Ambiguous GRAND...

Written: 27 december 2009
Travel time: 11 — 23 october 2009
Your rating of this hotel:
8.0
from 10
Hotel ratings by criteria:
Rooms: 7.0
Service: 8.0
Cleanliness: 8.0
Food: 8.0
Amenities: 8.0
Not unambiguous GRAND. . .
The choice of a hotel for the next arrival in Egypt was painful and long: a bunch of reports were re-read, the Egyptian catalog was practically leafed through to holes, well, he stated on the forum - what would you like http://www.turpravda.com/question-6772.html I was irresistibly drawn to Marsa Alam: but everything, as always, happened by itself... For a number of reasons and circumstances, a check-in was made at the GRAND HOTEL SHARM 5 * hotel.
The flight and transfer was organized by Tezovites without any complaints. Arrived at the hotel around 9 o'clock. They settled promptly, BUT we were not satisfied with the first floor... I had to negotiate. They didn’t speak Russian at the reception - I expressed my wishes in “clumsy” English about moving to the second floor. Another proposed number did not suit - the view is almost on the wall. Have returned. Here a locally working Russian aunt came to our aid. Using her as an interpreter, we agreed that after 3 p. m. we would be offered another room on the second floor. Because the issue of settling was not finally resolved - they did not unpack - they took out only masks and fins... We spent half a day practically “on suitcases”. After 15 looked at the proposed number. Of course, not quite ice, but still better than on the ground floor. We decided to stay. The room was not completely ready for occupancy, but they promised to do everything in a couple of hours. And… by 17 o’clock absolutely nothing had been done… Further calls to the reception, running back and forth… In general, the first day I was completely shattered – in the window I already wanted to talk obscenities and I made a fundamental decision – who the hell is going to get a tip from me . The first dive into the sea, running around, not being able to finally unpack our bags and settle down - all this did not contribute to a good mood. By the numbers I can say that it’s somehow very simple and not very thought out. I would not say that the hotel opened not so long ago. In general, up to rooms in Drims, InterContinental, and even more so to Tabavsky Sofitel - GRAND falls short. The territory is large and beautiful - that is what it is. In principle, only later, when a normal rest began and the negative of the first day was melted by the hot sun and washed away by the warm sea, I was able to briefly, quite objectively, list the pros and cons of the hotel itself...

MINUSES:
-Mosquitoes!! ! Sleeping with an open balcony and reading in the evening, sitting on the balcony will NOT BE POSSIBLE. By the way, in open-air restaurants, mosquitoes will be intrusive and can spoil the evening good mood... Mosquitoes in Egypt are TIN!! ! (Ghhh…local merchants are banging repellents at immodest prices)
-Very “mediocre” numbers… somehow everything is ill-conceived… stupidly.
-The cleaning of the room was also not very good, but downloading the rights was just frankly broken. Therefore, he simply scored on this matter - do what you want... Just don't touch me.
-Feeding seemed somewhat poor (especially pastries), although there was something that unexpectedly pleased me - in El-Sheikh, pickled ginger was often "present at dinner". (well, I love him... I ate it with plates)
-Beach. There are very few places. The people are packed very tightly. And you have to take your seats very early.
-Beach towels must be carried to the room and they had to be changed there. The implementation, to put it mildly, is not up to par - with a bunch of potential problems. In my opinion - this is not the best solution for the circulation of towels in the hotel. Specifically annoying! (Good old: CAME-TO-BEACH-GET-TOWELS-LEAVED-GIVED! IMHO- has no flaws. )
-Volleyball court - just laugh! The net is stretched between the palm trees. A full-fledged volleyball will not work there.
-Heavily worn sports equipment.
-Very "sad" reef wall at the hotel.
- The rescue service on the waters is something completely non-existent. The guys don't have flippers! What can they save? So only whistles can whistle, so that they don’t swim beyond the “official” water area.
PROS:
-Free Wi-Fi at the reception. (Greedy to stupidity cellular operators - HELLO!  )

-In addition to the large territory of the hotel - there is where to take a walk outside the territory. Namely - in the walking distance there is a good and adequately priced karting track, a civilized shopping and walking complex IL MERCATO, a less civilized complex with a hard-to-pronounce Arabic name in a fabulously oriental style. (In my opinion, it’s better than in Naama, in terms of pestering with all sorts of garbage, there are quite interesting local things - but they are correspondingly very expensive), 3 bucks for a taxi to the “old city” - there is a modern shopping center both in Naama and on market you can buy cheap fruit. (We bought pomegranates home - just unrealistic sizes and deliciousness... then at home we regretted that we took so little and that it was necessary to take even larger fruits  )
-Two tennis tables (but it's definitely better to have your own rackets)
-Two pool tables (medium-sized)
-There are badminton rackets, but they are rather “earned”, and the shuttlecocks are so simply “killed” completely  … (Although the net is not lowered to the required level and there is no equipment, we still played badminton very recklessly with two Germans. We regretted not threw the rackets into the suitcase. I thought it would be windy and all that. But it turned out that it was quite possible to play badminton. )
-Two "canteens on the beach" and "pancake" by the pool - give a wonderful opportunity not to go to the room to change clothes to have lunch... What we enjoyed and enjoyed.
- The congestion of the main beaches played a positive trick on us - we settled on the grass in the area intended for parents with children. It was almost always free there! It turned out to be surprisingly more comfortable to lie on a large “tent-bed” than on a sunbed. And the place turned out to be very strategically advantageous! Everything was nearby. We spent the whole holiday in the same "tent".
-Beach… to GOOD piers are wooden decks on the sand. I was just delighted, you don’t have to stand on the sand at all. Very comfortably.
-Sea! After the first negative, all the same, we must pay tribute that the place is not bad at all! Interesting! Diverse! BUT not at the GRAND hotel... but within reach in the water. There is nothing to do there without fins (although IMHO there is nothing to do without fins everywhere, except for the pool)
Before the trip, a special camera Canon D10 was purchased… For a couple of days we got used to swimming and taking pictures… Gyyy… we forgot to breathe. But then business - went! Photos will be!
Soooo... well, briefly about +/- I now told to the main one, which is why we are unrestrainedly drawn to Egypt - the SEA !!!

The hotel has two solid piers. Let's call them "left" and "right" for clarity. We did the main part of the swims from the right pier, in the morning before breakfast (at 6.30-7.00) and in the evening (after 15.00) lasting 1.5 - 2 hours. Under the stairs there is a sheer wall to a depth of 30 meters... we go into the "right swim" around the ledge protruding into the sea (there is not yet a finished observation deck) and under water it all breaks off to a depth of probably 50-60 meters - at a depth of 15 meters there is no bottom You can see it at all, only a blue abyss. Further, the depth begins to decrease, the sheer cliff ends and reaches 20-15 meters to the pier of the Sol Y Mar hotel. The bottom is already visible. A couple of moray eels and a bunch of other living creatures live in a coral dump. Be careful here!! ! In an incomprehensible way, a current along the reef may appear here !! ! And it happens both towards the Ritz and towards the Grand. How and when it occurs is unclear. For several days they swam at the same time and did not feel anything. And once in the morning they just “came out” from behind the rock, when I noticed that there was a current, while I was wondering what was happening, while I talked with my wife about what we should probably move back, the brother already joyfully “melted” behind the hotel pier Sol Y Mar... While I caught up with him to turn back - the distance to the pier was already 50 meters... These 50 meters against the current were very difficult! You thresh with flippers and you stand still… the last 5 meters were especially hard for everyone. When we staggered onto the pier, a local beach employee jumped up, telling us that the current and swimming are not the best... Gyyy... we already felt it to the fullest. When asked how much more it will be received the answer that a couple of hours. While we were puffing heavily, some foreign citizen was slowly rafting to the pier, without fins... We, in Russian and with gestures, the local guy in English, Arabic and with gestures, “caught” my uncle from the water.  He looked at us with an uncomprehending look: like what happened then ?? ? Somehow they explained that the current... that it would carry away further along the reef... that then you would be tired of stomping on foot  They called us a security guard and escorted us barefoot over the pebbles to their hotel. It should be noted that they have a volleyball court of excellent quality. Great racks for the net and the net itself is perfectly stretched. It should also be noted that on the other day, a very light current (towards the Grand) was in the area of ​ ​ ​ ​ the pontoon of The Ritz hotel... There I had to take a foreign aunt in tow, who rowed on the spot not even a meter closer to her cherished pontoon. And it should be noted that she was without fins... From the expression on her face, I realized that a little more and aunt would be “blown away”... with gestures he offered help... dragged to the pontoon... aunt was glad to be on land days… As a summing up, I want to say that if you click your beak for a long time, then you will have to walk barefoot on hot sand for a long time coming back…  Further, the depth continues to decrease at The Ritz and Calmera Royal hotels, reaching 10-15 meters… and the underwater landscape changes somewhat…
From the left pier, we swam towards the neighboring Dreams... In our opinion, this side is less saturated with living creatures than the right, but there are also quite picturesque places. Depths are calmer 10-20 meters. A grouper lives in this side, barracudas... well, and so everything is different... We swam in this direction only a couple of times, so I can’t say anything along the currents - they didn’t fall.
More excursions:
We always take a sea excursion, although from the very beginning it is clear that there will be nothing special  So go on a boat ride... This time we went on an excursion "Tiran Island" - it was written in the booklet in full: stop at the wrecked ship; blah blah blah, but the reality was as always: people who can’t really swim, “galloping through Europe”, stopping where ships are like herring, and even more people... Everything is as usual. But this time, the ship also began to leave ahead of time by 20 minutes. I always specify how long the stop is in time and carefully monitor to return with a small margin, because my wife and I do not swim in a group, but sail on our own. While my wife enthusiastically “caught” some kind of rare fish on the frame, I sensed in one place that I had to return... in general, there are 50 meters left to the ship, and it is already maneuvering to exit to the next stop... I had to yell... wave my hands so that we were picked up. Hasty Egyptian,... la! The second stop was quieter… we saw a stingray… this and that… The third stop was not far from the port in the bay of El Fanar…. Maybe it’s cool there, but the people there are just on guard and the water is very dirty. And the landscape there is peculiar... but we swam quite a bit - it was not comfortable from the fear that the ship would leave ahead of time again, and in such a crowd it’s not diving - when you have to watch every now and then so that they don’t dump you... But on the whole, they had a good time " day" on the ship - it's not a pity for the money.

Now what is TOTAL:
The hotel has certain shortcomings that you can close your eyes to, there are some that you don’t want to close your eyes at all, there are positive moments, there are very positive ones... But I don’t want to come here a second time. A hotel "for one time" if you go "for cheap" - 1.5 months before the date of departure, they wanted 90tr for it, 3 days before departure they wanted 66tr...
Translated automatically from Russian. View original