We flew out on Astraeus, from Gatwick to Marsa Alam on a Wednesday. The seating was 3 –3 and comfortable enough. There is no premium so if you get there early there may be a chance of getting seats in rows 1-9, which are leather and slightly more roomy. There are no TVs in the seats so if you want to watch the film its on the aisle overhead monitors. There was the usual drinks service, duty free and a meal provided. Astraeus also give Divers an extra 5kg free on production of their Dive Cert, and you can if necessary buy another 10kg for £20 – we were told this was both ways but on the way back the Egyptians tried to charge us excess but then relented. On arrival your rep will give you a visa, it cost us £10 but I found out later if you paid at the kiosk you got it cheaper by using Dollars ($15). On the way out of the airport there appears to be a duty free shop so you can stock up again.
The transfer was in a mini bus with AC, for just 2 of us and it took around 35 mins, as others have mentioned there is building work going on at the hotel but you only notice it as you go in as it is to the north of the resort and we never heard anything through out our stay. The reception is something to see with a massive brick dome building, one of the largest in Egypt also the hall is decorated with reproduction Egyptian furniture and wall freezes. There is also an ATM and money change machine but like most things its for Euros. Check in was the usual form filling, allocating you a room; you then chalked your number on your cases and left them to it. You also got a little booklet with information about what’s included, extra freebies, entertainment programme, other information and vouchers for Free bottles of Water each day, if and you will drink them just fill them up from the water coolers on the bar or change to Juices. The resort fans out from the main reception in a crescent with a jetty at either end. The majority of rooms are in blocks built like Castles the largest had 8 rooms, a single at either end and 3 up and 3 down in the middle, but there were single storey rooms around the beach or garden. The numbering system is 4 figures, the first two denote your block number and the second 2 your room e.g. 1901 which was block 19 room 1, which was near the main pool overlooking a garden. The Lower numbers are nearest the main dining area, pool and stage, the higher numbers over 30 are on the other side which is quieter but nowhere takes more than 10 mins to walk to. The distance between the two jetties is 450m and the main reef runs between them it is also the width of the beach. Due to windy conditions it is not always possible to snorkel the house reef but there is a small area by the beach or take the free bus to another bay run by the hotel when the red flag is flying. We had no problems getting a sun bed on either the beach or the pool.
There are 3 bars by the pools and the beach, also one in the reception area all part of the all-inclusive package.
The rooms we were in were all air conditioned, had two beds, a table between with a power socket, overhead lights for the beds, A wardrobe, dressing table with drawers, a fridge, safe and TV (only CNN is in English). In the bathroom was a bath with shower, a retractable washing line, basin, loo, soap, shampoo, shower gel, there was also a little hose by the toilet, which was I found great for washing shoes :-) If you want fresh towels just leave them on the floor every day or every other
The food is taken in the main restaurant for breakfast and lunch; at night they move everything outside as its warm. Each night is themed e.g. Egyptian, Mexican Chinese, Italian etc. You could also at lunch at the Panorama Restaurant, which was overlooking the water near the south jetty, It did fresh pizzas. I found plenty of choice including fresh pancakes and waffles at breakfast; kiddies corner and healthy section, there was also an Italian restaurant, but it was extra. There was a disco run down by the south jetty at night– we never heard it, also a Sahara tent and an amphitheatre where shows were put on, we never used these so cant comment.
The staff – as mentioned this was Ramadan so the staff are not meant to eat or drink during sunlight, given this, their happy disposition was amazing and you only had to ask. Pedro at the pool bar was ace and spoke very good English, as did Emil the bar manager, also one of the lads at the bar in reception and one at the beach bar. I say this as not all the staff did speak good English or needed you to speak slowly before they understood. This is not really surprising as the majority of guests were Italian or German with a few Dutch and Swiss.
Diving – My prime reason for going as one of our friend is a dive instructor there. The dive school is Waterworld who have their own website, the base is run by Werner there are at least 5 instructors, more depending on number of guests, all speak English some better than others and at least one other language, also there are at least 6 Egyptian Dive guides all speak English especially Wael, Attea and bolika who were great fun, Khaleed is one the back room boys, who also speaks good English, he always made sure I had a Nitrox tank when I needed it. They also run a repair service if necessary and there is plenty of kit for hire. The school requires everyone to do a check dive, around the usual skills including making sure you have the right weights and checking your buoyancy but it doesn’t take long if you know what you are doing, If you have over 30 dives you do not need a guide on any of the sites unless you wish you just sign up for what you want each day. The House reef can be dived at 5am, 6am and then from 8am onwards whenever you like just log the time and your tanks will be taken down to the jetty. There is also a night dive at 1800. Otherwise it is shore dives ranging from 5 mins drive to 40 mins drive some are excellent especially Torfa Sabaa which starts by descending through a hole on the surface down a tunnel to the reef. They also arrange day outs to the more famous sites e.g. Salam express, Green hole and Elphinston and dolphin house they have at least 30 dive sites and do plenty of courses including ones for youngsters. If you can pay in cash its cheaper as Egyptian banking put a surcharge on all credit card transactions. Also if you are leaving before breakfast, tell reception and they will provide a breakfast or lunch box
Other facilities provided; A gym with sauna and massages, a mini club for youngsters, baby-sitting services and a children’s play area under cover near the dive centre. Also a medical Clinic with doctor plus shops in the main reception and at the back of the dive school including a Pharmacy, which stocks Antinol (7 euros). The animation team is Italian and run all sorts of activities, which are listed daily.
The hotel will also arrange taxi’s a cost list is sited at a desk or there is a mini bus several times a day to the local Town of El Quiseir its worth a visit but not for long as there is not a lot to see – it takes about 15 mins.
Whilst we were there, the weather was mid to high 30’s with a breeze most days There were 9 other English guests the first week and 4 the second. We were asked why there wasn’t many brits coming there and other than the fact it is not carried in any of the major tour operators brochures I can’t understand it either.
I had no complaints regarding the hotel and would go again –

We have just returned from a glorious two weeks at Akassia. Our main reason for visiting this resort was to meet with a friend who is a dive instructor there.
Our allocated room was smallish but had all we needed, except after 4 days the A/C failed to work. This was "mended" but very soon failed to work again. We were allocated another room which was much larger and more comfortable, all this was completed with no hassle at all.
The hotel was said to be fully booked but there were always plenty of sunbeds, both round the pools and on the beach. There were quiet areas and other areas not so quiet.
Like the previous contributor, I found the snorkelling to be a bit disappointing, but this was due to the weather being windy and the red flag being ever present. I did manage one drift snorkel from jetty to jetty, and found the water to be crystal clear, with fish and coral in plenty.
The food was good - plenty of choices, although we did find that if you got to dinner late, the staff were starting to clear the tables, and some of the food was not replaced. Having said that, the catering staff worked very hard, and the waiters were generally cheerful and helpful. Bearing in mind this was Ramadan and the staff could not eat or drink during the daytime, I think I would not have been able to maintain such a cheerful disposition under those circumstances, but they all managed to.
The various bars, particularly the pool bar were very good, Paulo at the pool bar was very friendly and always spared time to have a chat with us.
The evening entertainment, especially the folklore evening was very good, considering that English is not the first language of 99.99% of the animation team. Particularly the female singer who entertained us prior to the show starting.
All in all, this holiday was very relaxing, and quiet (by choice) and we would have no hesitation in returning to this hotel.

The Akassia resort is an extensive and very beautiful resort north of Marsa Alam near Al Quesir.
It’s about 35 mins to Marsa Alam airport and about 50 mins down to Abu Dabab by fast taxi. Somewhat longer in a mini bus. We booked through Crusader Travel.

There is further building work going on at present (up to block 79 now with 8-10 rooms per block), but it does not interfere with hotel guests, unless they try to put you in an unfinished room as they did us on arrival - but we were changed the next morning after being fairly firm that their ‘last room’ did not suit us. The new rooms were beautifully appointed, spotlessly clean and the initial rumpus was forgotten.

The reception staff were charming but had no clout to make any real decisions about changing rooms etc and everything had to wait till their manager showed up the next day but they always greeted me with a big smile and although we had not had the best of starts they were helpful and pleasant especially Alaa.

At no time did the hotel seem too busy and there was always lots of room by the many pools – they keep adding new pools as more blocks are built. Many people seemed to head down to the beach for the day. It was 35c most days

Facilities were good, everything from archery to the wonderful wave pool which is really good and is on for 20 mins twice or three times a day. The Pool tables costs a bit extra per half hour but everything else we came across is included. There was always entertainment on each evening at 9.45 and was varied from a good fire eating show to a Broadway medley so most of the time language barriers did not matter. The animation team were around all day and led a variety of activities for all ages.
The amphitheatre is a really good idea and meant everyone had an excellent view.

The main currency is the Euro due to 95% of guests being Italian/ German/ Dutch / French but due to calculators on everyone’s mobile phones all the small shops, taxis etc were willing to take Egyptian pounds, dollars or Sterling too. The resort has one ATM which was intermittently empty so the taxi firm we were trying to pay took us to the next hotel up the coast whos ATM was also empty. In the end they took us on our day out anyway on trust and we stopped off at each hotel along the way until we found one with a real bank and an ATMs that worked.

I had chosen the Akassia due to the reports of a pristine house reef for snorkelling. It may be so, but unfortunately the red flag was flying much of the week and the yellow flag for a few days too due to the wind. On the first sign of the white flag we entered the sea via one of the two jetties to find there is a very good reason for the two jetties. You have to do a drift snorkel, in on the left jetty and then get carried down the coast with the current, see what fish and coral you can along the way and exit at the second jetty. We found it hard work to try to swim back to the first jetty against the current. There are staff on hand on each jetty should you need assistance. I gather that on some days it is like a mill pond and you can just float around but we did not have one of those days.

On the days when the red flag is flying they do lay on a mini bus to a local bay with a guide who escorts you on a gentle snorkel trip which is pleasant but over quite quickly.

The food and beverages are good and in truly plentiful supply. The waiters work so very hard and in my opinion, get treated very badly by many of the guests. If I had been spoken to like some of them were I would have thrown the drinks at the guests, especially knowing how little they earn for the privilege of serving extremely rude people.
One of our party was unwell one day and our waiter Rabi-Mohammed noticed they were not smiling as usual and went out of his way to make sure he was there each time to carry their plate back to the table and keep extra bits like lemon and ice and peppermint tea set on our table for the next few meals.

The evening meal is the only busy time as everyone congregates in one place but they have 3 identical food setups with a wide variety of food so even if you don't like themed food, there was always enough variety to cater for all appitites and tastes. There was never a big queue and it was all topped up continuously. The staff go to a great deal of trouble to make it all look lovely and the pudding aisle especially is superbly presented with a great deal of attention to beauty.
At lunchtime you can eat in several places and the pizza beachfront restaurant is well worth a visit.

We went by taxi to Abu Dabab beach for several days where the snorkelling was magnificent and the turtles and Dugong were in good form. On the first trip we came across Tito-Mohammed who works for the national park and who was persuaded to be our guide for the afternoon and was fantastic at showing us around the bay and pointing out all sorts of fish that we would otherwise have missed as well as having mates further out looking for the dugong and yelling when it was found.

We also went for a great Quad bike trip into the desert where you were encouraged to open them up and see just what they would do. It was much more open desert than previous Egyptian quad bike trip elsewhere, which have been in canyons and thus the sunset was gorgeous and we came back in convoy almost in the dark which was a novelty until we nearly ran over a couple of joggers.

We could have gone on camels too for a sunset ride but didn’t get round to it.

All in all the Akassia resort is a superb resort if you want to chill and not go very far as there is plenty to do on site, but if you want to wander off then it is a little bit out of the way.
Also, if you want guaranteed good snorkelling conditions, then somewhere with a bay rather than straight coast line might be easier.

I shall be uploading pictures of the resort on www.jesscalke.com shortly.