Israel, Egypt and Med

[barb in ga]

Day 1 Departs Athens, Greece

Day 2 Sea Day

Day 3 Haifa, Israel

Day 4 and 5 Ashdod, Israel with overnight

Day 6 Sea Day

Day 7 and 8 Alexandria, Egypt with overnight

Day 9 Sea day

Day 10 Ephesus, Turkey

Day 11 and 12 Athens, Greece with overnight

 

We're looking at booking this cruise for spring '24 and would love  to hear feedback from anyone who has done this. We know it's not possible to see everything worthwhile in just 2 days each near Jerusalem, Athens, and Alexandria, but with 2 days and an overnight in each place, we can get a taste, then decide if we want to go deeper with a land visit.

Thanks for the info,

Barb

 

 

[cdn_tbird]

Following this thread as we're interested in this itinerary too but in '25

[Edinburghgirl1]

Got this booked for this year along with cruise before leaving from Rotterdam.

[Markanddonna]

I would recommend using Guided Tours Israel to visit Israel. Go to the Galilee region from Haifa and maybe stay in Jerusalem overnight. They will take you in small groups in a van. Those big bus ship excursions are so sad. I feel sorry for them when walking through the old city area. Day one do old city and Bethlehem and the next day do the Mount of Olives and the City of David and maybe the Israel Museum. If you are not Christian, maybe do Caesarea and Akko with the B'hai Gardens. 

 

For Ephesus, get a small group tour. If there for a full day, also  visit the terrace houses and the ruins of the church of St. John. The house of the Virgin Mary has little archaeology to back up the claims. It is best for Roman Catholics. 

Edited March 26, 2023 by Markanddonna

[Ex-Airbalancer]

In 

Israel, we have used Itay , he has his own Van that can holed 6/7 people 

https://www.facebook.com/Itayrotemtours/

[AZ-Floater]

7 hours ago, cdn_tbird said:

Following this thread as we're interested in this itinerary too but in '25

Us too

[PelicanLvr]

We have also used Guided Tours Israel (GTI) and it is outstanding!  One of our greatest travel experiences ever.  

 

Also, Make arrangements to get off on Day 3 and spend 2 nights on land.  Rejoin ship on day 5. Let GTI do an itinerary based on your interests but I would imagine it will be a day in Galilee and 2 days in Jerusalem.  Very doable. 

 

Don't waste time valuable tour time going back and forth to the port & ship each day.  Remember Israel is very small.  While there I was told it is the size of New Jersey.  You can get around very quickly. 

 

With a fast-moving small group or private tour from GTI (or similar company) you can see all the highlights in 3 full (long) days.  But so worth it.....no matter what your religion.  

 

Please don't use large ship tours.  They move at the speed of the slowest participant.  You will see so much less.  

 

Our GTI guide timed our sites to avoid many of the large groups ...  that's how to see Israel.

 

 

[chisoxfan]

1 hour ago, PelicanLvr said:

We have also used Guided Tours Israel (GTI) and it is outstanding!  One of our greatest travel experiences ever.  

 

Also, Make arrangements to get off on Day 3 and spend 2 nights on land.  Rejoin ship on day 5. Let GTI do an itinerary based on your interests but I would imagine it will be a day in Galilee and 2 days in Jerusalem.  Very doable. 

 

Don't waste time valuable tour time going back and forth to the port & ship each day.  Remember Israel is very small.  While there I was told it is the size of New Jersey.  You can get around very quickly. 

 

With a fast-moving small group or private tour from GTI (or similar company) you can see all the highlights in 3 full (long) days.  But so worth it.....no matter what your religion.  

 

Please don't use large ship tours.  They move at the speed of the slowest participant.  You will see so much less.  

 

Our GTI guide timed our sites to avoid many of the large groups ...  that's how to see Israel.

 

 

Hello we are on this cruise in October of this year and are excited about the unique itinerary also.

These cruises have been sold out for a long time from what I can gather. Our biggest concern is that

itineraries can change because of tensions in this area but nothing we can do about that.

Anyway appreciate the comment regarding the tour options and staying overnight in Alexandria. This seemed to save some travel time but  we had issues finding a tour option. While GTI is often recommended we had no responses to our two inquiries and heard of others who had this issue. Another popular tour group Ramses looked great and we were ready to book when I dug deep into their site to find cancellation fees. It was 35% 30 days or more before travel. Maybe others have had different experiences but this is what we found buried on their site.

Anyway we booked ship excursions for our travel (there was actually one overnight offered but we elected not to do this).  When we looked at the sites visited there was not much difference between two separate day trips or the overnight. I know we will be spending more time on a bus but also enjoy having meals and entertainment on the ship vs. a planned dinner.

Getting to the point,  your comments are very negative about the ship excursion and is this based on trips here you have made or your general perception ?  I agree the ship bus trips can be a challenge but they do have some advantages and are a means to see things we are interested in. I know we are true tourists here and can only hope to hit a few high points in two days no matter how we travel.

If you are inclined to respond would welcome your comments.  We are not opposed to an overnight but from where we currently sit maybe this is not in the cards. Happy touring!

 

[cruisinsusin]

We did this itinerary onCelebrity 10 years ago but

more recently (Nov 22), a similar itinerary on Azamara. We did a ship tour to Cairo ( mainly because of distance away from Alexandria) and it was a long day but we were able to see all that we wanted. We did use Ramasside tours for private tour of Alexandria and were very pleased. For Israel would highly recommend using a  private guide- costly but so worth it! We used Moti Bar-Tuv both in 2011 as well as last year and saw and learned so much! We were able to customize to our specifications and were at each site well before all the large groups. Since we had visited before we were able to set up some different experiences not on the “ typical tourist” list for the last trip but still go back to some of the laces that most touched us previously. We did not spend overnights off the ship but started out early each morning with our guide and planned the routes to make best use of time.

[cruisinsusin]

https://travel-israel.info/about-us/moti-bar-tuv

[Loracpin2]

6 hours ago, Markanddonna said:

For Ephesus, get a small group tour. If there for a full day, also  visit the terrace houses and the ruins of the church of St. John. The house of the Virgin Mary has little archaeology to back up the claims. It is best for Roman Catholics. 

Does this mean that we Roman Catholics are the only ones who would believe the Blessed Mother (Virgin Mary) lived there??? I can tell you our visit there was one of the most overwheling experiences of my life!!!

[Markanddonna]

Protestants honor Mary, but not to the extent as Roman Catholics. I was a Roman Catholic for 45 years, so I am familiar with the Virgin Mary. My take on the site of the House of the Virgin Mary is based on the history of the German nun's vision. The church in Jerusalem also claims Mary lived and died in Jerusalem. There is no historical evidence that Mary ever went to Ephesus, including in the scriptures. I'm happy that you were blessed by the visit. 

[Markanddonna]

1 hour ago, Loracpin2 said:

Does this mean that we Roman Catholics are the only ones who would believe the Blessed Mother (Virgin Mary) lived there??? I can tell you our visit there was one of the most overwheling experiences of my life!!!

BTW, The Apostle John arrived in Ephesus around 70 AD for his first missionary trip. Mary would have been about 90 years old. Very unlikely she lived that long and wouldn't have been able to make that arduous trip to Ephesus and then up the mountain. The New Testament is silent on Mary after Pentecost. Because of this fact, I believe Mary died in Jerusalem.

[Loracpin2]

3 hours ago, Markanddonna said:

BTW, The Apostle John arrived in Ephesus around 70 AD for his first missionary trip. Mary would have been about 90 years old. Very unlikely she lived that long and wouldn't have been able to make that arduous trip to Ephesus and then up the mountain. The New Testament is silent on Mary after Pentecost. Because of this fact, I believe Mary died in Jerusalem.

 

https://turkisharchaeonews.net/object/house-virgin-mary-ephesus

[montythecat]

It is a wonderful itinerary. Probably better than the two we experienced.

I would suggest you book it and then spending the intervening time

reading all the very detailed and helpful advice which is coming

your way.

[Markanddonna]

57 minutes ago, Loracpin2 said:

 

https://turkisharchaeonews.net/object/house-virgin-mary-ephesus

Thank you for the article. It was very interesting. I have read most of that before, but the article also indicates that the facts are weak.: "The Roman Catholic Church has never pronounced on the authenticity of the house, for the lack of scientifically acceptable evidence."  The Roman Catholic Church bases much of its theology on tradition, and that is where this story falls. 

 

One sees quite a few things in the Holy Land that may not be authentic. Another is the streets of the Via Delarosa in Jerusalem. Those are not the streets of Jesus, but were built during the Middle Ages. Still, we know that Jesus was in Jerusalem, but about 30 feet under that street.  A more authentic pavement from Roman times is under the  Ecco Homo Convent in Jerusalem.

Edited March 26, 2023 by Markanddonna

[Treasure Hunter]

If you can take a guided tour to the pyramids in Giza it would be amazing ( from Alexandria)

[8420PR]

I noticed this itinerary as celebrity are offering a quite reasonable price (in European countries).

 

e.g. 10 days from 2nd February for €676 ($730) per person (including gratuity) for an inside cabin.for the sailing from Athens on 2nd February.

 

[Crazy planning mom]

We used Guided Tours Israel this past October and also recommend them.  

[JeanieC,Aston]

On 3/27/2023 at 12:29 AM, Treasure Hunter said:

If you can take a guided tour to the pyramids in Giza it would be amazing ( from Alexandria)

If decide on this tour book the ship excursion,,,the coaches go in convoy with armed guards in vehicles front and back and a guard on coach.

This is a response to the terrorist attack on tourists in Luxor in 1997.

 

I have done this trip from Port Said and Alexandria,,,,,,great trip.

[Treasure Hunter]

The Egyptian government takes the safety of tourists very seriously. We stayed in Giza about 10 years ago and other than safaris it was the thrill of a lifetime.

[Arubamoose]

5 hours ago, Crazy planning mom said:

We used Guided Tours Israel this past October and also recommend them.  

 

We also used Guided Tours Israel.  We did two days in Jerusalem and one day in Haifa.  

Day one we did old Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

Day two was Masada and the Dead Sea.

Day three was Galilee.

We had a smaller bus - 16 people plus driver and Israeli guide.

Our guide muscled her way around road blocks and crowds to give us a better, but exhausting experience.

We did spend at least an hour back and forth and traffic was a nightmare at times.  You may want to consider staying overnight to avoid the back and forth.

Overall - well worth it.

[chisoxfan]

4 hours ago, JeanieC,Aston said:

If decide on this tour book the ship excursion,,,the coaches go in convoy with armed guards in vehicles front and back and a guard on coach.

This is a response to the terrorist attack on tourists in Luxor in 1997.

 

I have done this trip from Port Said and Alexandria,,,,,,great trip.

Hello thanks, while I generally prefer 'non-ship' tours, I (we especially my wife) do have some reservations with these in Mideast and am comfortable with the ship cruises booked while agreeing they may not be optimal in some ways.

First if we miss a port or have issues the ship will adjust. Cancellation policies for some providers seem less flexible?

Second if we hire a private tour and it doesn't happen for any reason- we potentially lose a sightseeing opportunity that would be difficult to replace.

Third, I know security is intense (not paranoid about these things) but think being on a ship sponsored tour has the best chance of clearing security quickest.

I know these reasons may be minor (or incorrect to those who are experienced travelers in this area) but for a first time visitor we are comfortable with the ship tours (again started with the intent of booking non-ship private tours).  With some initial 'discounting' and AMEX credit the pricing doesn't really become a factor for us either. Now or only concern is whether the itinerary remains unchanged. 

[Orator]

Wonderful cruise if they don't skip ports in Israel and Egypt. I was one the cruise three times and only 1 time had all the ports. On one cruise Egypt was missed due to riots. On one cruise they were forced to cancel Israel due to terrorist killings.

[Lastdance]

GTI also has tour guides that do private tours of two; it just depends how much you want to see and how important it is to you.  We used a different company, but there were only four of us one day and just my DH and I another day.  When you are the only ones on a tour, you make great use of time and it is tailored to you!  Book early!

 

Anyway, just a suggestion if you have the budget for it!  You will learn and see see much!  Make sure you are in good shape and as healthy as possible, as the days can be long and exhausting too, unless you plan to return on a land tour.

 

Edited March 28, 2023 by Lastdance