Guided Tours Israel

[ALANG]

I would appreciate any recent experiences with Alon and Michelle of Guided Tours Israel. Thanks in advance.

 

Alan

[Marie-Claude]

I'm also interested in any first hand experiences with Guided Tours Israel, as I have also booked two tours with them for next November.

 

I have found them to be extremely friendly, informative, and patient with all my questions. If the tours are as good as the service they provided so far, I'm sure we'll have a great time!

 

MC

[cruisin'tex]

I would appreciate any recent experiences with Alon and Michelle of Guided Tours Israel. Thanks in advance.

 

Alan

 

Just returned from 11 night eastern Med cruise with Ashdod port. Booked in advance with Guided Tours for Jerusalem/Bethlehem. All correspondence with Alon was helpful and prompt. There were 10 people on our tour and our Jerusalem guide was Ikey. He was very :) good and provided a lot of information on sights - wailing wall, stations of the cross, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Church of Gethsemane, etc.

 

However, Bethlehem was a :( disappointment. Since Israelis cannot enter Bethlehem, we were transferred to another van with a driver and guide. However, when we reached the Church of the Nativity, the 'guide' informed us that he wasn't an official guide and therefore couldn't take us into the church without permission. He left us standing in front while he went inside to get permission. When he took us into the church, he provided no history of the structure. In addition, he said we couldn't see the Grotto of the Nativity because the wait would be three hours (not sure how he estimated the time since the line wasn't that long). So he herded us through a side entrance and back outside where we boarded our van. From the church, we were driven to a shop to see a 'vase that held the Dead Sea scrolls' and then spent an additional 45 minutes there in order to shop. I would much rather have spent that 45 minutes waiting to see the grotto. The others on our tour had the same opinion. When our guide realized that we were all done and huddled into groups talking, he called Ikey to arrange our transfer back to Jerusalem.

 

So a word of advice: if you book with Guided Tours, find out what you'll see in Bethlehem and if you'll actually have an official guide.

[Marie-Claude]

Thanks Cruisin'Tex!

 

Glad to hear about your experience, but sad about your not-so-great experience in Bethleem.

 

In fact, Alon suggested that we skipped Bethleem for the reasons you've outlined in your post. He strongly suggested that we went to the Dead Sea instead. So that's what we'll do, and your experience reinforce our decisions, so thank you for sharing!!

 

MC

[hobein]

Thanks Cruisin'Tex!

 

Glad to hear about your experience, but sad about your not-so-great experience in Bethleem.

 

In fact, Alon suggested that we skipped Bethleem for the reasons you've outlined in your post. He strongly suggested that we went to the Dead Sea instead. So that's what we'll do, and your experience reinforce our decisions, so thank you for sharing!!

 

MC

Hi everyone!

I booked with Alon at Guided Tours Israel for our upcoming cruise in May. We have a group of 6 from our Roll Call. Alon has been very helpful and when I specifically asked about problems when visiting Bethlehem he gave me the similar advice: The line to get into the Church of the Nativity can be very long and other than the stands on Manger Square, there really isn't anything else there to tour and yes, the Israli Guide is not allowed into the palistinian areas to they have co-op guides that take over that portion of the tour. Alon wrote that the Dead Sea is about a 34-40min drive from Jerusalem. We opted to go there instead too.

 

Thanks Cruisin' Tex for posting your experience, sorry it was such a bad one. I originally planned on going to Bethlehem too but after reading Alon's advice and your experience I feel much better about my decision to go to the Dead Sea instead.

[cruisin'tex]

Hi everyone!

I booked with Alon at Guided Tours Israel for our upcoming cruise in May. We have a group of 6 from our Roll Call. Alon has been very helpful and when I specifically asked about problems when visiting Bethlehem he gave me the similar advice: The line to get into the Church of the Nativity can be very long and other than the stands on Manger Square, there really isn't anything else there to tour and yes, the Israli Guide is not allowed into the palistinian areas to they have co-op guides that take over that portion of the tour. Alon wrote that the Dead Sea is about a 34-40min drive from Jerusalem. We opted to go there instead too.

 

Thanks Cruisin' Tex for posting your experience, sorry it was such a bad one. I originally planned on going to Bethlehem too but after reading Alon's advice and your experience I feel much better about my decision to go to the Dead Sea instead.

 

 

Our original plan was to do Jerusalem/Dead Sea but we were only ones interested in that itinerary. Alon assured me that others would join that tour. I knew he already had 4 booked for Jerusalem/Bethlehem. So about a month prior to cruise (and not hearing anything from Alon about additional J/DS participants), I switched tours. Turns out there were 10 us on our excursion and no one going to J/DS.

 

If Alon had given me info on what to expect in Bethlehem, I may have just stayed with J/DS and paid for 2 on a private excursion. I knew the Israeli guide would not be allowed to take us into Bethlehem but I assumed we would have a qualified guide (rather that just someone to walk us through the church) on that portion, too. Also, didn't know that the visit to see Dead Sea scrolls urn was a shopping expedition. That was such a waste of what little time we had that day.

[motib]

Our original plan was to do Jerusalem/Dead Sea but we were only ones interested in that itinerary. Alon assured me that others would join that tour. I knew he already had 4 booked for Jerusalem/Bethlehem. So about a month prior to cruise (and not hearing anything from Alon about additional J/DS participants)' date=' I switched tours. Turns out there were 10 us on our excursion and no one going to J/DS.

 

If Alon had given me info on what to expect in Bethlehem, I may have just stayed with J/DS and paid for 2 on a private excursion. I knew the Israeli guide would not be allowed to take us into Bethlehem but I assumed we would have a qualified guide (rather that just someone to walk us through the church) on that portion, too. Also, didn't know that the visit to see Dead Sea scrolls urn was a shopping expedition. That was such a waste of what little time we had that day.[/quote']

 

As I mentioned in another post here that all the Bethlehem part of the tour is problematic.

If you go on an excursion from the cruise company you will probably get a qualified Palestinian guide, since the local Israeli agent won't dare to use one who is not. The thing is that someone has to pay for that guide there, so what usually the agent will do is to close a deal with a local souvenirs shop in Bethlehem, to supply a guide and in return to bring the group to the shop. It is worthwhile to both sides, while the tourist gets a qualified guide without extra cost to the local agent, the shop owner, who pay the guide, get a chance to have some good sales.

Such an agreement is not worthwhile if the group is small, and no shop owner will agree to supply a qualified guide on his expenses for a small group. There for most guides/tour operators, and me too, have contact man in Bethlehem who work independently with the shops, that take our groups free of charge inside Bethlehem, of course along with the "must" visit to the shop, hoping to have some sales and get commissions. It is all fare and legit as long as the guide/tour operator inform the tourist in advance about the whole deal. Personally I make all those things clear in advance to avoid inconvenient later on.

If it makes you feel a little bit better, I can assure you that the qualified guides in Bethlehem are not that great; their guiding way is not my cup of tea. Most of them are putting into the guiding politics issues, trying to explain to the tourist how bad is Israel and how oppressed are the Palestinian by the Israelis and I must admit that along with the time limit, this is a major reason why I suggest one day excursion's tourist not to go into Bethlehem.