motib

Please forgive me. :o The ship docks in Haifa at noon and leaves at 9pm on Monday, June 20th. Then we are off to Ashdod for two days. Now you have me thinking...., would it just be easier to rent the car and travel to Galilee from Ashdod instead of Haifa, considering the time constraint? We arrive in Ashdod at 8am on Tuesday, and don't leave until 8pm Wednesday. I know the drive would be longer to Galilee, but.... Just thinking. We wanted to do one day in Galilee and one day in Jerusalem, so would that work??? (just thinking out loud, so to speak) ....We got in on this cruise a bit at the last minute, so I am a bit disorganized and still trying to figure this out. Thank you for your help. :)

I guessed before that you are coming on the Nautica...

With all the changes in your cruise itinerary Oceania ended with a strange itinerary to Israel spending only one afternoon in Haifa.

Indeed your cruise company is offering a short excursion that includes only Nazareth and Yardenit, Tabgha and Mt Beatitudes arenot included.

Never the less if you'll take the ship excursion you'll have time to Baptize! and I am saying this from experience.

I must tell you also that a 1/2 day private tour from Haifa to Nazareth and to the sites of the north of the Sea of Galilee should cost you no more than 500-550$USD and to my opinion it worth it especially if you are going to pay 400$USD for the ship excursion and not get what you want. Renting a car from Ashdod and drive to the Galilee is possible but with all the over-mileage that you'll pay, along with gas cost (more than 8$USD a gallon) it will not be a money saving option.

Than you so much to all of you.

 

So I see we can manage a full city tour by walking, all main attractions are within walking distance? From maps it seems so. You can take a taxi from the port to Mt of Olives. Start your walk there by going down to Gethsemane. Enter the Old City from the Lion Gate and walk the Via Dolorosa to the Holy Sepulture. Then cross the Jewish Quarter to Mt Zion and the Last Supper Room and from there down to the Wailing Wall and out of the Dung Gate. That is a loooooooong walking tour but possible!

Doing this without a guide?

Shouldn't be a problem.

Will it be the same as a guided tour?

Defently no! If you don't take the ship excursion Jerusalem is the one place i will not save the cost of a guide!

 

About Holy Sepulcher we can guess to have less to wait if we arrive early in the morning? No. It is all about luck!

Enjoy

We need some advise about our next visit to Israel next August with Celebrity.

We have an overnigth in Ashod and we have already planned a tour to Masada the first day. The next day, August 15th is full for Jerusalem. So far we are trying to get a private tour but we are wondering if feasible to do it by ourself. We are used to do it during our holidays ut not sure if feasible for this stage.

So no restriction sbout timing because we have an overnight and the ship will leave late in the evening around 10pm. So we can leave very early in the morning and no specific restriction in caming back.

 

So some questions if we can.

Can we get a taxi right off the ship? Yes you have a taxi service on the pier in Ashdod. How much does it cost the trip to Jerusalem? On the pier you'll see a sign with a prices table. The prices are quoted for a tour including waiting hours. The price of only a ride to Jerusalem should be around 240NIS according to the official tariff (around 70$) Can we find easily a tsxi back to the ship? Yes and no... Yes it will be easy to find a taxi that will take you back to Ashdod for your money... and no because this taxi will be able to take you only to the port gate. only authorizes taxi can take you into the port and you won't find one in Jerusalem. Which currency we can pay? Euro or dollar? Or credit card? In God we trust and plastic and Euro too... for the taxi $ or Euro will be accepted. Every place you'll be able to use credit card. in a lot of places you'll be able to pay in $ or Euro too.

In Jerusalem we want for sure to visit all Christian place starting from the Holy Sepulcrer... Due to the crowded people we could find do we have to start from here? Any restriction in the opening time? The Holy Sepulture will always be crowded, don't bother to do too much planning regarding to this place.

So as plan we want to visit all the main sites...any suggestion as route to follow? No problem in walking. Every place you'll visit in the Old City will involve walking, no cars in the Old City.

 

Thanks

Hope I helped

Does Azamara (owned by RCCL, so same shore excursions as Celebrity too) use this same Shorex agent?

well some things where changed since then. Oceania and Regent changed their shorex agent in Israel and the new one is Caspi. I work with them too and I have only good things to tell about them.

Azamara is using another agent - Patra - and this is the bigest and very proffesional agent.

In June, we will be in port in Israel for 3 days:

 

June 20 Ashdod arrive 6AM

June 21 Ashdod depart 8PM

June 22 Haifa arrive 6AM depart 8PM

 

We would like to see as much as possible but thoroughly experience what we see. We are considering one or two nights off the ship in Jerusalem. What would you recommend we attempt to see and should we stay the night of June 20th in Jerusalem and return to the ship on June 21 doing the north area (Haifa) as an excursion from the ship or alternatively, should we stay 2 nights in Jerusalem and return to the ship in Haifa?

 

Thanks

I guess you are coming on either Oceania Nautica or Seven Seas Mariner, both by the way 2 of the best cruise ship to my opinion. If you'll decide to take the ship excursion I can assure you that they are going to be great, both ships gets their services from the best shorex agent in Israel (again my opinion).

Nevertheless, if you'll decide to do something independently, my suggestion to you is to have an overnight in Jerusalem for 1 night. go on the first day to Masada and the Dead Sea, that will allow you to get to Jerusalem early afternoon and in June it is summer time and you have light until 20:00. Take a full day tour in Jerusalem for the second day and leaving Jerusalem at around 18:00 will bring you back to the ship on time.

For the third day, again, taking the ship excursion from Haifa is a good option but you can arrange yourself a third private tour, it all come to the issue of cost. I think that since you have the possibility of taking a tour to the north from Haifa you should take advantage of it instead of spending another day in Jerusalem.

Hi Ruth & Motib and any other suggestions:

 

Here is our time schedule in Israel We will have a private guide for 4 of us.

We were on an Oct cruise but had to change to April/may

 

Apr 30 Sat HAIFA, ISRAEL 7:00AM 8:00PM

 

May 01 Sun JERUSALEM (ASHDOD), ISRAEL 6:00AM

May 02 Mon JERUSALEM (ASHDOD), ISRAEL 8:00PM

 

Our plan so fare is to have a tour from Haifa and return to the ship.

Saturday 30th April Haifa – Nazareth – Sea of Galilee

Back on ship

We are interested in sites pertaining to all 3 religions.

Sunday 1st May Jerusalem + Bethlehem (spend the nigh in Jerusalem at Harmony Hotel)

Monday 2nd May Masada + Dead Sea (then back to ship)

 

Not sure about Bethlehem.

Would like to know what to do after our guide leaves us at hotel in the evening on Sunday not sure what is open our closed or what we can walk to.

Any suggestions would be great.

Thanks Trish

Well, if you already have a guide why won't you discuss it with him??

Another thing, I think it is more logic to do the Dead Sea and Masada on the first day, this will allow you to visit Bethlehem on the first day and will leave you a full day in Jerusalem.

We will be in Jerusalem / Tel Aviv (Ashdod), Israel from October 30 11:00am to October 31 10:00pm so a good day and half. We are six people and sure to recruit an additional 4 people to make the magical 10. What is the most effective and cost efficient way to see what there is to see. Would it be wise to hire a guide and transportation? If there were 10 persons in this group would the cost be $100 per person $200 over those two days with the idea of getting a strong flavour of the region. The only definite would be the Wall and probably Bethlehem. Masada and the Dead Sea seemed to be more for those who have unlimited time.

 

Look forward to the replies from Ruth and other

 

Thanks

Ross

If you are already 6 people you should hire a private guide with a car. For a 6 seats minivan the cost is 600$USD so you are talking about 200$USD for the 2 days. Cheaper than the ship's price and you get a private tour!

Adding more people will not reduce your price a lot because then you'll need a bigger vehicle. For a group of 10-16 people you can expect a cost of around 90$ per person/day.

As for what you include in such a tour it is depend on when you are coming which ports will you be at and how long is you be staying.

write here the details of your arrival and I'll will tell you whether it is possible to add the Dead Sea to your Itinerary.

We will be on the Rotterdam in Oct. with 2 days in Haifa and one in Ashdod. We are planning to take the ship's tours, but it appears they overlap each other, so it almost seems like we will repeat tours even what is offered in either city. It is hard in this small space to tell you of the tours, but the Nazareth Highlights & the Sea of Galillee sounds like the one we want, there is one called Leisurely Jerusalem, would that add anything new for us. I am hoping you have some idea of what these tours offered by Hal show us. Thank you for any advice you can give. ANYone who reads this.

Your ship is docking for 3 days in Israel what leaves you a lot of time to see more.

From Haifa you should take one of the tours offered to Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee on one of the days.

you are right that there is an overlapping in some of the tours and to tell you the truth for a 2 days docking in Haifa the options for touring the north of Israel are very poor (and that an understatement!) with no options to the Upper Galilee to Safed or the Golan Heights. I guess it is because the company prefer to push the overland tours.

So your option for the second day if you want to visit places in the north is to either take one of the half days tour offered - Acre or Caesarea - which both are good options and allow you to have a free 1/2 day to explore Haifa itself (worth it!) or to take one of the excursions to Jerusalem. the benefit of taking and excursion to Jerusalem from Haifa is that it allow you to take an excursion to the Dead Sea from Ashdod what you cannot do from Haifa.

from the excursions to Jerusalem offered from Haifa I would choose "The best of Jerusalem and the Old City".

Hi!

 

Thanks to everyone for your great suggestions.

 

Motib, I especially like the idea of seeing some important non-Jewish sites if time permits on Friday afternoon. That sounds very interesting.

 

We have just booked the 2 days in Ashdod with Guided Tours Israel as I have read excellent reviews about them. They are very flexible about what we want to do, so since we will have just 6 of us in our tour group, we can let them know at a later date our itinerary. As you can imagine, it's hard to get total agreement among all 6 of us, so we'll discuss our options further as the time gets closer and decide what is the most important to us. Therefore, I truly appreciate everyone's suggestions. By the way, Motib, do you happen to work for that tour company?

 

Thanks again for all your help.

 

Reggie

No Problem.

Jerusalem has so much to offer to filling 2 hours is quite an easy task.

No I don't work with GTI.

Enjoy your visit

Motib,

 

Thank you for your thoughts about what we should do during our 2 day stay in Israel. If we should decide to skip both Masada and the Dead Sea and spend 2 full days in Jerusalem, what Jewish sites would we be able to see on Friday afternoon after 2:00 pm? Are there still things of interest that would be open for another couple of hours before we would have to leave Jerusalem (about 4:00pm) to get back to the ship in Ashdod?

 

We are 3 couples traveling together, and since we all have various ideas about what we should definitely NOT miss, we REALLY appreciate all your input.

 

Reggie

I was on a tour so first of all sorry it took me time to answer you.

First of all you got a good suggestion her - Mahane Yehuda Market. But I will emphasize Ruth words, it is going to be an authentic experience, in other words it is going to be crowded, noisy, smelly, dirty, chaotic and pushy. From my experience, sometimes our idea of a "authentic experience" sometimes does not fit other's idea of "experience" at all. So, it is not that I tell you not to go there, to my opinion is one of the exiting place in Jerusalem and not to be missed, but you must consider first whether it suite you and whether on a 2 days only this is you "must" place to visit.

Another comment, I guess you are a Jew and you want to see Jewish heritage sites in Jerusalem. It is great, but I personally always say (as a Jewish tour guide) that coming to Jerusalem, city holly to 3 religions, full with so much amazing holy places to the whole 3 religion, focusing on the heritage of only 1 religion, can be each one of the 3, is a great mistake. So, I don’t know what are your plans to the rest of your time, but I think you can easily spent time in Jerusalem to see other things apart from Jewish heritage sites.

Motib, Would you suggest an overnite in Jerusalem if one day you are docked in Ashdod and one day in Haifa? If you have never been to Israel before should you concentrate on Jerusalem, Masada and the Dead Sea and leave Haifa area sights for another time or skip Masada so you can do more of the area around Haifa? We are interested in the Jewish Perspective. Thanks

I am expressing here my personal opinion also it is my professional opinion as a guide.

Coming for such a short time you must set your priority. if your ship docks also in Haifa I look at it as an opportunity to see other places in Israel apart from Jerusalem and the Dead Sea.

In a country as small as Israel I don't think that an overnight is needed, accommodation only will add 200-250$ to your cost and that for an already night paid on the ship.

If you are coming for 2 days and docking also in Haifa I suggest you to have 2 separate days, one from Ashdod to Jerusalem and the second from Haifa to the north. If you really must have the "Floating Experience" in the Dead Sea than you have 2 options:

1. Overnight in Jerusalem after a full day tour in the city. Than on the second day start with the north part of the Dead Sea (not Masada) and drive north via the Jordan Valley to the Sea of Galilee and the Lower Galilee area.

2. To shorten the part of Jerusalem on the first day allowing 3hrs of the day for driving down to the Dead Sea (not to Masada). Get back to the ship for the night and go on a tour to the north on the second day from Haifa.

Hope I helped you.

Hi Ruth,

 

Thank you for all the wonderful information. I really appreciate it.

 

We are planning to dock in Ashdod for 2 days in September and are planning to have a private guide take 6 of us to see as many of the Jewish sights as possible. The tour guide recommends spending one full day seeing Masada and the Dead Sea, spending the night at a Jerusalem hotel, and then seeing Jerusalem for a full day before returning to the ship for a 7:00pm departure. That sounds great to us, but I'm wondering if we should skip Masada (and possibly the Dead Sea as well), and spend the full 2 days in Jerusalem. Also, because the second day falls on Friday, will anything that we would want to see close early?

 

I know that 2 days are nowhere near enough to see all that we would want to see, but I want to be sure we use our time wisely to get the most possible out of the short time that we have.

 

Thank you again for all your excellent information.

 

Reggie

I am not Ruth but i will answer anyway.

When docking in Ashdod for 2 days i think that overnight in Jerusalem is a waste of money.

It is 1hr drive from Ashdod to Jerusalem and I see no reason to spend 200$ on accommodation only to save 1hr!

As for Masada and the Dead Sea, well, Masada (especially if you are looking for a Jewish Heritage tour) is a very unique, impressive and important site, but if you want to focus on Jerusalem and still have the "floating experience" in the Dead Sea it is easily possible in a 2 days tour from Ashdod.

Take a full day in Jerusalem and go to site usually not included in shore excursions like the City of David. On the next day have 1/2 a day in Jerusalem and 1/2 day in the north part of the Dead Sea, Kalia area, for the floating experience. If you are negotiating with a private guide or a local agency ask them to tailor you up an itinerary according to your needs and agenda. Skipping Masada will indeed leave you more time to Jerusalem but again it should be your decision.

Have fun

Hi : Was wondering if it was possible after docking in Haifa to get to Jeruselum and have a Bar Mitzvah for my grandson at the Wall? Can this be done in a short time? Who would I have to arrange it with. This won't happen until April 2012 but I want to be familiar with my options and take plenty of time for research. Thanks for any information.

No problem to arrange it!

One thing you should know, by the wall you can do only an orthodox ceremony, if you want a different one then you'll need to do that by Robinson Arch by the Western Wall but south to the Kotel Plaza.

Now, since this is a cruiser forum and your request is not a regular one by a cruiser I suggest you to go to the Israel Forum in TripAdvisor, there you have a lot of people who arranged a Bar Mitzvah at the Wall and some reviews about it.

I will be staying at Hotel Tal in Tel Aviv, can you tell me which Catholic church is nearby?

Thanks

Use this link to find any church and any Mass schedule in Israel:

http://www.cicts.org/CICmainin.htm

Visiting 2 days by ship and am planning a private or small group tour but due to limited time we have been given the choice of either visiting Acre and Mount of Beatitudes (which means we can overnight on the ship) or visit Masada (which means we would depart the ship on at Haifa, stay overnight in hotel, board the ship in Ashdod.) Our major interest is beautiful scenery, and historic architecture. What is your opinion?

To my opinion, Acre and Mt of Beatitudes on a same day is not a good idea. One situated on the Mediterranean coast north to Haifa and the other above the Sea of Galilee east to Haifa.

Personally' I almost always recommend not to do overnight on shore. You can easily plan 2 separate day tour and save the cost of the hotel (not less than 200$USD per room in Jerusalem!).

When exactly are you coming and how many are you going to be?

Ruth,

Thanks for your valuable posts. I am visiting Haifa/Jerusalem and am doing most of my itinerary on my own. I need to get from Jerusalem to

Ashdod (ship leaves at 11PM) on a Friday, and since transportation can

be tricky later on Friday I wonder what are the options and how late should we try to leave Jerusalem (to get to Ashdod 7-8PM)?

 

Thanks!

You have only one option: taxi!!

My suggestion to you is to close a deal with the taxi station on the pier for a pickup in Jerusalem to take you back to the port. They are the only one that can take you into the port all the way to the ship. Other taxi will drop you off only at the gate of the port and it is a big port and the pier is very far from the gate!

All in all, doing the tour independently on a Friday, with the transportation cost, will cost you not less than a private tour...

Thanks Ruth and Moti for taking the time to answer all the questions. I read the 16 pages yesterday and it is helping me with my plans.

We will be in Ashdod on a Monday and Haifa on a Tuesday. We have never been to Israel before. I am(my husband is unsure)

thinking of doing an overnite in Jerusalem to maximize our time.If we do overnite are we better off going to Massada and the Dead Sea first and then on to Jerusalem or should we spend the first day just in Jerusalem and do Massada and the Dead Sea on day two and then back to Haifa?Which way would allow us more time to see some of the sights in the North around Haifa? We would not need to return to the ship till around 9 p.m.

If we do two one days should we do Massada and the Dead Sea on day one along with some Jerusalem and go back to Jerusalem from Haifa or just do as much as we can in Jerusalem on day one and see the sights around Haifa on day 2. Thanks

Hello, I just want to know if cruisers need to get a visa. Sorry, I haven't exhausted my reasearch so I just want to know. Thank you.

 

Froogal

no!

The visa is isued on arrival.

A friend and I will be on Celebrity Equinox in October, docked at Haifa one day and at Ashdod the next. We would like an overnight in Jerusalem, and have a reservation at the Harmony Hotel. One possibility we're exploring is arranging transport from Ashdod to Jerusalem, with an overview of Tel Aviv and a walk through Jaffa, then to our hotel so as to have several hours that day to explore Jerusalem on our own. Next day, we would be seeking a tour starting by being picked up at our hotel and ending at 5:00 back at our ship at Ashdod.

 

Do you have suggestions for transport from the ship at Haifa to our Jerusalem hotel, with a bit of sightseeing at Tel Aviv/Jaffa? Would a taxi be prohibitive? Are there other options?

 

Any help you can offer will be appreciated! If easier to answer by direct email, send a note to freda@whidbey.com. Thanks!

As far as I know, Ruth is not on line recently so I will try to answer...

Thanks for your info. We will take your advise and see Jerusalem on Friday and do dead sea on Sat then back to ship to Haifa, then full day for the north it makes great sense. I booked the Harmony Hotel. Do you think we should try to do Bethlehem? We don't want to shop but it looks like that would be part of the deal?

Thanks Trish

You can have Bethlehem in your itinerary if it is important to you. The thing is that in order to get there you need to cross to PA territories. There is no security problem with it but if you have an Israeli guide he won't be able to take you there and a Palestinian guide is need. It can be arrange but you are right that will involve the "must" visit to the local shop.

Ruth: Thanks for your help and prompt response. What would a private tour and overnight stay cost? Also, what kind of walking do you mean? My husband walks with a cane and has problems walking up and down steep hills. Isn't there a cable car that takes you up to the top at Masada? How long is the drive from Ashdod to Masada? Are you saying that it's not advisable to go there from Haifa? If we do stay overnight, would it be better to go to Masada on the second day, since we dock at 10:00am in Ashdod the first day?

Hello weston gal

It is me who answered you....

At Masada it is true that the cable takes you up but the tour on the mountain itself is a walking tour with some uphill and stairs. There are special path for wheelchairs so it won't be a problem. In the Old City of Jerusalem it is a different story since you have stairs and uphill and downhill street and it all walking.

It takes 2hr to drive from Ashdod straight to Masada and 3.5hr from Haifa. Therefore it is advisable to do the Masada part from Ashdod and not from Haifa.

If you are doing an overnight then you should go first to Masada on the first day as I wrote.

Regarding the cost, you are looking at around 550-600$ per day for a guide with a car, not including sites admissions and meals. Accommodation cost will be from 200$ and up depending on the class of the hotel you'll chose.

Motib: What is the approximate taxi fare (in US dollars and shekels) from the airport to The Carlton Hotel on the Tel Aviv beach? We will be two people with 1 suitcase and 1 carry-on bag each. Is it customary to tip the driver? How much? Thanks.

only authorised taxi can take passengers from the airport. no problem to find the taxi station.

to Haifa and Jerusalem there is a Sherut Taxi Service (shared taxi) but not to Tel Aviv.

the prices from the airport to most location in Israel are fixed.

To any location in Tel Aviv the price is 120-137NIS according to the time of the day (1$=3.7NIS).

for 1 suitcase you'll add 3.6NIS.

no extra charge for carry-on bags.

Hi Ruth. We are 2 seniors, 74 and 68 visiting on Oct 12 and 13. Our ship arrives in Ashdod at 10:am on the 12th and we are in Haifa on the 13th at 7:am. The most important places my husband wants to see are Masada and the Wailing Wall. we would also like to see other jewish sights if there is time. We do not want to stay overnight unless we must. Do you have any suggestions.

Wanting to see both Masada and Jewish sites in Jerusalem means that you will have to take a private tour and since your ship is leaving Ashdod at 22:00 it is possible to do it on 1 day. But, as an elderly couple you must know that this is a long excursion with a lot of walking, also, in October it turns dark at 17:30 so you'll have less daylight hours.

If it is important to you to see both Masada and Jerusalem an overnight will be the best option. Of course it all comes to the issue of cost since again a private tour will be the best way to do it. On day one you should do the Masada and the Dead Sea area. Spend the night in Jerusalem. On day two have a full day in Jerusalem, you can arrange an itinerary which will be all "Jewish Heritage" including maybe even Yad Vashem. You will not need to rush through the day since your ship is leaving Haifa at 22:00 too.

Hi Ruth,

 

Thanks for your insights! We will be traveling to Israel in mid-October. Our ship will dock in Haifa for one day then travel overnight to Ashdod. We're trying to figure out whether to do a day tour out of each port or make it a 2-day excursion and stay overnight in Jerusalem. Having never been there, we don't know if staying overnight in Jerusalem would be worthwhile since we'd be seeing it the next day on tour though we'd miss part of the scenery driving from the northern region to Jerusalem - what are your thoughts? Also, can you tell us what the weather typically is in this region in mid-October?

Thanks!

Connie

Hi there,

 

 

We would to see Tel-Aviv from Haifa since we plan to join a small group from Ashdod to see Jerusalem. We will have about 10 hours to do so. The travel agency suggested that we go the taxi route since it might be less than their minimum of $450 for the day. We have been quoted between $220 - 250 by taxi companies. How reliable are the taxi drivers in Tel-Aviv since we would not want to scramble on the day if there is a no show.

 

 

Lani Boris

Your input/suggestions as a expat would be so much appreciated as this our first, and might be the only time we get to visit Israel. Thank you.