?Overnight stay in Israel with two ports

[nchagwa]

We are on an Eastern Med cruise this Aug. with Celebrity. There are two Israel ports-Haifa and Ashdod. We would like to disembark in Haifa and tour for the two days and return to the ship the next day in Ashdod. This would save us 2 1/2 hours driving time plus add the evening time wherever we stay (possibly Jerusalem). Does anyone know if this is ok? Our travel agent said we can't do it b/c of security concerns and have to return each day to the ship. If that is true, what would happen if we just "missed" getting back to the ship and caught up with it the next day?

[Moonglow]

Last November we did just what you are suggesting. We got off of the ship in Ashdod, spend the night in Jerusalem and returned to the ship in Haifa. I would check with the cruise line direct. You can either do a private tour or check your ships tours, as most of them offer an overnight in Israel and Egypt. You can't always trust travel agents to know everything. Any questions about a tour company, just ask.

Carol

[Zoomeer]

Definitely, overnight is the best option. Thus, you can see old and new city of Jerusalem on the first day and visit Masada and the Dead sea on the second. Please note, that you will need to pay also for the hotel room for the driver-guide (about $100). Here some cruise tours' itineraries can be found: link

[Jancruz]

Last November we did just what you are suggesting. We got off of the ship in Ashdod, spend the night in Jerusalem and returned to the ship in Haifa. I would check with the cruise line direct. You can either do a private tour or check your ships tours, as most of them offer an overnight in Israel and Egypt. You can't always trust travel agents to know everything. Any questions about a tour company, just ask.

Carol

 

Can you tell me if you did this with a guide or on your own..I have gotten really exhorbitant quotes from guides that I have contacted and I would like to do the exact trip you did..

Thanks for any help

Jancruz1

[MercedMike]

Well, we really enjoy being on board the ship in the evening. We found it very easy to tour Masada and the Dead Sea one day, drive back to the ship (it is a fairly interesting drive and our guide had lots of ancient and recent history to relate) for dinner, and next day drive into Jerusalem for the city tour. It really worked well for us, and we saved the very expensive hotel bill and meals in Jerusalem. Why pay again for stuff you have already paid for on the ship?

 

We booked both days through Avitours and got wonderful guides and great service.

 

Check out our review and pics at http://www.elite.net/~thehalls/holyland2.html

 

Have a GREAT cruise!

[SteveS]

We enjoyed our overnight stay in Jerusalem last summer it was worth the extra $300 for the hotel ,the Dan Panaroma, and dinner on Ben Yehuda street.

[beach bunnie]

We did this a few years ago. We rented a car in Haifa and drove ourselves to Jerusalem. We stopped in Caesarea on the way. We toured the old city on our own the second day. The third day we had hired a guide. He drove us to the Dead Sea and Massada. Then he drove us to Ashdod to meet the ship. The ship asked any passengers doing this let them know so they weren't looking for us when leaving Haifa. The hardest part was getting to the rental car company. We couldn't get the taxi drivers to understand where we needed to go. We ended up having someone write the address in Hebrew.

[Moonglow]

Can you tell me if you did this with a guide or on your own..I have gotten really exhorbitant quotes from guides that I have contacted and I would like to do the exact trip you did..

Thanks for any help

Jancruz1

 

We did the two day tour with Avitours. Because we wanted to do certain things, my husband and I chose to do the tour by ourselves and it was wonderful. Our guide was the owner Avi and on the first day we saw Masada, the Dead Sea (did not take a swim), toured the old city of Jerusalem ( Via Dolorosa, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Western Wall and the excavations under the wall, and the markets). We spent the night at the Prima Kings Hotel in Jerusalem and it was a nice clean hotel located around the corner from the King David Hotel. The second day we were off to Capernaum, the Mt. of Beatitudes, a stop at the Jordan River, had dessert in Nazareth at an Arab sweet shop and visited Joseph's home now in a church (the name escapes me now), and lastly the Baha'i Gardens in Haifa which are quite remarkable. I know I have missed a few places, but it was by far the best tour we have ever done. Knowing we may never get back, we packed alot into those two days and were able to do so because it was just the two of us.

[eden]

We did the two day tour with Avitours. Because we wanted to do certain things, my husband and I chose to do the tour by ourselves and it was wonderful. Our guide was the owner Avi and on the first day we saw Masada, the Dead Sea (did not take a swim), toured the old city of Jerusalem ( Via Dolorosa, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Western Wall and the excavations under the wall, and the markets). We spent the night at the Prima Kings Hotel in Jerusalem and it was a nice clean hotel located around the corner from the King David Hotel. The second day we were off to Capernaum, the Mt. of Beatitudes, a stop at the Jordan River, had dessert in Nazareth at an Arab sweet shop and visited Joseph's home now in a church (the name escapes me now), and lastly the Baha'i Gardens in Haifa which are quite remarkable. I know I have missed a few places, but it was by far the best tour we have ever done. Knowing we may never get back, we packed alot into those two days and were able to do so because it was just the two of us.

 

Were you exhausted after the first day? - am amazed that you were able to pack Massada and the Dead Sea plus Jerusalem all into one day. Did you pay a fee for the guide to stay overnight? Have looked at Avitour website and they request a $100.00 deposit at time of booking plus 50% about 3 months before plus the final 50% 2 to 4 weeks before arrival date. Did you do this? Is this fairly common?

Thanks

[Moonglow]

Were you exhausted after the first day? - am amazed that you were able to pack Massada and the Dead Sea plus Jerusalem all into one day. Did you pay a fee for the guide to stay overnight? Have looked at Avitour website and they request a $100.00 deposit at time of booking plus 50% about 3 months before plus the final 50% 2 to 4 weeks before arrival date. Did you do this? Is this fairly common?

Thanks

 

We were tired but not overly so, having a car to yourself and guide makes touring less tiring and you are not always wasting time on things you have no interest in and waiting for people on a group tour. Avitours is based in Jerusalem and Avi lives there so no fee. We wired $100.00 deposit when we made the reservations, again wired 50% about 3 months before tour, but paid the balance at the end of the tour. I included the cost of this in our travel insurance just in case (have to watch out for the what ifs in life). The cost was not cheap but it was important to us to see what we wanted in a short amount of time as we may never have a chance to return. We found the whole experience wonderful and well worth the money.

Carol

[Jancruz]

Thank you all for the ideas..we are staying in Jerusalem overnight in a B and B and I will let you all know about it when we return..

Jancruz1

[scrustyrock]

Hi Mike,

 

My husband and I have enjoyed your picture and reviews for quite some time. I loved what you did in Israel, I would really be geatful to you if you tell me which (number) tours you took from Avitours.

 

Thank you,

 

Sharon Campbell

 

Well, we really enjoy being on board the ship in the

evening. We found it very easy to tour Masada and the Dead Sea one day, drive back to the ship (it is a fairly interesting drive and our guide had lots of ancient and recent history to relate) for dinner, and next day drive into Jerusalem for the city tour. It really worked well for us, and we saved the very expensive hotel bill and meals in Jerusalem. Why pay again for stuff you have already paid for on the ship?

 

We booked both days through Avitours and got wonderful guides and great service.

 

Check out our review and pics at http://www.elite.net/~thehalls/holyland2.html

 

Have a GREAT cruise!

[MercedMike]

Hi Mike,

 

My husband and I have enjoyed your picture and reviews for quite some time. I loved what you did in Israel, I would really be geatful to you if you tell me which (number) tours you took from Avitours.

 

Thank you,

 

Sharon Campbell

 

We designed our own tours with Avitours, not any specific number. You can see on the page

http://www.elite.net/~thehalls/holyland2.html

how we did it. We corresponded with them by email quite a bit to get the tours just the way we wanted it. We were a group of four and that worked very well. Avitours furnished a small van and a great guide.

 

Have a GREAT cruise!

[scrustyrock]

We designed our own tours with Avitours, not any specific number. You can see on the page

http://www.elite.net/~thehalls/holyland2.html

how we did it. We corresponded with them by email quite a bit to get the tours just the way we wanted it. We were a group of four and that worked very well. Avitours furnished a small van and a great guide.

 

Have a GREAT cruise!

 

Thank you so much.

 

Sharon Campbell

[sizzle_sisters]

We have 1 day in Ashdod and 2 in Haifa, I can see pax getting off in Ashdod and rehooking up with ship on third day. Great way to save time and see more, but I'm the cheapskate...... you've already paid for your hotel and food (onboard), add tours and tickets, and it builds to an expensive little excursion. But if you have the $$ I guess it's a personal thing.

I wonder why they do two ports in Israel?? Too bad there wasn't one more central geographically.