Local Tour Guides - Recommendations for Jerusalem - from Ashdod

Hello all - I am looking for some help and recommendations on possible local tour guides and companies to see Jerusalem for 1 day. My wife and I will be arriving in Ashdod this November and we are not sure we will get the 'optional' tour from Viking. We are looking to see if there are any independent tour companies that would be recommended to take us from Ashdod port to and from to Jerusalem. Any experiences from anyone? Negative or positive - just looking to see if we should try to schedule with someone so we at least get a tour to see the major holy sites. Thanks!

Also check out the Ports of Call forum on these boards. Lots more people read them because it doesn't matter which cruise line you are using.

Look here:

Africa & Middle East

other threads in the forum:

Cruise Critic member in Israel, happy to answer questions

ALSO, check here for the roll call for your ship and see if anyone is looking to share a tour: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1012

Haven't been in Haifa/Ashdod for many years, but in addition to Peregrina's suggestion of using the CC PoC Boards, I also use Tripadvisor and have found some local tours in other ports.

The included tour from Viking is a little bit short. Based on the info from Roll Calls, we're considering a small group tour (Jerusalem & Bethlehem) with Shore Excursion Israel.

Thank you everyone. In doing the research, I have found TripAdvisor to be helpful, too.

We may end up with a private tour using a recommended local individual or a guide from GuidedToursIsrael.com

GoIsrael.com also has some really useful travel information for us. Really looking forward to this trip.

Thank you everyone. In doing the research, I have found TripAdvisor to be helpful, too. We may end up with a private tour using a recommended local individual or a guide from GuidedToursIsrael.com.

GoIsrael.com also has some really useful travel information for us. Really looking forward to this trip.

In 2012 on an Oceania cruise we used Guided Tours Israel to collect us in Haifa (our Ashdod port stop was cancelled), drive us to Jerusalem, visiting Masada and the Dead Sea en route and then an overnight stay in Jerusalem. Our guide (who lived in Jerusalem) was excellent, and it was just the two of us with him so we had a personalised tour. GTI would have booked our hotel as well, but we prefer to choose our own so we booked that independently. Oceania did not offer any excursions which combined Masada and Jerusalem and we wanted to see both,which is why we organised a private tour. We have yet to take our first Viking cruise (coming soon), but if we like the experience we plan to book another on board. The cruise which includes Israel would likely be our choice - and we would book with GTI again. They came highly recommended on Trip Advisor and on Cruise Critic.

Linda and Jim

We did a private group tour in Jerusalem this past month with -http://www.guidedtoursisrael.com/. It was a great tour with Mickie and we would highly recommend them.

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