Private Tour Companies in Alexandria, Egypt

[NOLAcruizer]

I think one reason why they have fewer recommendations is that they have not been around as long as some other established agencies. (Also, they may be a little less aggressive in asking posters to go on CC to recommend them, which I found a little off-putting with some other agencies.....:rolleyes:). However, according to the owner, who I met during lunch in Alexandria, they have been around for about a year now and some of the management comes from the highly-regarded Abercrombie & Kent operations in Egypt.

 

As to itinerary, I would absolutely recommend for a first visit that you spend most of your time in Cairo and overnight there. Cairo is much closer to the iconic things that most first-time visitors want to see -- the pyramids, Sphinx, Cairo Museum, etc. Alexandria is a great city in its own right with a lot of history, but I didn't see it until my third visit to Egypt.

 

If you want more detailed info, just post again and I will be happy to email you.

 

Hi:

I have to agree with the inference that some of the companies actively solicit CC posters for positive feedback. I too am interested in Egypt Private Shore Excursions, and any info that could be shared will be appreciated.

[ChubbyHubby]

We are a group of 6 adults who just returned from Holy Lands Cruise aboard Celebrity Equinox. We booked all private tours at every port. We booked Memphis Tours for our tour from Alexandria to Cairo including pyramids view rooms at Le Meridien Hotel which was quite nice.

 

Marwa Samir at Memphis Tours was always very helpful, booked our entire tour including hotel rooms and everything was exactly as promised at the prices quoted. Tariq our guide spoke very good English and was very responsive to our needs and requests. We had a very nice Toyota 16 passenger Air Conditioned Van for just the six of us so that was very comfortable.

 

The Great Pyramids and Sphinx are spectacular as are the photographs! What a great tour it was!!

 

We are talking about going back again, and we would definitely use Memphis Tours a second time!

[ChubbyHubby]

We are a group of 6 adults who just returned from Holy Lands Cruise aboard Celebrity Equinox. We booked all private tours at every port. We booked Memphis Tours for our tour from Alexandria to Cairo including pyramids view rooms at Le Meridien Hotel which was quite nice.

 

Marwa Samir at Memphis Tours was always very helpful, booked our entire tour including hotel rooms and everything was exactly as promised at the prices quoted. Tariq our guide spoke very good English and was very responsive to our needs and requests. We had a very nice Toyota 16 passenger Air Conditioned Van for just the six of us so that was very comfortable.

 

The Great Pyramids and Sphinx are spectacular as are the photographs! What a great tour it was!!

 

We are talking about going back again, and we would definitely use Memphis Tours a second time!

[Jade13]

However, according to the owner, who I met during lunch in Alexandria, they have been around for about a year now and some of the management comes from the highly-regarded Abercrombie & Kent operations in Egypt.

.

 

http://www.egyptprivateexcursions.com

 

If they come from A&K, that would bevhood enough for me to book with them!

[PROCRUISE]

We returned 10/1/10 from an extraordinary 13 day tour of Egypt with Traveland-Egypt. We have traveled all over the world but this trip was the best organized, best tour guides, best value for the money we've ever experienced. Traveland-Egypt does have an agent in Alexandria for those with a 1-2 day stop when on a cruise ship. If you're looking at all your options you might contact Lesley or Mariana at Traveland-Egpyt and see what is available.

[lady maven]

we just returned from a crystal cruise to alexandria and had a most wonderful experience with cosmos.......ahmed.effat@cosmos.com.eg is the contact, they are most efficient, very reasonable and the tour guide we had was usama othman , a young man (28) very knowledgeble and most congenial. we were 5 in a new 12 passenger van and we were able to see all the sights common for giza including a sunset ride in a fallucca up the nile. my error is that i requested lunch at the mena hotel and the only availablility they had was a buffet lunch.......very limited choice and the cost in our opinion was riduculous ($40 pp), didnt find out the cost till after the meal.....(would've filled our plates) LOL......we only did the 1 day trip since we wanted to see alexandria high lights, which we did w crystal (big mistake).....in hind sight, should've done the overnite in cairo. Ahmed responds immediately and cosmos is a very well known and respected company...........

[fabulousmula]

We booked with Ramses, although we had several emails and a confirmation... they were a no-show. I waited a lifetime to visit and just cried at the pier...THEN...We had the good fortune to meet Mina Wagdy, who was there helping his guests. He called one of his drivers, who got out of bed to come to get us! We had to wait outside of the port, Mina stayed with us while I had tea with the guards! and called Mohammed several times during the day to check on us. We left the port at 10:30 and still managed to have more time at the sites than the ship excursions did. We had the best time with Mohammed. It was even cheaper than we were quoted from Ramses. Ramses quoted us for six people sharing, but we were the only two waiting for them....I can't find the agency on the net, but his email is perladimaretours@hotmail.com. Mina speaks very good English. I wanted to adopt him! PLEASE be prepared for the "excellent driving skills" in Egypt!!! They can drive seven cars in three lanes.....

[manoftheworld]

We have just returned from a fabulous 13 night cruise on Celebrity Equinox which stopped over in Alexandria. We used Ramses Tours. I would highly recommend. We had an air conditioned van, guide and driver. They were excellent. The first day we toured Aleandria and the second day we toured to Cario. Its about a 2.5 hour drive from the ship to Pyramids. Our guide with Ramses was Hosny Abu Klila. He was extremely knowledgable and patient with us and nothing was ever a problem.

 

At the pyramids we wanted a photo with the camels. The vendors were looking $10 per person. Hosny went in behind the front vendors and negotiated photos for nothing. We offer the guy $10 for us all as a token gesture and he would not take it!

 

I could not recommend Ramses highly enough. Email me on mcherry@email.com if you want further advice in Jerusalem, Ephesus, Athens.

 

you said you could recommend a tour operator for a land excursion in athens and Ephesus.

 

many thanks

[manoftheworld]

When we docked in Alexandria, we used Blue Nile tours and had one of the best tours I've ever had at a port. They are a husband and wife and did a great job at a resonable price. If we ever go back to that area, we will definitely use them again!

 

i liked the idea of husband and wife. and i like the idea of family business. can you send me the e.mail of anyone of them

 

many thanks

[manoftheworld]

We booked with Ramses, although we had several emails and a confirmation... they were a no-show. I waited a lifetime to visit and just cried at the pier...THEN...We had the good fortune to meet Mina Wagdy, who was there helping his guests. He called one of his drivers, who got out of bed to come to get us! We had to wait outside of the port, Mina stayed with us while I had tea with the guards! and called Mohammed several times during the day to check on us. We left the port at 10:30 and still managed to have more time at the sites than the ship excursions did. We had the best time with Mohammed. It was even cheaper than we were quoted from Ramses. Ramses quoted us for six people sharing, but we were the only two waiting for them....I can't find the agency on the net, but his email is perladimaretours@hotmail.com. Mina speaks very good English. I wanted to adopt him! PLEASE be prepared for the "excellent driving skills" in Egypt!!! They can drive seven cars in three lanes.....

 

it seems you had a quite different experience and a hard time with Ramses tours than anyone. I'll contact that mohammed and see his availability as i want my tour to be something private.

[BurBunny]

i liked the idea of husband and wife. and i like the idea of family business. can you send me the e.mail of anyone of them

 

many thanks

 

Nile Blue can be reached at info@nileblueexcursions.com

[aqua]

I am disturbed by the experience of fabulousmula. I am wondering what explantion Ramses has for this happening. I am looking at tour operators for next fall and I don't want a similar experience. Fabulousmula,can you please post what you learn from Ramses? Thank you!

[girls5]

We used www.shoretrips.com in Egypt. We were met at the pier and transported the LONG distance to the pyramids. We wanted to go inside the pyramids and our guide was very knowledgeable about this. Only 100 people are allowed INSIDE the pyramids in the morning and 100 in the afternoon. Separate tickets have to be purchased and only go on sale at a specific time. Our guide was wonderful as was our driver. Driving in Egypt is horrendous. I would recommend shoretrips.com any time. We also used them in Naples, Italy, for Capri, Sorrento, and Pompeii. That guide, Nello, was absolutely incredible.

[dog]

Just back from May 18th Star Princess cruise. We booked a private 2 day/overnight tour with egypt private excursions and were extremely pleased with everything. It was wonderful. We had a driver, guide-Samir, an air conditioned, fairly new van that could seat 9 passengers for the 2 of us. The schedule was flexible and to our liking and wishes. Lunch was provided both days. A large bottle of water was bought for each of us on day 1, we also brought water and had a rest stop each way on the 3 to 4 hour drive. It took 3 hours to get from ship to Giza and 4 hours to go from Egyptian museum to Alexandria on return.

Stayed at Mena House Oberoi. It was very nice. H.David booked us in standard room with tour cost of $310US/pp and hotel upgraded us to a pyramid room when we checked in for no extra cost. Buffet breakfast was included with plenty of things you can eat. Still take precautions re: do not drink unbottled water or unpeeled fruit etc.

Guide was excellent and very knowledgeable.

Only incident was in Alexandria parking lot where we saw a man throw a potted plant at car and car chased him, crowd grew, another car started to enter chase (this is in small parking area along waterfront) so our driver got us out of there fast. Otherwise we felt very safe with these 2 Egyptians showing us around. No convoy or armed guards, as we left before buses loaded up and went on our own both ways. I would highly recommend this company as the correspondence was always concise and clearly laid out each time I emailed them.

[Zukini]

Just back from May 18th Star Princess cruise. We booked a private 2 day/overnight tour with egypt private excursions and were extremely pleased with everything. It was wonderful. We had a driver, guide-Samir, an air conditioned, fairly new van that could seat 9 passengers for the 2 of us. The schedule was flexible and to our liking and wishes. Lunch was provided both days. A large bottle of water was bought for each of us on day 1, we also brought water and had a rest stop each way on the 3 to 4 hour drive. It took 3 hours to get from ship to Giza and 4 hours to go from Egyptian museum to Alexandria on return.

Stayed at Mena House Oberoi. It was very nice. H.David booked us in standard room with tour cost of $310US/pp and hotel upgraded us to a pyramid room when we checked in for no extra cost. Buffet breakfast was included with plenty of things you can eat. Still take precautions re: do not drink unbottled water or unpeeled fruit etc.

Guide was excellent and very knowledgeable.

Only incident was in Alexandria parking lot where we saw a man throw a potted plant at car and car chased him, crowd grew, another car started to enter chase (this is in small parking area along waterfront) so our driver got us out of there fast. Otherwise we felt very safe with these 2 Egyptians showing us around. No convoy or armed guards, as we left before buses loaded up and went on our own both ways. I would highly recommend this company as the correspondence was always concise and clearly laid out each time I emailed them.

 

Welcome back, Dog. Sounds like you had a great time with EPE. I hope you'll be putting up a full review of your cruise!

[dog]

[quote name='Zukini']Welcome back, Dog. Sounds like you had a great time with EPE. I hope you'll be putting up a full review of your cruise![/quote]

Thanks Zukini,
I'm enjoying your posts on the Princess board. I am happy to answer questions but will not post reviews.
We did have an excellent trip. Every detail worked out for us as we hoped. The highlight was Egypt with EPE. So glad I followed your lead here and went with them instead of the others, after those communication issues.
The only things we didn't care for were the tour guide re: Princess - City Drive in Istanbul (am) and the mismatched group we ate dinner with in Amalfi late seating. Never had the later happen before, but we didn't let anything ruin this trip for us.
Thanks for all your input on the roll call.