Ship excursions in Israel and Egypt

[papa B me]

We are ready to try again for our first Azamara cruise after 3 Covid cancellations. I’ve booked a 12 night round trip cruise from Greece with stops in Israel and Egypt for Jan 2023. From planning my previous cancelled trips I know many regulars recommend booking private excursions vs ship excursions. But I’m wondering if you have found due to security concerns and logistics whether it would make sense utilizing ship excursions for Israel and Egypt. With the $1000 OBC promotion and the OBC that comes with the CW suite I’m leaning to booking ship excursions. Would love to hear about excursions taken in these ports in past cruises and general thoughts about ship excursions in these ports. I apologize for asking questions this far away from the cruise but I’m really excited to start planning again. 

[uktog]

15 minutes ago, papa B me said:

We are ready to try again for our first Azamara cruise after 3 Covid cancellations. I’ve booked a 12 night round trip cruise from Greece with stops in Israel and Egypt for Jan 2023. From planning my previous cancelled trips I know many regulars recommend booking private excursions vs ship excursions. But I’m wondering if you have found due to security concerns and logistics whether it would make sense utilizing ship excursions for Israel and Egypt. With the $1000 OBC promotion and the OBC that comes with the CW suite I’m leaning to booking ship excursions. Would love to hear about excursions taken in these ports in past cruises and general thoughts about ship excursions in these ports. I apologize for asking questions this far away from the cruise but I’m really excited to start planning again. 

We did our excursions though the ship.  We are not huge fans of ship trips but like you decided security and logistics had to take precedent.  We had three stops and all the guides and arrangements were excellent - and as there was a security problem whilst we were on the trip (a rocket got launched) I was really glad we went with the ship as the guides were in touch with the ship which was considering moving out of port.  In the end they did not move but it was really comforting to have that link.

 

I know others have used private providers successfully so you are going to get a range of views.

[papa B me]

Thanks for the feedback. I certainly think it will reduce my stress in planning knowing it will be easier to adjust our plans should there be any unexpected turmoil that changes the itinerary. Covid planning is stressful enough. 

[manc]

We took ship tours in Egypt but last time in Israel we booked a taxi, drove into Jerusalem and stayed overnight in a hotel. The same driver took us back to the ship the next day. On a previous trip we did Azamara excursions and visited many sights. Except for being locked in a shop and encouraged to purchase those excursions were fine. On another day we took a train from Haifa to Tel Aviv which was an experience and fun. 

[papa B me]

I love how this itinerary is laid out. We will do a 2 night pre-cruise in Athens. Then first day is a sea day. We spend 2 full days in Ashdod, Haifa, and Alexandria with 1 day in Cyprus and ending with an overnight in Athens before disembarking. There will be 3 sea days sprinkled in. Planning on packing in a lot of sites at each port then crashing at pool on Sea days. Won’t plan on anything last day in Athens other then a leisurely wander day. There’s already a good number of excursions listed. Love to hear about any don’t miss sites. I know it will be some long days but I have to see the pyramids and a river cruise on the Nile. Want to have a good overview of a Biblical sites in Israel

[cruisemom42]

Everyone has a bit of a different mindset on ship tours -- some want the security of having things planned and managed by the ship, and that's fine. Certainly can be a bonus in some parts of the world.

 

I am in the camp of those who have very particular sightseeing plans in mind at many ports (particularly those with as much to offer as Egypt and Israel), and I prefer to work with well-vetted private guides to ensure that I see and do exactly what I want. 

 

I have not visited either Egypt or Israel on Azamara, nor have I been there since the Arab Spring; however, before that I have visited Egypt three times via cruise ship and Israel twice -- and in addition have also done a small-group land tour to each. Other than the first cruise, I have tended to arrange independent tours in both Egypt and Israel, and they have ended up being some of the most rewarding of my life.

 

I must disclose that I absolutely have no tolerance for the lengthy and thinly-disguised shopping stops that some cruise lines packaged into their private tours. After wasting nearly 90 minutes on a shopping stop at the "cartouche store" on a  Princess overnight tour to Cairo (and having other, more meaningful stops cut short as a result) I am leery of booking other ship tours.  Same thing happened in Israel on a tour where our busload of people waited for more than 45 minutes past the time the guide had given us for departure from the "diamond store" because a woman and her daughter were still inside, actively shopping.

 

I think Azamara may be different in that regard (maybe other, more frequent passengers can speak to that); however, I still feel that I would investigate private tours based on what I am interested in and compare them with ship tours before making a decision.

 

[papa B me]

I really appreciate all feedback both pro and con. I actually have had good and bad experiences with each. Glad I have quite a bit of time to see how the world opens up and explore different options. I suspect at the end of the day I end up with a combination of ship excursions and private guides. Will spend some time going back to pre covid reviews of tours. Thanks for the feedback 

[uktog]

As you have time papa B me you could wait and see how, generally, Azamara's excursions shape up in the next year.  They had already been driving different standards with providers pre change in ownership to differentiate what they offered from those of the mass market lines like Celebrity, Princess etc where enforced shopping was part of the event.  It is cleared the new owners are shaping out a vision that involves more involvement with the real local life so the quality may improve and enforced shopping in one place removed.

 

Mind you on my last Azamara cruise before lockdown, we went on an excursion which talked about what we would visit in its write up.  The guide went over it at the start of the excursion however two guests were upset as it was only going to involve a 10-15 minute bathroom break at a place where there was some shopping.  This was in line with what was advertised.  However the guests really kicked off about it, they had to shop.  The guide explained it wasn't a good representation of local crafts but that did not placate them.  We really felt for the guide - she compromised with an extra 10 minutes at the stop but only two guests shopped - and in the words of a favourite Welsh comedy singer the standard of the tat they bought was "little welsh doll made all in hong kong"  

 

I hope that Azamara can continue to be clear when there is visits to shops and when there is not and that guests actually read all the comments about what they would or would not see.

 

So might be good to watch posts about excursions in the coming year whilst doing your research

[papa B me]

This is exactly my thoughts. Im

going to read every review and thread over the next 9 plus months before committing. If it turns out I’m better off with private tours I think My wife will make good use of OBC at the spa and shops lol. I believe similar cruises to the one I booked are scheduled for 2022 so hopefully some good feedback. 

[donaldsc]

I find this attempt to differentiate between ship tours and private tours interesting.  In reality, there are no ship tours.  Instead the so called ship tours are just tours done by local private tour companies arranged by the ship which are the same tours that you can arrange by yourselves.  If you like the itinerary of the ship tour, you can show it to the private tour company and they will set up the same tour for you.  You can be sure that the private tours use the same security precautions that the ship tours use since it is bad for business if private tour companies have their clients killed, injured or kidnapped.  Also, it is bad for business if they are late getting back and their clients miss the ship.  The differences between the 2 are

 

1) Many ship tours take you to shopping places.  On a private tour, if you tell the tour provider that you don't want to shop, they won't stop for shopping. On our trip to Israel, I wanted to buy a specific item.   I told the guide in advance what I wanted so we went to a shop which had a good selection of what I wanted.  I got what I wanted at a fair price.  It was a small shop.  We had a nice conversation w the shop owner.  It was a positive part of the tour experience and not a shopping excursion.  We even had a cup of strong Israeli coffee w the owner.

 

2) On a ship tour you will invariably have one or 2 people who will be consistently late and hold up the entire group.  

 

3) If there is a meal on a ship tour it will be at a tourist restaurant that pays the cruise company to be included on the tour and will often have a special tourist menu.  On a private tour, you can tell the guide to take you to a locals place that they would eat at where you may be the only tourists in the place.

 

4) There is a good chance that the private tour will be cheaper than the ship tour since the tour owner does not have to share the tour cost w the cruise company.

 

I could on but do you get my drift.  

 

DON

[papa B me]

Thanks Don. My experiences have been close to what you describe. However I do believe that as uktog mentioned this is a place in the world where things can change very quickly and I do like the idea that the ship is in direct contact with the tour operator during these unexpected times. 
 

we have also had some good experiences(as well as bad) touring with others on a group tour. 
 

I can Make a case for both but I’m 

anxious to see if Sycamore makes substantial changes to the excursion products. 
 

and it is hard to ignore the OBC

[excitedofharpenden]

There are pros and cons of each. I don't believe there is a right or wrong answer. However, if you have non refundable OBC to use as you have then ship tours won't cost you a thing. 

 

Phil 

[papa B me]

Thanks again for all for the input. As mentioned, I’ve done both private and cruise excursions with positive and negative experiences. Having never been to the Middle East I guess I’m most interested in specific experiences such as uktog’s in regards to security and safety. Secondarily there is so much to see as Don mentioned that I want to make efficient use of our time in each port. Hopefully cruising will get back to some sense of normal in the months to come and we will get a good feel as to Azamara’s changes and specifically how they address excursions. I feel certain regardless of what combination of ship excursions and private tours I utilize that this will be a great trip. 

[donaldsc]

2 hours ago, excitedofharpenden said:

There are pros and cons of each. I don't believe there is a right or wrong answer. However, if you have non refundable OBC to use as you have then ship tours won't cost you a thing. 

 

Phil 

 

I would have to disagree w you.  You are correct that if you have OBC, then the tour is free.  However,  if the tour is free but is lousy, it is a waste of your valuable time at a port.  As an example, on a New Zealand cruise that we took, we had planned to visit some specific sites that we were interested in.  Before we left,  we won a tour at some drawing and we checked and it did appear to visit the museum and the church so my wife decided that we were going to do the free ship tour.  Our visit to the museum was a rush job (we are museum people and spend a lot of time in a museum if it is interesting).  The visit to the church was maybe 15 minutes with no real opportunity to get the feel of the church.  This is a perfect example of the fact that sometime free can be worthless.  

 

I have done a limited number of ship tours where I really did not have a choice and some of been OK but more of them were not so good.  I have done many more private tours and maybe I have just been just lucky but almost all of them have varied from good to really good and I can't think of any real clunkers.

 

Just my opinion.  I realize that some people just love ship tours.

 

DON

Edited September 6, 2021 by donaldsc

[Grandma Cruising]

We used a private tour company in Egypt  (Your Egypt Tours https://www.youregypttours.com) for an overnight tour from Safaga to Luxor & the Valley of the Kings. It was organised through the CC roll call for the cruise and we had 2 groups each on a minibus with a guide and driver. We stayed at a 5 star hotel in Luxor and the guides were excellent. The whole tour cost about half the price of the ships tour. We never felt unsafe or had any problems. 
We were due to be on the Athens to Dubai cruise last year which stopped at Ashdod and I had two private tours booked there - 1 for Jerusalem and one for the Dead Sea. I also had a private tour booked in Aqaba for a day in Wadi Rum with a Bedouin guide. 
We much prefer to use private tours unless the ship offers an experience that we can’t find elsewhere, or unless we have a lot of OBC to use up.

[uktog]

I’ve had poor ships tours and poor private tours (due to both poor guide, difficult fellow travellers and cramped conditions). I have noticed on Azamara ship tours late returners are rare and no more likely than on a private tours. 
There is no perfect choice! 
 

Im hoping to experiment with some ships tours in the coming month so will report back. 

Edited September 7, 2021 by uktog

[excitedofharpenden]

DON, obviously your opinion, but rather generalised to say they are lousy  I've been on some excellent and very enjoyable ones (one of the best ever excursions I've done was to Petra overnight) and some not so good, but they have never been lousy and I've done a ton of Azamara excursions.  

 

Phil

[Ride-The-Waves]

Azamara arranged excursions are usually excellent.  We have never been disappointed with their tours or with any of their ships.  

[Baynanno1]

With very few exceptions my Azamara excursions have also been very good and the less than fully enjoyable ones have mostly been due to :

** a small number of people who either forgot to read or failed to understand the word "strenuous" resulting in delays and shortened times at venues of importance.

** those who don't seem to own watches or fail to understand the importance of a timely return to a meeting point, with similar result to the previous.

 

I can think of two only that fell outside the above, one in New Zealand when the driver/guide on the first part of the tour was a late replacement without adequate knowledge of the area.

The other was in the Canary Islands on a first ever call, where for starters the guide did not even know that the first site had been closed two days earlier!

Azamara refunded both of those tours.

[cruisemom42]

Having only taken one Azamara trip, I cannot say definitively whether their tours really are better than most other lines. I hope that's true, as I foresee more Azamara cruises in future. But I have been cruising for a long time (on eight different cruise lines, some of which are long gone) and I have had enough disappointments that I now only book private tours unless -- like Grandma Cruising -- I feel there is no way I could duplicate the experience via a private tour.

 

In addition to those experiences I already detailed I could name many more. For example, my first visit to Istanbul was terribly marred by a guide who literally kept us locked in a carpet shop for twice the allotted time -- then told us we had scant minutes inside Haghia Sofia or we'd be late back to the ship. Then there was the Turkish guide out of Kusadasi who told us inappropriately racist jokes about Kurds and insulted our collective intelligence by saying that although she knew all the history of the places we were going, she wouldn't tell us because "we weren't interested and would just forget it all in an hour."  

 

As Don says, it's not so much a matter of the money spent, as many cruise lines would certainly refund a bad tour. But you can't get that day back -- and the experiences missed -- as easily.

 

I haven't had any terrible private tours, but I vet them very carefully and have to say that most private tours I've done I have set up myself. More often, I just plan what I want to do, research it, and do it on my own via public transportation or taxi.

 

[nordski]

12 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

Having only taken one Azamara trip, I cannot say definitively whether their tours really are better than most other lines. I hope that's true, as I foresee more Azamara cruises in future. But I have been cruising for a long time (on eight different cruise lines, some of which are long gone) and I have had enough disappointments that I now only book private tours unless -- like Grandma Cruising -- I feel there is no way I could duplicate the experience via a private tour.

 

In addition to those experiences I already detailed I could name many more. For example, my first visit to Istanbul was terribly marred by a guide who literally kept us locked in a carpet shop for twice the allotted time -- then told us we had scant minutes inside Haghia Sofia or we'd be late back to the ship. Then there was the Turkish guide out of Kusadasi who told us inappropriately racist jokes about Kurds and insulted our collective intelligence by saying that although she knew all the history of the places we were going, she wouldn't tell us because "we weren't interested and would just forget it all in an hour."  

 

As Don says, it's not so much a matter of the money spent, as many cruise lines would certainly refund a bad tour. But you can't get that day back -- and the experiences missed -- as easily.

 

I haven't had any terrible private tours, but I vet them very carefully and have to say that most private tours I've done I have set up myself. More often, I just plan what I want to do, research it, and do it on my own via public transportation or taxi.

 

 

Glad to hear you may be more active on this board. I am still grateful for the notes on Herculaneum that you posted on another forum some years ago.

[donaldsc]

On 9/7/2021 at 1:32 AM, uktog said:

I’ve had poor ships tours and poor private tours (due to both poor guide, difficult fellow travellers and cramped conditions). I have noticed on Azamara ship tours late returners are rare and no more likely than on a private tours. 
There is no perfect choice! 
 

Im hoping to experiment with some ships tours in the coming month so will report back. 

 

I think that you need to differentiate between private tours and private-private tours.  I define a private tour as one that is a group tour that is run by a company not affilitated w the cruise company.  A random group of people book the tour and you have no control over the itinerary or the people on the tour.  In this case, you are probably correct that you might have problems w the tour.  

 

A private-private tour is one where I contact the tour operator to arrange exactly what we wish to see and more important what we do not wish to see.  For example, I almost always say "no shopping stops" although a guide may sometimes says that he knows this little locally owned shop that we would love and lets us decide.  Alternatively, sometimes a group member may ask if we can stop to look for an interesting specialty item and I ask the guide about it.  For example, when we did our Israel tour, I wanted to buy myself a new Tallit.  For those not in the know, a Tallit is a Jewish prayer shawl.  The guide knew someone who owned a shop that sold them that no large group would ever visit and I found exactly what I wanted and we also spent time w the shop owners and had coffee w him.

 

It is up to me to go onto CC to get the people to join my tour.  I make it clear what we will see and make it clear what I expect from the group members which is usually that they do not smoke and are mobile.  The good thing about a private-private tour is that we can adjust the private-private tour as we go.  If a place that we are visting is a bust, we can shorten the visit.  I can keep the group size as small as I wish.  For example, it we are on a say 12 passenger van, I always try to ensure that everyone has a window seat or at worse keep a few seats empty so people can throw their stuff on it.  Often, the tour guide will make suggestions as to an interesting place to visit or a folk festival that we might stop at and we adjust the tour on the fly.  The places that we stop to eat are always local and we are often the only tourist in the place.  

 

I can say that perhaps I have been lucky but I don't think that I have ever had a bad private-private tour.  I can also say that on the times that I have been forced to take a ship tour becasue of unavoidable circumstances, they have almost never been as good as my private-private tours and sometimes they have been poor for a number of reasons.

 

By the way, we have never ever been late getting back to the ship on one of my private-private tours.  We have also gotten to see more stuff than a ship tour our a private tour as a group of 6 or 8 peoplpe which is the largest number of people I ever take on one of my tours doesn't waste as mucn time getting on or off the van or waiting for the people whoare either slow or invariably late.  It also considerably shortens the time for rest room stops - LOL!!

 

DON

 

[norn iron]

 

If we are doing tours (quite like finding our way around ports) there are pros and cons of both private and ships tours. However I would say Israel and Egypt are slightly different.

 

Probably the best tour we have ever done was private in Costa Rica, yet around six years ago we did a private tour in Cape Verde with only a driver who spoke no English. Bizarrely of the six of us in the mini bus we had a fellow passenger (through CC) from Canada who spoke fluent Portuguese and translated everything for us. What a fluke.

Ships tours are more consistent in their quality, although not always good value for money, that is were OBC is useful.

 

To answer the OP original question, when we cruised to both Egypt and Israel we went the safer option of ships tours.

I was a few years ago and not without incident. Whilst in Jerusalem we traveled through to Bethlehem and  got stranded there for over an hour, whilst waiting for a convoy of over 40 cars to agree to proceed to their next destination, we were told one of the cars had Yasser Arafat as a passenger hence the issues, delays and procrastination. We got back to the ship late, and departure was delayed until we arrived.

 

In Egypt, visiting Cairo there were eight buses in convoy from the ship, we had security / police out-riders and yet leaving Cairo one bus got detached from the convoy and we had an anxious wait for over 30 minutes until two of the out-riders found them and got them back to the convoy.

 

There are no guarantees, but for safety in numbers it would be a ships tour in those countries.

[papa B me]

Thanks again to all for comments and advice. Personally I believe it will reduce my stress greatly for our first post Covid trip out of the country to use ship excursions. Especially with the potential challenges this part of the world can bring. Looking forward to others experiences in the months to come. 
 

For those who have used ship excursions, how far in advance do you usually book your excursions?

 

Thanks

Brian

 

[Ithikan]

There is potential for problems with the above-mentioned "private-private" tours and that is, with apologies to Blanche, that we must "depend upon the kindness of strangers."  Many of us connect online via the cc roll calls, and commit to a tour with local guide.  All well and good.  My own experience was a disaster when our Dunedin tour was hijacked by a fellow cruiser.  It's a long story but suffice to say, that the tour guide is no longer represented by that organization; we were promptly refunded; and I've sworn-off organizing private tours.