Needtannow

It seems that both of you were on the same cruise, the 9/5/10 Navigator of the Seas, and both were in a group of 25 with Ramses Tours, so I'm going to go out on a limb and presume you were actually in the same group.

 

If so, your impressions of the tour guide were certainly very different.

 

For what it's worth, we're booked with Ramses for May, but we're doing it as a private tour for two, specifically so that we have the full attention of our guide.

 

Arty, thanks for your input. It's rare that anyone has anything negative to say about Ramses, but I think negative input, in perspective, can be very informative, and I appreciate it.

Yes, we were both on the same tour and Arty, I was quite surprised to read your review as I was did not hear of any problems and I can pretty much guarantee that if our guide received a complaint, he would have addressed it immediately.

There are definitely challenges with a large group and it is virtually impossible to meet the needs of 25 people. I sort of saw the whole experience as a give and take amongst us all and I believe we were very fortunate that the dynamics in our group enabled this most of the time. In Ramses defense, perhaps our guide didn't realize that people wanted more information on the Sphinx as he actually spoke about it before we arrived there. To be honest, I was actually surprised by the amount of information we did receive and how in depth Mimmo was at all of the locations we visited.

Again, my experience was 100% fantastic and the tour exceeded my expectations and this was voiced to me by others also. However, I was upfront with our guide and set expectations.

Of the 4 tours I arranged on the cruise, this was the best.

We recently sailed on Navigator of the Seas and booked a 2 day Ramses Tour a couple months before sailing. I booked the standard 2 day tour to Cairo and ended up having 25 people in total on the tour.

I can only speak for my own experience over the 2 days and being the coordinator of the tour. My dealings with Ramses leading up to the tour were great. Their is a language barrier but nothing that cannot be overcome and overall the communication is great. I did not deviate very much from the standard tour they offer however I wanted to make sure we went to the bazaar, which we did.

Immediately after disembarking from the ship, I saw our tour guide holding up a sign with my name on it. The tour guide's name was Mimmo he totally exceeded my expectations throughout the tour. Once our group assembled we were led to our bus which could have held about 40-45 people so was fantastic for just 25 of us. Lots of room to stretch out and the air conditioning was heaven! Please note, there is a washroom on the large busses. Small, not easy to "maneuver" in when the bus is going around corners but at least it was there.

When we arrived in Egypt, it was the second day after the end of Ramadan and was considered a holiday. Egypt, including Cairo is well known for it's massive amount of traffic however there were very few cars on the road in Alexandria, the highway to Cairo and Cairo itself. In fact, the place looked like a ghost town but this was a bonus for us as our travelling time was probably cut in half. Due to this holiday, Mimmo asked if it was ok to switch our itinerary and do the Day 2 activities on Day 1. I agreed that this was a good idea and would benefit the group by allowing us more site time and less travelling time.

In my opinion the value of our tour was exceptional given the amount of sites we visited, the knowledge of our guide and the incredible suites that we all stayed in at the Sheraton Cairo. Our tour included lunch the first day, and then breakfast and lunch the second day. Our guide provided us with water on both days and snacks on the second day.

What most impressed me was the ability of Mimmo to control, entertain, socialize and patiently explain everything to a group of our size. I never once felt that I was in danger and we were duly warned about merchants at the bazaar, the souvenier guys at the pyramids and what customs we were to follow when going to a mosque.

After 2 wonderful and exhausting days, we arrived back at our ship 2 hours early and sad that it was all over. Ramses truly lived up to their outstanding reputation especially after hearing about other fellow cruisers experiences in Cairo which were not nearly as favourable as ours.

Lianna