Your rating of this hotel:
8.0
from 10
Hotel ratings by criteria:
Rooms:
9.0
Service:
9.0
Cleanliness:
8.0
Food:
8.0
Amenities:
6.0
Recently returned from a holiday in Prima Life Makadi 5 *, rested in August 2021.7 days. The rest was a success, I can recommend this hotel for the beautiful clear sea (even in some neighboring hotels it is not as clean), a good reef, good food for Egypt in this price category.
Immediately briefly about what is NOT in this hotel. There is no pathos here, the hotel is simple, old (but updated periodically), compact. Almost no entertainment programs. There is almost no seafood here, there were squid twice (fish does not count). No tasty fish. No bracelets on the hands, for the first time there is no strip without a tan on the hand : ). No hotel card. No free internet except in the lobby and that's good quality. There is no depth at the entrance to the sea, you have to walk about 20 meters, then you can swim. There are almost no Ukrainians, Russians, mostly Arabs and Europeans. There is no too intrusive "vparivanie" excursions.
There is no high-quality alcohol, although Ultra AI was indicated when booking the tour.
And if these "no" are not important for you, then you should read the next part of the story.
We planned to go to the nearby Arabesque hotel, but it turned out that my daughter's passport was valid for less than 5 months, and with it we could only travel through Joinup, they seemed to take up to 3 months. There were no tours from Joinup in Arabesque, so we stopped in Primalife. Our TA strongly recommended doing PCR, although we had certificates with a QR code in ACTION. In principle, PCR did not agree anywhere. After arriving in Hurghada, at the exit from the plane, they looked at the certificates, did not scan them. On the way to the hotel, the guide said to bring the original PCR to the meeting with the hotel guide, but he also did not ask for them. I must say right away that only our certificates were scanned upon return.
At the airport, we bought an Orange SIM card, 18 Gb for $10, and immediately asked to be activated.
But there these gigabytes are listed in units, only on social networks 1:1, other resources 1:2.
It was enough for three of us a week, in total it really turned out 10Gb. Just at the airport on the way back gigabytes ran out. The rest was checked using the application from Orange.
We arrived at the hotel at about 5 o'clock in the morning, at the reception they said that there were no rooms available. We offered a surcharge, he refused, said that there really were no rooms ready for occupancy, but a few rooms had just become vacant, they were being cleaned and they would settle us. And so it happened, by one o'clock we were already in our room. We settled in room No. 5214, we got it with a fairly recent renovation, probably this building as a whole has been renovated. They delivered another bed without any problems. The room is spacious, the terrace overlooking the sunny side, but the direct sun does not enter the room. They immediately asked for a second card in order to leave the air conditioner in the room on the day, no problem.
They cleaned the room every other day. To the sea a leisurely walk 5 min. And the main restaurant is also up to 5min.
The territory is designed so that you can walk in the shade from the sun between the buildings or the alley along the neighboring hotel, which was very pleasing at lunchtime.
The next day there was a mandatory meeting with the guide, they told us on the bus that no matter how you come to the meeting, they may not provide information about the return flight. I was very surprised that the meeting with the guide lasted up to 5 minutes (maybe because we were the only ones at the meeting), we said that it was the 4th time in Egypt and he didn’t try to evaporate any excursions for us at all, he took the voucher, gave an advertisement with excursions and wish you a good rest.
The sea and the beach are amazing. The sea is very clean, although the sand is underfoot, but it soon settles, and the water is not cloudy. In some places there are remnants of corals, but we mostly went swimming without corals, although they were, the bottom is really pleasant.
There are several islands with corals on the territory of the hotel, more of these islands in the neighboring hotel Arabesque.
But a really beautiful reef wall in the other direction, also actually on the territory of the hotel next to the left (if you look at the sea), 200 meters from the prima beach. There are many live corals, a variety of small and large fish, stingrays, moray eels, turtles. Really beautiful reef. We talked with the animator, he showed a video with octopuses, but said that we should feed chicken in the evening. We have not seen. I went and swam to neighboring hotels up to the center of Makadi Bay and even a little further. But there are no beautiful reefs.
The sunbeds/umbrella on the beach looks a bit small, but never enough, most Arab tourists sit in the pools and either don't go to the sea at all, or converge in the afternoon. Waiters periodically wear cocktails and popcorn on the beach. There is ice cream in the bar on the beach, not very tasty.
Quite often, excursions or massages are offered on the beach, but they are not intrusive, they joke and are generally friendly.
It was possible to swim in the sea until 18 o'clock, but no one kicked out of the sunbeds, we loved to lie there in the evenings until dinner, the evenings were very cool ...I recommend in the evening to walk with a flashlight along the coastline along the makadi, all kinds of crayfish, crabs running around the beach the shores saw a stingray.
Nutrition. Of the previously visited three hotels in this price category in Egypt, the food here was better. Breakfast is standard, but there was coffee / cappuccino from ground beans (not from freeze-dried), fruits for breakfast - dates, apples, sometimes cut into salad, sometimes even melon.
Lunch and dinner - there was always chicken, veal, fish, for dinner they often fried something on the grill: kebab, fish, chicken. But I have never tried delicious fish in Egypt in hotels, and once I said that they simply do not give normal fish, and not a problem in cooking.
And on the same evening (coincidentally: ) they gave a baked big tuna. The Egyptians and tuna managed to cook tasteless.
Once upon a time we ate tuna in Turkey - heaven and earth...Squid was served every other week 2 or 3 times. But in general, we liked the food in this hotel. From fruits they gave melon, guava, dates, apples, pears, grapes, fruit salad (well, not all at once, but there were always 4-5 positions). We were especially pleased at the last dinner: there was baked tuna and veal and chicken / grill, and grilled kebabs, and there was mango on the fruit, well, very tasty, and the cakes that evening were mango. Desserts at the hotel are quite tasty and the selection is good. Juices are tasty and good quality. All alcohol is local, in plastic containers, except for cocktails. Beer is normal, you can drink.
In the hotel and restaurants, the staff is mostly in masks, they collect food at your direction. And it creates queues.
The hotel has a la carte restaurants, but you have to check in the day before we didn't go.
Entertainment.
That's sad about this hotel.
In the evenings there is a disco for kids, children, one evening there was live music, but on the central pool, which is not very convenient. Akvazhim on the beach at lunchtime. A "fruit festival" was arranged on the beach after lunch, they gave watermelons, cakes and cocktails.
Contingent. Mostly Arabs and Europeans, somewhere around 10-20% from the post-Soviet space. Many Arabs and they come with their whole families, they make noise, we tried to sit as far away as possible. What made me a little angry was that you were standing in line, Arabs came forward in line and brazenly took food, sometimes the staff paid attention to this, but rarely, on the contrary, they serve their own people first.
On the night of the return, they called back from the reception, asking not to be late. Leaving for the hotel, our Prima Life was the second on the route, and on the way back it was the last, we were picked up and did not stop anywhere else. 30min drive to the airport.
In general, we liked it here, the hotel is good, the staff is friendly, attentive, solve problems quickly.
The food is decent. The reef is comparable to the good ones in Sharm. The sea is very cool and clean, suitable for small children, because the first 10-15 meters the water is just above the knee.
Immediately briefly about what is NOT in this hotel. There is no pathos here, the hotel is simple, old (but updated periodically), compact. Almost no entertainment programs. There is almost no seafood here, there were squid twice (fish does not count). No tasty fish. No bracelets on the hands, for the first time there is no strip without a tan on the hand : ). No hotel card. No free internet except in the lobby and that's good quality. There is no depth at the entrance to the sea, you have to walk about 20 meters, then you can swim. There are almost no Ukrainians, Russians, mostly Arabs and Europeans. There is no too intrusive "vparivanie" excursions.
There is no high-quality alcohol, although Ultra AI was indicated when booking the tour.
And if these "no" are not important for you, then you should read the next part of the story.
We planned to go to the nearby Arabesque hotel, but it turned out that my daughter's passport was valid for less than 5 months, and with it we could only travel through Joinup, they seemed to take up to 3 months. There were no tours from Joinup in Arabesque, so we stopped in Primalife. Our TA strongly recommended doing PCR, although we had certificates with a QR code in ACTION. In principle, PCR did not agree anywhere. After arriving in Hurghada, at the exit from the plane, they looked at the certificates, did not scan them. On the way to the hotel, the guide said to bring the original PCR to the meeting with the hotel guide, but he also did not ask for them. I must say right away that only our certificates were scanned upon return.
At the airport, we bought an Orange SIM card, 18 Gb for $10, and immediately asked to be activated.
But there these gigabytes are listed in units, only on social networks 1:1, other resources 1:2.
It was enough for three of us a week, in total it really turned out 10Gb. Just at the airport on the way back gigabytes ran out. The rest was checked using the application from Orange.
We arrived at the hotel at about 5 o'clock in the morning, at the reception they said that there were no rooms available. We offered a surcharge, he refused, said that there really were no rooms ready for occupancy, but a few rooms had just become vacant, they were being cleaned and they would settle us. And so it happened, by one o'clock we were already in our room. We settled in room No. 5214, we got it with a fairly recent renovation, probably this building as a whole has been renovated. They delivered another bed without any problems. The room is spacious, the terrace overlooking the sunny side, but the direct sun does not enter the room. They immediately asked for a second card in order to leave the air conditioner in the room on the day, no problem.
They cleaned the room every other day. To the sea a leisurely walk 5 min. And the main restaurant is also up to 5min.
The territory is designed so that you can walk in the shade from the sun between the buildings or the alley along the neighboring hotel, which was very pleasing at lunchtime.
The next day there was a mandatory meeting with the guide, they told us on the bus that no matter how you come to the meeting, they may not provide information about the return flight. I was very surprised that the meeting with the guide lasted up to 5 minutes (maybe because we were the only ones at the meeting), we said that it was the 4th time in Egypt and he didn’t try to evaporate any excursions for us at all, he took the voucher, gave an advertisement with excursions and wish you a good rest.
The sea and the beach are amazing. The sea is very clean, although the sand is underfoot, but it soon settles, and the water is not cloudy. In some places there are remnants of corals, but we mostly went swimming without corals, although they were, the bottom is really pleasant.
There are several islands with corals on the territory of the hotel, more of these islands in the neighboring hotel Arabesque.
But a really beautiful reef wall in the other direction, also actually on the territory of the hotel next to the left (if you look at the sea), 200 meters from the prima beach. There are many live corals, a variety of small and large fish, stingrays, moray eels, turtles. Really beautiful reef. We talked with the animator, he showed a video with octopuses, but said that we should feed chicken in the evening. We have not seen. I went and swam to neighboring hotels up to the center of Makadi Bay and even a little further. But there are no beautiful reefs.
The sunbeds/umbrella on the beach looks a bit small, but never enough, most Arab tourists sit in the pools and either don't go to the sea at all, or converge in the afternoon. Waiters periodically wear cocktails and popcorn on the beach. There is ice cream in the bar on the beach, not very tasty.
Quite often, excursions or massages are offered on the beach, but they are not intrusive, they joke and are generally friendly.
It was possible to swim in the sea until 18 o'clock, but no one kicked out of the sunbeds, we loved to lie there in the evenings until dinner, the evenings were very cool ...I recommend in the evening to walk with a flashlight along the coastline along the makadi, all kinds of crayfish, crabs running around the beach the shores saw a stingray.
Nutrition. Of the previously visited three hotels in this price category in Egypt, the food here was better. Breakfast is standard, but there was coffee / cappuccino from ground beans (not from freeze-dried), fruits for breakfast - dates, apples, sometimes cut into salad, sometimes even melon.
Lunch and dinner - there was always chicken, veal, fish, for dinner they often fried something on the grill: kebab, fish, chicken. But I have never tried delicious fish in Egypt in hotels, and once I said that they simply do not give normal fish, and not a problem in cooking.
And on the same evening (coincidentally: ) they gave a baked big tuna. The Egyptians and tuna managed to cook tasteless.
Once upon a time we ate tuna in Turkey - heaven and earth...Squid was served every other week 2 or 3 times. But in general, we liked the food in this hotel. From fruits they gave melon, guava, dates, apples, pears, grapes, fruit salad (well, not all at once, but there were always 4-5 positions). We were especially pleased at the last dinner: there was baked tuna and veal and chicken / grill, and grilled kebabs, and there was mango on the fruit, well, very tasty, and the cakes that evening were mango. Desserts at the hotel are quite tasty and the selection is good. Juices are tasty and good quality. All alcohol is local, in plastic containers, except for cocktails. Beer is normal, you can drink.
In the hotel and restaurants, the staff is mostly in masks, they collect food at your direction. And it creates queues.
The hotel has a la carte restaurants, but you have to check in the day before we didn't go.
Entertainment.
That's sad about this hotel.
In the evenings there is a disco for kids, children, one evening there was live music, but on the central pool, which is not very convenient. Akvazhim on the beach at lunchtime. A "fruit festival" was arranged on the beach after lunch, they gave watermelons, cakes and cocktails.
Contingent. Mostly Arabs and Europeans, somewhere around 10-20% from the post-Soviet space. Many Arabs and they come with their whole families, they make noise, we tried to sit as far away as possible. What made me a little angry was that you were standing in line, Arabs came forward in line and brazenly took food, sometimes the staff paid attention to this, but rarely, on the contrary, they serve their own people first.
On the night of the return, they called back from the reception, asking not to be late. Leaving for the hotel, our Prima Life was the second on the route, and on the way back it was the last, we were picked up and did not stop anywhere else. 30min drive to the airport.
In general, we liked it here, the hotel is good, the staff is friendly, attentive, solve problems quickly.
The food is decent. The reef is comparable to the good ones in Sharm. The sea is very cool and clean, suitable for small children, because the first 10-15 meters the water is just above the knee.
Translated automatically from Russian. View original
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OTHER REVIEWS ABOUT THE HOTEL
- Repair in progress
- Egypt at the end of November
- Very bad
- The hotel is compact, clean beach and sea, good food
- Good hotel. Food, animation, staff, beach - super
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