Getting ready to book a trip through Egypt Highlights for Dec. 2005. They want 50% deposit cash wired transfered to them. Has anyone out there had any issues with wire transfering money for a deposit to an egyptian tour agency. We are concerned if we need to cancel how do we get our money back. Once we get there we can pay the rest by credit card with a 3% fee.

Seems very dodgy to me. Why can'nt you pay the deposit with a credit card. This way you are covered for fraud. I would look elsewhere.
Richard,
WWW.FRANCEINFOCUS.NET
Photos of our trip to Egypt and a few other places.

Most in-country tour operators work on a cash basis, so it's not unusual to wire funds; should cost about USD$20-$40. This is how in-country operators keep their costs low and attractive to visitors. Just determine what part of the 50% deposit is non-refundable. Usually it's about 30%, but can differ from company to company. Have Egypt Highlights email their cancellation policy so you know their terms.

Be sure to purchase trip cancellation and interruption insurance; such information can be found at www.insuremytrip.com

There are many other posters here who have used Egypt Highlights and been very pleased with their services. Hopefully some of them will respond specifically to your question and their experience.

I looked into Egypt Highlights also and did not feel comfortable with that arrangement, although it's probably legit. After more research, I am now about 99.9% sure I will book the with Imaginative Traveller. I found their prices to be a lot better than anything US based. I will be doing the 14 day Egypt tour which includes the Red Sea.

I have already booked with Egypt Highlights, though I have no problem with their policy. Each person has their own "comfort level" when dealing with these types of things. The reason's I didn't hesitate to book with EH are as follows:
1) I contacted no less then 30 people in 5 different countries who had travelled with EH, not one had a single negative thing to say.
2) Several years ago, I booked with an African company which had the same policy, as Sandi states, this is quite common in-country businesses, which must charge extra fees for accepting credit card payments and thus, pass them along the consumers

3) When I buy packages to exotic destinations I usually buy travel insurance (which I have for Egypt as well), but keep in mind, to be eligible for cancellation coverage often you need to buy the insurance within a specified date range relative to when you make your first deposit on the trip.

Lastly, I had read on another thread that you CAN pay for your whole Egypt Highlights tour using a credit card through a third party, I will have to check the older threads, but I think if you were terriby worried about it, booking through the third party might be the best route. I certainly feel that for my comfort level EH offered the best itinerary and price. Additionally, since I put rather huge stock in customer service and tend to "pester" travel providers incessantly, EH has thus far proven extremely prompt, efficient and polite to my neverending stream of emails!

Here is the link to Hostelworld, which provides a variety of Egypt Highlights tours, and I believe that you can use a credit card to pay for the entire thing.

http://www.hostelworld.com/tours/fin...nCountry.Egypt