2. The food was not impressive. Coffee or tea could not wait. Moreover, one arranges mugs, the other pours coffee, tea. And the two are not connected in any way. In summary, catch call to get a mug, then catch call to get a drink.
3. Room cleaning. They constantly forgot to put something in. Or a towel, or toilet paper, or coffee, or gel. And everything had to be asked. Some hotel guide Svetlana explained that this is the policy of the hotel - ask and get. It was sad.
4. In the United Arab Emirates, in Ras Al Khaimah, there is garbage on the street, several bottles were broken at the hotel, on the second day they picked up large fragments, put them in a pile next to it. They lay for a week, I think they still lie.
5. Washed towels in the rooms and on the beach, some with holes.
Pros:
1. Excellent sea.
2. Nice beach.
For those who are not annoyed by the constant struggle, including with the guide, it is quite a good rest.
But something needs to be done about the guide, unless it's company policy. I'll tell you more: for the first time we were dissatisfied with the work of hotel guides Natalie Tours. A certain Svetlana, who did not appear at the meeting due to the fact that she would suddenly have a day off on Tuesdays. As a result of waiting for the guide, it was difficult to find out from non-Russian-speaking staff that the meeting would take place an hour later in the lobby of another hotel. Another guide, Irina, apologized for the overlay and held a meeting, helped with changing the room (we arrived at night, settled in a room without a balcony, although, when buying, we agreed with the operator about the presence of a balcony). Irina helped, with the fight we got the right number. The show continued with Svetlana - she answered all questions about the hotel that she had nothing to do with this, and we should sort it out at the reception ourselves. Also, with us, a woman who was not given information about the return transfer was sent to the reception. In general, I have never seen a person so indifferent to his work, so skillfully brushing aside any questions. Then the main question - why are you here?
We got off the plane, got our luggage and went out into the street. Pegasus and TezTour are standing at the entrance, and Natalie or Alpha is nowhere to be seen. On a whim, we went further, under the roof of the semi-garage, the guys from NT were standing and handing out vouchers. After waiting a bit, an Arab not olo in Russian took us and took us to the bus, packed our things, sat down, got ready and drove off (they thought at least some audio recording would be turned on - nothing). We drove for about 15 minutes and stopped, they showed us with gestures - change seats. We got on a big bus, “well, there will certainly be a guide, he will tell about the country, etc. ” - crap to us. The Arab sat down, closed the doors and drove off. Hour drive in silence, brought to the hotel and dropped off. A very nice girl came across at the reception, we were not satisfied with the room and we immediately changed it. That's where our problems ended. J
The hotel was located in the AlHamra area - alhamravillagegolfbeachresort 4 *, this is the Casa hotel chain. Our hotel was on the 2nd line, 7-12 minutes walk to the sea (it all depends on the speed). We took BB rest, breakfasts are monotonous, but the choice is huge. I appeal to those who complain about breakfasts: do you cook a buffet every day at home? Constantly huge choice of dishes? J So here, you are provided with a classic set: scrambled eggs / scrambled eggs, salads, vegetables, cereals / muesli / fruit puree / yogurts - every morning you can collect different sets of food and everything is delicious, but with drinks a little tight. Tea and coffee to choose from (waiters bring), but I personally didn’t like these drinks because Lipton tea (alas, overbrewed and tart), coffee, respectively, is the same - excessively bitter and not the most expensive, so I was content with juices (apple, orange, tropic).
Two-story houses with 4 rooms in the "entrance". We lived on the second floor in a room without a terrace, which was not very convenient J , but acceptable. The rooms are large, there is a TV (as many as three Russian channels) and a USB connector, which is especially pleasing. The bathroom is big and everything is neat. They are cleaned cleanly, if you need something, you can write a note (in English) and they will provide it to you. Towels were changed every day, toilet sets too. And also, you are provided with a beautiful view from the window on the golf course!
Everywhere it is described that buses run from the hotel to the beach: not buses, but golf cars and you don’t have to wait, you have to ask at the reception. But these machines are not needed. To get to the beach, leaving the territory of the Village, you need to go 200 meters to the right (the mistake of many just arrived: the first part of the building with a huge entrance is the WaldorfAstoria hotel, you need to go further) and on the left there will be an uphill climb to a 5 * hotel. There, through the reception you will get to the beachJ. In principle, all tourists and staff are ready to tell you how to get there.
Regarding the beach: very clean, beautiful, there were enough sunbeds for everyone, there is a bar (for those who wish)
Irritated by one detail: Russian tourists take sun beds at 6 in the morning and do not appear until 12. The sunbeds are comfortable, there is also a pear chair, which is very pleased. On the beach belonging to another hotel there is a station where you can ride a jet ski, paraglider, etc. Good entertainment if you are bored lying J. The sea is not very interesting - empty. You can look for shells and crabs in the rocks. There are artificial heaps of stones (15 minutes walk to them) there are already more crabs, shells and fish. For fun, you can crawl there J
There are animators from NatalieTours who entertain all day long both on the beach and in the pools: morning exercises at 10-30 (yoga, stretching, Pilates), various competitions in the afternoon (water polo, darts, volleyball, etc. ), in the evening children's discos and parties. Well done guys!
It so happened that I went to my friend. The hotel gave me a beautiful cake, and the animators gave me a beach clamshell bag and an electronic watch. A trifle, but it was very nice! But you need to inform the reception in advance.
Not far from the hotel, 15-20 minutes walk, is the Mall (our shopping center). There are cafes, a grocery store, small shops. Prices are very high for clothes (to get it either to Dubai or to Manar Mol in RAK), we bought food there and the prices were about ours. A small advertisement (my personal opinion): I really liked the cafe on the 2nd floor, where Chaplin walks and invites, they have wi-fi and huge portions! The two of us took one serving and sooooo overeated! For example, Carbonara Pasta costs 50 dirhams (1 dirham (aka AED) = 9.4 rubles), Tea - 10 dirhams. For dinner, this was enough for our eyes and ears! Delicious, nice and not expensive. Also on the second floor (above the grocery) there is a tent with silver! I advise everyone! The choice is huge, not everything is on display, the prices are good, the seller is very friendly and you even need to bargain!
About trips to Dubai: a bus runs from the hotel twice a week, those who wish need to sign up immediately upon arrival, just as no one will notify that people have taken off the flight and there are empty seats - find out for yourself!
The hotel also provides free tickets to the water park (Sun-Wed from 10-30 to 17) record at the reception.
For people who want to visit Dubai or any other excursion, the hotel has a guide from NT, but the prices are downright heavenly. There is a shop in Mol, on the ground floor, Aida, the owner is a girl Aidai from Kyrgyzstan (on the Internet it is mistakenly written from Kazakhstan) speaks excellent Russian (in the UAE since 2000). An excursion to Dubai costs 600 Dirhams per car, but this is without climbing the Burj Khalifa. Tells interestingly and competently. Also, if you are interested in other trips, then she can help with them.
I will gladly answer your questions!
We arrived at the hotel at about 10 pm, at first we were a little upset, at the hotel we were met by a Russian-speaking girl with very bright makeup, unfortunately I did not remember her name, she was not very friendly and, as it seemed to us, even rude. Regarding the free transfer to Dubai, I asked immediately upon check-in, there were no places. We went on autumn holidays as part of 2 adults. + 3 children (1 year 7 months, 8 years and 14 years old), since there was no such accommodation, we bought two rooms (classic and standard). After checking in, the husband returned to the reception and asked him and his son to give a room with two different beds (they booked a room for 2 adults), the same girl said that there were no available rooms with two beds and there would not be, while she was sitting in the area for guests and smoked a hookah. As it turned out later, the rest of the hotel staff is very friendly and polite.
The next day, a wonderful girl named Jeanette (please excuse me if I got something wrong in the name) very quickly changed her husband's room, this was the end of our disappointment at the hotel, everything else was only pleasantly pleasing or even surprising. Rooms are spacious, clean, big bathroom. The room has two small armchairs, a table, a wardrobe, a safe, a mirror with a cabinet, a refrigerator. There was no balcony, we dried things in the bathroom, opened windows in the bathroom, everything dried fairly quickly. Upon request, a kettle, bathrobes, slippers new in packaging, an iron and an ironing board were brought to the room. Every day, 2 bottles of water of 0.5 liters were brought to the room, tea sets in the form of tea and coffee bags, cream, sugar were not. Cleaned well, towels changed daily, since we have a small child, the bed linen was also changed daily. Tipping was 1 dollar.
I periodically noticed 1-2 flies in the room, there are no other living creatures, you can take fumitox, I forgot. The air conditioner worked properly.
In the morning in the restaurant we were always met by Russian-speaking girls, very friendly, they wished us bon appetit, they brought us a high chair. The breakfasts are excellent. From fruits: melons, watermelons, ripe peeled pineapples, kiwi, two types of grapes, bananas, green and red apples, grapefruits, oranges. Packaged juices and freshly squeezed watermelon juice. Also vegetable or Greek salads, chopped tomatoes - yellow and red, olives, olives, two types of sausage, cheese, sometimes there were nuts, scrambled eggs or fried eggs (queue 1-2 people), red fish, fried bacon, beef sausages (quite edible) and chicken (I haven’t tried it), porridge (usually oatmeal), boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, stewed corn or beans, pancakes, donuts, croissants, several types of yogurt (homemade in cups and in packages).
The waiters come up to the table and pour tea and coffee, the cook delivers hot pastries. If a certain dish was not already in the restaurant by the time of arrival, at the request it is brought individually directly to the table. You can have breakfast at the Palace Hotel, but the breakfasts are the same.
The road to the beach took 5-7 minutes through the Al hamra palace 5 hotel, a very beautiful hotel, I would call it an architectural work, it is especially beautiful in the evening when the lights are on. Finishing work is being carried out at Al hamra palace 5, in no way did this interfere with rest. On the first day, we came to the beach at about 10 o’clock, and we didn’t see free sunbeds, a beach boy came up to us, asked where we would like to stay, after which he brought two sunbeds, took towel cards from us, and brought us towels. The rest of the days we came to the beach at about 9 o'clock, there were always free sunbeds. The sand is yellow, mixed with shells, the baby was wearing coral slippers.
After the waves, algae sometimes washed up on the shore. Stingrays swim in the sea, according to my husband’s stories, they are rather big, I don’t like to swim with any living creatures, so I didn’t swim far.
On the territory of the Al hamra palace hotel and the Golf village resort hotel there are the same good playgrounds, brand new.
The Golf village resort 4 has a well-equipped gym (free of charge), my husband is very picky in this matter, but he was quite satisfied, there is a sauna (also free), there is an outdoor pool, every morning when we went to breakfast through the pool, we we watched how it was carefully cleaned, I didn’t see a children’s pool, but if necessary, it is in Al hamra palace 5, in which another children’s pool and a playground under a canopy have not been completed (I think they will open soon).
We went to Dubai on a paid bus (75 dirhams), for children the full cost, they didn’t take it only for the baby, she would still be sitting on her lap.
This bus is first filled at the Palace Hotel, and then at our hotel, we didn’t know about it, and therefore our whole family, except for me and the baby, were sitting on folding extras. places. If you take this bus, try to sit either in the Palace or one of the first. There are free transfers from the hotel to Monar Mall in the center of Ras al Khaimah (by appointment Wednesday, Saturday at 9.30), the time is inconvenient, so we took a taxi - 42 dirhams one way. there is a free transfer to the ACELAND water park, daily at 10.20 am and back at 18.00 pm without prior appointment. By taxi 13-20 dirhams from the hotel, entrance to the water park for the whole day 150 dirhams - adults and children over 120 cm, 100 diohams - children from 80 to 120 cm. The water park has a good children's complex for very young children, paths between slide complexes under awnings. You can have a bite to eat on the territory of the water park, quite inexpensively, 20-30 dirhams per person.
We went to RAK mall (or tell the taxi driver Ras al Khaimah mall), 38 dirhams one way, there are good cheap ones in Lu lu market: children's clothes, toys, circles, pools, adult things are also there.
Money was exchanged for dirhams in Al hamra mall, the rate was 1 dollar - 3.69 dirhams, in Dubai mall - 3.65 dirhams.
We had dinner at Al hamra mall, next to our hotel, no more than 15 minutes on foot, cafes on the first and second floors, dinners 20-40 dirhan per person, on the first floor there is a grocery department where you can buy ready-made salads, fruits, yogurts or hamburgers . There are also children's playgrounds, trampolines.
The hotel guide Natalie tour did not come to the meeting, the next day we found a letter in the room that she had not been notified about us, so we did not see her. In addition to the water park and Dubai, we were not interested in anything else, so we were no longer looking for a guide.
Last year we rested at the Hilton hotel in the same Emirate, the service was also on the level, and, unlike the Golf village resort 4, there were tea sets.
But in general, we liked this hotel more, we were satisfied with the rest.
Well, about everything in order.
We stayed at the end of October 2012. The weather is quite comfortable. The sea is super warm.
Arrived in a fairly large group of 4 families (8 adults and a child of 7 years old)
We had booked 3 rooms of 2-bed "standard" and one room "Classic" 2 adults + 1 child.
These types of rooms are located on 2 floors of the complex.
The rooms are quite modest in size. Please note that all standard rooms have a single double bed. Many visitors do not know this and are very indignant at this fact.
The "classic" room is slightly larger, but without a balcony.
For those traveling with children - pay attention to the fact that you have an extra bed in your voucher and in the contract! At the hotel reception they are trying to charge 150 dirhams (1350 rubles) per day extra for this. We just ran into this... We show from the contract, we say here it is written 2 adults + CHILD !! ! They answered that this is only accommodation, meals, use of services - but not an extra place !! ! in short, we insisted on our own, and in the evening we added. the bed was still put up, but the “sediment” remained...
At the reception, there is a Russian-speaking staff + a very “greyhound” girl named Veronica (walks in the CASA uniform), she promises a lot, but in the end she DOES NOTHING!!!!
In order to achieve something from them, you need to say five times NO LESS !! ! This applies to absolutely everything! Remove the mini bar from the room... bring slippers... bathrobes... kettle... arrange a non-working refrigerator... (we never waited for a kettle or bathrobes during our entire stay)
The hotel is located away from the city. The description of the hotel says a bunch of free transfers to Dubai, to Ras Al Khaimah, to a nearby mall - DO NOT HOPE!! ! Getting on these buses is almost impossible!
We arrived Wednesday morning. Knowing that buses to Dubai from this hotel run on Thursdays and Mondays, we booked in advance and bought tickets for Burj Khalifa on the Internet for Monday, hoping very much to get to Dubai on the hotel's free bus. As soon as we arrived, we decided without delay to reserve our seats - “ha-ha-ha naive! ” Veronica told us. There are no seats for the next two weeks on the free bus to Dubai. . . She offered to arrange for us an individual transfer by minibus for 75 dirhams per person (there are no discounts for a child). Since we had no choice - we had to somehow get to Dubai, we agreed and paid $ 190 and began to wait for Monday and a meeting with the majestic Burj Khalifa. Imagine our surprise when, after breakfast, we arrive at the appointed place and find a crowded minibus - waiting for us to go to Dubai! Since there were no empty seats, we were offered to sit on stools reclining into the aisle - without seat belts, with a short back and other super amenities. Veronika immediately forgot about our questions about security, about the “individual” transfer agreed in advance, and in a rude form simply sent us to look for a way to Dubai on our own (well, at least she returned the money for the bus). Now, of course, emotions have already “boiled over” - we went to Dubai by two taxis, but then the mood was terrible and it’s a pity for the heaps of lost time that we could devote to exploring the planned places in Dubai.
It is possible to buy lunch or dinner on the spot, but this is an average of 110 derhams per person for dinner. The hotel is nice, cozy, quite compact. Service is good. They respond promptly and efficiently to any requests (if everything is resolved calmly). The staff is polite and helpful.
There is a 5 nearby, the restaurant of which you can also use, but in our 4-ke I liked it more (more comfortable).
The hotel has a lot of Russian-speaking girls (Russians and Ukrainians).
There is no animation (and thank God).
The rooms are comfortable, tastefully done, central air conditioning. Cleaning and change of towels daily.
During our holiday on the beach, construction work was carried out, a little noisy and dusty. But judging by the pace of construction in the next month, everything will be finished.
It is possible to buy lunch or dinner on the spot, but this is an average of 110 derhams per person for dinner. The hotel is nice, cozy, quite compact. Service is good. They respond promptly and efficiently to any requests (if everything is resolved calmly). The staff is polite and helpful.
There is a 5 nearby, the restaurant of which you can also use, but in our 4-ke I liked it more (more comfortable).
The hotel has a lot of Russian-speaking girls (Russians and Ukrainians).
There is no animation (and thank God).
The rooms are comfortable, tastefully done, central air conditioning. Cleaning and change of towels daily.
During our holiday on the beach, construction work was carried out, a little noisy and dusty. But judging by the pace of construction in the next month, everything will be finished.