Just back from Egypt overnight tour

[aussiecruzer]

We have recently returned from the Norwegian Jade 12 night Istanbul to Athens Sept 19th cruise which included an overnight in Alexandria. We ( myself, DH and our 2 teeenage daughters) had a fabulous trip. I have been posting a detailed reveiw of our ports of call on the Mediterranean boards and have just finished posting about our experiences in Egypt. If anyone is interested this is the link -

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=855020

 

The section on Egypt starts towards the bottom of page 1 and finishes on page 2. Please post if you have any comments or questions.

Aussiecruzer.

[MVPinBoynton]

aussiecruzer,

Thanks for letting us know about your review. I also posted on that thread. It sounds like you had many of the same experiences we had both on our current Egypt trip and last year's Med cruise.

[voltdoc]

Hi Susmita(aussiecruzer),

We have just read your review of Eygpt and it was beautiful.

We will be there Oct.29 and have booked with Decastro and have Miss Dalia as our guide. Is there any thing that you would do different if you were to do it over again? Is there anything Dalia said she would want from the US that we can bring her? What did you tip her for the two days? Thank you for your input.

voltdoc

[WeBeGone]

Very nice review. Thanks so much.

[aussiecruzer]

Thanks Mike and WeBeGone for your comments.

 

Voltdoc - Hi! You are in for a real treat with your De Castro tour and esp with Dahlia as your guide. She is a real gem! You asked if there was anything I would do differently if I were to do it again. I think instead of heading straight back to Alexandria on the second day after breakfast, I would try to see Memphis and Sakkara and if possible, enter one of the tombs there - I believe there are some with heiroglyphics on the walls which would be great to see. I would still recommend heading back to Alexandria with plenty of time to spare before sailing time - as I said in my review, if there is a major accident on that highway, it comes to a standstill, and there really isn't anything you can do about it! We tipped about 10% of the tour cost, and I'm afraid I have no idea if Dahlia would like anything from the US, but how nice of you to think of that!:)

 

Have a wonderful time in Egypt!:D :D

Susmita.

[EASYTRAVEL777]

Your overnight tour sounded wonderful. We can only hope for a shooting star! Thank you for your great review of De Castro. We used them last year and are going back for an overnight next year. We didn’t get to meet Dahlia, but all of our guides were great. Moustafa, the general manager of De Castro, seems to hire and retain, all of the better guides. In reading your review, it reminded me of so many little things that De Castro did fabulously. Of course, when we were there, we were in awe of the sites and didn’t really notice much else. I didn’t even realize we had a security guard with us until after meeting him in the restroom. Like you said, he didn’t say much, but was much respected as we walked around with him close by.

[aussiecruzer]

Hi Easytravel,

 

I'm sure you will have another wonderful tour with De Castro. One very useful arrangement made by my CC colleague who organised the tour was to have a cooler on board the van with bottled water and some cans of soda. The bottled water was much appreciated in the Egyptian heat! I think we finished all the water on the first day, and found it restocked when we boarded the van the next day.

 

Your story of not realising you had a security guard with you until your restroom visit, reminds me of a bathroom stop we had in Alexandria where my husband came out and said he had difficulty washing his hands as there was a member of the tourism police washing his hands in one basin and the only other basin was occupied by his large AK47 machine gun!!:eek: The De Castro security guards were much more discreet.:)

 

Anyway, have a great trip,

Aussiecruzer.

[Frosting Master]

I loved reading all about your trip. We are thinking about November 09 on the Jade. Can you tell me how much the overnight excursion to Cairo was? It sound absolutely wonderful. The pyramids have always been a dream of mine also.

 

Susan

[aussiecruzer]

I loved reading all about your trip. We are thinking about November 09 on the Jade. Can you tell me how much the overnight excursion to Cairo was? It sound absolutely wonderful. The pyramids have always been a dream of mine also.

 

Susan

 

Hi Susan,

 

The Jade cruise is a wonderful way to visit the pyramids. We had a group of 10 cruise critic members on our overnight Cairo excursion with De Castro. The cost was $195 per person for the 2 days plus $50 per person for all entry fees. Hope you get to fulfil your dream of seeing the pyramids!:) :)

 

Susmita.

[Coolcruise02]

Thanks so much for your review!

[aussiecruzer]

Thanks so much for your review!

 

Hi Coolcruise, you're very welcome!!:):)

[steviem1]

We are scheduled for the overnight with DeCastro this month. How many people got sick on their return to the ship? Did you?

 

Thanks,

Stevie

[aussiecruzer]

We are scheduled for the overnight with DeCastro this month. How many people got sick on their return to the ship? Did you?

 

Thanks,

Stevie

 

No, thankfully we did not get sick in Egypt. We stuck to bottled water, cooked food, nothing raw, and we were just fine:):). Of our group of 10 on the overnight De Castro tour, as far as I am aware only 1 gentleman got "mummy tummy" and was "confined to the barracks" (in his words) for a couple of days after. His wife was fine. Interesting as we all ate at the same places. Just take the sensible precautions and you should be fine.

 

As for the whole ship, I have no idea how many passengers were sick after Egypt. I did not see any evidence, except for increased infection control in the buffet area.

 

Best wishes for your trip,

Susmita.