Новогодние каникулы в Марса Аламе!)) New Years Eve in Marsa Alam!

Rest at the Sol Y Mar Abu Dabbab 4-star hotel was organized by the Russian tour operator Mostravel with an arrival at Marsa Alam Airport, from where 20 minutes. by bus to the hotel. By a charter flight of the Ural Airlines Airbus, in 5.5 hours we flew to our destination almost without incident.
Marsa Alan Airport is small, in terms of organizing the passage of customs control, everything is well organized and the exit and landing is calm and unhurried. On departure is a good (not very expensive) Duty Free.
A hotel for a relaxing holiday. The area is large, but not yet very green, the hotel is still new. The territory is completely bare and well blown by the winds. Not many trees and flowers have been planted yet and they are very small. After 22.00 the hotel is almost deserted. Mostly vacationers are Italians and French, Poles, few Russians, but it suited me very well.

Everything is standard in the room - a large bed, a TV, a safe - free of charge, a mini bar - for a fee. The first bottle of plain water must be bought at the bar, then you can pour water from the cooler. (strange system all inclusive) Bathroom - with a shower. There is a hair dryer. I was very pleased with the water pressure and the complete absence of problems with pressure in the water supply.
The beach is wonderful: the sea is shallow, the part with corals is fenced along which you can swim, the entrance to the sea is along the sand, a wind fence is provided for each lying place. Diving excursions were brought to the beach. Tourists from other hotels specially came to the beach of the hotel, despite the fact that their hotels are located on the first line. DON'T FORGET YOUR UNDERWATER CAMERA! All the "charms" of accommodation and food went into the background as soon as we came to the sea. Fairy bay! Beautiful coral reef! The beach is just a fairy tale, not inferior to the beaches in Thailand. The impressions are the most positive, only the wind got on my nerves, I like heat, not wind. Very comfortable beds, like good towels. Sunset in the sea is perfect - sand and depth begins quite quickly. The hotel's beach occupies the southern part of the bay. If you stand facing the sea, then on the right is a rocky shoal. There are two showers on the beach. I really liked the heated pool, in the afternoon, when it gets cool outside, it was nice to swim in it.
The weather during the holiday was sunny, but a cold wind was blowing. It was more or less windless for 2 days.
There is no shopping, unless there are local shops on the territory. In local shops you can buy masks with snorkels, flippers, some clothes, basic necessities, souvenir shops with jewelry, papyri, rugs and other junk. There are also 2 shops on the beach, where prices are slightly lower. There is an opinion that in Mars it is better to take the euro. In the same hotel, dollars are also quite in use, and it is more profitable to pay with them. I note that merchants in shops convert dollars into euros at an almost normal rate. You can pay in pounds. 1 dollar = 6 pounds. In general, everything is for you.

Nothing to say about the kitchen. The food is good, it does not shine with a special variety, I am glad that without bad consequences for the body. In general, the All system is somewhat complicated, until the end, you can’t figure out when and where. But that's about it. Breakfast, lunch and dinner at standard times, but it is better not to be late. If you oversleep, there is a chance of getting some buns for breakfast. If you come to dinner in the last rows, then you won’t sit where you want, because. The waiters are already setting the tables for dinner. Well, if you are the last one for dinner, then it is polite for the pigs to come earlier next time. For lunch and dinner, if there is a sweet table, for some reason they don’t put tea. But you can order tea from the waiter. The food is generally good. But, probably, due to the small number of tourists, the assortment is not large. Say, for dinner there are always two types of pasta, rice, boiled vegetables, fish was only once in 4 days and fried squid, two or three types of meat or chicken. The appetizers were very good quality. There is no choice of fruits, only in the evening - apples, oranges, bananas, persimmons, pomegranates. There are pineapples, but they are not cut. Maybe they're just for beauty. In addition to the restaurant, you can still eat at the beach bar during the day. It offers one hot dish, chopped fresh vegetables, sandwiches, buns, fruits. Pizza is available from 13:00 to 15:00. The pizza is simple but delicious.
The animation did not really work, and even then it was all in Italian, but the guys were cheerful, kind, not many people know English, so they explained themselves with gestures. Compared with other countries, the Egyptians still have to learn and learn! There were no discos at all, but every Thursday there is a beach party near the hotel's beach. Who likes to hang out I advise you to go. But there are Arabs on the border of the hotel, and they frantically explain something, after 20 minutes of talking, they realized that they were warning that outside the hotel they were not responsible for us (this is basically everywhere), just give them $ 10 and they will take you to the very parties. Entrance costs $20, at the party itself all drinks are free.
Excursion: Since there were only 3 full days - on January 7, I went on a boat trip from Port-Ghalib, the cost was $ 55. A very beautiful place, canals, many shops, a city on the water (Venice of Egypt). On the yacht, we sailed along the Red Sea to specially designated places. They swam in masks themselves not far from the yacht, looked at turtles, saw a shark stingray, crocodile fish and other exotic things. The guide swam ahead and with gestures shows where to swim in order to look at the beauty. I will say right away - there is no dugong-manatee-sea cow there! It's just a publicity stunt.
Also very interesting was a sea excursion on the bathyscaphe "Sea Scorpe" worth 60 dollars with underwater glass portholes. It was and only there that I managed to see and photograph tropical fish, beautiful corals and sea turtles.
Every observant person, having visited the Egyptian sea coast, will notice with the naked eye that masseurs, animators, waiters, specialists in hookahs, "bananas", jet skis, karting, rafting, as well as guides and rescuers - they are all so spoiled by the attention of our young ladies, that rejection of their company is perceived as a personal insult.

She returned without incident, although many Russians warned that the Arabs were not punctual. There may be delays! We were received by Domodedovo on time, but for about 40 minutes we sat on the plane, thinking that we were waiting in line for the Sleeve, and then a bus drove up and I ran to him through the snow and ice in shoes and a tracksuit at a temperature of -4 snowfall . . Although from the Dominican Republic, having arrived in the month of November, we were accepted into the "Sleeve", in Moscow it was +10))
Disadvantages:
1. Bald territory of the hotel. The main problem of Egypt in winter is a strong wind - here it was somewhat weaker, so to speak - it did not exasperate too much (like in Anapa in September, October).
2. The food is the most common, there is little seafood (only squid and stewed fish, and even then not every day) You won’t stay hungry, but you won’t be able to surprise yourself with delights! Alcohol disgusting, except beer did not like anything.
3. No animation! No one will entertain you there! The guys are not bad, but the performances are boring, and if you have something to compare with, then they only have a minus!
4. Upon arrival from the reception to the room, you go alone (they don’t see you off, as in other hotels in the world) and look for shelter in the dark at 22:00 local time, without knowing the territory. Then they roll the suitcase!
5. Very intrusive men, for some reason they think that if a woman arrives alone, then he is simply obliged to spend the night in her room!
Advice:
1. Take high-quality alcohol with you to Egypt in Duty Free!
2. Instead of a tip (1 dollar), you can leave a pack of cigarettes or a chocolate bar "Alenka" (small), they will lick the room, decorate it, since their cigarettes cost $ 5 and they really like Russian chocolate!
Any cigarettes are not more expensive than 12-15 rubles, only in solid packaging!
And there you can also treat them, they are all delighted!
Advantages:
Not a bad hotel for a budget-friendly, decent-sized, quiet beach holiday in winter, a very nice beach that combines the possibilities of ordinary swimming with the bonus of giant turtles. The biggest advantage of the hotel is its location in the bay of Abu Dabab. Great sea, sandy beach, few tourists, decent rooms. And for this you can go back there more than once! Egypt remained for me a fabulous country with its enchanting smell. . .