grcxx3 -- yep, we love NZ and Aussie wines so as they say, "no worries." I am confident it will all be worth it when we get to this fantastic country. We booked through STI Travel, staying at Grand Hyatt Cairo, and the cruise on the M/S Mojito. All look very nice but would love any input anyone might have who has actually done this trip.

Luisah,
We left JFK on Tuesday, the plane wan only about 25% full. I think there were as many crew as passengers. None of the passenegers smoked only the crew, really sort of strange. As far as the hotels are concerned we stayed at the Mena House and they gave use and two couples we had booked our travel with (OAT)the very worst rooms in the entire hotel. We (all three couples) changed rooms three times just to get something halfway decent and even then they were awful. There were good rooms available however the tour company OAT or Grand Circle, whoever they are, book the cheapest rooms at named hotels. I'm certain that better tour companies negotiate higher end rooms. As far as the other hotels, Winter Palace in Luxor, a nice hotel but again the poorest rooms were set aside for our group. In Aswan we stayed at the New Cataract. The adjacent Old Cataract was lovely but the New Cataract is a real dump. The views are very nice though. In Alexandria we stayed at the El Salamlek, very nice in all respects. In Cairo we stayed at the Movenpick Heliopolis and O.K. airport hotel, they put us on a floor that was being renovated and none of the air conditioning worked. This tour company may have a niche, but we and our friends aren't in it. If your thinking of Egypt you can do much better.
Chuck

Thanks Chuck,

There's some good news, bad news in your latest.

Unfortunately, a friend and I have already registered with OAT. We are taking the Alexandria extension, leaving on a Tuesday, so it sounds like that will be a nice beginning. I hope the flight will be like yours with room to spread out. We're also on the Hathor, which you said was good.

I'm not surprised that the company doesn't book the best rooms but didn't expect them to book the worst. I guess at the Mena, at least the view from outside is good -- and the pool area.

Are the hotels in Aswan and Luxor, although poor quality, well-located, that is easy to walk to town or points of interest?

I'm sorry that you and your friends were so let down on this trip. At least now I feel prepared.

You wrote that the guide was good, how was the itinerary?

Thanks again.

Louisah,
The rooms at the Mena house booked by OAT were all overlooking the street. The noise was horrendous. It makes no difference whether your room is on the third floor of first, the noise overlooking the street is just as bad. The better rooms overlooking the gardens (and with a pyramid view) were much better and they told us that if we wanted an upgrade at additional cost we could have a quiet room, we paid the upcharge. Other tour groups were booking into those rooms on a regular basis. The OAT rooms were also adjacent to the renovation construction. Our guide seemed powerless to help. Alexandria was the best in terms of the hotel and the city is facinating. In Aswan the New Cataract was really a 2 star hotel, the adjacent famous Old Cataract is beautiful and I would have been willing to pay an up charge but it was not available. I was told the New Cataract was built as a dormitory for the Russian Labor used to build the Aswan Dam. The Winter Palace in Luxor was a joke. It was hot (even though it's Egypt's Winter) and no air conditioning. If you are persistant you can negotiate a fan but that's about it. As far as time goes, OAT keeps an agressive schedule and you might want to study it carefully to decide whether ornot you want to opt out of some activities. We didn't think many of the scheduled activities were worthwhile but tastes vary. Don't rely on the guides for insight on what is worthwhile, their jobs depend on keeping up a certain level of enthusiasm. Egypt is a great experience, guides were good, Nile Cruise boat very nice, and great security. If your expectations are reasonable (our were probably too high) you will have a wonderful time. I do think OAT miss represents itself and at best it should be considered a low-middle end class of tour operator. I don't want to be flamed for expressing an honest view so for those that are happy with this sort of operator all I can say is "great".

Footnot:
Other things to skip are the Home Hosted Dinner, Orphanage (even our guide suggested we skip), sunrise breakfast, perfume factory, jewelery shop accross ffrom Mena House. We needed much more time at the Museum in Cairo. Nearly all of the Lunches were really really bad, skip them whenever possible and do sightseeing instead. Just to mention it in case I haven't allready, the Egyptian people are very friendly and all of the security seems a bit silly. However, labor is cheap and military or police service is required so there is a hudge tourist police force. Good luck

Maupintour offers an excellent tour at a reasonable price. There were only 7 others on the tour I took several years ago and everything was first class. We quite often bumped into OAT travelers and although they say only 16 or so participants, there were 3 groups doing the same thing all the time.

Thanks Chuck,

I feel like I'm forewarned now. I think I'd pay for the upgrade room at Mena if it's not an outrageous price. No a/c in the Winter Palace sounds bad.

The sunrise breakfast and farm tour doesn't appeal to me but then the group goes to the Valley of the Kings. If I skip the breakfast would I be able to get to the Valley on my own?

Thanks again.

Chuck,

One more question. Did you have the same guide from Alexandria throughoutthe trip?

Luisah,
My wife remined me that the Winter Palace told us they would not turn on their airconditioning until April 1st, so you may be just fine. As far as the Farm Breakfast is concerned I understand that sometimes when people sleep in and miss the water taxi ride across the Nile to have breakfast, they somehow get them to the Valley of the Kings later in the morning. I'm sure they don't do this as a matter of policy so a morning illnes and a miraculous recovery are called for. I'm sure you will have a wonderful experience and of course you might have an entirely different take on this then we did. The group dynamic plays a surprising role in how we react to an experience. In our little group we were particularly sensitive to what we believed to be contrived tourist glimpses of Egytian life. On reflection it was probably of some value.
Chuck