Private Overnight tour in Egypt from Norwegian Cruise

[SashaCanadk]

Hello,

Our cruise has 2 stops in Egypt - Alexandria for one day, departing in the evening and then Port Said the next day, again departing in the evening. In order to save 6 hours travelling back and forth to the cruise ship, we have booked a private tour with a company that will pick us up at Alexandria, tour us around, arrange a hotel, and then the next day return us to Port Said. We are travelling with another couple who called NCL asking if this was permitted. (When I had first booked it, they had said that as long as we let guest services know before hand it is fine). My friend was told that this is not permitted. Can anyone clarify this for us? Looking on cruise critic and other sights, it seems possible.

Thank you for your helpl.

S

[mom says]

Best to ask this on the NCL forum: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/64-norwegian-cruise-line/

 

In the meantime,  since you are Canadian, will you have the Egypt visa before embarkation? It is my understanding that cruise passengers are given a transit ticket good only for ship excursions. Any other entry requires a visa, and Canadians are not eligible for evisas after October 1. After Oct 1, you have to apply to the Egypt embassy in Ottawa.

 

It could be that the person you spoke with was unaware of this new restriction for Canadians.

Edited September 28, 2023 by mom says

[SashaCanadk]

Thanks! I will repost in the NCL forum.

 

yes, we have received a e-visa pre October 1st- it was actually the tour company that brought the change to our attention, thankfully. Initially they made it so everyone had to apply to the consulate, but a couple of days later Egypt made it so that as long as we had received our e-visa before October 1st, they will still accept them (I think they got inundated because we started the hard copy process and within a day it went from 5days turnaround to 15 days). So we have all of the documents to enter Egypt. Thanks for asking, that is a critical question. 

Edited September 28, 2023 by SashaCanadk

[donaldsc]

Have you asked NCL.   Their answer is the only one that counts.

 

DON

[cruisemom42]

They have asked NCL and someone else have asked NCL -- and they received two different answers...

 

Unfortunately this is all too common when passengers have questions pertaining to specific port practices and regulations. 

 

To answer the OP, I can only say that this has been permitted in the past on most cruise lines (I've visited Egypt this way on 3 different cruise lines, as well as a land trip there). However, as Covid seems to have changed so many things, I'd be reluctant to rely on past experience. 

 

Hopefully you can keep polling NCL board and perhaps call back to NCL another few time to get a better sense of what current practices really are.

 

 

 

 

[donaldsc]

6 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

They have asked NCL and someone else have asked NCL -- and they received two different answers...

 

Unfortunately this is all too common when passengers have questions pertaining to specific port practices and regulations. 

 

To answer the OP, I can only say that this has been permitted in the past on most cruise lines (I've visited Egypt this way on 3 different cruise lines, as well as a land trip there). However, as Covid seems to have changed so many things, I'd be reluctant to rely on past experience. 

 

Hopefully you can keep polling NCL board and perhaps call back to NCL another few time to get a better sense of what current practices really are.

 

 

 

 

 

Missed that.  Sorry.

 

DON