De Castro Tours in Egypt

[n2chocola8]

We are planning a trip to the Holy Land that includes Egypt. We are thinking of leaving the ship and spending the night in Cairo and then rejoin the ship the next day to save time while in port. Has anyone used De Castro Tours and can you please give me some feedback on them?

 

Thank you!

[slgjhg]

Hi All,

 

Yes, we used Decastro in the fall of 2004. There were two different groups of us who used them after much research and the use of these boards. If you would like the read two different threads about our experience simply scroll down on this board to the thread titled "Egypt and India". Also on the second page of this board is a thread titled "Independent Tours in India and Egypt" which I posted after our return.

 

The bottom line. They did a spectacular job for all of us. My husband and I were off the ship for a total of four nights because we flew to Aswan and Abu Sembal.

 

Good luck with you planning and your trip. If you have other questions, I'll try to help.

 

Regards,

 

Shannon

[Saga Ruby]

I have scanned most of their Website and cannot find anything but phone numbers and street addresses.

 

Did any of you book by email? How did you accomplish your booked tours? At this time, their Website shows no day trips to Luxor or Aswan.

 

Any thoughts you have will be greatly appreciated.

 

Ruby

[slgjhg]

Hi Saga Ruby and All,

 

Yes both groups from our ship booked everything over the internet. I believe in one of Barbara's posts she cut and pasted much of Moustafa's, the man we worked with, itinerary for their group of 4 or 5 couples.

 

I went back through my files and found this email address for him. He can probably put together anything you want. He is based in Cairo, but had a driver and guide for us in Alexandria, Assistant in Cairo to escort us to the airport for our flight to Aswan, Assistant to meet us in Aswan with guide for tours there. This same person and driver met us to take us to the airport for our flight to Abu Simbal, met us at the airport upon return and took us back to the airport the next morning for our flight to Luxor. Another Assistant met us with a driver in Luxor to take us to our hotel, picked us up the next morning to join the police escort to cross the desert and rejoin the ship.

 

The email address I used was moustafamouradus@yahoo.com. Good luck with your planning and I hope this helps.

 

Regards,

 

Shannon

[cadreamer]

Please tell me if you were successful in contacting De Castro Tours and if you used them for your tour. Thanks.

[Saga Ruby]

Please tell me if you were successful in contacting De Castro Tours and if you used them for your tour. Thanks.

 

Check out my comments on the other "Independent Tours in Egypt" thread. To answer this particular question, DeCastro did answer my email after Moustafa returned from holiday. And they have sent follow-up emails since July in a pleasant way.

 

Since "talking" to you on the other thread, I have decided to pursue a booking with DeCastro. Unfortunately, Champion has $531 charged to my MasterCard and it will be interesting to see if they refund the amount. Champion was okay to deal with as long as you went along with their "cookie cutter" tours and my wishes and wonts are outside of their tourist template.

 

DeCastro has paid attention to my original inquiry and answered specifically to my request.

 

Tell me how your plans turn out. Because of Champion Tours, planning the Egyptian segment of my Middle East tour has been by far and away the most negative. Turkey, Dubai, and India were a snap in comparison.

 

Ruby

[slgjhg]

Hi All,

 

Not to be boring but use the search key and look at what great service these people provide. You can read at length on this site about how wonderful they are. We could not have been more pleased and we were off our ship and with them for five days and four nights.

 

Regards,

 

Shannon

[snoopyontrinity]

We have just made a booking with De Castro for an overnight trip to Luxor from Safaga and a day trip to Cairo from Alexandria.

If the trips are half as good as the prompt and efficient service we have received during booking, then we'll be happy.

Soliman, a senior consultant with them, has responded quickly and in detail to all our questions. Paying the 25% deposit was easy - TT into their bank account.

[lifeisbeautiful]

We were on the Norwegian Jewel which docked in Alexandria on Oct 1 and had arranged with Moustafa of DeCastro Tours to do an overnight in Cairo with sight-seeing of all the major tourist spots that one could reasonably do in a day and a half.

 

Our experience was outstanding and DeCastro was very professional and met the obligations they outlined in the itinerary. There was another group of four people who had booked with DeCastro on the same ship and my wife and I had booked separately. We were taken in two different mini-vans with different guides which puzzled us since it would have been more cost effective for DeCastro to just bundle us together. I asked about this and was told that since the bookings were separate, the company wanted to meet its obligation and keep the bookings separate even though the itineraries were approximately the same. So each group had its own guide.

 

Our guide spoke excellent English and was an Egyptologist who was well versed in the historical and cultural aspects of the sights we were taken to see. About the only hitch was when the van we were in broke down on the way to Cairo from Alexandria. The driver contacted the other van - carrying the other four passengers - and they picked us up within about 15 minutes and once we reached Cairo we were transferred to a separate replacement van.

 

We were put up for the night at the 5 star Meridian Pyramid Hotel where passengers who booked through the cruise line also stayed. All in all it was a great experience and we got to see more than the passengers who booked through the cruise ship with a personal guide which made things a lot more informative and interesting - and at a substantial savings!!

[bubbachief]

Hi-- We will be on the Jewel next May and are thinking of doing the same tour you did through De Castro. Can you give us an idea of what your costs were and did you take the vanilla tour or did you customize it. Anything we should'nt miss? John and Jo Wiltse

[lifeisbeautiful]

If the itinerary on your cruise next May is similar to ours, time limitations will necessitate what you are able to see. It takes about 3 hours each way from Alexandria to Cairo and so that is a fair chunk of time that you would lose just in the commute to and fro.

 

We saw the Pyramids at Giza, the Sphinx, Sakharra and the mosque at the Citadel the first day after reaching Cairo at about 11:30 am. This included the lunch stop which was included in the price for the tour. After checking into the hotel at about 5:30 pm, they picked us up at 7:15 to take us for a dinner Nile cruise which lasted from 8 to 10. The dinner was mediocre but the cruise by night was pleasant and the entertainment which included a belly dancer, etc was interesting. We were then provided a night tour of Cairo lasting about an hour - though we cut it short by 15 minutes or so because we were exhausted.

 

The following day we were picked up at 8:15 and taken to the museum which opened at 9 am and so we were one of the first people in the museum - well before the tour groups began. Our guide took us directly to the King Tut section and we were able to view the exhibits at leisure before the tour groups arrived about 45 mins later. Once that occurs, it is a mad house. We spent about another hour viewing some of the other exhibits - in sections that were not air conditioned and so it was rather stuffy and warm.

 

We also visited a shop that sells essential oils - we were there for about 20 mins. I guess the tour operators get a commission for bringing tourists to the shop.

 

Whether you use DeCastro or not, be wary of going with the ship tours because the cost is almost double what it would cost through an outfit like DeCastro and you are bunded in groups of about 40 people and whisked through a lot of the areas very quickly. We heard quite a few complaints on board about the inadequacy of the ship tours in Cairo. Keep in mind that about 2000 people from the ship took the tour and so there were a fleet of buses with the same itinerary.

 

We heard about another privately organized tour - not DeCastro - which headed to Luxor by overnight sleeper train and spent the day there and flew back to Alexandria - not sure what that cost but Luxor and the Valley of Kings is apparently quite phenomenal. I don't know what the rest of the itinerary was for this group.

 

BTW, we also did a private tour of Ephesus and the House of the Virgin Mary at Izmir - again a guided tour for just the two of us. This was done with a tour company called Ekols. Again, top notch in every way and at less than it cost had we done the ship tour.

 

Finally, if you can do so, take the time to spend a few extra days in Istanbul. Turkey as a whole is just wonderful and Istanbul is amazing. We spent almost 6 days there and wish we had a couple more days so that we could have fitted in a visit to Cappadocia.

[bubbachief]

Lifeisbeautiful-- Thanks for the info. I think we have decided to use De Castro. Their price seems reasonable and covers the things we want to see. Glad you had a good time. How was the Jewel?

[travelerjoyce]

We were part of the other 4 in the other van that Lifeisbeautiful mentioned.(hello T and K from J and J) We also give very high marks to DeCastro,( we worked with Sulliman instead of Mustafa,) with a couple of exceptions: if anyone in your group is a shopper, the stops at the papyrus place and the carpet school, which are supposed to be 15 minutes, they'll stay there an hour and you will be tight for time the 2nd day. We got stuck in Cairo rush hour and they got us back to the ship at the exact minute we were required to be there, a half hour before scheduled departure time and an hour and a half later than we were scheduled to be back. This was just too tight for us, very stressful. Also be aware that the two DeCastro employees who pick you up in Alexandria do not speak any english, your english guide is picked up in Cairo. DeCastro requires you to send a 25% bankwire which your bank will charge a $30 to $40 fee for and usually must be done in person but we certainly felt it was worth it for the excellent service and personal attention. Our guide was exceptional and we were would use them again in a heartbeat with the carpet school and papyrus places eliminated or restricted to a quick look, be assertive.

[Gabgab]

I looked at the De Castro website and I can not find any 2 day one night tour package of Cairo. Am I just blind or do I have to e-mail them to make this package for me?

[Trece]

I've been communicating with Moustafa at DeCastro but am curious about others' experiences with the timing of his responses. I guess when I've planned tours in the past (for many years) I've been accustomed to fairly brisk communication back & forth, but sometimes with Moustafa I've gotten responses in maybe 48 hours & other times it takes substantially longer for a response. Everyone speaks so highly of this company that I'm anxious to use them, but the communication is a tad slow for me, unless this has been everyone else's experience as well and my concern is needless. Any thoughts would be appreciated!

[EASYTRAVEL777]

Trece

 

I also have been in contact with Moustafa at DeCastro for several months.

Very prompt responses until Nov and Dec, then very slow. But he has always responded! Very informative and helpful also.

[Trece]

Easytravel - I started with him in November so I guess the slowness is all I've ever known :D . We leave in a little over a month and frankly I'm getting a little aggravated. When do you plan to use him and do you have all your details & pricing worked out? I'm about ready to jump ship (no pun intended), which is unfortunate.

[slgjhg]

Easytravel - I started with him in November so I guess the slowness is all I've ever known :D . We leave in a little over a month and frankly I'm getting a little aggravated. When do you plan to use him and do you have all your details & pricing worked out? I'm about ready to jump ship (no pun intended), which is unfortunate.

Hey,

 

Just stopped by the board. we used him in 2004 for five nights off the ship and a very complicated itinerary. You can easily do searches and read all the details. Bottom line, this company did a fabulous job for at least 16 passengers on our ship, doing different things. They were superb and remember there are substantial time and language differences.

 

If you decide to stay with DeCastro and Mustafa, I cannot imagine that you will not be more than satisfied. He did a great job for all of us.

 

Regards,

 

Shannon

[Trece]

Thanks, Shannon, yes, I've avidly read all the posts (more than once) and that's why I've been concerned about the slowness, because no one else has mentioned it as being a cause for concern in the past. However, as you'll note, Easytravel is also currently having some issues with delayed responses. It's happened to us before that certain guides or companies get overwhelmed with success and are unable to cope with demand and I just wanted to get a feel for this situation. We've been to Egypt twice before (land tours) but this is our first time booking a private guide. If a company cannot respond in a week's time, even if only to say that they are busy at the moment but a response will be forthcoming in X days, that's basically unacceptable to me. Time differences are irrelevant with e-mail. Even an "auto-response" is better than nothing! I'll keep hoping he responds but I'm getting a little exasperated! :D Thanks again, let's hope we get to experience the same great service everyone else raves about!

[EASYTRAVEL777]

Trece

 

We are planning to use them for Nov 2007. That is a long ways off!

I have arranged two coach buses. The pricing has already been decided upon. The little things are what we are not communicating about.

Do they supply bottled water? Verifying visa info that has been posted here. Convoys, cameras in museum and additional costs for mummy rooms.

They have always been great in responding, but it has been slow the last month.

 

For an idea on prices, go to my website

 

http://www.easytravel777.com

[Saga Ruby]

Just back (Dec 2006) from Egypt - both my independent Cairo and Luxor tours were with DeCastro Tours whose prices were in line with other tour agencies and the tours were quite well-done. Throughout my Far East tours, the tour agencies always provided a small bottle of water in the van.

 

I booked my independent tour with Soliman at DeCastro and, through coincidence, Moustafa Murad and I wound up sharing not only a van ride from Safaga to Luxor but also dinner at the Al Moudira Hotel in the Luxor desert. Moustafa is now the General Manager of DeCastro Tours and mentioned that he tries to keep up with personal email requests for tours but the administrative demands on his time make quick responses difficult.

 

DeCastro is so well run that I wouldn't hesitate to use any person with that tour company and not be concerned with a personal response from Moustafa.

 

In another thread, I have negative comments about dealing with Champion Tours whose avarice was offensive to me. It was a relief to enjoy the professionalism of DeCastro Tours.

 

Ruby

[slgjhg]

Hi All,

 

Thanks for your post, I'm so glad things worked our with DeCastro and that you got to meet Mustafa. It sounds like your trip was wonderful. I'm sorry that my leads for India didn't work out for you, who did you end up using.

 

Best for the New Year and Happy Cruising!

 

Regards,

 

Shannon

[Saga Ruby]

Thanks for your post, I'm so glad things worked our with DeCastro and that you got to meet Mustafa. It sounds like your trip was wonderful. I'm sorry that my leads for India didn't work out for you, who did you end up using. Shannon

 

I'm going to answer your question about Mumbai on my "Mumbai & Cochin 2006" thread because I don't want to get any inadvertent "mud" on DeCastro Tours in this thread - Decastro Tours is a fine organization. For an exciting story, look on the other thread!

 

Ruby

[kdowneymd]

I am considering booking a full day excursion with DeCastro from Alexandria to the pyramids. Their price is signifcantly less than the cruise ship's and I would appreciate any further input prior to booking. We are in port from 7 AM to 10 PM. While many are always concerned about being left behind, I am of the frame of mind that this is how these groups earn their living and would quickly be out of business if passengers started missing their ships. The response states they will travel in the convoy. Does this mean they wait for the cruise tour buses to leave?

[Saga Ruby]

I am considering booking a full day excursion with DeCastro from Alexandria to the pyramids. Their price is signifcantly less than the cruise ship's and I would appreciate any further input prior to booking. We are in port from 7 AM to 10 PM. While many are always concerned about being left behind, I am of the frame of mind that this is how these groups earn their living and would quickly be out of business if passengers started missing their ships. The response states they will travel in the convoy. Does this mean they wait for the cruise tour buses to leave?

 

As you can see earlier in this thread, I was an independent traveler with DeCastro Tours. I used them in Cairo (from Port Said) and Luxor (from Safaga). The private convoys go with a police escort ahead of the buses in a line to Cairo, then you come back on your own. The drivers arrange a time (left Luxor promptly at 8:00am) and we were back, in both cases, hours ahead of the tour buses which are dealing with more people and more delays.

 

In each port, from Istanbul to Singapore, we private tourists were back onboard long before the tour buses got to the ship. Sailaway was consistently delayed as we waited for ship's tours to show up. And yes, ship's tours are much more expensive.

 

I've been traveling solo for decades and have never missed a ship's sailaway nor been worried about it. And I am personally tired of the scare tactics the cruise lines use to force us onto their sponsored tour buses.

 

Happy sails!

Ruby