Отдых зависит от настроения Rest depends on the mood

To begin with, the impressions from visiting both the Domina Coral Bay Oasis hotel and Egypt as a whole remained ambivalent. I traveled abroad for the second time, in 2011 I was in Thailand. Therefore, leaving the Sharm el-Sheikh airport and seeing the main yellow-brown color of the sand and mountains, I was not delighted. However, after the Russian winter and snow (I was in Egypt from January 15 to January 25.2013) is also not bad. The tour operator - Pegasus, a voucher for three for 10 nights cost 62.000 rubles, took the cheapest of the so-called 5-star hotels.
Before departure, I rummaged through the Internet with the question: to take a visa or not to take it and be content with the Sinai stamp. As a result, I decided not to give the extra $ 45 (I flew with my wife and son, 14 years old). At the airport, Egyptian representatives of Pegasus were waiting for us, who filled out migration cards for arrivals and sent for visa stamps. I said that I would fill out the card myself, took 3 forms, filled it out, nothing complicated, wrote “SINAY ONLY” on the back and took the family to passport control. Without hearing absolutely a single word from the customs officer, we safely passed the post.
The bus took us to the hotel around 12-00, check-in is naturally after 14-00. The guy at the reception in broken Russian hinted that he could check in earlier, but of course not for nothing. I invested $ 20 in my passport, gave it away, but I didn’t understand from his face whether it was a little or a lot, but in a conversation he let me know that this was not for a “good” number, but for settling ahead of time. The result is number 33.2. 19. The keys were accompanied by a map of the hotel, on which the Arab circled the pools with a marker, the bars that we can use, the buffet where we will eat. Yes, it is a buffet, as indicated on the map, and not a restaurant. Walking along the corridor of building 33, seeing the old, shabby doors of the rooms, I became alert, but there was nowhere to retreat. Going into the room, we can say at first we were shocked by the situation: everything is far from new. The words of the wife: “Where did you bring us”, the words of the son: “what date are we flying home? ”. In order to somehow defuse the situation, he said that it’s too early to draw conclusions, but we didn’t come to sit in the room and offered to walk around, look around, since it’s still 2 hours before lunch. No sooner said than done.

1 - We went down to the main pool, next to the bar, took a cocktail - already better.
2 - we went to the sea, went to the main pontoon, the sea is the cleanest, for me and my son the water temperature is quite acceptable, for my wife, of course, it's cool.
3-time lunch, went to the canteen. Well, I don’t know what kind of snob you need to be and what you need to eat, so as not to find something for yourself in such an abundance of dishes. Personally, we love to eat, and made almost the entire table with dishes, pastries are a separate topic, in my opinion, no one has any complaints about it.
And all life is adjusted, almost all negative emotions are gone.
Yes, in our building the air conditioner did not work for heating, and in the first days it was cold at night. At the reception right from the entrance, there are Russian girls who help with solving problems in the room. On the first evening, I asked for an extra blanket, to which she told me that it was possible to change the room to another building, where the air conditioner works for heating. I decided to think until the morning, but after learning that they would be moved to a building far from the reception, I refused, because I considered that the room would not differ much from the one where we had already settled in, and it makes no sense to change the awl for soap. By the way, in each subsequent night it was getting warmer and warmer, and the last days I already slept under one sheet.
Mosquitoes don’t let you sleep, here we messed up something and didn’t take anything with us from them, be sure to take it with you.
The animation is Slavic-Italian, they walk along the beach inviting them to all sorts of competitions, show jumping. Basically, a thin Italian animator got everyone, screaming in a smoky voice: LET'S GO, ANIMATION, GAME, and in the word game, she had an accent on the 1st syllable.

Excursions: I wanted to go on a 2-day trip - Israel-Jerusalem + Jordan - Petra. Before leaving, I again rummaged through the Internet, found that you can go on this excursion for $ 285 from the nose, while Pegasus does not have this information on the Internet, specify it on the spot. When, at a meeting with a hotel guide from Pegasus, I asked about the cost of this excursion, I received an answer of $ 465 per person. Pretending to be a fool, he asked why such a difference is more than 1.5 times, he received a decent answer from the guide: “In general, Jordan is an expensive country”, again not understanding why such a difference, the route is the same, asked again, - received no less worthy answer: "That's who you're lucky, let him explain what the difference is. " Realizing that they were not going to talk to me anymore on this topic, I just called the phone number that I successfully printed out from the Internet at home, in Sharm, and the girl on the other end of the wire asked me where I was staying, and so that I would not spend money in roaming, she called back to my room. We agreed on everything and the next evening we left for Israel for $285 per person. By the way, people who bought a tour on the street in Sharm for $ 270 per person and who managed to take a tour at the hotel from a guide from Anex for $ 450 were traveling with us in our same bus. About hotel guides from Pegasus, I will say that this was the only case when we did not find a common language, in other matters they prompted everything. My opinion: in this hotel it is not necessary to take excursions from tour operators for diving. The hotel has its own diving center on the shore, a 25-minute trial dive with an instructor costs only $ 50, and believe me, there is something to see underwater, your own coral reef and you don’t have to go anywhere.
The ending of the holiday was spoiled by the fact that my wife, 2 days before departure, descending the stairs in the building, severely sprained her leg, I had to activate the insurance, but thank God there was no fracture. As a result, the planned scuba diving had to be cancelled.
Shopping for souvenirs. A large number of souvenir shops on the territory of the hotel makes it unnecessary to go to the city, as the prices are quite reasonable. But be careful, an Arab is not an Arab, if you are not fooled on occasion. If you pass by and just, as if by chance, ask the price, explaining that you left the money in the room, but you will definitely come in tomorrow, then be prepared that they will tell you one price, and tomorrow another one - too high, and they will prove that you misunderstood , and yesterday's price is for the item next to it. First go to the supermarket, where the prices are fixed, take a closer look, and only then stock up. My example: Aladdin, sells in the last shop how to go to Buhai Bar, said that he would give the biggest hookah for $15, and when he came to him on the penultimate day before leaving, a divorce began - he began to count: hookah $15 + flask $11 + tobacco $20 + coal $20
Nevertheless, of course, Oasis is far from 5 *, rather 3 *. 2 years ago in Pattaya - Thailand, we had the same room in a 3 * hotel (Welcome Jomtien Beach). Despite the fact that we were satisfied with the rest, I asked myself the question, would I go here again? And I couldn't answer myself. If on a last minute trip, spontaneously and no more than 18.000-20.000 per person for 10 nights, then probably yes. And to plan this vacation for six months, it is unlikely. In addition, there are still many places in the world where you have not been yet...

In general, if you are a simple person, not spoiled by luxury, not picky, not redneck, people are not cattle for you, then you will be welcome here and you will like it here, by the way, in the bar, one Russian guy told me that he had already arrived at this hotel on 7 th time and I heartily shook his hand.