Protests in Cairo

[Hawaiidan]

With that attitude, why not choose a wonderful resort and enjoy it while saving lots of money :D

Then again, to each their own. :)

 

Because I like ships and being on the sea..any sea any ship. From decades of business travel, I have had my fill of hotels...luxury to dives. They all are hotels... smell like hotels, feel like hotels and act like hotels..

 

I have never found a resort, anywhere on earth, that comes even remotely close to the atmosphere and feel of a ship.

 

Ships may be hotels, but they travel, you can feel them pitch and roll and the scenery changes hourly; the smell of the salt..

 

In a hotel your stuck in the same place day after day...

[wripro]

I repeat my suggestion. Why not simply do TAs with practically all sea days? You'll even save money.

[Hawaiidan]

I like cruises with as many sea days as possible.more is always better.

 

Love the South Pacific for that reason 36 day..with 11 ports and as many as 7 days in a row at sea..out of sight of land. Yes ! and many days of 2 to 3 days between ports. Or trans atlantic and pacific too. 54 days 23 of them at sea. I used to sail off shore boat.. where its weeks between anything !

These cruises seem to attract others of a similiar ilk:D and it makes for a wonderful experience as compared to port intensive cruises..port-port-port.

 

But you enjoy what you like....ship time is what I pay for, not ports

[hlsgolf]

I've been to Egypt and I wouldn't do it as part of a cruise in the first place. The ship surely docks in Alexandria which is a real drive from Cairo. Likely the issues are confined to Cairo (Giza is just across a bridge so consider it all Cairo) and won't have much impact up the Nile in Luxor for example.

So, if you miss the port, perhaps you can go there some other time on a tour that will take you to visit Cairo/Giza and then put you on a river boats to sail up the Nile (I went with Big 5 and got a private tour with a driver and guide and it was terrific and worth every penny)

[Jancruz]

What I don't understand is going on a cruise that visits Egypt and then staying on board for "sea days." Why bother? Just cancel and to a TA where sea days make sense.

 

At this point they are in major penalties..

Jancruz1

[Mexfolkart]

We are on the MS Sunray sailing from Luxor on 11/15. We will wave.....maybe they will combine our two trips!!! We are still hoping

to go..it should resolve itself there in 2 months!

Sherry & Kimber

[wripro]

Jancruz,

 

I was speaking more of a mentality than of the current booking. He obviously knows he prefers sea days so why not just book a TA to begin with?

[Hawaiidan]

Not according the State dept, warnings, The Gaza, The entire Sinai, border regions are high danger. You need a permit fromEgypt to travel even to these regions...

 

Active terrorist activity between Cairo and Luxor..reported by State Dept

 

US evacuating all non essential personnel and families... Read the report! and assements... and tourist areas are now the focus for targeting American and Canadian... or any one that looks like them.

 

This is hard ball.........big league stuff...its far bigger than just Cairo

 

I have yet to confirm, but heard a report that the Nile cruises are stopping too. along with all major shipping/cruise lines

[PJames]

I notice that Canada closed its embassy:

http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-1-132419-Canada-shuts-embassies-in-Cairo-Tripoli-Khartoum

 

Hopefully, our Princess cruise will NOT avoid Egypt:

http://www.gummy-stuff.org/Princess.htm

 

I notice that Dallas had 148 murders in 2010.

Cairo has 10x the population.

Should I expect 10x the number of violent deaths?

How about 10x the number of violent "incidents"?

Are American cities safer?

 

Aaah, life is a gamble, eh?

[A Knitter]

I notice that Canada closed its embassy:

http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-1-132419-Canada-shuts-embassies-in-Cairo-Tripoli-Khartoum

 

Hopefully, our Princess cruise will NOT avoid Egypt:

http://www.gummy-stuff.org/Princess.htm

 

I notice that Dallas had 148 murders in 2010.

Cairo has 10x the population.

Should I expect 10x the number of violent deaths?

How about 10x the number of violent "incidents"?

Are American cities safer?

 

Aaah, life is a gamble, eh?

 

2012 statistics show US population 314,390,000 and Canada 34,920,720, okay?

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I notice that Canada closed its embassy:

http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-1-132419-Canada-shuts-embassies-in-Cairo-Tripoli-Khartoum

 

But just for the day, it should be noted.

 

2012 statistics show US population 314,390,000 and Canada 34,920,720, okay?

 

And your point being?

[YoHoHo]

The average per-capita coffee consumption in Sweden in 1968 was 1.32 lbs.

Hey, this unrelated statics thing is fun! Maybe it should be moved to the Floataway Lounge

[A Knitter]

I notice that Canada closed its embassy:

http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-1-132419-Canada-shuts-embassies-in-Cairo-Tripoli-Khartoum

 

But just for the day, it should be noted.

 

[/QUOT

 

And your point being?

 

Whatever his point was. Egypt has a population of 82,000,000. US is 4 times the poulation of Egypt and we are 9 times the population of Canada. This thread is about the protests in Egypt not the crime in a US city. That is my point.

[jpalbny]

From our TA today:

 

Per A&K, it's business as usual as of September 16th. They were able to go as planned with a tour that left this week. They have six offices in Egypt and one is within walking distance of the "protest area". All is calm and back to normal.

 

Guess we'll keep watching, but no indication that tours are being canceled yet. Obviously, this could change at any time *fingers crossed*...

[Royalco]

Although I will have to put off seeing the pyramids at another time, I am glad that Oceania made the decision not to stop in Egypt. It does seem that things calmed down in Cairo, but it can easily flare up again as the protests are not over.

I certainly do not want to be on a tour bus somewhere between Cairo and Port Said with the uncertainty that we will be safe. It is bad enough that the tour buses go under heavily armed guards in "normal" times. I have been told, although not confirmed, that Egypt is now using small buses (twenty passengers) as oppossed to the larger 40+ passenger buses. This way, if a bus is attacked, the loss of life would be less. A scary thought. However, in the end it probably is not more dangerous than going to the movies or supermarket in the US and get gunned down.

[pacheco18]

We had booked the A & K trip to Egypt for Jan 2012. When the fighting erupted we cancelled and booked a safari instead.

 

Personally, I would not go to Cairo at this time and I am not a fearful person. We hope to see a part of Egypt (Luxor) on our April cruise but that's pretty far from where the trouble is. There are plenty of great places to go in the world without stepping into known turmoil. I can wait.

[azevedan]

There's a thread under the Africa/Middle East Ports of Call that people might find interesting.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1708720

 

The thread was started by someone who was in Egypt on an A&K land tour during the recent protests. The group had no problems whatsoever. We were there (on the same tour, coincidentally) in March of this year, and also had no problems whatsoever. The people of Egypt were very happy we were there, and wanted to talk to us. As a 'plus' (for us, not the Egyptians), the sites were far less crowded than during the times of high tourism.

 

We had had our Egyptian stop pulled the year before on a cruise and ended up doing a land tour. I'm glad it worked out that way - we had a much better and longer time in Egypt.

 

I'm not telling anyone to be outside his or her comfort zone. I will point out that much of the best stuff (Luxor, Abu Simbel) is far away from Cairo. And even in Cairo, it's a huge city. The embassies are not near the tourist sites. That being said, certainly nothing is a guarantee. Another advantage of a small land tour is that you do set a lower profile with better flexibility.

 

My $0.02.

[jpalbny]

 

The thread was started by someone who was in Egypt on an A&K land tour during the recent protests. The group had no problems whatsoever. We were there (on the same tour, coincidentally) in March of this year, and also had no problems whatsoever. The people of Egypt were very happy we were there, and wanted to talk to us. As a 'plus' (for us, not the Egyptians), the sites were far less crowded than during the times of high tourism.

 

We had had our Egyptian stop pulled the year before on a cruise and ended up doing a land tour. I'm glad it worked out that way - we had a much better and longer time in Egypt.

 

I'm not telling anyone to be outside his or her comfort zone. I will point out that much of the best stuff (Luxor, Abu Simbel) is far away from Cairo. And even in Cairo, it's a huge city. The embassies are not near the tourist sites. That being said, certainly nothing is a guarantee. Another advantage of a small land tour is that you do set a lower profile with better flexibility.

 

My $0.02.

 

Well put. We're thinking along these lines and hoping for a similar experience.

[Mexfolkart]

JP..all good to hear..we are still hoping to get to go in November!

Sherry