Jade: Alexandria/Cairo - time question

[whattodo]

The ship docks for 2 days here. If we take a 1-day Cairo private tour (non NCL), are we required to be back on ship by a certain time when it docks overnight here?

 

We're thinking of a Nile dinner cruise before heading back to Alexandria. Would like to know whether dinner on the Nile is feasible on a day trip. How's the dinner cruise?

 

Thanks!

[sottovoce]

No curfew in Alexandria on day one. NCL treats you like an adult.;) Doesn't tell you what to wear every night, either.:p

[MMastell]

The ship docks for 2 days here. If we take a 1-day Cairo private tour (non NCL), are we required to be back on ship by a certain time when it docks overnight here?

 

We're thinking of a Nile dinner cruise before heading back to Alexandria. Would like to know whether dinner on the Nile is feasible on a day trip. How's the dinner cruise?

 

Thanks!

 

You can stay overnight in Cairo. NCL and a number of private tour operators have overnight Cairo excursions. I will be doing one on February 1st. I am doing an, overnight, private tour with a stay at the Sofitel Le Sphinx.

 

The trip from Alexandria to Cairo is 2.5 to 3 hours. You will use up six hours of your day in travel alone. If you want to, and can find an excursion, then you can definitely do it but you will return quite late to the ship. You can return to the ship at anytime it is in port. I.E. 2:00 a.m.

 

Take care and have fun,

[ohioNCLcruiser]

Quick question here. I was on the ships first calling to Egypt and noticed how tight security was. I would assume its still pretty tight but maybe its not as tight since the first trip but is it easy to approach the pier at night?

[bluesea777]

Just back from JADE - and we visited Alexandria for 2 days.

 

I would highly recommend that you take NCL excursions, period.

 

They use fully working modern coaches and there is a driver, Egyptologist and an armed police guard on each coach. And there was a back-up coach travelling with us.

 

We got to see possibly more than the private tours (one family said they didn't see all as they ran out of time).

 

We found the coaches to be clean (each has a toilet) and quite comfy - and we liked the huge windows to look out and wave and take pictures at the busy life on the streets. And I notice that cars would give away to coaches willingly.

 

The cost is high but it's fully inclusive - all admission included, all great meals included.

[EmmasNana]

I am not intending to frighten anyone, just pass on info from family members. My step son married a christian egyptian girl from Alexandria a few years ago. They have since had 2 children here in the US. Her Mother and Father and some other family members live in Alexandria but they will not go back as they don't want to endanger their kids or themselves. They have begged us not to go near there. When my step son did go over there they had many people surrounding him to protect him but he still stuck out like a sore thumb. If you decide to go to this area, just be very careful and take no risks to you or others.

[ohioNCLcruiser]

I agree with the above posts. I was very glad we did NCL's shore ex. It was a place I wanted to get in, see and get out. Plus if you start taking taxi cabs who knows how much they will end up costing you.

[aussiecruzer]

I would certainly not recommend taxi-cabs either, but we found our private tour with De Castro to be excellent, professional, well organised, and we felt very safe with our guide Dahlia, driver and armed guard who were with us all the time in both in Cairo and Alexandria.:)

[bluesea777]

Just back from JADE - and we visited Alexandria for 2 days.

 

I would highly recommend that you take NCL excursions, period.

 

They use fully working modern coaches and there is a driver, Egyptologist and an armed police guard on each coach. And there was a back-up coach travelling with us.

 

We got to see possibly more than the private tours (one family said they didn't see all as they ran out of time).

 

We found the coaches to be clean (each has a toilet) and quite comfy - and we liked the huge windows to look out and wave and take pictures at the busy life on the streets. And I notice that cars would give away to coaches willingly.

 

The cost is high but it's fully inclusive - all admission included, all great meals included.

 

May I add that we felt safe - we had meals in clean places - the hotel banquet rooms and a Nile River dinner cruise.

 

The hotel we stayed in was lovely and very clean.

[bluesea777]

The ship docks for 2 days here. If we take a 1-day Cairo private tour (non NCL), are we required to be back on ship by a certain time when it docks overnight here?

 

We're thinking of a Nile dinner cruise before heading back to Alexandria. Would like to know whether dinner on the Nile is feasible on a day trip. How's the dinner cruise?

 

Thanks!

 

I recall seeing people off the one day NCL tour coaches and joining us on the Nile River dinner cruise.

 

Check the NCL day tours to see which ones include the dinner cruise.

[katusa97]

We just returned from our trip to the Med on Jan 16th. We took the overnight excursion to Cairo. I would recommend it to everyone! The buses are the cleanest I've ever been on, restroom, armed guard, driver and a wonderful, very educated tour guide. The drive into Cairo from the port in Alexandria is about 3 hours. Your tour guide will give you tips on buying trinkets, camel rides, entering pyramids, museums, customs, etc. We stayed at the Intercontinental, quite nice, our 11th floor room overlooked the Nile. The Nile river cruise was interesting, the gentleman who dances after the belly dancer is amazing, not to be missed. We found the food very good, served in the hotel and on the cruise buffet style (Beef, chicken, veggies, potato, bread, salad, desserts). On the overnight trip you see so much more than any other excursion. Spend the $6 to enter a pyramid, we went inside the middle pyramid, it not about seeing anything inside (there isn't anything to see) it abouts the experience. We didn't ride the camels, but we did watch several people fall off and one person that was run over by a runaway camel.

[NoPiratesPlease]

You CAN take a private tour if you want, but if you book it through NCL they will have you ride as part of the caravan to Cairo, so you aren't on the road alone--much safer that way.

 

OTOH, our friends actually rented a car and drove to Cairo and back in one day without any problems. But he's a European tour bus driver so he is used to going anywhere and everywhere with perfect equanimity.

 

We had to cancel because of a sick child, so we never got off the ship...BTW, we thought the port of Alexandria was not only one of the busiest we've ever seen, it also was the most odoriferous, especially the second day--and that was in winter.....

[Ebonybombshell]

I would certainly not recommend taxi-cabs either, but we found our private tour with De Castro to be excellent, professional, well organised, and we felt very safe with our guide Dahlia, driver and armed guard who were with us all the time in both in Cairo and Alexandria.:)

 

We were in this same group and I just have to say I whole heartedly agree and just like anything or anyplace do your homework.. That being said there were over 30 CC'ers on our private tour we did almost every single thing but the sound and light show for almost 1/2 the cost. Now we met people who loved their trips NCL or otherwise so I'm not saying one is better than the other, but I feel like there is some unneccesary fear mongering about going with anyone but NCL...and there are some very safe, clean, affordable alternative options. We were all very pleased w/our experience w/our guide and company

 

We did all our ports on our own and saved~no lie~approx $1200 total from what we would have paid doing ship tours,...and I ALWAYS do ship tours, but this time I simply could not afford them and do all i wanted...so I did my homwork and it paid off...that's just 2 of us..imagine if there were more in a group...

 

a few examples.......

 

Athens~ Poisiden and Acropolis~ $418 w/ship...on own $81 Euros

Ephusus/Mary's house~ $236 ship..private tour $110 USD

Cairo Overnight~ $1000 ship...private tour $540 USD

Rome~ $218 (just to get to rome)...on own $18 euros

[bahrain_not_dubai!]

DO NOT DO A PRIVATE TOUR IN THE MIDEAST

 

Im from Bahrain and in the Gulf its not so much a problem but last time I did a private tour in Egypt I was very much ripped off for nothing. Do not trust them. This may sound very bad but I am an Arab surrounded by Arabs and the thinking is 'he is a rich cruise coustmer theyll pay whatever you ask''. Do the NCL tour and take no risks. Also this does not apply in the Gulf areas just the broader Middle East.

[MPH]

We were in this same group and I just have to say I whole heartedly agree and just like anything or anyplace do your homework.. That being said there were over 30 CC'ers on our private tour we did almost every single thing but the sound and light show for almost 1/2 the cost. Now we met people who loved their trips NCL or otherwise so I'm not saying one is better than the other, but I feel like there is some unneccesary fear mongering about going with anyone but NCL...and there are some very safe, clean, affordable alternative options. We were all very pleased w/our experience w/our guide and company

 

We did all our ports on our own and saved~no lie~approx $1200 total from what we would have paid doing ship tours,...and I ALWAYS do ship tours, but this time I simply could not afford them and do all i wanted...so I did my homwork and it paid off...that's just 2 of us..imagine if there were more in a group...

 

a few examples.......

 

Athens~ Poisiden and Acropolis~ $418 w/ship...on own $81 Euros

Ephusus/Mary's house~ $236 ship..private tour $110 USD

Cairo Overnight~ $1000 ship...private tour $540 USD

Rome~ $218 (just to get to rome)...on own $18 euros

 

can you please tell me who you did the Athens and Ephusus tours with? was Rome just taking the train in then the bus or subway?

[Ebonybombshell]

Yes, in Rome the train is $9 Euros a piece, we then did the HO/HO bus for $16 a piece I think...However if you want to go to the Vatican, I would get off @ that stop first and go from there in retrospect...the time flies

 

Athens~We also took the train $3 Euros for an all day pass including city buses but then we did a HoHo for another $6 and negotiated a roundtrip cab to Poiseden's Temple for $60 Euros after we took the train out that direction first..they dropped us off at the port

 

Ephusus~We organized that on CC....There were 30 plus that got a per person of $55 USD through Celsus Travel and took 3 seperate buses, lasted about 7 hours and included lunch...that also was very smooth

 

need anything else...let me know or message me, if you need thier contact info

 

~~Side bar..I made a mistake, I was not w/Aussie...I went l8r, just back in Sat, but we had the same guide for Egypt and many a CC member has used DeCastro w/no problems

[insidecabin]

You CAN take a private tour if you want, but if you book it through NCL they will have you ride as part of the caravan to Cairo, so you aren't on the road alone--much safer that way.

 

 

This was not true on our trip last week, the NCL buses left as they filled and each Cairo tour was meeting at seperate times anyway there was no caravan on the road.

[cruise4usnow]

Suggest you look under ports for comments on tour companies. On the Jade in April many of us took private tours from either of two companies, we used Nile Blue. We had 8 people, driver, guide and body guard. We left before the cruise ship buses and did the following activities:

Pyramids, Camel ride from picture point back to Pyramids, Sun Boat, Valley Temple, Eqyptian Museum (guided and free time), Khan ( we could have also gone to the light show but opted to spend longer in the Khan) -returned to ship about 11 pm. The next am we saw Alexandria - catacombs, Library (new and very interesting) Quitbey fort, Palace and gardens, Pompeii's Pillar (old site of Serapteum), Roman museum. The price we paid for the two days was fantastic - and definitely within our budget and was still a good tour. We would NOT do this on our own, but would definitely do this again with our guide and body guard. Strongly suggest you do some reading before you go.

 

For Ephesus we used Nejat, Hulya, and Levent and one other (friend of Hulya) all were excellent guides ( our cc group was about 100 strong with very active members).

[Clay Clayton]

All of those who are trying to say that you should only do Alexandria through NCL are steering you wrong, IMHO. Doing it with them is fine I am sure, but based on my experience in April, you shouldn't be so worried about security, etc. I put together a private tour for six of us with NileBlue and couldn't have been more pleased especially since they let us make some changes to their usual iteniary. We did a day trip, we left at 7am as soon as we could get off the ship and visited the Pyramids, then lunch, followed by a visit to the Egyptian Museum. We then did a drive through Old Cario with a walk through a market. Then at our request, we spent an hour or more at the Sofitel where we had hoped to see the sunset behind the Pyramids - but I hadn't done my homework - you can't see the sunset from behind, but it was nice to see the change of colors as the sun went down. We then headed back to Alexandria arriving just after 10pm..so it was a long day but was a wonderful one...as I recall the tour cost us $110 cash each which included lunch.

 

We used Nejat for Ephseus and for a tour in Istanbul. I highly recommend him for Ephesus, only slightly less so for Istanbul simply due to the longer distances and his disablity.

 

Clay

[NoPiratesPlease]

This was not true on our trip last week, the NCL buses left as they filled and each Cairo tour was meeting at seperate times anyway there was no caravan on the road.

 

Wow! I guess they mis-led us! We were told the NCL-arranged private tours go in-caravan with the buses.

 

We had to cancel anyway with a sick child.

[whattodo]

Thanks for everyone's response. We're getting quotes from tour companies. Seems like most overnight ones do not include seeing more places in Cairo, just missing sound and light show or Nile dinner cruise and overnight hotel. Most of the itineraries we received would have us go back to Alexandria next morning and tour there. It'll be great for us if we can fit in a long Cairo day, go back to ship then tour Alexandria next day. I rather not have to pack our stuff.

 

Sorry it's OT here....I'm frustrated with NCL at this time. 2 days ago, as I was trying to book online, their website stalled and next thing I know the sail date 3/29/09 didn't even show up anymore. There were many rooms available in the category I wanted just moments prior. I kept checking online and called, they said 'sold-out'. This morning, I was thrilled to see the sail date back on and proceeded to book. I was able to go as far as select the room number. While filling out info, wouldn't you know it.....that date is gone again!! what's going on? Has anyone experienced this before?

[insidecabin]

Wow! I guess they mis-led us! We were told the NCL-arranged private tours go in-caravan with the buses.

 

We had to cancel anyway with a sick child.

 

There are so many NCL buses(25+) and the smaller NCL groups that you would never be far(1-2 mins road time) from another NCL vehicle just not in a traditional caravan/convoy.

 

We were leap frogging with another coach on the road most of the way

 

The security guard seems to be there mainly to keep locals from getting on the coaches while you all go wandering off.

 

Shame you can't make it perhaps next year it is a great itinerary and the deals on the CV/GV's are very good for 12nights trips.

[insidecabin]

Thanks for everyone's response. We're getting quotes from tour companies. Seems like most overnight ones do not include seeing more places in Cairo, just missing sound and light show or Nile dinner cruise and overnight hotel. Most of the itineraries we received would have us go back to Alexandria next morning and tour there. It'll be great for us if we can fit in a long Cairo day, go back to ship then tour Alexandria next day. I rather not have to pack our stuff.

 

Sorry it's OT here....I'm frustrated with NCL at this time. 2 days ago, as I was trying to book online, their website stalled and next thing I know the sail date 3/29/09 didn't even show up anymore. There were many rooms available in the category I wanted just moments prior. I kept checking online and called, they said 'sold-out'. This morning, I was thrilled to see the sail date back on and proceeded to book. I was able to go as far as select the room number. While filling out info, wouldn't you know it.....that date is gone again!! what's going on? Has anyone experienced this before?

 

 

The 21n B2B with the 20th is only showing 4 insides(I) with GTY's on some of the other inside grades so it may be they are holding all the cabins for that.

 

The 9 n on the 20th is looking full(ish) also.

 

Might have to call to find out if there is anything

 

This partialy overlaps with some school hols.

[slowhand]

I would certainly not recommend taxi-cabs either, but we found our private tour with De Castro to be excellent, professional, well organised, and we felt very safe with our guide Dahlia, driver and armed guard who were with us all the time in both in Cairo and Alexandria.:)

 

I would also highly recommend De Castro. For half the cost of the NCL tour, we had a driver, guide, armed security and felt like we were the ones on the luxury excursion!

[smeyer418]

Its been a long time since I have seen such bad advice. Egypt except for an area on the mid nile(between luxor and cairo) where tourists never go, is extremely safe with almost NO street crime. Yes there is a slight slight possibility of a terriorist attack but that is just or possibly more likely on a ships tour than a private one. there are many reputable private tour companies- most of the same ones that the cruise line uses.

 

If you got ripped off, I doybt it was with one of the reputable tour companies.

 

 

I did see some issues with those coming from other Gulf states. They get off the plane change clothes to western ones go get there 5 bottles of duty free booze(you can do that in Egypt after you lkand within 24 hours I believe) and go party at the after hour places in Cairo....and got taken for the drucks some of you are.

 

 

While there is some reason to use the ships tour for the convenience as they do the wqork for you, safety is not one of the reasons.....\

 

 

the two things that are unsafe is Egypt is the water and the traffic