Reviews of Dreams Beach Hotel, Marsa Alam, Egypt

Fantastic 2 wks

Overall Rating:

9/10

Board Basis:

All Inclusive

Date of Holiday:

Oct 2008

Tour Operator:

Direct Holidays

Submitted By:

simonbarraclough

Comments:

My partner & i returned relaxed & tanned from dreams. The staff are really friendly & dont expect a tip they will help you as much as they can food was nice & yes like all hotels can be very samey after the first week entertaiment team done there best not many people wanted to get of the sunbeds we met some lovely people & not all were english you should make the best out of your holiday and stop moaning about russians they are only human after all snokling was brill trips were ok not over priced like some people say theres a lovely shopping centre about 10 minutes as you turn left out of dreams thers a wicked restaurant called the onion really cheap as they try & sell you asian & mexican & my place restaurants at the hotel but we thought if we are going to pay for a meal then we would go away from the hotel to do this visit the camal bar in narma bay if you like a bit of a boogie & to watch a bit of footie rooms at dreams are kept so clean & fridge is kept full with fanta coke & bottles of water & you dont have to pay for these also pool & beach towels are included so you dont have to take towels more room in your case.Toget a lovely cup of tea or coffee get it from the bar in the lobby lovely!!!

Hotel Review

Overall Rating:

7/10

Board Basis:

All Inclusive

Date of Holiday:

Nov 2008

Tour Operator:

Thomas Cook

Submitted By:

tony shaw

Comments:

Just got back from Dreams Beach Hotel, Marsa Alam, can't understand any of the complaints about the food, there was a wide range of good quality food, plenty of variety to suit ALL.

The hotel and the rooms where a little tired and showing signs of wear and tear, but still clean and well maintained.

Pool area is typical of most big hotels, what else do you expect.

I agree with the comment about the loud, self centred, rude and arrogant italian animation team.

The beach is a mix of sand, pebbles shells and rocks and with careful navigation you can walk on it barefoot, disapointed you could only enter the sea for swimming and snorkeling via the jetty.
This is OK if your a strong swimmer but if you want to just lie on a Lilo and float around this is not for you.

The brochure or holiday company company NEED to CLEARLY STATE that the wind can be strong most days, which makes the sea rough and therefore inaccessible. We had 6 red flag days from 7. (this is not just winter months).
It is also windy around the pool area.
The staff are very friendly and helpful and are not always looking for a tip, we felt no obligation to tip but did when we felt we had been look after or had good service.

The gym is modern and clean and again the staff helpful. Free to AI.

The main issue we had with the hotel was that if it wasn't included in the AI package, it was expensive, no matter what it was.

All the trips a were on the expensive side.
Examples, because the sea was so rough we asked for a price for a snorkeling trip and was told 35 euros each for a morning. Camel ride on the beach for 1 hour £15 each. Snorkels in the hotel shop ranged from 150 to 350 Egyptiam pounds which worked out between £19 to £44.

We could not relax by the pool or on the beach without staff hassling us for (expensive)trips, special nights in the hotel, etc..

All in all a good holiday but, I wouldn't go back, its too isolated, unable to walk anywhere at night, no shops or bars nearby. We felt like a captive audience. 1 week is probably enough if you just want to chill and relax for a week.

Tony Shaw

Just got back from Dreams Beach...

Overall Rating:

9/10

Board Basis:

All Inclusive

Date of Holiday:

Aug 2008

Tour Operator:

Thomas Cook

Submitted By:

Mr Phil Edwards

Comments:

Just got back from Dreams Beach in Egypt & thought I'd have my two pennyworth.



The hotel is designated as 5*, this clearly isn't the case. They try very hard & the place is maintained to a good standard. But, the Waldorf Astoria, it ain't. However, I'm guessing that like myself, most people will have found it perfectly acceptable.



The rooms were clean & spacious, air conditioned, serviced daily. Generally very good, if a little dog-eared.



Lots of the reviews complain about the food. Again, if you are expecting 5* haute cuisine, you are going to be disappointed. My daughter, who is 14, and about the pickiest eater in the world, always found something to eat.



They have a good stab at mass catering for an international audience (well European, at least). Being a bit of a glutton & not adverse to trying new foods, I was quite happy with the catering. Yes, it could be a bit samey, particularly breakfast, but try a British hotel & see how much variation they offer for breakfast over a week.



Didn't bother with the animation team & they didn't bother with us. It's up to you if you participate in their antics or not. We went Wednesady to weds, and after the weekend change-over the balance of Italian / British became a little more even. After this the Team seemed to spend as much time with the Brits as the Italians.



Can't fault the hotel staff. They work ridiculously long hours, for very little money & yet always remain cheerful & happy. Yes, I know they want a tip. but for a few Egyptian pounds they will look after you very well.



The non-hotel shop keepers can be persistant in pursuit of a sale, almost to the point of aggression. But, a firm 'No thank you' will work. Same applies to street vendors / beggars etc. if you go on a trip out.



We went on the Luxor trip, long day, but well worth it. And we did a try dive. Not for everyone, but my daughter loved it.



If you want to do any thing but sun scorch & snorkel, you will have to take an organised trip. The hotel is literally in the middle of the desert, so there is nothing to do or see outside of the hotel perimeter.



The 'Tent' is epic. Just a little bar by the sea, mocked up as a Bedouin tent, all carpets & cushions. You can get to try a shisha pipe there too (in with the All Inclusive)



Don't know that I'd rush back to Dreams Beach, although I wouldn't avoid it. But I will be going back to Egypt soon.

it was a nice hotel although...

Overall Rating:

5/10

Board Basis:

All Inclusive

Date of Holiday:

Aug 2008

Tour Operator:

Thomson

Submitted By:

Miss

Comments:

it was a nice hotel although there is only 1 big pool and a few little pools, certainly not 9

also the hotel was flooded with italians and there was hardly any english people or english speaking. the majority of people were italian and very rude to the english

there is an italian animation team but they were very rude and didnt include anyone other than italians within the entertainment, drinks, groups etc.

the food was ok but ice cream is not included in all inclusive and things are very expensive over there

the beach is stoney and because of the coral u cannot walk in you must go off a jetty which had mostly a red flag whilst we were there meaning the sea was too rough to go in the sea

a couple of people we had met there were meant to have left half an hour before us for their manchester flight with thomson but were 24 hours delayed

it was an ok holiday but i will not be returning

I thought I would leave a review...

Overall Rating:

5/10

Board Basis:

All Inclusive

Date of Holiday:

Jul 2008

Tour Operator:

Thomson

Submitted By:

Mr AJ Aston

Comments:

I thought I would leave a review for Dreams Beach Marsa Alam which I returned from a couple of weeks ago.



I didnt look for any reviews before I booked the holiday and had only seen what was on the Internet.



We arrived tied and had enough after the flight and got to the hotel about 6.30pm, the reception was welcoming and easy to check in, we got showed to our room, which we had paid an extra £160 for the 2-weeks for been as we booked a family room.



Overall we had a good time and I wouldn't say there was anything wrong with the hotel it was just in my opionion rated too high from Thomson.



The food

There is only the one main restaurant which is buffet style and although I cant say the food was bad at any point I can say that it was very repetative and not a great variety in what you could choose, you need to remember that 75% of the guests at the hotel are Italian so they cater more for that side of Europe. You get one night at what they call the Italian restaurant what doesn't serve Italian food?!?!?!?! I know. You get a six course meal which was excellent and it was a shame you can only go for 1 throughout your stay.



The Animation Team

I was suprised to see there were two team, 1 just for the Italians and 1 for as they called it the International guests. The Italian team wont really speak to other nationality guests if they can help it and can be very self centered and rude some times. But the International team are great, if you say no then they dont keep on pestering you but if you are willing to join in the fun then they will help in anyway they can. Momo, Cobra, Angelina are the main 3 but there are another 3 about who you see more at night.

The Italian team seem to 'run' the music system for around the pool which I think they only have about 3 CD's and you seem to hear the same things everyday at the same time, mst of the sungs are in English so it isnt too bad just played a little loud at some points but if you don't like loud music then don't sit that side of the pool.



Both teams work from 10am - 1pm and 4pm until the last guest goes to bed so they all do long hours and 6-days a week.



the night entertainment you need to take with a pinch of salt and remember they are not professional but they give it all they have and tongue in cheek they dont do too bad if your expectations aren't high





Pool

the pool area is excellent, the large pool could fit about 1000 people in so it is never crowed at any point of the day and believe me with the heat there you will be in and out of the pool all of the time. there is also a diving pool that you can swin in which is about 10ft deep, there is also a kids pool with a water slide and then an additional water slide which is quite a good laugh for something to do.



The Beach

the beach is very stoney and you can't really walk on it without footwear, you get quite a breeze off the sea due to Marsa Alam's location in the Red Sea but due to the heat you will need to keep in and out of the water to cool off. You can snorkle of the jetty but the sea can get very rough and you need to be a confident swimmer if you go out on a red flag. We didnt have a green flag for our two-week it was either amber or red the whole time which shows how rough it can be.



Scuba

We booked this hotel because it had a SCUBA centre attached. Although it was Italian all the staff were top always willing to help and spoke quite good English, I dived some amazing sites and enjoyed every dive. the cost worked out at about £250 for 10 dives (took my own gear) which you can do 2 morning dives or 1 afternoon dives so still leaving enough time to laze by the pool. Gigi and Alberto were really friendly and even when you weren't diving came around the pool and spoke to you.





we met some really nice people over there what I hope we keep in touch with, shout out to Mark and Hazel and Dave and family. You made our holiday a really good laugh.





well i think I have bored you enough now, so if you are looking for relaxing worshiping of the sun then go for it but of you want 4* as the brochure states then I would look else where.



Allan

We have been home from dreams...

Overall Rating:

8/10

Board Basis:

All Inclusive

Date of Holiday:

Jul 2008

Tour Operator:

Thomson

Submitted By:

Mrs H Long

Comments:

We have been home from dreams beach for 3 days now and wish we were back there,due to the great british weather!!!!

This was a wonderful hotel, very clean,with very friendly staff,most of the time!

Having read previous reviews on the food i would agree on the fact that it is very repetative,but we were never hungry always found something to eat!Also read the review about the singer in the main lobby, yes he does sing the same songs every night but this becomes quite funny when he does YMCA you get up and do the dance for him and he cant sing for laughing at you!!!A big well done to MoMo & Cobra from the animation team as they did the best they could,it wasn`t great entertainment but amusing at times,we went along to support them as they were always friendly and up for a laugh. A few people had tummy upsets during our stay and put it down to the food,(as you do) not the fact it could be the intense heat and the fact they just did not look after themselves, both my husband and i were ok no upset tummys,the guys in the wellness center were great i had jarred my shoulder on a jeep safari and asked when they could look at it for me and i was taken straight in to be sortred.Overall if you want a chillout holiday with some good laughs thrown in for free then go!!!!if you read a review that about 9 people were being rather loud at the pool on 9th july in the morning,anyone stood near it went in it, that was us on our last day having one last good laugh :)so go on get youself there and enjoy................we did

Just got back from Dreams Beach...

Overall Rating:

10/10

Board Basis:

All Inclusive

Date of Holiday:

Jul 2008

Tour Operator:

Thomson

Submitted By:

Mrs T Lipscombe-Rowlands

Comments:

Just got back from Dreams Beach on our honeymoon, the weather was absolutely fantastic, not a cloud in the sky for the whole week. The staff at the hotel were great and extremely friendly they could not do enough for you. Although reading through different reviews before we went the hotel is beautiful although not a typical 5 star more like 3 to 4 but the staff made up for this no end.....very clean and tidy hard to believe that it is run totally by men (I would like to see this standard back home) My partner had a bad stomach for the whole time we were there but nothing that a few tablets from the local pharmacy sorted out.....they cost about £16. This all added to the holiday atmosphere tho it wouldnt be egypt without a dodgy belly would it.....beautiful holiday tho the bar was 24 hours in the lobby but great for couples of all ages. Not suitable tho (cos its too hot for kids and not enough going on for early 20s) for youngsters but fab for a honeymoon if you want to just sit down and relax for a week.....BEAUTIFUL there loads of Italians which people grumble about but if you want to holiday with all brits go to Benidorm.

Travel.
We stayed a week...

Overall Rating:

9/10

Board Basis:

All Inclusive

Date of Holiday:

Jun 2008

Tour Operator:

Thomson

Submitted By:

Mr Mick Groarke

Comments:

Travel.

We stayed a week at Dreams Beach Hotel at the end of June 2008. The 5 hour flight over with Thomson from Gatwick was one of the best I have had on a package tour.

The in-flight entertainment was very good with a personal TV set and controls offering films, tv shows, games, sports and a constantly updated travel map explaining flight details as we travelled.

On arrival at Marsa Alam airport we were greeted with £10 (Sterling) tax to pay, which was slightly annoying, but this is for the Egyptian government and not a con by anyone on the make. The travel from Airport to Dreams beach was one stop in an air conditioned coach that took about 40 minutes. Dont forget to take in the scenery on this trip, as you need to remind yourself how remote you are in the desert!



Service at Dreams Beach.

On arrival at Dreams Beach we were greeted with a cold towel and a drink so we could cool off a little prior to checking in. We were personally taken to our room and shown how the facilities work in our room (air con, safe, etc that were all free of charge). Our cases were brought to our room by the staff.

This kind of excellent service set the scene for the rest of the week. A small occassional tip (about £2 or £3) is very much appreciated by the staff.

Special thanks go to my new friend Hassan who works in the main dining area and made us feel like we were his special guests. Also all the guys at the pool bar who were not only always cheery, but would bring drinks/fruit/cooling towels out to us at our sun loungers around the pool.



Rooms

All rooms have air conditioning, TV and a safe. The bathroom was spacious with a shower unit above the bath. The room was cleaned and beds changed daily, and the male chamber maid left some amazing decorative towels (swan, crocodile and starfish). I couldnt fault the room - the balcony overlooked the central river area which was pleasnat to sit out on.



Gym

This was a real bonus find for us. The gym was the best I have come accross at a resort with it being clean, cool and all equipment working! Despite what I read in another review, this was free to use. The jacuzzi, steam room, sauna (why would you want one!) were also free to use. The only thing to pay for in the fiitness centre was beauty treatment and massage (which cost about £20).



Beach

The beach is shingle and the swimming directly into the sea is not permitted due to the sharp rocks underfoot as it gets deeper. However, paddling to knee length is OK. To swim into the sea the jetty must be used. We went swimming with snorkels in the sea 4 days out of seven. The fish are very impressive. There is a lifeguard on the jetty to make sure all are safe, and he does a good job by being vigilant and telling people if they are going too deep (he is a proper life guard, not some kid falling asleep!).

After being in the sea for a while, I was greeted on my exit by a cool drink of lemonade by a waiter who had made a special journey down from the main bar to the jetty. Typical of the top notch service offered at dreams!.



Food

OK, so up until now all has been positive.... Well, before I went to Dreams, I read a lot of reviews saying how bad the food was so I was expecting the worst. I have to be honest and say that although its not the best, we certainly didnt go hungry. We stuck to what we liked, Breakfast was ommelette (cooked to order) on toast, Nesquik cerial, cornflakes, fruit juice and coffee. Lunch was mostly spent at the pool bar having pizza/pasta/chips/salad. Then every evening we stuck to pasta (cooked to order) vegetables, rice, salads, bread.

What I have listed here is what we tended to keep to, but there was a lot of other food on offer. Rather than risk some of the fish/meat etc., we kept to what we liked.

My summary on the food is, if the main part of your holiday is going to be dictated by food, then Egypt probably isnt the right place to go. But we were happy enough with what was on offer.



Pools & Activities.

The main pool is superb for dipping in and out of to cool off. There is also a diving pool that is 3 metres deep. This is also used for training of scuba divers, which I had a go with, again free of charge.

The water slide was open every day which is great for the kids. Again, this is supervised by a lifeguard for safety reasons.

There is a childrens area that is under cover that has such things as table tennis, bar football etc.

The indoor pool has water polo goals at each end and a daily game of Italians V the rest of the world was played daily. (we won most days!)

A darts competeing was also played daily at the pool side.

The main 'river' running through the heart of the complex is not for swimming in, but there is a pedlo boat you can use on it, which is good fun.



Weather

It was 37 degrees every day, so make sure you have plenty of sun cream! Due to the extreme heat, I would not recommend this a holiday for younger kids.



Summary.

Due to the remoteness of the hotel, you are not going to go anywhere else unless its planned. For this reason, if you dont want to relax by a pool and just 'chill out' (in hot temperatures and excellent service), then think twice about whether this is the kind of holiday for you. Although everyting was really nice for us, two weeks would have been too much 'chilling out' for us at dreams because staying in the same place for that long is not our thing.

We did meet some people who had been sick and were slating the place off. My take on this was that they probably went too 'gung-ho' with the change in diet, probably didnt drink enough and because they werent feeling well, blamed everyone else apart from themselves.

My advice - go to dreams and enjoy - remember you are in a vastly diferrent country with climate and food changes.

We found the hotel very nice but...

Overall Rating:

10/10

Board Basis:

All Inclusive

Date of Holiday:

May 2008

Tour Operator:

MyTravel

Submitted By:

Mr S Williams

Comments:

We found the hotel very nice but does not look NEW!!



Myself and my son fell ill on the 2nd day and the doc stuck a drip in my arm and gave my son injections but girlfreind was fine.

Yes you do pay for the doc and yes it is expensive but most others we spoke to where just putting up with it and not having the best time, Me and my son where cured in just 24 hrs and got on with the rest of our stay with the post office paying our bill (they have agents in egypt who come out to pay it in person)



Jeep safari was fantastic



Hotel is not near anywhere so you cant just go off for a walk



Staff are so nice and bend over all ways to help you

They do want a tip but they do work hard for 15hrs a day, 7 days and 5 weeks running

They get £30 a week for it, Im sure you would be looking for tips to build your wage up!! (i know i would)

My family and i have just got...

Overall Rating:

6/10

Board Basis:

All Inclusive

Date of Holiday:

May 2008

Tour Operator:

Thomson

Submitted By:

Miss J.p.l Dalton

Comments:

My family and i have just got back from the so called hotel called dream beach which was more like hell

after a day of being in a so callled 5 star hotel the weather was great the pools where great but a wee bit cold and the staff where fab but the food was a different story its the same all the time its naff!!!

and me and my 3 year old didnt eat 4 about 6 days my boyfriend ended up very ill from eatting what was there and we ended up paying to get home a week early then planned

i would never go back to this hotel even if they paid me to go

its upsetting as we needed a holiday before our baby is due in novemeber and lost alot off money so if u are thinking off going to this place think again as my dream turned in to a nightmare

My wife and I have just returned...

Overall Rating:

4/10

Board Basis:

All Inclusive

Date of Holiday:

Apr 2008

Tour Operator:

Thomson

Submitted By:

Mr P Radford

Comments:

My wife and I have just returned from the Dreams Beach Hotel and did not enjoy our stay.



The holiday brochure did mention that every day it is constantly windy, so you can not go in the sea as the conditions are dangerous.



The food is the same every night.



The service provided is sub standard and you are treated as second class, only the Italians and Russians are treated decently.



The allinclusive option dose not cover the use of the gym or entertainment, we had to pay to use the facilities.



The rooms are clean and tidy.



The Egyptian staff at the airport are extremely rude, arrogant and hostile.



Overall the hotel is a boarder line 3 star, not 4 star plus. I would not recomend this hotel to anyone.



Go to Sharm instead.

This hotel is reported as being...

Overall Rating:

3/10

Board Basis:

All Inclusive

Date of Holiday:

Mar 2008

Tour Operator:

Thomas Cook

Submitted By:

Mr Roy Langford

Comments:

This hotel is reported as being a new hotel but gives every indication of being an older hotel having been renovated and not very well.

The rooms are clean comfortable but the bathrooms require updating however the staff almost fall over themselves to be of service.

The choice of food leaves much to be desirered and the meat dishes in particular are tough indicating poor choice in the cuts of meat being selected.

Entertainment around the pool area at the time of my visit was dominated by an Italian Animation team who seemed aggresive towards any other nationality to the point of open hostility which resulted in complaints to the management.

The hotel is isolated making it difficult to seek relief or change from the general conditions at the hotel.

A very new hotel, about 45 mins...

Overall Rating:

8/10

Board Basis:

All Inclusive

Date of Holiday:

Jan 2007

Tour Operator:

Thomson

Submitted By:

Ms J Gulliver

Comments:

A very new hotel, about 45 mins from the airport. Staff all fantastic and could not do enough to help us during our entire stay.



Food was very good if a little repetitive at times. Surprisingly for a hotel of this class the rooms did not have tea/coffee making facilities which we found a bit unusual.



For some reason we could not find out, we were unable to go in the sea due to it being unsafe, the beach boys did not speak enough English to find the reason why, all we could assume that it may have been due to coral, the waters edge did appear to be `rough` but unable to see what it was. We were told that the nearest place for going in the sea was about 30 minutes away.



Would return to this hotel again but only for a week as no where to go outside the hotel grounds.

Very nice hotel, people were so...

Overall Rating:

10/10

Board Basis:

All Inclusive

Date of Holiday:

Sep 2007

Tour Operator:

Thomas Cook

Submitted By:

Miss R Lucas

Comments:

Very nice hotel, people were so nice and helpful definitely going back to the same hotel next year September 2008.



Food was great weather was brilliant the only downfall is the balcony. We requested a sunny balcony and a sea view we got neither of these, we were then told by our Thomas Cook rep Sadie that we had to pay for these if we wanted them.



This wasn’t a problem as we enjoyed the whole of our stay. If you go to Egypt you must go diving it is amazing



Thanks a lot x

Very clean hotel. Staff very...

Overall Rating:

9/10

Board Basis:

All Inclusive

Date of Holiday:

Jul 2007

Tour Operator:

Thomson

Submitted By:

Mrs A Neal

Comments:

Very clean hotel. Staff very friendly and most can speak English. International hotel for guests but on the whole all nationalities mixed well.



The food was nice but a bit repetitive as we were there for 2 weeks. The pools/beach were lovely but the sea cannot be accessed direct from the beach, you have to use jetty due to the coral.



The coral and fish at the hotel were excellent, a highlight! Did Red Sea Cruise, Luxor and Jeep Safari trips. All excellent!! Yanny is the best barman and he makes a lovely "cup of English tea".



The animation team were ok but Diane and Kiko were lovely. A few people had ear infections but our children were constantly in pool for 2 weeks and they didn’t get one - no stomach upsets either.



I would definitely return to this hotel. Shame ice cream wasn’t included in AL. Really wish I was still there.