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It Is Time To Return To Egypt!!!


cormike1
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Just returned from a river cruise on the Nile with Insight Tours/Spring Tours on the MS Medea. What an amazing trip and an amazing country! We never felt unsafe at all and police/army very visible all over. The people were very nice and we were always treated nicely. Our tour group had 10 people with our amazing Egyptologist/Tour Guide, Ramadan Bassouini leading it. He could read the hieroglyphs and brought the Egyptian history to life with his stories. We actually were able to take group pictures with no one in the background of most of the Sites. There were no line-ups at most places and never any pushing to get you moving along fast. We had time to stand and listen to our guide and take our time going through all the places. Prices were very reasonable and there are bargains to be had. For example...I took a hot air balloon ride over the Valley of the Kings at sunrise for $120. At home it would have cost me about double that. It is good for us right now but sad for the Egyptian people. Sad to see so many ships tied up and not being used, shops closed and their livehoods suffering because of lack of tourists. The scenery sailing the Nile is amazing, the country is a beautiful one and if you look past the garbage problem in Cairo it is a very interesting city. Expect to do a lot of tipping as they are dependant on it and a few dollars is very much appreciated. I was so glad that I finally got to go to my #1 bucket list item. It iexceeded my expectations! If you have any questions, I will be glad to try and answer them.

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Welcome home. Your trip sounds very nice and makes me even more excited to take ours next March.

 

How much local currency did you get and where did you get it? How many USD did you take?

 

Did you get your VISA ahead of going or at the airport? Did you need photos for this?

 

What were your flights from the US to Cairo?

 

Did anyone have any problems with sickness or accidents?

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Did you tip in U.S. dollars or Egyptian Pounds? Did you withdraw money from ATM's?

 

It it helps, I was there earlier this year and tips in either USD, GBP, EUR or EGP will be happily accepted. (try to use clean undamaged USD bills if you can, as a courtesy)

 

 

It is easy to use an ATM as well, but the amount you can withdraw at one time is more limited than we are used to.

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Welcome home. Your trip sounds very nice and makes me even more excited to take ours next March.

 

How much local currency did you get and where did you get it? How many USD did you take?

 

Did you get your VISA ahead of going or at the airport? Did you need photos for this?

 

What were your flights from the US to Cairo?

 

Did anyone have any problems with sickness or accidents?

 

For some reason I was way off in how much money to take. There is a lot of tipping. I brought about 100 U.S. $'s for tipping and used most of it up. You tip the porters, drivers, guides, etc. Our guide that we had for the 10 days was really good with suggesting how much to tip. $2-$5 U.S. seemed to be good depending on what they did for you. Our table waiters were the same for the 10 days and our guide suggested 50EP which is equal to about $3 U.S. as a starting point. I had brought $400EP but would have used just U.S. had I known. I ended up using the ATM in the "Old Cataract Hotel" as we were there for afternoon tea and got out $4000EP. I had to do it twice as $2000EP was the max I could withdraw at one time. At the time $100 U.S. equaled aprox. $1795EP. Insight Tours recommended $4 per day/per person for our tour guide just to give you an idea of that portion of tipping. We had an amazing tour guide, Ramadan Bassouini who was worth way more than that with his knowledge!

 

If there are any Canadians reading this, the Egyptians accept even CDN money and can go to the bank and change it. No loonies or toonies though...no change at all in any currency. We took $5.00 in Cdn coin and gave a waiter the equivalent in EP's.

 

You get your Visa at the airport...it is $25 U.S. cash per person. It is just a sticker they put on a blank page of your passport.

 

We are Cdn's so we flew Montreal/Munich/Cairo return with Lufthansa/Egyptair. Both excellent airlines!

 

Our group of 10 never had any problems with sickness. You drink/brush your teeth with bottled water. Ours was supplied with our tour. Even avoid getting water in your mouth while showering.

 

It is an amazing country and the scenery/sites are worth the long travel time to get there.

 

Be prepared for Cairo - 30 million people live there and 1 million cars drive in the city! They don't recycle so garbage is everywhere including plastic bottles of course. Just overlook that and see the city for what it is....a wonderfully interesting city!

 

You will enjoy it!

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Did you tip in U.S. dollars or Egyptian Pounds? Did you withdraw money from ATM's?

 

We tipped in both. If you withdraw from an ATM it gives you Egyptian pounds, not U.S. At the time $100 U.S. equaled about $1795 EP.

 

50EP equals about $3.00 U.S.

 

If you stay at the Marriott, there are 2 banks right in the hotel where you can change money and there is an ATM right by where the tour bus drops you off.

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No loonies or toonies though...no change at all in any currency. We took $5.00 in Cdn coin and gave a waiter the equivalent in EP's.

 

Need to exercise a little caution when asked to change coins for locals as there is a very well developed trade in using counterfeit coins to trade with tourists...

 

Mostly it has been in UK £1 coins up until now as they were relatively easy to forge and gave a good return in EGP.

 

That may change now due to the complete replacement of all the old £1 coins in circulation in the UK.

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Need to exercise a little caution when asked to change coins for locals as there is a very well developed trade in using counterfeit coins to trade with tourists...

 

Mostly it has been in UK £1 coins up until now as they were relatively easy to forge and gave a good return in EGP.

 

That may change now due to the complete replacement of all the old £1 coins in circulation in the UK.

 

I did not know that Mark. We looked at our coin carefully as we were surprised to see the Cdn money. I have used it since we got home so as far as I know, it was real. I was also surprised to hear that some people leave change....I would never have thought to do that....we were told only paper money.

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I was also surprised to hear that some people leave change....I would never have thought to do that....we were told only paper money.

 

Exactly, most of us don't even take loose change with us to avoid issues at the airport.

 

On the other-hand I wouldn't have thought it was worth the time and effort to forge Canadian coins given the relatively low number of Canadians vs UK tourists they see, so in this case it may have been genuine.

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  • 2 weeks later...

You'll have a great time. At some of the places in the north where tourists are a rarity, we were frequently mobbed

(always friendly and with very apologetic teachers) by school kids and their camera phones, as they were desperate to take selfies with us, especially those with blonde hair :)

 

We always felt safe, everywhere, and the Egyptian government went to great lengths to ensure that, with ever present, but never in the way, police and military escorts.

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Yes we felt very safe at all times and would not hesitate to recommend going right now. I have pictures in the tombs with our group of 10 and no one is behind us....just the hieroglyphs. Amazing to be able to get that type of photo at a main tourist attraction.

 

I have red hair and a lot of young teen girls asked me if they could take selfies. They also practiced their English with us a lot. So polite and friendly. We are in a lot of pictures that is for sure lol.

 

I also brought along a lot of small Cdn. flag pins and handed them to the kids we got pics with and said we were from Canada. They seemed pleased to get them.

 

I just can't say enough about how amazing our trip was and how beautiful Egypt and the people were!

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I tried to do a review about the trip and the ship but because our tour company and ship were not listed I could not submit it. It would not allow me to put in my ship's name. I had to choose one from the list. I sent off a note to the admin. and was told they can't list all ships so therefor no review except what I have written here. Too bad but oh well.

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Greetings from Vancouver Island.

 

Thanks to cormike1 for the original report, and to all the other replies/comments. They are very helpful as I prepare for my Nile cruise with Uniworld in mid-March.

 

I was particularly interested in the Egypt visa process - sounds like it is a non-event. Did anyone notice what hours the visa place is open? My flight arrives in Cairo at 7PM, so I'm assuming I can get a visa then. (Perhaps the visa office is open 24/7?)

 

Also related to the visa - I'm flying Lufthansa from Frankfurt to Cairo so is it safe to assume there are no problems boarding the flight without a visa? (Can't imagine there would be if visas can be issued on arrival.)

 

cormike1 - how long was the balloon flight? It's on my bucket list.

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I was particularly interested in the Egypt visa process - sounds like it is a non-event. Did anyone notice what hours the visa place is open? My flight arrives in Cairo at 7PM, so I'm assuming I can get a visa then. (Perhaps the visa office is open 24/7?)

 

If there are international flights due to arrive the visa kiosk will be open.

 

 

Also related to the visa - I'm flying Lufthansa from Frankfurt to Cairo so is it safe to assume there are no problems boarding the flight without a visa? (Can't imagine there would be if visas can be issued on arrival.)

 

As long as you are traveling on one of the many passports that can use the visa on arrival process you will be fine, but that will have been checked when you boarded your original flight so by the time you get to Frankfurt you know you are good.

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Just received our flight a little while ago. Not great.

 

RDU to JFK to FCO to Cairo

Amman to CDG to RDU coming home. We leave at 1:15 AM to come home.

 

All good seats are gone because Viking waits so long to make the arrangements.

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I did a fairly extensive review on this wonderful cruise after our trip their in February. It’s in the roll call for Uniworld Egypt.

 

A couple of things. Uniworld requests that you get your visa prior to arrival. Reason, 1. They shut down for an hour at lunch and dinner . If you’re in line, they shut down an hour for lunch. One waits until lunch break is over and wait. 2. Many people, particularly Americans consider getting their Visa early a hassle, therefore, the line can get very long. If you have any snafus, you are stuck at the airport.

3. If they are meeting a group of arrivals which all have their visas and clear quickly and you are standing in the line waiting, you will be left at the airport while they take the others to the hotel, then they come back for you.

 

We arrived in Cairo on the Egyptian Air non stop flight from JFK. There ended up being eight of us on that flight with the Uniworld tour. Six of us had our visas, processed through, got our luggage and were delivered to Four Seasons quickly and efficiently. The other couple stood in the Visa request line for over two hours and was brought to the hotel much later. One might get a quick line or one might get caught in a long slow line and wait, perhaps even over their meal time. How lucky are you? Getting the visas early takes Luck out of it.

 

Let me add. Fortunately, they didn’t have luggage problems, because all that time that couple was waiting in line, their luggage was going round and round at baggage claim, then just sat our in the aisle for collection !

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Just received our flight a little while ago. Not great.

 

RDU to JFK to FCO to Cairo

Amman to CDG to RDU coming home. We leave at 1:15 AM to come home.

 

All good seats are gone because Viking waits so long to make the arrangements.

 

For future reference if you pay $50pp for Viking Air Plus you can get reservations 300-330 days in advance and once you ask Viking to ticket you you can choose your seats. We got our December seats in February.

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I did a fairly extensive review on this wonderful cruise after our trip their in February. It’s in the roll call for Uniworld Egypt.

 

 

 

A couple of things. Uniworld requests that you get your visa prior to arrival. Reason, 1. They shut down for an hour at lunch and dinner . If you’re in line, they shut down an hour for lunch. One waits until lunch break is over and wait. 2. Many people, particularly Americans consider getting their Visa early a hassle, therefore, the line can get very long. If you have any snafus, you are stuck at the airport.

 

3. If they are meeting a group of arrivals which all have their visas and clear quickly and you are standing in the line waiting, you will be left at the airport while they take the others to the hotel, then they come back for you.

 

 

 

We arrived in Cairo on the Egyptian Air non stop flight from JFK. There ended up being eight of us on that flight with the Uniworld tour. Six of us had our visas, processed through, got our luggage and were delivered to Four Seasons quickly and efficiently. The other couple stood in the Visa request line for over two hours and was brought to the hotel much later. One might get a quick line or one might get caught in a long slow line and wait, perhaps even over their meal time. How lucky are you? Getting the visas early takes Luck out of it.

 

 

 

Let me add. Fortunately, they didn’t have luggage problems, because all that time that couple was waiting in line, their luggage was going round and round at baggage claim, then just sat our in the aisle for collection !

 

 

 

Hi, How was the Egypt Air flight from JFK? Heard mixed reviews.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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Rumba;

 

We flew Business Class. Undoubtedly the worst BC service I have ever experienced. The seats are angle flat not lie flat, and I kept sliding down. Finally gave up and slept with my feet on the floor to braced myself in.

 

They do not serve alcohol aboard the flight. Many passengers bought their own in the airport and consumed it during the flight.

 

Food and service were poor . Only advantages were (a) a lot cheaper than alternatives; (b) non stop JFK- CAI for the overnight flight. We flew back through LHR with the first leg on Egyptair. Was happy to change over to UA at that point!

 

One big pain. UA doesn’t fly to JFK, so we had to do the EWR to JFK transfer. Then, since we got into JFK early , we had to sit outside of checkin, with our luggage, for several hours waiting for Egyptair to open up.

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Another option for the visa is now available online at: visa2egypt.gov.eg. This just became available within the last week. There is a long discussion on the Egypt forum on TripAdvisor. Most of those folks are reporting success and the cost is the same as on arrival - $25USD. The process after application apparently takes 12 to 48 hours. You print out the visa from an email and keep it with your passport. We're going in January and I plan to apply soon.

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