Coral Diving - Marsa Alam

[B]

Help needed.... desperately trying to convince the other half that life is too short to think of money (lol) and that we can go to Marsa Alam for a week in June to celebrate our anniversary.....

Want to dive with Emperor, because two of the best instructors, who we are also proud to call our friends, are based in Marsa Alam, but he is still thinking of the cost....

So guys and girls... anyone been to Marsa Alam, in particular the Coral Diving hotel and have you got anything absolutely wonderful to say about it that will make Steve want badly to treat me to the trip there... lol

Berit (the viking part of the angol saxon / viking partnership)

[Manta]

We stayed at the hotel for one night last August after our liveaboard trip. The hotel was very good with a very nice view of the Marsa Galeb marina. Breakfast was fantastic too (we had only breakfast and then departed for the Emperor's base in Sol Y Mar hotel were it used to be at the time, to continue with a few days of local diving).
At the time the area around the marina was being build, most building were almost finished. I looked like a new small town was being build around the marina.
As with most hotels in Marsa Alam area there is nothing else near by, so if the building are finished around the marina a few shops and restaurants must have opened. I'm sure your dive instructor friends can give you a very good feedback on this matter.
I hope that what I've said helped and not had the opposite effect.
Go for it!!!

[Mal Bridgeman]

I stayed there for one night atthe end of a liveaboard too.

The rooms were very comfortable, clean (new) and the air conditioning was good with a good selection of TV channels.

I think most of the other residents were in the same situation at the end of their liveaboards and they all seemed to be catching up on the drinking they had not done during their week away, so it was a bit raucous. (Noisy in the bar area with people being thrown in the pools and over the balcony into the deep pool below). This was on the Wednesday night so may not be a true reflection of the place for the rest of the week.

The pool designs were superb and the setting by the Marina is wonderful....though the hotel shops are pretty limited to perfume pots, herbs, spices, jewellery and curios (aka Tat).

There seemed to be some debate as to how good the local diving was with views expressed saying it was great and others said it was poor.

HTH
Mal

P.S. I would reiterate I was only there for one night (two weeks ago) so my view is limited.

[Fiona]

Agree with Mal about the rooms, comfy and clean.

However as nearly all the liveaboard passengers stay here for the night, be prepared for crap service from the bar and restaurant while they are there. We overheard a very disgruntled set of guests telling the staff they weren't happy.

It sounded like they had the hotel pretty much to themselves prior to us arriving

My view that the food wasn't that good and I would have been bored with it had I been there longer than the one night. However it hadn't been open that long and they might have just been sorting themselves out.

[bex80]

Hiya, I fly out to Marsa tomorrow for my first diving holiday (yay! so excited) and staying in the Coral Beach for a week.

Don't know whether it would be too late to give you my verdict when I get back, on the 9th?

Bex

p.s fingers crossed the service has improved!

[simonwig]

Hi

Stayed at Eco Lodge in 2003 - not a hotel, more of a camp but very relaxed, we really enjoyed it. Actually stayed in the lodges rather than a tent though!

Not much for the non-diver, but assuming you both dive, very good.

I don't make many notes of dives nowadays but my log from then has Marsa Gabel as one of the nicest coral gardens I've ever dived - and I've dived in a lot of top places. If you do it swim all the way out (it’s a shore dive) right to the end which is the best bit.

You get to do Elphinstone - with almost guaranteed Oceanic Whitetips.

Go to this link for a snippet of Elphinstone when I visited a year later off a liveaboard. Assuming he's not scared of sharks if this doesn't work I'm not sure what will

We also saw the dugong at Abu Dahab.

Went to Dolphin House and didn't see the dolphins, but a lot of people do - I've seen video which is fantastic.

Well worth a trip. I’d go back for sure.

Simon