BoilerBill

It was excellent. The bus ride (full size 60 pax bus with about 35 people on it was very comfortable. We had an escort from Seabourn and an armed guard in our bus and with us at all times. This is worth its weight in gold in a place like Egypt, in our opinion. Our 5* hotel/resort was right on the Nile, and the tour included lunch upon arrival in Luxor, all admissions to Karnak and Luxor Temples, as well as Valley of the Kings, and an outstanding dinner with drinks included along with an entertaining show along the banks of the Nile at our resort. Breakfast the next day was also included. In our opinion, it was WELL worth cost and hit all the marks. I would be reluctant to tour with an independent guide in Egypt unless I knew a LOT about them. Same thing with Petra. Included a lovely lunch at the best hotel in Petra after visiting the archaeological site. The countries involved here have significant unrest, and regularly experience issues. IMHO, these are not the ideal places to travel with someone independent, but everyone has to make their own choice on this. For us, the Seabourn trips were good value and we would choose the same thing if we were ever to do it again.

It is indeed good to go back to the OP, which is what I redid in replying. That is why I provided the detailed information that this Crystal overnight tour to Luxor appears to be almost triple the cost of a factually comparable overnight to Luxor purchased from Seabourn and taken 4 months ago. Seabourn had a cruise rep on the tour who stayed overnight with us, and Seabourn provided armed security (an absolute must in this location, imho) that accompanied us at all times. Of course it is no revelation that everything is more expensive now than pre-Covid. The comparison I gave is apples-to-apples. Of course it is no revelation that booking independently is cheaper than booking through the cruise line. But the direct comparison I provided was between two cruise line overnight excursions at essentially the same point in time and with nearly identical same attributes. Although I have never cruised on Crystal, I fully appreciate it's long time reputation as a wonderful luxury cruise line. I am not intending to denigrate it in any way. I merely thought that giving facts to respond directly to the OP would be helpful in quantifying what the OP felt was an outrageous price. Factually, and inarguably, it IS an outrageous price when compared to the same product from another luxury cruise company. I have only been reading this Crystal CC board about the enhanced Crystal to determine whether we may like to try Crystal in the future. And we most likely will. But goodness gracious, it is regrettable that a simple factual comparison in response to an OP feeling evokes this kind of defensive reaction to one single thing that is not particularly praiseworthy.

First, I am US citizen, so answers could depend your specific nationality. For US citizens, in-transit ship passengers do not require a visa for Egypt for visits up to 48 hours. Similarly, there were no visa requirements for Oman or Dubai (where we embarked the cruise). We disembarked the cruise in Istanbul, and a visa was required from Turkey (which was easily obtained in minutes on-line).

I should add for clarity, that we did book this excursion through Seabourn. So it is a valid price comparison for the Crytal excursion/

Just for comparison, my wife and I booked an overnight Luxor excursion on our Seabourn cruise in April of this year (2023). We stayed overnight at the Hilton Luxor Resort and Spa. The excursion included bus transport to/from Luxor, hotel, an excellent private dinner and entertainment/show, guided entrance to Luxor Temple, Karnak Temple (both day and evening), Valley of the Kings with admission to two tombs, and photo stops at a number of other sites. It was an excellent excursion, and cost $799 per person. You could book the dawn balloon ride separately via the guide for less than $100 per person. We did not book the balloon, as we feared that it would be too tiring for us in the midst of two rather busy and strenuous days. If we were a bit younger, we probably would have done so. All in all, if Crystal is charging something like $2500 pp for this excursion --- it IS truly outrageous, although it is a wonderful experience.

Hello SLSD, I was reading your posts about this guide with interest, as my wife and I are on April 2023 Encore from Dubai to Istanbul --- arriving there on April 30, 2023. I have tried to locate contact info for her (Sebnem Altin), but have not been successful. If Mr. SLSD would be so kind to share a way I can contact her other than through LinkedIn which seems to require me to join in order to send her a message, we would be extremely grateful!

My wife and I are on Encore in April on more or less the reverse itinerary as this current voyage. We have been uncuccessfully searching for visa requirements (if any) for US citizens taking excursions in Oman, Jordan (Petra), Egypt (Overnight), UAE. Did you need to get visas in adavance for these destinations, or is Seabourn making any necessary arrangements onboard for those who are taking Seabourn excursions? Would be so appreciative of any experience on this, and on any excursions that you found particularly well worth taking. Hope you are having a wonderful cruise!

Calling Seabourn for getting the price charged to accurately reflect your status will be the most certain vehicle for getting it done correctly, I should think.

Quite right! I should have identified that we are US citizens. Unfortunately, in this case we booked from onboard a prior cruise and so haven't used a TA. Thanks!

Had the same thing happen to me on excursions we booked last Saturday. I called Seabourn and they cancelled my excursion reservations and then re-booked them immediately with the correct discount (we are Platinum). Would never have caught this billing error without reading this thread! Thanks!!!!!!!!!

My wife and I are booked on the April 2023 Encore sailing from Dubai to Istanbul. It is clear that we will need a visa for Turkey as we are staying two extra days after disembarking. Looks like an eVisa is the way to go for that. But in spite of much research, it is still not clear to me whether we need to obtain visas in advance for UAE, Oman, Egypt (we are on the overnight excursion to Luxor Valley of the Kings), and Jordan (on the one day excursion to Petra). Any expertise from others who may either be on this cruise or have sailed a similar itinerary would be SO welcome! Thanks!

My wife and I stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel Ritz prior to our last Seabourn cruise from Lisbon. It was WONDERFUL! Totally walkable to most points in the city. Absolutely superior service, food, rooms, amenities. Just what you would expect of a Four Seasons anywhere else in the world. We would stay there again in a heartbeat. Kind of like a Seabourn ship, except it's on land.