Anyone Recently Used Ramses Tours?

[sunseeker17]

Mr. George has been fabulous. Answers all questions promptly. We will tour with them in Jan. Looking forward to Egypt.

 

teri

[Pupsweet]

I posted this separately, too:

We did private excursions in both Ashodod and Cairo and had a stellar time (and got back earlier than the Costa excursion folks in BOTH ports.)

 

We went with Kalman Goldner (private guide) in Ashdod. Nice new-model van-type car, excellent reliable and pleasant guide. Seemed more geared toward the Jewish sights and less enthusiatic about Chirstian/Moslem ones, but we went to all the places we wanted to see, so it was fine. We went to Western Wall, Via Dolorosa, Chruch of Holy Sepulcher, Mount of Olives, Yad Vashem (Holocaust Museum) and the a funky and fast local restaurant for lunch. You need to strongly express your preferences with him, otherwise he goes his own way. Here's how I'd rate him. Scale 1-5. (Cost was $500 USD for up to 6 people. Same fee whether you had 2 or 6.)

 

Reliability: 5

Vehicle: 5

Bathroom breaks: 5

English: 5

Knowledge of area/history: 5

Flexibility: 3

Adventuresome (felt somewhat by rote): 1

Communicates the "plan": 4

Lunch: 3

Shopping: 2 (he kinda didn't seem too thrilled with shopping or food)

 

 

In Port Said/CAIRO we booked with George of Ramses Tours. We had a fun guide named Kareem and a driver. We were offered an armed guard to come with us, but we declined. Our only complaint with this tour is that the vehicle had issues with safety belts and general comfort of the seats (there's a lot of driving involved.) But otherwise, the lunch, the camel ride and the stop at the Alexandria Library were superb. Really, really excellent and worth every penny. Cost was about 145 Euros per person including a 50 minute camel ride. Here's how I rate this tour:

 

Reliability: 5

Vehicle : 3

Bathroom Breaks: 4

English: 4

Knowledge of area/history: 5

Flexibility: 5

Adventuresome (in a good way): 5

Communicating the "plan" 4

Food (lunch): 5 (A buffet restaurant in Giza, not Hard Rock; food okay)

Shopping: 5

 

Kalman likes to talk on the phone to make arrangements; George handled everything via email. I would use both these guides again, though this time I would be more assertive with Kalman regarding my preferences, and I would make sure we had a newer vehicle with George.

 

Hope this helps.

[maryann ns]

We went with Ramses in November and they consulted us before going. I did not want the Hard rock Cafe, but something Egyptian. We were taken to the Peace Cafe near the Museum. It was excellent. They had a hot and cold buffet. Our lunch was included in the price of our tour.

[Partridge6909]

Just returned from NCL trip 3 days ago. Used Ramses for both days (we stayed on boat overnight). They were GREAT- our guide for both days was a young man named Islam -I can not say enough about him! He knows SO much and was so excited to share his wealth of knowledge! Our Cairo day was cut 4 hrs short by fog not allowing the boat to dock until 11AM rather than 7AM, so it cut short some of our activities, but Islam made the best of the time allowed. Also the driver who's name I can not remember (this was Jan 10th & 11th I think) was wonderful. We felt very safe. There were 10 of us in our group and we had a bus that can fit about 20 people! Have a wonderful time!

Wendy

[missm54]

We also used Ramses Tours for a 1 day trip on the late arriving Jade Jan.10th.

4 of us in a minivan with a great driver and our guide Mohammed Khamis Doma..He had so much knowledge and seemed to love sharing all aspects of his culture..

Mohammed said they are independent guides, so work with all tours.

Since we were 5 hours late, he got us to the pyramids before closing, and the Egyptian Museum...no lunch stops or shopping stops.

We were not bothered much when we stayed close to our guide..He was able to help us skip lines, payed entrance fees, and knew where clean restrooms were located, even gave us Egyptian money for restroom attendent.

Our day ended about 9:30 pm back at our ship.

Ramses Tours and our guide made up for the late start, as the pyramids were one of our main reason for taking this cruise.

We were happy customers.

[CRUISERTN]

If some of you are having trouble contacting George, try their new email address ramsestours@gmail.com

 

We had Karim for our guide last November for our overnight tour, and had the tour of a lifetime. He was very fun-loving and knowledgable, and made sure we saw everything we wanted to see. Ahmed, our driver, was fabulous. We had a late model mini-van for 4 of us and it was very comfortable.

 

George was great to work with to get everything coordinated. I highly recommend Ramses; they will take very good care of you.;)

[poncho1973]

In Port Said/CAIRO we booked with George of Ramses Tours. We had a fun guide named Kareem and a driver. We were offered an armed guard to come with us, but we declined.

 

:confused: I understand that incidents can happen anywhere, but this particular comment scares me.

[WhenIsOurNextCruise]

Used Ramses Tours for an overnight tour to Cairo for two persons. Picked us up directly from the Alexandria Port from the NCL Jade (Dec. 15). When you e-mail Ramses they will reply with a standard overnight tour with extra cost add-ons. While some of the add-ons would be standard on some ship tours the overall cost is cheaper using Ramses and you get to decide what you want to add on. Paid $780 for two persons with pyramids, Sphinx, Citadel and Mosque, Eygptian museum on the first day and then on the second day Memphis with shopping. All meals were included except for dinner. We paid for upgrade to stay at the Oberoi Mena House next to the pyramids ($50 per person) and visit the solar boat ($20pp by pyramids) and mummy rooms ($20pp in Egyptian Museum) which is the actual cost of admission. I recommend stay at the Oberoi Mena House even though when we went we only saw the pyramids from the hotel in the morning (sunset was 5 pm). The location made it easier to get to the pyramids and Memphis without being caught in Cairo traffic.

 

Highly recommended.

 

We appreciated reading your comments as we are with Ramses and staying at the Mena House in February. Did you eat dinner at the Mena House and is there one restaurant or several? How was your meal? Did anyone in your party become ill after visiting Egypt? Did you request room with a view of the pyramids?

[cuttingedgeglassworks]

We recently returned from NCL Jade's cruise of Med including Egypt. We had booked an overnight with Ramses and were supposed to meet our guide at 7AM in Alexandria. Unfortunately, the fog rolled in, and the port was closed for hours, so we finally met up with our guide Hanni at 11AM - giving us a 4 hour late start.

BUT Hanni and Hussein, our driver, got us going quickly and by the end of the second day we had experienced all that we had planned!

 

The trip was thrilling, the drive action-packed, the history overwhelming.

 

We couldn't believe the traffic going to and from Cairo, but especially in Cairo itself! 19 million population and no stop lights!

 

Since we had such a late start, Hanni got out and purchased us Egyptian sandwiches-to-go in Giza; we experienced the Great Pyramids there, on to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, dining experience on the Nile, and then to bed at the Oberoi Mena House with pyramid view rooms.

The next day we did the Citadel of Saladin, Saqhara, Memphis and enjoyed another fine Egyptian lunch and shopping. All this before returning to the ship in Alexandria with picture-taking at the library and the lighthouse.

 

Altogether it was a wonderful excursion with Ramses. I highly recommend this fine company and expecially our guide, Hanni. (He told us to call him Honey, so I'm guessing about the spelling.)

[cuttingedgeglassworks]

We appreciated reading your comments as we are with Ramses and staying at the Mena House in February. Did you eat dinner at the Mena House and is there one restaurant or several? How was your meal? Did anyone in your party become ill after visiting Egypt? Did you request room with a view of the pyramids?

 

We took a Ramses tour on Jan 10-11 and stayed at the Mena House. We didn't eat dinner at the hotel because we booked a Nile dinner cruise and recommend that. The food was buffet style and only OK, but the experience on the top deck of the boat was well worth the price. Very few people bother to climb the stairs, so it was quiet and even romantic and just think, there we were on the Nile!

 

One mistake we made at the Mena House: we had breakfast included in our tour...Our bell hop mentioned that we could eat in the restaurant or have room service. We opted for the room service, since we could sit and eat out on the terrace looking at the Pyramids. Well, guess what, the room service wasn't included in our price! It was only $17 extra, but cost some time and embarrassment to clear up our confusion!

 

Anyway, we didn't request pyramid view rooms but got them anyway.

 

This hotel was quite an experience...Unfortunately, we had got away from the NCL Jade 4 hours late due to fog, so we were pretty worn out by the time we got to the Mena House, so didn't enjoy the beauty of the hotel as much as we should.

[suzyluvs2cruise]

We took a Ramses tour on Jan 10-11 and stayed at the Mena House. We didn't eat dinner at the hotel because we booked a Nile dinner cruise and recommend that. The food was buffet style and only OK, but the experience on the top deck of the boat was well worth the price. Very few people bother to climb the stairs, so it was quiet and even romantic and just think, there we were on the Nile!

 

One mistake we made at the Mena House: we had breakfast included in our tour...Our bell hop mentioned that we could eat in the restaurant or have room service. We opted for the room service, since we could sit and eat out on the terrace looking at the Pyramids. Well, guess what, the room service wasn't included in our price! It was only $17 extra, but cost some time and embarrassment to clear up our confusion!

 

Anyway, we didn't request pyramid view rooms but got them anyway.

 

This hotel was quite an experience...Unfortunately, we had got away from the NCL Jade 4 hours late due to fog, so we were pretty worn out by the time we got to the Mena House, so didn't enjoy the beauty of the hotel as much as we should.

 

Thank you for reporting back on your wonderful excursion with Ramses tours.

 

We're doing the same tour in October and are really excited. I'm curious about the food offerings for the buffet on the Nile cruise and am hoping you can elaborate on what was offered.

 

Thanks again...............

[unberwoob]

I appreciate reading everyone's experiences with Ramses and have reserved a tour for November.

 

Can I have some information on what people have tipped. Normally tipping is a percentage of the tour price, but in this case there are the costs of the hotel, meals and admissions in the price of the tour.

 

So, what have those who did the overnight tour tip the guide and the driver?

 

Thanks

 

Dennis

[wisepalmtree]

Our tour was great. Meemo was a wonderful guide, he answered all our questions and made sure we were happy with everything. My husband and I went on 4 guided tour in different countries during our cruise and I think Meemo was the best tour guide of them all. Our ship was late due to the fog, but Meemo and our driver (sorry I didn't catch his name) worked with our tight schedule to make sure we got to see all the highlights of the area. My husband and I had a great time and would recommend to others.

[wisepalmtree]

:confused: I understand that incidents can happen anywhere, but this particular comment scares me.

 

Don't be scared. This is very common in Egypt because they take tourism as a business very seriously. Armed guards are required by the government on large buses but we only had a group of 9 people so we didn't have to have one and I did not feel unsafe as our guide told us what to expect everywhere we went. Our guide just had to check in with the tourism police at certain stops and tell them we made it back to the ship in plenty of time (you don't have to worry about missing the ship on this one because the government holds your guide accountable if you do). Just and FYI I would highly recommend bringing hand sanitizer and your own toilet paper to avoid getting hounded by the bathroom tippers.

[wrk2cruz]

After reading all the wonderful reviews we are going to book an overnight w/Ramses for our November cruise..Just the 2 of us (so far)

Which tour would any of you recommend...the one that includes Sakkara and Memphis or Coptic Cairo???

Thanks!

[Marie-Claude]

After reading all the wonderful reviews we are going to book an overnight w/Ramses for our November cruise..Just the 2 of us (so far)

Which tour would any of you recommend...the one that includes Sakkara and Memphis or Coptic Cairo???

Thanks!

This really depends on which 'Egypt' you are most interested in - Sakkara and Memphis are of the Pharaonic Era, and Coptic Cairo is the Christian area, dating back to the birth of Christ, with some churches built on the old Roman fortress of Babylon - very different and both very interesting.

 

We visited the Pyramids, Sphinx, Saqqarah and Memphis on our first visit to Cairo, and on our second, we did Coptic and Islamic Cairo with a ride on the Nile.

 

MC

[wrk2cruz]

This really depends on which 'Egypt' you are most interested in - Sakkara and Memphis are of the Pharaonic Era, and Coptic Cairo is the Christian area, dating back to the birth of Christ, with some churches built on the old Roman fortress of Babylon - very different and both very interesting.

 

We visited the Pyramids, Sphinx, Saqqarah and Memphis on our first visit to Cairo, and on our second, we did Coptic and Islamic Cairo with a ride on the Nile.

 

MC

 

Thanks MC, I am leaning that way too.

[mum and son]

After reading all the wonderful reviews we are going to book an overnight w/Ramses for our November cruise..Just the 2 of us (so far)

Which tour would any of you recommend...the one that includes Sakkara and Memphis or Coptic Cairo???

Thanks!

 

We started with a basic tour and removed anything we weren't interested in (ie Museums, "sales" promos etc) and added extra things we would enjoy like a felucca cruise on the Nile (that was the highlight for me). Ramses were very accommodating with the changes we wanted to make and we got everything we were expecting. I loved Egypt... it's a tour I will never forget. Our guide, Yousef, was excellent and spoke a lot about his life and family and his personal experiences which made the information so much more interesting.

 

Our group consisted of 10 adults and 3 children... so ages ranged from 5 to 75 and everyone had a great time.

[wisepalmtree]

After reading all the wonderful reviews we are going to book an overnight w/Ramses for our November cruise..Just the 2 of us (so far)

Which tour would any of you recommend...the one that includes Sakkara and Memphis or Coptic Cairo???

Thanks!

 

That's a personal choice depending on what you want to see. We were on the NCL Jade which goes from Barcelona, Rome, Athens, Turkey, Egypt, Malta, so although I'm sure the Roman churches and fortress would have been beautiful, we were honestly a little burned out on the Roman Empire by that point in the trip. So I'm really glad we did Memphis and Sakkara instead. I loved the great pyramids, but they are basically right in the city (there doesn't seem to be much of a separation between Giza and Cairo it's like one huge city) so Sakkara was kind of magical because it really felt like you were really in an Egyptian desert. It didn't seem quite as commercial as the Great Pyramids (and not as many beggars around), but we were also the first tour group there so there was no one else around, so that might have added to the magic, it might not have quite the same effect when it's busy, I'm not sure.

[CRUISERTN]

We just returned in November and did an overnight tour with Ramses. We saw both areas. Karim, our guide, was most accommodating...we have a very full day and literally went non-stop but managed to visit the Museum, Alabaster Mosque/Citidel, Coptic Cairo and the Khan El Khalili bazaar the first day and Memphis/Sakkara, the pyramids, a little shopping and a little shopping stop and a few photo stops once we returned back to Alexandria the second day. We were supposed to do a felucca ride rather than the Coptic area, but Karim switched gears quickly and showed us all around the Coptic area and we then ran out of light for the felucca ride. It was getting dark and a little cool and windy, and he was still ready to take us, but we decided to cancel since we wanted to go for photos and we were running out of daylight (because of the added Coptic area at the last minute)....we did get some great photos of feluccas on the Nile from right outside the Hard Rock Cafe, which has great views of the Nile.......to me, I am glad we now saw the Coptic area rather than the felucca, because the part of the Nile that we would have sailed on was right in the heart of the tourist/hotel area and not like one would think of "sailing on the Nile"......you CAN do it all, but you will go non-stop and will have to miss lunch the first day and only stop for something fast the second.....we went non-stop but had the tour of a lifetime and would highly recommend Ramses to customize your tour....just send them an email at ramsestours@gmail.com and tell them what you want to do and they will quote you a price....if you want to modify their particular tours, tell them which one you want to do but want to add a particular thing and delete another, etc. and they will work with you. We also did not want the tourist stops at the carpet, perfume, cotton and papyrus factories....we customized our tour to do what WE wanted and Ramses was happy to do it for us....Karim was an amazing guide and highly recommended. You will LOVE your time in Egypt!!;)

[FLCrusier]

We didn't get a pyramid view room. We got a great room in the garden wing but facing Giza. The windows shut out the noise and the quality of the room was 5 star. Breakfast was at breakfast buffet - very good but held in a conference room to accommodate all the tour groups. We ate dinner at the hotel - the 'coffee shop' which is really a casual restaurant with good food. There is a seafood restaurant across the main road on the backside of the hotel which our guide took us for lunch the next day. I agree with the guide that Giza out by the pyramids is rough so it was the hotel was a pleasant island of peace. Note the entrance to the pyramids by the hotel is closed at night so no sneaking around them night. No one got sick but having been to China I knew to bring Purell to cleanse my hands after touching anything and only eat in reputable restaurants, thus the infamous Hard Rock Cafe in downtown for tour groups with its Egyptian buffet. The tour companies know they don't want to deliver sick passengers back to the ship.

Edited February 5, 2010 by FLCrusier

[Capricruiser]

I need to contact the guide I had with my recent Ramses tour from Alexandria. Her name was SHEREEN SAMIF. Does anyone have her email address or have an idea how I can find her? Thanks.

[BigGuy25]

I need to contact the guide I had with my recent Ramses tour from Alexandria. Her name was SHEREEN SAMIF. Does anyone have her email address or have an idea how I can find her? Thanks.

 

It would seem that you could get in touch with her by going through George at Ramses. But, that does seem obvious, so maybe there's a reason you don't want to try that?

[Crown Prince]

Emergency cell number 24 hours day 002-0105759364 Mr. yousef.

 

ramsestours@gmail.com

 

;):D:D:D;)

[astrocat]

We are eagerly anticipating our cruise on Celebrity Equinox in Sept .. based on these boards have decided to go with Ramses .. departure is still months away but they have been very helpful and flexible in organising our itinerary. We are actually returning to the ship at night, unlike most posters, but I think this will work well for us and we are going to see El Alamein on the first day and then Pyramids / Sphinx etc on the second day.