It Is Time To Return To Egypt!!!

"Note: Departure from the ship may be early in the morning; roundtrip flights Aswan–Abu Simbel included"

The only thing wrong with that note is 'may' :)

Plan on being up very early that day as even if you are flying you will still be leaving the ship very very early indeed :)

Excursions just opened for us last night and we booked Abu Simbel among other things. The description for this excursion includes "Note: Departure from the ship may be early in the morning; roundtrip flights Aswan–Abu Simbel included"

Mine came today and I signed up for Abu Simbel, too.

Which date are you cruising?

Having just returned from Uniworld's Tosca, Abu Simbel is well worth the early morning flight.

Djett, did the ladies ever need head coverings? Was there ever any special dress code required?

Djett, did the ladies ever need head coverings? Was there ever any special dress code required?

A head-covering was not required anyplace we visited. Most women wore dresses, long pants or capris and the men wore long pants or shorts. No special dress code.

djett, thank you again for answering all my questions.

Did you need an electrical adaptor while in the hotels?

Did you need jacket or sweater? Unbrella?

lol, I keep thinking of things I need to ask.

We just returned this week from Egypt. No umbrella needed. Sweaters and a jacket are definitely needed. I rarely did not have on a sweater, even in the southern most part of our trip. Our guide requested the women put their scarves over their heads in the two mosques we visited. We gave up on the small Egyptian pounds and my husband and I would enter the restrooms together and give them a dollar and say it was for both of us. We didn't mind as the toilets were flush, usually clean and western style. The only place we were annoyed was at the airports. (We were in numerous ones because we flew to Luxor and back to Cairo and also to Abu Simbel.) Seriously, asking for money to use the restrooms at the airports where EVERYONE has to use them seemed excessive to us. We took $200 in $1 and that was plenty for all cash payments.

I was the poster who wrote about the electronic visas. They worked great. Our transfer person said we were his first clients who had used them. I started to hand the immigration man my printed visas and he smiled and said it wasn't necessary as our visas were already in their system! I would highly recommend the governments electronic visa process.

I was the poster who wrote about the electronic visas. They worked great.

Good news and thanks for the tip. We took your advice and just received our e-visas this week. A bit more than a month until we depart.

We just returned this week from Egypt. No umbrella needed. Sweaters and a jacket are definitely needed. I rarely did not have on a sweater, even in the southern most part of our trip. Our guide requested the women put their scarves over their heads in the two mosques we visited. We gave up on the small Egyptian pounds and my husband and I would enter the restrooms together and give them a dollar and say it was for both of us. We didn't mind as the toilets were flush, usually clean and western style. The only place we were annoyed was at the airports. (We were in numerous ones because we flew to Luxor and back to Cairo and also to Abu Simbel.) Seriously, asking for money to use the restrooms at the airports where EVERYONE has to use them seemed excessive to us. We took $200 in $1 and that was plenty for all cash payments.

 

I was the poster who wrote about the electronic visas. They worked great. Our transfer person said we were his first clients who had used them. I started to hand the immigration man my printed visas and he smiled and said it wasn't necessary as our visas were already in their system! I would highly recommend the governments electronic visa process.

Thank you for all that information. It is very helpful.

Unfortunately today I applied for my e-visa and used the wrong website. It looked so official (even though you did warn us about those look alike sites) and I ended up with a service who charged me $74 each. I thought I had saved the official visa website in "my favorites" but I must have saved the wrong one. :eek: Hopefully someone else will not make the same costly mistake that I did.

Did you need adaptors for the hotels?

djett, thank you again for answering all my questions.

 

Did you need an electrical adaptor while in the hotels?

Did you need jacket or sweater? Unbrella?

 

lol, I keep thinking of things I need to ask.

We were at the Four Seasons and didn't need an adapter. It really cooled off at night and jackets were needed, particularly at the evening outdoor light show in Cairo. No need for an umbrella.

Thank you for all that information. It is very helpful.

 

Unfortunately today I applied for my e-visa and used the wrong website. It looked so official (even though you did warn us about those look alike sites) and I ended up with a service who charged me $74 each. I thought I had saved the official visa website in "my favorites" but I must have saved the wrong one. :eek: Hopefully someone else will not make the same costly mistake that I did.

 

Did you need adaptors for the hotels?

Update on my visa situation:

I applied to the wrong visa site (my own fault) on Jan 26 and their website said visas would be available after 7 days. Nine days went by and I still had nothing, I sent two emails and two phone calls over a two week period and I still have no return correspondence to date. I contacted AMEX and explained the situation and they opened a file to investigate this company.

In the mean time I applied to the official Egyptian Government site for visas and I received them this morning. Whew !!!

Now this indicates to me that the other service has not even attempted to apply for the visas. I can't imagine that the government would allow two applications to be in their system. What also worries me is that they have all my personal information since I had to download a copy of my passport for the application, and they have $148 of my money.

I hope by posting this that I can help others not make the same mistake that I made.

I strongly suggest getting your visa before you leave. When we arrived in Cairo, the line to get visas was very long. I'm really glad we already had ours.