Emperor at the Marina Lodge Port Ghalib Marsa Alam

[traciedclarke]

We have just returned home from the Marina Lodge, formally Coral Beach diving hotel Port Ghalib Marsa Alam.
What an excellent choice for divers who want to experience the tranquillity of Marsa Alam.
When we arrived at the hotel it was almost empty, people came and went over the two weeks, either on one night stop over’s from Livaboards, or just returning from day boat diving.
I had read many reports about this hotel, people saying that there is nothing here to see or do, and that if you weren’t diving it was boring …EXACTLY, this is perfect for divers, families who want shops and bars need not come.
Divers wives have the hotel to themselves all day with two pools to choose from.

Marsa Alam airport is relatively new and small with only a few flights per week, and only a 10 minute transfer to the hotel, this would normally put me off due to the air traffic over the hotel, but not here. We flew from Manchester which is approx 5.5 hours.

We dived with Emperor, the best diving team in the red sea, as far as we are concerned, we have dived with them before in Sharm, and as you would expect they are professional, friendly, and fun.
The boats are up to their usual excellent standard with helpful friendly crews,
The best thing we found about Emperor and this hotel is that the boats are docked outside the hotel no walking to the centre, or waiting for transfers etc, just eat breakfast and jump on board.
Gary & Louise manage Emperor, and have an excellent team of guides and instructors who know the area well, and make each dive the best it can be.
We dived for 12 days straight and felt very relaxed and rested believe it or not; it’s all about the location of the dive boats and centre within the hotel that makes everything so easy.

The hotel itself is very nice, a traditional style hotel that is very clean and managed very well, with helpful staff everywhere, just waiting to make your stay as comfortable as they can.
The food was simple and well varied; we stayed half board which suited us perfectly, as we had breakfast before going diving, then a meal in the evening.
All meals are buffet style, with various themes throughout the week.
We took lunch on the boat everyday, as we do enjoy it, but if you are full board, they will prepare a packed lunch for you to take with you!!!

Port Ghalib is a man-made marina, under constant development, but at the Egyptian pace, the work is not noisy, and does not spoil your stay.
In many years to come this resort will be huge and full of all different holiday makers, but for now it’s a diver’s paradise.

Hurry and come now….It’s just perfect, book with Emperor Divers, Tony Blackhurst or Regal Divers.

Tracie & Paul Clarke, England
30/09/2008

[Polly]

I enjoyed my time there on 3 different occasions and was frustrated by the people who had got cheap 'unnamed' package deals and then complained that there was nothing to do. I thought it was a great hotel. The best bit is being able to fall out of bed and onto the dive boat, picking up your breakfast along the way and then being able to come back off the boat straight into the bar. It's the ideal place for lazy people like me.

Emperor were professional and well-run as a company but I found a few of the guides to be arrogant know-alls who had no real time for anyone who wasn't as good at diving as they thought they were. Looking back, there is one particular guy I feel I should have reported. His name was Bob (ooh, named and shamed at last!) and, quite frankly, I'd love to meet him in a dark alley sometime (with a 12 litre tank tucked under my arm...) now that I am at the same level of diving as he was at the time I met him. There was no excuse for his attitude - some of the other British guys there weren't always an awful lot better. However, the local guides were brilliant, couldn't do enough for you, loved the diving and their sea and loved sharing it with anyone who was interested. I've not been back for a couple of years now and I'm sure things have changed. Although Emperor do have a good reputation, I feel that they sometimes 'know it' and this always puts me off a company, even though I have a fair few friends who have worked for them. I've since found much better smaller operators but this will always carry the risk of being a bit 'hit and miss' when you don't have so many reviews to go by.

I'd like to go back to Port Ghalib someday...and finally get to go out on the boat to Elphinstone with Aladino. It's a great place for diving precisely because there are fewer divers!

[amsheep]

I stayed there for one night last week after a liveaboard with Tony Backhurst and loved this hotel. Great rooms, very big and nicely decorated. Saw the dive boats that were moored up at the hotel and thought how lucky the divers were that just had to step onboard after breakfast!!
By the way......The liveaboard was fantastic, it was my first one and it was a great trip on a great boat with a good crowd of people and excellant crew and dive guides. I couldn't find fault with anything during the trip, Tony Backhurst has got it sooooooo right.

[LpcWookie]

Linds and I dived with them on our honeymoon in March, although we actually stayed about 15mins up the coast, thoroughly enjoyed the diving and the transfers wern't to terrifying, Most of the other folks on the boat were staying on site and all seemed to agree it was a great location, we're planning on going back next year and would definatly consider staying at the Marina lodge, although our hotel at Corraya bay was even more remote, nothing outside the gates but rocks and sand, bloody fantastic! So we might be tempted back there as it also had a very nice house reef.

[Dougalsdad01]

I've dived out of Hurghada with Emperor and will never dive with them again, exactly the opposite experience you had.

[amsheep]

Just looking at the state of the Emperor boats while on our trip with Tony backhurst would put me off ever travelling with them!!

[ScubaDiva]

I was impressed by the Nuweiba team and enjoyed diving with them - a nice small operation.