Have Any Ships Gone to Israel and Egypt

[RicardoC]

We are taking a cruise in Nov. from Istanbul to Dubai. It sounds very exciting. However, I too am concerned about the political climate in Israel and Egypt. I will decide in July whether to cancel and choose another cruise possilby from Dubai to Singapore or Sydney or Hong Kong.

 

We're also booked on a similar cruise in May (Barcelona to Dubai). I'm not really worried about the safety itself because I know cruise lined wont stop at the ports if they're not 100% fine but what are some other options "on the way" they could decide to stop instead? I just don't want 15 nights "at sea" :o

[John Bull]

We're also booked on a similar cruise in May (Barcelona to Dubai). I'm not really worried about the safety itself because I know cruise lined wont stop at the ports if they're not 100% fine but what are some other options "on the way" they could decide to stop instead? I just don't want 15 nights "at sea" :o

 

Depends on whether other ports can take the ship at short notice, but be sure that the cap'n will pull out all the stops to fit in alternatives.

Plenty in the Med if they're not already on your itinerary. Malta, Turkey, Cyprus, Greek islands, mebbe even Athens. And in Israel, Haifa instead of Ashdod, because it's much less volatile.

Fewer options in the Red Sea, & you're doubtless scheduled for most anyway. Eilat or Aqaba (excursions to Petra/Dead Sea possible from both, though Petra simpler from Aqaba). Or Sharm el Sheikh - yes it's Egypt, but remote from the grief. Only a tourist resort, but excellent snorkelling and desert ATVs. Safaga (for Luxor) also tends to be unaffected by grief in Cairo. Aden would be scraping the bottom of the barrel but would avoid passengers going stir-crazy.

Brit ships have continued to visit Cairo etc almost unaffected, but US ships do tend to pull the plug earlier & more readily, but that does give more chance of fixing up alternative ports.

 

JB :)

[WCAS74]

Hi, & welcome to Cruise Critic.

Jerusalem can be done but it's a couple of hours from Haifa. Guessing your ship won't be calling at Ashdod.

Depending on your port times, probably best by renting a car & overniting in a Jerusalem hotel. You can join a free (just tip the guide) walking tour of the walled city http://www.newjerusalemtours.com/

 

There'll be van drivers at the cruise terminal offering day trips, possibly Jerusalem, but most popular is a trip to Nazareth, Cana (water into wine), a kibbutz, River Jordan baptisms, Tiberias/Sea of Galilee, back to the ship about 7pm. Excellent, don't remember the cost per person but certainly reasonable, shekels or euros.

Or Tel Aviv, or a tour tailored to your needs if you can get a group to agree.

Acre (various spellings) by train or taxi is just a short distance up the coast, has an impressive crusaders castle, ideal for a shorter day.

 

BTW, this is quite an old thread & with an inappropriate title & might not be re-visted by others. So it's well worth starting a new thread (very easy) titled something like "DIY ideas from Haifa?

 

JB :)

 

Thanks JB. I am new at this and actually was trying to find out what Buggins0402 had done in Haifa. I realize I should have put the quote from his post at the top of mine! I appreciate all your info, though. And yes, our ship will be staying the night in Haifa and not calling at Ashdod. Thanks again, for the info.

[ROCruiser]

As I have suggested before, if you will be docking at Haifa overnight and doing the normal 2-day tour of Jerusalem and Sea of Galilee/Nazareth/Canaan, do Jerusalem on the first day because that will give you more time and not having to rush back to the ship the first night. Haifa is more than two hours away from Jerusalem.

[buggins0402]

Hello. We are scheduled to make an overnight stop in Haifa on our Jade cruise in March. I was very interested in what you did on the stop in Haifa. We also prefer to "do it ourselves" and are trying to decide whether to go to Jerusalem or to stay in Haifa. Thank you.

 

 

Just saw this and read further down and realized that you meant the question for me.

 

We took a train from Haifa to Tel Aviv, then walked across the street from the train station to the main bus station and took a bus to Jerusalem. If you're interested on specifics - let me know and I'll try and give better instructions. Also if you do a search on the Israel forums on Tripadvisor of "haifa to Jerusalem" you'll find plenty of threads with instructions.

 

We spent the night in Jerusalem - so we had plenty of time to poke around the Old City. One problem that you do have, is the Jade leaves on Sabbat and the trains back will stop running after sundown. You have to leave Jerusalem on a bus that will get you into Tel Aviv before the last train. We were making arrangements back on the fly - since up until the night before we thought the ship moving to Ashdod. Our hotel (in the Arab Quarter) said they could arrange a private driver to take us from Jerusalem back Haifa for about $100 if we had wanted to go that route. We decided stick with the train/bus combo.

 

One other thing that we had done was "buddied" with another roll call couple that were also doing a DIY to Jerusalem. It was nice having the contact info of another couple while things were so uncertain (we actually met up in one of the hotels that night to look through all the options, train schedules etc. for getting back to Haifa- remember up until the night before we thought we were going to be sharing a taxi to Ashdod with this couple). Also if you do this make sure you take the ship's daily with the port agent contact info.

[tring]

We were in the Eastern Med in February on P&O's Oceana.

 

We spent two days in Alexandria instead of one day in Alexandria and one in Port Said and two days in Haifa instead of one day in Ashdod and one in Haifa.

 

P&O have not planned any further visits to Egypt - they seem wary of the costs of having to change their arrangements if necessary. Glad we went when we did.

 

Alexandria - We did our own thing both days. Took a taxi tour of the catacombs, Pompeys pillar, the amplitheatre and the national museum followed by an inside visit to the Mosque (the taxi driver took me to the side 'womens' entrance) and an inside visit to the fort the first day. Sounds like a lot, but it worked very well and we did not feel rushed, but we took the whole day and the sequence used meant we did not travel more than necessary. We used a black and yellow taxi, and we were lucky the driver spoke good English. The blue tourist taxis are more expensive. The Egyptian tourist information people at the port wrote down the names of places (especially the port) in arabic, so we could use the black and yellow taxis which are found outside the port. We are well travelled in Africa so were happy with that. I have the contact details of our taxi driver if anyone is interested, but I may not be able to reply immediately

 

The second day we walked to the Biblioteque mainly along the front, stopping at The Hotel Cecil each way for drinks and then afternoon tea. It is an immpresive historic hotel and not at all expensive for refreshments. Allow a good time for the Biblioteque as there is a lot there. We bought tickets for everything and took a long time after their official tour to see the museum items - ancient manuscripts etc and you can use the computers while you are there if you want to. We were there at the same time as a tour from the ship and they were just whisked away by their guide.

 

We also did a quick trip on the ship's shuttle bus on the first night which took us to a modern shopping centre - think KFC, Marks and Spencers, and an array of other high street shops you can see at home. The prices were not even cheap as there is a high tax on luxury goods in Egypt. An interesting contrast though.

 

Haifa - We went to Akko (Acre) the first day by train - very easy journey but the trains stopped at 2pm because it was Friday and the begining of the Sabath (trains do not restart until after dark on Saturday). We got a shared taxi (called a cheroot) back to Haifa. They continue to run and we found the local people very helpful with that - we needed an ordinary taxi (they are called special taxis) back to the port after we got back to Haifa and we got a special taxi from the old town of Acre to take us to the shared taxi stop. If you go to Acre do not miss the turkish baths -there was an amazing presentation which made you feel as though you are transported back in time and we were there alone rather than with a large group of people which felt very special. The second day we did the Nazareth and Gallilee tour - OK but it seemed a shame to be whisked around very touristy places after the other experiences we had had in Egypt and Israel.

 

Overall - We have no regrets skipping Jerusalem and the Pyramids as we would have spent much of those days on a coach when there was so much to see near the port. Hope to do a land trip to those sometime.

[twonga]

Does anyone know if any ships have been docking in Egypt recently? I heard that port said is still closed :(

[Pushka]

Does anyone know if any ships have been docking in Egypt recently? I heard that port said is still closed :(

 

Did you see the post above yours?

[twonga]

Did you see the post above yours?

 

Indeed I did, but that was almost 3 weeks ago!