Having read previous reviews and, subsequently, the reaction of the Calimera Hibba refugees on having been moved to Dreams Beach I started my stay there with some trepidation!
Journey time from the airport to the hotel took about 45mins. The coach we travelled on went direct to the hotel as Dreams Beach is actually nearer to El Quiser than Marsa Alam itself and much further away from many of the other hotels.
On arrival we were greeted with hot flannels and glasses of cold karkadee juice. Check-in was fairly swift and we were shown to our room whilst our luggage was brought up by one of the porters.
The room was clean and tidy. The main room (bedroom area) had obviously been recently re-decorated but the bathroom although clean, was older and had obviously not been refurbished as the bedroom area had been: the shower could be a law unto itself! The room had adequate storage space as well as a fridge (filled with several bottles of water which were replenished on a daily basis). There were twin beds but they were the size of a small double which was really nice and the balcony had views over the moat which, as previously mentioned in reviews was empty of water but during our stay was being worked on and was repainted so I assume that it will have water back in it in the not too distant future.
The room was cleaned on a daily basis and after the first couple of days we came back to some interesting towel art on the bed however, this all changed as sadly, my friend’s bracelet went missing from the bedside drawer (yes we should have put it in the safe but, she took it off the night before we went on a snorkelling trip (as she was afraid she would lose it in the sea) and put it in the bedside drawer – when we came back, it had gone. The head of housekeeping did his best to convince us that it couldn’t have been his staff – they searched the room from top to bottom – in fact the whole room was turned upside down by them and us but to no avail. We reported it to Thomson who filled in the usual form but, after that, no more towel art!
Being an all inclusive hotel and, having stayed all inclusive in Hurgharda previously I wasn’t expecting the food to be up to that much – even harder for me as I am vegetarian but, there was plenty to choose from although it was very repetitive and by the middle of the second week I had pretty much had enough! Breakfast consisted of cereals, pastries, bread, fruit salad, yoghurt, hard boiled eggs, omelettes, fried eggs, cooked tomatoes and foul medammes. Lunch and dinner varied in the main eatery – there was always bread and salads available but the hot food was hit and miss – chicken, beef and fish seemed to be on offer every day and for dessert there was an array of technicolor cakes and jellies. There is another eatery by the pool which served pizza and chips daily for lunch plus a fish restaurant (Ark) which cost extra and obviously we didn’t go there with me being veggie. During your stay, you do get one free night at the “Not” Italian restaurant. It is a set menu but as the main was meat they did make me pasta so that was ok. My friend and I suffered no ill effects from eating any of the food (and she is a meat eater) however, during the last week of our stay, quite a few people were ill with upset stomachs – maybe it was the food but having not been ill myself (nor my friend) I wonder if it was more likely the combination of not drinking enough water and the heat – anyway all I can say is we were fine!
As mentioned earlier, the hotel itself is situated away from many of the other hotels. There was a shuttle bus that you could book that would take you into El Quizer but otherwise as with most all inclusive hotels much of what you do during your stay is hotel based.
The “Animation” team that were on site provided daytime and night time “entertainment” (for want of a better word) although I felt that it was definitely geared towards the many Italians that were staying there and what was being offered was really not my cup of tea. It did become quite annoying at times especially the level at which music was played during the day around the poolside as well as the constant announcements over the loud speaker (usually in Italian but also in German and English) encouraging you to engage in such activities as water polo, aqua aerobics, and stretching (or streeetching as it was pronounced). You also had the usual daily routine of fending off offers of henna tattoos, camel rides, quad biking and a massage at the spa – mind you after a few days of my friend and I telling them that we were not interested they usually walked past us and of course it helped if you saw them coming and pretended you were asleep!
There is a bar in the reception area and you have go there at least once to see the guy that sings there! My friend and I were in hysterics – there he is with a keyboard pre-programmed with the most eclectic mix of songs I have ever heard – we had the likes of “Killing Me Softly, “Hands Up Baby Hands Up” and “Brick in the Wall”. He was bloody awful but so awful all we could do is laugh – thankfully, he is not there the whole night but, if you suffer from a nervous disposition I would avoid the bar area when he is on! My friend and I went to the Shisha tent quite a few times. The guy that works there makes fabulous Turkish coffee and of course you can order a water pipe to be brought to your table also for a small charge. This was a nice way to spend the evening as there was a nice breeze coming in off the sea and the stars were wonderful to look at in the night sky.
There are plenty of pools to swim in and the main pools I found to be clean and refreshing and not too crowded and certainly suffered no ill effects from swimming in them daily. I did notice, however, that the pool with the large blue water slide was rarely used as the gate to the slide was often locked and I guess that someone had to come and turn the water on if it was to be used and also had to stand and watch children using it although the smaller red slide in the kids pool was ok. My friend and I tried the smaller pools which are either side of the moat – they didn’t seem as clean (although were cleaned every night) but I guess it is because lots of flowers grow next to them (hence a few petals and bugs) plus, there are a pair of Osprey nesting at the hotel and some of the fake rocks at one end of one of the pools are covered with lots of droppings so I guess that would put people off swimming in the pool. The birds though are magnificent to see and I was chuffed to get some really great pictures of them – there are also loads of cranes, swifts and doves and one night we even saw an owl.
The beach was nice but a shame that there was not direct access to the sea (although
we did know that when we booked). The coral had an abundance of marine life in it
and I got some really good pictures just with a normal digital camera of sea urchins,
crabs and some kind of starfish like creature as the water is so shallow.
The sea itself was accessed via a pier/jetty. The sea was quite rough for a lot of our stay (red flag up) and I have to admit that I chickened out of going for a swim. There was a bay a bit further up from the hotel and a small rib would make trips there from
the beach so you could go snorkelling but it was great to stand on the pier and look at all the wonderful fish (parrot fish especially) swimming around. My friend and I went on the Hamata Island trip and we had the opportunity to do plenty of snorkelling there.
So then to sum up my experience of Dreams Beach – as I say I have mixed emotions.
I cannot fault the helpfulness of the staff (housekeeping excluded) and the general appearance of the hotel however, the food could be vastly improved by not trying so
hard to theme it every night (I believe for the Italian and German guests benefits) and that the Animation Team either need to tone it down a bit or bog off altogether and let
us relax in the sunshine peacefully! I paid £482 for my two weeks in the sun which I think was a good deal. I cannot say that Dreams Beach is not an unpleasant place to
stay, it isn’t, but nor could I say that it was a luxurious place to stay either. It is what it is and doesn’t really pretend to be anything else.
