Tour vs. on our own....

[oceanlovinmama]

Hello! My group of 4 will be in Alexandria for 2 nights on a Med cruise in May. We have a full day tour scheduled for the 1st day, but was wondering if anyone has ever done anything on their own, possibly taking a taxi; walking or whatnot? Is there anything close to the Port? Shopping, museums? Has anyone ever taken a camel ride and where do we need to go for that?? We are doing a 12 hour tour the 1st day to the Pyramids, Museum, etc... but wanted to kinda wing it the 2nd day. Any info at all......THANKS!

[cruisemom42]

In order to see the sights of Alexandria, you really need transportation of some sort. If you feel comfortable haggling for a taxi, you can do it that way -- but you really do have to haggle. Sinbad listed the most visited spots in Alexandria. Ships usually offer a partial day tour of Alexandria that isn't too expensive, if you are really that interested and don't want to get a private guide....although for 4 of us a private guide would still likely be less expensive.

 

Just curious.....why not take advantage of the overnight and stay in Cairo for the night? There's so much to see and do there relative to Alexandria.

[smeyer418]

pre arranged guides are very inexpensive. It may cost you less for a car, a driver and a tour guide than just a cab. You will be expected to tip the tour guide and driver. Do so generously as in many cases that is all that they are paid. That is the main reason they take you to shop. They get baksheesh from the store about 40% of what you buy. If you don't want to shop tell them so but again be generous in your tip IMO.

[Fblack]

Egypt has some very affordable tour companies. There is very little near the port. You should contact Ramses Tours and plan a day with them. They did a nice day tour of Alexandria for us.

[CRUISERTN]

I, too, second the idea of doing a tour in Alexandria, and to do it with Ramses. We used them this past November for an overnight to Cairo and had a fabulous time. They will be very accommodating and will customize your tour to do what you want for the day in Alexandria. You could do both days with them also, returning to the ship the first night if you wanted and then the second full day in Alexandria with Ramses. We had Karim for our guide and he was wonderful. Would highly recommend using Ramses. Sometimes if you email them at info@ramsestours.com it will come back "undeliverable", so try emailing ramsestours@hotmail.com and try it from several different email accounts if you have more than one. Sometimes one account will reach them when others won't. Just tell them what you want to do and they will give you a price and take good care of you while you are there. We had a great time and look forward to going back again some day and will definitely use Ramses again!!:p