Red Sea Magic (first timer!)

[BBASteve]

Hi

 

We are going on the Red Sea Magic cruise in 2 weeks and it's first ever cruise - looking forward to it and this forum has made us even more excited!

 

Can anyone inform me of the possibilities of DIY tours, especially Petra, Dead Sea, Cairo/pyramids and Red Sea diving/snorkeling. Are there any local tour businesses/people who will be there at the ports? Also, I believe the travel times between Ports and Tourist areas can be hours?

 

Any advice would be more than welcome.

[soccerref]

Hi

 

We are going on the Red Sea Magic cruise in 2 weeks and it's first ever cruise - looking forward to it and this forum has made us even more excited!

 

Can anyone inform me of the possibilities of DIY tours, especially Petra, Dead Sea, Cairo/pyramids and Red Sea diving/snorkeling. Are there any local tour businesses/people who will be there at the ports? Also, I believe the travel times between Ports and Tourist areas can be hours?

 

Any advice would be more than welcome.

 

Hi, welcome to the wonderful world of cruising.

We did the Red Sea Magic in April 09 and had a fantastic time. You are correct that Petra, Cairo and Luxor are all very long drives - 2 to 3 hours each way. We chose to do ship's tours to Petra and Cairo (we had been to Luxor the year before so didn't do that trip) because of the distance and our lack of local language skills. We thought they were both good value for what we saw and did. There are oportunities to do things independently but I, personally, like the security of something organised by the ship when going to places that are a long distance from the port.

 

The walk from the visitor's centre at Petra to the ruins is very long (at least a mile) and the return walk is uphill at the hottest time of the day. Do wear lots of sunscreen, a hat and cool clothes and take plenty of water. I would also recommend taking toilet tissue on your trips as it is not always readily available at local facilities which can be a bit primitive (hotel loos are fine).

[jodanuke]

I would also not reccomend DIY trips for this cruise. Yes its a long way to each destination (and well worth it) - and if you go DIY and are late - bye bye boat! :eek:

[its,only,me]

I would really recomend that you do the tours with thomson , they are worth every penny ,hope you enjoy your cruise :)

mrs.c

[iant]

we go in April also first cruise hope you enjoy.

[clavery]

went in feb 2010. all thomson trips great except cairo lunch which was dross, supposidly in a 5 star hotel :mad:, try to get on one of the earlier buses, all trips great value,and go for the snorkelling, class,just cause there were not enough fish we did 3 sites, they had to drag me out of the water,boy did i suffer serious sunburn to my calfs in the following week!!!enjoy you lucky person:D

[History addict]

iant

 

We did this trip in April too - I think it is the perfect time of year for this region as the weather was hot but not unbearably so, apart from the walk back up the hill at Petra.

 

The ship's excursions to Petra and Cairo are great value for money. I wouldn't even consider doing it myself in this region and I don't think you would save much anyhow.

 

Don't forget to carry water with you at Petra - we were gasping by the time we got back to the car park!