Every day old beef in sauce, chicken and fish fillet (like catfish) stewed in some sort of slimy sauce, pasta, rice and veggie boiled vegetables. Twice in 11 days they fried hard black beef cutlets and 2 times squid rings. For the first 2 types of soup - vermicelli and cream soup. In the morning - scrambled eggs, sausages, muesli, breakfast cereals with cold milk and sour yogurt. Pastries are ordinary, but very few of them, Egyptian oriental sweets were only once of three types. From vegetables, only tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers and pickled olives, salads were made from everything left from breakfast and lunch and with dubious sauce. That's why we didn't eat them. From fruits - melon, circles of orange and grapefruit, dates. That's the whole range for 11 days of rest. They have never done anything on the grill, it is not even close there. Drinks should be discussed separately.
One plus in this matter is that in the morning they gave freshly squeezed juices that stood on the table in tubes and you could drink plenty, orange, apple and a couple of times guava. The rest of the drinks and plain water had to be ordered from the waiters, and this is a complete atas. At first they don’t understand you, and then you have to wait a long time for the order, and they can bring not what you ordered. I got the impression that they don't want to understand, because you have to be a big dumbass not to understand a rum-cola, or a mojito cocktail. And yet, it is very important that the mini-bar is paid, this is understandable, but a bottle of water on the table in the room and in the bathroom for brushing your teeth is also paid, that is, you need to take water for drinking in a restaurant or on the beach in a bar, there is nowhere else . When we checked out, we paid $6 for 3 bottles of water and $1 for early check-in (we were checked in upon arrival at 10 o'clock), although no one warned us about this. Of course, these are trifles, but you must admit, they are very unpleasant.
For all drinks everywhere you need to sign zero checks. The funny thing is that the hotel does not have a single cafe and restaurant where you could have a bite to eat during the day, that is, if you are late for breakfast or lunch, forget about food, you will not even find a crust of bread. With us, the guests asked at the bar on the beach if it was possible to order something to eat, they were told that only by order from the restaurant for a fee. That's all inclusive for you! There are no a la carte restaurants either. The beach is terrible, the sunbeds are torn and broken, umbrellas too, and there are few of them. Wicker eggs were occupied only by families with children, and we had to be content with broken equipment. But the sea is beautiful, the entrance is from the pier, but it is small. There are no reefs, there are single fish, the water is clean, warm, you can swim. The hotel has 2 swimming pools with sea water - children's and deeper, this is of course a plus. But we did not manage to swim in them, because the hotel is 90% inhabited by Arabs. They are dark there.
Each room has an Arab man, 2-3 women and 2-4 children. And these women in dark clothes and children sat in these pools up to their necks all day long, because the heat was up to 40 degrees and they were so cool. For obvious reasons, none of our guests entered the pool. Fortunately, they do not know how to swim, even though they swam in the sea without them. Can you imagine what happened in the dining room in the evenings and in the morning! Arabs and their children are everywhere, grabbing everything with their hands, screaming, squealing, just horror. I don’t know, maybe someone has vacationed with the locals before, but it’s my first time, and it’s HORRIBLE! The rooms are normal, the furniture is old, the plumbing is good, everything worked, the air conditioning is a bit noisy, but it's bearable. Beds are comfortable, sheets and towels are clean and new. Cleaned mediocre, in 11 days they changed the bed 1 time, towels were changed every day, because we threw them on the floor. There was no animation, that is, no, and in general, even background music on the territory and on the beach is not.
In no case should guests with children go to this hotel, there is nothing for children - no club, no food, no beach, no animation, only an abandoned, unkempt playground.
I wrote this review so that those who are going to go to this hotel have an idea about it and do not fall into the trap of unscrupulous travel agents like us and your vacation brought them joy and pleasure. And keep in mind that this hotel in Dahab is considered the best, you can imagine what all the others are.
Comparing the experience of living and relaxing in Egypt with this hotel, I can not give it any other rating than the lowest.
We had a goal to stay in Dahab, so we chose this hotel, buying into 5 stars and reviews on this site (people, are you seriously praising it? Or are these custom articles? )
In order:
1. The worst thing is the disgusting food.
Food from dinner is ALWAYS (without any attempt to hide or embellish) served for lunch the next day. That is, not all, but what they did not eat, that is, the most tasteless. There are no fresh dishes, only leftovers from the evening.
2. On the first evening, they served koshari for hot and salad.
The husband approached the manager of the restaurant and told them to stop taking us for idiots, as this is food for the lowest strata of the population in Egypt. A serving of koshari at a lighthouse in Dahab costs £.5. This is food for the poor. And it is served in the hotel for cold and hot, hoping that tourists do not know life outside the hotel. On suckers, in other words. They admitted that we were right and didn't apply again. They were waiting for us to leave to continue, obviously.
3. We were in Egypt at the end of April. It's strawberry, mango, guava season. Fruit was given in the hotel: dates and oranges. Rarely bananas.
4. Many Arab families have a rest. I have nothing against them, just a warning so that you can take this into account when choosing a hotel. At the beginning of dinner, at all food distribution points, there is a line of Arabs, women in black clothes bathe in the pool. These are the features of their culture, it is up to you to accept or not.
5. Everyone quarreled with them about food: Russians, Italians.
Only none. The food is very poor and poor, they do not give fruit. I can eat oranges and dates with bananas at home.
6. I will describe a standard set of dishes for dinner: rice, potatoes, beef, fish fillet, stewed or boiled vegetables; a few salads, usually inedible. I demanded that at least olive oil be placed near the salads. They began to put through time. The cut vegetables themselves are the cheapest, of the worst quality. I know from the experience of living in the countryside and visiting markets.
6. The entrance to the water is only from the pontoon, there is no sandy beach, as in Laguna.
7. The hotel is in the distance, the taxi turns into an attraction for suckers. If in the lagoon the cost of a taxi is 10 pounds to a lighthouse, then here in the outskirts they call any cosmic price, realizing that you have no choice.
8. The rooms and the hotel fund itself are shabby, miserable, there are simply incredibly many flies everywhere.
We started complaining to friends in Dahab who live in Egypt most of the time.
They laughed at us, they said that this is the worst hotel and everyone knows about it. And what exactly is scolded for food in the very first place.
For regular swearing with them, we were offered to improve the category of the room. We refused and asked just not to spoil our vacation and feed us normally. Nothing has changed....
As a result, if you need to be in Dahab, then it is better either to the private sector or to Dahabey (this is what the locals advised). There is a lagoon, sand, everything is close, for 10 pounds at any time and you can get to any restaurant in Dahab, and to fruit.
Separately, I will say that the Russians, who were in Egypt for the first time, rested with us. They ALL liked it. Obviously, there is nothing to compare with, and there is no understanding of what exactly they give for dinner either. I wouldn't be surprised if they write a positive review.
I would highly NOT recommend staying at this hotel: ruin your holiday. You can eat potatoes and bananas at home ... .
No one asked for money anywhere! and didn't even hint. Tipping was voluntary.
99.8% of tourists are Russians.
I really liked the beach, but the "knitwear" on the beach, on the mattresses, is very old.
The furniture in the rooms is good, nothing shabby. The windows in the room are deaf everywhere, nothing opens and, accordingly, there are no nets - as for me, it's a pity. "Rylno-soap" accessories are replenished every day.
The food is very ordinary, as everywhere in Egypt, if something is tasty, then the cook himself gives out, dosed. But the desserts are great! Chef - praise! Fruits are all chopped and peeled - this is a minus. The wine is good and undiluted +. Liked the service staff.
The first time I encountered in Egypt, according to the ALL system, that the tourist service time is from 12.00 to 12.00. Those. if you were brought before 12.00, then you are not supposed to have breakfast, and if you are taken away after 12.00, then you have lunch at your own expense. A very modest lunch on the day of departure cost me 200 pounds - this is so "for the information of vacationers. " Have a good rest everyone.
And now in more detail:
Settlement
From Sharma airport we got to the hotel for about an hour, upon arrival (about 11 am) we were settled without delay - at the reception they gave out the keys to the room, cards for towels, served juice, had a short tour - where the restaurants, in which direction what is located, showed the room and wish you a good rest.
Number
We took the Superior Sea View room - everything is nice in the room, the furniture, appliances, plumbing are in excellent condition; plasma, huge bed, kettle and daily replenished coffee/tea bags and sugar. From the bathroom windows opened into the room and from there a view of the sea - very original. Shampoo, conditioner, shower gel and even cream was provided. Everything smelled delicious, which was a big surprise - I brought my shower accessories, because. in other hotels there was either no such thing at all, or there was something cheap and I didn’t want to use it at all. Towels were changed every day, regardless of where they were left (there was no need to put them on the floor). There was also a shower. cubicle, and bathroom; hot water without interruption. The room had several closets with lights inside. There was a safe in the room, but even if we forgot to put our phones or a camera in there, everything remained in its place. There are CCTV cameras around the territory - you can see who and when enters the room, so in principle there should not be any problems. We left $ 1 for the cleaner, there was always a vase with fresh flowers in the room, everything was clean, not a speck of dust anywhere.
Nutrition
Food is a different story. I could hardly restrain myself so as not to overeat : ) Everything is very tasty cooked, and I am picky about food and grown on homemade tasty and healthy food - I really liked everything) there was always meat (chicken, beef, even lamb was), fish, there were a couple of times crabs and squids, potatoes, rice, pasta, fresh vegetables (with a taste of vegetables, not herbs : ) ), Caesar salads, delicious cheeses, sweets, fruits. Local wine was not bad served, very personal - white, red, rose. After staying in other hotels where only chicken and vegetables were edible, we were more than pleasantly surprised.
Sea
The entrance to the sea is only from the pontoon, but the depth is immediately small - about 1.5 m +/- depending on the tide. And then - a gorgeous reef with a huge number of fish, but you still need to get to it - 50 meters from the entrance to the sea, so flippers were very handy. On the beach, you can rent everything - fins, a mask, a snorkel, a suit - if you don't have your own. The reef stretches along the coast, so it was not scary to swim - you don’t need to go to a big rough.
Our staff was friendly, I was preparing for annoying Arabs - there was nothing like it. Everyone is polite, if they see that someone is in a stupor, they run up and ask if they can help with something. The manager at the reception was sitting - asking our opinion at the end - what we liked, what we didn't, took notes.
Entertainment
There was no animation at all, from entertainment - football, tennis, there is sports. gym and in the morning water aerobics was held - nothing else, so it's more of a holiday for those who want to enjoy the peace, tranquility and beautiful sea. There was also a place for dancing - music played in the evenings, but there were either no visitors at all, or a couple came by.
The guests are mostly Europeans, there were no our compatriots shouting "tagiiiiil". Mostly married couples.
In general, if the main thing for you in rest is silence, comfort, beautiful sea - you will definitely like this hotel.