Мелия отель контрастов Melia hotel of contrasts

Our 9th trip to Egypt (to the dacha? ). The choice for the Melia Sinai 5 * hotel fell out spontaneously, not for reasons of price / quality ratio, but it turned out that many of our friendly company this year fell under the influence of the crisis, some under the finances, some under the postponement of the vacation. Therefore, we were looking for the most budgetary vacation options in terms of quality and price. And even a good 3-star hotel in Hurghada was chosen, but it is on the second line and the minibus does not go to the beach, so I had to reject it. Since walking is not for me, I have always previously chosen the first line. But the financial side this time prevailed, and provided that the hotel is always chosen different and located in a new bay, from my passion for snorkeling, the initial choice fell on Tiran Island.
But closer to the flight, the number of people in the company began to decrease, and when I accidentally saw the price of Melia Sinai, located on the first line, which was 5 thousand more expensive, I began to learn about this hotel. I will say right away that the hotels are approximately equivalent, and if you are not embarrassed by 400 meters from the sea, then you can save 5 thousand. Tour for 11 days 65 thousand rubles
BiblioGlobus tour operator and Transaero flight. Inconvenient and dirty Vnukovo airport. We ourselves are not from Moscow and we arrived at the airport 8 hours before departure. We did not find any seats in the waiting room on the second floor, and therefore we sat all this time on the first floor immediately after the frame of the metal detector and X-ray luggage screening. I will say right away that we tried to get to the departure hall as quickly as possible, since there is a card that allows us to wait for departure in the VIP lounge. Therefore, we constantly monitored the scoreboard with registration.

This information appeared on the board on the first floor 2 hours before departure, when we were all already tormented by waiting, although on the board on the second floor, as it turned out, registration was opened 5 hours before. As a result, we didn’t get into any VIP room, we stood in line for registration for more than 40 minutes, although I think in 5 hours we could go through it faster and wait comfortably. Therefore, a separate "THANK YOU" Vnukovo
The flight and the airline were also chosen when planning the tour. Because of my small size, it is not convenient for me to fly in small aircraft, and therefore we try to choose Boeing 747, Airbus A340 whenever possible. , 380. This time Boeing 747 flew. There are favorite places in this cabin, which were booked in advance a day in advance.
Check-in at the hotel is standard.
“Come in, dear friend, take a questionnaire, sit down, write a sofa” “I passed the questionnaire, sit down, wait, and if you want a good number, let's talk” In general, all these “dances with tambourines”, as I call it, I predetermined. Immediately going to the reception desk, he submitted a list of rooms with a passport that would suit me. I determined these numbers for myself from previous reviews - rooms on the second floor with access to a heated pool, the range of rooms is from 5116 to 5125. Rooms from 5101 to 5115 overlook the amphitheater, where loud animations can take place until 23-00. got 5106 haggling for 15 bucks. However, the hotel is very small and you can see what they offer and then choose.
General information. The hotel consists of 6 two-story buildings (the higher the number, the closer to the sea). The rooms are divided into categories: Standard, Pool View, Beach Front, Sea View. The cheapest standards u do not always have a sea view (although most of them still look towards the sea from different angles), but u the price is lower.
There are rooms without balconies, so before you go with suitcases, you need to check the proposed option. If you choose the first floor, then instead of a balcony there is a small veranda and it is very convenient to immediately go to the beach through it, instead of a corridor, but here it’s not for everybody. The lock of the Egyptian balcony door system is too flimsy and short-lived thing, and as a result, it performs the function of locking symbolically.

Perhaps the most unfortunate accommodation is in the buildings of Villa Bengazi and Villa Tripoli, as some rooms overlook the square where buses with tourists stop. Although even in that case, the successful compactness of the territory and proximity to the sea nullify such minor inconveniences
Standard room 5106 on the second floor, with a sea view. A large full-wall window with a glass door Outside the window is a small balcony with a table and two chairs, uncomfortable chairs.
Since the building is semicircular, the balcony looks at the sea at a slight angle. No fucking linen is provided, take your own rope and clothespins.
Between us and the sea is the La Pergola bar and a platform for evening animation. It was very convenient to watch the evening show right from your balcony, noisy of course, two or three times a week. On other days, there was either no animation at all or it was held near the pool. If paid Wi-Fi on the balcony was caught weakly, it is not in the room at all. At 4, he works on the beach and at the bar under the tower.
Room twenty meters. The room has a large double bed, (there can be 2 singles) 2 bedside tables, a coffee table, 2 armchairs, a dressing table with a mirror, a chair, a chest of drawers, a wardrobe. From the equipment: an old TV 51cm, (our 4 channels) a safe, a mini-fridge, air conditioning.
Take 4 little finger batteries with you, because you won’t wait for a replacement from the servants and then you will either have to bend or chew them (Russian version) to make the TV remote and the safe work.
Bathroom three meters by two and a half (bath, washbasin, toilet, large mirror, hair dryer). A set of toiletries (3 tubes: shampoo, shower gel and body cream, soap, 2 glasses, cap, iron box with sanitary napkins, 4 towels + one as a rug). The renewal of the used ones takes place at the convincing request of the cleaner. Even tips left on the bed do not affect this. Plumbing is in a satisfactory condition, if you do not pay attention to cracks, corrosion, shedding of plaster, then everything can be used. The toilet was leaking but nobody did it. If you bring hygiene products with you, you can peel off the bath and lie in it.

The tiling was done by a vocational school student, especially the grouting, we would have to redo it for such quality, but for Egypt this is the norm. And this has been written about more than once. No terry robes are provided. But this did not bother us so much, I am writing this for the exalted young ladies who go to the Egyptian 5 stars and then moan on the forums how they were deceived in their hopes.
The overall condition of the room produced a 4-. Daily cleaning was reduced to changing towels, making the bed with a change of bed linen was not lucky, for 11 days they did not change it once. , mopping only along the visible perimeter and taking out the garbage from the bucket. Dust cleaning cleaning on the balcony, mopping the floors under the beds was not once or you need to stand with him next to the gun at the temple. We did not waste time on this and were engaged in rest. Even if there is a tip, the quality does not change, they can wind up a couple of unpretentious animals from towels, but do you need it? ? ?
The hotel is very compact Successfully complements the architecture of the hotel 2 km promenade along the sea. In the evening, take a flashlight, if you go towards the barons there is an unfinished piece. The promenade begins on Tiran Island, along the hotels Melia Sinai, Melia Sharm, Coral Beach Montazah Rotana Resort, Baron Resort, Baron Palms Resort, Coral Sea Sensatori Resort. No one forbids you to get off the promenade and walk through the territory of any hotel. A kilometer away from the nearby Baron Hotel there is a small shopping gallery of shops with the usual resort souvenirs. Prices are less than in our and nearby neighboring hotels if you go through and bargain. For a T-shirt made of normal cotton pseudo-Armani and the like, they ask for 8 and 25 bucks.
Four swimming pools, one of them heated, one for children. Their evening illumination looks beautiful with a smooth change of color in the pool near the lighthouse tower. The first day was occupied by sunbeds at the bar on the beach. It is quiet and calm there, but relatively far to walk to the pontoon to enter the sea.

Therefore, subsequently they began to settle down on the nearest sunbeds to the pontoon. But the sun heats up quickly, and because of the large crowd on the pontoon, they began to go to cool off in the shower near the nearby pool, and on the way back, passing through the bar, they returned to the sand. A week later, we decided that it was more convenient to lie near the pool on sun loungers. Of the pluses, the proximity of the shower, pool and bar. The entrance to the pontoon is 10 meters away, you need to cross the lawn. Again, lying down on a sunbed, you do not drag sand stuck to your wet feet on a towel. This option was found to be the best
In general, the territory is common for two hotels Melia Sinai u Melia Sharm, so you can walk here and there, only food and bars are separated.
“The individuality of the architecture of our hotel is the observation tower-lighthouse. Access to the lighthouse is open without restrictions at any time of the day, the passage through the main restaurant. Inside the tower there is an iron spiral staircase with 94 steps.
The height of the observation deck is 15 meters, plus it must be taken into account that the structure itself is installed on the second floor. In total, more than 20 meters above sea level - about the same as from the eighth floor in our opinion. The view from the upper platform is amazing - the world of the desert and the world of the sea to the very horizon, and at the intersection of two incompatible worlds there is a narrow strip of coastal paradise life, also to the horizon ...Unusual beauty! » don't be afraid of piles of rubbish and used condoms on the stairs.
However, not removed garbage is the scourge of the hotel. He can lie underfoot for a week on the paths, the animation site, but then suddenly a good fellow with a washing vacuum cleaner will appear and begin to wash the paths. But this was only seen once. Garbage is removed around the pool, on the beach, near bars, in the corridors of buildings in a timely manner.

The hotel is located in the Montazah District and to the centers of culture and debauchery taxi Soho 2-5 bucks, Naama 5-8, Old Town 10-20 bucks. Only Soho Square is relatively close, you can walk 1.5 km, but it’s better to do it for the first time during daylight hours. Don't be fooled by promotional freebies to Soho, Naama, Skin World. You will be promised that you will be taken there and back for free, but you can stay there and then return on your own. You will be brought in during the daytime and everything is still closed there except for the shop that you are promised. But having saved the conditional 3 bucks for the fare, it will be tedious for you to stick in something that you don’t need for a couple of hours, and you will most likely buy something out of gratitude. As a result, you will lose a couple of hours of rest and spend many times more. In our country, for example, a young couple decided to show independence and, without consulting, bought into a papyrus factory.
As a result, they spent 100 bucks on papyri in some dubious shop, not a factory. Looking at their trophies, I told them the price of this goodness was 30 bucks, and in confirmation I took it to a shop at the hotel and bargained for 35. They were ready to run to return it on foot to Naama. They were let down by joyful shifty eyes during the examination and the story that they had a honeymoon trip and the first time in Egypt, so “having made a good discount”, they were sold all this. The hotel has several shops prices are quite adequate and traded. If you are not the first time on vacation, you can bargain for an adequate price as in the Old Town.

There is a shower on the beach, but it is strange that one is for such a large length. There was no interest in going to him. In the center of the beach there is a volleyball court, sandy, but small stones are present, so be careful with the fall.
Fresh bar on the beach
Ice cream is given free of charge within one hour after 16:00 in the fresh bar - delicious, usually 4 varieties. Take as much as you want, there is no long queue. The rest of the time it can be obtained in the same place for money. Parents with small children get ice cream on preferential terms - at any time for free, as much as you want, and in large glass vases instead of wafer rolls.
Fruits and freshly squeezed juices only for a fee.
Beds without mattresses, plastic, with stretched fabric, comfortable and in good condition. Some have already pretty much sagged from the weight of the bodies, but they are in no hurry to update them.
The beach does not close, no one will drive you even until dark, but swimming is officially allowed only until sunset. Then the rescuer leaves and hangs a warning sign in Russian in front of the entrance steps of the bridge. There are no sandbanks, and at least there are no narrow passages cut into the coral plateau to the depths, covered with sand.

So for children and vacationers who do not know how to swim, the beach will not be interesting.

A big plus is that the beach is very conveniently located in relation to the wind. Around the corner to Melia Sharm, Coral Beach Montazah Rotana Resort, Baron Resort, Baron Palms Resort, Coral Sea Sensatori Resort prohibiting red flags hung almost every day. And not because of the wind or a strong wave, but because of the current. No waves of the sea, no currents, not even a strong wind.
The pontoon of the Melia Sinai 5* hotel
The entrance to the sea is only from the pontoon. And you can't call it big. A track with a width of five standard plastic cubes and a platform of 6 by 4 meters. The total length is 56 meters (for comparison, Melia Sharm has a length of 145 m). Considering that this pontoon is more popular and people also go to it from the beach of the Tiran Island Hotel, you yourself understand that a lot of people gather there during rush hour. Jumping into the water is still okay - not difficult, although sometimes it happens that there is nowhere to jump because of those who are afraid to sail far.
If you thank them once a day in the evening with 1 dollar, then Mohamed will come up to you getting out of the pool and, without waiting for your order, will put a glass of beer to your sunbed or will take away that you finished your drink in the bar under the tower 5 Pinocolado cocktail will put you another, but it all depends on you and your charisma. I want to say that the use of 10 simple phrases in Egyptian will help a lot and you will be happy. But there are also arrogant individuals who beg for a tip and without them they won’t come to you a second time, or they will persistently buy stolen bottles of alcohol from them in a bar, and if not, then zero attention is paid to you. This is especially true for the beach bar. The bars have a large cocktail menu, but they can make something tasty on their own. All bars in the hotel have bottled beer. There are coffee machines everywhere. You can bet 5- for bars.
Animation. Probably better to write what it is.

But everything is done by a team of 10 people in which a couple of pros work with desire, the rest serve time. If necessary, organize and entertain. Well, if the people don’t need it, then they will be happy to sit in their room. Of the pluses, they have weekends in turn and the day does not fall without animators, as we met earlier. Their shows are designed for 7 days and there are singers, disco, saxophone, national dances, couple hotel, fakir show, beach party, fire show in a circle.
Dining and catering
This is the weakest point of the hotel. The food is very modest, just very. Fans of Egyptian baking are definitely not here for you. 2 types of buns, 3 types of cakes. Everything tastes the same, the difference is only external. Almost no meat. Rarely and with issuance. Liver, boiled stew is not at all in this hotel. There are spicy kebabs for dinner, or a shawarma or a hamburger. There is always well-cooked fish in batter, various options for pasta and pasta prevail.
Sausages and cheese are almost non-existent. There is also rice, but this is the first hotel where I didn’t eat it. It’s not tasty. Repeatedly wrote about the small size of the room and the lack of air conditioning. At lunchtime, you don’t even know where it is better to sit on the open terrace, in the heat but under an umbrella or in a closed canteen that is not blown. I made a choice for myself and stopped going to dinners altogether. In the evening it is comfortable on the terrace, but there is very little lighting from the candles on the tables. Drinks and bartenders in the dining room are problematic, they don’t pour you yourself, but they move very badly, and without a buck you can’t wait at all. They will show you to ignore or take the order and nothing to bring. This made me angry for a couple of days, then I pointed this problem out to the chef of the restaurant and I must say that when our company appeared in the dining room, we were no longer deprived of attention. For breakfast, there is an edible scrambled egg or scrambled eggs with vegetables or just boiled eggs.

All men begin to crow by the end of their vacation. ? In the morning there is falafel and grilled eggplant. There are always vegetables cut separately and you can make your own salad, which is a big plus. Olives and olives were absent altogether. This is the first hotel where they were not. Fruit cut: dates, melon, placer grapes, watermelon, guava, apples. Potatoes are available, but as always in Egypt, they are not edible, if mashed then paste, if stewed or fried, then until half done. Toothpicks are worth their weight in gold, as in other things, and simple paper napkins, as expected in 5 stars they will give you one fabric one. And with it you will wipe everything only in different corners?

Sea.
This is an incomparable plus of this hotel. Although if you approach it critically, then it is comfortable to swim for non-professionals in their field in a fenced area with buoys. If you swim behind them to the left towards the Barons to the cape, you can get into both the oncoming and tail currents.
When it appears in a fenced strip of buoys, some had to crawl along the ropes on their hands to the pontoon. But this is rare. The hotel is located near the strait between the island of Tiran and Nabq. Currents, winds and great depths are common here. Even if you swim in a fenced area, then the depths of the floats farthest from the shore are 30-50 meters. There is almost no reef wall as such, the reef goes down 5-10 meters and without a shallow plateau passes into a dump to great depths. The reef is alive but also in places. I will try to mark interesting places in the attached photos. If you swim to the left towards Ras Bob and further to the Savita hotel, then at the turn the corals are not interesting, and even more so around the turn. If you swim to the left to Melia Sharm, then be careful in the area of ​ ​ u200bu200bthe turn on the cape, there may be a current and once they didn’t save me and the fins had to row hard and also help with my hands.

The reef at Baron Resort, Baron Palms Resort, Coral Sea Sensatori Resort is much more interesting than Melia Sinai, but those places are always considered by experienced snorkers to be the standard in Sharm for the beauty and diversity of the reef, which he himself was convinced of. But I do not advise unprepared swimmers to do this - swim to Sensatori about 1.8 km. If you want to see the reef, walk there and swim to your pontoon. The pontoons of these hotels are very long, wind and currents are often present, from Melia Sharm they came to our beach. I did not see a large variety of fish, there are few large fish. Large rhinos, carancas did not come across their small relatives do not count. At high tide, early in the morning, a medium-sized eagle ray, but very shy, comes to feed on the plateau. Napoleonchik alone and small, they say the big one was killed in the winter by a storm when the pontoon of Melia Sharm tore. He was dead met by divers. Amphiprionchik and sea anemone alone in the water area. Lionfish met early in the morning on the plateau at high tide. I swam this morning. AT 5.
30 as the sun rises, I swim over the plateau before breakfast, I return back by low tide already along the wall. You can swim before, no one forbids it, but you can’t get high-quality underwater photos without the sun.
Tours.
Many buy on the beach from suitable guys. They also claim that the representatives of the Bible take from them themselves. The price is not bad, but not the lowest either. In previous trips, we have already seen everything except Mount Moses, but this is not my option because of the injury and the Monastery of St. Catherine was not visited. It was not the first time that we used the services of a local Egyptian who, as always, arrived at the entrance to the hotel and we discussed what we wanted. From the Monastery, he advised us again, as in the winter, because of the ongoing renovation and the closed large part for tourists. Postponed again.
As a result, we again took quad biking at dawn for 15 ye, Tiran Island for the whole day with lunch and 3 stops for 20 ue, I took diving for 30 bucks. Excursion to Tiran did not like at all. Now everyone is being taken from the port in Naama, and this is a loss of a couple of hours of time and a lot of people. Two stops in the area of ​ ​ the island are half-dead heaps of corals, I have not seen such trampled down for a long time. As a moral compensation, having seen my dissatisfaction, the dive instructor found out that I was diving not for the first time, although I did not have a certificate and I snorked a lot and for a long time, not a paycheck, but on my own up to 12 meters and 35 minutes instead of the declared 20. Plus, he took a picture of me with my camera for free. On the way back, we stopped in the bay at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. Well, I had already been in that bay before and, having led a group of snorkers, I knew where we should row, we found 2 large moray eels and a sea cat.
Pros :
• good coral reef,

• a convenient beach with a lot of free places, but a strong low tide zone and not pretty from the outside.
• absence of strong wind and waves in the coastal zone,
• compact well-groomed green area with a convenient location,
• smooth relief without steps,
• smiling staff towards vacationers.

Flight back.
The day before the flight, the direction of the wind was crushed. The wind came from the sea from Saudi Arabia. He brought the wave and the mist. The fog turned out to be fine dust, and as it turned out later, it was the most dust storm, which later made a lot of noise and covered the sky from Crete to Hurghada and made a lot of noise in the mass media.
By evening, the poman became less frequent, but getting up early in the morning on the day of departure to the sea at 5.30, the visibility was 200 meters. It didn't bother us much and we haven't experienced any problems yet. we flew away merrily. At 14.30 brought to the airport departure 17.50. and it's closed. 1500 people stand in line for the metal detector frame and sit on the floor.

The airport is closed. Planes don't fly. At 16, anex took his half of the people and took them back to the hotels. At 18.00 we were launched for registration and issued tickets for departures 19.00 20.00 21.00. Arriving at the departure hall where the Dutik was, we were surprised to see a crowd that was supposed to fly away from 6.50 in the morning and later. They were already given free water and pizza, there was no time for jokes. We were told that our plane could not land because of the fog and went to Hurghada, and there people are sitting on the plane and waiting for the lights to turn on at nightfall and it will be possible to sit down. At 20 the first plane landed, but managed to slow down in the middle of the runway. There were 4 more such villages and they all refused to take off back, they were small Boeings for 200 people. We were given 500 gr. water. The morning passengers were told that they would not fly today and were being taken to hotels. , they went on strike and began to demand for themselves the plane that we were waiting for, because they used to wait, they were told for a long time that these were different airports and airlines.
At 22 we were told that we were also going to sleep in hotels. , tomorrow morning at 10.00 we will be told when to go home. , a storm for 3 days according to the forecast: ) 12 buses were brought to the Sharm Plaza Hotel, they began to settle. After half an hour they told everyone to grab their things and run to the buses, all this from 19 pm without any explanation or comment. Everyone was put on buses and quietly returned to the airport. We again went through passport, customs and check-in luggage 3 times. : ). having come to the departure hall, we saw our humpbacked Boeing on the runway : ) he was able to sit down. it was a general cheers and applause. At 2.30 we were able to take off. a small Boeing Nord Vin flew with us. the rest stayed there. We flew at a maximum altitude of 11800. We jumped over the storm, flew meanderingly and in 5.20 we were in Vnukovo.
In the photographs, I drew my traveled kilometers of the Sharmovsky coast. green marked places with an interesting coast and still living corals