to celebrate my birthday (November 21) in this hotel: I picked up a very inexpensive tour for 9 nights and 10 days for only $476 (and there are such cheap tours to this good five-star hotel! ) with a departure on November 20.
And what would you think? My positive review in all respects about the Royal Grand Sharm hotel was read by everyone who doubted the choice of the hotel these days and my comment helped them in their choice!
That many have read it, I judge by the number of views - and even by visiting my Facebook page with a request to invite me as a friend. Up to a hundred a day! (although previously it was 1-2 per month), since only friends can read posts on Facebook. And this demand for the hotel instantly raised the price of tours by an average of $100! "Anex Tour", most of the numbers "Royal Grand Sharm" - it thus played on the increase in demand. And by the time I got to the travel agency, the price had already risen to an unattainable value for me and continued to grow. That's how I, through my own fault, was left "with a nose. " And now, instead of having a fun holiday in a wonderful earthly paradise on the Red Sea at the Royal Grand Sharm hotel and dancing in a disco after moderately taken “on the chest”, I will have to quietly be sad, contemplating the dull slush of late Kyiv autumn ...It's a shame, yes, yes -a? (And maybe "Anex Tour" will return the previous prices for at least one tour for me - on November 20? At least it will be decent of him ... )
And then the thought flashed through my mind: “Or maybe vice versa? » For example, a “comrade” (but after the next one he is no longer our friend) was going to go to a resort. And there is not enough money. “Give me, I think, I’ll write a negative review: dozens of diarrhea, and droppers, and theft ...People will read it - and you won’t drag them there on the lasso. Demand will decrease and prices will fall. So I’ll go to the resort almost “for free! "And maybe a dishonest competitor will charge such a "duck" ...Or a hysterical aunt-scandalist will do the same ...Therefore, friends, the conclusion: Do not try to write a positive review about the hotel you are going to go to soon, as I did - at your own expense! Do not believe all the comments and reviews about hotels in a row, especially if there are one or two of them. Read everything and find the Truth!
In abbreviation. Full text: "Holidays in Egypt" https://www. facebook. com/sashasim. Egypt/
And in the book: Sasha Sim. Red Sea: Corner of the earthly Paradise. Travel notes from Egypt. - Kyiv: SIM & HAM Publishing House, - 2017. - 535p.
, illus. ISBN 966-8802-17-9
© Sasha Sim (Alexander Golovko), 2017
Room categories and price difference
95 Superior Garden View Room - area: 37 sq. m. , bathroom with shower, garden view, balcony or terrace - 00 (base price).
63 Superior Pool View Room - area: 37 sq. m. , one room overlooking the pool, balcony or terrace + $25.
130 Superior Sea View Room - area: 37 sq. m. , sea view +$42
50 Deluxe Sea Front Room - area: 37 sq. m. , direct sea view, balcony or terrace, one extra bed +$83.
4 Junior Suite One Bed Room - area: 95-120 sq. m. , one room, living room, bathroom with bathtub, balcony or terrace, garden view +$208.
Presidential Suites - area: 220 sq. m. , 2 bedrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen and bar, 2 bathrooms, balcony or terrace, sea view +$417.
The hotel has connect rooms.
Therefore, if you did not like the room by the view from the window, and you have a Superior Garden View Room and you would like to have the same room, but with a sea view, then it is reasonable to pay no more than $40 in total, and $25 with a pool view ( on a receipt, and for cash - half as much: black cash is black and no one, even here, pays taxes from it).
August 22.2016 Monday
Contrast
Today is my first night at the Royal Grand Sharm 5* hotel. This is the first of nine days of my stay in this hotel. And my first 5* hotel. I used to stay in 3 and 4 star hotels all the time. In order to always be on the rise of my admiration for hotels on the Red Sea, this time I also adhered to my principle: “Drink alcohol with an increase in fortress degrees, and choose hotels with an increase in “star rating”. Therefore, if there is some overestimation of my opinion about this hotel, it is only because I have not yet seen better and many times more expensive. But for the future, I still have VIP-category hotels in Egypt ...
Judging by the prices, this hotel is not the best in its category. There are also twice as expensive and, most likely, not without reason. But for me, this jump from 3 and 4 stars (before that, I was three times this year in Hurghada and in Sharm El Sheikh in such hotels) to such a prestigious hotel is a great achievement.
But, I think that it’s not evening yet, and I can describe the resorts of Miami in my essays, as an eyewitness ...
My first impression of the Royal Grand Sharm is as follows.
Vacationers. Quite self-sufficient, mostly young people under 30, less often - forty-fifty years old, for whom paying $500-$700 is not a burden and will not be difficult
Service staff.
If in a 3-star hotel (I have not been lower) the poverty of the staff is walking, interrupted by the manager (owner) of the hotel in all sorts of righteous and unrighteous ways, and which in the end is reflected in us, vacationers, then in hotels of the highest category one feels stability and quite stable the material well-being of everyone, from the cleaner to the manager. And all this is explained simply: thanks to our vacationers, sponsoring their work in the process of buying such expensive tours ($100 per day and more).
Even at the 4* Poinciana Sharm Resort, where I stayed for $25 with a flight, many restaurant workers of the “lower rank”, such as waiters, quit when there were few vacationers, and when Arabs with their families came en masse, they stayed for several days. were invited to work; on the rest of the days they "earned some money" as gigolos, offering their services to middle-aged ladies on vacation. One of these young Arabs, about seventeen years old, I had to "reject" from my friend on the beach (January 2016)
Cleaners. The Royal Grand Sharm Hotel cleans the room with high quality and thoroughness, even without a tip. There was not a single case of theft of money or things from tourists. This is explained by the fact that cleaners in hotels of such a high category receive a sufficient salary (again, from our money for the tour) and they have enough, and therefore they value their place.
I simply determine whether the servants, including the cleaners in this hotel, steal or not: I look at what mobile phones they have. If the latest brand is the 8th "iPhone" for several thousand dollars, which, with their meager salaries, you obviously cannot buy. That is, the same principle as in determining the corrupt official of our deputy or prosecutor: the correspondence of the standard of living to the salary. By the way, in one of the 3* hotels in Hurghada, I saw a janitor passing an “iPhone” with a fairly large screen to the gardener (I couldn’t identify the brand, as I saw it from afar). In all likelihood, in Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh, the chain of sale of stolen phones is well established.
I also learned a lot of interesting things while visiting 3 * and 4 * hotels, even many things are not subject to printing. But now my story is about “Royal Grand Sharm” 5 *, and if I mention hotels of a lower category, then just for comparison.
Thanks to the right marketing policy, the Royal Grand Sharm Hotel has no particular problems with occupancy.
You can’t say very well, but the hotel will be able to stay afloat during a crisis. While many hotels of a low category (3.4 stars) are on the verge of collapse. Foreign investors who have invested in the hotel business in Egypt are horrified. Previously, a thriving industry, now brings only losses. And all for geopolitical reasons.
Paradoxically, there is a blessing in disguise: Ukrainians got a real opportunity to inexpensively (at least, much cheaper than before the conflict between Egypt and Russia) to relax on the Red Sea at any time of the year. And not only in the Royal Grand Sharm hotel, but also in the highest class hotels. By the way, acquaintance with the hotels of the highest category, where the elite used to rest, somehow reminds me of excursions to Mezhyhirya - to the penates of the fugitive President Yanukovych ...
August 23.2016 Tuesday
Introduction to heavenly life
I've been in Sharm El Sheikh for a day now. Yesterday evening and night were very eventful.
I fell asleep when dawn rattled over the sea and I, already quite sleepy on a laptop, finished off the last letter of my evening and night impressions ...
From the airport, we were taken to the hotel by a luxury bus of the Anex Tour travel agency in half an hour. Already, approaching the Royal Grand Sharm Hotel, I noticed familiar places: yes, I have already lived here recently, even this winter, in January. Only a hundred meters higher - at the Poinsciana Sarm Resort. And I remember the ring of the road in front of the entrance to the Royal Grand Sharm hotel, where I filmed a smart camel resting in the middle of the road and which I posted on the Internet! That's the news! Moreover, from the height of the third floor of my room at the Poinsiana Sarm Resort 4 *, I watched how the holidaymakers of the Royal Grand Sharm hotel had fun in the evenings.
The music from this hotel flowed for many kilometers around, and the amazing illumination was pleasing to the eye, despite the fact that this holiday was like fun during the plague: around every second hotel, due to the crisis, was closed and immersed in dead, plague silence ...
And here I am in this cherished hotel. And this evening at the Royal Grand Sharm Hotel started with a settlement, which, without starting, turned into dinner, since my departure from Boryspil was in the afternoon and my arrival at Sharm El Sheikh airport was already in the evening. It was a little joy, and on a full stomach, many corners and problems with numbers have already been smoothed out, as a reason for conflict. A very true psychological move of the administration and the reception staff ...Thus, the pleasant-looking and constantly smiling Ahmed appeased the hearts of all 18 newly arrived vacationers and created the first pleasant impression of the hotel.
And this is a tactically correct move, since a hungry person, and even with the excitement and stress experienced during a more than three-hour flight without top dressing (now it has already been removed in order to save money), is very angry and was asking for any conflict with a scandal. And I didn't resist. I put on a blue “All inclusive” bracelet and went to discover the wonders of the local cuisine.
The restaurant hall impressed with its luxury and the size of the three rooms, including the terrace overlooking the sea. Unfortunately, the food in terms of variety and quality did not quite correspond to five stars: and even here, in the closed likeness of a small Paradise on the Red Sea, a crisis was felt. On the other hand, I was surprised by something that is not in other hotels - this is unlimited access to beer - drink as much as you want (and body), and even more surprising - these are juices of several names from packages, and not diluted Jupi powder, as in hotels of 3* and 4* categories.
After a hearty dinner, I introduced myself as a writer and gave the chief manager of the reception service my autographed book about my previous visits to the resorts of Egypt, and checked into an excellent room, where a wonderful view of the sea opened from the third floor. Unfortunately, it was very far from the sea: three hundred meters, and the building in which I was settled seemed to be outside the hotel - in settlements: to get to the hotel, you had to go through security with a detector frame. This confused me a little. After all, in fact, I came to the Red Sea, to a hotel on the first coastline, and I had to live so far from the sea, almost on the second line - at the Poinsiana Sarm Resort 4 * hotel on the second beach line, where I rested this winter. Moreover, I’m used to (just a month ago, not more, not less, but for twenty-two days, in the “Sand Beach Hotel” 3 * in Hurghada, to live on the very shore, when “the head is on the pillow, and the legs are in the sea”.
But with the sunset, their real life begins: trading shops and various entertainment establishments open, and the fun continues long after midnight. They have a completely different rhythm of life compared to us Europeans. And it's natural. Life requires optimal, not extreme conditions. And for me, in terms of creativity, the day began at sunset, like a Muslim during Ramadan. And only then I remembered that I was not on vacation, but on a creative business trip. And therefore, these lines appeared as a result of these reflections.
Enjoying the delights of this life in a small corner of the earthly Paradise, limited by the territory of a five-star hotel on the Red Sea (outside it, one could clearly feel almost a hell similar to ours in Ukraine, but also peppered with war in the Donbass), I began to understand that in this nothing in life comes for free. You have to pay for everything! .
August 24.2016 Wednesday
Independence Day of Ukraine at the restaurant “La Seppia”
This is my third day on the Red Sea. And today is the Independence Day of Ukraine. And I was lucky enough to celebrate this twenty-fifth anniversary of the revival of Ukraine in a five-star hotel in the heart of the Egyptian resort - in Sharm El Sheikh.
From the very morning, to meet the dawn at sea, as planned, did not work. I just overslept corny: until two in the morning I danced at a local disco. And the sea turned out to be not close - half a kilometer down, down a slope, and then under a cliff - such is the specificity of the local relief. So I've been unlucky in that regard. And therefore, already from the first day of my rest, I felt that the dose of the sea in my spiritual diet would be significantly reduced.
I appeared at the sea only at 11 o'clock, just for a couple of hours, as there should be lunch soon. The heat is unbearable. A light breeze from the sea pleasantly caressed, diluting this heat with its breath.
But when he soon disappeared, the stuffiness of the desert and the red-hot stone of the city penetrated and covered the entire coast. And since the sea was under a cliff and four meters from the lowest beach to it, I did not have to feel any fresh breath of the sea. The noise of the waves near the surf is audible, but in order to inhale the smell of the sea and feel the physical proximity of the sea - there is no such thing. And in order to plunge into the sea and see the delights of the underwater world with a mask, you have to go far to the pontoon and along it for a hundred meters for corals ...The only thing that pleased in such a heat was good and always cool beer, here in a bar on the beach itself. I was convinced that the beer was good later - from the incredibly large amount of beer drunk, the head, as in Ukraine from the chemistry of beer, did not hurt ...
The most important national holiday of Ukraine passed without any pomp and, moreover, did not stand out among other days, despite the fact that now 90% of vacationers in Egypt are Ukrainians. Only sometimes in the company of beer drinkers (in August, when the heat is under forty and above, no one drinks hard liquor, even for free in the all inclusive system) on the beach or by the pool on the hotel’s territory, they will remember the holiday and make a toast about it. Yes, in the evening the animators in their performances will remind vacationers about this holiday. And, what especially pleased the Ukrainians at the Royal Grand Sharm Hotel were several Ukrainian satellite TV channels, compared to many other hotels, where Russian TV channels are preferred and not a single Ukrainian one.
I was lucky in the evening on the Independence Day of Ukraine to visit the restaurant “La Seppia” with an international menu: dinner (one visit to which is free by appointment).
My opinion about this restaurant. First of all, I would like to note the special service in the restaurant “La Seppia” and the restaurant itself looked like a pearl in the hotel restaurant service. From the very beginning, I was surprised by the repeated question of the waiter: “How is the service? » But the explanation for this appeared a little later… The hotel management, as it were, wants to show everyone what and how they can, and with an additional payment for the chosen ones, at least every evening… But, unfortunately, only the service was exceptional, as well as the main thing, ordered in advance, with records, dish. By the way, I ordered a fillet of sea bass - a pretty decent piece both in size and excellent taste. Recommend. I didn’t dare to order beef fillet, because I had certain doubts about beef in the main restaurant “Caravanserai” (hard). All other dishes - both in terms of assortment and quality - are the same as in the main restaurant "Caravanserai".
Only here, in the restaurant “La Seppia”, against the backdrop of exquisite service, I was convinced that in the resorts of Egypt, regardless of the “star” of the hotel, all local drinks that are provided according to the “all inclusive” system are of very low quality and even harmful for health, except for bottled beer, bottled water and juices in tetra packs. I especially doubt strong alcoholic drinks, which, obviously, are not made from grain, as we have in Ukraine, but from oil. They are only painted in different colors with the addition of chemical flavors and therefore with different names: "Whisky", "Brandy", "Ouzo" ("Sambuco") and so on. Especially in the practice of Egypt, oh, horror! - in plastic bottles! Such a frank "shmurdyak" in its pure form can only be drunk by Ukrainian or Russian alcoholics, who, fortunately, you will not meet in a five-star hotel.
A little later, I ordered Whiskey, still hoping that, given the elevated category of this restaurant, “it” would be from a different, special barrel. But my hopes to celebrate Independence Day, as it should be in Ukraine, with a pile of vigorous, collapsed in an instant. I was disappointed in Viscara as soon as I raised the glass with it to my nose: the smell of furious technical alcohol from oil hit my sensitive sense of smell so that in an instant I remembered all the terrible moments of my life when, in my youth, I tried to experience everything the worst of alcoholic drinks: "Port wine 77", "Betsman" and so on. But it couldn’t have been worse… Perhaps, for bitter drunkards, such a smell is like a balm for the soul, but for me it’s not very… And therefore, a glass with this killer drink, covered with a napkin so as not to exude its “aroma”, stood untouched until the end of my visit exclusive restaurant. But against this background, my opinion about dry wine has increased by several orders of magnitude.
And therefore, I did not use the option to refuel with food in the main restaurant, as some vacationers advise in the reviews-comments. But perfectly celebrated the Independence Day of Ukraine!
5 is not 3 or even 4!
And any mathematician will say it! And not only a mathematician, but also any first grader and even a preschooler! But I did not know about this until the summer of 2016, but only guessed. And this is not just about numbers, but about the "star" of the hotel on the Red Sea in Egypt ...
For the first time, I seriously doubted the huge difference in these figures in January 2016, when in the evenings from the height of the Poinciana Sharm Resort 3 * hotel on the second coastline, located ten meters higher in level and a hundred meters further, I watched the chic life, literally, under my feet, in the Royal Grand Sharm 5 * hotel.
In those winter, swallowed up by darkness in the literal and figurative sense, in connection with the crisis of the tourist business in Egypt, this island of fun seemed to me a little Paradise and even with its illumination and loud music it reminded me of balls in royal mansions, which were shown only in films. At that time, I even had the idea to sneak into this ball incognito and take part in the fun for the elite. As it was once in the 80s in the Crimea, in Alushta, in the boarding house "Blue Wave", "Slavutich", "Golden Ear" or "Youth" ....But, thinking that the security of this hotel does not receive money in vain, I quickly abandoned this thought ...
By the way, this summer, even having survived this difficult winter and having completely exhausted its reserves (partly by reducing the prices for tours, up to $ 500 for twenty days of rest, which, in particular, I took advantage of), the Poinciana Sharm Resort hotel "ordered a long live".
And my intentions to visit familiar places and see the bartender, with whom I was friends and gave him a glass beer glass in exchange for a bottle of whiskey, turned out to be untenable after talking with the security guard - the only occupant of this hotel ...
There is an even bigger difference in the service of 3* and 5* hotels. Moreover, the impressions of the Sand Beach Hotel 3 * in Hurghada, in which I was last month, and El Samaka Beach, also in Hurghada, but last year, were still fresh in my memory. Although, I must say that the cuisine, and especially the cooked beef in the restaurant of the Sand Beach Hotel, was no worse, and even better than some five-star hotels. I say this as a “real” gourmet who loves to have fun, especially “eat” ...
But in general, I must say, the cuisine in Egypt in any hotel of any category is many orders of magnitude lower compared to the one that was a dozen years ago, when I happened to be in one of the hotels in Sharm El Sheikh (I don’t remember the name anymore ).
The crisis hit mainly that segment in the range of hotel services that was and remains the most attractive for tourists from Ukraine and Russia, the main contingent of consumers of tourist services in Egypt (and also Turkey), lovers of "balls" - food in the "All inclusive".
August 25.2016 Thursday
Evening with tuna. By the pool and by the sea.
On the third day of my stay at the Royal Grand Sharm Hotel, I made another pleasant discovery for myself: it turns out that in the pool bar, for some reason called the Gulf Stream restaurant, after lunch and until the evening you can enjoy delicacies and original dishes. Ice cream is not a novelty, although in the heat of 40? With it, by the way, it significantly increases its rating among other goodies. But the tuna burger that was offered to me today is already something! Unfortunately, it doesn't happen every day. But, nevertheless ...And even with a cold, good quality beer - this is already a heavenly pleasure!
And only one thing was embarrassing: beer here, at the pool bar, is poured into small plastic cups - almost for a couple of sips! And I had to run and stand in line a dozen times, delighting myself and the tuna, so that the tuna would not be left without another portion of beer. And only here I regretted that, when packing before leaving for the airport, I laid out a large glass beer glass: the day before I read in the reviews that there would be no problems with beer or beer dishes in this hotel. They deceived ...“And there is a hole in the old woman ... ” And therefore, my advice to all those flying on vacation to Egypt on the Red Sea, which I came up with in the form of an aphorism in January of this year, relaxing in the four-star Poinciana Sharm Resort, a hundred meters from the current hotel, remains in force: “It is not necessary to take a wife to a resort on the Red Sea, but a large glass of beer is desirable! »
The pool bar "Gulf Stream", I would even say, in the pool, since it is possible to use its services not only from land, but also from the water, where seats are installed in a semicircle flooded into the water and those who wish are happy to relax on them after swimming in the pool, drinking beer, wine or various cocktails ...By the way, I want to note that the majority of vacationers are here, by the pool and in the pool and, most importantly, "closer to the kitchen", where you can always have a bite or even dine in a restaurant " Gulf Stream”, without looking up from the pleasure of splashing in the water and without going out into the forty-degree heat to the main restaurant.
But this does not mean that the pool is better than the sea, although there is another Blue water bar by the sea, with a sufficient assortment of drinks, but with a meager supply of something to eat. But for me, a lover of fun, especially "devour" (but do not think that I am a pig-like glutton), even the kitchen is at a much lower level than the sea.
And why did I, in fact, fly here thousands of kilometers from my home? Of course, it’s not enough to eat and drink beer to the heart’s content – this is enough in Kyiv, although there is no “all inclusive” in Kyiv. Yes, and do not splash all day in chlorinated water, even if there is a convenient service and maintenance, in a word, comfort. And I came to Egypt to the Red Sea! And therefore, never in nine days did I swim in a pool with bleach, but all the daytime I was at the sea and in the sea!
Although the sea at the Royal Grand Sharm hotel disappointed me: shallow water of 100-150 meters and solid corals, most of which are dead, it is forbidden to walk on them, up to fines. And if anyone wants to go to sea, they sit near the shore at a depth of 20-40 cm, depending on the tide. The only one on the 230-meter long beach, the pontoon is located in the far corner of the beach, and it can accommodate 10-15 people at the most. And all in all, there are 350 (! ) vacationers in the hotel ...Make a conclusion.
And all because the Royal Grand Sharm Hotel is located on the highest plateau in Sharm El Sheikh and there is no access to the sea - everywhere there is a 10-meter cliff, and corals in shallow water, which are protected by the Law: they cannot be covered with sand, nor build a bulk dam, as is often done in hotels in Hurghada, where I often rested and the sea was deep and comfortable for swimming along the entire length of the beach, for example, in the Sand Beach Hotel 3 *.
As I understood here, sitting with a beer over tuna, after more than ten hotels I have known in Bulgaria, Turkey and Egypt, “The ideal resort (hotel), just like the ideal woman (wife), does not exist, but there is only a collective image of the ideal” . Then I noticed that I had a new aphorism and it should be attached to the seven thousand previously born of his brothers (Sasha Sim. Placer Aphorisms. Anecdotes. Complete works in twelve volumes. Volume 1. - Kyiv: SIM & HAM Publishing House, - 2014. - 359s. )
Either the Soul was not disposed to a lyrical mood ...But, most likely, it was not so unusual for my feelings that “goosebumps” and I began to create “masterpieces” ...For some reason, the same plots of Nature, as if they were not beautiful, but their repeated repetition is no longer so pleasing and does not affect the feelings of the Soul, as the first time. And, moreover, they become commonplace ...
Maybe I'm tired of looking for a source of inspiration and creativity within myself and it's time for these purposes to get acquainted with the Muse from this World - beautiful and inspiring? . .
August 26.2016 Friday
Low tide
Evening. The sun has already hidden behind the mountains and darkness is about to come - there are still a few minutes of evening twilight left ...I am sitting at the cliff, on the highest rocky platform of the beach of the Royal Grand Sharm hotel, framed, like the bed of the Sultan's beautiful concubine, with flowering bushes. There is a bed, alas, but there is no concubine. But I'm here, high above the sea, for a completely different reason.
Five seconds later, it was followed by the second, and there were several such waves on this hundred-meter race, but the result was the same for everyone: approaching the shore, to the finish line of their movement, they gradually faded away, thinned out and turned into a small swell a meter from the shore ...
I have never seen such a lazy sea! And I explained this passivity of the sea and its waves by the unwillingness of the sea to leave the positions won from the land during the whole day. And who will like it? And all because the owner of the Red Sea, like all the seas on Earth - Neptune, gave the command: “Retreat! " For what reason? - I myself can not even guess ...And where does the sea go? You have to obey. And therefore the sea moves further and further away from the shore, leaving behind it in shallow water no longer a swell, but an increasingly larger calm mirror of water, on which the points of corals and the tops of small stones only occasionally showed through.
The sea gradually thinned along the entire coastline, gradually giving the land an increasing area of its bottom. Low tide…
And behind the reef, a hundred meters from the shore, in the open sea it was calm and serene - not a single wave, as if it were not a sea, but a lake or a pond. It turns out that it was this reef that created coastal waves at low tide.
But all these are external visual and auditory effects that the sea emits, and I perceive them with my senses. This is just a tiny fraction of what the essence of the sea is. And therefore, for several years now, having been on the Black, and recently on the Mediterranean and Red Seas, I have been trying to comprehend the essence of the sea not with the senses of the body, but with the senses of the Soul. And I am sure that after such perceptions of the sea as today, I am getting closer and closer to this goal...And soon I will state everything that I have comprehended in words and phrases, if it is possible to do this with these instruments of our World...
That's right! And who needs food riots? Especially the authorities...
One case from my resort practice prompted me to this topic. One day, after consuming proven quality beer every day, I decided to try other drinks, in particular one of the packaged juices. And after two glasses, I developed heartburn ...The conclusion was unambiguous ...
But there is a more reliable way to determine quality drinks other than spirits. This is to observe which of the drinks the attendants drink, in particular, the bartender and waiters. After all, in the forty-degree heat they can’t not drink anything, especially since it’s for nothing ...And they probably won’t drink any filth there. Mango juice turned out to be the best drink at the Royal Grand Sharm…
August 27.2016 Saturday
Hotel evaluation criteria
Yesterday I crossed the midday of my holiday in Sharm El Sheikh and today I started the countdown. I only have four vacation days left.
And every minute this term is melting, tending to zero. It is more expedient to think so - in order to appreciate every day on the Red Sea. And then a new countdown will begin in the normal mode of life and in normal circumstances. Such as this tour to the Red Sea - inclusions, like pearls in my life, lasting a week or two, maximum - three. And in terms of quality of life - far superior to the dullness of everyday life. Although I can’t call everyday life in Kyiv absolutely gray, because almost every day I create something ...A tour to the Red Sea for me, as for a creative person, which I consider myself to be, is an additional incentive to awaken the layers of the Soul that have not yet awakened, something unusual, euphoric. And, as a consequence of this, the creative outpouring of my feelings of the Soul on paper.
But, most importantly, and what I am most afraid of, is that these pearls in my life do not turn into everyday everyday life, which, passing by me, do not touch the sensitive strings of my Soul, as happened with air travel. But in this case, I have a big leap: I immediately jumped from the conditions of three-star hotels to a five-star one! The contrast of pleasant impressions is evident. And so I try to use every moment of it.
After five days in a five-star hotel, I can appreciate it more thoroughly than the lower category hotels I've been to before. What criteria can characterize a 5-star hotel? First of all, it's comfort.
Getting into such a comfortable environment, you feel like in a completely different world, if not in a fairy tale, then artificially and originally created by human talent, his hands, head and heart, in compliance with all the requirements and desires of vacationers. These are also original architectural forms, starting from the lobby of the main building - the face of the hotel, where the porter service (reception) is located, and to landscape design throughout the hotel. But all this was created once, initially during its design, without significant changes throughout its life. This is, in fact, the concept of each particular hotel. And everyone has their own.
The second characteristic of the hotel is the service, which must be maintained at a level corresponding to the category of the hotel, every day, and even at night. And should treat every guest of the hotel, without exception and equally. Except when you want a special service for a fee.
For example, if you want waiters to serve you constantly and everywhere, not only in a restaurant, but also on the beach, constantly reward them with generous tips - they will guess all your desires before they appear in your head, and immediately fulfill them.
The third main criterion in evaluating a hotel is the quality and range of food and drinks - this is what a vacationer needs every day and several times. Unfortunately, during the crisis, all hotels, regardless of the category, save the most on this.
And the main thing that prevails over all this is the location of the hotel: in which resort (Sharm El Sheikh, Hurghada, etc. ), and at what distance from the main resort amenities that this resort is famous for (sea, first or second coastline; mountains, forests), one or another hotel is located.
At the distance of the hotel and the hotel room itself from the sea, I would like to dwell in more detail, since the sea is the main thing we go to the resorts of Egypt for. Because nowhere in the world is there such a wonderful sea as the Red Sea. And for comparison, I'll take my last three tours to Egypt: "Poinciana Sharm Resort" 4 * in Sharm El Sheikh; "Sand Beach Hotel" 3 * in Hurghada and the current "Royal Grand Sharm" 5 *, Sharm El Sheikh. These hotels are different, primarily in terms of remoteness and convenience of using the sea.
"Poinciana Sharm Resort" 4 * is located on the second coastline and to the sea in a detour around the hotels of the first line - 3 km. The bus runs regularly three times a day. But is it really a vacation at the sea, when you can’t go to the sea at any moment and plunge into its grace. But it turns out you are like a poor relative ...It's good that I was in this hotel in the winter, in January, when, due to strong winds and a storm, swimming was unpleasant and even forbidden.
"Sand Beach Hotel" 3 * is located on the first coastline and the sea along the entire coast of the beach is very convenient for swimming. In addition, my room was right on the beach. And this, despite the low level of service and comfort (after all, only 3 *), but I liked it the most. And in terms of comfort, El Samaka Beach 3 * is much better in the same place in Hurghada.
"Royal Grand Sharm" 5 *, although it is located on the first coastline, it is impossible to swim, except from a pontoon: corals. And therefore inferior to hotels of a lower category, but with excellent entry into the sea. True, such hotels are most often located in Hurghada. And although I have a panoramic view of the sea, it’s far from the sea - from half a kilometer: this is the most distant building in the hotel from the sea. No luck ...even despite the book presented by the reception about the resorts in Egypt. And again they deceived the old Jew ...
August 28.2016 Sunday
Cloudy morning on the Red Sea
For the first time, in all the days of my stay in Egypt, from the very morning the whole sky was covered with clouds.
And I was offended that in such a short holiday period, only eight days, I have to lose so much sunny time, especially in conditions of increased five-star comfort. And time flies incredibly fast here: before I had time to settle down and enjoy all the charms of this small earthly Paradise, there were already a few days left, almost hours before departure. Apparently, such is human psychology: the better and happier life is, the faster it passes; and the worse and harder the days, the longer, it seems, they stretch to infinity, and there is no end to them. So is our whole life in separate segments of its time. Nevertheless, everything is forgotten, except for the most significant and beautiful, and, surprisingly, the saddest and most unfavorable periods of our lives. For example, we remember the happy moments of our childhood - just separate plots, like glimpses of the same Sun through the clouds ...
Midnight.
And, interestingly, believe me, an old alcoholic, in such cases there comes a period when the human body takes “on the chest” indefinitely, blocking the flow of alcohol into the blood. Apparently, this is self-defense of the body. Again, up to a certain point, after which memory blocking occurs: a person lives on autopilot.
But here in Egypt it is somewhat different. Night African heat and stuffiness, especially in August, in the absence of the opportunity to cool the heated body in the sea font, does not allow you to relax. And you have to restrain yourself even with the seeming "freebie", such as "all inclusive".
August 29.2016 Monday
The seventh day of the resort
Today - already a whole week, as I am at a resort in Sharm El Sheikh. Many who have flown in with me are already flying away today ...After all, here in Egypt and in many other countries, the standard period for tours is seven days. And it still remains a mystery to me.
Why, for example, not 14 days or even 24, as was the order of the day in the Soviet Union? And what is seven days? This is a moment! I didn’t have time to fly in, to know everything, to enjoy it, especially if I took a few more excursions, and it’s time to fly away. Yes, and a flight by plane is not cheap, although it is significantly cheaper due to charter flights. And for people like me, I’m also unsafe - every time you drive the thought into the back corner of your mind that the plane can crash on the ground, especially during takeoff or landing ...And therefore, I, personally, try to choose tours with a maximum period - firstly, you rest longer, approaching the Soviet long-term rest system; secondly, you get on the plane less often (you reduce the likelihood of “flopping”); and, thirdly, you hope to save on flights: after all, for example, in 21 days of rest (three standard tours of seven days each) you fly twice: back and forth, and not six times!
This happened repeatedly when choosing three- and four-star hotels. But I can’t afford five-star hotels for such a long period of time and I chose eight days for the test at the end of August ...
The heat is terrible, as for us inhabitants of high latitudes. For the Arabs, of course, this is in the order of things - they have adapted! The sea is far away. Firstly, they settled me, albeit with a panoramic view of the edge of the sea, in settlements - in the building farthest from the sea: five hundred meters from the sea, because the territory of the hotel is huge - more than three hectares! And the sea itself is a hundred meters shallow from the shore - ankle-deep and with dangerous corals: you won’t enter without special shoes. And if you walk twenty meters, they will definitely whistle you from the coast guard with a threat to fine you for violating the environmental and environmental legislation of Egypt.
And therefore, having arrived at the Red Sea, I rarely really go to the sea and the sea, as it was earlier in the Sand Beach Hotel 3 * and El Samaka Beach 3 * hotels in Hurghada, where I lived in a building on on the very shore of the sea, when "the head is on the pillow, and the feet are in the sea. " So it’s impossible to sit in the sea for 2-3 hours and extinguish excess heat in the water. And, what’s more, it’s a shame that living in the “settlements”, practically outside the hotel (you enter the hotel as if from the street), you lose the opportunity to enjoy the landscape and park design, swimming pools and other infrastructure of the hotel, since this territory is only being equipped. And I especially felt this infringement tonight, when after midnight I was not too lazy to go down the elevator to the lower part of the hotel - to the recreation area and in the silence of the night enjoy all the delights that the hotel provides to "white people": there the category of rooms and, of course, the price is much higher …
Imagine. Night. Silence.
But the bright lighting from the lanterns and spotlights does not allow the night to completely absorb the hotel into its insides. With a variety of designs, these lanterns are strong enough to withstand the night. Night is not a time of day - it is a special world! And I realized this only today, here, in the silence of the night among the unique architectural and landscape charms of a five-star hotel.
Most of us sleep at night: this is how human physiology works. Sleeps and dreams, instead of observing the miracle of the night and writing poems or essays from it. And just enjoy the night in silence, when no one will let you interfere and distract you through the trifles of everyday bustle.
But you also need to tune in to the frequency of the night, start living in unison with it. Otherwise, except for night fears and rejection from it, you will not see anything, and you will not feel all the delights of the night world.
There will be a veil of darkness before the eyes, which closes everything and by inertia blocks hearing, sight and all other sense organs of the body, including the feelings of the Soul.
August 30.2016 Tuesday
Luggage packing scam
We get on the bus to go to the airport. On the way, the guide, making square frightened eyes, asks: "What, you weren't warned about the need to pack your luggage in a film? You can't do without it! New rules! " where to pack. And who wants to return before the flight? To be "unlucky"?...Naturally, we agree to the second option. And the second option is already $5 for one piece of luggage! . .
If you saw the smug face of the guide and his smirk, you would immediately guess about the rollback of $1 from each luggage! Fifty bucks in half an hour put in his pocket! But on me, on an old Jew, this guide passed.
Just in case, I had a supply of a cellophane bag from Auchan - in Kyiv in all Auchans - take it - I don’t want it! Self-service.
At the airport, I didn’t pack my luggage until the last moment - I was just too lazy. And he knew from Boryspil that this was a voluntary matter. But at the registration I saw a whole cart with several rolls of a free sketch, and whoever wanted to, packed it. I continued to ignore this operation. And then some airport clerk picked up my bag and began to pack it skillfully and with great passion. Naturally, for free. He was even pleased that I let him do it ...
Guys, after the second day of arrival at the hotel, the scammer guide sold you for a triple price of the tour, there is nothing to be surprised at and keep your ears sharp!
On the eve of departure from Egypt.
Evening. I am at Sharm El Sheikh airport. The mood is unusual. If you characterize it in one word, which this moment has surfaced by itself, it is the state of the winner.
I won a significant victory - overcame myself and jumped to a higher level of relaxation after decades of living in four-but, most often, three-star hotels on the Red and Mediterranean Seas.
I remember the events of ten days ago, when, after an obsessive search for a five-star hotel in Sharm El Sheikh, on the first coastline, and sorting through hundreds of options, I found the only one, not expensive and with a high, judging by the reviews, reputation ...
And so I learned the delights of a five-star hotel in the resort capital of Egypt. I overcame, first of all, myself psychologically, in my desire to save on myself, on my vacation. Although, as I have seen now, you can relax in a five-star hotel no more than in a four- or even three-star hotel, if you take a "burning" tour. And cheaper than in similar sanatoriums in Transcarpathia, near Kherson or in Odessa ...
How dangerous it is to write positive hotel reviews
It is useful to read hotel reviews so as not to get into trouble (there is such a secluded and most unpleasant place) and choose what you want. Yes, only writing positive comments about hotels is not always useful for the one who writes. For example, in early November I wrote a positive review about the Royal Grand Sharm hotel, though very broadly and emotionally, about how wonderful it is to relax on the Red Sea and in such a hotel, especially when you are a creative person. And then I decided to celebrate my birthday (November 21) in this hotel: I picked up a very inexpensive tour for 9 nights and 10 days for only $476 (and there are such cheap tours to this good five-star hotel! ) with a departure on November 20.
And what would you think? My positive review in all respects about the Royal Grand Sharm hotel was read by everyone who doubted the choice of the hotel these days and my comment helped them in their choice!
That many have read it, I judge by the number of views - and even by visiting my Facebook page with a request to invite me as a friend. Up to a hundred a day! (although previously it was 1-2 per month), since only friends can read posts on Facebook. And this demand for the hotel instantly raised the price of tours by an average of $100! "Anex Tour", most of the numbers "Royal Grand Sharm" - it thus played on the increase in demand. And by the time I got to the travel agency, the price had already risen to an unattainable value for me and continued to grow. That's how I, through my own fault, was left "with a nose. " And now, instead of having a fun holiday in a wonderful earthly paradise on the Red Sea at the Royal Grand Sharm hotel and dancing in a disco after moderately taken “on the chest”, I will have to quietly be sad, contemplating the dull slush of late Kyiv autumn ...It's a shame, yes, yes -a? (And maybe "Anex Tour" will return the previous prices for at least one tour for me - on November 20? At least it will be decent of him ... )
And then the thought flashed through my mind: “Or maybe vice versa? » For example, a “comrade” (but after the next one he is no longer our friend) was going to go to a resort. And there is not enough money. “Give me, I think, I’ll write a negative review: dozens of diarrhea, and droppers, and theft ...People will read it - and you won’t drag them there on the lasso. Demand will decrease and prices will fall. So I’ll go to the resort almost “for free! "And maybe a dishonest competitor will charge such a "duck" ...Or a hysterical aunt-scandalist will do the same ...Therefore, friends, the conclusion: Do not try to write a positive review about the hotel you are going to go to soon, as I did - at your own expense! Do not believe all the comments and reviews about hotels in a row, especially if there are one or two of them. Read everything and find the Truth!
In abbreviation. Full text: "Holidays in Egypt" https://www. facebook. com/sashasim. Egypt/
And in the book: Sasha Sim. Red Sea: Corner of the earthly Paradise. Travel notes from Egypt. - Kyiv: SIM & HAM Publishing House, - 2017. - 535p.
, illus. ISBN 966-8802-17-9
© Sasha Sim (Alexander Golovko), 2017
Translated automatically from Russian. View original
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