Opinions on The Cairo Overland Experience

[traveltilidrop]

Has anyone taken the overnight Cairo overland shore excursion (2 days/one night)? How did you like it, and what was your transportation experience from the port to the various sites visited and then back to the port the next day? Is it worth the money?

[jelayne]

We have not done that but we will be on the Apex and are  doing a overnight in Carib with others from the Roll Call.  Price is less than half of the Celebrity excursion.

 

We were in India a few years ago and left the ship for 2 nights to go to the Taj Mahal.  DH and I arranged our trip through a local company recommended by others on CC

We ended up on the same plane to and from Delhi as the X tour but we had  more time at Agra and Taj, a private driver and guide for the 2 of us.  We paid $1400 for the 2 of us, the ships tour was $2500 pp.  My point is if you can do it by booking yourself with a reputable company you will probably see more, learn more and save a lot of money. 

[Susanb10567]

We are booked next year on this  cruise..trying to figure out what to do….whether private for overnight..overnight with Celebrity or just for the highlights into one day.

[lexmiller]

Timely post for us, thank you!  We are on the Apex October 2023, overnight in Alexandria, and we also are looking hard at the options - whether to overnight in Cairo on the cruise sponsored overnight excursion, or overnight in Cairo via a private company or do one of the ship's one day, 12 hour, excursions which hits all of the must-sees and then the next day, do the ship's Alexandria tour.  Pricing everything out, seems that the ship's overnight hotel stay excursion is on the pricey end, but having the chance to stay in Cairo overnight would be terrific.....still working it all out.....I know that this is a hot topic on our roll call, folks have done the research already, will be weighing everything out.  

[cruisemom42]

Not on Celebrity (but I think all of the ships offer a pretty similar overnight trip to Cairo), we did the overnight experience with Princess about a decade ago -- it was pricey but much less expensive than now.  It was a crammed day and it seemed like we were running behind schedule for most of it -- so if a very late lunch and dinner are going to be a bother to you, keep that in mind. 

 

That said, we fully enjoyed all that we saw and did, including the Khan-al-Khalili bazaar, the pyramids and sphinx, the Citadel, a morning cruise on the Nile, the Egyptian museum and more. There was a sound and lights experience at the pyramids as well, following dinner. Both lunch (at a cafe in the bazaar) and dinner (in the storied Mena House hotel) were good and worth it to know the food was safe.

 

The hotel was also a nice one in downtown Cairo and it was sort of thrilling to have a view of the Nile in the morning with the sun coming up....

 

The main down side being the long bus ride, I can't imagine doing it in both directions in one day will leave you enough time to really experience Cairo.

 

When I've returned to Egypt since then (one two additional cruises) I've done private tours, but not the overland trek again....  However, the reputable tour companies should also do a fine job and maybe even be better at keeping you on schedule and/or seeing more.

[jelayne]

1 hour ago, cruisemom42 said:

Not on Celebrity (but I think all of the ships offer a pretty similar overnight trip to Cairo), we did the overnight experience with Princess about a decade ago -- it was pricey but much less expensive than now.  It was a crammed day and it seemed like we were running behind schedule for most of it -- so if a very late lunch and dinner are going to be a bother to you, keep that in mind. 

 

That said, we fully enjoyed all that we saw and did, including the Khan-al-Khalili bazaar, the pyramids and sphinx, the Citadel, a morning cruise on the Nile, the Egyptian museum and more. There was a sound and lights experience at the pyramids as well, following dinner. Both lunch (at a cafe in the bazaar) and dinner (in the storied Mena House hotel) were good and worth it to know the food was safe.

 

The hotel was also a nice one in downtown Cairo and it was sort of thrilling to have a view of the Nile in the morning with the sun coming up....

 

The main down side being the long bus ride, I can't imagine doing it in both directions in one day will leave you enough time to really experience Cairo.

 

When I've returned to Egypt since then (one two additional cruises) I've done private tours, but not the overland trek again....  However, the reputable tour companies should also do a fine job and maybe even be better at keeping you on schedule and/or seeing more.

Another plus for a private tour is that you can have a smaller group, so the group will move faster. 

[BridgeMates]

In 2012 we were with a private group in a van with overnight stay at the Mena House right next to the pyramids.  The next day the tour ended with a lovely afternoon lunch.  Unfortunately, leaving Cairo we got a bit of a late start and there was a broken water pipe in the city and we got stuck in traffic for quite awhile.  Our driver drove like a madman to get us back to the ship in time and when we got there, the whole ship was outside watching us pull up and drag our little overnight bags on board. 🥹. We laugh about it now but it was quite embarassing!   We knew the ship was going on to Luxor so if we had missed the ship, alternate plan was to drive there.  Fortunately we didn't have to do that.  The locals in most countries do a great job with the tours and at a significantly cheaper price.  

 

[traveltilidrop]

Great advice! Thanks everyone!

[Susanb10567]

9 hours ago, lexmiller said:

Timely post for us, thank you!  We are on the Apex October 2023, overnight in Alexandria, and we also are looking hard at the options - whether to overnight in Cairo on the cruise sponsored overnight excursion, or overnight in Cairo via a private company or do one of the ship's one day, 12 hour, excursions which hits all of the must-sees and then the next day, do the ship's Alexandria tour.  Pricing everything out, seems that the ship's overnight hotel stay excursion is on the pricey end, but having the chance to stay in Cairo overnight would be terrific.....still working it all out.....I know that this is a hot topic on our roll call, folks have done the research already, will be weighing everything out.  

That sounds exactly where I am currently…which date are you sailing …I am on the 10/6/23 cruise…i haven’t checked out the roll call yet…I just booked it when I was on the Edge 9/3 Greece cruise…very excited…will be on the Apex 12/3 as well for the first time

[lexmiller]

13 hours ago, Susanb10567 said:

That sounds exactly where I am currently…which date are you sailing …I am on the 10/6/23 cruise…i haven’t checked out the roll call yet…I just booked it when I was on the Edge 9/3 Greece cruise…very excited…will be on the Apex 12/3 as well for the first time

Hi, Susanb - we are on the sailing right after you, 10/16/23.  We are seriously considering booking the overnight in Cairo with Ramses/Ramasside Tours.  (I am not sure why they are technically two different tour companies and yet, they are actually the SAME tour company, when you study their two websites - same exact phone numbers, etc.).  Several on our roll call have already booked with them.  Still on the fence......their TripAdvisor reviews are excellent and their prices are very good.  And you see a lot.......still on the fence, though.  

[john1970]

We went to Alexandria and booked a private tour with driver and guide for a day to Cairo. It was cheaper than the ship tour and we could customise exactly how we wanted. The ship got stuck in Alexandria due fog so we had no change of missing it!