I'm still sharing my travel stories about Hurghada. Since the emotions are fresh, I decided to write a negative review about Coral Travel.

I chose them because of the low price. For the last 4 years, I've been booking tours through the online market Travelata.

Saving with a promo code, it came out to:

What did I expect? That's a rhetorical question, of course.

When we arrived, we went to the Coral counter to pay for our visas. That was it – no further instructions. It turned out we needed to fill out migration cards. Maybe some people will roll their eyes, but there were plenty of us who'd already waited in line for passport control, and we had to wait in line again, this time with our cards filled out.

UPD. The Travelata managers told me that the visa costs $25, but at the Coral counter, they took $28 from us. After reading the reviews here, I realized that they're taking a cut on top. Out of curiosity, I asked why, but I got flustered and didn't ask, even though I was expecting the $75 I'd paid upfront.

Things only got more entertaining from there. After passing through control, our group – I was the de facto leader – set out to find the bus. I assumed we'd exit the airport and figure it out from there.

And I was right. Although the agents usually meet you at the airport, here we found a kiosk ourselves and were told the bus number – 9.

Once again, I found myself leading the group, with no one showing us which direction to head. We were like blind kittens, wandering around and trying to find our bus.

The receiving party from Coral was Odeon.

The bus was okay, our guide was an Egyptian guy who spoke little Russian. Our hotel was the second stop, and we drove for about 20 minutes. We got off with five people – the three of us and another couple.

Our meeting with the guide, who was also an Egyptian, was scheduled for 10:45 the next day at the hotel. My husband 'forgot' to show up 30 minutes before the meeting to grab his SIM card. He left with his passport, and we forgot to fill out the form we were given on the bus. To make matters worse, the voucher was printed in a single copy, handed over to the reception, and our guide was demanding another one. In short, everything was a bit of a mess. He couldn't even get a copy from the reception.

He was really upset that my husband wasn't there, and I was getting pretty anxious too. I'm not supposed to get stressed due to my health issues. He wasn't yelling, but he was definitely stern.

And that's why. He spoke very little Russian, didn't provide any useful information like the guides in Turkey and Cyprus did, and we were in Hurghada for the first time. He didn't tell us about the hotel, nearby shops, or where to exchange money. When I asked about exchanging currency, he started rambling on incoherently. We managed to figure it out ourselves.

But then he started pushing his excursions. Normally, we'd get these nice booklets with excursion details, prices, and useful information, including key phrases in the local language.

But this time, he just showed us cheap little brochures and asked us to take notes without providing any pens or paper. I didn't remember the excursion details or prices very well, which was really inconvenient. The guide was clearly upset that I showed up without my husband, as it's harder to split the costs on excursions without a guardian.

But then he gave me a piece of paper, and I got really anxious, thinking my husband had run off with my passport. It wasn't worth worrying about. The guide didn't care; he just wanted to sell us excursions.

A couple who arrived with us left immediately, saying they didn't need any excursions. I'm a bit of a follower, so I avoided the pushy salesperson. But then Ahmed started pestering me, and I ended up booking the cheapest excursion: a panoramic tour of Hurghada for 15 💵. He promised us a visit to the sand museum, a city panorama, and assured us we'd have an hour to explore the city and visit the state pharmacy or shops if needed.

I was really unsure where our wallet with cash was, but I had a ruble card linked to my phone. Ahmed didn't give me time to think or discuss it with my husband, saying I had to pay for all the excursions right then and there, and he wouldn't wait more than 5 minutes. He claimed my insurance only covered excursions booked through him. My husband said that wasn't true – our medical insurance covers the entire tour. And, honestly, I was a bit of a fool...

So, I ended up booking it:

I have to admit, I wouldn't have signed up for the more expensive tours without my husband, especially since my friend has been living in Hurghada for 10 years and runs her own tour business. And that's awesome! Although Coral prices are pretty reasonable (I caught a glimpse of the TEZ price tag and was shocked), I paid less for the tours through my friend and had the flexibility to cancel at any time.

I actually postponed the city tour I'd booked with a guide to the day before our departure, since my husband had already booked a tour to the pyramids through my friend, and we wouldn't have been able to join the city tour with him. My husband quickly sorted it out with the guide via WhatsApp, and he sent me a new receipt for November 25 (our flight was on the 26th).

The Tour

As I mentioned earlier, I made a silly mistake and booked the city tour.

And as I mentioned earlier, my friend has been living in Hurghada for 10 years and is married to an Egyptian. Since I'd never been to Hurghada before, she showed me around the entire city, so by the day before our departure, I'd already seen everything I wanted to see without needing a tour. The only things that were still on my bucket list were the sand museum and the promised panoramic view.

But I still decided to cancel the tour I'd already paid for, saying my kid was sick. To be honest, I just didn't have the money left, and we'd already seen everything Hurghada had to offer.

They told me it was impossible to cancel and that I could only reschedule. Okay, fine. The tour was cheap, and I'd booked all my other tours through my friend. Besides, I'd already paid.

There were some pros to this: I missed breakfast since the queue at our hotel was crazy (more on that in my hotel review), and I realized I didn't really want to eat breakfast anyway. And now I had the guide's number, which came in handy when I decided to reschedule the tour for another day.

Just 30 minutes after we left, the 'genius' hotel staff wheeled out a body bag through the lobby and main entrance, since a guy had died in our hotel at 6 am. And my daughter loves chatting with her friends via video call in the lobby, since the free wi-fi only works there. It was a pretty intense scene, even for adults.

So, the tour...

We picked up a few more people from two other hotels and headed to the sand museum. We were given 30 minutes to see everything.

It was actually pretty interesting, but 30 minutes was way too short. I managed to snap a photo of the funniest statue:

I was expecting a Russian-speaking guide, but all she talked about was the health benefits of olive oil and black cumin oil, saying that's why there aren't many COVID cases in Egypt. But my friend who lives in Hurghada got COVID twice, and I know why there aren't many cases in Egypt, so I just laughed at that black cumin oil ad.

Then they took us to a oil shop for an hour, and I started complaining that we only got 30 minutes at the museum, but the guys sitting next to us were on my side.

Everything in the shop was priced in dollars, and they were trying to convince us that it's the only government-owned shop and that they don't require receipts at the airport, but the prices were higher than what the street vendors were selling.

I love shopping, so I ended up buying some souvenirs, but I didn't have enough money for the perfume, which was amazing, by the way!

Next, they took us to Marina Beach - that's where we were supposed to get the panoramic view, and it's also where the biggest mosque in Hurghada is, which was built less than 10 years ago.

After seeing that mosque, we decided to call it a day:

The guide had also mentioned that after Marina, we would be visiting some textile and jewelry shops, which I wasn't really interested in, and let's just say my husband wasn't either.

Ahmed, our tour rep, didn't even mention it to me, actually.

Marina is a great place for a stroll, with a beautiful beach, but we didn't get to explore it because our tour was supposed to be over. Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos, but we decided to stay and grab a bite at a nearby cafe, where we had some delicious pizza with tuna for 65 pounds (around $4.50). We then took an Uber back to the hotel for $3, and before that, we walked around the local streets, which were way cheaper than the tourist areas.

FLIGHT INFORMATION

As I mentioned earlier, my husband had to negotiate with our tour rep, Ahamd, to change our tour schedule via WhatsApp. So, we had his number in the hotel.

After 6 PM, the hotel always posts the flight information, and at TEZ, it was already up, but Coral didn't have any information, so my husband decided to text Ahamd at 9 PM, and he forgot about us, sending us a WhatsApp message with the flight information. Our flight was moved up by an hour, to 3 PM. The bus would pick us up from the hotel at 10 AM.

We were wondering if we should leave early or take a taxi a couple of hours later. I decided to take the bus, though - after all, the tour agency knows what they're doing, right?

DAY X

We sort of grabbed some breakfast, packed our bags, and headed to the lobby to wait for our guide. Our guide showed up way earlier than scheduled. Our hotel was the last one.

The bus was pretty meh:

But when you've only got 10 minutes to get to the airport, who cares?

BUT

Our bus stopped at a store 100 meters from our hotel. And guess what? All the prices were in dollars. Our guide was telling us about some discount card.

I bought two magnets for $3, and when I got to the checkout, they asked me about the card. I shrugged, and they started calling our guide. He gave them the card, but I didn't get any discount. However, they gave my daughter the cheapest lollipop. So, that's how it works – local business, not for us.

AIRPORT

We got to the airport 4.5 hours before our flight. As I understood it, Coral just brings everyone whenever it's convenient for them – some people have a 1 pm flight, some have a 3 pm flight (like us), and some have later flights.

And that's it. No escort, no nothing. We stood in line first, waited for 20 minutes, and then they sent us to the waiting area. Guess what? We ended up in the last row of the line, behind people who got there way later.

So, I ended up in row 33 out of 38.

And, of course, there were no cafes before check-in. I mean, come on. There was only one cafe with burgers and beer for $10 and chips and cola for $5. And there was a 30-person line. But I stood in it. Those were the most useless $25 I spent in a cafe. In the center of Moscow, the prices are even more humane.

We should've taken a taxi or walked there, grabbing some food on the way, because we didn't really have breakfast at the hotel, there were no normal cafes at the airport, and they didn't serve food on the plane. And the trip took around 14 hours from the hotel to our home.

Ah, yes! In that little store where Coral dropped us off, my daughter saw her favorite candies, but they cost $5. I buy the same amount at the Uzbek bazaar near my home for 70 rubles. I was literally suffocating from rage.

Thanks, Coral!

The guides who barely speak RussianThe pushinessThe constant attempts to get us to shop at specific storesLack of a personalized approachNo flexibility with tour cancellationsThe constant naggingForgetfulness