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REVIEW
Hilton Fayrouz Sharm Resort
Last year I visited the Hilton Plaza hotel in Hurghada Egypt with my girlfriend (see the review “Hilton Plaza in November 2005”). This year we visited with her at the Hilton Fayrouz Sharm Resort from May 14 to May 23.2006
I tried to form this Review in a concise informational style without any special emotional assessments. The need for just such a presentation appeared during the period of vacation planning, studying the websites of travel companies and numerous reviews of tourists. I was depressed by the need to shovel mountains of stupid reviews describing the psychological (enthusiastic or, conversely, indignant) state of vacationers, in search of any objective and useful information to make a decision about the place of the upcoming vacation. Detailed descriptions of hotels from travel agencies also did not give a complete impression of them.
Vacation plans and hotel selection
This year the vacation was planned for May, but on the other side of the Red Sea - in Sharm el-Sheikh of Egypt.
I looked on the Internet for descriptions of all the hotels in Sharm el-Sheikh. A study of the map of Sharm showed that the largest concentration of hotels in Naama Bay. The rest are scattered singly or in small groups, so for shopping or entertainment outside of these hotels, their guests have to transport to Naama Bay.
In fact, it turned out that for shopping you still need to go to the old market, although this is not important, but there is simply no fruit in Naama Bay, and souvenirs are a little more expensive.
When choosing a place to stay in Naama Bay, I was interested in a worthy five-star hotel, certainly in the center of local life. These were Movenpick, Hilton Dreams, Novotel, Marriott, Sonesta Beach, Sofitel.
Under equal living conditions, a comparison of their beach options (and this seemed to me one of the most important selection criteria) established the clear advantages of a completely different hotel - the four-star Hilton Fairows, which has the largest beach in Naama Bay, which was also used by tourists of the five-star Hilton Dreams. Interestingly, the five-star Hilton Dreams is located on the second line across the highway (four lanes of busy daytime traffic) from the beach, which is a 10-minute walk (moreover, back up the hill). A four-star Hilton Fairows is located on the shore next to the beach.
Given the well-established service at Hilton Plaza Hurghada, the choice was made in favor of Hilton Fairows (despite the lack of a fifth star).
Travel arrangements
The Hilton Fairows hotel was offered by tour operators Coral Travel, Pegas Touristik and Tez Tour.
The offices of Coral Travel and Pegas Touristik are located in Moscow and do not have representative offices in St. Petersburg.
We liked the work of the tour operator Tez Tour last year, in St. Petersburg he has a representative office and a network of agencies, prices are reasonable.
On the Internet, he himself found a special offer of Tez Tour for holidays in Hilton Fairows that was suitable in terms of terms and conditions on his website. The price list showed different prices: Standard Rooms $1.551 and Front Row $1.776. The difference was not clear. In St. Petersburg travel agencies, no one could say anything about this.
A call to the Moscow phone number 225-44-11, allegedly from the official website of the Hilton Fairows hotel, to the tour operator UNIVERSAL TRAVEL COMPANY LLC brought confusion: the operator girl confidently stated that this category of rooms overlooks the road (which I really didn’t want).
I found the website of the global Hilton hotel chain and by e-mail requested an answer to the question - what is Front Row, I received it almost immediately with the application of the hotel room map (attached).
It turned out that Front Row numbers from 102 to 134 are in cottages connected by four rooms, located sideways to the sea, that is, the first line of cottages. It turned out to be excellent.
It was possible to save 7-10% of the cost of the tour with the help of a controlled travel agency by concluding an agency agreement with Tez Tour, but did not want to burden myself with unnecessary trouble because of this amount. It’s a pity that Tez Tour had flights to Sharm only from Moscow, so money in the morning in St. Petersburg, and tickets and vouchers on the day of departure in the evening in Moscow.
The trip cost $1.800 plus travel expenses.
I booked in advance via the Internet and received by phone a confirmation of the reservation of a double room at the AeroHotel Domodedovo for a stop there on the way back.
Legal aspect
The tour acquired the Tez Tour tour operator from the Nevskiye Ogni travel agency-travel store (St. Petersburg, Ligovsky Prospekt, 10, Oktyabrskaya Hotel), from which he also purchased last year's tour to another Hilton. For the repeated appeal to them, I received a 2% discount and a 3% discount card for the next purchase of the tour. Only 4-5 people work in the travel agency, but they know their business, are moderately conscientious and punctual.
The tour was purchased under a commission agreement. This means that the seller-travel agency is only responsible for the accuracy of the information about the tour and the correctness of the booking of tourist services and is not responsible for anything.
Legal education was carried out by a familiar lawyer of IAC Special Position LLC (www. oposition. ru), who is of the opinion that the tourism services market is the most unpredictable and is built solely on trust.
Despite the complete lack of rights, I really wanted the sea and the sun.
Domodedovo and flight to Sharm
We had a flight to Sharm from Moscow, where we had to go the day before. From Paveletsky railway station to Domodedovo airport they traveled for 120 rubles by train under the loud name "AeroExpress".
There was plenty of time before the start of check-in for our flight, we managed to go around the waiting room a couple of times.
They did not pack their luggage in transparent plastic wrap for 150 rubles, deciding to take it on board with them.
Here, due to the inconvenient landing time of the return flight from Sharm (23.55! ), we paid for a room at the AeroHotel Domodedovo for 4.700 rubles, so as not to wander around Moscow at night, but to sleep peacefully until the morning.
At the same time, they found a separate counter for the provision of additional services for extraordinary registration. The service is paid - 1.500 rubles, but if you do not check anything in your luggage, then it is free. We took advantage of this even two hours before the announcement of check-in for our flight and got the first seats in the cabin.
I’ll note right away that when registering BACK, it’s better to be the last one, then the seats will be at the beginning of the salon, because the Arabs read and count from right to left !!!
After that, all inspection and control measures were slowly passed. In the departure halls, we managed to thoroughly visit Duty Free and other trinket shops.
Boarding the plane passed through the "gut". Our Boeing 737 (like the Soviet old An-24, but in a jet version) resembled a large tram - also crowded and cramped. The cockpit door opens directly into the cabin, there is also a toilet and a tiny nook for the poor stewardess.
We took off at 18.40 almost on schedule with a slight delay of twenty minutes.
They stared out the window, after which the traditional cycle: board drink - board ration - toilet - book - nap.
When landing, the lights of the resorts of the coastal zone were clearly visible - a picturesque sight.
Landing without incident, African sultry night, arrival hall of the airport of Sharma.
We bought stamps for $ 15 for international passports, filled out a questionnaire, went through passport control, imitation of inspection and exit to the representative of Tez Tour, who indicated the direction of movement to the bus with a sign of Movenpick, Hilton Fairows, Novotel, Marriott hotels. We waited for all future settlers and moved to Naama Bay.
A flat and illuminated road for 15 minutes and we drop off those who arrived at the Movenpick Hotel.
The next stop is ours, we drove into the hotel to the reception, with us another Russian couple.
We were greeted with a glass of cold hibiscus (it seems that this is the custom in most hotels), after filling out the questionnaire, they were given a paper bag with a key and a keychain (as it turned out later, not an easy one! ) and a layout of the hotel rooms.
Number
Even at night, our room number 126 was easily found in the large area of the hotel.
The paths are marked with yellow signs that glow in the dark. Packed rations were waiting for us in the room - plates with the freshest pastries, meat and sausage, chopped vegetables and slices of cake wrapped in plastic wrap. Everything was very helpful.
Our room was the last one (nearest to the beach, which was located 50 meters from us (280 steps along the paths) through a large lawn and boardwalk path) in a semi-detached house with 5 rooms on the first line (Front Row! ).
The view from the room - ¾ of the green lawn with palm trees and the facade of another house, and ¼ through the palm trees you could see the sea. The location of the room was also successful in that the sun woke us up in the morning, and in the evening there was a shadow on the terrace (2x5m, a glass coffee table, two chairs, a separate light is provided, steps to a green lawn) - the best conditions for tea drinking. It dawned around 6 am, it got dark after 7 pm.
At the entrance there is a personal tree and emergency lighting with a switch.
The floor is tiled and in the heat is very good. There are bedside rugs.
On the inside of the front door there is a chain, a diagram of rooms (see the photo album http://foto. mail. ru/mail/4683831/) and the location of the hotel, on the handle there is a “Do Not Disturb” sign.
The power supply of the room (as in many hotels) is connected only after you insert and leave a special key fob in a special slot, which is in a bunch of keys. Only then are the lighting, air conditioning, sockets powered. When leaving the room, you pull out the key fob and turn off the power supply of the room (except for the minibar! ).
Air conditioning - central to the entire block of rooms, functioned properly.
One wall of the room is tinted glass with a sliding glass door and 4 (! ) curtains. Sliding doors could be locked with a chain at the bottom and fixed with an additional deadbolt in the door handle, which we did not immediately discover.
The room has a spacious double bed, another single bed (in other rooms, apparently, there could have been a sofa instead), two bedside tables, a coffee table, a chest of drawers with a minibar, a table for an electric kettle and tea belongings, two chairs, armchairs, Grundig TV with remote control (ORT, RTR-planet, advertising channel No. 32 with a Hilton commercial, CNN, ... ), telephone, four table lamps, two glasses with an opener, two tea pairs, spoons, 6 sockets, a brochure (including - in Russian) about the service with a detailed price list, a waste basket. On the walls there is a mirror, four abstract paintings, an air conditioner control panel.
In the wardrobe compartment - a lot of hangers for clothes, a safe with a combination lock, spare blankets, bags for delivery to the laundry. Enough space for suitcases, bags and backpacks.
The bathroom is equipped with a full-length mirror, a bathtub, a toilet, and a shower.
Instead of a rug, a special thick towel was supposed to be renewed daily. There is a hair dryer on the wall. The rest, as usual, is a sink with a plug, a napkin holder with paper towels (except for toilet paper rolls), a couple of glasses, a set of soap-shampoo-conditioner-cream, 3 towels per brother.
The cleaner (cleaner) cleaned the room every day with a figured layout of flower petals on the bed. We encouraged the initiative with 1 baksheesh dollar. Once they forgot to hang a tag with a request to clean the room - they left us a postcard with an apology and a request to inform the reception about a convenient cleaning time for us.
The camera and mobile phones were quietly left in the room, there were no attempts.
Once they took the electric kettle, we were alarmed by the unlawful seizure, but soon it was returned cleaned inside.
Hotel
The hotel is located on a large area on the first line in the heart of Naama Bay. The territory of the hotel has a capital fence on three sides, and it is separated from the promenade and the beach by a fence 70 cm high and a lawn. You can enter the territory through five entrances (from the road from the airport, the main exit to the beach, the exit at the Italian restaurant, through the diving center and behind the fish restaurant).
The guards are formally present at the three entrances and greet everyone. On the territory of the hotel between the chalet with a frisky step, patrol security guards cut circles almost around the clock.
The hotel area is very green, lots of palms and other trees. The pomegranate fruits were already quite large, but still green. Gardeners (gardeners) were constantly at work - watered, cut, sheared, ...
Not far from us, on the lawn, there was a certain stone with an Arabic text (in the photo - “Busurman stone”), they wanted to find out from the hotel workers what was written on it, but they forgot.
Only upon returning to St. Petersburg, they sent a letter with a photograph of the stone attached by e-mail to the hotel and literally half an hour later received an answer that the stone was laid by the President of Egypt Hosni Mubarak in 1986, when the hotel was put into operation.
All rooms are approximately the same - one-room, but there is a house with two two-room suites. That's just their location - next to the reception and in the middle of the territory can not be called successful.
Five pools, three of which are quite tiny. In one pool (near the reception) we splashed late in the evening for the sake of curiosity.
Russian-speaking staff were not met at the hotel, but most of them know at least a few words or expressions in Russian. The majority spoke English. All employees are smiling, friendly and talkative.
The Tez Tour guide named Imen left us her mobile phone number and met with the Russians at the reception in a branded Teztur T-shirt for an hour in the morning and evening to answer questions and solve any problems. She answered our questions and there were no problems.
On the information board, all Russian tour operators posted their announcements for those preparing to leave for their homeland. The most relevant information was from the travel agency Pegas Touristik - a photo of the guide, the address and telephone number of his office, the schedule of stay in our hotel. The rest of the travel agencies were all impersonal.
Feeding
The room was very handy there was an electric kettle and a daily replenished supply of tea bags, coffee and dried cream. Water in bottles and cylinders was bought in local shops, the nearest one (50 meters) was found at the end of the vacation behind the diving center. In the old market, 5 liters cost 5 pounds, and in Naama Bay from 8 to 10 pounds.
They did not use the minibar, there were no checks of its completeness, as well as attempts to take away money for it.
Breakfast was served from 7 to 11 in the morning at the Wadi restaurant (about 50 tables in the room, where there is a very powerful air conditioner - a couple of times they even froze and about 30 tables on the outdoor area). There were never any queues.
I won’t bore you with a description of the food, there was a lot of everything and everything was delicious.
Remarkable - there were freshly squeezed juices, but we were deprived of our favorite lemon. A separate working baker-entertainer provided those who wished with a variety of omelettes and pancakes in a momentary performance.
It was possible to dine from 19 to 23, also at the Wadi restaurant or at the Italian restaurant on the beach.
In addition to the traditional plentiful buffet, it was possible to order pizza and pasta according to an individual recipe.
At dinner, as is customary in Egypt, there were no free drinks (including water), only for an additional $ 2.
In addition, they encountered a remarkable order, which may be characteristic only of Fairose. Every dinner, regardless of the order of drinks, they bring an EMPTY bill, which can be paid immediately in cash for a ridiculous amount of 0.8 Egyptian pounds or simply sign the bill and it will be entered into the computer for calculation when leaving the hotel. We heard a lot of indignation due to the incomprehensibility of this procedure, although it did not bring any problems. Nevertheless, it is still not very clear and pleasant to pay for an empty sheet of paper, and even every evening.
Another rule of Hilton hotels is the absence of napkins at dinner. This did not bother us, we stocked up and took with us.
We have never been to a fish restaurant near our room, and we did not observe an influx of eaters there.
We visited Pirate`s Bar on the last day while waiting for the bus to the airport. Quite inexpensive, large portions and well prepared, as the chefs from the restaurant migrate there after breakfast is over.
Beach
The hotel's beach is the largest (about 70x700m) in Naama Bay. It has two entrances (central and near the Italian restaurant) with showers for washing feet, two large wooden and one smaller metal observation towers, a children's playground, volleyball and football fields, many palms and trees and about 160 parasols under the palm leaves.
There is no security and lifeguards, but sometimes the patrol guard walked for some reason under the palm trees and watched the situation. A gardener (like a gardener) in a green uniform worked tirelessly on the irrigation system and thinning the foliage of palm trees.
The territory of the beach is formally fenced on the sides with fences from the beaches (on the right - urban, on the left - Novotel), from the promenade path with bushes 70 cm high. The passage along the water cut along all the beaches of all hotels is unhindered.
Beach towels (you can take a spare) are issued near both entrances with a mark in a kind of barn book. The guests of our Fairose hotel were given solid blue ones, and the guests of another Hilton - Dreams were given striped towels (perhaps better quality than ours). For baksheesh, towel makers, judging by the observations, laid out towels for those who wished to stake out a place. Towels are not collected upon exit. Once we hung them on the chairs of the terrace to dry, and in the morning we found that someone had stolen them. Probably taken by the hotel staff. There were no problems and explanations, we just received new towels, there were no complaints about the old ones.
There is no dressing room, and in vain. All those in need are sent to the reception toilet. There are two fresh water showers.
The sand is clean, in the morning a garbage collector passed once or twice.
The beach is spacious, unlike all others, there were always free umbrellas.
We chose a permanent place of deployment under umbrella number 132 next to a metal observation tower, where we arrived immediately after waking up and splashed around until breakfast. Here is a convenient sandy entrance to the water - not steep and not gentle. The coral ridge is 50 meters away, so you can swim freely. Again, no rocks. Nearby there was a gentle area with corals - not for swimming, but you can clearly see the fish.
There are many different kinds of fish (some of them are in the photo report). Snorkeling outing.
Airplanes with regular batches of vacationers constantly came in to land over the bay. The roar of engines on the beach did not disturb (although it is better to know about it in advance), and in the room it was not audible at all.
Oasis Bar and Beach Snack Bar on the beach did not interest us, we did not use seaworthy boats (they are in one of the photos).
Along the beaches of all hotels (from Sofitel to Lido) of Naama Bay there is a common walking alley - “Promenade”.
On one side of this alley - cafes, bars, restaurants, shops, hotels, on the other side of this alley - cafes, bars, restaurants, beaches.
shopping
The golden rule is known to all tourists - bargain and bargain again. They rarely give way immediately, because for the Arabs, apparently, bargaining is a pleasure, so you need to have patience and an appropriate mood. Sometimes they give way only after you leave their shops - they run after them in the literal sense. Thus, a porcelain (? ) teapot for an initial 20 dollars was carried behind us for a whole block, offering to buy it for 5. You can speed up the price reduction with a completely simple treat (for example, candy from an airplane) and, in addition, get a few souvenirs.
Return flight and AeroHotel in Domodedovo
A couple of days before the end of the holiday, we found an announcement on the Tez Tour information board at the reception about the collection time at 16.20 to board the bus to the airport. Checkout time 12.
00, I didn’t want to pay extra $ 30 for half a day, so after breakfast we packed our backpacks, carried them and put them in the lobby near the reception and went to the beach, overcoming some anxiety. Upon arrival at the reception four hours later, they found our luggage completely intact.
When boarding the bus, the accompanying guide re-read everyone and checked them against their lists. The road to the airport took about 15 minutes. Then again queues for inspection, passport control, Duty Free, departure hall, bus, plane ladder.
We flew back with a slight delay on a Boeing 767 (almost an analogue of our Il-86). Each section of seats in the aisle had its own television monitor, which displayed background information about the flight, then some kind of film was played.
For the last time, we took a look at the African landscape from a height.
Sweets, dinner, drinks...
The capital of the Motherland met with clear weather. Landing at 23.55 in Domodedovo.
Since we didn’t put our things in luggage, after passing all the controls we boarded the bus and went to the AeroHotel to sleep. The room, although quite recently renovated, looked very poor after Egypt. With double-glazed windows, the noise of planes taking off was very strong, well, there were few flights that night.
The price of the room also included a breakfast buffet, which, after the Egyptian abundance, seemed rather poor. However, nothing - quite satisfying.
A photo
During the holiday period, 452 pictures were taken with a Pentax Optio Wpi camera (1 GB memory card), capable of shooting in water without a special box. By the way, it showed itself well - the battery charges for a little more than an hour, its capacity is enough for the longest photo day and another night. After underwater filming, they washed it under a fresh shower - there were no leaks. We got interesting underwater and surface pictures.
A more complete photo report is posted here http://foto. mail. ru/mail/4683831.
Everything was wonderful!
Hilton Fayrouz Sharm Resort
Last year I visited the Hilton Plaza hotel in Hurghada Egypt with my girlfriend (see the review “Hilton Plaza in November 2005”). This year we visited with her at the Hilton Fayrouz Sharm Resort from May 14 to May 23.2006
I tried to form this Review in a concise informational style without any special emotional assessments. The need for just such a presentation appeared during the period of vacation planning, studying the websites of travel companies and numerous reviews of tourists. I was depressed by the need to shovel mountains of stupid reviews describing the psychological (enthusiastic or, conversely, indignant) state of vacationers, in search of any objective and useful information to make a decision about the place of the upcoming vacation. Detailed descriptions of hotels from travel agencies also did not give a complete impression of them.
Vacation plans and hotel selection
This year the vacation was planned for May, but on the other side of the Red Sea - in Sharm el-Sheikh of Egypt.
I looked on the Internet for descriptions of all the hotels in Sharm el-Sheikh. A study of the map of Sharm showed that the largest concentration of hotels in Naama Bay. The rest are scattered singly or in small groups, so for shopping or entertainment outside of these hotels, their guests have to transport to Naama Bay.
In fact, it turned out that for shopping you still need to go to the old market, although this is not important, but there is simply no fruit in Naama Bay, and souvenirs are a little more expensive.
When choosing a place to stay in Naama Bay, I was interested in a worthy five-star hotel, certainly in the center of local life. These were Movenpick, Hilton Dreams, Novotel, Marriott, Sonesta Beach, Sofitel.
Under equal living conditions, a comparison of their beach options (and this seemed to me one of the most important selection criteria) established the clear advantages of a completely different hotel - the four-star Hilton Fairows, which has the largest beach in Naama Bay, which was also used by tourists of the five-star Hilton Dreams. Interestingly, the five-star Hilton Dreams is located on the second line across the highway (four lanes of busy daytime traffic) from the beach, which is a 10-minute walk (moreover, back up the hill). A four-star Hilton Fairows is located on the shore next to the beach.
Given the well-established service at Hilton Plaza Hurghada, the choice was made in favor of Hilton Fairows (despite the lack of a fifth star).
Travel arrangements
The Hilton Fairows hotel was offered by tour operators Coral Travel, Pegas Touristik and Tez Tour.
The offices of Coral Travel and Pegas Touristik are located in Moscow and do not have representative offices in St. Petersburg.
We liked the work of the tour operator Tez Tour last year, in St. Petersburg he has a representative office and a network of agencies, prices are reasonable.
On the Internet, he himself found a special offer of Tez Tour for holidays in Hilton Fairows that was suitable in terms of terms and conditions on his website. The price list showed different prices: Standard Rooms $1.551 and Front Row $1.776. The difference was not clear. In St. Petersburg travel agencies, no one could say anything about this.
A call to the Moscow phone number 225-44-11, allegedly from the official website of the Hilton Fairows hotel, to the tour operator UNIVERSAL TRAVEL COMPANY LLC brought confusion: the operator girl confidently stated that this category of rooms overlooks the road (which I really didn’t want).
I found the website of the global Hilton hotel chain and by e-mail requested an answer to the question - what is Front Row, I received it almost immediately with the application of the hotel room map (attached).
It turned out that Front Row numbers from 102 to 134 are in cottages connected by four rooms, located sideways to the sea, that is, the first line of cottages. It turned out to be excellent.
It was possible to save 7-10% of the cost of the tour with the help of a controlled travel agency by concluding an agency agreement with Tez Tour, but did not want to burden myself with unnecessary trouble because of this amount. It’s a pity that Tez Tour had flights to Sharm only from Moscow, so money in the morning in St. Petersburg, and tickets and vouchers on the day of departure in the evening in Moscow.
The trip cost $1.800 plus travel expenses.
I booked in advance via the Internet and received by phone a confirmation of the reservation of a double room at the AeroHotel Domodedovo for a stop there on the way back.
Legal aspect
The tour acquired the Tez Tour tour operator from the Nevskiye Ogni travel agency-travel store (St. Petersburg, Ligovsky Prospekt, 10, Oktyabrskaya Hotel), from which he also purchased last year's tour to another Hilton. For the repeated appeal to them, I received a 2% discount and a 3% discount card for the next purchase of the tour. Only 4-5 people work in the travel agency, but they know their business, are moderately conscientious and punctual.
The tour was purchased under a commission agreement. This means that the seller-travel agency is only responsible for the accuracy of the information about the tour and the correctness of the booking of tourist services and is not responsible for anything.
Legal education was carried out by a familiar lawyer of IAC Special Position LLC (www. oposition. ru), who is of the opinion that the tourism services market is the most unpredictable and is built solely on trust.
Despite the complete lack of rights, I really wanted the sea and the sun.
Domodedovo and flight to Sharm
We had a flight to Sharm from Moscow, where we had to go the day before. From Paveletsky railway station to Domodedovo airport they traveled for 120 rubles by train under the loud name "AeroExpress".
There was plenty of time before the start of check-in for our flight, we managed to go around the waiting room a couple of times.
They did not pack their luggage in transparent plastic wrap for 150 rubles, deciding to take it on board with them.
Here, due to the inconvenient landing time of the return flight from Sharm (23.55! ), we paid for a room at the AeroHotel Domodedovo for 4.700 rubles, so as not to wander around Moscow at night, but to sleep peacefully until the morning.
At the same time, they found a separate counter for the provision of additional services for extraordinary registration. The service is paid - 1.500 rubles, but if you do not check anything in your luggage, then it is free. We took advantage of this even two hours before the announcement of check-in for our flight and got the first seats in the cabin.
I’ll note right away that when registering BACK, it’s better to be the last one, then the seats will be at the beginning of the salon, because the Arabs read and count from right to left !!!
After that, all inspection and control measures were slowly passed. In the departure halls, we managed to thoroughly visit Duty Free and other trinket shops.
Boarding the plane passed through the "gut". Our Boeing 737 (like the Soviet old An-24, but in a jet version) resembled a large tram - also crowded and cramped. The cockpit door opens directly into the cabin, there is also a toilet and a tiny nook for the poor stewardess.
We took off at 18.40 almost on schedule with a slight delay of twenty minutes.
They stared out the window, after which the traditional cycle: board drink - board ration - toilet - book - nap.
When landing, the lights of the resorts of the coastal zone were clearly visible - a picturesque sight.
Landing without incident, African sultry night, arrival hall of the airport of Sharma.
We bought stamps for $ 15 for international passports, filled out a questionnaire, went through passport control, imitation of inspection and exit to the representative of Tez Tour, who indicated the direction of movement to the bus with a sign of Movenpick, Hilton Fairows, Novotel, Marriott hotels. We waited for all future settlers and moved to Naama Bay.
A flat and illuminated road for 15 minutes and we drop off those who arrived at the Movenpick Hotel.
The next stop is ours, we drove into the hotel to the reception, with us another Russian couple.
We were greeted with a glass of cold hibiscus (it seems that this is the custom in most hotels), after filling out the questionnaire, they were given a paper bag with a key and a keychain (as it turned out later, not an easy one! ) and a layout of the hotel rooms.
Number
Even at night, our room number 126 was easily found in the large area of the hotel.
The paths are marked with yellow signs that glow in the dark. Packed rations were waiting for us in the room - plates with the freshest pastries, meat and sausage, chopped vegetables and slices of cake wrapped in plastic wrap. Everything was very helpful.
Our room was the last one (nearest to the beach, which was located 50 meters from us (280 steps along the paths) through a large lawn and boardwalk path) in a semi-detached house with 5 rooms on the first line (Front Row! ).
The view from the room - ¾ of the green lawn with palm trees and the facade of another house, and ¼ through the palm trees you could see the sea. The location of the room was also successful in that the sun woke us up in the morning, and in the evening there was a shadow on the terrace (2x5m, a glass coffee table, two chairs, a separate light is provided, steps to a green lawn) - the best conditions for tea drinking. It dawned around 6 am, it got dark after 7 pm.
At the entrance there is a personal tree and emergency lighting with a switch.
The floor is tiled and in the heat is very good. There are bedside rugs.
On the inside of the front door there is a chain, a diagram of rooms (see the photo album http://foto. mail. ru/mail/4683831/) and the location of the hotel, on the handle there is a “Do Not Disturb” sign.
The power supply of the room (as in many hotels) is connected only after you insert and leave a special key fob in a special slot, which is in a bunch of keys. Only then are the lighting, air conditioning, sockets powered. When leaving the room, you pull out the key fob and turn off the power supply of the room (except for the minibar! ).
Air conditioning - central to the entire block of rooms, functioned properly.
One wall of the room is tinted glass with a sliding glass door and 4 (! ) curtains. Sliding doors could be locked with a chain at the bottom and fixed with an additional deadbolt in the door handle, which we did not immediately discover.
The room has a spacious double bed, another single bed (in other rooms, apparently, there could have been a sofa instead), two bedside tables, a coffee table, a chest of drawers with a minibar, a table for an electric kettle and tea belongings, two chairs, armchairs, Grundig TV with remote control (ORT, RTR-planet, advertising channel No. 32 with a Hilton commercial, CNN, ... ), telephone, four table lamps, two glasses with an opener, two tea pairs, spoons, 6 sockets, a brochure (including - in Russian) about the service with a detailed price list, a waste basket. On the walls there is a mirror, four abstract paintings, an air conditioner control panel.
In the wardrobe compartment - a lot of hangers for clothes, a safe with a combination lock, spare blankets, bags for delivery to the laundry. Enough space for suitcases, bags and backpacks.
The bathroom is equipped with a full-length mirror, a bathtub, a toilet, and a shower.
Instead of a rug, a special thick towel was supposed to be renewed daily. There is a hair dryer on the wall. The rest, as usual, is a sink with a plug, a napkin holder with paper towels (except for toilet paper rolls), a couple of glasses, a set of soap-shampoo-conditioner-cream, 3 towels per brother.
The cleaner (cleaner) cleaned the room every day with a figured layout of flower petals on the bed. We encouraged the initiative with 1 baksheesh dollar. Once they forgot to hang a tag with a request to clean the room - they left us a postcard with an apology and a request to inform the reception about a convenient cleaning time for us.
The camera and mobile phones were quietly left in the room, there were no attempts.
Once they took the electric kettle, we were alarmed by the unlawful seizure, but soon it was returned cleaned inside.
Hotel
The hotel is located on a large area on the first line in the heart of Naama Bay. The territory of the hotel has a capital fence on three sides, and it is separated from the promenade and the beach by a fence 70 cm high and a lawn. You can enter the territory through five entrances (from the road from the airport, the main exit to the beach, the exit at the Italian restaurant, through the diving center and behind the fish restaurant).
The guards are formally present at the three entrances and greet everyone. On the territory of the hotel between the chalet with a frisky step, patrol security guards cut circles almost around the clock.
The hotel area is very green, lots of palms and other trees. The pomegranate fruits were already quite large, but still green. Gardeners (gardeners) were constantly at work - watered, cut, sheared, ...
Not far from us, on the lawn, there was a certain stone with an Arabic text (in the photo - “Busurman stone”), they wanted to find out from the hotel workers what was written on it, but they forgot.
Only upon returning to St. Petersburg, they sent a letter with a photograph of the stone attached by e-mail to the hotel and literally half an hour later received an answer that the stone was laid by the President of Egypt Hosni Mubarak in 1986, when the hotel was put into operation.
All rooms are approximately the same - one-room, but there is a house with two two-room suites. That's just their location - next to the reception and in the middle of the territory can not be called successful.
Five pools, three of which are quite tiny. In one pool (near the reception) we splashed late in the evening for the sake of curiosity.
Russian-speaking staff were not met at the hotel, but most of them know at least a few words or expressions in Russian. The majority spoke English. All employees are smiling, friendly and talkative.
The Tez Tour guide named Imen left us her mobile phone number and met with the Russians at the reception in a branded Teztur T-shirt for an hour in the morning and evening to answer questions and solve any problems. She answered our questions and there were no problems.
On the information board, all Russian tour operators posted their announcements for those preparing to leave for their homeland. The most relevant information was from the travel agency Pegas Touristik - a photo of the guide, the address and telephone number of his office, the schedule of stay in our hotel. The rest of the travel agencies were all impersonal.
Feeding
The room was very handy there was an electric kettle and a daily replenished supply of tea bags, coffee and dried cream. Water in bottles and cylinders was bought in local shops, the nearest one (50 meters) was found at the end of the vacation behind the diving center. In the old market, 5 liters cost 5 pounds, and in Naama Bay from 8 to 10 pounds.
They did not use the minibar, there were no checks of its completeness, as well as attempts to take away money for it.
Breakfast was served from 7 to 11 in the morning at the Wadi restaurant (about 50 tables in the room, where there is a very powerful air conditioner - a couple of times they even froze and about 30 tables on the outdoor area). There were never any queues.
I won’t bore you with a description of the food, there was a lot of everything and everything was delicious.
Remarkable - there were freshly squeezed juices, but we were deprived of our favorite lemon. A separate working baker-entertainer provided those who wished with a variety of omelettes and pancakes in a momentary performance.
It was possible to dine from 19 to 23, also at the Wadi restaurant or at the Italian restaurant on the beach.
In addition to the traditional plentiful buffet, it was possible to order pizza and pasta according to an individual recipe.
At dinner, as is customary in Egypt, there were no free drinks (including water), only for an additional $ 2.
In addition, they encountered a remarkable order, which may be characteristic only of Fairose. Every dinner, regardless of the order of drinks, they bring an EMPTY bill, which can be paid immediately in cash for a ridiculous amount of 0.8 Egyptian pounds or simply sign the bill and it will be entered into the computer for calculation when leaving the hotel. We heard a lot of indignation due to the incomprehensibility of this procedure, although it did not bring any problems. Nevertheless, it is still not very clear and pleasant to pay for an empty sheet of paper, and even every evening.
Another rule of Hilton hotels is the absence of napkins at dinner. This did not bother us, we stocked up and took with us.
We have never been to a fish restaurant near our room, and we did not observe an influx of eaters there.
We visited Pirate`s Bar on the last day while waiting for the bus to the airport. Quite inexpensive, large portions and well prepared, as the chefs from the restaurant migrate there after breakfast is over.
Beach
The hotel's beach is the largest (about 70x700m) in Naama Bay. It has two entrances (central and near the Italian restaurant) with showers for washing feet, two large wooden and one smaller metal observation towers, a children's playground, volleyball and football fields, many palms and trees and about 160 parasols under the palm leaves.
There is no security and lifeguards, but sometimes the patrol guard walked for some reason under the palm trees and watched the situation. A gardener (like a gardener) in a green uniform worked tirelessly on the irrigation system and thinning the foliage of palm trees.
The territory of the beach is formally fenced on the sides with fences from the beaches (on the right - urban, on the left - Novotel), from the promenade path with bushes 70 cm high. The passage along the water cut along all the beaches of all hotels is unhindered.
Beach towels (you can take a spare) are issued near both entrances with a mark in a kind of barn book. The guests of our Fairose hotel were given solid blue ones, and the guests of another Hilton - Dreams were given striped towels (perhaps better quality than ours). For baksheesh, towel makers, judging by the observations, laid out towels for those who wished to stake out a place. Towels are not collected upon exit. Once we hung them on the chairs of the terrace to dry, and in the morning we found that someone had stolen them. Probably taken by the hotel staff. There were no problems and explanations, we just received new towels, there were no complaints about the old ones.
There is no dressing room, and in vain. All those in need are sent to the reception toilet. There are two fresh water showers.
The sand is clean, in the morning a garbage collector passed once or twice.
The beach is spacious, unlike all others, there were always free umbrellas.
We chose a permanent place of deployment under umbrella number 132 next to a metal observation tower, where we arrived immediately after waking up and splashed around until breakfast. Here is a convenient sandy entrance to the water - not steep and not gentle. The coral ridge is 50 meters away, so you can swim freely. Again, no rocks. Nearby there was a gentle area with corals - not for swimming, but you can clearly see the fish.
There are many different kinds of fish (some of them are in the photo report). Snorkeling outing.
Airplanes with regular batches of vacationers constantly came in to land over the bay. The roar of engines on the beach did not disturb (although it is better to know about it in advance), and in the room it was not audible at all.
Oasis Bar and Beach Snack Bar on the beach did not interest us, we did not use seaworthy boats (they are in one of the photos).
Along the beaches of all hotels (from Sofitel to Lido) of Naama Bay there is a common walking alley - “Promenade”.
On one side of this alley - cafes, bars, restaurants, shops, hotels, on the other side of this alley - cafes, bars, restaurants, beaches.
shopping
The golden rule is known to all tourists - bargain and bargain again. They rarely give way immediately, because for the Arabs, apparently, bargaining is a pleasure, so you need to have patience and an appropriate mood. Sometimes they give way only after you leave their shops - they run after them in the literal sense. Thus, a porcelain (? ) teapot for an initial 20 dollars was carried behind us for a whole block, offering to buy it for 5. You can speed up the price reduction with a completely simple treat (for example, candy from an airplane) and, in addition, get a few souvenirs.
Return flight and AeroHotel in Domodedovo
A couple of days before the end of the holiday, we found an announcement on the Tez Tour information board at the reception about the collection time at 16.20 to board the bus to the airport. Checkout time 12.
00, I didn’t want to pay extra $ 30 for half a day, so after breakfast we packed our backpacks, carried them and put them in the lobby near the reception and went to the beach, overcoming some anxiety. Upon arrival at the reception four hours later, they found our luggage completely intact.
When boarding the bus, the accompanying guide re-read everyone and checked them against their lists. The road to the airport took about 15 minutes. Then again queues for inspection, passport control, Duty Free, departure hall, bus, plane ladder.
We flew back with a slight delay on a Boeing 767 (almost an analogue of our Il-86). Each section of seats in the aisle had its own television monitor, which displayed background information about the flight, then some kind of film was played.
For the last time, we took a look at the African landscape from a height.
Sweets, dinner, drinks...
The capital of the Motherland met with clear weather. Landing at 23.55 in Domodedovo.
Since we didn’t put our things in luggage, after passing all the controls we boarded the bus and went to the AeroHotel to sleep. The room, although quite recently renovated, looked very poor after Egypt. With double-glazed windows, the noise of planes taking off was very strong, well, there were few flights that night.
The price of the room also included a breakfast buffet, which, after the Egyptian abundance, seemed rather poor. However, nothing - quite satisfying.
A photo
During the holiday period, 452 pictures were taken with a Pentax Optio Wpi camera (1 GB memory card), capable of shooting in water without a special box. By the way, it showed itself well - the battery charges for a little more than an hour, its capacity is enough for the longest photo day and another night. After underwater filming, they washed it under a fresh shower - there were no leaks. We got interesting underwater and surface pictures.
A more complete photo report is posted here http://foto. mail. ru/mail/4683831.
Everything was wonderful!
Translated automatically from Russian. View original
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