Tour of Cairo and Alexandria

[aussie cruzer]

I have been looking at Albaraa Tours trip down to Luxor,you can fly down to Luxor on Egypt air scheduled flight ex Cairo 1 hr flight ,then tour Luxor for the afternoon,do the Karnak sound & light show & either fly back to Cairo for overnight or overnight in Luxor & fly back to Cairo in the morning to tour the Pyramids & Museum.

 

My plan was get the 11.30 am flight down to Luxor & 8.40 am flight back next day.

There are plenty of flights ex Luxor to Cairo.

Price 4-6 people $422

6-10 people $380

This includes flights, *5 hotel ,luxor and Cairo tours ,all transfers port to port

[Fblack]

I am glad we went to Egypt 2 years ago. New demonstrations are being planned that will hurt travel and undoubtedly cause extra traffic and tour problems.

 

 

2 May 11 11:00

Call for mass anti-Israel demonstration in Egypt..

A demonstration is planned for Friday against the peace agreement with Israel.

 

Hebrew daily "Yediot Ahronot" reports that Cairo is preparing for a million-man demonstration against Israel on Friday. The demonstration's organizers plan to hold the demonstration opposite the Israeli Embassy, ...

 

 

 

http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000642061&fid=1725

[Fblack]

Here's more.

 

5/08/11

 

12 die, hundreds hurt in Egyptian Muslim-Christian clashes

CAIRO -- CAIRO-Egypt's military rulers assigned extra security forces to protect churches and sealed off a volatile Cairo district Sunday to prevent the spread of Muslim-Christian clashes overnight in which at least 12 people died and more than 200 were injured....

 

 

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/05/08/2207655/12-die-hundreds-hurt-in-egyptian.html

[Moonlight 1977]

We are using Albaraa Tours for our overnight excursion tomorrow...will let you guys know how it works out. Currently on the Star Princess...we are set to arrive in Alexandria tomorrow.

 

 

I have been looking at Albaraa Tours trip down to Luxor,you can fly down to Luxor on Egypt air scheduled flight ex Cairo 1 hr flight ,then tour Luxor for the afternoon,do the Karnak sound & light show & either fly back to Cairo for overnight or overnight in Luxor & fly back to Cairo in the morning to tour the Pyramids & Museum.

 

My plan was get the 11.30 am flight down to Luxor & 8.40 am flight back next day.

There are plenty of flights ex Luxor to Cairo.

Price 4-6 people $422

6-10 people $380

This includes flights, *5 hotel ,luxor and Cairo tours ,all transfers port to port

[aussie cruzer]

We are using Albaraa Tours for our overnight excursion tomorrow...will let you guys know how it works out. Currently on the Star Princess...we are set to arrive in Alexandria tomorrow.

 

 

I'm booked with albaraa in October for Ncl Jade,i would love to no how your tour goes.

 

So far they are good at responding to questions

 

Thanks for the info

[aussie cruzer]

Hi!

 

I have read on the forums that it is cheaper to do everything 'by yourself' but will we have problems finding a guide who can speak Spanish???

 

Any advice is welcome.

 

 

Not sure on Spanish ,you can hire a private car for 2 for about $260 p/p for overnight tour of Cairo,includes hotel,transfers,entrance fees.

Most the sights are visual ,so you could get away with limited English.

 

Email some tour company's in Egypt & see what they can do.

[dog]

Hi

can you please help me? We are going back to Egypt this year and would like some recomendations on true 5* luxury from you guys who have experience in staying at many of the Top rated Cairo hotels.

Just back from Star Princess cruise with stop in Alexandria. We used Egypt Private Excursions and did the 2 day/overnight tour. We stayed at the Mena House Oberoi hotel right at the pyramids - Giza. The tour included a standard room , but the hotel upgraded us to a pyramid view room when we got there. It was amazing. I was in the older section of the hotel which is due for some renovations. So ask about that if you choose it. We also ate at the restaurant for dinner and the buffet breakfast. The food was very good. Stay away from uncooked vegs. etc. and the water.

Heard that people at the Cairo Marriott who did the overnight there had a large number of people get sick once they returned to the ship. They were not sure if it was from eating there or not.

Others told me their stay at the Cairo 4 Seasons was top notch.

[Embracedbylife]

We used Ramses tours when our cruise onboard the Star Princess stopped at Alexandria, Egypt on May 21. We had an excellent day tour to the pyramids and back. Our guide was Osama and he was oustanding. Seamless tour! Highly recommend it! :) Only comment I could make is they promised a convoy and I didn't see one. Otherwise great tour!

[Dante22]

I have been looking at Albaraa Tours trip down to Luxor,you can fly down to Luxor on Egypt air scheduled flight ex Cairo 1 hr flight ,then tour Luxor for the afternoon,do the Karnak sound & light show & either fly back to Cairo for overnight or overnight in Luxor & fly back to Cairo in the morning to tour the Pyramids & Museum.

 

My plan was get the 11.30 am flight down to Luxor & 8.40 am flight back next day.

There are plenty of flights ex Luxor to Cairo.

Price 4-6 people $422

6-10 people $380

This includes flights, *5 hotel ,luxor and Cairo tours ,all transfers port to port

 

We used Albaraa Tours last December for a similar tour and it worked out fairly well. Our tour (and everyone else) didn't leave from Alexandria until around 10 am due to fog on the road to Cairo (would never have made a 11:30 am flight). We then went to Giza to see the pyramids, drove to the Cairo A/P, took the 5 pm flight to Luxor, arrived a little after 6 pm, went straight to Luxor temple which is open til 9 pm and is awesome to see at night. We stayed at the Hilton on our own (super place), got up the next morning and made it to Karnak Temple by 6:30 am, followed by a quick visit to the Hatshepsut temple & the Valley of the Kings, and a 11:55 am return flight to Cairo (and then back to Alexandria). Highly recommend the tour guide we had in Luxor - Hagar Gamal Hatata. In retrospect would have started with the Valley of the Kings instead of Karnak since it would extremely crowded by the time we got there. Valley of the Kings is really spectacular

[Tiffany's mom]

We just got home from b2b cruises. The first one was Egpyt. We did a over night tour with Alex City Tours the guide was Hany. We had a great tour.

Felt very safe. Hany was a excellant guide, very knowledgable about Egpyt's history. Yes there was a armed escort from the port to cario. Hany had also hired a arm escort for us. We stayed at Geza at a 5 star hotel.

 

It was a very well organized tour there were only 4 of us. I would use Hany and Alex city tours again if we went. Would really like to have hany to show us the rest of Egpyt.

 

Pam

[sandemac]

Hi, We are looking at booking Hany for a couple of trips next Feb - Pyramids and others. From your recommends they sound very good. So far I have had very prompt responses and lots if ideas and information. ANy other info that could be useful, gratefully received!!

Thanks

[havcamwiltravel]

Hi!

 

I have read on the forums that it is cheaper to do everything 'by yourself' but will we have problems finding a guide who can speak Spanish???

 

Any advice is welcome.

 

I happened upon this video that shows at the 7 minute mark Spanish tourists touring with Memphis Tours: http://www.youtube.com/user/toursinegypt

 

I toured with them in June and it was an amazing tour.

[Licisca]

I used Ramses Tour last september during a mediterranean cruise with Costa. It was the second time, the first time was two years ago, a tour of Cairo, Pyramids, and the Egyptian Museum (arranged only for the two of us). It was amazing and the wonderful thing was I should personalize it and spend a lot of time in the Museum. Last september we were in Alexandria and arranged with Ramses a day tour of the city, and we had a guide speking italian too. I will surely use Ramses next time I will come back to Egypt.:)

[Goldencruise5]

Our day tour to Cairo (Pyramids + Museum) was 120 USD per person

[mark55twin]

We were met by Sam our guide from http://www.Egyptlastminute.com with a sign. We had a private van with driver for 2 people. Our tour was very extensive. They made stops per our request several times for bathroom breaks. I highly recommend this tour operator. Our tour was $100 US per person, and the ships prices was over $200 per person to be on a bus with 45 more people! I loved Egypt!

[tebeast]

Was wondering what to see while in Alexandria for a day.

 

The catacombs? - we will be visiting catacombs while in Rome earlier and didn't know if the differences make those in Alexandria worth visiting also.

 

The Bibliotheca?

 

The Roman amphitheatre?

 

The National Museum? we will be visiting the museum in Cairo the day before and didn't know if a second museum is worth the time - or maybe we should skip the museum in Cairo and go to the one in Alexandria?

 

A market or bazaar (not the tourist trap)?

 

Any other recommendations?

 

Thanks!

[cruisemom42]

Was wondering what to see while in Alexandria for a day.

 

The catacombs? - we will be visiting catacombs while in Rome earlier and didn't know if the differences make those in Alexandria worth visiting also.

 

The Bibliotheca?

 

The Roman amphitheatre?

 

The National Museum? we will be visiting the museum in Cairo the day before and didn't know if a second museum is worth the time - or maybe we should skip the museum in Cairo and go to the one in Alexandria?

 

A market or bazaar (not the tourist trap)?

 

Any other recommendations?

 

Thanks!

 

I enjoyed the catacombs in Alex -- they are somewhat different from the ones in Rome. Try to get there early in the morning as they are much more atmospheric without all the crowds.

 

I also enjoyed the area where the underwater finds (from Alexandria harbor) are on display outside, also near are the small theatre and (easy to miss this) a house (Roman era) with mosaics.

 

If you're only going to see one museum, it should be the one in Cairo. While the Alex museum was interesting, it doesn't have a tenth of the treasures of the Cairo museum.

 

I enjoyed seeing the Library (you have to go on one of their tours, your own guide can't take you), and wouldn't have skipped it but didn't thrill me as much as the ancient sites.

 

If I may ask, why are you spending only one day in Cairo? Although I really enjoyed seeing Alexandria, I only did it after I'd been to Egypt twice already and spent a fair amount of time in the Cairo/Giza/Sakkara sites.

[gloria_edwin]

This is a must-see in Alexandria. The library's design is unique, modern, elegant, and perfectly situated on the Corniche.

[Jetdriver78]

We just came back from Egypt, we booked our tours with Egypt last minute, Firstly the efficiency of booking our tour was excellent, they replied immediately and offered a choice of tours and all had reasonable costs, compared to others we received. Ongoing communication was also efficient. By the way, the costs were half what the cruise ship was offering and more comprehensive, and we didn't have to sit on a huge big bus with lots of other people.

 

On arrival in Alexandria and port said the guide Mohammed was waiting for us with a very comfortable air conditioned car and excellent driver. Mohammed had enough knowledge of the area that we were able to attend the Cairo museum for a short period of time, but see the most important parts of the museum eg the historical artifacts of Tutankhamen, and a few other very beautiful artifacts before we left. We were at no time at risk as the problems did not start until after we left thanks to Mohammed.

 

From then on, on both days we had wonderful explanations about everything we saw, the pyramids, the sphinx, the mosque etc in both Cairo, Giza, the Nile, Alexandria. His excellent English and intelligence but most of all his sense of humor made our 2 days of touring Egypt truly memorable.

 

We would highly recommend Egypt last minute to any one visiting EgypT.

[msk575]

What is the average amount you should pay for water bottles in Egypt ?

[msk575]

Do most guides prefer USD or Euros? I'm aware that most tours are paid for at the end of the day with USD.

 

 

Thank you in advance.

[Mexfolkart]

Do they prefer USD even in the Bazaar and places like that? Should you get any Egyptian money? What about taxis? not just Cairo but Luxor as well?

Thanks, Sherry

[Katosmama]

Is it possible to book a tour of Alexandria right from the port? In the Caribbean it's very easy to simply book a tour as soon as you get off the ship, for a fraction of the cost of booking a tour with the ship. We are being quoted $75 USD for a half day tour of Alexandria, and if we could pick up a tour in port for around $40, I'd probably rather do that.

[tyrasilverman]

I would highly recommend visiting the catacombs in Alexandria, they are different from the ones i visited in Rome.

[tyrasilverman]

Egypt was fascinating. We were unsure even the night before if we were going to call. Other ships had cancelled, but we we so happy with HAL for not doing so. I’m sure they were checking security, as there had been a breach of the American Embassy wall several days prior and embassy murders in Libya.

 

A Cruise Critic group of 20 of us did an overnight tour with Egypt shore excursions, which for we singles was less than 1/3 the price of the HAL tour (same hotel), in a mini-bus. 3 hours from Alexandria to Giza the first day was a long trip, but there was a pleasant roadside stop. Our guide gave us lira to use the toilets (common in the middle east).

 

Our destination was the pyramids at Giza. When we came around the corner it was a-maze-ing! Our guide taught us how to say NO THANKS to the “mosquitoes” of vendors trying to sell you something. “One dollar” they shouted for nearly anything they wanted to see to you. It was not unlike any beach in Mexico, and I found the bartering fun, but many people did not enjoy this part of the location. I bought some pens (10 for $5) and postcards.

 

Could have bought a lot more if I’d had dollars. The vendors indicated that Americans are staying away from Egypt and they were happy to see us there. We saw Saqqra, with the amazing well preserved crypt paintings, which I still can’t believe aren’t covered. You can touch them! We over- nighted at Le Meredien Pyramids in Giza. Beautiful hotel, but I don’t think they can get parts to fix things.

 

Of the three of us singles, one room had no electricity in the wing, my toilet flushed constantly and when I toyed around with the flushing mechanism I realized someone had put a bobby pin in it to hold it to the wall. We had dinner in the hotel, which had a lovely buffet for 180 Egyptian Pounds, , about $30, but we weren’t that hungry.

 

I sat down to a table alone, which I guess in a no-no in Egypt. I wasn’t recognized until my two table mates had arrived. We had martinis and steaks, and it came in under $20 per person. Jeanne ate the salad, we had ice in our drinks, no problems. The elaborate buffet breakfast was included in the a.m. before our group was off at 8:00am.

 

Today we were off to Cairo city center. Woah! 26 million people living here. Drivers have a sophisticated series of horn honks, and pedestrians wait by the roadside for mini-van shared transport, using hand signals to indicate where they are going. These vans stop on freeways to board passengers. It’s a dance, and everyone understands it, except the tourist. Most women wore the hijab, many in full burkas. Some wore very sophisticated clothing, and a hijab. Older women wore scarves tied at the neck.

 

Many men wore the galabia, a long cotton or linen robe. Then there were the cosmopolitan office workers in trendy black pants and button-down shirts and ties. We headed up to the Citadel to see the amazing silver mosque. We were allowed inside, and it is elaborate and ornate.

 

Just simply beautiful! We had a lovely lunch at the Happy Dolphin Restaurant, right on the Nile river. The buffet was varied and plenty. Drinks or bottled water was $2, diet coke $3. A visit to Tahrir Square and the Archaeological Museum was next, but getting there was a trip in itself. Traffic in Cairo is hectic, frenzied and constant, to say the least. As we drove, our guide answered every question we had about the Arab Spring uprising.

 

The museum was filled with many important statues and relics from tombs of pharos and queens. The whole second floor was a portion of the contents of King Tut’s Tome (less what was on display in Seattle at the time), and the gold room worth the price of admission all by itself. Afterward, it was a 3 hour drive to Port Said, through vast desert along the Suez Canal. We kept seeing Maersk Line container ships, all in a row, kind of like a convoy of ships.

 

What I didn’t realize until later, our ship was entering the flotilla and escorted out of Egyptian waters. I felt very safe the whole time in Egypt, and every person I came into contact with seemed genuinely happy to see us. Port Said had a long line of vendors as we headed for the pier, but the same old stuff we’d see for the last two days, nothing new, and we were cutting it close to departure time, so no shopping.

 

I would highly recommend Egyptshoreexcursions.com for the lovely trip at a reasonable price. Far and away the most exciting part of our 16 day cruise.

Edited December 4, 2012 by tyrasilverman