Help me Pick an Itinerary

[GMoney]

Hi All - I need some helping selecting a cruise for late 2009. It will be to the eastern Med, featuring ports where I hope to see Cairo and the Pyramids (like Alexandria), followed by a 5 -night Nile River cruise.

 

I've narrowed my choices down to 2 - RCI Brilliance and X Equinox. The full itineraries are listed below. Basically, they are both 12 nights with 4 sea days. The main difference (IMO) is Brilliance has one day-long stop in Alexandria and one day-long stop in Port Said; Equinox has an overnight in Alexandria.

 

Since my primary goal is to see Cairo and the Pyramids, I'm thinking that the overnight on Equinox gives me the best chance to do that.

 

Can anyone offer comments on if that's correct, and what other factors would drive your decision? Thanks.

 

Brilliance

 

18-Nov Barcelona, Spain 6:00 PM

 

19-Nov Cruising

 

20-Nov Valletta, Malta 7:00 AM 3:00 PM Docked

 

21-Nov Cruising

 

22-Nov Alexandria, Egypt 7:00 AM 10:00 PM Docked

 

23-Nov Port Said, Egypt 9:00 AM 8:00 PM Docked

 

24-Nov Limassol, Cyprus 8:00 AM 4:00 PM Docked

 

25-Nov Rhodes, Greece 9:00 AM 6:00 PM Docked

 

26-Nov Athens, Greece 9:00 AM 6:00 PM Docked

 

27-Nov Cruising

 

28-Nov Tunis, Tunisia 9:00 AM 6:00 PM Docked

 

29-Nov Cruising

 

30-Nov Barcelona, Spain 5:00 AM

 

Equinox

 

Oct 23 Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy 6:00 PM

 

Oct 24 At Sea

 

Oct 25 Athens Greece 10:00 AM 7:00 PM

 

Oct 26 Rhodes, Greece 10:00 AM 6:00 PM

 

Oct 27 Ephesus (Kusadasi), Turkey 7:00 AM 7:00 PM

 

Oct 28 At Sea

 

Oct 29 Haifa, Israel 7:00 AM 10:00 PM

 

Oct 30 Ashdod, Israel 7:00 AM 7:00 PM

 

Oct 31 Alexandria, Egypt Arrive 10:00 AM

 

Nov 01 Alexandria, Egypt Depart 10:00 PM

 

Nov 02 At Sea

 

Nov 03 At Sea

 

Nov 04 Naples/Capri, Italy 6:30 AM 6:30 PM

 

Nov 05 Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy Arrive 4:00 AM

[MVPinBoynton]

I can't help you, but you do have a tough decision. Both those itineraries sound great. Quite a unique group of ports. The Brilliance is a great ship, but I would be willing to bet that the Equinox will be nicer; plus if your main goal is the Pyramids and Cairo, that would probably be the way to go.

[suekay]

I'd go with Equinox for the itinerary PLUS.......the weather should be better

[Benita]

I'd go with the Equinox - love Celebrity.

[whale-watcher]

We were booked on a similar itinerary to the Equinox on the Pacific Princess for this year, but decided to go to Alaska instead...mostly because of the midsummer heat. I think any itinerary including both Egypt and Israel (especially in the spring or fall) would be spectacular!

[martyap]

We're booked on the 10/23/09 Equinox. Itinerary looks great and the ship should be outstanding. My only question is that it arrives in Alexandria at 10:00 on Day #1 in Alexandria which might be too late to do a one day tour in Cairo. The companies I have contacted suggest an overnight in Cairo in order to see the main sights + the evening light and sound show at the pyramids. Any thoughts?...............Marty

[whale-watcher]

I would plan on doing an overnight excursion to Cairo even if the ship arrived earlier in the day...we were planning to use nile blue based on many positive reports, but the official ship's excursions earn high marks as well (usually run by Abercrombie and Kent, but prices MUCH higher).

[Andiamo!]

I would plan on doing an overnight excursion to Cairo even if the ship arrived earlier in the day...we were planning to use nile blue based on many positive reports, but the official ship's excursions earn high marks as well (usually run by Abercrombie and Kent, but prices MUCH higher).

 

I organized a group with Nile Blue Tours last fall and one of the people in the group (there were 33 on our bus) had done the (Princess) excursion with Abercrombie and Kent on the same itinerary the year before. He wrote a review on our CC roll call saying that there was absolutely NO comparison between the two - that the tour with Nile Blue was much, much better at 1/4 the price (he was travelling single). He did say that A&K was great when he used them in South Africa, but that Nile Blue had done a much better job all around on the Cairo overnight.

 

The manager of Nile Blue had worked with both A&K and Memphis Tours before starting his own company, and he explained to me that his goal was to offer the best customer service at a reasonable price. IMHO he is achieving his goal remarkably well.

[Bruin Steve]

Of those two, I would go with the Equinox...

First, because of my preference for Celebrity (even though I like RCCL as well, I just think Celebrity is better)...Second, for the stops in Israel and Kusadasi...Third, for the brand new ship...

 

The real problem I see in your plan is that, with either cruise, you are going to have to fly all the way back to Egypt from wherever your cruise drops you off (Barcelona or Rome) in order to do that added 5 day Nile cruise...I guess it's unavoidable though...

 

We've opted for 2009, to do a similar route on Oceania Nautica...a much smaller ship, but an outstanding itinerary that starts in Barcelona and ends in Istanbul...