De Castro Tours - Cairo

[kdowneymd]

I must add my opinion to this. I booked DeCastro tours based upon reviews on these boards and looking at their website and those of other tour sites for Egypt. We made our choice not based upon price but based upon our needs and others' recommendations. Prior to this, I have only had good experiences with recommendations on these boards. Our family has travelled extensively, and I am well aware of the fact that tour guides may receive a substantial part of their compensation from sales at these shops. We have always tipped our guides almost excessivley given that we rarely buy anything in these places, at the same this is a risk tour guides must accept that no sales will yield a poor return on the day. Furthermore after living in Iran for several years, I am familiar with the mid-east culture of "bak-sheesh". In no way were we trying to find the "cheapest" or trying to avoid paying the guide by not going to the tourist buying emporiums. We had a limited amount of time and we wanted to dictate how it was spent, any inference to the contrary is highly unwarranted and is not in the spirit of these boards and should be ignored as unnecessary and unwarranted comments. I remained convinced that anyone dealing with DeCastro should take the motto of "Let the buyer beware" and consider themselves duly forwarned. If their tour is wonderful, great, if not, join the club. Is that really a chance one wants to take?

[Saga Ruby]

Do you think $20 pp for the guide and $10 pp for the driver would be appropriate? Thanks

 

I used DeCastro Tours for 3 days in November 2006 - a one-day trip to Giza (the Pyramids and Sphinx) and two days transport from Nautica to Luxor, an overnight stay in Luxor, then return to Safaga to join the ship.

 

An official with DeCastro joined me for dinner in Luxor. I told him I planned to tip $20 to the driver and, in the most subtle way, he flinched. So when I got out of the van in Safaga, I tipped much more. When you think about it, the drivers are driving for 15-18 hours in one day. On the way out of Luxor, my driver pointed to his house in the middle of some agricultural fields by a canal. It brought home to me how hard these men work, how little they get paid, how hospitable they are to us. I have never regretted overtipping him. I also tipped generously the guide I had in Giza.

 

Lahore was most kind to me and elemental in giving me tips for a day in Mumbai. I appreciate the time she took to help me - she basically planned my successful "Day in Mumbai."

 

Tipping is not about what is right or enough - you should make your own decisions. I feel good about my tips in Egypt and, for me, realized that I did the right thing, not the expedient thing. Digression - I'm a big fan of DeCastro Tours. They were timely, responsible, generous, and took the best of care of this solo traveler.

 

Ruby

[lahore]

I'm not going to get engaged in any more argument on this thread after this, but it is clear that I am not the only person who found certain comments/inferences as unwarranted. Those who have nothing better to do (and I'm sure you all have) can read back if that doesn't make sense.

 

SagaRuby, thanks for that. I really hope your tour in Mumbai is as exceptional as ours was. I agree completely about the drivers, especially in Cairo of all places. The drivers (in comparison with the guides) for one reason or another have often not been able to afford an education that includs the English language (not being ethnocentric about English, it is however the lingua franca for much of the global travel industry). So, if we tip the drivers more, maybe their capacity to improve their children's chances will be increased. That can only be a good thing. :)

[beth555]

So how much do people typically spend at the carpet and papyrus shop? I read somewhere that the tour guide typically gets a 30% commission. If that is true would one option be just to pay them and avoid those shops. I am not really looking for tourists shops and I have relatives who already went to Egypt and brought us back some papyrus. We might decide we want to go but I thought it would be nice to have some options.

[smeyer418]

here is another answer from an American expat in Egypt.

 

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Egypt-221/Tipping-guides.htm

 

It does say you should consider if you buy something expensive that as part of the tips.

 

For full disclosure we used Debbie(as well as other tour company and guides) recently in Egypt and would recommend her with out exception.

 

Which brings up the question if you use the owner of the company to give you a tour and not the "help" does she get tipped?

 

 

and the answer how much does someone typically spend in such a shop is a difficult thing to answer anywhere from nothing to several hundred of dollars(or Euros)...and personally I think the rug shops were over priced...

 

they are less expensive in Turkey and China(I always get the feeling that its like the movie Funny Lady about Billie Rose- Billie is standing there timing how long it takes a painter to redo one chair, when he is finished he calculates the number of chairs by the time the painter took to hand paint the chair and he says he will pay x- when he leaves the room the supervisor says ok "spray paint them"...not to say that the rugs aren't always hand done....ahem....)

[Saga Ruby]

. . . De Castro was always concerned about getting us back to the ship on time. The ship was scheduled to leave port at 11pm, and all buses were suppose to be back by 10pm. Our bus arrived at 8:30pm.

 

My DeCastro driver was silently worried about me showing up outside the Al Moudira hotel for an 8:00am convoy which left Luxor at the tick of the clock. When I walked out of the hotel at 6:45am, his face was wreathed in smiles. As we waited with the other cars for the convoy to start, my driver disappeared then reappeared with a cup of tea and a sprig of mint, presented to me with a flourish.

 

If anyone would like to read a superb fiction book about Cairo and the Egyptian mind set, I highly recommend "The Jacoubian Building." It was a cause célebre in Egypt a few years ago, made into a major motion picture and, when the locals realized I had read it, the political discussions bloomed.

 

One sentence from the book sticks in my mind - "the widow was so happy to be allowed to sleep under the building’s mailboxes at night so she could be safe from the dangers of the streets outside." If you have insight into a culture, a visit becomes so much more meaningful.

 

Ruby

[Saga Ruby]

I wanted to correct that title and the author is Alaa Al Aswany. You can get it used for as little as $5 and would be a great book to read on an international flight.

 

Ruby

[cruisemom42]

I wanted to correct that title and the author is Alaa Al Aswany. You can get it used for as little as $5 and would be a great book to read on an international flight.

 

Ruby

 

I'm headed to Egypt in 2 weeks and I'm just about to start reading this book! Now I'm looking forward to it even more.