GMoney Posted March 30, 2008 #1 Share Posted March 30, 2008 Hi All - I need some helping selecting a cruise for late 2009. It will be to the eastern Med, featuring ports where I hope to see Cairo and the Pyramids (like Alexandria), followed by a 5 -night Nile River cruise. I've narrowed my choices down to 2 - RCI Brilliance and X Equinox. The full itineraries are listed below. Basically, they are both 12 nights with 4 sea days. The main difference (IMO) is Brilliance has one day-long stop in Alexandria and one day-long stop in Port Said; Equinox has an overnight in Alexandria. Since my primary goal is to see Cairo and the Pyramids, I'm thinking that the overnight on Equinox gives me the best chance to do that. Can anyone offer comments on if that's correct, and what other factors would drive your decision? Thanks. Brilliance 18-Nov Barcelona, Spain 6:00 PM 19-Nov Cruising 20-Nov Valletta, Malta 7:00 AM 3:00 PM Docked 21-Nov Cruising 22-Nov Alexandria, Egypt 7:00 AM 10:00 PM Docked 23-Nov Port Said, Egypt 9:00 AM 8:00 PM Docked 24-Nov Limassol, Cyprus 8:00 AM 4:00 PM Docked 25-Nov Rhodes, Greece 9:00 AM 6:00 PM Docked 26-Nov Athens, Greece 9:00 AM 6:00 PM Docked 27-Nov Cruising 28-Nov Tunis, Tunisia 9:00 AM 6:00 PM Docked 29-Nov Cruising 30-Nov Barcelona, Spain 5:00 AM Equinox Oct 23 Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy 6:00 PM Oct 24 At Sea Oct 25 Athens Greece 10:00 AM 7:00 PM Oct 26 Rhodes, Greece 10:00 AM 6:00 PM Oct 27 Ephesus (Kusadasi), Turkey 7:00 AM 7:00 PM Oct 28 At Sea Oct 29 Haifa, Israel 7:00 AM 10:00 PM Oct 30 Ashdod, Israel 7:00 AM 7:00 PM Oct 31 Alexandria, Egypt Arrive 10:00 AM Nov 01 Alexandria, Egypt Depart 10:00 PM Nov 02 At Sea Nov 03 At Sea Nov 04 Naples/Capri, Italy 6:30 AM 6:30 PM Nov 05 Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy Arrive 4:00 AM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare MVPinBoynton Posted March 30, 2008 #2 Share Posted March 30, 2008 I can't help you, but you do have a tough decision. Both those itineraries sound great. Quite a unique group of ports. The Brilliance is a great ship, but I would be willing to bet that the Equinox will be nicer; plus if your main goal is the Pyramids and Cairo, that would probably be the way to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suekay Posted April 6, 2008 #3 Share Posted April 6, 2008 I'd go with Equinox for the itinerary PLUS.......the weather should be better Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benita Posted April 6, 2008 #4 Share Posted April 6, 2008 I'd go with the Equinox - love Celebrity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whale-watcher Posted April 7, 2008 #5 Share Posted April 7, 2008 We were booked on a similar itinerary to the Equinox on the Pacific Princess for this year, but decided to go to Alaska instead...mostly because of the midsummer heat. I think any itinerary including both Egypt and Israel (especially in the spring or fall) would be spectacular! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martyap Posted April 7, 2008 #6 Share Posted April 7, 2008 We're booked on the 10/23/09 Equinox. Itinerary looks great and the ship should be outstanding. My only question is that it arrives in Alexandria at 10:00 on Day #1 in Alexandria which might be too late to do a one day tour in Cairo. The companies I have contacted suggest an overnight in Cairo in order to see the main sights + the evening light and sound show at the pyramids. Any thoughts?...............Marty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whale-watcher Posted April 7, 2008 #7 Share Posted April 7, 2008 I would plan on doing an overnight excursion to Cairo even if the ship arrived earlier in the day...we were planning to use nile blue based on many positive reports, but the official ship's excursions earn high marks as well (usually run by Abercrombie and Kent, but prices MUCH higher). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andiamo! Posted April 13, 2008 #8 Share Posted April 13, 2008 I would plan on doing an overnight excursion to Cairo even if the ship arrived earlier in the day...we were planning to use nile blue based on many positive reports, but the official ship's excursions earn high marks as well (usually run by Abercrombie and Kent, but prices MUCH higher). I organized a group with Nile Blue Tours last fall and one of the people in the group (there were 33 on our bus) had done the (Princess) excursion with Abercrombie and Kent on the same itinerary the year before. He wrote a review on our CC roll call saying that there was absolutely NO comparison between the two - that the tour with Nile Blue was much, much better at 1/4 the price (he was travelling single). He did say that A&K was great when he used them in South Africa, but that Nile Blue had done a much better job all around on the Cairo overnight. The manager of Nile Blue had worked with both A&K and Memphis Tours before starting his own company, and he explained to me that his goal was to offer the best customer service at a reasonable price. IMHO he is achieving his goal remarkably well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruin Steve Posted April 13, 2008 #9 Share Posted April 13, 2008 Of those two, I would go with the Equinox... First, because of my preference for Celebrity (even though I like RCCL as well, I just think Celebrity is better)...Second, for the stops in Israel and Kusadasi...Third, for the brand new ship... The real problem I see in your plan is that, with either cruise, you are going to have to fly all the way back to Egypt from wherever your cruise drops you off (Barcelona or Rome) in order to do that added 5 day Nile cruise...I guess it's unavoidable though... We've opted for 2009, to do a similar route on Oceania Nautica...a much smaller ship, but an outstanding itinerary that starts in Barcelona and ends in Istanbul... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.