“A hotel that leaves a mixed impression”

Written: 26 august 2013
Travel time: 20 july — 2 august 2013
Your rating of this hotel:
3.0
from 10
Hotel ratings by criteria:
Rooms: 3.0
Service: 6.0
Cleanliness: 5.0
Food: 6.0
Amenities: 8.0
So the long-awaited vacation is coming and the company of those wishing to go has gathered 12 adults and 2 children aged 6 and 7. Half of those who wished went to Egypt for the first time, and then another revolution suddenly came. The month before departure with the tickets taken in hand was devoted to the study of forums with the situation. All steadfastly withstood the vouchers, no one passed and decided to fly unambiguously. I chose the hotel for the trip and the criteria were 1. bay 2. sandy entry 3. pools 4. availability of market entertainment infrastructure nearby 5. beautiful reef and a new bay in which I have not been to Sharm yet, since I am an avid snorker and spend a lot of time on the reef with long-distance swims 2-3 km 6. hotel with the lowest possible price of the first line and the possibility of combined accommodation 1vz + 1 reb, 2vzr + 1 reb, 2vz, 3 vzr. 7. hotel in Sharm, as a group trip to the holy places of Israel was supposed.
And my choice was the Faraana Reef Club, I tracked prices for tours for 3 months and tours purchased a month before departure were the right choice. The hotel from 48 thousand for 12 days for 2 adults began to cost 56 thousand before departure.


Departure from Sheremetyevo F, Transaero. Long wait at the Airport and walking around the Dutik. Prices in stores have now leveled off and all began to be indicated only in euros. It makes no sense to compare in different ones, try to look only for a discounted dutik, we managed to find one in the middle of the hall on the 2nd floor (mezzanine), prices have not changed compared to January. The choice of drinks and cosmetics is huge, and if there is a desire to buy something exotic, then on the flight home, the prices in Sharm are higher and there is less choice, I only bought Belfider whiskey and Napoleon cognac back. As always, there was no favorite wife XU-XU in Sharm, and the ladies bought a previously untested watermelon-melon liqueur, I don’t remember the name, but they liked the drink.
Flight, customs everything went fine. For the whole company, forms with samples of filling out a migration card were prepared in advance, having received a shinai only, we quickly found ourselves on a bus that delivered 3 hotels to ours, 24 people were traveling. Transfer from the airport 33 km but they flew by quickly. The guide from Biblio Globus is laconic, the guide at the Mahmud hotel is the same, he failed to sell us excursions and he quickly left us upset, upset.

Hotel. 22-00 Registration at the reception went pretty quickly. Leaving the suitcases, we were sent to a late dinner, the waiter Mukhsin serving in the restaurant (Further Maxim, as he asked to be called himself), having asked for a desire to drink drinks, opened the bar and brought us white wine and beer. In the future, this Khabib was always friendly and welcoming with us. Having received 1 dollar for this, he brought another whole tray of drinks with satisfaction.
We were always located in the dining room at 2 adjacent 8-seater tables and no one encroached on them in the future. After dinner, we returned to the reception, the manager named Misha spoke Russian well, in this hotel almost all the staff are Copts, that is, Christians who treat Russians very well. Having explained to Misha that we are one big family and would like to live nearby, backed up by the promise to treat him to good Russian vodka and bacon, they were miraculous, we got 5 rooms in one house and 2 rooms in neighboring ones. By the way, they really and willingly eat lard, according to them, the deposed Mursi banned pork in Egypt, and this was a problem for them. I asked for the second floor and got 2 rooms on the 2nd floor 242 and 243. This was the first time that we did not change rooms with a sea view. 200 rooms is the middle of the hotel, which in the July heat was convenient near both pools and bars. To the stairs to the sea 100m.

Music from the amphitheater did not interfere, live music every evening is not loud and it's nice to listen on the balcony.

I agree that finding a room at night for the first time arriving at a hotel is not realistic, and there are no signs indicating directions to the buildings, there are signs on the buildings, but they still need to be looked for. The scheme issued upon check-in was printed in a mirror image and after unpacking the suitcase, taking the promised gifts to Misha, I did not find the house without the help of a janitor. On the diagram, our house was to the left of the reception, but in reality 100 meters to the right, and 900 vice versa.


The hotel itself was built a long time ago and is very beautiful. Two-story houses, cobblestone paths, many flowering bushes and palm trees that are watered and cleaned every night from 4 in the morning before the onset of heat

A HUGE PLUS is round-the-clock five pools.
The main one, huge with a cooling fountain, swimming under which he recalled the rainy weather that was at that time in his homeland, an artificial wave and massage. The artificial wave is the best seen in Sharm, the one in the nearby Albatross water park is a pathetic semblance. The two large pools have bars. .

The second pool was located next to the sea. Also a decent size, with a Jacuzzi and a dive. In bars, the service was always fast and polite, except for one day on the 4th day earlier, the smiling bartender in the pool with a jacuzzi stopped noticing us, turned on a complete ignore and rushed to serve only Poles and Italians. This my soul could not stand, I had to raise my voice a little and call the manager, having heard my roar, the Poles and Italians quickly ran away to the sunbeds and we were left alone near the counter.

Called by phone and the manager came, it turned out to be another Khabib of mine whom I had met in a restaurant earlier. It was Zhora, a good-natured fat man with the face and smile of Dzhigarkhanyan. He turned out to be the general manager of all restaurants and bars. Arriving at the pool, clasping his hands and hearing that his friend Mr. Andrew was offended, the bartender was awarded with kicks and cuffs. Subsequently, a peace treaty was signed, backed up by a fair amount of delicious cocktails for the entire company. It must be said that in the future I repeatedly observed Zhorino's assault on fellow tribesmen, which gave them further incentive to work. The third pool is located near the spa center and fitness equipment. The fourth is a small children's room near the reception and a children's club in which people have never been seen. The fifth pool was hardly found by us at the prompt of the neighbors on the balcony.
Located in the courtyard of the VIP apartments in the far right corner near the sea. You can approach it by going down to the stairs to the sea, climb the dirt path to the right up, back we went through the passage along the houses, which is not very noticeable. The pool is very small for only one family living in the villa, but the photos came out beautiful and the view from there to the bay is beautiful.

Room for unpretentious tourists, spacious but simple at the same time. Unsuccessful color schemes with dark green window frames and shutters and pale pistachio-painted furniture give it a shabby look, the absence of drawers in the tables and bedside tables did not please me, and I had to throw all small things like charging spare batteries, photos, etc. on tables or hide in bags.

Sea.
Beautiful as always. With my 130 kg, I can’t say that it was comfortable walking up the stairs mentioned more than once, especially after evening swims, since the air is hot and does not encourage climbing mountains.

Reef. I wanted to get into this bay for a long time and when planning a vacation in Egypt, I first of all choose a bay and a reef, and then I look at a hotel in it with a normal review and for minimal money. If you sail to the right from the reef towards the Old City, you will find the reefs of the Ras kati reserve, where tourists are brought in boats with a transparent bottom, which, reaching our pontoon, turn around and swim back.
These reefs were partly familiar to me, I sailed on them, resting in Beach Albatross in a neighboring bay. Three times I did long swims and swam to the wild beach of the Beach Albatros hotel, but be careful, sometimes there is a current along the reefs and the way back can be difficult.

But on the reefs of Ras kati, like 4 years ago, I met a large bracken stingray with which we swam a little at depths of up to 5 meters. If you sail from the pontoon to the right, then around the turn at the lighthouse the coral is less beautiful, the reef goes into darkness and it is not comfortable to swim. No vacationers were seen in the forks on the other side. The reefs at the Hilton Charm Waterfall are deep and not particularly beautiful, so I didn’t swim to them that far. On the reef there are a large number of fish surgeons, small pufferfish, in the bay in shallow water there are always 4 blue-spotted rays, a couple of which are almost always on the right side near a large round dark red coral.

The beach is good. There are always sun loungers, but the places we liked right next to the slope and the bar are available only until 8 o'clock, my wife and I, after an early breakfast, took places for the whole company. This place has another plus is a good entry into the sea and the opportunity to swim with children.
The entrance in the left half passes through a dead coral plateau with a depth of 1 meter and without slippers rather painfully, to the right to our pontoon sun loungers that people from other hotels come to. The bay with corals up to 2 meters deep is comfortable for swimming at any time of the year, but therefore underwater photographs were not always obtained due to the turbidity raised by the tides. For snorkeling, it is better to choose a holiday period with minimal sea fluctuations.

There is no animation for Russian speakers. Entirely focused on the Italian majority. If you are looking for a kids club then this is not the hotel for you. Children are not involved. The show in the amphitheater, even if the majority of those present are Slavs, is not dubbed from Italian into Russian. The performances themselves are from the category of the clown Polunin "Asisyai". There is nothing to do there, we moved out to the night city in the evening. Soho, Naama Bay, El Mercato, old town market.

Disco at the pool with "Jacuzzi".
Russian tourists called it the HOUSE OF CULTURE. Live music until 2 am keeping neighboring rooms awake. They sing well, mixed hits of the Italians of the 90s, Polish disco and our hits from "Tender May" to Leps. The bar, respectively, on the days of night discos is also until 2 am

Taxi to the market per car
Old Town - $ 2, once we went there on foot, about 2 km then we went by taxi
Naama Bay – $4
Soho - $8
El Mercato - 400 meters to the right of the hotel 50 shops, prices slightly higher than the old town, and lower than Naama Bay but the choice is not diverse

Aquapark

Visited on their own $30 at the entrance, go 500 meters to the left of the hotel. Water at the entrance and products are taken. They left 1.5 liters for two children, put the rest in the refrigerator at the exit and take it. Lunch inside $15 is a hot dog, salad and fries with one drink. Beer 0.5 - $ 5, cola 0.5 - $ 3, water 1.5 - $ 5 / Therefore, I advise you to roll from 10 to 15 and have a bite to eat when you return to the hotel.

Excursion
A boat with a transparent bottom, $ 35 bought on the beach.
In an hour and a half you will be driven from the port along the reef from Beach Albatross to our hotel and back. If you have not seen all this with a mask or children, then it will do for once. The rest is money thrown away.

The drinks. I won't repeat too much. I will add that they prepare all kinds of coffee you want, the coffee machines are decent, the whole company liked it. Alcohol - only beer on the beach, everything in the bars except wine of the usual quality for Egypt. The bartenders diversify all this by mixing a cocktail for you. The children were mixed non-alcoholic koptels with milk.

Power Everything is standard for four stars, but occasionally added, crabs, small mussels, salads with shrimp, squid. Pizza and pasta lovers will not be left hungry. From fruits grapes, watermelons, dates, apples, melons, bananas. The number of pastries is not large, but it is present, I liked the sesame roasting. The meat is portioned, but if you continue to ask to put it, they will put 5 pieces.
With my 135 kg weight, I had enough food and did not remain hungry.

Grill restaurant, beautiful place and nothing more. During the day, a beautiful view of the sea, flies and a small selection of dishes. In the evening, when everything begins to be highlighted, twilight and food to the touch. I want to say that all these dishes are also available in an ordinary restaurant, only there you take it all taken off the coal in front of you. Visited for a 45th birthday dinner for one of our girls. Unlike birthdays in other hotels, we don’t notice as much as from the administration, there is no cake, no postcards, no congratulations from the chef either.

THEY ARE STEALING IN THE HOTEL Previously, I had to deal with the use of our toilet water and deodorants by cleaners, the theft of small new things and cosmetics, but the big one did not disappear.

My beloved mother-in-law, who went abroad with us for the first time, was very upset not to find her gold chain with crosses, which she had taken off the day before, afraid of losing, and put it in a lockable purse, which she put in her suitcase. So the suitcases are shaken up and the lock on them is not superfluous. Of course, we couldn’t please her, I’m facing such a problem for the first time, but I’ve read about the consequences more than once, and you probably too. Calling the administration of their lamentations that this never happened and you yourself lost on the beach, and now you are slandering the poor cleaners. Then, after your perseverance, the arrival of the police and shaking things up, half a day with a protocol at the police station as a result of wasted nerves and time to no purpose. After explaining all this to the mother-in-law and promising to give her new tears upon arrival in Russia, they were stopped. But I went my own way. It was the day our women left for the Glass Bottom Boat Tour.
Without telling anyone, I returned to my room at 10.30. found the cleaner of our rooms. I led him to my mother-in-law's room, pointed to the door and, pointing to the chain around his neck, tried to explain to him that he had big problems, to which he made big eyes and did not understand the Russian language. After a blow to the liver, he ran away for a more intelligent, Russian-understanding fellow tribesman. Together they tried to explain to me that we had lost it ourselves, perhaps even she was lying somewhere on the floor in the room and offered to call the police and arranged other “dances with tambourines”. My reaction was the following: cracking on the belly of one and strangling the neck of the second, putting the janitor against the wall, promised them before the police arrived, “Bite their heads, and make a butt out of their faces, and repeat this procedure until departure. ” My advice to the two of them is to clean the room well and do so that everything was found, after which he went to the sea.
Before dinner, the mother-in-law returned from the excursion and found 3 natives in front of the room who were trying to explain something to her about the stolen gold. She ran after me without hesitation. Near the room were the same people. who introduced himself as a personnel manager who began to cry out not to offend his good employees, asking why did I hit them lightly? and why do I want to bite off their stupid heads? Again I listened to suggestions about the police and suggested "Number Control". I did not interfere, going into the room together they examined the bedside tables, after that they threw off the covers from the beds and a loss was discovered under one of them. The chain was fastened, and the mother-in-law put it into the bag unfastened, in this form it cannot be removed over the head, and the mother-in-law was not yet in insanity and made the bed in the morning - there was no chain there.
With exclamations about the miracles of Allah, they tried to explain "Themselves fools" but were pushed out of the room. Subsequently, the cleaner did not come close, greeted from afar and was interested in “No problem? He thought that the mother-in-law and her young niece live separately in the room and there is no one to stand up for them. Summing up: things only in the safe (although some of them are stolen in the rooms) or under a padlock like in our suitcase. If you get into this, then it turns out that there are other ways of influence besides the police and it’s better to check them before calling the administration, which most likely does not admit the guilt of its employees
Translated automatically from Russian. View original