Egypt & (India)

[bcf]

We are going on a 30 day portion of the world cruise, departing September 16th. on the Royal Princess and one of our main ports of call is Egypt. I can not seem to find any comments on Egypt on this site. I am looking for information on independent tours for Alexandria, Cairo/Giza, Port Said, Luxor/Karnak (Safaga). If anyone can help it would sure be appreciated. We are also stopping in Bombay and Cochin, India. There does not even seem to be any forum for India, so I thought I would include it with this thread. Any info. on India will also be helpful.

Thanks to all who can help. We want to do as many independent tours as possible. The tours from the ship are terribly expensive.

[Tripmaven]

We are also on the Royal Princess, September 16 sailing. Like you, we are doing independent excursions during the sailing. We have been more successful arranging something in Egypt then India. We have decided to concentrate on Egypt and do very limited excursions in India.

 

We found several travel agencies that will arrange shore excursions for you from both Alexandria and Safaga. We have elected to do an overnight in Cairo and Luxor in order to take full advantage of the time. There is a company called Champion Tours that you can research online and many references have been made regarding there service on the boards. You may need to check the older message board to find them. There are a couple of other companies that specialize in the same type of service, but I don't have their names. We did get a quote from an agency that was quite a bit more then we were willing to pay, so it is a very competitive area.

 

We are using a travel agent recommended by another agent that uses his services for Egypt travel. His prices are reasonable and we feel comfortable with his itinerary. We are making our own hotel reservations for the night in Cairo and Luxor. It is my impression that most of the licenced travel agents in Egypt can arrange a shore excusion.

 

If you have any more questions or find some information about India I would be interested.

[bcf]

Hi Tripmaven,

 

Thanks for the info on Champion Tours. We had not planned to spend a night off the ship, but the more I am reading the more I think this is the way to go. I will let you know if I find any more info out. I'm doing the same, really concentrating on getting Egypt set, and then I will work on the other countries.

If I find out anything on India I will let you know.

 

Cheers,

Barbara and Randy

[dshimizu]

We are interested in finding out more about independent tours as well. This will be our first trip with the Royal Princess a(Sept 16th) and are finding that researching possible excursions is quite overwhelming, We are keen to explore independent travel unless taking a Princess excursion is the only option. Let's compare notes!

 

Deb and Bill

[slgjhg]

Hi Deb and Barb and Crusin Maven,

 

Searched all old boards and found nothing. However, my friend who traveled three weeks in India last year with in-laws from India got back to me early and says they think the name for India is "Travel Corp of India", site TCI.com.

 

I haven't had a chance to look yet, if unsuccessful do search etc. but if we all get to work on it I bet we can find out alot of info.

 

I'll post this at our cruise site also. Look forward to hearing what you all think.

 

Good searching !!!

 

Regards,

 

Shannon

[Acrusa]

3 years ago we did a pre India .We sailed the Pacific Princess from Mumda to Mombasa,We use a company called ISRAM TOURS in Nyc.They have grreat ittinarrys for this are,We stayed at the Oberoi In New Dehli,Went to Agra by train its a one day trip ,then flew to Bombay satyed over nite aand then got on the ship,Iram Tours held our hand all the way they where great.

[slgjhg]

Hi all interested in India or Egypt. I have emailed tcindia.com with our port information and asked that they suggest what might be possible. This company was highly recommended to us by close friends who traveled with their in-laws who are natives of India. Clearly we are not doing a 20 day land package but perhaps they can offer some suggestions which will not cost us an arm and a leg. As soon as I know anything, I will get back on the boards and let you know.

 

Regards,

 

Shannon

[Tripmaven]

Shannon, I am impressed by your perseverance. It is my impression that it is a bit more difficult to set up something in India rather than Egypt. I have not checked the board for a couple of days, but was pleasantly surprised when I did. Also, I was happy to see a thread for the roll call portion. It is helpful when everyone can share information. Thanks again. Paul & Carol

[slgjhg]

Tripmaven and everyone else,

 

We don't know anything yet, but I know my friends and how conciencious they are. So I do hope that these people can help us in India. I really enjoyed looking at the sites for Egypt. Having been there before our interests may be differebt but it is great to share information. I am also aware of ISRAM which someone else posted. I had been looking at them for Eastern Europe with regard to another trip. Has anyone checked them out. It was my impression that they had a Jewish orientation. This may not be true. I truly don't know. Any news.

 

Regards,

 

Shannon

[Acrusa]

ISRAM tours was the first tour operater to do Isreal many years ago.But they have now grown to one of the largerst tour operaters in the world, they are really very good ,Check them out.They have tour packages of 3 to 10 days i India.

Tripmaven and everyone else,

 

We don't know anything yet, but I know my friends and how conciencious they are. So I do hope that these people can help us in India. I really enjoyed looking at the sites for Egypt. Having been there before our interests may be differebt but it is great to share information. I am also aware of ISRAM which someone else posted. I had been looking at them for Eastern Europe with regard to another trip. Has anyone checked them out. It was my impression that they had a Jewish orientation. This may not be true. I truly don't know. Any news.

 

Regards,

 

Shannon

[slgjhg]

Hi All,

 

I just went back to my files, and must say a big thankyou to Acrusa. Not only do they do tours in India, they do tours in Egypt. They also do special "groups" so there might be some real possibilities with them. I will email them and see what's up. Here are their 800 #'s - 18002237460 and for special groups - 8008439728.

 

Shades of Egypt is another company (U.K. & Egyptian owned) which looks interesting. Great website. Looks like email is enquiries@shadesofegypt.plus.com Actually, the phone just rang and it was TCI (Tour Company of India). I'm emailing them back and we'll see, they are the company our friends used.

 

Anyone else have any news?

 

Regards,

 

Shannon

[slgjhg]

It's me again (oh no). Have received acknowledgements from two tour companies but nothing specific, yet. However, I found another site, how hard was that, and while reading the testimonal section one letter contained a link to the boards of Frommer. You'll never guess what I did. That's right, I went and read the letter this traveler had sent to Frommers and while I was there I did a search of their India boards. One women who adores India, listed Le passage to INDIA as her favorite, she also listed TCI as one of the best "in country" tour operators. That was nice to hear (see). Oh yes, this Egypt site which started this whole process is Egypt Tours and Travel Services - A-

Z Tours, if you want to have a look.

 

I'll keep you posted and hope this helps.

 

Regards,

 

Shannon

[Stampede]

My wife and I are also doing the 30 day cruise on the Royal Princess, Thank you so much for all the info on the land excursions. Looking at all the interests, we can almost do our own group tours in Egypt and India. Will report back once I finish investigating all the sites/companies.

[slgjhg]

Hi All,

 

What a great handle, given where you live. If you haven't checked out our rollcall, do. Also some of us have been posting in Europe for those ports. I think there are about six threads that some of us are using. Also, the Royal rollcall just prior to our sailing, has scads of info on the European ports. They have several hard working members who are organizing all sorts of tours.

 

Again, welcome, tell us about yourself and be sure to go to Roll Call.

 

Regards,

 

Shannon

[slgjhg]

Hi All,

 

Here are the places I was referring to in my last post:

 

Egypt & (India) This is in "Ports of Call" in Africa

bcf The person who started the Thread (Barbara, she is on

Today 02:43 AM Last post Royal with us)

by slgjhg person who posted

None Response

 

ROLL CALL (Princess Cruises)

 

1. This is the one before us

**Royal Princess 09/04/04 - European Explorer (London-Rome) Itinerary** ( 1 2 3 ... Last Page )

usavvy2

 

2. YAH!! This is us

ROYAL PRINCESS - Asia/India Sept 16/04 - Price Reduction ( 1 2 )

dshimizu Deb started our Roll Call

Yesterday 07:56 PM

by slgjhg

 

 

 

Kudsadasi Tours Ports of Call - Europe (I think)

NEW YORK LADY same pattern as above

Yesterday 07:45 PM

by TWOFERTWO

 

Civitavecchia, Naples, Istanbul, Kusadasi, Rhodes

bcf Same pattern as above

Yesterday 05:28 PM

by slgjhg

 

I am not all that experienced on these boards but I hope this helps. If you have trouble, just ask a question. I have learned alot just from reading. Not only about tours, etc. but about maximizing the utilization of these boards.

 

So glad to have you on board. Post soon.

 

Regards,

 

Shannon

[slgjhg]

Hi All,

 

I will try to post this at our Roll Call also, I'm getting better at cutting and pasting. I know Barbara's email is posted in one of these threads and when I find it I will email the proposal to her. I'm going to put my email in my profile in case any of you want to email me.

 

The tour they have put together is very similar to the tour the ship did for the Star Princess - described on page 24 of our Adventures Ashore book.

 

Deluxe Overland to Jaipur and the Amber Fort.

 

The prices for 2-3 people $894 PP

10-14 $811 PP

15-20 $797PP

Single supp. $202

 

Day One - Meet at ship and transfer to coach or van for city tour on way to airport. Help with check-in and board flight to Jaipur at 13:00 arrive 17:20.

Meeting and assistance with check-in at Hotel. Rambagh Palace - Dinner at hotel

 

Breakfast at hotel, Amber Fort on elephant, Lunch at hotel

Afternoon - Jaipur City Tour

Depart Jaipur 7:30 PM to Mumbi arrive 11:05PM check in Orchid Hotel (airport)

Depart Mumbi 8:55AM arrive Cochin 10:40 AM Cochin meet and transfer back to ship

 

Those are the basics. I will email to anyone who wishes to see the proposal.

 

I have some questions and will let your know when I have answers. One thing I have realized, is that the reverse itinerary with the extra hours in Mumbi until 11:00PM made the overlands more doable.

 

Let me know what you think.

 

Regards,

 

Shannon

[Stampede]

I am new to this, what's a roll call???

Hi All,

 

What a great handle, given where you live. If you haven't checked out our rollcall, do. Also some of us have been posting in Europe for those ports. I think there are about six threads that some of us are using. Also, the Royal rollcall just prior to our sailing, has scads of info on the European ports. They have several hard working members who are organizing all sorts of tours.

 

Again, welcome, tell us about yourself and be sure to go to Roll Call.

 

Regards,

 

Shannon

[slgjhg]

Hi Stampede amd everyone else,

 

This thread is within the Ports of Call subheading Africa - Egypt & (India). After you sign in the homepage for Cruise Critic Message Boards appears. By scrolling down you have many choices of areas to read. One of those choices will be Roll Calls with subsections for different cruise lines. Click on Princess and the Roll Call threads will come up. There are many, many pages. Placement , I believe, is a function of most recent posting, which is why you will sometimes see where someone has simply posted Bump. This is to bump there thread up in the standing. One way to avoid scrolling through pages is to select Mark

Forums Read. Then the next time you visit the sight after signing in simply click on User CP and each of the forums or threads you have been following will be listed. You can then select several things. The thread, the last poster, the person who started the thread, etc. It actually works pretty well.

 

If you are interested in receiving email simply put your email address in your profile.

 

Best of luck and I hope this helps.

 

Regards,

 

Shannon

[Artemis]

We just returned from a land trip in Egypt + Nile river cruise (Abercrombie & Kent). I gleaned some information from these Boards before we left...and now, all of that info is in the Africa section of the "Old Message Boards" (see the link at the top of the page). Specifically, there is a thread about 6-8 down called something like "Private Guide in Egypt" by someone who was on the Royal Princess and had great success with an independent guide. I believe there is a "me, too" comment by someone else concerning that guide.

 

Our Egypt experience was incredible. I will say that you definitely have to do an overnight excursion if you plan to go anywhere south of Cairo (someone mentioned Luxor, for example--you'd have to fly there; the domestic carrier Egypt Air goes everywhere and could connect you, e.g., Alexandria-Luxor-Cairo-Port Said). The distances are so much farther than you think, so travel time between Points A and B can easily consume a lot of touring time as limited by the port stop schedule.

 

Because of the logistics involved, you really need a full day in Cairo just to do the pyramids, sphinx, camel ride, etc. out at Giza as well as one other thing in Cairo, the top choice being the museum. Well, you'd have to squeeze in the famous Khan bazaar, too!

 

I haven't finished my trip report yet, but I'll let you know when I do in case any of you have any interest in reading it. In the interim, if you have questions, don't hesitate to ask here or via email. I will want you to return the favor re: India someday!

[slgjhg]

Hi All,

 

Thanks for the suggestions on searching the old boards for Egypt. I had done that with India and found nothing. I think it has to do with how much had been purged from the system. But I will try Egypt.

 

My husband and I (in 1999, I think) did a cruise with the now gone Renisance(sp) which included several nights in Luxor and we took there Day Charter to Cairo. The whole trip, other than the time we were on the Ship was handeled by A&K. They did an amazing job. It is such an amazing place, I couldn't believe the vividness of the colors in the tombs in the Valley of the Kings.

 

Thanks Again,

 

Shannon

[slgjhg]

Hi All,

 

I just checked out the "old boards" and Artemis was right on with his suggestion. Dbedros arranged tours in Egypt with decastrotours@link.net and was very pleased with every aspect of their tour which included overnights in Cairo and Luxor. If you want to read for yourself, it is very much as Artemis described.

 

I am going to contact them.

 

Did everyone see that I have two proposals from two different companies in India? Is anyone interested in having me email these?

 

Regards,

 

Shannon

[bcf]

We are also on the Royal Princess, September 16 sailing. Like you, we are doing independent excursions during the sailing. We have been more successful arranging something in Egypt then India. We have decided to concentrate on Egypt and do very limited excursions in India.

 

We found several travel agencies that will arrange shore excursions for you from both Alexandria and Safaga. We have elected to do an overnight in Cairo and Luxor in order to take full advantage of the time. There is a company called Champion Tours that you can research online and many references have been made regarding there service on the boards. You may need to check the older message board to find them. There are a couple of other companies that specialize in the same type of service, but I don't have their names. We did get a quote from an agency that was quite a bit more then we were willing to pay, so it is a very competitive area.

 

We are using a travel agent recommended by another agent that uses his services for Egypt travel. His prices are reasonable and we feel comfortable with his itinerary. We are making our own hotel reservations for the night in Cairo and Luxor. It is my impression that most of the licenced travel agents in Egypt can arrange a shore excusion.

 

If you have any more questions or find some information about India I would be interested.

 

 

Hi Tripmaven.

 

I was just a bit confused about your reply. Are you actually booked with Champion or is it another company your using? If so, who is it? Can you let me know pricing and type of itinerary.

 

Thanks,

Barbara

[Tripmaven]

Barbara,

I reread my response and I see what you mean. Sorry, I should have been clearer. We are not going with Champion. I referenced them due to the number of recommendations I saw from others. We contacted three agencies; Nasco, Cosmos and the one we chose, Naggar. Naggar was recommended by a travel agent we have used in the past who is a specialist in Egypt travel. I did not hear back from Cosmos. Nasco came in very high for two overnight trips to Cairo and Luxor. These were for two person itineries with a guide and driver, and two overnight stays (we pay hotel) Nasco was over $2300 all inclusive. I thought that was a bit pricey.

 

We have a tentative reservation with Naggar travel service and they are quoting $350 per person for two excursions to Cairo and Luxor. That doesn't include hotel for each night since we prefer making our own reservations. We are using the Nile Hilton in Cairo and the Luxor Hilton in Luxor. We will also pay for dinners. We have tried to maximize our time and allow some free time in Cairo in the evening in order to decide what we might want to do.

Possibly arrange for the light show at Giza, or a dinner cruise. Of course, there is the ever present shopping. We don't know yet.

 

The included portion is: Port pickup in Alexandria, return to Port Said and pickup in Safaga. Tours in Cairo are: pyramids, sphinx, ancient Memphis and Saqqara, the museum, citadel, and Old Cairo with our evening in Cairo free. We picked the Nile Hilton because it is adjacent to the museum in case we want to see more on our own. In Luxor, we are doing the West bank visiting the Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queen, Hatshubsut's Temple, Karank and Luxor temples and the evening sound and light show. Mostly, it is the basic tours that most agencies recommend. The second day is just transport back to the ship because the ship leaves early.

 

I have used the word tentative at the beginning because we have not received final confirmation as of this date from the agency giving us pick up times and name of the guide. We have a deadline of September 1. After that we are going to Plan B whatever that is. I hope this helps.

[slgjhg]

Barbara, Deb,Tripmaven & All,

 

It looks like Stampede hasn't found the rollcall yet. Hope he checks back in.

 

It seems that six of us will be touring in Egypt. Tripmaven has her plans set (see above) and I am still working on the arrangements for Jay and I. I believe I mentioned in another post that we want to focus on Alexandria, Aswan and Abu-Simble, so that is what I'm trying to get done.

 

At this point there are no cruisers interested in the overland private tours within India. Shall I ask the companies to put something together for the days we are in port? Any interest?

 

Deb and Pat and spouses are doing Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast. Jay and I are doing Pompeii and Capri. I am going to see if ScalaReale can provide a guide for Pompeii.

 

Tripmaven is doing Istanbul independently. Barbara and Randy and Jay and I may share a driver in Istanbul, and Naples? Deb & Pat plus spouses are going to squeez every minute they can out of Istanbul. (given the time we have in port, they will need it)

 

Anyway, this is what I remember from various postings and emails. Is this correct?

 

Keep posting and Regards,

 

Shannon

[slgjhg]

Regards to all,

 

Bump