We have booked this trip through a German touroperator. It was a last minute all inclusive deal with very good value for money. The Samaya Resort is an Iberotel hotel in Madinat Coraya, Marsa Alam, which is a bay with a couple of Iberotel and Sol y Mar hotels. Madinat Coraya also has its drawbacks.

Reasons for going to Samaya Resort:
- The hygiene is good.
- The heated pools have a watertemperture of 27 degrees Celsius in january.
- There is a free water park with 13 slides.
- There are family rooms with two separate sleeping areas.
- The hotel looks luxury.

Reasons for not going to Samaya Resort:
- There are no regular buses, regular taxis, car hire or rent bikes so you're really stuck on the resort.
- There is little choice of tours and excursions are expensive.
- The evening entertainment is done by the animators and looks rather amateurish.
- Childrenentertainment is very nice but only in German.
- You can go on a tour to Luxor but then you have to travel by bus for 14 hours. You can also go by plain but this costs 220 euro per person.
- Bottled water is not part of the all inclusive deal.
- Wifi doesn't work. There is only one computer with internetconnection, costing 7 euro's per hour.
- Because of the coral you can not enter the water from the beach. You have got to use the scaffold near the Lamaya hotel.

After having had such a great experience at the Iberotel Makadi Bay Family Resort, we decided this time to travel further south in Egypt and spent our vacation at the Iberotel Samaya in Marsa Alam. We started this journey with high expectations from our previous Iberotel stay, and to put it simple, we were more than positively surprised.

The hotel is located at the tip of the south pensinsula of Madinat Coraya, which is about a ten minute ride from Marsa Alam airport. Mentioning that it should be noted that even though the airport is close, there is hardly any disturbance through air traffic, as this is a rather small and infrequently flown to airport, which has very nice facilities though.

The hotel is fairly new (opened within the last two years) and eco certified. The architechture of the three story buildings follows Egyptian style commonly employed at most modern hotel hotels in Egypt. There is an activity pool, a sun shaded kids pool and another swimming pool with sunbeds available even if the hotel is booked. There is one main restaurant, but throughout the day the pool bar is available for snacks. The guests are 95% German families with kids, which was perfect for us. There is plenty of entertainment for the kids and some activities for the parents as well. This resort is club style as it is part of TUIs "schöne Ferien" (nice Vaction) brand. All entertainment is mostly in German.

The family rooms in this hotel are well kept and very clean. Almost all of the rooms have ocean view due to the location on the peninsula. The family rooms are spacious and offer a great setting for families. Every room has a balcony, TV with various international channels, safe and air conditioning. On our arrival night we got a room where the air conditioning did not work and after an initial attempt to repair the AC we were moved to another upgraded room with ocean view. This was all very uncomplicated and cordial, and is only one of the good examples for receiving great service at the Iberotel Samaya.

Most of the guests in this hotel are on an all inclusive plan. Meaning you can eat and drink as much as you like. The restaurant and the pool bar offer plenty of opportunites to indulge or just to nibble, depending on personality. There is always something being offered if you are hungry or thirsty. What food quality is concerned I would simply say that the food offered is good. Not spectacular, but not bad either. Staying for two weeks it might get a bit boring, but then this also depends on the individual. What a price value comparison is concerned I would rate the food as excellent!

The Iberotel Samaya has also beach access on the peninsula where you can have sun chairs right by the sea. There is no access to go swimming due to the reef, but the chairs on the beach provide a wondeful view of the Red Sea. However, there is great access to the Red Sea serveral hundred meters away from the hotel. The snorkeling and diving opportunities at this location are simply amazing! I am a novice to the underwater world, but I have never seen or imagined such great underwater life.

The overall service at this hotel has been perfect. No matter where you went, asked questions or had a problem, the staff was simply great, hepful and caring. I have no doubt in recommending this hotel to anyone who is looking a for a value oriented family vacation. We will be back for sure!

The Tui staff were great,f riendly helpful and always on the go to make you have an enjoyable holiday. They kept the children busy through the day and laid on entertainment in the evening. All staff at Samaya were very happy and polite, and keen to make our stay as relaxing as possible, they loved having a joke and wind up all the children.
Our room was spotlessly cleaned every day and the air conditioning was tops, just what you need when its 45 degrees outside.
Our children enjoyed all three swimming pools, and going to the bar to help themselves to the ice-cream and drinks. Most afternoons we made a 5 minute walk up the road to Aqua Coraya water park which is a fantastic place for all children and adults with the great water slides all of which are free because it part of the hotels inclusive deal.