Dive Review of Red Sea Aggressor III/Hilton Marsa Alam Nubian Resort in
Red Sea/Southern Red Sea

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Red Sea Aggressor III/Hilton Marsa Alam Nubian Resort: "Red Sea Aggressor Exceeded Expectations, except for the food", May, 2022, by Elizabeth Russell, PA, US ( Contributor 12 reports with 9 Helpful votes). Report 11974 has 2 Helpful votes.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Before boarding our liveaboard, we spent three nights a the Hilton Marsa Alam Nubian Resort. My Hilton Diamond status got us an upgraded suite near the beach and the adult pool. The resort is well maintained and the rooms are kept clean and comfortable. The food in the buffet gets a bit repetitive after two days but was included with the room. The staff is helpful and courteous. There is a small shopping area off the main lobby for anything you may have forgotten or any souvenirs you might like to take home. The Red Sea Aggressor III is a comfortable, roomy vessel that is kept immaculately clean by the crew. From the time we boarded to the time we left we were taken care of very well. The boat was almost full, but we never felt crowded. Diving: Tanks were consistently filled to 2800-3100 with 33% nitrox. We were helped into our wetsuits by deck crewmen, which was great since I have a new one that is a bit stiff and hard to don. After the dives, the suits were taken by the crew–after they helped us take them off–and rinsed in an antibacterial wash and hung to dry. The dive deck was run efficiently, and the crewmembers made it fun–we learned how to dance with fins on–because the crew wanted us to enjoy ourselves. After the dive, someone was always there to take our fins and help us up the ladder and back to our station. My integrated computer died the second day of the trip and I was provided a complete reg with gauges to use, free of charge, until the end of the trip, and became proficient with metric diving. The reefs on the Southern itinerary are beautiful and in wonderful condition. The crew knows the reefs very well and knows where interesting creatures can be found. The briefings covered the layout of the reef as well as where to find these critters. The presentation on the Red Sea was excellent and answered many questions about why the diving is so good there. On the dives, we could follow the divemaster or dive our own profile. We did both and found that these divemasters went slowly and pointed out things we may have missed on our own. There is so much to see there that on several dives we stayed almost under the boat and found wonderful things–an octopus that was photogenic, tiny anemonefish in a tiny anemone, nudibranchs… We liked that the boat didn’t move for the sake of moving. The dive sites were rich and varied and we could do all the dives in one spot and still find new things to see. Using the zodiacs to get to different areas of the reef was a plus also. The trip to the Daedalus Lighthouse was an interesting diversion and was well organized. We always appreciate when boats add an excursion to a site as it helps to understand the area better. Accommodations: Our room on the second deck was quite spacious and kept clean and well stocked by the crew. We had no issues with the bathroom facilities, which is always appreciated. The climate control was the best every of any boat. Even though several of the crossings to other reefs were rough, they weren’t rough enough to keep us awake. While this was our third trip to Egypt with Aggressor, having done the Red Sea Aggressor in 2015 and the Red Sea Aggressor II in 2019, the Red Sea Aggressor III was by far the least satisfactory food experience. Meals consisted of all the zucchini and eggplant we could endure. Unfortunately, we transferred from the Red Sea Aggressor III to the Nile Queen where the food was even less satisfactory. This is 2022. We are not the first vegetarians in Egypt! We remember the chef on the RSAI as particularly good at concocting healthy proteins. We don’t recall any problem on the RSAII. Plant based proteins are easy to find in Egypt. There is falafel, hummus, many other bean dishes and numerous creative menu items with sesame seeds and nuts. Nevertheless, despite many requests for a protein with our meal, it was seldom offered. Barbecue night offered salad and bread as the only things that weren’t meat. We ate protein bars in our cabin. We were willing to eat vegetarian instead of vegan and even have an occasional fish entree trying to be flexible but did not feel like much was done to meet our needs. We understand that there are a lot of dietary needs to address. While we don’t expect great food on every boat, we expect adequate food. We expect a staff that knows a vegetarian meal is not two servings of broccoli. Vegetarian meals require the same balance as meat meals. Protein, carbs, veggies and flavor. The Egyptians in the tourist industry regard falafel as a breakfast food and the whole plant protein spectrum as “poor people food.” We saw this at our hotels as well. Unhealthy white bread, cakes, and meat dishes were everywhere while beans, tahini, and such were somewhat harder to find, and the focus is seriously on western food. But even when we specifically asked for hummus or falafel, they didn’t seem to have any interest in serving them.
Websites	Red Sea Aggressor III Hilton Marsa Alam Nubian Resort
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Cayman Islands, Bahamas, Turks & Caicos, Indonesia, Fiji, Thailand, Egypt, Galapagos, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Chuuk, Cozumel, Baja, Belize, Honduras, Panama, Hawaii, Maldives
Closest Airport	Marsa Alam or Hurghada	Getting There	We flew Royal Jordanian through Amman to Cairo. We spent a night in Cairo/Heliopolis and flew Egyptair to Hurghada then took a van to Mars Alam. The flights to Marsa Alam only operate for part of the year.
Dive Conditions
Weather	dry	Seas	no currents
Water Temp	72-75°F / 22-24°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	60-100 Ft/ 18-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	No deeper than 100'.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

Report currently has 2 Helpful votes

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Dive Review of Red Sea Aggressor III/Hilton Marsa Alam Nubian Resort in Red Sea/Southern Red Sea

Red Sea Aggressor III/Hilton Marsa Alam Nubian Resort: "Red Sea Aggressor Exceeded Expectations, except for the food", May, 2022,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Red Sea Aggressor III/Hilton Marsa Alam Nubian Resort in
Red Sea/Southern Red Sea