Private Tours (what cities are safe)?

Hi there. First time poster, but been cruising for over 10 years. Until our last cruise, we ALWAYS did ship-sponsored excursions. Then in Barbados, we did a private one and loved it. I'm kinda leaning towards doing most of them privately, but am afraid there are some cities you just don't want to do that in.

For example, we will be in Egypt and Israel for our next cruise and the number of ship-sponsored excursions is very small. Is it safe to do private ones in Egypt and Israel? This will probably be our only trip to Egypt (although we may return to Israel).

Thanks in advance.

In my opinion, ship's tours are no safer than private tours. The cruise lines do not run the tours, they contract out from private tour companies. There are many very good tour companies. Browse the boards below and you will see many reviews. In Egypt we are using Ramses.

Also, you should join the roll call for your cruise.

Thanks, I just did the join the roll call. I'll check out some of the private tours suggested.

From people's experience, are the ship tours typically more expensive (when comparing apples to apples)? If so, is the only advantage that of the ship not leaving if your tour is late?

I'm a single mom who was cruising alone with twin 5 year old girls, so I started out thinking the only safe way to go would be with a ship tour. But after reading here for a couple months beforehand, I decided to go ahead and book a tour with a group from my roll call. Then, after exchanging many emails with the tour guide my group was using (Moustafa at Moustafa Egypt Tours), I went all the way and booked a tour for just my family. I never felt unsafe for a moment - and we got to see and do exactly what we wanted at our own pace, never having to wait for anyone else. It was absolutely wonderful. Clearly, I would never do anything to put my children in harm's way, and I wouldn't hesitate to book a private tour with Moustafa again (in fact, I look forward to doing so in the next couple years). And the best part is how much less expensive it was for a private tour than going with the huge group on the bus. We were ahead of the busses at every step and it really improved our enjoyment.

I encourage you to keep reading and you'll see that many of your fellow Cruise Critic members have done the same and been very happy. That's what changed my mind, and I'm so glad I did.

Best,

Mia

You will find many many postings on this board about private tours in Egypt and Israel. In fact they are some of the most popular places for private tours.

Check out our review and pics at http://www.bully4.us/holyland2.html for some great private tours in both.

Have a GREAT cruise!

From people's experience, are the ship tours typically more expensive (when comparing apples to apples)? If so, is the only advantage that of the ship not leaving if your tour is late?

Yes, ship's tours typically are more expensive, because the cruise line is another entity taking profit on the tour (they don't offer them out of benevolence, but to augment revenue) which is non-existant when you and the tour operator are the only parties involved. While the comfort of knowing that the ship will hold for a late-returning tour is a major part of the appeal of ship's tours, sometimes there is a simplicity factor; in some ports, it is just easier to get on a bus dockside than to negotiate a maze of commercial docks to find the gateway into the city where you can find a cab or train; Livorno and Le Havre come to mind.

But cost is not the only advantage of the private tour. There is flexibility, and the fact that you are not sharing your experience with 50 others on a bus which takes a significant amount of time to load and unload. Sometimes this translates into access, e.g. ships tours typically do not enter the Terrace Houses at Ephesus because entrance is limited to groups of 12 at a time.

Finally as to security in the Middle East, every tour in Egypt, ship or private, will carry an armed member of the tourist police (he will typically sit right behind the bus driver). I don't know if Israeli guides are typically armed (school trips usually have a guard, but I have not seen this on adult tours). However, in Israel you are rarely far from armed soldiers, who are required to take their weapons with them when going on leave. I suspect that you would be safer on an Egyptian or Israeli tour than walking around in some cities in the US after dark.

Thanks for all the info

Finally as to security in the Middle East, every tour in Egypt, ship or private, will carry an armed member of the tourist police (he will typically sit right behind the bus driver).

While I firmly agree that private tours in Israel and Egypt are as safe as can be, this particular point is not correct. It mentions a bus driver, so it is probably correct as pertains to bus tours. However if you book a private tour for a small group in a van or car, it will not necessarily be true. In our group we had a van with six people, the driver and the guide. AFAIK neither of them was armed.

All over Egypt the white uniformed tourist police are ubiquitous. They are heavily armed and some are behind concrete shields. However, their principal duty seems to be posing for pictures with tourists and then demanding baksheesh ... a tip. Check out our picture at Dashur with the tourist police on a camel, for example, at

http://www.bully4.us/holyland2.html

As soon as he saw us he headed right for us, and held out his hand for baksheesh. It is really a lot of fun, but makes you wonder just how alert they are for trouble.

Have a GREAT cruise!

Just to back up Mike's always-good information - n our roll call we had many groups who went with both Ramses and Moustafa in groups of about 10 and none of them had a guard with them.

Our tour was just my little family in a van, but Moustafa made a special arrangement for us to have a guard because he knew I was concerned about being a woman alone with twin toddlers. It turned out it was completely unnecessary of course - I would have felt completely safe at all times even without the guard - safer than I often feel at home. But it was kind of fun having darling Abdu always shadowing and sheparding my twins.

Best,

Mia

Is it safe to do private ones in Egypt and Israel? This will probably be our only trip to Egypt (although we may return to Israel).

Just came back from excursions to Cairo and Alexandria. We had a female freelance tour guide provided by Ramses Tours for our group of seven. Other than gathering us in a group to explain some tidbits of history, she did not accompany us as we explored the various sites on our own. If we would have needed protection of any kind, it certainly was not forth coming.:(

Nevertheless, we did not feel any sense of "danger", even in the area, by the foot of the pyramids, which was laden with vendors of every type. They WILL pester you to buy their ware, ranging from postcards to T-shirts, or to use their services from taking your photo to letting you ride on their camel.

The following are vignettes of our experiences.

Beware of scam teams of a young child and a teenager. The child will charm you and give you a "gift" because he likes you. Then he will turn around and ask you for a "little something" (rubbing his thumb and fingers) for his "gift". A teenager will come along and urge you to give "the little kid something" and at the same time ask you to change his dollar bills into a $5 bill. Once you do that, he will tell you that you still owe him a dollar because you had not paid for the kid's gift. That's when you ask if they want you to call the police, then they will quickly scram. A rifle-carrying guard on the ground will offer to take a photo of you touching the top of a pyramid; you accept his offer as a friendly gesture. After he takes the photo, he, too, asks for a "little something", using the same thumb and fingers gesture. Just say, "No" firmly and he will not persist. However, it was a bit disheartening to see guides stationed there to "protect" tourists would resort to exploiting the tourists that way. Finally, a guy on a camel kept following us, trying to get us on his camel to take a photo. We kept ignoring him. He cut in front of us with his camel and said, "Hey, I am talking to you!" I calmed said, "But I don't want to talk to you." That was all I needed to do. He retreated.

So, if you can look at these incidents as part of your cultural experience in Egypt, you can smile at the memory.;)

Just get assurance from the tour operator that a quality guide will be provided for you so that you can enjoy your excursion to the fullest extent.

My husband and I booked a private overnight Cairo tour in December with Memphis Tours. With just the 2 of us we were able to optimize our time and do just what we wanted without the waiting for a busload of people to have a 30 minute or more potty break! Absolutely no worries with security, we always felt safe with our driver and guide. With some of the more aggressive vendors all our guide had to do was give a quick shake of his head and they went off to find someone else. The cost for just the 2 of us was a bit more than others pay with 6 people, but it still saved us about $250 off the ship's offer!

Just came back from excursions to Cairo and Alexandria. We had a female freelance tour guide provided by Ramses Tours for our group of seven. Other than gathering us in a group to explain some tidbits of history, she did not accompany us as we explored the various sites on our own..... Just get assurance from the tour operator that a quality guide will be provided for you so that you can enjoy your excursion to the fullest extent.

We are booked with Ramses in October and this is the first time I have read negative feedback about their guides. Did you let George know that you were not happy with her? I know he is very aware that people on CC "talk" and I for sure do not want a repeat of that experience on our tour. Do you remember her name by any chance?

Thanks.

Barb

double post

We rarely take ship excursions. I hate to pay the costs and we are very independent travelers. I hate going in groups and having to wait on others. I did go with the ship excursions in Israel and Egypt. I'm glad that I did. I felt very safe on both excursions. Another advantage w/ Egypt is that the busses all caravan to Cairo. They shut down the road to all other travelers until you have passed by. It's very impressive.

We did private tours in both Israel and Egypt (twice in Egypt). In Egypt, both times (Luxor 4/08 and Cairo 11/08), we were in the same caravan of travelers as the cruise buses...with the requisite number of armed cars in front and back and in between. We would STRONGLY recommend doing your own thing! And, NEVER, did we feel unsafe in either Israel or Egypt.

We took private tours on our cruise up the west coast of Africa in May & June. Everything went great

We also prefer private tours. We get to be flexible with our schedule and not forced to wait for some other passenger that is late. I see different companies in Egypt & Israel. any idea which to go for?

 

Roberta

Avitours gets consistently good recommendations in Israel. They did a wonderful job for us.

In Egypt, we booked Egyptian Express through our travel agent and had a really great tour. However Ramses and Nile Blue get consistently good recommendations too.

Check out our trip report and pictures at http://www.bully4.us/holyland2.html

Have a GREAT cruise!

Beware of scam teams of a young child and a teenager. The child will charm you and give you a "gift" because he likes you. Then he will turn around and ask you for a "little something" (rubbing his thumb and fingers) for his "gift". A teenager will come along and urge you to give "the little kid something" and at the same time ask you to change his dollar bills into a $5 bill. Once you do that, he will tell you that you still owe him a dollar because you had not paid for the kid's gift. That's when you ask if they want you to call the police, then they will quickly scram. A rifle-carrying guard on the ground will offer to take a photo of you touching the top of a pyramid; you accept his offer as a friendly gesture. After he takes the photo, he, too, asks for a "little something", using the same thumb and fingers gesture. Just say, "No" firmly and he will not persist. However, it was a bit disheartening to see guides stationed there to "protect" tourists would resort to exploiting the tourists that way. Finally, a guy on a camel kept following us, trying to get us on his camel to take a photo. We kept ignoring him. He cut in front of us with his camel and said, "Hey, I am talking to you!" I calmed said, "But I don't want to talk to you." That was all I needed to do. He retreated.

So, if you can look at these incidents as part of your cultural experience in Egypt, you can smile at the memory.;)

Baksheesh is a way of life in Egypt. It was really a lot of fun to find myself undergoing exactly the same experiences that Mark Twain writes about in "The Innocents Abroad"! The people are intensely poor and a $1 bill is important to them. I carried a pocketful of them and passed them around freely. The little girl selling bookmarks who adjusted my phony Arab headdress for me, the guy standing in front of the Sphinx to show us where to take a picture, the dwarf child who gave my wife a flower, the guard on a camel in front of the bent pyramid, even the guy in the restroom handing out toilet paper -- they all got $1 and were polite and grateful.

I paid thousands for the cruise -- hundreds for the tour -- and handed out about $20 in baksheesh! It is the culture. Don't let it bother you.

The thing to really concern yourself about is a country where people are so intensely poor that children are out in the hot sun selling bookmarks for a dollar when they should be in school. That is the sad part.