I took my own snorkel/mask and short flippers but you can hire them from the diving center which is next door to the Fish Restaurant, not sure how much to rent but probably not too much! If you plan on snorkeling a lot it would be best to buy a snorkel set off Ebay for £10 to £15 for a cheap set or £20 to £30 for a reasonably good one. Short flippers about £10 to £15) possibly even less if you bid for second hand.
I swam from the Desert Rose Resort beach which is just past the left hand side of the Lagoon and past the fish restaurant (only available to hotel guests unless you book a scuba lesson with this hotel) . See photos at the end of the video there is some information on there.
The hotel complex is very nice with beautiful gardens and 3 pools. The family pool is nearest the reception, the 2nd pool is central and for serious lane swimmers so not so good for a relaxing dip but you can use it if you want, the third pool is towards the far end nearest the lagoon and beach this is mainly used by adults. Note - Sunbeds around the pools are snapped up early with people putting towels down then they leave them empty all day so they can visit the lagoon/beach/aqua park/excursions. returning at approximately 3 o'clock to spend the last few hours on their toweled reserved sunbeds!!!!! There is also a lagoon with calm water we found the left hand side near the sailboarding was quiet and best for us as we could also swim/snorkel from the beach from our lagoon based sunbed. Excellent snorkeling as you can see from my video. Tip - Get a green flag from the towel bar and tie it to your umbrella otherwise you will be pestered non stop by the animation sales people trying to sell you excursions or beauty treatment or just talking to you for 20 minutes trying to get you to promise that you will attend the show that night. The food in the buffet restaurant was Ok but mainly aimed at the Egyptian tourist which is expected so we mainly kept to the basic food we English like, i.e. chicken, burgers, chips, etc, it was not the best but adequate. Tip - if you are going in high season, tables in the buffet restaurant are hard to come by. When we first arrived we were chasing around the 8 dining areas off the main corridor with our plates of food only to find there were no tables available, so go to one dining area and just wait for a table to become available before getting your food. Note - There are queues at some of the food stations. Whilst we were there the hotel were in the process opening 2 new dining areas which may have alleviated some of this problem? We managed to book the 4 themed restaurants for 6 of our nightly meals (2 twice) these get booked up if you leave it too late so check the booking conditions as soon as possible when you get there, I think from memory you cannot book within 24hrs of your intended dining date but you can book all 4 restaurants in one go and book again the day/s after depending on when you want to go again. "Highly Recommended" The entertainment by animation and entertainment teams was definitely in my opinion very poor more like a school play than adult entertainment although there are a lot of reviews I have read saying it is brilliant, it must be cultural difference thing? Very little entertainment on at the bars just the odd singer/group which finished approx 9.30pm. There are a couple of beach parties each week which were good. One annoying thing, when trying to order drinks at the bar Egyptians would jump the queue and just walking straight to the front and getting served straight away, not sure if this is an Egyptian thing as the barmen were fully aware of what was happening but still served them first but very annoying. On the whole although it sound like we did not like the hotel, we did just found it a little quite to what we are used to but after researching the hotel first that's what we expected when we booked. You can not complain about the price for all inclusive. If you not from Egypt or that neck of the woods then be prepared to barter for everything outside the complex, i.e. shops, taxis, etc. Every taxi will try to charge you 100 Egyptian pounds or even more when the correct fare is approximately 45 to 50 EP in to Hurghada town, even the hotel will charge you 100 EP if you order a taxi through them so if your good a bartering just go outside the hotel there are always one or two taxis waiting at the main road. I enjoyed the bartering and the stories the taxi driver used to try and get a higher price or bigger tip, i.e. After setting off the agreed price was then stated as for each passenger as the government have just put up the fares (stop the taxi) driver then agrees the fare is for both passengers. Taxi driver starts taking about how he loves the English but hates the Russians because they only pay the meter price (looking for a big tip). Taxi driver starts talking about how far it is to Hurghada 10km. (Yes I know I have been by taxi many times before) letting him know that I know the correct fare. If bartering is not your thing make sure your get in a taxi with a meter and insist the meter is turned on for the journey, if the taxi driver refuses saying something like it's broke or not working then get out and go to another taxi, you will probably find that the meter starts working all of a sudden!!! After saying all that and to answer your question, yes I would recommend the Desert Rose Resort which is probably similar to most hotels in Hurghada very nice and a quite relaxing type holiday with snorkeling to die for. Have a great holiday.
Thank You. We will at the desert Rose resort in October. Did You have your own equipment or did You rent one?
I took my own snorkel/mask and short flippers but you can hire them from the diving center which is next door to the Fish Restaurant, not sure how much to rent but probably not too much! If you plan on snorkeling a lot it would be best to buy a snorkel set off Ebay for £10 to £15 for a cheap set or £20 to £30 for a reasonably good one. Short flippers about £10 to £15) possibly even less if you bid for second hand.
So where exactly did You swim? Did You take a trip?
I swam from the Desert Rose Resort beach which is just past the left hand side of the Lagoon and past the fish restaurant (only available to hotel guests unless you book a scuba lesson with this hotel) . See photos at the end of the video there is some information on there.
I was thinking of going to this hotel in June. Would your recommend it?
The hotel complex is very nice with beautiful gardens and 3 pools. The family pool is nearest the reception, the 2nd pool is central and for serious lane swimmers so not so good for a relaxing dip but you can use it if you want, the third pool is towards the far end nearest the lagoon and beach this is mainly used by adults.
Note - Sunbeds around the pools are snapped up early with people putting towels down then they leave them empty all day so they can visit the lagoon/beach/aqua park/excursions. returning at approximately 3 o'clock to spend the last few hours on their toweled reserved sunbeds!!!!!
There is also a lagoon with calm water we found the left hand side near the sailboarding was quiet and best for us as we could also swim/snorkel from the beach from our lagoon based sunbed. Excellent snorkeling as you can see from my video. Tip - Get a green flag from the towel bar and tie it to your umbrella otherwise you will be pestered non stop by the animation sales people trying to sell you excursions or beauty treatment or just talking to you for 20 minutes trying to get you to promise that you will attend the show that night.
The food in the buffet restaurant was Ok but mainly aimed at the Egyptian tourist which is expected so we mainly kept to the basic food we English like, i.e. chicken, burgers, chips, etc, it was not the best but adequate.
Tip - if you are going in high season, tables in the buffet restaurant are hard to come by. When we first arrived we were chasing around the 8 dining areas off the main corridor with our plates of food only to find there were no tables available, so go to one dining area and just wait for a table to become available before getting your food. Note - There are queues at some of the food stations. Whilst we were there the hotel were in the process opening 2 new dining areas which may have alleviated some of this problem?
We managed to book the 4 themed restaurants for 6 of our nightly meals (2 twice) these get booked up if you leave it too late so check the booking conditions as soon as possible when you get there, I think from memory you cannot book within 24hrs of your intended dining date but you can book all 4 restaurants in one go and book again the day/s after depending on when you want to go again. "Highly Recommended"
The entertainment by animation and entertainment teams was definitely in my opinion very poor more like a school play than adult entertainment although there are a lot of reviews I have read saying it is brilliant, it must be cultural difference thing?
Very little entertainment on at the bars just the odd singer/group which finished approx 9.30pm. There are a couple of beach parties each week which were good. One annoying thing, when trying to order drinks at the bar Egyptians would jump the queue and just walking straight to the front and getting served straight away, not sure if this is an Egyptian thing as the barmen were fully aware of what was happening but still served them first but very annoying.
On the whole although it sound like we did not like the hotel, we did just found it a little quite to what we are used to but after researching the hotel first that's what we expected when we booked. You can not complain about the price for all inclusive.
If you not from Egypt or that neck of the woods then be prepared to barter for everything outside the complex, i.e. shops, taxis, etc. Every taxi will try to charge you 100 Egyptian pounds or even more when the correct fare is approximately 45 to 50 EP in to Hurghada town, even the hotel will charge you 100 EP if you order a taxi through them so if your good a bartering just go outside the hotel there are always one or two taxis waiting at the main road.
I enjoyed the bartering and the stories the taxi driver used to try and get a higher price or bigger tip, i.e. After setting off the agreed price was then stated as for each passenger as the government have just put up the fares (stop the taxi) driver then agrees the fare is for both passengers. Taxi driver starts taking about how he loves the English but hates the Russians because they only pay the meter price (looking for a big tip). Taxi driver starts talking about how far it is to Hurghada 10km. (Yes I know I have been by taxi many times before) letting him know that I know the correct fare.
If bartering is not your thing make sure your get in a taxi with a meter and insist the meter is turned on for the journey, if the taxi driver refuses saying something like it's broke or not working then get out and go to another taxi, you will probably find that the meter starts working all of a sudden!!!
After saying all that and to answer your question, yes I would recommend the Desert Rose Resort which is probably similar to most hotels in Hurghada very nice and a quite relaxing type holiday with snorkeling to die for.
Have a great holiday.
@@keyfits thank you so much for the detailed reply. Burger and chips it is then lol
You shouldnt touch tortoise. Didnt You know that?