Voyages to Antiquity, an experience you have to live

[snorkling lady]

Hi Swissmyst,

Fast question - I am on VofA voyage Cairo to Amman. So, have you had any experience in getting a visa at the Cairo airport? I am flying in a day early and will need to get it when I arrive. Also, have you used the shuttle service at the airport?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Cheers,

Lorna

[SwissMyst]

Hi Swissmyst,

Fast question - I am on VofA voyage Cairo to Amman. So, have you had any experience in getting a visa at the Cairo airport? I am flying in a day early and will need to get it when I arrive. Also, have you used the shuttle service at the airport?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Cheers,

Lorna

 

Sorry, my experience with Cairo is several decades old.

 

--Back again after looking at the Egyptian embassy site and it does look like getting your visa in transit to the country is a routine matter these days so they are just using this as a fund-raiser. And since they pass out the forms in the airplanes ahead of time it looks like it will be just one more line to stand in while they let everyone pass through and collect the $20 or so dollars. It sounds like this is an okay thing to do, just a nuisance so unless you don't want to send your passport away to get the visa ahead of time you might make it slightly easier to get it done before arriving. Sorry, no current info for you but either way it looks okay now.

[Ontariotrekker]

Hi Swissmyst,

Fast question - I am on VofA voyage Cairo to Amman. So, have you had any experience in getting a visa at the Cairo airport? I am flying in a day early and will need to get it when I arrive. Also, have you used the shuttle service at the airport?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Cheers,

Lorna

 

What hotel are you staying at in Cairo?? the higer end ones, like V2A uses, always have some kind of deal for airport transfers. Look them up in Trip Advisor and it will tell you... then 1-800 or e-mail to book it. - shar

[snorkling lady]

Thank you Swiss Myst and Shar for your responses. Shar, I am staying at the Le Meridien Pyramids and I will e-mail them asking about transfers. SwissMyst, I am glad to hear that the Egyptian visa process has been simplified. I would rather do it at the airport then send my passport off. It is going to be a great trip!:D

 

Cheers,

Lorna

[newbiej]

My daughter and I were in Egypt in June and it took but a few minutes to get the visa at the airport. Hand them the money and they hand you the visa to place in your passport. That was it. We were happy we hadn't bothered with mailing it in. The tour company we were with said that most people do it this way. Hope you see this before you mail it in.

 

Best wishes for a great trip.

newbiej

[myotis]

Although it is more than a year away, we are excited about our reservations for this 30 day voyage. We had initially planned on sailing on VtA in 2010 but were frightened off by the constant barage of ill will by a small group. Thanks to the additional feedback of many other recent posters we will, God willing, take this voyage in 2011. I will continue to monitor this site and hope that the returning passengers will continue to contribute their experiences here. Bon Voyage to all who will sail before us and thank you to all who have sailed before.

[Livestotravel]

Last night I was leaning over the railing watching the word go by, at Sorrento, when I noticed a lot of activity at the tenders, I saw loads of luggage being poured into the tender and some people getting on. I asked one of the crew next to me what was going on, and to my amazement he was almost in tears saying that "Mam Linda" was leaving the ship. Some more crew showed up and there was an awful lot of waving and some members actually crying! I didn't know what all the fuss was about until one of them clarified that the person leaving the ship, was the operations manager on board. I know the lady personally as I have had a couple of minor issues that I wanted to discuss, and she made herself available to us from day one, taking a personal interest in all the matters we put forth to her.

 

I am pretty concerned that VTA has done away with one of the persons, if not the person, responsible for the turnaround of the quality of this cruise ship. I have already discussed this with some of my new friends onboard and they feel the same way I do. I'll keep you posted on more details, we only have a couple more days to go, so hopefully they won't have much time to mess it up.

 

Curious if you heard any more about Linda - she was the Manager of Operations on my August itinerary and did a magnificent job. I hope she intends to return!

[SwissMyst]

Although it is more than a year away, we are excited about our reservations for this 30 day voyage. We had initially planned on sailing on VtA in 2010 but were frightened off by the constant barage of ill will by a small group. Thanks to the additional feedback of many other recent posters we will, God willing, take this voyage in 2011. I will continue to monitor this site and hope that the returning passengers will continue to contribute their experiences here. Bon Voyage to all who will sail before us and thank you to all who have sailed before.

 

We did the same thing and canceled our Palmyra trip but re-signed up for this trip next year and like the itinerary even better. Only downside now is having to wait so long but it is going to be great, from all reports so far. We too are sorry that early barrage scared us away too, but it also sounds like a lot of changes for the better were made. But also that the "bad" was not nearly as bad as those few posters attempted to portray.

 

Sounds like a gutsy little company and we have enjoyed the MV Discovery which had similar parentage and cruising intent - education and enrichment and off the beaten track. Yippee, here we come!

[myotis]

Yes, I agree the 2011 itineraries seem to have been fine tuned. Also hotel stays are a plus. Nice to hear you will also be on the Palmyra voyage. Till next year then.

[moonlightshadow]

Curious if you heard any more about Linda - she was the Manager of Operations on my August itinerary and did a magnificent job. I hope she intends to return!

 

 

I couldn't find out any more information from the crew in my last two days on board. I just hope that she'll be back for my cruise next year, because the new guy who took over from her in Sorrento is a mad greek that shouts at the poor crew in front of us passengers!

[SwissMyst]

I couldn't find out any more information from the crew in my last two days on board. I just hope that she'll be back for my cruise next year, because the new guy who took over from her in Sorrento is a mad greek that shouts at the poor crew in front of us passengers!

 

Sounds like he will last two seconds. I hope this incident got reported. Or, even stood up to when it was happening.

 

And it also sounds like the company will move heaven and earth to get Linda back, or someone just as good. The poor girl probably needed a rest. A 24/7 life on a ship is no five day a week, 8 hour a day job. So even a few months on a ship is like working a full year with no vacation.

[joni808]

Thank you again, SwissMyst, for your words of wisdom. Your suggested site of (onebag) is loaded with useful tips. I have some tee-shirts I got as souvenirs from different countries; now may be the perfect time to put them to use.

 

With regards to Lorna's question of the Egyptian visa, $199 later, my passport was returned to me with the multiple entry Egyptian visa within a week of my mail request round trip from Hawaii to California. Since I am using my frequent flyer miles and arriving at midnight by myself and not with the group, I was trying to minimize any delays and problems. It is certainly much more economical to purchase the visas upon arrival at the airport.

 

Another question which came to mind is regarding electrical adapters and converters. Both being British owned cruise lines, are the plug adapters and converters the same for both MS Discovery and the Agean Odyssey, and what are they? To keep the weight down, I would like to bring only what is necessary. Please advise. I am also considering bringing my lap computer, as I will be spending a month in California upon my return. Is there wireless available in certain parts of the ship, or does one have to use only their computers in order to do emails?

 

I will be on the MS Discovery the first two weeks in November; however, I look forward to meeting those of you who will be on the Agean Odyssey from November 21 to December 5. I am excitedly looking forward to this great adventure!!

 

Joni

[SwissMyst]

Discovery had two outlets at the desk. 110 and 220 with An EU double prong outlet and one where the TV plugged in which we unplugged because we did not watch it that was also 220.

 

The in room hair dryer used the 220 out let and I got a great multiple plug outlet from Magellens online travel store for extra 110 plugs which also included a USB outlet for my Ipod recharger.

 

So if you have dual voltage appliances, you will just need to bring the plug adapter for a standard EUs type outlet and not a UK one which I think we were told we would need, but did not.

 

Yes, I believe there were wireless hot spots on the ship but they ere so slow to be almost unusable and we did not use the ship computers but looked for E cafes in our ports. They had tech support persons that put on classes and lectures about all of this who were always helpful if you had any personal questions about your own set up. But they too were found in the E cares on land in the ports for any serious Internet work.

[cruisemom42]

It is VERY easy to get a visa in Egypt at the airport. It took me all of about 5 minutes to do so. They are open all hours as there are flights arriving from international destinations throughout the day and night in Cairo. I am sorry I wasn't able to reply in time for one previous poster, but hopefully for the second one who asked, it's not too late. You do not need to go through an expediter and spend a lot of money. Just get it in Cairo airport. Worst case scenario, if you are the last off the plane, is that you may have to wait in line for a few minutes first.

 

So, it seems like we are getting quite a group together for the Nov 21 cruise -- that's exciting!! For a while there I thought I might be the only one on the ship after all the early bad reviews came out.

[joni808]

SwissMyst, if you aren't already, you should be a travel writer! I found myself with some time and started reading some of the MS Discovery threads. Lo and behold, you have several very comprehensive and informative articles, which I made copies to help me prepare for my Discovery cruise. Thank you for those, as well, as the Agean Odyssey articles; I find them absolutely essential to familiarizing myself with both cruises in advance.

 

I now have the proper plug adapter ready to be packed, but locally in Hawaii and also a few web sites,I am having some difficulty finding a hand held currency converter calculator for purchase. With the progress of the cell phones, this may not be a popular item to sell anymore. I wasn't planning to keep my basic cell phone charged while abroad and planned to use it only when I returned to the US. Not having traveled for over ten years, I don't even know what Euro money looks like, and each country had their own form of currency with the currency converter calculator being an almost indispensable item for tourists visiting several countries on the same trip.

 

I thank everyone who has contributed to these articles and am so grateful for having found such a wonderful, helpful, and sharing cruise site. I try to check this site whenever I find myself with some spare time.

 

Joni

[snorkling lady]

My daughter and I were in Egypt in June and it took but a few minutes to get the visa at the airport. Hand them the money and they hand you the visa to place in your passport. That was it. We were happy we hadn't bothered with mailing it in. The tour company we were with said that most people do it this way. Hope you see this before you mail it in.

 

Best wishes for a great trip.

newbiej

 

Thank you! That helps a lot and simplifies how to get a Visa. I really did not want to mail my passport, if not necessary.

Cheers and happy cruising to you.

Lorna

[cruisemom42]

By the way, I just revived the roll call thread I started a few months back for the Nov 21 2010 sailing, if anyone wants to join in:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1214011

[joni808]

I am so looking forward to this cruise, and I would love to join in with you and the others who will be sharing in this wonderful cruise experience. Not only will it be fun and helpful to possibly share in knowledge and resources in any way possible, but it is especially exciting to know that it is very likely that we will all be able to meet in person.

 

Cynthia, thanks for re-activating your thread for this particular cruise. I am so very excited, and I truly feel very upbeat about this cruise!!

 

Joni