2 day tour in Egypt from the ship

[thmpsn]

We just booked the Brilliance of the Sea for Nov. 2010 with Alexandria as a port. We are considering doing RCCL's 2 day tour. We would like to hear of others experience with the ship's 2 day tour or any hints and recommendations. We don't know if it would be better to do a separate tour each day or the two day overnight package. This is obviously a once in a lifetime experience for us. What do you recommend and why?

Karon

[CRUISERTN]

Jim and Karon- we will be visiting on the Brilliance in November of this year. We, too, debated between two separate day tours or the overnight, and decided on the overnight to save 6 extra hours of driving time between Cairo and the ship. We have booked an overnight tour with Ramses based on recommendations on this board and their prompt response and willingness to customize a tour for what we wanted to visit. No deposit needed and pay at the end of the tour. Will be posting a review when we return.

[thmpsn]

We will be anxious to hear all about your experience with this port. Am I understanding you correctly; you are using a private company for your two day tour? I am concerned about getting back to the ship on time. So I would like your take on using a private company versus using the ship's tour. Have a wonderful trip and, please, don't forget to give us your review of your cruise.

Thanks,

Karon

[cruisemom42]

We will be anxious to hear all about your experience with this port. Am I understanding you correctly; you are using a private company for your two day tour? I am concerned about getting back to the ship on time. So I would like your take on using a private company versus using the ship's tour. Have a wonderful trip and, please, don't forget to give us your review of your cruise.

Thanks,

Karon

 

 

If you dig through many of of the posts on this board, you'll see that many, many people have taken private tours. I've been reading the boards for 4+ years now and I have yet to read of anyone missing the ship in Egypt on a private tour.

 

Remember, these guides count on cruise ship passengers for business. If one bad experience with a company was posted, they'd lose a lot of business. So they make sure you are back in time.

 

Just be sure to listen to them if they suggest something is too far or too much of a stretch! They know the traffic patterns and driving conditions.

[Kerry's Girls]

We will be anxious to hear all about your experience with this port. Am I understanding you correctly; you are using a private company for your two day tour? I am concerned about getting back to the ship on time. So I would like your take on using a private company versus using the ship's tour. Have a wonderful trip and, please, don't forget to give us your review of your cruise.

Thanks,

Karon

 

I felt the same way when I first starting looking into shore excursions for my Jade cruise. I thought it would be insane to do anything but a ship tour in places like Cairo and Turkey. After reading these boards for awhile, I saw what the previous poster said was true - you see the same reputable tour companies mentioned over and over with great enthusiasm, from posters who have long histories at Cruise Critic, so you know they're not sham posts from the tour company itself. I went from vowing that we would only do the ship tour in Cairo and not stay overnight, to considering a private group tour, to finally booking a private car overnight tour for just my party of four - including my two toddlers. From all I've read, not just the tour companies, but the governments themselves, make a priority of keeping ship passengers safe and happy in order for their economies to continue to benefit from us. Knowing that the ship will not wait for us means that we will be sure to leave plenty of time to get back and will probably get back much earlier than necessary just to avoid any stress.

 

With that said, there was a post from someone who was on a ship tour where a passenger seriously injured her leg, and because she was on a ship sponsored tour, everything was taken care of, from her trip to the hospital to her flight catching up with the ship. So under that circumstance, I'm sure it was beneficial to have been on a ship tour. But that's the only instance after tons of reading that I can remember seeing that would make me think twice about booking private.

 

Best,

Mia

[CRUISERTN]

Karon - As the two posts after mine mentioned, in the beginning, I, too, had decided that in Egypt I would only do the ship's tours so I would know I would get back to the ship on time or the ship would wait on our group if we got delayed for some reason. We thought of two separate full day tours as well as the overnight through the ship. The more we read about it being 3 hours each way between the ship and Cairo, the less appealing the two separate one-day tours sounded. And as the others mentioned, I never read anything about anyone getting back to the ship late. Only one post from someone who used a tour company that has only been mentioned one time was used by a fairly large group said they arrived back at the ship 20 minutes before the ship sailed and they were very stressed - but it was also because people had ordered cartouches the day before and had to go all the way back to the Khan ElKhilli bazaar to pick them up and ran into traffic........the more I read all of the posts, and read that everyone seemed very comfortable booking the private tour and not worrying about missing the ship, I looked at the private tours. They can customize it where the ships tours are not customized and you end up seeing more on the private tour because you can move faster with fewer people. I contacted a few, and ended up booking with Ramses with another couple on this board who will be on our cruise. We are getting to see more things and some the ship's tours did not offer for half of the cost. Some of the companies I had contacted wanted a 50% deposit either wired to them or put on a credit card, which I did not feel comfortable doing. Ramses did not require a deposit and was willing to customize our tour to cover what we want to see and do. I still cannot believe that I went from saying that we would only do a ship's tour to booking an overnight private tour.... I also have a friend who is using Ramses in several weeks for their overnight tour and I will be sure to find out how everything went for them.

[hightownCO]

My first med cruise and stops in Egypt is coming up. Was worried about doing the private overnight but the price on Princess' overnight excursion made the decision for me! Over $500 per person more!

 

I've heard though that Nile Blue who we've booked with also does the Princess overnight. I would bet that if there's trouble with one of their private excusion buses and running late enough to miss sailaway, Nile Blue might just happen to have a problem with a ship excursion bus too. I bet they keep close tabs on when the other buses are heading back to port and join up or arrange it to be a little ahead.

[thmpsn]

I really appreicate all of your posts on this thread. It does help to know what others have done and what they think and how things have worked out for them. Using a private tour company seems to be the way to go.

Thank you all so much.

Karon

[WeBeGone]

We have used Nile Blue twice and everything was just perfect. Don't waste your time doing 2 day trips. The distence is just too great and you eat up too much time with travel. Book an overnight with a good company and enjoy your visit.

[Captain Canuck]

did an overnight with them in May. just great. group of 12 of us. got in and out of sites much faster than the 50 person ship buses...and we stayed at the same hotel in Cairo...Meridian Pyramids...pool has a restaurant and looks onto the pyramids....nice hotel....

[thmpsn]

Thanks for the recommendation of the hotel. Did you request this hotel or did your tour operator suggest it?

Karon

[Captain Canuck]

it was the one the tour company picked.....but if our group had wanted to change we could have

[thmpsn]

It is good to know that the tour company uses the same hotel as the ship. Obviously a good and safe choice.

Thanks for the info.

Karon

[Captain Canuck]

there is a restaurant in the hotel..nice and reasonably priced too...with soft drinks it was around $50 for 2..there is a tex mex restaurant just down the street...too funny

 

there was an option for a nile dinner cruise..we did not go for it as we did a lunch cruise on our previous visit....but it was cancelled due to lack of numbers anyhow

[tiyana4]

For those of you who did the overnight in Cairo, does the tour guide stay at the same hotel with the group? We are interested in the Light and Sound show and the Nile dinner cruise. It's my understanding that they accompany you on these excursions, but as a single parent, I want to be sure. Otherwise, we won't be venturing off on our own.

[Captain Canuck]

like I said the dinner cruise we off..we skipped the sound and light show at the pyramids..the rest of our group went..they were picked up by our guides with our bus (24 seater air conditioned)....

[Kerry's Girls]

For those of you who did the overnight in Cairo, does the tour guide stay at the same hotel with the group? We are interested in the Light and Sound show and the Nile dinner cruise. It's my understanding that they accompany you on these excursions, but as a single parent, I want to be sure. Otherwise, we won't be venturing off on our own.

 

I'm also a single parent (of twin toddlers) taking a private tour (with Moustafa), so I looked at this and the hotel very closely. We are staying at the Le Meridian Pyramids, which will be full of our fellow shipmates. Moustafa has many tours from our ship going the same day, so all who want to attend the Sound and Light show will go together. And, we already know many from our roll call who are doing tours with other operators who will be staying at the hotel and going to the Sound and Light Show, so I have no qualms about it. I'm sure if you are using one of the top mentioned private tour companies mentioned here, it will be the same - ask your tour guide if there will be a larger group of you all from the same ship using the same tour operator, going to the Sound and Light show together.

 

Best,

Mia

[MercedMike]

Here is one more view ... our overnight with Egyptian Express. It was wonderful!

 

Check out our review and pics at http://www.elite.net/~thehalls/holyland2.html

 

Have a GREAT cruise!

[tiyana4]

I'm also a single parent (of twin toddlers) taking a private tour (with Moustafa)' date=' so I looked at this and the hotel very closely. We are staying at the Le Meridian Pyramids, which will be full of our fellow shipmates. Moustafa has many tours from our ship going the same day, so all who want to attend the Sound and Light show will go together. And, we already know many from our roll call who are doing tours with other operators who will be staying at the hotel and going to the Sound and Light Show, so I have no qualms about it. I'm sure if you are using one of the top mentioned private tour companies mentioned here, it will be the same - ask your tour guide if there will be a larger group of you all from the same ship using the same tour operator, going to the Sound and Light show together.

 

Best,

Mia[/quote']

 

Thanks for the info. We haven't narrowed it down to one company yet(per CC suggestions, we are looking at Ramses, Memphis Tours and Decastro/Moustafa), but they all seem to use the same group of hotels. We are over a year out for our cruise and are just beginning the planning process. We have tours for Rome and Paris confirmed, now it's time to work on the rest.

[torhaven]

We booked with Ramses Tours. I was impressed by their quick response to our queries and their obvious knowledge of the area. We chose a private tour because I had been having health issues and wasn't sure I could keep up with a group. I didn't want to slow them down.

 

Ramses turned out to be everything we had hoped. Our guide was an egyptologist with extensive knowledge of the area who was anxious to convey it to us. Just before reaching Cairo we had a flat tire. I envisioned a long wait while the tire was changed but no - there was another vehicle following in case of just such an incident. They caught up with us and we were on our way again in minutes. We saw all we had asked for and more.

 

In short, I feel I can highly recommend Ramses Tours.

[gkkapp]

Have you checked out the roll call board for this cruise? I know there is already a large group on this roll call and they are forming tour groups. We went in March 2009, used Moustafa and had a wonderful time.

 

<<<Karen>>>

[petesweet]

We booked with Ramses Tours. I was impressed by their quick response to our queries and their obvious knowledge of the area. We chose a private tour because I had been having health issues and wasn't sure I could keep up with a group. I didn't want to slow them down.

 

Ramses turned out to be everything we had hoped. Our guide was an egyptologist with extensive knowledge of the area who was anxious to convey it to us. Just before reaching Cairo we had a flat tire. I envisioned a long wait while the tire was changed but no - there was another vehicle following in case of just such an incident. They caught up with us and we were on our way again in minutes. We saw all we had asked for and more.

 

In short, I feel I can highly recommend Ramses Tours.

 

I'm asking these same questions of everyone.:D

Did you take Ramses' set tour (and, if so, which one?)? or did you personalize it? If the latter, would you mind sharing your exact itinerary that you requested they do? Were there any disappointments?

Also, how many were in your group? I'm wondering about the comfort of the vehicles if we have 6? or 7? or even as many 12 or 20? We will be in a large group of about 100 on the ship, so I can gather as few or as many as I want to accompany our small group of four.

Many thanks to you and anyone else with thoughts on these subjects.

Kathy

[rosie#1]

Thanks for the info. We haven't narrowed it down to one company yet(per CC suggestions, we are looking at Ramses, Memphis Tours and Decastro/Moustafa), but they all seem to use the same group of hotels. We are over a year out for our cruise and are just beginning the planning process. We have tours for Rome and Paris confirmed, now it's time to work on the rest.

 

Moustafa and Decastro are two different companies. You may already know this, but just in case you didn't it will give you another option. Decastro does not show an overnight tour on their website, but they do offer one that you can customize.

[Kanuk2]

We live in Ontario, Canada and our party of 4 are just back from the Eastern Med Cruise with Celebrity. We did private tours throughout. We chose not to overnight off the ship in Egypt as we had planned for one day in Cairo/ Giza pyramids and the second day in Alexandria. 8 to 10 hours on a day excursion is more than enough touring time for our group. We used Ramses Tours in Egypt and they were excellent; good English speaking guides, good vehicles , and an excellent driver ( we learned that in Egypt traffic lanes, speed limits and stop lights are only a suggestion for most).We would readily recommend this company.

[MercedMike]

I'm asking these same questions of everyone.:D

 

Did you take Ramses' set tour (and, if so, which one?)? or did you personalize it? If the latter, would you mind sharing your exact itinerary that you requested they do? Were there any disappointments?

 

Also, how many were in your group? I'm wondering about the comfort of the vehicles if we have 6? or 7? or even as many 12 or 20? We will be in a large group of about 100 on the ship, so I can gather as few or as many as I want to accompany our small group of four.

 

Many thanks to you and anyone else with thoughts on these subjects.

 

Kathy

 

We were with Egyptian Express, not Rameses. They are a premium tour company, but I think these answers will pretty much be the same for any company.

 

We were a group of six. With the guide and driver, this was just a good size for a 12 passenger van. If we had filled it up with a group of 12 it would have been very cozy, not to say crowded, especially for a 3 hour drive each way.

 

Since some of our group had been to Egypt before and some had not, we did not think the "packaged" tour was exactly what we wanted. So we spent some time in email designing just what we wanted. The company was extremely cooperative, and when we were actually on tour the guide was very aware of what we wanted and arranged things so that we saw all that we had put into the tour. The only disappointment is that you can't possibly do EVERYTHING in two days. A few of the sites we would have liked more time at, but had to keep moving to meet our itin. Our guide always consulted us and discussed the schedule and options as we went along.

 

Our particular itinerary was,of course, first the three hour drive into Cairo. We were met by our guide at the ship (some companies only send the driver to the ship and the guide meets you in Cairo. Check on this.) He gave us a very interesting tour through miles and miles of desert, pointing out everything from ships on the Suez Canal to pigeon houses. First we went to the oldest pyramid at Saqqara, then continuing in chronological order the pyramids at Dashur (our request, not often on the regular itineraries.) Then we went to the "high plateau" overlooking the pyramids at Giza for camel rides and pictures. We drove by the pyramids and sphinx (time compromise), had an elegant lunch at a country club in view of the pyramids, and then did our high class shopping at the Karnak Bazaar, which included a papyrus demonstration as well as jewelry, ceramics, and so on. We had specifically stated we were NOT interested in rugs, so that was skipped. We then went on to the Nile Hilton and had a great dinner with elegant desserts high above the city in the penthouse.

 

Next morning we walked across the street to the Nile for a felucca ride, returning just in time to be the first ones in to the (old) Egyptian Museum. We headed right for the Mummy Room, and later to Tut. Then we went to the Khan el Khalili for a great lunch at the best restaurant in the bazaar and some shopping for cheap tourist trinkets. It was then time for the looooong ride back to the ship, during which our guide gave us fascinating information about Islam, arriving just as scheduled and easily boarding on time.

 

Now that was OUR particular trip. It may not include all the things you want to do, or may have some you are not interested in. If you are not experienced in Egypt, and want to see the major tourist sites, the packaged tour with a group of 6 to 8 is probably great for you. The point is that Egyptian Express, and I think all companies, will work very hard with your small group to see that it is what YOU want to do.

 

I linked this above ... here it is again ...

http://www.bully4.us/holyland2.html

 

Have a GREAT cruise!