Customizing Ramses tour need help

[ny cruisequeen]

You will be in and out of an air-conditioned car. You guide will bring you very close to where ever you are, and keep that car at his beck and call. They really are incredible at taking care of you. No one will bother you as you are with them and everyone knows who they are. You will not be involved in any negotiations for camel rides. They take care of everything. Just dress appropriately. No tank tops, no shorts. This is a conservative country. Women dip into the ocean fully clothed from neck to ankle at the beaches. Short sleeves, long cool skirt is fine. Wear a hat and SUNSCREEN! It is exciting and fabulous. Enjoy!

[ibfern]

You will be in and out of an air-conditioned car. You guide will bring you very close to where ever you are, and keep that car at his beck and call. They really are incredible at taking care of you. No one will bother you as you are with them and everyone knows who they are. You will not be involved in any negotiations for camel rides. They take care of everything. Just dress appropriately. No tank tops, no shorts. This is a conservative country. Women dip into the ocean fully clothed from neck to ankle at the beaches. Short sleeves, long cool skirt is fine. Wear a hat and SUNSCREEN! It is exciting and fabulous. Enjoy!

 

I'm traveling to Egypt mid-November so I am not as concerned about the heat, however I have a clothing question. Is it OK for Women to wear pants? Capri's below the knees? Capri's/Bermuda shorts at the knee? I'm not much of a skirt person when I travel and my dresses are probably too short and I don't want sand up my you know what!

 

Thanks...

[ny cruisequeen]

Pants are fine if they are modest-generally cover up with a long top-nothing tight against the body--men can leer at you and make you uncomfortable if you are inappropriate. I saw some women at the pyramids in tank tops and short shorts and they stood out like sore thumbs. You would not wear such clothing in the Vatican or in a house of worship for respect. This is their country's moral value ... when in Rome.....

 

oh--if you are going to take a camel ride, bring a small bottle of Purell to use afterwards! The company will give you a bottle of water for the long ride--make sure to keep drinking.

Edited August 12, 2010 by ny cruisequeen

[ibfern]

Pants are fine if they are modest-generally cover up with a long top-nothing tight against the body--men can leer at you and make you uncomfortable if you are inappropriate. I saw some women at the pyramids in tank tops and short shorts and they stood out like sore thumbs. You would not wear such clothing in the Vatican or in a house of worship for respect. This is their country's moral value ... when in Rome.....

 

oh--if you are going to take a camel ride, bring a small bottle of Purell to use afterwards! The company will give you a bottle of water for the long ride--make sure to keep drinking.

 

Yup the last thing on Earth I want to do is show disrespect, not to mention the fact that my red hair doesn't help matters much in terms if sticking out! Purell will be with me on the camel ride, thanks for the heads up.

 

You know wearing tight clothing in Rome is not so great either unless you are into getting pinched and disrespected! :rolleyes:

[Crown Prince]

Pants are fine if they are modest -- generally cover up with a long top-nothing tight against the body -- men can leer at you and make you uncomfortable if you are inappropriate. I saw some women at the pyramids in tank tops and short shorts And they stood out like sore thumbs. You would not wear such clothing in the Vatican or in a house of worship for respect. This is their country's moral value. When in Rome . . . .[/QUOTE]

 

Sometimes, Yanks are so sloppy. I would only wear long pants - men or women. Being only 5 foot, 2, Capris come to my ankles. I buy them instead of slacks that I have to hem up, or, I buy petite slacks. Wearing loose, long clothes is actually cooler than to have your skin exposed to the elements. (I am an Esthethician, Scots-Irish, and try to hide from the sun.) I have had 2 surgeries on my nose for Basal Cell Carcinoma and I will have my SPF hat and umbrella in Israel & Egypt.

BTW, no matter the number on your bottle of SPF, you must reapply it every 2 hours because it gets absorbed, as well as sweated off.

I also have 2 Jilabs that my Sister bought me. Long, loose dresses with long sleeves. I will wear them on the ship as well as on the shorex to keep cool. Great thread. Thanks for all the tips.

 

:cool::cool:;):D:D

[Marie-Claude]

We did a tour in Cairo with Ramses last November, and even if it was supposed to be milder, we had 40C in Cairo during the day. So wearing layers is the best. I wore long pants, a t-shirt and a cotton wrap over it. When we were in the Citadel, it was so hot I had to walk around with my t-shirt and I did not feel out of place at all. Then, by the end of the day, when we went on a felucca ride on the nile, I wore my wrap as it got sligthly cooler.

 

I have very light hair, so I can relate to 'sticking out' in the crowd in Cairo!!! But I never felt weird - little kids would come up to me to touch my hair! Same thing happened in China - I thought it was cute!!!

 

MC

[jmstover]

Hi Everyone,

 

Here's a description of our experience with Ramses Tours. It's an excerpt from my larger review of the whole Eastern Med cruise.

 

 

 

We booked another private tour, this time through Ramses Tours. www.ramsestours.com We were picked up at the port in Alexandria by a very nice young Egyptian lady named Nora. That was her Westernized name. She walked us over to a mini-van with a separate driver named Ahmed, who was also very friendly. We drove three hours to Cairo with a rest stop in the middle. Nora kept us entertained the whole way with mini lectures on Egyptology. She is studying for her Masters degree and I found her to be quite credible and very intelligent. She helped us every step of the way including local customs such as tipping the person who hands you toilet paper at the door to every single bathroom!

 

We went to the pyramids of Giza first and Nora was very informative. We went inside the great pyramid of Cheops, the one with limestone still at the top of it. We opted for the complimentary camel ride, which was way more fun than it sounds. And Nora was an excellent photographer, taking pictures of Sarah and me on the camel in front of the pyramids. It made a great Facebook picture! Then we visited the Sphinx, went to Memphis, and ended up at Sakkara where the stepped pyramid is located. Then we had a late lunch at the Carvery, a nicer Egyptian restaurant.

 

We ended the day in Cairo at the Fairmont Nile City Hotel. The website does not do this hotel justice. It opened in December 2009 and it was incredible. It reminded me of the Westin Diplomat in Hollywood, Florida. Sign up for the free President’s Club before you leave home and you’ll get free wifi Internet! We didn’t eat dinner because we were so full from our late lunch, but breakfast was included in the price of the tour. It was delicious.

 

Nora and Ahmed picked us up at 7:30 AM and we drove to the Alabaster Mosque, which was spectacular. We’ve seen a lot of cathedrals in our travels so we were prepared for ABC (another beautiful church) but this was our very first mosque and we were very impressed. Then we headed to the Egyptian Museum and saw many great artifacts, including King Tut and his headdress that we all saw in our history books in school. That was a highlight for me. We then ate a buffet lunch at the Hard Rock Café and then drove back to Alexandria with a rest stop halfway there.

 

Once in Alexandria we went inside the Library of Alexandria, the new one obviously. Then we were dropped off right at the front door to the port.

We paid $300 per person for the tour plus we upgraded to the Fairmont for an extra $50 per person. We felt we got a good value even at a $700 total package price. If we would have booked a similar package through the cruise line it would have been $990 and the hotel would not have been anywhere near as nice and it would not have been a private tour. I believe we got a great deal booking it ourselves.

[snapshot33]

My husband and I will be in Alexandria for only one day with the MSC Splendida in February 2011. We have already reserved Ramses for our excursion because of the wonderful reviews the company has had on these boards, which is made even better by the fact that it is cheaper than the excursion through the cruiseline!

 

Our time in port is from 0830 to 2300. We plan on going to Cairo to see the pyramids and the Sphinx. We also hope to see the Khan El Khalli Bazaar for some souvenirs. I love taking pictures and am hoping for tons of excellent photo opportunities.

 

A couple of questions:

1) Will there be enough time to go to the Egyptian Museum & Mummy Room plus what is mentioned above?

2) Is everything paid for in dollars while you are out and about? I know Ramses accepts payment in USD, but how about everywhere else? Should we get Egyptian Pounds?

 

Thank you everyone for your help! These posts have been a lifesaver for my sanity in planning this cruise!

[hautedog]

My husband and I will be in Alexandria for only one day with the MSC Splendida in February 2011. We have already reserved Ramses for our excursion because of the wonderful reviews the company has had on these boards, which is made even better by the fact that it is cheaper than the excursion through the cruiseline!

 

Our time in port is from 0830 to 2300. We plan on going to Cairo to see the pyramids and the Sphinx. We also hope to see the Khan El Khalli Bazaar for some souvenirs. I love taking pictures and am hoping for tons of excellent photo opportunities.

 

A couple of questions:

1) Will there be enough time to go to the Egyptian Museum & Mummy Room plus what is mentioned above?

2) Is everything paid for in dollars while you are out and about? I know Ramses accepts payment in USD, but how about everywhere else? Should we get Egyptian Pounds?

 

Thank you everyone for your help! These posts have been a lifesaver for my sanity in planning this cruise!

 

You should have time and Ramses knows how to time everything, so they'll tell you if something won't work. Our Ramses guide used Egyptian pounds and coins he gave me to tip a ladies room attendant and, since we were two women, security at the Khan el Khalili insisted we have a guard, whom he tipped. We didn't need a guard and had a great time in the bazaar, it's just a way to make a couple dollars and the guy was very pleasant. On the ride into Cairo, our giude also gave us coins to keep because they are so lovely. with pyramids and all those things we tourists love to see.

[somewhere beyond the sea]

We recently toured Egypt with Ramses Rours. We dealt with Mr. George, who we found to be a great communicator; very prompt in getting back to us with our many requests. We met at the cruise dock in Alexandria, visited Cairo the first day, overnighted at the Meridian Hotel Pyramid in Giza, and visited the Pyramids early morning the next day, before the crowds arrived. Our tour guide, Hakim, went above and beyond. He even managed to get us "upgraded" to a suite at the hotel, with a magnificant view of the pyramids! I highly recommend using Ramses if you are planning to visit Egypt.

[dcm36]

Several months ago on our Med cruise, we had Rameses Tours arrange tours for us. One was a very long day from Alexandria to Cairo. This was set up by another person on our ship and everything was arranged as per his wishes by Mr. George. Everyone had a wonderful time. I arranged the second one - a day-long tour of Alexandria - for a smaller group. Again, Mr. George handled all the arrangements flawlessly, even though I made several changes in the number of participants right up to the day before the tour. Our guide, Mohamed Yousef, was absolutely superb! For days after, I was getting "thank yous" from the others on the ship who had gone. Altogether, an A+ experience.

 

Don Morrison

[lynniespinnie]

Hello

I went with royal carribean to egypt, israel, athene,split and venice.

I must say it was fantastic, also the life on boat, amazing and super good.

Before we wanted to visit cairo and some of alexandria because we had a stay for 2 days.

On the internet i saw some comments about ramses tours in egypt, settled in alexandria. It was the perfect way to make a short visit with a guide those 2 days. I wrote a mail and within one hour i received already an answer,Ramses tours asked what we wanted to see and to do, so i did.

The communication was great, i asked and they answered in a short time.

And it was not so much expensive,that ofcourse important aswell.

So we arrived on the 22 oktober in egypt and a bus stood ready for 4 persons by our name and a cute female guide named Heba welcomed us.

We had a driver and a guide, Heba her knowledge was great and she told us exactly what we wanted to know. Whatever we asked, she answered and she did what we wanted.

She bougt even tea and some food for us which was actually not included the program. We went to the piramids, museum, bazaar and it was impressing. The next day we visited with heba alexandria and again it was impressing like the day before.

She is great and nice and has a look like cleopatra, a beautiful girl, it was a bit we landed back in past .I can recommand you ramses tours, they are not so expensive(cheaper than the boat) private tours and great guides with a huge knowledge.

Just mail them and they will give u immediately a mail back , whatever u want to know.

If u want to use this possibility by cruisboat then u can book easliy with them, trustful and whatever date and time you want, all can be arranged.

I want to thank them again because we had a super time with our guide.

Thank you Ramses and Heba. In one word it was FANTASTIC

Edited October 31, 2010 by lynniespinnie

[Flowrider]

I have read a lot of posts saying that they took Ramses tours, but customized them to meet their needs. We are going on the Star Princess in October and are planning to use Ramses. What were highlights of your trip, and what are some things you changed on their tours. We are looking at maybe tour 1 overnight from Alexandria. Any feedback would be appreciated. Also any shopping?:)

 

We are doing an overnight tour in december with ramses tours and we were able to add sakkarah to our tour, george has been great organizing our tour and reserving our rooms in the mena oberoi. We started getting a group of 12 together and ended up with 45-47 people which we will split into 3 or 4 groups. I believe they offer all the flexibility to make the most of your tour.

Have a great tour, i am confident our group will have the tour of our lives and trust george will deliver.

[janina]

We are doing an overnight tour in december with ramses tours and we were able to add sakkarah to our tour, george has been great organizing our tour and reserving our rooms in the mena oberoi. We started getting a group of 12 together and ended up with 45-47 people which we will split into 3 or 4 groups. I believe they offer all the flexibility to make the most of your tour.

Have a great tour, i am confident our group will have the tour of our lives and trust george will deliver.

We just got back and had a wonderful tour. The price difference with Ramses is not that much more to split into smaller groups which I highly recommend. The sites are crowed, and easier to hear the guide and do more things you really want if your in a smaller group. I can't imagine the museum with that many people. The museum is crowed anyway...and the Tut room is jammed!! We were in a group of two with driver and guide, it was fantastic. Loved Mena House. Go out in the courtyard early morning and take photos of the pyramids. Make sure to bring medicine for "mummy tummy" everyone I knew that spent the night off the ship and ate the food had a little reaction, some more than others.:)

[Grannycb]

We were on the same sailing as the poster above and had a wonderful time too. I second Janina's recommendation to split into small groups. We were amazed by the crowds. The number of people in some of the rooms would never be allowed in the US. It was literally person pressed against person at the Sphinx and some of the museum rooms. Bathroom breaks also take time as there weren't that many available at any one place.

 

We stayed at Le Meridian, ate there and other places along the way. I didn't have any tummy upset, but did turn down any vegetable that wasn't cooked with in an inch of being mush, turned down milk and ice cream as well. I carried sanitizing handwipes and used them several times throughout the days. I drank local beer and diet soft drinks directly from the cans (after cleaning them). The bottled water provided by Ramses was good to drink but there wasn't enough. We brought the huge bottle from our cabin on the ship as well as the big bottle from the hotel frig.

[Flowrider]

We just got back and had a wonderful tour. The price difference with Ramses is not that much more to split into smaller groups which I highly recommend. The sites are crowed, and easier to hear the guide and do more things you really want if your in a smaller group. I can't imagine the museum with that many people. The museum is crowed anyway...and the Tut room is jammed!! We were in a group of two with driver and guide, it was fantastic. Loved Mena House. Go out in the courtyard early morning and take photos of the pyramids. Make sure to bring medicine for "mummy tummy" everyone I knew that spent the night off the ship and ate the food had a little reaction, some more than others.:)

 

Thanks for the advise, i am hoping that being low season (middle of december) the crowds will be a little less overwhelming. I think we will stick with groups of 12 because since we started the thread about a year and a half ago, we have made and grown a great group of friends with whom i have corresponded with all this time so its going to be fun to travel together sharing this tour. I trust ramses tours will have the knowledge and experience to guide us in a way that we will use the limited time we have in egypt to the fullest. From all of the reviews i read about egypt, i am confident we made the right choice by choosing ramses. I will gladly post my review when i get home after the cruise

[janina]

Thanks for the advise, i am hoping that being low season (middle of december) the crowds will be a little less overwhelming. I think we will stick with groups of 12 because since we started the thread about a year and a half ago, we have made and grown a great group of friends with whom i have corresponded with all this time so its going to be fun to travel together sharing this tour. I trust ramses tours will have the knowledge and experience to guide us in a way that we will use the limited time we have in egypt to the fullest. From all of the reviews i read about egypt, i am confident we made the right choice by choosing ramses. I will gladly post my review when i get home after the cruise

You'll have a great time. Also make sure the women carry kleenex. I often found that the bathroom attendants hand out a very tiny amount of toilet paper.:)

[planner2010]

We were on the October 17 Star Princess Cruise. We took two separate day tours with Ramses. Our guide for both days was Niven and we would highy recommend her. Our one day tour to the Pyramids, Sphinx and Egyptian museum was great. It was long but and the Museum was crowded but we did have time to also take a short Felucca ride -- Ramses added this at no additional cost. We took the full day tour of Alexandria the second day -- the highlight was the new Library -- magnificent inside and out. There is a lot to see in Alexandria and we enjoyed our lunch which was included.

[treesah]

Egypt was fabulous. Our guide, Islam Said was excellent. Our driver, Abdu was superb. The van was waiting for us on time. The tour exceeded my expectations. The air conditioning in the van worked great, we stopped at great places. The pyramids, the Sphinx, Memphis and Sakkara were awe inspiring. The restaurant where we had lunch was very nice and clean and the food was good. The Mena House Oberoi is in a class by itself I could even see the Cheops pyramid from my room? The Nile dinner cruise was very nice. Again the food was good as well as the entertainment.

 

The Alabaster Mosque and the Egyptian Museum are one of a kind. I could have spent weeks in the museum. We also saw the Alexandria Library and were able to stop and take some pictures. We covered quite a lot of territory in just two days. The complimentary camel ride was fun, too.

 

My special thanks and gratitude to Mr. George for being so patient and answering our e-mails in a prompt and professional manner.

 

We had eleven people on our tour and everyone had an excellent experience in Egypt. I will recommend your company without any reservations.

 

Teresa

 

P.S. I think Islam is one of the best guides I've ever worked with. He's very articulate, his English is excellent, he's knowledgeable, he has a great personality and he truly loves his country and his city.

[gjkre]

We have just returned from Eygpt and the highlight of the trip was our Cairo trip.Our guide Habba and out driver were excellent and made sure we were looked after allthe time,having just four on the tripmade it even better.we will certainly use them again.

[yabinty]

We second that recommendation, we had an excellent day tour of Alexandria this summer with Manar and Abou Gad of Ramses Tours they we courteous, knowldgable and friendly. We are booking an overnight with Ramsess tours to luxor when we return to Egypt this spring. I am Egyptian and I am proud they act as excellent hosts to my country.

Yabinty.

Edited November 14, 2010 by yabinty
missing word

[justmeCanada]

My family of 4 with 2 children ages 9 and 12 went on a 12-day Holy Land Cruise with Royal Caribbean on Oct 30, 2010. I decided to book a 2-day private tour with Ramses Tours at almost half the cost of the same excursion with Royal Caribbean! It was the best decision! This tour was the highlight of our entire Holy Land Cruise. It was such a memorable experience for my entire family.

Even before the tour started, it was wonderful to deal with Ramses Tours. I appreciated the timely and thorough email communications. They answered my many questions about the tour details, itinerary, and costs. I was glad that the same info (minus a few minor details) were passed on to our guide.

Our ship docked at Alexandria port 2 hours late, and our guide, Hassam, and the driver patiently waited for us. We were able to leave the ship right away, instead of lining up with the almost 20 Royal Caribbean 50-people tour groups. Both Hassam and driver (sorry, forgot his name, but it began with "Ho") were great!

Hassam was knowledgeable and his passion showed through in his explanations of details. He offered interesting info and gave us a deeper understanding and appreciation of history, culture, etc. He was always extremely polite and listened to our wishes, ie. no tours of carpet nor perfume factories. And as we requested, he brought us to a papyrus institute where there was no pressure to buy. He also brought us to a souvenir shop with a great variety of expensive and inexpensive products, including cartouches, crystals, magnets, etc.

The driver was excellent and very professional. He got us to places on time without being aggressive or rude, and always patiently waited for us. We saw and did more than the people on the Royal Caribbean tours, and we got back to the ship on time for the open seating in the Dining Room (unlike some tours).

We enjoyed thoroughly every details of the tour, especially the Egyptian Museum (with Hassam's guidance and fascinating explanations of major items), the Pyramids (WOW!), the camel rides for the girls (their favourite memory), felucca ride on the Nile just before dinner (relaxing and romantic), etc.

We stayed overnight at Le Meridien. They gave us 2 rooms, although we only needed 1. We didn't pay extra for Pyramids view, because they wanted an extra $30US per PERSON, not per room! I'm glad we didn't take it anyways, because we didn't get to the hotel until 7pm (when it's dark) and had to leave at 7:30am the next morning. It was very foggy/misty in the morning, so we couldn't see the pyramids anyways. Dinner buffet at Le Meridien was very expensive. Breakfast buffet is included, and had a great variety. The rooms we had were spacious, new and beautiful. However, the showers in both rooms leaked. Water didn't drain very well (not sure if that was because of poor quality or because there's a button or lever that we were supposed to push or pull).

Again, I highly recommend Ramses Tours.

[Smokey Joe]

We returned last week from a two day tour of Cairo and Alexander with Ramses. Couldn't agree more with the other folks about Ramses. We had a great time with Mustafa our guide and Maggot our driver. These guys were the ultimate in professional tour guides as far as we were concerned.

 

We got picked up in Port Said and stayed overnight at the Fairmont, Nile City in Cairo. Very nice accomodations but you did have to watch out in the shower since the floors were all marble and their wasn't a shower mat in the shower. I wouldn't bother with a room with a view because you aren't there long enough to see anything from the room.

 

We got quite a history lesson from all the facts and stories that we heard from Mustafa and appreciate his patience with our endless questions.

 

Highly recommend Ramses!

[binky&jane]

I know that Ramses is now offering an option where you can choose your guide and itenerary. We had a wonderful experience in Cairo and Alexandria with Osama and we HIGHLY recommend him.

 

We are looking now to our 2012 Holy Land cruise. We want to go further into Egypt and see Luxor. Does anyone who has been to this part of the world have a guide and itenerary to recommend to us??? Since we got our best advice on our last trip from CC we are asking again. Thanks!!

[grizzlyt]

Has anyone done the Nile river cruise or the light show at the pyramids? Are they interesting or kind of cheesy? Not sure if we should do either of these.