Red Sea Magic

[merciaman]

Just returned from a fantastic week on the Celebration.The service was up to the usual standards and the weather was amazing. They are having a heatwave at the moment, it was 34 degrees plus for the last three days. We did the hotel transfer on the first day in Aqaba just to unwind,the hotel was lovely with a very quiet private beach. We obviously did Petra and were not disappointed,an amazing experience. The Cairo trip was a long day and IMHO too much was crammed into it. We paid £64.00 extra to visit the mummy room and then were told we had 1 hour in which to look around it,fight our way back to the King Tut exhibition and get back to the bus. We then had 30 mins to visit the Sphinx and it took 10 mins queueing to get there and the same back. The entertainment was good on board although we felt the male singers werent quite as good as last year. Unfortunately we probably wont do the trip again as we could not face Sharm el Sheik airport again,both arriving and departing was a complete nightmare. Where your cases came out was total guesswork on arrival. On departure their definition of leaving on time was 1 hour late and then they were boarding two different flights through the same gate at the same time! Be warned.

[its,only,me]

Thanks for that merciaman , looks like we are going to have to slap on the sunblock :cool: :cool: the airport sounds a bit of a free for all :(

mrs.c

[ciderboy]

I have also just returned from a cruise (celabration) and stay and can only echo what Merciaman has said.

 

The airport is a complete nightmare with people telling you to get visa's on arrival you dont want and the departure the lounge is NOT big enough for the amount of people who are there. You wont get a seat or floor space to sit so standing is the only option and that will be in one spot. We stood for over 4 hours and as others have said having 3-4 flights go out of one gate is the norm so keep asking to whether you are in the right que, because to hear someone has got on the wrong plane ......I cant say I'm surprised!!

 

The cairo museum is a bit of a nightmare as far as the guide goes .......You arrive at the Museum along with several other coachs to be handed headsets to wear to listen to the guide talking about the exhibits which if you get too far from her/him you will not pick up the reception from the headset. There's too many people there at one time ......They should split the tour so that some do the pyramids first and other do the musuem in the afternoon.

 

If you do the museum get your own mummy tickets they will be cheaper amd its easy to get them dont listen to the guide she on the 'make'

[merciaman]

Ciderboy I agree about the Mummy rooms as long as the queues arent too long which they werent when we were there.I think most people like us bought tickets on the coaches for a 60% mark up.Also if anybody buys tickets at the museum be aware that only local currency is taken. 100 E pounds each.

[ciderboy]

Hi merciaman,

 

Yes exactely right about the Huge mark up on the Mummy tickets.

 

We as you were convince by our guide that there would be long ques and time was of a premium so had to borrow some money as we had taken only a small amount as we were advised at the pre excursion meeting to take only a small amount of money because of pick pockets.

But when we got to the entrance to the mummy's exhibit (inside the museum) there was nobody queing at all.

 

We had a enough time to get around them and also go and see the animal mummies and others down the other end, which your ticket entittled you to see

 

Its true to say that I would have liked another hour in the museum to be able to get around at a slower pace, but I saw the main exhibits that I went to see.......be it liken to a football crowd entering a stadium at the start of the museum and the head-sets are a bit of a joke

 

Hopefully people will read our threads and make their own minds up and maybe a little wiser!!

[its,only,me]

Thanks for that it,s great to have some info before you go :)

mrs.c