Pickalbatros Palace Hotel Port Ghalib — Hotel in Red Sea

Port Ghalib has two high Standard Hotels with the same price range. It is the Radisson and the Pickalbatros. Radisson known worldwide with certainly good quality. Pickalbatros is at least for me unknown. We booked one week Diving Safari and had 2 days before leaving the harbour and as well one day before flying back home. Not knowing what hotel is better, we booked in advance the 2 days before in Pickalbatros and the later stay at Radisson. I will recess both in one to help other travellers taking the decision.

Check in procedure: Pickalbatros, it took 10 minutes, we were in a clean non smoking room with ocean view as booked. Our luggage was taken care of when entering the hotel and delivered to the room after 5 minutes, we were told the hotel is fully booked. Radisson, we were told to receive an upgrade and agreed as my wife is a member card holder. I had to take my bag with diving gear (25kg) and we left the hotel, walked through the bazar what seemed bizarre. Shop sellers already tried to sell their goods and after 3 minutes I was fad up and told them that this is not what I booked, turned around and went back to the reception. They told me that the hotel was fully booked and we should accept the upgrade. We decided that it's not acceptable having to walk that way to acces the pool, bars and restaurant. Then we were given another room as far, having to carry my heavy bag again for over 5 minutes. Entering the room, I had to turn around as it smelled smokey like a old night club. At that point my fuse burned and I went to the reception to insist on my non smoking room and the upgrade is not an option and not desired. The third room was less stinky, sure not a non smoking room. At that moment over an hour had passed and the sun was about to set and we had only 10 minutes to enjoy the swimming pool.(small).

Restaurants, bar and food Pickalbatros has 5 restaurants that can be accessed with the all inclusive bracelets. Serving local, Italian, Indian and all kind of different dishes prepared very well. Breakfast was served until noon at least in one of the restaurant. Others closed at 10am.

The Radisson had one Restaurant with very limited choice and rather tasteless cooking. The breakfast is closed at 10am sharp where the waiters remove the stuff that you are about to take on your plate, coffee machine is turned off and toaster switched off. Sure we were late but they would not even give us 5 minutes to collect one run. We were told that we can remain sitting there but pointless if you can not get anymore food or coffee.

Quality of rooms, cleaning and staff Pickalbatros has high standards, nothing to complain and super friendly staff in every task. The Radisson is poorly managed from Reception to cleaness. The rooms are smokey, dusty and the paint flakes off in the bathroom, regularly painting without masking is done and the tiles are painted as well somehow. Either Radisson has list its standard or the management gives a damn on their quality.

Pools beach and bars The Pickalbatros has a beach of about 1km length, few bars and towel stands in close distance wherever you are. One large pool with nice warm water to enjoy a long stay. Anotherone large lagoon style cold and salty water. Another one warm near the beach and the fourth one we didn't find. All were clean, well maintained and good serviced with waiters and other staff. The tiny cold pool at Radisson was a disappointment as well as the bar. Asked for a Mojito and the bartender crushed the ice with a half full beer bottle that was near him. Served in a reusable plastic cup it was just a continuation of low level 3 star hotel experience.

As the daily rate included the all inclusive bracelets is same, I can tell that Pickalbatros uses their resources to give the guests a best possible experience where Radisson makes their shareholders possibly happier.

For our next year we know what to book and look forward to the...

Update November 2022:

I went back to the hotel in November 2022 with my husband and this time I stayed for 2 weeks. I can still say that I LOVE this place and the comfort, the food, the cleanliness and the service this hotel has to offer is one of the best. Thanks to Mena the front office manager it was easy to communicate if we needed something and he was always there to help. The food is still of very good quality and they have a big variety of different foods. We enjoyed every day and wouldn’t mind to stay longer.

We were happy to see the lifeguard Ahmed Shaban on the jetty again, this time at the other jetty (Oasis/Sands), he gave me a very safe feeling when I was swimming and snorkeling. I also saw him saving people 6 times during our stay and he does an amazing job with this, without hesitation and really professional. Mahmoud Refay and Monaim, who mostly work at the beach are very friendly, funny and good with all the tourists. It was nice to see them everyday doing their job with a big smile and also always happy to see us. Adam, the manager of the lifeguards is also very friendly and made snorkeling with Ahmed Shaban possible for us. The best chefs in our experience are Salah at the charcoal grill and Nasser from Aswan who often makes traditional food like molokhya🤤 We really made new friends and they feel like family, we will come back again in sha Allah.

A big plus: They added signs about rulings on swimming in the sea and about the coral. There were still a lot of people standing on and touching the coral. But it was less people doing this and I’m happy that the lifeguards always react fast when they see this happening. The new restaurant they were building is almost finished and it looks very beautiful.

• First review: September 2022 * I stayed at this place from 26-08-2022 for one week with my family. I really liked everything here, the food is good and there are always enough options, the staff is really friendly, kind and respectful. The swimming pool is warm and clean and you’re also allowed to use the swimming pools of Pickalbatros Oasis Port Ghalib and Pickalbatros Sands Port Ghalib, so there’s enough options for everyone to relax and swim.

My favorite part of this hotel is definitely the sea and the coral. I lived on the jetty during my stay from sunrise till sunset and I’ve seen so much colorful fishes and I was lucky to swim with dolphins and turtles. This all thanks to Ahmed Shaban who works on the jetty, he really helps everybody to see as many as possible. And he sees everything around him if someone needs help or if someone is standing on the coral, it feels very safe to swim here. And for this reason I would come back to this place. The guys working at the beach and on the jetty (like Ahmed and Mahmoud) really love the sea and coral, they are always cleaning and picking up trash. There are unfortunately a lot of ignorant people who walk or stand on the coral and the staff members always have to whistle for them and explain why it’s not good. And some people still don’t listen. My suggestion for the manager would be to place at least two big signs with the rules about swimming in the sea and the coral. One on the beach and one on the jetty.

Side note: they are renovating (swimming pool for example) and building a new restaurant at this hotel and it’s not really disturbing, but you can see and hear the renovations. I believe it will even become more beautiful and...

I don't know why the hotel has such high ratings...?! The hotel is good at best, nothing more, but from the beginning.

We arrived at the hotel at 8 am. At the reception I was informed that they would only assign me a room at 2 pm and that I could go for breakfast and that's it... they didn't tell me anything more, I said ok I'm going for breakfast, then I'll change into my swimsuit and go to the pool. Due to the huge area I had to go back to ask where I should go for breakfast and if I could ask for a map because I didn't know where to go. Another receptionist gave me an answer and that's it, they didn't add anything else. Here's the first minus, i.e. the reception, but we'll get back to this crap! The pool is small, but there are plenty of places, even at 10 or 11 am there are plenty of places available and this was also due to the fact that the beach was close by and there were plenty of places there too. At 2pm I went to pick up the room and the first thing I heard was that it would be better if I paid extra $70 for a room with a view of the lagoon or $150 with a view of the sea.... I said I wanted to see the room first, then I would decide. I got the last room in the hotel practically in the very Port Ghalib. It was about 10 minutes to the reception and 15 minutes to the beach...... The room itself was ok, the view was also ok, but the distance from the restaurant and the beach was 10-15 minutes on foot....from what I saw all Poles got such rooms and most of them paid extra. I also paid extra $70 for a room with a view of the lagoon and I was in the very center of the hotel, 2 minutes from the beach....the gentleman at the reception took $70, put it in his pocket, without a receipt and changed the room after about 2 hours from expressing dissatisfaction with the distance of the room from the center of the hotel. Scandalous behavior, money extortion. The hotel was clean, well-maintained, well-cleaned with a beautiful reef! And that's all the pluses! The food is boring, monotonous and very, very greasy!! The same greasy food every day! Nothing new!! For such a well-rated hotel, this is a disaster! For me, the best time to eat is breakfast, omelets, sweet pancakes and sausages, there was nothing else. Lunches and dinners are greasy drama, rice, pasta, potatoes, 1 nasty fish and 3 types of meat, also greasy.... and so on for 8 days! The Exim tour offer states that the hotel will open in 2022... this is a joke... in 2022 there was probably a name change and not the opening of the hotel! Snacks and alcohol very weak, you don't want to eat or drink it after the first day. Evening entertainment is also terrible, usually some people who can't sing and howl into the microphone until 11 pm... I will never return to this hotel.

Would I recommend it to anyone? Yes, if the price for a week is max PLN 2,500, it is not worth paying more for this hotel. The reception, food and service (priority for service is elderly people speaking German ....) are the worst element of this hotel. I will never...