Casual_Cairo

Grcxx3 -

Thx

canadian_robin

My DH and I are debating our first trip to Egypt, so I am just now beginning to read the appropriate threads on this forum. I have read through this thread twice, and I still don't know which company "LE" refers to. I would be grateful if the poster who initiates a thread would ensure that names are spelt out at least once in full for we Egypt newbies. Many thanks! Clueless in Canada

BeniciaChris

Oh my!!!! when we got into Cairo-very late-our driver called our guide-Ahmed Hamed Yousif-at !AM. We did not have a room!!!Well-since our guide had pre=paid they moved us to a room at the Execuitive Floor.
Also Miss Green-I know why they moved you from Helenan Palestine. Evidently the hotel changed their dates for prime time and the cost was exorbadant. They did it to save $. My guide Ahmed bit the bullet & paid the extra for us because that is the hotel I wnated. Let me tell you it was a first class hotel-quite-looking over the Medetterean Sea. Plus it was my birthday & I wanted it to be special.
canadian robin-If you trulely want a wonderful flawless Egyptian/Jordanian holiday contact Ahmed at
[email protected]
He is truely an Egyptian Prince.Chris

Axel2DP

Lady Egypt, a tour company, is mentioned so often on the Egypt forum that I just automatically assume people will know that LE refer to them

Elizabeth_S

Hi Robin - another recommendation for Ahmed - here's a link to our blog for an idea of our itinerary. Happy to answer questions - eseibertca AT yahoo DOT ca

http://lizandrichardsa.typepad.com/l...8_adv/b_cairo/

Navigate on the right hand margin for the Nile Cruise Portion...and Jordan.

SandraJoy

Hey Canadian Robin! Good luck with your Egypt planning. When are you going? I loved your East Africa trip report and I used much of the info for my Tanzania trip last Nov. Hope you go to Egypt before me (April 20, 2011) so I can see how you did.

canadian_robin

Thanks everyone - LE = Lady Egypt - the lesson begins!

SandraJoy: sorry - we are thinking 2012, after our next visit to Southern and East Africa - so I'll be watching to see how you do. Glad you enjoyed the trip report!

Thanks Elizabeth and Chris - I will certainly contact Ahmed for ideas/suggestions once I have done my research. So much reading to do....
Robin

kch246

Just to add my two cents. We have just returned from a 10 day trip with LE and also had some "issues" with them as well. Not quite what I had expected.

MizzLee

@kch246, I would be interested to know what your issues were and how the tour differed from your expectations. Thanks...

SandraJoy

OOPs! We dock in Port Said....not SharmElShiek....got that wrong for sure. So, is a tour from Port Said to Cairo with an overnight in Cairo and then on to Alexandria the next day the way to go? Pr cpu;d we gp back and forth to Port Said from Cairo and still see enough of the city?

mmc923

kch246 - am also very interested in finding out what your "issues" were with LE. We are supposed to leave on 12/25 for our trip and am now a bit leary. Right now it sounds like the "glowing" reviews all came from people who traveled during the slow season (i.e. summer/fall) and now that it is high season, and they have more clients, they are finding it difficult to manage them all with the same level of service. I hope I'm wrong! Also, to all you prior LE clients, did you make final payment before you went, or take it with you?
Thanks.

sf7307

I made payment in full before we left home -- I did elect to pay by credit card. I decided it was worth the 3% surcharge to be able to dispute the charge if something went wrong.

indianapearl

I'm interested to know how many of you traveled not only during "high" season, but during major festivals as well. For instance, if I went to India during Diwali, I would expect a high degree of chaos.

My friend and I are going in 2012 (two women) and we want to be safe.

Elizabeth_S: I've been reading your report. Excellent! Did you use LE? Or have I missed something?

Elizabeth_S

indianapearl - our wonderful trip was organized by a Cairo based guide/travel planner - Ahmed Hamed Yousif. He uses Lady Egypt for some of the transfers/bookings....but you deal directly with him and he is the main point of contact. We highly recommend him....

Casual_Cairo

indianapearl - there are no "festivals" here in Egypt that you'd probably notice as a tourist unless you just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Most "festivals" are very family oriented so it's usually much like Christmas Day in America - everyone is with family and if you are a tourist, tours go on as if nothing changed.

There is the odd possibility of running into a Mulid at some Mosque, but unlikely. Also yesterday I was watching CNN and saw some thing special happening up in Siwa for Islamic New Year, but other than that, when I was at the Market yesterday... when/if I wished someone a Happy New Year, 9 times out of 10 they thought I was referring to Jan 1, not their new year. Even they generally didn't make a big deal out of it...although it was a light traffic day and many people had the day off. That's it.

BeniciaChris

indianpearl-If you want a truely flawless vacation Liz iss right. Because of her glowing report and many others we chose [email protected] Ahmed Hamed Yousif. He took care of EVERYTHING. Nile cruise-planetickets-hotels-we were a month in Egypt & Jordan in Sept/October. YOu will not be disapointed.
I know I know I need to do a report. After reading such creative ones I feel like mine would be boring. Plus I have computor issure-
Enjoy the wonderful country & its people-Chris

nola77382

I am planning a trip to Egypt for my husband's birthday next year (March/April). After reading the forums, I emailed three travel agencies frequently mentioned, including LE, along with Ahmed Hamed Yousif. I have been really impressed with Ahmed's responsiveness to my emails. He sent a revised itinerary to fit our budget within hours of my enquiry while I'm still waiting for the travel agencies to reply (and no, I haven't re-emailed. If an independent agent can reply in a timely manner, I certainly expect bigger companies to do the same). If this is an indication of how he'll treat us when we are in Egypt, I can't but think we'll be in good hands!

BeniciaChris, I'm looking forward to your report since it's the most recent trip with Ahmed.

sf7307

<<<I emailed three travel agencies frequently mentioned, including LE, along with Ahmed Hamed Yousif. I have been really impressed with Ahmed's responsiveness to my emails.>>>

FWIW, when I was planning my trip in 2008, Ahmed never did respond to my emails.

nola77382

sf7307, I have been a little surprised by the lack of responses. LE sent me a 9 day trip, I emailed back saying we needed a 14 day trip and gave a proposed itinerary, including hotels and nile cruise boat, but nothing back. Same for another agency. I did hear back from EQT: two very nice emails then nothing. I don't get it. They've probably lost my business because a week is too long to not hear anything.

indianapearl

Casual_Cairo: What happens during Ramadan and Eid? We spent a month in India last year and had a wonderful time, but we did not overlap with Diwali which might have caused hotel reservation problems. I loved India and am looking forward to Egypt with my childhood friend.

nola77382: Please tell me what "EQT" means. I'm relatively new to the Egypt board on Fodor's.