I am going on Grand Circle's tour of Egypt and wondering about the food on this trip. This is the first time I will travel with Grand Circle. I have taken Globus tours in the past and was sometimes disappointed with the meals, especially in Greece. When I travel I prefer to eat the local cuisine so
we would often go to restaurants on our own instead of eating what Globus provided as it was occasionally boring as it was often prepared by the hotels we stayed in.
I think they were instructed to make plain food for the nonadventurous.
What should I expect of the food on the Grand Circle Egyptian tour? Should I start researching restaurants?
Thanks for any replies!

If you are on the same tour we were on then you are on your own for dinner in Cairo and when on the Nile Cruise you will eat on the boat.If you are staying at the Marriott in Zamalek you will not be in walking distance of many restaurants and will need to take a cab of which they are plentiful.One word of caution: watch what you eat on the Nile boat as about fifty to sixty percent of our group ( including my wife ) got sick for a couple of days. I did not get sick as I never consume dairy, including yogurt, milk, cream in my coffee when in a non european or north american country.

twelveoaks - thanks, we are already planning on travelling with various medications. I have some Cairo restaurants in mind, thanks in part to this forum. Did you trust the cab drivers or make sure of the fare in advance? Do the cabs fit 4 passengers or will we need to get 2 cabs? What did you think of the food on the boat? While on the boat aren't you docked for the night at times? Thanks again for your help.

For the cabs (the non-metered ones, and I gather there are some metered ones, but we never saw them), you MUST negotiate the fare in advance.

FWIW, we were in Egypt (Cairo, Aswan, Luxor and Sharm), six people, 11 days, and "mummy tummy" was completely mild, nothing that one dose of Imodium couldn't treat. And we ate Egyptian "fast food" (Felfala, as well as McDonald's) in addition to local restaurants. We didn't restrict our intake except for tap water.

Thanks dm love

I thought you had to be that careful with the cabs. I guess it's all part of the grand adventure.

I'm glad to hear you didn't really have trouble with the food. My father in law (I am travelling with my in laws and my 21 year old son) is a retired pharmacist so he always travels with lots of remedies. I am hoping that we don't have any mummy tummy either. I love to try new cuisines, so for me eating on vacation is something I really look foward to.

jerseysusan, I hope you get some specific restaurant recommendations (I never did when I asked in advance of our trip, which led me to believe there wasn't anything worth recommending). We didn't find Egyptian "cuisine" to be too exciting, so except for some felafel/schwarma lunches, we mostly ate the cuisine of other countries (Italian, Indian, Tex-Mex (no kidding), English pub).

In case you do need to buy something at a local pharmacy, cheap is an understatement. We bought a bottle of Afrin --- 60 cents.

dmlove
I would welcome your restaurant recommendations, especially in Cairo. The tour also goes to Aswan, Edfu, Luxor& Quena although I am not sure if we can fit in restaurants once we are on the cruise, I guess when we are docked.
Thanks again.

IMHO, the restaurant food in Egypt is not worth spending extra for (if you're already paying for meals on your cruise). If you're not getting cruise food, then Dean's and Bombay Palace in Luxor were good choices, the former being eclectic (steak, chicken, fabulous green curry), and the latter being Indian. Skip King's Arms Pub -- in addition to it smelling like a combination of cigarettes, beer and grease, my son's chicken tikka was RAW.

In Aswan, we had a decent meal at Aswan Moon (on the Nile). Our tour guide told us all the restaurants along the Nile are "the same" (same menu, same quality, maybe same kitchen?).

In Cairo, we stayed at Le Merdien Pyramids. The Tex-Mex restaurant in the hotel was very good.

dmlove - thank you so much for taking the time to make these recommendations. I really appreciate it!
How scary to be served raw chicken!
I will bear your advice in mind that maybe the food we are already paying for might be as good as what we could pay for in restaurants. It is so hard to know what is the best thing to do. I am so looking foward to this trip and like everyone else want to insure the best experience possible.
Thanks again.

I want to clarify my previous post. None of our group got sick from the restaurants in Cairo. However, at least half of the ninety people in the three groups aboard the River Anunket( not sure of spelling) got violently sick for up to three days. So, once again watch what you eat on the boat at breakfast and lunch as well as dinner.

twelveoaks - I plan to take your advice seriously. I would hate to get sick on vacation. As you indicate that you took the trip I am scheduled to take, I would love to know what you thought of the meals Grand Circle included. Did you enjoy them? Additionally, do you have any advice for me regarding this trip? Anything you wish you knew beforehand? Anything about the optional trips. I would love to benefit from your expertise.
Thanks again.

Do you know about OTLOB food delivery in Cairo? You can see the menus on their site.



www.otlob.com

Thanks ekscrunchy - yes I looked at this web site recently because I saw it mentioned on this forum. It is so cool to look at what's available for take out in Egypt!
Do you have any restaurant recommendations?

jerseysusan,

We took the trip in 2002, and only one person, to our knowledge, had any intestinal problems, and she had previously had problems of this nature. We took no special precautions on the trip, although we normally travel with store brand immodium and cipro, just in case. We also generally have Purel and use it before eating. We ate salads and fresh fruit on the ship. We have not taken Globus, but have traveled with their sister company, Cosmos, and were generally not satisfied with their meals. We were quite happy with the Grand Circle meals, both on and off the ship.

If you have any questions on the trip, we would be glad to try to answer them at [email protected].

Jack and Ann

Jack and Ann - thanks for your reply. I am glad to hear you liked the food on this trip. It is reassuring. Thanks for your willingness to answer my questions via email. I'll probably take you up on. Thanks again.

Regarding optional trips: Abu Simbel is a must. I found it to be even a greater experience than the Giza plateau. It is well worth the extra $230 (??) per person. The step pyramid at Sakkara was ok. The only optional tour that I felt was a bad decision was Alexandria. It was a painfully long day and the sights were not interesting to me. I would have been better off to go back to the Egyptian museum on the free day in Cairo we used to go to Alexandria. On the tour you only get a half day at the museum and that is not sufficient.Another tip that may come too late is to not upgrade your room on the boat as the standard room is at water level with a very large sliding glass door and a great view.Lastly, when you arrive at the Cairo airport and clear customs you will assemble with the GCT main group which in our case was 90 people and they then break you into sub groups of about 30 each. We were fortunate to get Basaam Sallal as our guide and he was amazing so try to get into his group. He holds a degree in Egyptology and taught same at university. As an after thought,GCT will try to pressure you into obtaining your visa prior to the trip.However, you can obtain it on your own in 5 minutes for $15 - $20 but you must have USD$( if you are an American).You will love this trip. My wife and I have travelled to europe, asia, australia, etc. and this is still the trip we talk about and will definitly do again.

The otlob sight it great. If they will deliver to your hotel - it's a great way to get some good room service from places you are familiar with!

I have to admit......I REALLY MISS all the food (and grocery and pharmacy) deliveries in Cairo! It made dinner SOOO easy! I would cook Chinese and order soup and spring rolls from the local Chinese place. Or I would cook mexican and order chips and salsa from Chili's. Or - if I didn't want to cook......DH and DS#1 could get Thai and DS#2 and I would get KFC or pizza.

Ah.....the good ol' days............

Twelveoaks - thanks for all the info. I am looking for a way to fit in more time in the Egypt museum. It seems when you are looking at the itinerary that you have one day in Cairo at the end of the trip, maybe we can go then. My son seems pretty interested in going to Alexandria, but you gave me something to think about.
Fortunately we are booked into the standard cabins. I am glad to hear that was a good decision.
I will try to follow your advice about the guide. Thanks again.

In the interest of accuracy....the visa is easy to obtain at the airport, it's $15.00, and you can use any currency at all - dollars, Egyptian pounds, UK pounds, Euros. You are not limited to using USD (FWIW, we were there in August '08)

Grcxx3 - Did you live in Cairo? I can't wait to go.
Twelveoaks - did you like the food that Grand Circle included? I am glad to hear you loved this trip. I am very excited about going and so is my son. Thanks again.