Heroically, taking into account the weather in Egypt at this time, I rested at the Sheraton in late July and early August. In general, the rest turned out to be what I wanted - calm and measured, not counting some inconveniences and unpleasant sensations, which I attribute to the costs of the Egyptian service, which is weak even in the Sheraton. If everything is decent at the managerial level, then some representatives of lower positions like beach-boys, garcons, a mini-bar attendant (who, despite the “do not disturb” sign, called by phone and demanded to run it into the room to check the mini-bar), etc. small fry, allowed themselves to answer greyhounds, shirk their duties, and also pretend to be pharaohs. I was annoyed by the real or feigned tendency of the staff to be dumb as soon as the conversation turned to something simple, but non-standard, up to the loss of the employee's command of English, with the exception of 10 words that are within his immediate competence. There was a feeling that these were yesterday's shots of Hurghada three-ruble bills, hired by Sheraton to save money. This also applies not least to Odeon, who this time was my tour operator. I received a quite predictable impression from the zero level of professional training of his employees who accompanied me to the hotel and in the hotel itself, their own little sanity and familiarity. I wouldn’t trust such toilets to wash, let alone meet tourists. In the Odeon, almost any Egyptian who occupies the most insignificant position imagines himself at least the navel of the earth and special royal blood, this is expressed in an extremely authoritarian manner of communicating with guests. At least the managers selected the personnel more carefully, so that such sheep would not immediately spoil the mood for people who paid for decent hotels. Upon arrival, Odeon delivers to hotels for the night looking / after checking in, I barely had time for dinner, then I had only time to wash and go to bed, because it was almost night, I didn’t even see the sea on the first day /, takes me to the airport for 4 more than an hour before departure, although it takes half an hour to go there. The transfer, although it was carried out on mini-buses with a minimum number of people, turned out to be very tedious, because we had previously wound around various wretched and remote hotels in Makadi and, it seems, even Safaga. When checking in, a handsome, but stupid and ill-mannered Odeon boy said that I simply MUST appear tomorrow at half past nine in the morning for a meeting with a guide, to my objections that, most likely, I would sleep at such an early hour, the answer was , this is “my problem”, they need to register me with the police (although, as far as I know, registers the hotel) and that I must be in the lobby at the specified time. The next morning at 8 another, even more arrogant and handsome boy called me in the room and said he was waiting for me in half an hour in the lobby. His happiness is that I myself woke up by that time and was going to breakfast. At the meeting, this Arab kid, constantly “poking” me, despite the fact that he was 15 years younger than me, showed such colossal and unjustified ambitions that I, trying to get rid of him as soon as possible, did not even ask questions about the hotel, although I had them. Another boy said that I should call him on the eve of my return flight to find out the time of departure from the hotel, since there is no information board at the Sheraton for Odeon, to which I demanded that he find a more convenient way for me to tell this time, because I am not going to call him , hurried him to quickly note my documents, told him, who was about to open his mouth about excursions, that I would not go anywhere, I really wanted to eat and went to a restaurant. In principle, I was ready for something like this, so I was not particularly surprised. The shortcomings of the service at the hotel will be discussed in stages as they are presented. When checking in at the reception, which is 3 separate tables instead of one common desk, as I used to see in hotels before, having indicated my wishes for accommodation on the top floor and not in the 4th block (near which it constantly stinks), I received the 3rd floor of the 5th building with balcony directly to the large pool. It was far to go to the restaurant, even further to the beach, but there was a gym and a check-out from the hotel nearby. Moving around the territory, which is huge, however, in most cases is possible in the shade (partial shade) of the verandas of the 1st floors of residential buildings and office buildings, so while you are in the hotel, exposure to powerful solar radiation was easy to avoid. I liked the mighty and sprawling architecture of the hotel, but the similar terracotta color and shape of most buildings makes the Sheraton visually almost indistinguishable from Steigenberger. A real tropical garden (there is nothing like it in Movenpick, for example) with a rich variety of plants, kept in admirable order, with daily leveled soil, also did not leave me indifferent. Of course, in such a climate, many plants suffer from drought and excessively strong sun, even in spite of regular automatic watering, but in other hotels it is not easier for representatives of the flora. During my stay, I found a small external repair of a number of buildings, thank God, not my building. Otherwise, everything on the territory and in the buildings is clean and tidy. Air conditioning of common areas is satisfactory. There are only 3 beaches, relaxation is the farthest from the sea, neither mind nor heart at all - you can’t swim to deep and any clear water from it, you can only rake silt with your feet at a knee-deep depth. Miramar is the longest, separated from the sea by an island, on the right side of this beach there is a passage to Zeytuna with a pier to the real sea, and the path there is not close, given the distance from the room, besides, the use of the beach itself is paid for residents of the Sheraton. From family, the smallest beach, to deep water is the closest, but there were almost never towels on it, as well as buttons for calling a beach fight on umbrellas, they had to be carried from Miramar. Towels, by the way, are 2/3 old and psy, it is better to take them yourself, beach-boys strive to slip just such ancient ones. Wooden sunbeds, decent and comfortable, with mattresses with mostly clean covers, arranged taking into account the requirements of personal space. Umbrellas are too small, it was necessary to catch the shade in most cases. From the beach showers, water is supplied, of course, t close to boiling water. On the beaches, people from the diving center got empty chatter, they didn’t let me read, listen to music calmly. The room, quite spacious, is furnished with heavy and solid furniture made of solid light wood, with a balcony the size of a good room, equipped with 2 sunbeds of the same tree with mattresses, it’s great to drink tea and other drinks after sunset, since there was a kettle with everything you need for this ( 2 bottles of water belong to the minibar and cost money, exactly 9 times more expensive than in the supermarket). Opposite the bed, large and tall, but softer than I like, there was a narrow window with a shutter, sometimes in the morning, when it was still not very hot, I opened it and continued to sleep, blown warm and always (especially at night) quite strong wind. My ceilings were tall and domed both in the room itself, and in the bathroom and on the balcony. There were enough lamps, including a chandelier in the dome, cabinets were also backlit, so I didn’t have to break my eyes. Everything in the room is either new or in excellent condition, no signs of wear or malfunction were noticed. . Triple curtains blocked the sunlight and any other light tightly. On call, they brought almost everything that your heart desires - bathrobes with slippers, an iron with a board, any consumables up to a tooth rinse. Once, it is not clear with what fright, this iron with a board was taken out of my room, after a harsh conversation with the operator on the phone, they dragged it back. The quality of washing products in Sheraton is depressing - having thoughtlessly used their shampoo and with their own balm, I received a whole handful of fallen hair in the process of washing my hair, then I washed only with my own. Their soap is rubbish too. The air conditioner cooled quickly and almost silently, while not blowing into the bed, but sometimes it switched to the fan on its own, several times because of this I had to get up in the middle of the night due to the resulting stuffiness, and once, on the contrary, from the cold, when, due to passing out and then turned on the energy, the air conditioner worked at its standard 22 degrees. Once I was covered with a king-size bed with a one-and-a-half sheet, which was even impossible to tuck in from the sides (an illustration of the Sheraton level of service). At first, the janitor and the mini-bar attendant liked to talk for a long time in their poor English, sticking around in the room, wasting my time, hinting at tips in every possible way, after 2 days, tired of these conversations, I already tried so that they would not find me on the spot. A middle-aged, mustachioed Arab running errands from house-keeping, who brought me all sorts of small things on order until he got an elbow in the ribs, every time he tried to lean against me from behind. When I took the tour, I thought that I was going to a German hotel, but it wasn’t there - probably 80% of the total were ARABs like Christians, in groups of 10 obese individuals of different ages, but approximately the same shape (wider across themselves) and more in each , with numerous children of appropriate upbringing, whose bellies and asses are already hanging at the age of 10, adult koloboks are all from size 54 and larger. Looking at them, I involuntarily wondered what kind of life these biological formations lead. . One of the broods almost without exception consisted of carriers of hereditary elephantiasis. The funniest thing was when some of these bunches showed up at the gym to walk on the treadmill. Not only did they look like pigs and ate the same way, spoiling the mood and appetite of decent people, they also, sorry for naturalism, really didn’t have shit, which I repeatedly and clearly felt when standing behind them at breakfast in line for fried eggs, which they created every morning, lining up on the crawl. One of the broods even brought along their Coptic priest, who at breakfast walked around the halls as is in full dress, blessing the flock to eat more. They arrived a bunch of days 3 after me, stayed at the hotel for about a week. After their long-awaited departure, the Sheraton was practically deserted, only Europeans remained, but I still had the idea of a hotel as purely Arabic. This was especially annoying in the restaurant, in particular, because of the behavior of their children, who were lying on the carpet, deliberately stomping with all their might, yelling at the top of their lungs, etc. . , at other times these animals were more or less dispersed throughout the territory and it was much easier not to pay attention to them. Day after day, the same scene was repeated - the future sheikh, about 6 years old, who until this age was still carried in a stroller, at the exit from the toilet, where his sister took him, he began to yell so that he could be heard in all neighboring rooms and not even street, not stopping until, turning over many kilograms of fat deposits, his mountain father was dragged and carried away in his arms to the table. At the beginning of this performance, all the representatives of Western Europe who were around stopped eating and silently listened to what was happening with all their eyes, and the restaurant staff only smiled tenderly and idiotically. I note that neither Movenpick, nor even more so in Steigenberger, where I was at exchange dinners, there were no Arabs in such numbers, there were only a few of them. Apparently, in these hotels they value their reputation and regular guests from European countries and do not subject their psyche to such tests, launching herds of pigs to stay. Russian-speaking, besides me, in my opinion, four lived in the hotel. The food, despite the weekly loss of appetite, I was quite satisfied. There was a fear of poor supplies for a known reason, which did not materialize. Breakfasts are always the same (skinned potatoes, rice, vegetables fried with eggs in a bag and salad, the so-called "beef bacon", boiled meat sausages, nuts, delicious bread, various puffs and awesome glazed donuts, pancakes, waffles and all sorts of sauces for them, assorted fruits, packaged mango juices, pineapple, apple, only fresh orange, etc. , all food was replenished until the end of breakfast), but so plentiful that then there was no desire to dine in the wild heat, except for liquids , ice cream and fruits during the day, nothing more climbed for me. In addition, a completely non-poor dinner began at 6, including half board, according to those conditions, it turned out to be more than enough. In general, dinners, different every evening, happened either better or worse, out of any regularity, but I don’t remember such that I didn’t find anything appetizing and left hungry. . In any case, 2-3 meat dishes in normal pieces or butts for cutting + beef or chicken shawarma were always present, beef and veal were sometimes harsh, but lamb was excellent. Camel butts were fried a couple of times, I also found it tough and too fibrous. An excellent selection of European cheeses, a day later I even managed to taste Camembert. Traditionally for Egypt, a limited choice of fish - only sole in 2-3 types, on fish days, seafood stew with vegetables and champignons, a huge fish baked whole, as well as shrimp or crab soup. Sauces and ingredients for them, green salads, fruits, among which there were both super-sugar watermelon, which I probably absorbed by a kilogram per sitting, and the shame of Sheraton - immature and, accordingly, invincible pears like Chinese ones, only without juice and small green peaches, also not having juice due to immaturity, in addition to them, a couple of types of good apples and grapes, pineapple, various citrus fruits, melon, dates and bananas. Desserts were the worst, on some days there was nothing to take, except for any boring primitive like milk puddings and whipped cream, there was nothing at all, the next day the confectioner seemed to break through and oriental sweets, cakes and pastries appeared, not the most delicious, however. In particular, the least tasty "Black Forest" of the 3 fives, where I had dinner, belonged to Sheraton. Ice cream for such hell was given only 2 times a week and then crappy, on vegetable fat. But this did not upset me much, because after all the previously eaten meat with everything else and a plate of watermelon, there was no longer an urgent need for any confectionery. With the beginning of Ramadan, they began to put out a couple of types of free compote at dinner. Among the shortcomings of the breakfast, I would note a poor selection of teas, while only tea bags, the absence of teapots on the tables, and also a day later the temperature of the water in the samovar, designed for boiling water, was lukewarm, even a tea bag was not brewed in it. The garcons served coffee and fresh juice, brought cocoa or tea by order, but we had to wait a long time. At dinner, the service is better, but also not a fountain. On the 1st full day at the hotel, I sat down to dine on the veranda - I drove away more flies that had risen closer to dusk than I ate. On the 2nd day, I sat down on the podium, so the garcon poured water into my glass with a chip, and so on, minor and major inconveniences happened all the time. Sometimes I came across dishes with black stains. It seems that everyone who came with bags, especially from breakfast, the Germans and French, including, wrapping a couple of kilos of grub in a linen napkin in the absence of paper ones, hid them in string bags. To save money, Arabs came to dinner with their bottles, in general, the prices for drinks are such that guests massively imported water, beer and other whole packages from the supermarket, this did not cause objections. In other hotels, apparently, the same thing, in Movenpick the Germans dragged 20-liter bottles of water from the bus at all. In the last hotel, dinner is in many ways more interesting than the Sheraton one, especially with regard to desserts and vegetables (there I ate, in particular, asparagus and artichokes), but my hotel will still be cooler in terms of meat. And one more thing - in Movenpick the buffet is full of all sorts of slag like mayonnaise salads, which it is not clear who eats, in the Sheraton we were spared from this. As for Steigenberger, they have a much smaller assortment of dishes, but everything is very tasty, + I cracked figs and excellent plums there, which were absent in the Sheraton. It also seemed to me that the organization of the restaurant space was extremely nice with many romantic corners for two, a small indoor hall, a larger hall under a canopy and a vast part of the courtyard, occupied by open-air tables, allowing guests not to sit crowded, having almost close strangers, as often happens in one huge common room of some hotels. In Steigenberger, all the names of the dishes are only in German. I also dined in an oriental a la carte - delicious, but so small that it’s not worth losing dinner on the buffet, you can take 3 dishes of a tiny amount without additional payment. The gym is equipped with new and serviceable exercise equipment, perfectly working air conditioners and a cooler with free drinking water. . Animation in the hotel is symbolic and, thank God, very quiet. In the morning, the restaurant had printouts of all the events for the day. In the evenings, a pianist played on the terrace, after the end of the music-making there was complete silence and smoothness, no one bothered me to sleep even once. The hotel has a currency exchange office with a peculiar work schedule, no more than 2 hours a day, according to my observations. Work there alternately 2 wonderful cashiers in their own way. One is old and so slow that he writes out a certificate for 5 minutes, and counts the money 10 times, the other is relatively young, he does everything at lightning speed, including trying to lose pounds, allegedly he was in a hurry and made a mistake, after exposing calmly grandmas adds. El Gouna is really quiet, decent and clean, you can walk without interference and escort at any time of the day. Prices everywhere, except for supermarkets and pharmacies, are designed for wealthy Europeans. Diving, quad safaris, etc. are also many times more expensive than in Hurghada, where I absolutely did not want to go because of the persistent gag reflex that I still have from my last visit to this city 7 years ago
Translated automatically from Russian. View original
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