Egypt - Please share cruise experiences

[jmlh]

Hi Texancruzer,

 

So glad to hear you had a great time!! It just sounds fabulous and I am looking forward to reading a more in-depth review when you are over your jet lag.

We are in the process of booking - like tomorrow - very exciting!!!

[Mzhelen]

Denise, we did sort of a "custom" tour with Ramses. Since we were already going to be hitting Giza with Uniworld, and the Egyptian museum, we gave Ramses a list of places that weren't on the Uniworld itinerary: Coptic Cairo, the Alabaster Mosque, the oldest mosque. And we did go to the museum, but made sure our guide took us to the places that normally are not covered in a 1/2 day, such as the animal mummies. They also took us to a restaurant for lunch that oversaw Giza - it took a while to get there, so in retrospect we should have stayed on the other side of town which would have given us a little more time at other places. We also had him do a quick stop at the Hard Rock so I could pick up a pin (I collect them). And we didn't realize that Uniworld would be taking us to a papyrus & essence place in Aswan, so we had Ramses take us there - again, something we could have skipped had we known Uniworld would be doing it.

 

We did go to the Khan el Khalili bazaar, but we did that on our own that night - took a cab from the Marriott & a cab back. Wandered around, did some shopping, had dinner there, etc.

 

Ramses will customize your tour any way you want. I'd spend some time reading guide books and other people's accounts of what they visited, and then compare it to whatever is covered already through any other tour you may be taking, such as thru one of the cruise lines. Then make a list in order of priority of what you want to see, and have Ramses construct a tour to hit those things. Also determine how mobile you are, as well as how much you want to fit into a day. And if you want a sit-down break for lunch or just to pick up take out (with Uniworld we were given that option and chose falafal from a wonderful stand, which gave us an extra hour in the museum to wander around).

 

Mzhelen,

 

I am trying to figure out tours with Ramses Tours right now for our trip next month. What tours did you take, and would you have changed anything or customized it more?

 

Thanks for your input.

 

Denise

 

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We did Uniworld in June. It was fantastic! We went in a day early and arranged a private tour with Ramses for Saturday, then hooked up with Uniworld on Sunday. All the arrangements were handled for us - pick up at the airport, transfers, luggage - couldn't have been easier. The River Tosca is new and very nicely appointed. All the staff were fantastic, the food very good. My only complaint is that I wish we'd booked the longer trip!