Mosque in Casablanca

[DoubleDutch]

We will be in Casablanca on a Friday and as we understood the mosque is closed every Friday. But in one of the threads on this board it was stated that the people who did the cruise excursion could enter and got a tour of the mosque on a Friday!

Does anyone know if the opening hours have changed? And is it only possible to access the mosque with a cruise excursion on Friday (so not as individuals)?

 

Thanks in advance for every info!

[FinelyRetired]

We did a ship's tour (Brilliance) of Hassan II Mosque on Friday, Jan. 23, 2009. We were there at approx. 11:30am. Many other tour groups there

as well.

 

I don't know if this is always true, but it was last month. I believe the Jade was in Port as well that day & had tours going as well.

 

Martha

[lambs2]

We did a ship's tour (Brilliance) of Hassan II Mosque on Friday, Jan. 23, 2009. We were there at approx. 11:30am. Many other tour groups there

as well.

 

I don't know if this is always true, but it was last month. I believe the Jade was in Port as well that day & had tours going as well.

 

Martha

 

 

Just a slight correction to the above statement. We were on the Jade from Jan 16 - February 6, 2009. The Jade ported in Casablanca on Sunday, January 18 -not as stated above. (On 1/23 the Jade was ported in Malaga, Spain.)

[FinelyRetired]

Thanks for correction.

[mimisandy]

If anyone has an answer to this, we would like to know as well. We will be in Casablanca on Friday, May 8, aboard Brilliance of the Seas. I have contacted a tour guide and hope to have a response from him in a day or so.

[kruzin']

:) the email for the mosque is mosquee-hassan2@menara.ma Reading from my mosque brochure is reads..every day.. Morning ..09:00am 10 am and 11 am./Afternoon 02pm from September to June /.02pm , 03pm in July and August./Holy month of Ramadan : 9H- 10H and 11H /Friday 9H and 14H so it looks like it is open on Friday but has tours only 2x a day..You can pay with a credit card you dont need to have Moroccan money...It was a great tour lasted 1hr or so ...Easy to walk to..We got off the shuttle walked along side the water when we saw Ricks Cafe on the left (2story white bldg) we made the left turn and the 1st right and we could see the mosque straight ahead..on the way back we followed the waterfront all the way back and it added abt 15mins to our walk,,the walk there was a lot better than our walk back

[Chelly]

:) the email for the mosque is mosquee-hassan2@menara.ma Reading from my mosque brochure is reads..every day.. Morning ..09:00am 10 am and 11 am./Afternoon 02pm from September to June /.02pm ' date=' 03pm in July and August./Holy month of Ramadan : 9H- 10H and 11H /Friday 9H and 14H so it looks like it is open on Friday but has tours only 2x a day..You can pay with a credit card you dont need to have Moroccan money...It was a great tour lasted 1hr or so ...Easy to walk to..We got off the shuttle walked along side the water when we saw Ricks Cafe on the left (2story white bldg) we made the left turn and the 1st right and we could see the mosque straight ahead..on the way back we followed the waterfront all the way back and it added abt 15mins to our walk,,the walk there was a lot better than our walk back[/quote']

 

Thanks for this very helpful info. Is there a marketplace in the dock area?

[kruzin']

:) No , there is not...it is a very industrial port thus the reason for a shuttle....the very very best market at the port is in Alexandria...lots of stalls ...lots of bargains..just returned from there...just got my credit card bill...the mosque admittance for 2 was $29.13 or 240 moroccan dirhams

[HAY62WOOD]

Are you referring to a "shuttle" from a ship? We are docking on a Thursday and would like to go to Hassan Mosque. Someone wrote that they English tours are only at 2pm. Is that true?

 

Assume you did NOT do a ship tour, but just walked there?

 

Thanks.

 

Mickie

[lambs2]

Are you referring to a "shuttle" from a ship? We are docking on a Thursday and would like to go to Hassan Mosque. Someone wrote that they English tours are only at 2pm. Is that true?

 

Assume you did NOT do a ship tour, but just walked there?

 

Thanks.

 

Mickie

We were just there in January. We were on a private tour, and there was definitely a morning English tour of the mosque. There were no ship tours on the tour with us, however. The cost (120 dirhams pp) does seem rather high seeing that the next day we had complete day tours (including lunch), hours of transportation and a visit to Taroudant and the Oasis of Tiud for only 400 dirhams per person! It was also a bit "off-putting" when the guide at the Hassan II mosque informed us that the Hamman (steam baths) were not used, but only built 'for show' for the tourists!:eek:

 

We did visit a couple of good bazaars in Casa Blanca that our trour guide took us to. I thought one was fairly near the ship, but since we were riding I can't be absolutely sure of that.

[kruzin']

:)NCL provided us with a free shuttle out of the port and yes we did walk as a group to the mosque...the excursions by NCL did include a photo stop at the mosque but did not include a tour of the inside..It all depends what you are looking for ..Remember even though you are on vacation you are still in a foreign country...It was a very pleasant day and we were not exhausted when we returned to the ship .Some of our outings did leave us wiped out..but not Casablanca...hope this helps,,,I have the e-mail address on a previous post so you might want to look into contacting them....

Are you referring to a "shuttle" from a ship? We are docking on a Thursday and would like to go to Hassan Mosque. Someone wrote that they English tours are only at 2pm. Is that true?

 

Assume you did NOT do a ship tour, but just walked there?

 

Thanks.

 

Mickie

[mimisandy]

Dear Lambs2,

Can you tell me who your private tour was with in Casablanca and what the cost was? We are in Casablanca on a Friday (May 1 out of Barcelona on Brilliance of the Seas) and hoping that we will be able to see the inside of the mosque.

Thanks.

[lambs2]

Dear Lambs2,

Can you tell me who your private tour was with in Casablanca and what the cost was? We are in Casablanca on a Friday (May 1 out of Barcelona on Brilliance of the Seas) and hoping that we will be able to see the inside of the mosque.

Thanks.

 

DH and I joined the tour at the very last minute that morning because someone got sick and there were two openings, so I do not know the name...sorry. It was more like a taxi than a real tour because the young man, although very nice, did not have the greatest command of English - or else he just didn't lke to talk much. At the Mosque they have their own tour guides. I believe the cost for our 4 or 5 hour was about €30 pp. We drove quite a ways up the coast to a little village on the sea there, drove through the wealthier section where the big homes are, saw the king;s residence in the area, a Jewish synagogue, a Catholic church (from outside), two different Bazaars, a shop that had lots of well-priced souvenirs, and several other sites. Also witnessed a pro-Palestinian protest march (DH went and videoed it up close!:eek:) We stopped for lunch at a downtown restaurant. DH and I chose not to eat and just walked around where we again saw the protesters being bussed back to the main part of town. We also had a nice long stop at Rick's Cafe. Some folks got drinks there and others bought some souvenirs, like bar glasses.

[QueScaisJe]

We visited the mosque in Casablanca in late afternoon, after having gone (independently) to Rabat earlier that day. This was a Friday, and there was a fellow there who let us go part way into the mosque to take photos (for some baksheesh). A petit taxi cost 15MOD (<$2) from the Casa-Port train station to the mosque; the return directly to the dock (Brilliance) was 22MOD (~$2.50).

[lambs2]

Dear Lambs2,

Can you tell me who your private tour was with in Casablanca and what the cost was? We are in Casablanca on a Friday (May 1 out of Barcelona on Brilliance of the Seas) and hoping that we will be able to see the inside of the mosque.

Thanks.

 

I found in my notes that the tour company in Casa Blanca that our group used was Jamal Tours.

[jotabecu]

I found in my notes that the tour company in Casa Blanca that our group used was Jamal Tours.

 

 

 

Would you have their e mail address? I have been to Casablanca but only ship tours and would rather use an independent next time. Thanks for your help

[lambs2]

Would you have their e mail address? I have been to Casablanca but only ship tours and would rather use an independent next time. Thanks for your help

 

 

We did not set up the tour as we were last minute replacements when someone got sick that morning. But I believe this is the email address for Jamal Tours:

jamaltour1@gmail.com

 

 

Here is my complete cruise review so you can see how the day in Casa Blanca went and what we did, including costs. Scroll down to the port section to find my report on our CB day.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=53361

[lambs2]

DH and I joined the tour at the very last minute that morning because someone got sick and there were two openings, so I do not know the name...sorry. It was more like a taxi than a real tour because the young man, although very nice, did not have the greatest command of English - or else he just didn't lke to talk much. At the Mosque they have their own tour guides. I believe the cost for our 4 or 5 hour was about €30 pp. We drove quite a ways up the coast to a little village on the sea there, drove through the wealthier section where the big homes are, saw the king;s residence in the area, a Jewish synagogue, a Catholic church (from outside), two different Bazaars, a shop that had lots of well-priced souvenirs, and several other sites. Also witnessed a pro-Palestinian protest march (DH went and videoed it up close!:eek:) We stopped for lunch at a downtown restaurant. DH and I chose not to eat and just walked around where we again saw the protesters being bussed back to the main part of town. We also had a nice long stop at Rick's Cafe. Some folks got drinks there and others bought some souvenirs, like bar glasses.

 

Correction: The cost was actually €45 per person. (I found my notes!);)

[jotabecu]

We did not set up the tour as we were last minute replacements when someone got sick that morning. But I believe this is the email address for Jamal Tours:

jamaltour1@gmail.com

 

 

Here is my complete cruise review so you can see how the day in Casa Blanca went and what we did, including costs. Scroll down to the port section to find my report on our CB day.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=53361

 

 

 

Thanks, will e mail him