alexandria, worth touring for a day???

i just got off the ncl jewel at the end of may after doing egypt and i have booked a second cruise on princess to go back with my husband. i did the overnight in cairo which was great but was wondering this time around if i should spend any time in alexandria. is this a city worth taking a tour in or not?? we know we will tour in cairo but don't know if we want to do the overnight. any thoughts???

thanks!

jeralyn ;)

I think the highlight of Alexandria was the library so you could see that. We did not enjoy walking around the town as many of the street vendors were over the top in terms of their agressiveness. You couldn't get them away from you and many of us did not care for that. It's ashame because there is the beauty in the location of this city off the water but the locals were some of the most agressive people I've ever seen in all of our travels.

My recommendation would be to look at other options or just see the library and walk around the area right near the cruise ship terminal. By the way the vendors had little outdoor shops set up right at the cruise ship terminal and those people were very polite and nice. Much different than what we saw in town. And, if you do go downtown, do not take the horse and buggy ride. We know people who did. They agreed on a price and as soon as the people got on the carriage things started to change in terms of what was agreed they would see and then the price started to change.

Keith

I didn't get to see much of Alexandria on my last trip (did the overnight to Cairo) but I'm returning to Egypt next year. Some things on my list to see in Alex (in addition to the library mentioned above) include:

Pompey's pillar

Roman amphitheatre

Catacombs

National Museum (the Greco-Roman museum is closed for renovation apparently, but this one sounds very nice too)

Our tablemates took a ship tour of Alexandria and quite enjoyed it. They didn't want to do the 3 hours each way into Cairo. You could eamil the private guides and see what they offer for Alexandria.

thanks for your suggestions. as of now i think we're going to end up doing the cairo overnight as there is too much to see for one day and while i was there this past may, my husband wasn't.

again, thanks for the alexandria advice.

jeralyn ;)

Great decision given that there is so much to see and your husband has not been there before. And, the overnight will be nice to break up the travel to and from the port. Enjoy!

Keith

Jeralyn,

We're headed to Alexandria via Norwegian Jewel in September, so are pondering same question.

Did you use a specific tour for the Cairo overnight? Did you think it was worthwhile vs. a one-day of Cairo/pyramids?

Thank you!

hi chirk

my daughter and i were on an ncl excursion for the cairo overnight in may. it was well done, good guides, great hotel and very hectic. the reason i thought about doing one day in alexandria is that i didn't see anything there. as it turns out since my husband wasn't on that cruise with us he really won't be able to get to see all he'd like to in one day so we're doing another overnight. for this next cruise in nov. 08 we're most likely going with decastro. princess is very expsneive for the overnight as compared to ncl and i have confidence in decastro after talking to many of my fellow cruisers who used them. i don't have an hesitation at all that we will have a good tour. i will tell you that the ride into and out of cairo is pretty boring and long so i'm glad we made the decision to do the overnight.

good luck in making your decision and enjoy your cruise!

jeralyn ;)

If you do the overnight, you can see and do so much more. We didn't get to our hotel rooms until after 10 pm on our overnight (with Princess in Nov. 06). These are all the things we managed to do in our 2 days:

Salah el-Din citadel/Mosque (Islamic Cairo)

Khan al Khalili bazaar

Cairo museum (guided)

Pyramids Sound and Light show

Breakfast cruise on the Nile

Step pyramids at Sakkara

Return visit to Giza pyramids and Sphinx in daylight

Shopping time (brief but worth it)

With a smaller group tour, you can probably do even more. I never felt unsafe in Egypt and would have no hesitation arranging with a local travel guide/driver on a return trip.

yes, i know how much you can see on the overnight as i did it and it was hectic but quite exciting. the only thing i would never do again, nor would i recommend it is the nile cruise. i'm not alone in my thinking either. most of our cc group which turned out to be more then 70 people felt it was a "must miss" experience! the food was mediocre at best, we did the dinner cruise after the sound and light show, the entertainment was fair and the smoke from all the cigarettes was repulsive. they couldn't pay me to repeat that experience :eek:

jeralyn ;)