Vantage- Land of the Pharoahs

[azcaptainbob]

This 14 day trip included two 3 night cruises on both Lake Nasser and the Nile River. The advertised "new ship" the Omar El Khayham was an accident waiting to happen on the swimming pool deck as the entire flooring was coming apart. However it was installed it was with plastic pieces which were breaking as you walked so the teakwood would "pop up" and slide right out from under your feet as you moved about. You could liken it to walking on marbles!! The rooms were charming with balconies. However, we were greeted the entire time with the cleaning cart permanently stationed outside our room complete with feather dusters, spray bottles, and rags...this was not our idea of 5 star deluxe but it was much better than exposure to "toxic fumes" which our counterparts earlier in the year were exposed to!

The Crown Jubilee was nothing to write home about. Once again we were assigned to the room with the cleaning cart just outside our door complete with the rags and bottles etc. One would think with the cart parked just outside the room 24/7 the room would be clean. Think Again! The bits of paper that were on the carpet when we arrived were still there when we left days later. (perhaps the problem was the vacuum cleaner was not protruding from the cleaning cart???)

 

If you are interested in a 5 star Deluxe trip Vantage is NOT RECOMMENDED by me. First they utilize the caste system of different colored name tags. If you are the "new kid on the block" who has paid the most for the trip you get the worst room assignments! To give discounts and provide drinks and appetizers to returning customers is fair enough. But to give them the best rooms as well certainly doesn't encourage me to return. To always be on the lowest floor, furthest from the river and always without a balcony overlooking construction does not endear me to waste another dime on this company. My only other tour company to compare Vantage with is Tauck. Vantage is just a wannabe. You do get what you pay for.

 

On one leg of our journey we flew from one city to another without our tour director and flying as aliases with other group members boarding passes! Once we landed and sought out our "real" boarding passes (frequent flyer miles) we realized our "fearless leader" was not with us! This was not the adventure we had planned!

 

Six years after taking a Tauck Classic Italy tour they still have the same itinerary. Vantage changed everything in just a few months: reversed the trip which meant criss crossing the same city three times, switched from air flights to "armed uniformed police " on the bus, armed caravans, and no time for lunches. On one occasion we were told to take food from the ship for our lunch...mind you we were flying from one city to another and then could eat our food on the bus on the way to our sight seeing tour.

 

Mention Egypt Air and the group turned into a frenzied mob. I contacted Egypt Air several months prior to leaving and provided my US Air FF# and got assigned seats. However, the remainder of the group listened to Vantage to get the seat assignments at the airport so they were split up from their mates, sandwiched in the middle section, right in front of the bathrooms!! So with all the disgruntled group members we spent over an hour in an Egypt Air office in Aswan getting seat assignments for the flight home from Cairo. Even though Vantage provides seat assignments on the domestic air flights I found that at the last minute they changed the seats to right in front of the bathrooms! Contacted the domestic airline and changed the seats...no problem!

 

I would describe this company as CHEAP..the 5 star property in Cairo was in a terrible part of the city so it was not even safe to wander out at night unless you were in a large enough group! Location, location, location. The compensation for a three hour bus ride instead of a 45 minute plane ride was a Nubian Dinner Show where we had to walk through water (Nile River), eat on tables with dead flies, dirty silver ware and the food was disgusting. The show was pathetic (not one bit of narration, and it was not a mime show) and it was just like the show we had just seen on the ship which was excellent!! Now we know why Vantage discontinued this Nubian dinner/show as an extra...guess Vantage thinks we are all too stupid to figure out just how insulting this "complimentary dinner show" was!

 

So on a scale of 1 to 10 Vantage gets a 1 from me. Not only were people hostile about the Egypt Air flight but the complaints about the customer service department set everyone off as well. Complaints ranged from no response to simple questions such as "do I need to bring a hair dryer?" to "can I get my documents earlier than the 10 days?". My own personal experience was the customer service department staff either lied or ignored you. The head of Customer Service, Bob Wetherbee, lasted 6 months..that in and of itself should tell us something since he worked for UPS prior.

 

If you are a knowledgeable traveler wanting 5 star deluxe hotels and quality then choose another company. Since we added the extension to Petra and insurance we paid over $11,000.00 to be greeted by cleaning carts for over half of our 14 day trip in Egypt. But he who laughs last laughs best as on 5 separate occasions people approached us from other tours and inquired about the tours and hotels...once the cleaning carts were relayed, it was thanks..won't take Vantage.

[AZPam]

Wow, bummer. Sorry to hear it didn't live up to the hype. Were you able to enjoy any part of the trip or was it a total loss? Will you go back and do the trip with another company at some point in time?

[newlondon]

What a bad experience-and what a tragedy. We took the Princess Eugenie on Lake Nasser and absolutely loved it. The food was good and we even could eat vegetables. The swimming pool was cold but usable. Our tour did not cruise the Nile specifically because our company was concerned about the quality of almost any of the Nile ships.

[GlobeMan]

In November, we found that Nile Cruise ships are well below the standards most Westerners have come to expect. A 5 star rating from the Egyptian Tourist Board is meaningless. Our Uniworld tour on the MS Mirian wasn't as bad as yours but it was still a disappointment. The ship was a fire trap and very shabby. Ice was precious; even the lounge had only plastic ice trays. The food poor, the only wine available was awful. Just about everyone got sick on the last few days. Calls to the front desk were routinely ignored.

 

Spring Tours ran the tour for Uniworld and they did an excellent job. The tour manager, Kareem was very knowledgeable and attentive. No problems with Egypt Air and we also used them for trans-Atlantic travel. We stayed at the Cairo Marriott and that was truly 5 star (they had the same 5 star plaque as the MS Miriam!)

 

Uniworld is putting their own ship into service on the Nile in the Spring. I'm sure it will be a huge improvement over the Egyptian ships.

[azcaptainbob]

No, the trip was not an entire disaster...no one can take away from the historic sights and the fellow travelers were fun. However, I do feel that the U.S. tour companies should reveal the extent of "armed" military, police, and security that is apparent. Additionally this is a very strenuous trip and on our trip one individual used a pedometer and we walked 43 miles. This does not take into account the countless steps, hills, wet landings, and cobblestones. Even the bus had a rear entrance/exit that had fewer steps than the front leaving some of our group unable to use the rear. What risks any one is willing to take should be up to the individual and not the tour company who is just viewing you as $$$.

 

I was specifically told in writing by the paralegal of Vantage that "Vantage did not have uniformed armed police on their bus"...LIE>>>I do recognize an uzzi when it is placed at my feet by the uniformed police sitting directly in front of me. In Cairo security had uzzi's sticking out of the suit jacket where it splits in the back!! Perhaps, the strangest thing is we had no security in Luxor, which is where terrorist attacked tourists a few years back...go figure???

 

I would never go on a Vantage trip even if it was FREE. Our tour guide who was knowledgeable was a powder keg who exploded a number of times. Thank Goodness he was not armed!!! He got into arguments with other tour guides at the sights, picked up rocks to throw at kids,(the hot air balloon crew actually restrained him), grabbed a vendor and started arguing with him who was "deaf", (police were summoned), and managed to have a group miss the boat!! Twice he did not travel with us on our domestic flights...I would think the tour company could arrange for all of us to travel on the same plane!!

 

The tour guide for Jordan was worthless. Not only was he difficult to understand every place was "free time". In Petra he never even made any type of arrangement for everyone to check in once they returned. If this is Vantage idea of 5 star deluxe I disagree. Both in Jerash and Petra it was go and wander on your own...I don't need Vantage to do that.

 

Unfortunately, this is a part of the world where I feel that there is validity to "safety in numbers" which is why a tour company was chosen. Since Vantage did not provide the tour that I purchased but "jumbled" it up so it could provide the "advertised ships" it might not have been so strenuous, but, when the tour guide is too lazy to hike the steps to the "unfinished obelisk" it doesn't say much for the itinerary. Since the itinerary was changed visiting Nubian children in school couldn't take place since the children were not in school on the day we were there! My "cultural experience" was to visit "imaginary children"....underwhelmed!!

 

One thing is for certain anyone that visits Egypt/Middle East should be thankful when they return to the U.S. that we are concerned about the air that we breathe, polluting our rivers, and do not allow a million people to live in a cemetery!! Sweeping trash down a hill into the street would be the exception to the rule and not the rule of thumb in our big cities. And we do not force our young children to go to a carpet school...I will never forget 3 little girls who barely looked 7 years old working away on a carpet...sad!! I find it interesting that from reading these boards we are being told different stories of how these children come to be here.

[jacksonnh]

Wow! Unnerving to say the least. Certainly not an excuse but after reading other posts about this area, it sounds like other tour groups had similar problems. Glad that the people and sites made up for some of your disappointment.

[Benita]

We leave for a trip to Egypt in a couple of months. Just my husband and me and a guide who travels with us and a driver and car taking us around Cairo and meeting us in Luxor and Aswan. The guide is on the 3 night cruise with us as well. Hope we like him. I was a little nervous about being such a small group (the tour company will take up to 12 people, but nobody else is crazy enough to go in May, so it is a private tour). The hotels are outstanding and the river boat seems OK (by the reports on Trip Advisor and Fodors).

I'm sorry that Vantage was a bust for you. We have travelled with them in India and in Croatia and both trips were great. We have another booked with them for Vietnam in October. I guess their land trips are better than their Egypt cruises.

[scapel]

We leave for a trip to Egypt in a couple of months. Just my husband and me and a guide who travels with us and a driver and car taking us around Cairo and meeting us in Luxor and Aswan. The guide is on the 3 night cruise with us as well. Hope we like him. I was a little nervous about being such a small group (the tour company will take up to 12 people, but nobody else is crazy enough to go in May, so it is a private tour). The hotels are outstanding and the river boat seems OK (by the reports on Trip Advisor and Fodors).

I'm sorry that Vantage was a bust for you. We have travelled with them in India and in Croatia and both trips were great. We have another booked with them for Vietnam in October. I guess their land trips are better than their Egypt cruises.

Benita,

You might be intersted in this link. We had an Egyptologist for about 12 of us. She was great and took real good care of us.

http://www.cruisemates.com/gallery/view.php?id=1984

 

These were grabbed frames from a video in 1996, so quality of pictures kind of poor.

[scapel]

We leave for a trip to Egypt in a couple of months. Just my husband and me and a guide who travels with us and a driver and car taking us around Cairo and meeting us in Luxor and Aswan. The guide is on the 3 night cruise with us as well. Hope we like him. I was a little nervous about being such a small group (the tour company will take up to 12 people, but nobody else is crazy enough to go in May, so it is a private tour). The hotels are outstanding and the river boat seems OK (by the reports on Trip Advisor and Fodors).

I'm sorry that Vantage was a bust for you. We have travelled with them in India and in Croatia and both trips were great. We have another booked with them for Vietnam in October. I guess their land trips are better than their Egypt cruises.

 

You stimulated me to find the report that my wife wrote in 1996 and I did find it and read it. I enjoyed reading it after so long. I hope you enjoy it. I think take antibiotics with you and abooard the ship maybe take some prophylacitc Bactrim if you are not allergic to it.

===================================================

 

NILE RIVER CRUISE EGYPT OCT 11-20 1996

 

Day One: Flew to Kennedy Airport by Delta, then switched to Egypt Air, left at 11:20 PM, only 20 minutes late. Moved the watch ahead a total of 7 hrs. from home. Arrived in Cairo at 3:30 PM and in the hotel between 4:30 PM and 5:00 PM, the El Gezirah Sheraton. The El Gezirah is in the middle of the Nile and is built in a circular fashion so that all rooms have a view of the Nile and a small veranda. Met with the cab driver. Abdel Al Tawab. Joe had pre-arranged this cab driver from a recommendation on Prodigy BB. We drove around Cairo, went to the Marriott Hotel for a look around then went to the Cairo Towers for a beautiful overlook of the city and a drink. Arrived back at the hotel at 9:30 PM. Had dinner on the terrace in our room about 10:30 PM.

 

Day Two: 8:00 left hotel by bus. Met our Egyptologist, Hanan Eldeeb , address is 13, 74 st. Maadi, Cairo Egypt. She was a very lovely and lovable woman. We visited the Cairo Museum, lunch at the Peace Restaurant. The menu was a choice of grilled chicken or grilled fish. The chicken was great, however the fish was served whole, head and all!! Finally onto the Great Pyramids of Giza. Joe rode the camel here. A short stop by the Papyrus Factory, a demo showed the plant stripped, rolled to remove moisture, then soaked for six days, then pressed and braided, then hand painted. Back to the hotel at 7:00 PM. and left at 8:00 for dinner and a show at the Rameses Hilton. Return to our hotel at 12:15 a.m.

 

Day Three: Up at 6:00 AM. and breakfast at 7:30, leave at 8:30 AM for Memphis, the Pyramids and the Sphinx. A nice ride through the farming valley and a visit to a rug factory. Lunch at 3:00 at a very nice restaurant downtown Cairo. Joe discovered he had left his Visa at the rug factory and Hanan (the Egyptologist) took him the 45 min. one way trip back to get it. I arrived at the hotel with bus group at 5:00, fell asleep accidentally. Joe arrived back at 5:45 and we met our hired cab driver and left for the sound and light show. Arrived back at hotel at 8:30 and packed and to bed at 9:30. Room hot very uncomfortable night.

 

Day Four: Up at 2:30 a.m. bags outside at 3:00 and breakfast at 3:30, left hotel at 4:00 for airport. Flight to Aswan arrived at 8:05 a.m., a delay of 30 mins. was announced, 10:30 still waiting for flight to Abu Simbel, 12:00 still waiting. Tarek, our AIMS guide shows up with cake and chips. We decide as a group to scratch this if not boarded by 2:00. At 1:45 board an Isralie plane and off the ground in no time. Arrived at 2:40 PM To the Temple of Nefertari from 3:15 to 4:10, back to airport and boarded at 4:50. Martha,(Da-Da) (one in our travel group) had problems with boarding, wanted to see her passport and we really don't know what the trouble was, but it was unsettling.

 

Arrived on the Nile River ship (Queen Nabila III) at 6:30 pm, unpacked, showered and ate at 8:00, to bed at 9:00 p.m. Of note here, we spent 7 hrs in the airport at Aswan, without our tour guide in attendance most of these hours. The tour guide from Intrav, upon learning of the delay, took her group for a tour then returned to the airport about an hour before the flight to Abu Simbel. The delay was supposedly due to the visit at the temple by President Mubarak and the Minister of Tourism. They were reported to have left the temple at 9:30 AM. Why we had had such a delay was unclear. We were told by one person that because of restricted airspace, that if we were in the air at the same time as President Mubarak, they would shoot us down.

 

Day Five: Aboard the River Cruiser: Up and dressed to breakfast at 7:15. Left at 8:00, Elise (one in our group of 12) overslept so we were actually left at 8:30. On to the old dam and the high dam and the Philae Temple. At 12:00 a Felluca ride on the Nile. To lunch on board our ship, Queen Nebila III, at 12:30 PM. Left the dock at 2:30 but returned and waited until 4:00 for 4 passengers that had the same experience at Abu Simbel that we had and had a terrible time returning to Aswan. Arrived at the Temple of Kom Ombo (Alligator God), At 7:00 PM, it was dark and had to walk in a field to get there. We only had an hour to tour this. Returned to ship and dressed in Egyptian dress and to dinner at 9:30 PM. Party in lounge until 11:30 then to bed.

 

Day Six: Up at 6:00 AM, J.R. diarrhea most of the night, not much rest for either of us. He tried everything on the buffet. Others also with diarrhea. Breakfast at 7:15 AM, dinning room not open until 7:30 AM so we all just hurried to wait. Left at 8:15 for tour of the Temple of Horus, went by horse and buggy. AT 10:15 AM back to ship for sailing at 10:30 AM Ops, didn't sail until 11:15. Rested for 45 min. then to lunch at 12:30. From 2:30 to 3:30 toured the Temple of Khnum, God of Creation, at Esna. Back on ship at 5:00. Rested in room and on deck, packed and dinner at 8:00. To bed at 9:30 PM.

 

Day Seven: Up at 4:45 AM, breakfast at 5:15 AM, Leave on tour at 6:00 AM to tour the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens. Famous Kings tombs here are Tuthmosis 1, Ramases 1 and others. Queens are Hatshepsut and Nefratiti. Back to ship for rest and lunch then to Luxor temples. Temple of Hatshepsut and Temple of Seti and Temple of Ramessess III. 5:45 PM back to ship, 6:30 PM to laser light show at temple. Dinner at 9:00 PM. Belly dancer show in lounge of ship. 10:30 PM to room to pack and bed.

 

Day Eight: Up at 3:45 AM, breakfast at 4:15 AM, to airport for 6:00 AM. For flight to Cairo. 7:10 AM board flight, no A/C. It is hot. AT 7:30 AM an announcement is made that the flight is delayed due to poor visibility in Cairo. Finally turned the A/C on. At 7:40 AM we are airborne. At 8:40 AM we landed in Cairo with very poor visibility, probably less than 100 feet. At 9:30 AM Luggage all handled by Tarek, our tour guide, and on to the hotel. At 11:00 AM to rest in room, I am soooooo tired.(Jan). At 1:00 PM Joe goes to a Cairo hospital tour. At 3:00 PM Joe returned and we take another taxi to Nile Hilton, then another, to Rameses Hilton, then the Old Cario Bazaar, then to the Marriott, then to room. We bathe and ordered dinner in room and to bed at 8:00 PM

 

Day Nine: 3:45 AM up, luggage out at 4:00 AM, breakfast at 4:30 AM to airport for 7:00 AM. Flight to JFK. Boarded at 7:30 PM and airborne at 8:40 AM for the 12 hr. 10 min. flight. Had a 50 second roll before take off. Left at 8:40 AM and arrived at 8:40 PM. Egypt time, 2:40 PM. NY time. AT 3:40 PM on a Ramada bus to hotel, bath, drinks and dinner and to bed at 8:00 PM. NY time. 2:00 AM. Egypt time.

 

Day 10: Up at 4:15 AM, left for airport via hotel bus at 5:00 AM. Took a good bit of time to check luggage. Boarded at 6:30 AM for 7:00 AM flight. Had a 2hr.50 minute layover in Atlanta and arrived in Monroe at 1:30 PM. Went to Melyvn's and had a GREAT AMERICAN HAMBURGER. Home then unpacked, washed and tried to stay awake until 8:30 PM.

 

June 23, 2004 -Note by Joe: My wife wrote this report and seemed to be accentuating the time factors here. She stated she felt regimented and not on vacation, especially with the early AM rising. I would do the trip again, but I don’t think she would now. Shortly after our trip a Nile River Cruiser sank.

[Benita]

Well, it looked like you had quite a vacation - probably needed another vacation to recuperate from this one. Our itinerary is a bit more relaxed - we will be in Egypt for 14 days - staying at the Mena House by the pyramids for two nights, then flying to Luxor for four nights at the New Winter Palace Hotel, then a Nile cruise for three nights, then the Aswan Movenpick for two nights, going to Abu Simbal on the second day, then flying back to Cairo and staying at the Nile Hilton for two more nights. We will be very careful about the food we eat and bring plenty of antibiotics. My husband is a gastroenterologist, so you should see the medication we bring along on these trips. Luckily, we never had to take any, but there is always a first time.

I hope our flights go more smoothly. I think we may be going to Abu Simbal by car - there is a motorcade that goes every day, so that we may spend most of the day there, instead of the couple of hours that the airline allows. It will be a long car ride - almost three hours in each direction, but if you add the time spent waiting around airports to the flight time, it is only about an hour longer in each direction to drive.

We are going with a company called Museum Tours - http://www.museum-tours.com and they have been doing this itinerary since the early 1990s. We are a little nervous about going with all the fighting in Gaza, but figured we would bite the bullet and finally go - our last trip planned there was for October 2001, which we cancelled after Sept. 11 and went to China instead.

Thanks for sharing your memories.

[scapel]

Well, it looked like you had quite a vacation - probably needed another vacation to recuperate from this one. Our itinerary is a bit more relaxed - we will be in Egypt for 14 days - staying at the Mena House by the pyramids for two nights, then flying to Luxor for four nights at the New Winter Palace Hotel, then a Nile cruise for three nights, then the Aswan Movenpick for two nights, going to Abu Simbal on the second day, then flying back to Cairo and staying at the Nile Hilton for two more nights. We will be very careful about the food we eat and bring plenty of antibiotics. My husband is a gastroenterologist, so you should see the medication we bring along on these trips. Luckily, we never had to take any, but there is always a first time.

I hope our flights go more smoothly. I think we may be going to Abu Simbal by car - there is a motorcade that goes every day, so that we may spend most of the day there, instead of the couple of hours that the airline allows. It will be a long car ride - almost three hours in each direction, but if you add the time spent waiting around airports to the flight time, it is only about an hour longer in each direction to drive.

We are going with a company called Museum Tours - http://www.museum-tours.com and they have been doing this itinerary since the early 1990s. We are a little nervous about going with all the fighting in Gaza, but figured we would bite the bullet and finally go - our last trip planned there was for October 2001, which we cancelled after Sept. 11 and went to China instead.

Thanks for sharing your memories.

I remember hearing very good things about the Mena House, The Nile Hilton is beautiful.

Back in the 90's the ride from Cairo to Abu Simbul was suppose to need an armed excort. Apparently enemies of Egypt tried to hurt their economy by attacking tourist. The more guards you have the better.

I really don't think anyone is bothering the Egyptians at this time.

I understood in the above that you would be flying back from Abu Simbel to Cairo after getting there by CAR? Are you going by car both ways?

Egypt is so interesting. I'm a retired surgeon in a small town. I used to do my own endoscopy until we got the GI guy we have now who is great.

I thought the Nile River cruisers were very nice. The cabins were nice as I think the pictures show. There were always several docked and sometimes you had to walk across one to get to the other. Don't get on the wrong one. They all look alike.

In Cairo we visited the St.Sargius church and close by is a shop that sells things. I bought a coptic cross piece for about $200 after wheeling and dealing. Probably worth $600 now, but it has been a beautiful remembrance of having something from near to where Jesus, Mary and Joseph stayed when the fled to Egypt. Nostalgic

[Benita]

Your pictures are great. Looking forward to taking some of our own. We are staying in Aswan for two nights after the cruise (this tour caters to those who want to see more of the archeological sights). The trip to Abu Simbal is roundtrip from Aswan to allow for most of the day there. The next day, we fly from Aswan back to Cairo. I would have liked to stay overnight in Abu Simbal instead of the ride back to Aswan and fly back to Cairo the next day, but that is not how the tour is arranged- something to do with Egypt Air - if you stay overnight they make you buy two round trip tickets, or something ridiculous like that.

I was able to find online the brochures for my trip, dating back to 1996 (boy, prices have sure risen since then) and I see very few changes have been made to the itinerary over the years, so I guess that it must work out pretty well. The owner of Museum Tours spends several months a year in Cairo - often leading the tours, as he is an Egyptologist and the itinerary we picked is by far, their most popular. It is pretty pricy, but the quality of the hotels and the fact that all meals are included, coupled with it being private, made us decide to go for it. They even offer a more exclusive trip, totally private, where you have your own ship for the Nile cruise, complete with a crew of 5.

[mwvcruiser]

We are traveling to Egypt this Spring on Vantage Anyone gone recently and can give me any information?