Замечательный отдых с парой ложек дёгтя Wonderful holiday with a couple of fly in the ointment

I chose a hotel in Egypt for a very long time. I read a lot of reviews and watched reviews with videos. In the end, I found Labranda, we were looking for a quiet and peaceful place with good food and close to the sea, almost without animation and discos. Therefore, we chose the hotel, paid for the tour in August and waited for December. After reading hundreds of positive reviews, having seen enough "sugar reviews" I went with Labranda in rose-colored glasses, confident that this hotel was the best for me. The hotel is good, but there are also disadvantages in it, which I will talk about so that those who go to this hotel will not be surprised at the time of arrival.
ROOM. We arrived at 11 am hotel with a second couple from Minsk. At the reception, we were the first to offer us an earlier check-in (check-in here from 14.00 according to the regulations), I immediately agreed, paying 20 euros. I wanted to quickly change clothes, spread out things and go to eat. What was my surprise when the second couple came up and they refused early check-in, they were told to come by 12-12.30 and they would already have a room. At that moment, I realized that I just threw out 20 euros. REMEMBER: if you arrive early, just wait and take your time, they will put on bracelets for you, you will leave things at the reception, you can walk and eat everywhere. No chocolates will help you, as well as extra dollars for the best number. Plus you get a normal room because after 12.00 people move out. They gave us room 528, the porter grabbed our things and led us. . . led us for a long time. . . led us up the stairs.
As a result, we came to the room and my jaw dropped. A small room (like my room in Minsk), dark, only two light bulbs, a small window with bars and a view of the construction site, sand, and partly another hotel, a clogged drain in the shower. No booked garden view. I immediately said that I did not like the number and asked to change. They said to come after 14.00 and see if they can help. Keep in mind 524.523 and the like, these are rooms on the very outskirts, very far (by the standards of hotel distances) from the coast, you can safely refuse if they give you these numbers. Good numbers 101-108.210-218, it's harder for me to say about the rest. Even better, say that you go and look at the number and then bring things there. Because we ran all Wednesday around the hotel with suitcases and moved three times! The porter also ran with us and gave him $ 1 each. Then we were given room 522 after 13.00, it was already bigger and with a view of the sea, though far away. We unpacked things, washed and lay down to rest at 15.00 and then the animation began in a nearby hotel...

The music hammered incessantly, there was a gap in the door with a finger and everything was very well heard through it, I listened to this for an hour, talked with my husband about the fact that I had come to rest. As a result, I had a nervous breakdown, for the first time in my travels, I wanted to pack my suitcase and leave. In tears, I went to the reception and said loudly: I was extremely disappointed with this hotel, I have a breakdown, the rooms are terrible and I already want to leave. Thanks to the guy at the reception (like Azzamat, but I could be wrong) he took pity on me, laughed at the fact that chocolates did not help and gave a wonderful room 212: overlooking the garden, just around the corner from the sea, a quiet bar and three beds! Only from the third time we were normally settled and it cost me one nervous breakdown.
I really regret that I didn’t take a photo of the room in order to save you, you can say that I am too demanding and boring, since I don’t like everything. Well guys, I found out what rooms there are in this hotel, and believe me, paying that kind of money for a vacation and living in room 528, like a hermit with bars on the window, is crazy. By the way, I advise the administration to give these numbers to tourists, only in extreme cases, because this is a nightmare, not a number.
TERRITORY. Beautiful, a lot of greenery, flowers, everything is well-groomed, there are several species of birds that swarm in the grass and look for bugs. There are many slopes to the water, secret nooks and crannies, cozy white streets. There is an old cactus from 1993!! , lots of decor. Everything is watered and in general there are a lot of gardeners who try very hard and plant trees and shrubs on the territory. Well done.
NUTRITION. Although the food is varied, on the fourth day we were already fed up with it. For breakfast you will eat an omelette (which is prepared separately by the chef, can make pancakes upon request), boiled eggs, tomatoes with cheese, various cuts of sausage, processed cheese, various vegetables, fruit salad, mini croissants, small buns with cheese, Belgian waffles ( do not forget to drizzle with melted white and milk chocolate), various types of cereals and jams. Coffee from the machine, tea, machine with cola and sprite (very cold and surprisingly tasty). We never drank juices, only water and coffee. For lunch there are always potatoes, pasta, rice, lasagna, one type of fish and 2 types of meat, sometimes they made french fries and burgers (grills were on the street), various salads, both with mayonnaise and dressing, eggplant rolls, many types of bread and, I always took cakes, pastries are chic.

There was always a grill for dinner, sometimes there were squids, fish (my husband was afraid to eat it, after the poisoning of Belarusians in another hotel, he watched how I ate, and if everything is ok with me, then I ate it myself))), beef and chicken, the same side dishes as for lunch. Dinner, in my opinion, was more varied than lunch. There are various sauces. My husband ate desserts all the time, mostly biscuit dough with cream. There is even pudding. A couple of times there were things like custard pies. They make excellent coffee at the bar, I drank it all the time. The pizza at the bar is perfect, it will be meat, with cheese from the oven, I advise you, the dough is good, they even gave the pizzer a $ 5 tip. On the basis of poisoning: I felt bad once, and then most likely because I brushed my teeth with water, I constantly forgot that I should only clean with water from a bottle. Be sure to take your medication!
ALCOHOL. We drank beer, it’s fine, the wine is very diluted, my husband drank rum, it seems more or less, I don’t advise the rest, especially with ice, the bartender doesn’t know how to make cocktails, this is the usual mix of anything, and it doesn’t depend on paid or free. Husband drank the Blue Lagoon and liked it.
STAFF. We were polite with everyone, always greeted, chatted in English, tips were always: the cleaner $1 and small chocolates (he gave us swans and a crocodile), the bartender $1. A couple of times they gave the cleaners. Cat gave the bartender $5. Therefore, we did not have any problems, except for the settlement. One day I lost my selfie stick and reported it to the reception. Then she went to the beach and told the lifeguard: he was ours on the rocks and they returned me quickly. They didn’t keep money and valuables in a safe, they calmly left all sorts of junk on the beach on a sunbed and went to eat, so don’t worry. The room is given 1.5 liters of water every day. Towels were changed every day, bed linen not once in 11 days. Cleaned up great.
ANIMATION. In the reviews, they often wrote about the fact that it was boring and there was little animation. Completely disagree. As for me, even I had a lot of it. In the morning volleyball and stretching, boccia (a chic game that I enjoyed playing with the Germans), after lunch yoga, volleyball and boccia, after dinner at 21.00 evening program. We got up very early at 6-7 in the morning and went to bed at 8 in the evening, so we almost didn’t really get to the evening program. But I shot the dawn time-lapse. I didn’t always have time to play and do yoga, because I constantly swam and came to the sea, I go to the seas once a year and every moment I catch the sun and the beach. Often just sat with a book at sunset and enjoyed. Husband played volleyball. The animation is led by Kito, a very talented person who can do amazing things, you will see on the show. But at the same time, he is very nervous and touchy, so I do not support the general enthusiasm. The guys Nikita, Dasha, Salma, well done, they constantly invite me to play and participate in animation, sometimes I had to refuse, because I came to the sea in the first place.

SEA. The reef is beautiful, sorry for the people who can't swim. There are many fish, especially in the early morning, high tide. I swam on the abandoned and it was very creepy and beautiful. The hotel has 2 pontoons, there is not enough sandy entrance, there is minimal sand, where knee-deep. The flooded pontoon is the most popular, it has wonderful views and a variety of fish: we saw crowds of colored fish, thousands of my "favorite" surgeons, saw an eagle stingray, spotted stingrays, Napoleon, mackerel, even dolphins sailed one day! I saw squids, they scared me very much, then I swam after them and scared them. There are really a lot of fish. I advise you to look through the catalog of Red Sea fish before your arrival, then it will be much more interesting to "hunt".
The second pontoon is floating, on our arrival it was repaired and we did not swim there. But on the last day, I still went for a swim there, it is very difficult to get out, if not for Sergey from Kharkov, who helped me get out, I would swim there to this day. At the same time, when I climbed out, my hands slipped and I fell back into the water, catching myself and injuring my legs to the roof + sat down on my edge. So keep in mind, I'm not fat and not old, but even I had a hard time getting out of the water on this pontoon. They asked to attach at least a ladder. The reef there is short and immediately breaks, the fish are the same as on the second pontoon. One day it was windy and the garbage from the jugs was taken out to sea ((I swam with a bag and ice cream packaging. What's the problem with making lids and covering the trash cans (at least so that the birds do not take the garbage away).
MOSQUITOES. On the first day we arrived, and it seemed like there were no mosquitoes, we didn’t turn on the fumigator. The next day on my leg near the ankle I counted 30! ! bites. There was no place to live. The husband was intact at the same time. I never saw mosquitoes, but someone constantly ate me, even the fumigator did not save me. Then I saw a lot of bitten girls, guys for some reason mosquitoes eat less. Take mosquito repellent.
ATTITUDE TO THE SLAVES. I didn’t see any discrimination: everything is exactly the same as everyone else, alcohol in disposable cups, if you are from the beach or to the beach, at the bar in dense plastic, after 18.00 in glass. The portions are the same, everyone smiled at us, served in turn. Perhaps because they are not quite similar in appearance to the Slavs, we were sometimes confused with the Italians. The only time, for some reason, the German was poured wine earlier than my husband, although he stood closer and earlier. Let's consider it a coincidence. I will also note here about Ukrainians, Belarusians and Russians. Guys, eating seeds on the beach is not very good, and spitting husks at the feet of a guy who offers his services (hammam, scrub and bath) is easy... , dragging full plates of food from the dining room to the beach is a gesture, listen their mini-speakers on the beach with nearby music are also not very good (headphones were invented a long time ago, what's the problem, not everyone wants to listen to your music with you). Leaving cups and other rubbish on the beach and not cleaning up after yourself is not normal.

By the way, the Italians are also not silk, like the Germans: they smoke a lot and smoke all the time. In recent days, two acrobat brothers arrived (as it turned out later, to my shame, from Gomel). They were in tracksuits and constantly drunk, yelling, swearing and thought that everyone owed them, because "we paid the money and you will pour everything for us. " In the evening, at the show, they yelled that Kito was fake and they could also (jump on glass and swallow fire), then one of them fell, to my delight, down the stairs. But again, this is the exception. In general, the contingent is good. We met a wonderful couple from Kharkov (Olga and Sergey), a couple from Minsk (Svetlana and Sergey). We had a good time with them, constantly talking.
OTHER. Shops on ter. the hotel is much more expensive, they didn’t even go in, I wasn’t going to bargain and so on. Be sure to take corrals with you right away so that you can immediately swim on the day of arrival, and not rush to markets, bazaars and look for them. In Sportmaster they cost $10. Souvenirs, mangoes and so on and so forth, all this can be bought in a regular supermarket, with a check, a fixed price, you can pay by card and $. You shouldn't go to stores like "Misha is not a miser", "George Clooney", "Daria": the prices are higher, you have to bargain, check? don't tell me, we went to one of these shops (I won't write the name) where they gave us two unripe mangoes, incomprehensible tea for $ 1, because, as always, there was no change. And then at night, we were driven by a transfer from this store at a speed of 160 km. h!!!! ! I really cried in the shoulder of my husband and prayed. Because we were doing "checkers" at this breakneck speed, the driver tried on the phone. Is it worth risking your health and money for this Chinese junk? You decide.
You can take a taxi (only during the day !!! ) for 3-4 bucks and go to a regular supermarket and buy everything you need. On ter. hotel shopkeeper arrives with mangoes and other fruits We bought $ 2 per kg. Sweet and soft. The bedding is really a bit tired, as are the towels on the beaches. But I did not see any spots and holes personally. The sunbeds are different, there are newer ones, there are older ones, you can choose and drag which one you want under your palm tree. Go to the side of the abandoned hotel, it's great to wander around and take a photo, a very atmospheric place!!!
RESULT: the hotel is good, I put 4 stars calmly, there are roughnesses, but this is Egypt) In general, I am satisfied and well tanned and had a great rest.