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Tour of Cairo and Alexandria


scrustyrock
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Tyrasilverman

Thanks for sharing your trip.

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.

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  • 2 months later...
Would it be better to stay at Le Meridien Hotel or to stay at Mena House Hotel in Cairo?

IMHO - having been in Le Meridien and having stayed at the Mena House - you should not miss the opportunity to stay at the Mena House. For my full report, please see my post in this thread http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1486840

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  • 2 months later...

We just completed a 11 day cruise tour with Holland America Noordam in May, 2013. As american citizen, no need to worry about the visa to Egypt. The cruise ship will take care of that for you to get a stamp/visa. I believe it is free, no charge.

Edited by Sweetgoat
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disagree with above poster. We were just there with Regent Voyager in early May, 2013 and while the cruise line took care of the visas, it was at a cost of $50 pp. If you have the time & inclination, you can get them in the US for $15pp.

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disagree with above poster. We were just there with Regent Voyager in early May, 2013 and while the cruise line took care of the visas, it was at a cost of $50 pp. If you have the time & inclination, you can get them in the US for $15pp.

 

Regent is just making money off you, then.

 

I've been to Egypt four times on 3 different cruise lines and none of them charged me for the quick stay visa. It was explained quite clearly they are provided by the government, as they want (or at least wanted in the past) to make it easy for cruise ships to call in Egypt.

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No charge again for our 2nd visit to Alex & Port Said in May this year onboard the Noordam.

 

They processed the passports ok & I had enquired re fees beforehand & told that there will be no fees...Turkey was a different story!!

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  • 8 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...
We are considering the Port Said Tour to Cairo for 7 people. We would also like to ride camels at the pyramids, should we just use a vendor there or can that be built into the trip as well? Thanks for your time.

 

In my understanding the vendors there will try to rip you off as you don't know the language or the customs. If you are taking an organized tour your tour guide will be able to do all this for you at a reasonable amount, either by pre-planning it or taking you to their "preferred" vendor his "cousin". They will get baksheesh for this from the camel owner and you should tip as well.

We stayed in Cairo a week before our organized tours and did sunrise at the Pyramids with Breakfast there by Camel. Can't do that on a cruise ship tour.

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  • 4 months later...

Have booked with MSC and will be docking at 7 am on the 6th day. The ship goes again at 9.30pm. I have looked at the Ramses Tours website and they say that it is possible to do a full day in Cairo. They say on their website that: "We pick you up from inside the port next to your ship. Other unlicensed companies can not provide this service and guests are forced to walk 2 kilometers to the gate of the port". Is this true? Do they do the same on the return to the Port?

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As a party of 6 we are using Ramses Tours for several excursion during our 2 day stay in Alexandria next March on the Celebrity Infinity. Part of our party is doing the overnight to Cairo for the museums and pyramids, while another part is using them for tours of Alexandria and El Alamien. 

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  • 3 months later...
On 5/21/2023 at 5:33 PM, drowelf said:

As a party of 6 we are using Ramses Tours for several excursion during our 2 day stay in Alexandria next March on the Celebrity Infinity. Part of our party is doing the overnight to Cairo for the museums and pyramids, while another part is using them for tours of Alexandria and El Alamien. 

For the Celebrity overnight. Are we allowed to not come back to the ship until next day?

We are also looking at booking this trip for next year. And Ramses 2 day (1 overnight in hotel) Seems to be exactly what we want to do. Long time cruiser...but never have done an overnight.

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Alexgtp,

 

We took an overnight tour to Cairo from Alexandria.  We were on the Azamara Pursuit.  Eight years ago we were on the Azamara Quest and took an overnight tour in Cochin.  Back then Azamara was part of Celebrity.  For both instances we asked Customer Service what to do.  We were told they would notify Security and our cabin attendants.  That way, we wouldn't be missed that night.

 

When we got back to the port, the gate officers showed us the passenger log, the one we signed when we left on our private overnight tour the day before.  They didn't have the log from the day before.  We tried to explain.  They just waved us in. We had already showed them our cruise cards and passports.

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Chatuga,

 

For our overnight in Cairo (from Alexandria) in April we used Ramses Tours.  I wrote a review in one of the threads.  Very pleased.  Our itinerary changed three days before we boarded: four days in Israel became an overnight in Alexandria and an extra day in Crete.  I reached out to Ramses by chat, exchanged messages about our preferences (based on the overnight tours on the website) and within 24 hours, our two days in Egypt were set.

 

For Cochi we used Stanley Wilson Tours.  That was more than ten years ago but I just read recent reviews on TripAdvisor that made me feel like I was back in the houseboat in the backwaters.  Mr. Wilson, the family that runs the small hotel in the backwaters (rooms on land and the houseboats), his lovely wife Jasmin (we had lunch at their Cochi bed and breakfast after out city tour on the second day, before returning to our ship) and the drivers took great care of us for an excellent price.  You arrange everything with Mr. Wilson via email.

 

Hope this helps!

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