Elphinstone - what is it like in late october?
- Thread starter Boyan
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They charged me for a check dive but didn't perform it. I paid for 3 dives, one check dive and 2 full dives, but they simply skipped the check dive, did two dives back to back then lunch and went straight back, even though there was supposed to be something in the afternoon. I was also told my 7 year old can try out scuba in very shallow water, on the boat they told me its 10 years and up.
The divemaster I dived with was also kind of rude and disrespectful, asked me if I was drunk, after shuffling around in my bag, because they were doing the super important briefing, which they just skipped for the second dive. He also just throws his ash in the boat plastic garbage bin and tosses the cig butts in the sea. Holds on to corals, stuff like that.
My wife was there for snorkeling with my 7yo and they didn't let anyone snorkeling, just told them later, but later never came. This cost 140€ or something like that, after negotiation.
Also I paid for swimming with dolphins in the sea, but we didn't even see any dolphins at all. After that they told me to make this up they will give me private snorkeling boat for one day for reduced price. But the price was only slightly reduced compared to normally and it turns out its a big boat not private boat.
The diving was red sea star hurghada, a big boat. The hotel is called Blend Aqua Park Resort or something like that, with the aquapark part not even working.
JustSurfaceInterval
Contributor
Oh dear.. what an awful experience... i am speechless...
JustSurfaceInterval
Contributor
I did not want to elaborate on the speed, but it sends a shiver down my spine thinking of that driving style with wife and child on board...
I am stil not sure how to react to the rest of the story, apart of being sorry for Boyan and his family. But there seems to be some misunderstanding or wrong upfront research involved (e.g. no PADI card but thinking GUE will be valid, 7 yo and scuba, complaining not seeing dolphins, unclear name of the dive shop and hotel).
I don't want to say, we told you, but ...
@BoltSnap IDP = International Driving Permit
I am stil not sure how to react to the rest of the story, apart of being sorry for Boyan and his family. But there seems to be some misunderstanding or wrong upfront research involved (e.g. no PADI card but thinking GUE will be valid, 7 yo and scuba, complaining not seeing dolphins, unclear name of the dive shop and hotel).
I don't want to say, we told you, but ...
@BoltSnap IDP = International Driving Permit
Well, some time ago a guy from Millenium Divers Sharm branch negotiated with me a boat trip to the last detail, we agreed on every bit, then as I was about to send him the photos of the passports he said the divecenter manager said it's too little and we would have to take taxi on the way back to the hotel. 
Of course I said "never mind then" and called off the whole thing. As you can imagine 10 minutes later he was sending messages about how he had just talked the divecenter manager into agreeing with 2 ways transfer - I couldn't care less, it was clear how the trip would have turned into a penny picking festival, pretty much what Boyan is describing.
Keep in mind that at the time the taxi from the marina to my hotel was like 6-7$ if you haggled a bit so they tried the stunt for the return drive that probably costed them 3$ or so.
Even with reputable liveaboard companies you can expect all kind of "surprises", ranging from claiming that this or that "tax" was not included when paying for the trip to trying to talk everone into skipping the last dive "to dry out equipment" etc.
Egypt is what it is for all the good and the bad. If (outside Alexandria) hundreds of years of Roman rule only left behind more Egyptian temples you can figure that all you can do as a visitor is know what you're getting into. Because you can be damn sure you're not going to change anything.
Of course I said "never mind then" and called off the whole thing. As you can imagine 10 minutes later he was sending messages about how he had just talked the divecenter manager into agreeing with 2 ways transfer - I couldn't care less, it was clear how the trip would have turned into a penny picking festival, pretty much what Boyan is describing.
Keep in mind that at the time the taxi from the marina to my hotel was like 6-7$ if you haggled a bit so they tried the stunt for the return drive that probably costed them 3$ or so.
Even with reputable liveaboard companies you can expect all kind of "surprises", ranging from claiming that this or that "tax" was not included when paying for the trip to trying to talk everone into skipping the last dive "to dry out equipment" etc.
Egypt is what it is for all the good and the bad. If (outside Alexandria) hundreds of years of Roman rule only left behind more Egyptian temples you can figure that all you can do as a visitor is know what you're getting into. Because you can be damn sure you're not going to change anything.
JustSurfaceInterval
Contributor
I would not go that far. The reputable ones, the ones who deserves that name, have fix prices and you get what you pay for / what you ordered. But yes, there are certainly a lot of a smaller operations trying to get as much as they can from guests they will never see again. Especially if these guests show up only for one day and are identified as less experienced divers.
I, fortunately, never experienced that kind of behaviour in several trips to Egypt.
Well, let me elaborate: how would you call seeing all taxes clearly spelled out when the liveaboard trip is offered on PADI Travel, yet after checkout and payment seeing that one tax was left out of the list on the invoice? Of course it was quickly "corrected" after getting PADI involved, but I'm fairly sure that if I didn't the tax would have been collected (or at least attempted) onboard.
Nah, its normal, well over the limit of 110 to 120 but not unusual. They have fairly good highways, except for the random huge stones on the outer lanes, which is why people appear to drive in the middle of a lane sometimes. I learned to do it as well to avoid stones and sand on the edges of the highway.
IDP is international driving permit. Some people say you have to have it.
160 is not suicidal highway speed especially between cairo and hurghada, with huge stretches of straight lines. Mostly I was trying to stay at 160-170 with perfect conditions allowing almost 200 and less perfect requiring 140. Its not any worse than german autobahn where you can go any speed you like and still nothing happens. Egypt highways are also pretty empty. They appear the be newer than German Autobahns so also some design advantages there.
Hurghada to Luxor has a shittier highway with very sharp turns, you can not take those going 140 and they are not marked and when its dark its really hard to see the turn.
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