Ras Mohammed & White Island: Snorkel, Optional Dive & Lunch

A very nice crew. Very friendly and professional. It was my first time diving, and it was great. I’d happily do it again 🐠🤿🐟

The problems started from the very beginning. The driver barely spoke English and did not even seem to know whether we were the correct passengers. When we arrived at the port, we had to wait for around 1.5 hours just to board the boat. The whole process was chaotic and badly organised. The boat experience was also disappointing. The tour description said that water would be provided, but there was no bottled water at all. There was only water from a machine, with no clear information about its source, and extremely diluted juice. This is particularly concerning in Egypt, where tourists are generally advised to drink only bottled water to avoid potential health issues. Lunch was advertised as a buffet, but it was actually a fixed, pre-portioned meal with no choice of food. Calling this a buffet is simply misleading. The first snorkelling stop was another disappointment. The company provided snorkelling equipment, but the equipment was in very poor condition. My snorkel was leaking water, making it impossible to snorkel properly. Eventually, my friend and I had to share one snorkel, which completely ruined the experience. The sea around the boats was also heavily polluted. There was a strong smell of fuel/oil, and the snorkelling equipment ended up covered in what appeared to be fuel. The water was not clear, there was rubbish and plastic in the sea, and the reef was visibly affected by pollution. It is extremely disappointing to see such beautiful marine life and nature treated this way. The second snorkelling stop was basically the same. On top of that, staff kept pressuring people to pay extra for scuba diving, describing it as an amazing experience. However, the whole operation looked very amateurish, and some people who had booked the diving appeared uncomfortable and scared. The White Island part was also misleading. Despite paying for the excursion, we were not properly allowed to go onto the island because we were told there were too many people and that we should stay to the side. However, the worst part of the entire experience happened at the end. Staff actually threatened us because we did not want to leave a positive review. We were told that something would happen to us if we did not leave positive feedback. This behaviour was completely unacceptable and extremely disturbing. I was seriously considering calling the police because of the threats. A company should accept honest feedback from customers, not intimidate or threaten them into giving positive reviews. Overall: poor organisation, long unnecessary waiting, misleading information about food and water, faulty equipment, polluted water, pressure to pay for additional activities, and completely unacceptable behaviour from the staff. I strongly recommend that future customers be very careful and never allow staff to pressure or threaten them into leaving a positive review.

The trip was magnificent, the staff was very attentive and helpful. The hearty meal was delicious.

The diving and snorkeling experience was great. The time spent on the boats was too long. We were picked up at 8am and waited at the port until 10:30am for the boat. They try to get you to pay extra for life jackets (how?) and snorkeling gear despite it in being in package. You also need to pay $5 for admission to the Ras Mahomed park on arrival. What was meant to be a 7 hour day turned into 10 hours. They need to update the itinerary to explain duration better. The white “island” is just a sand bank. They park far away and require you to swim to the bank. Lunch was served at 3pm and was basic. Unlimited drinks but in 2lt bottles with tiny cups. Overall, great for the beginner diving. But the overall service was poor.

You take a one-hour boat ride just to stand in knee-deep water with a hundred other people! I was diving there. It was terrible. I counted over 60 boats. Underwater, there was a terrible noise and hardly any fish. Only the corals were beautiful.

highly recommend good support from start to finish

​The excursion to Ras Mohamed and White Island was one of the most beautiful moments of our stay. This ephemeral white sandbar in the middle of waters with turquoise and crystal-clear shades offers a setting worthy of a postcard. As for the wildlife, it is simply magical; swimming above preserved coral reefs in the middle of a multitude of multicolored tropical fish is an unforgettable experience. The clarity of the water allows you to admire the underwater biodiversity in all its splendor. Raw and protected nature not to be missed under any circumstances during a visit to Sharm El Sheikh

I’m giving this trip 2 stars because the trip did happen and we did snorkel in the red sea just like promised, but too many things went wrong along the way. The very first thing happened at the hotel pick-up. Our driver was over 30 minutes late. Eventually we saw a white minibus near our hotel waiting so we asked the driver if it was us they were waiting for and he told us it wasn’t us on two different occasions. Eventually it ended up actually being us that they were waiting for, the driver just didn’t have clear enough instructions on who to pick up and from where. This was an unnecessary delay to start the trip. Second thing happened as soon as we got to the ship dock. Our tickets bought from Viator clearly said ”Snorkeling equipment included” on multiple different places. Even with this confirmation and higher price paid they made us pay for the snorkeling equipment at the ship dock, the price was 10€ and they were clearly used masks, mouth pieces and life jackets (all this happened even with my husband being Egyptian, so I’d imagine it’s even worse for just tourists). The ship/yacht itself was really nice, 3 floors with chairs, tables (both in the shade and sun), a sundeck and two bathrooms. The third issue though was that the group size in the booking was said to be maximum 25 people. This definitely was not the case, since the workers confirmed with the ship staff that there was 59 people on that one yacht. So be prepared for a much bigger group size than promised. The snorkeling was nice and there was an option to scuba dive even if you didn’t book the scuba diving package (for extra cost). What was frustrating though was that we were on the same spot for about 2 hours while the snorkeling and diving only took about 45 minutes in total. The lunch was said to be after the first stop so everyone was tired, hungry and bored at that point. Anyway the trip continued and the next two stops (snorkeling and the white island) went fine and were nice. The trip took about 10 hours in total. We have been on about 6 of these yacht snorkeling trips before from Sharm and Hurghada and honestly I’d recommend booking a different one than this one. This one was for sure the worst experience we’ve had on these yacht trips so I can assure you you’ll have a better time booking a different trip than this specific one.

Unfortunately it did not go as we expected. From the description it seemed like a boat for 25 people, instead the boat was big and there were 45 of us. There was room for everyone and we had a good time anyway. In the morning they came to pick us up at 8 but then we spent 2 hours in the port waiting, we got on the boat at 11 and so the 2 snorkeling stops and the stop at the sandbar lasted barely half an hour each. The guide guys were fantastic and my rating is positive thanks to them! Too bad because we would have gladly done it again..

Great day out! Amazing snorkelling and diving trip to Ras Mohammed. The boat was good, the food was good, and the snorkelling and diving were absolutely amazing. It was a long day, but definitely worth it and a fantastic experience. There were two negatives worth mentioning. Firstly, we were asked to pay extra for the equipment, despite this being included in the booking we had made. On TripAdvisor, there are two prices listed $180 without equipment and $199 with equipment, which is the option we paid for. We had to explain this before the issue was resolved, which was frustrating on serval times. Worth screenshots of what is included when you book. Secondly, Egyptian music was played extremely loudly and almost constantly throughout the trip. We did ask for the volume to be turned down, and it was lowered initially, but it was repeatedly turned back up. There were young children in our group, so we felt there could have been more consideration for the younger one’s ears. Despite these issues, we still had a fantastic day and would definitely recommend the trip. The snorkelling and diving were out of this world, and you get to see so much. I had been diving before, but my wife and 10-year-old son had never dived and decided to try it for the first time. The instructors were fantastic. They put both my wife and son completely at ease, and they are so glad they did it. Overall, we felt it was much better value booking through TripAdvisor than through the hotel, and we would happily recommend the experience. One final tip take some snacks! Although lunch and soft drinks are included, lunch is quite late, around 2pm, which is a long time after leaving the marina at 9am. We returned to the hotel around 7pm. Tired but totally worth it.