dlys

I had been seriously considering OAT and Grand Circle for our upcoming Egypt trip but after reading the posts here and checking their BBB report, have decided to look elsewhere...
Can anybody answer a couple questions about Globus and Insight? I'm curious about how many people are on their tours (since neither mention a number in their brochures). And is there generally a good age spread? I'd also like to know what the pace is really like. My husband and I are relatively young (30's & 40's) and we would like to bring my father (70's) with us. I've read enough comments on boards about the breakneck pace of some Egypt tours. Would an extra day in Cairo to linger in the museums at the end balance a fast-paced tour?
Thanks for the help!

Percy

Here is what I would do:

Go toCairo 2-3 days before your tour begins.

Get a hold of a private tour guide in Cairo and be taken to all the place worth seeing in Cairo with a tour guide.

Let me give you the name of a good one that I used.

Her name is Debbie Senters.

She is from the USA but has been living in Cairo for the past 15 years.

She will arrange everything for you even your visa.........so do not get your visa back home where you might have to mail away your passport first.

Her driver met us at the airport and while we waited for our luggage he went to get our Visas.

Cost was $15.00 per visa ( in October 2005).

Also at the end of our Nile Cruise we stay an extra full day and Debbie booked the train for us (4) to Alexandria and she came with us and had her driver in Alexandria meet us at the train station.!!!

She can help you with information about a Nile Cruise.

I stayed at the Marriott on Zalemek Island over looking the Nile in down town Cairo.

here is debbie's email:

[email protected]

Please mention my name ...just say "Percy told us to contact you"..

We stay in touch by e-mails about 4 times a year.

I did the Nile Cruise with Insight Tours !!!

Oh yes here is the trip report I did when I returned ..you might find it helpful as I tried to explain a lot of the places you will be seeing!!

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34698898

Percy

jackandann

We took the Grand Circle "Ancient Egypt and the Nile River" in 2002 and were totally satisfied with it. We had planned to go with another company, and, after a detailed comparison of the trips, found that Grand Circle was hard to beat. We have since taken 7 other Grand Circle trips and have been totally satisfied with all of them. We also have an OAT trip scheduled for the end of February.

Grand Circle's pace is not breakneck, although, in Egypt, there are several days with early wakeup calls, to avoid the heat of the day. There program directors and in country support staff have been outsatnding.

Most of the travelers are repeat customers, most with many trips, and this wouldn't happen if they were happy with the company.

Jack and Ann

traveldawg

We just completed a tour of Egypt last week, November 27, 2007, with INTERNATIONAL EXPEDITIONS. They met or exceeded our expectations in every facet of the trip! This was our first trip with them and we discovered some of the people on our tour were on their 3rd or 4th trips with IE.

One thing we discovered is that some of the tours really load up on the people count. Our tour only had 24 people and movement was very easy. We saw some tours with two full busloads of people and it looked like hearding cattle! Check with your tour on how many people will be with you. This is very important and we did not realize it. We lucked out. Big groups are not easy to work with or travel with.

Once more...IE was fantastic and we are experienced travelers with no financial interest in this company.

Egypt2008

So sorry to hear you've been turned off to OAT. It's our favorite because of the small groups, super informed guides and great accommodations. Most meals included too. Great for third world countries.

The BBB issues have been resolved and if you look at any travel companies; they all their share of problems.

This will be our 11th OAT tour plus Russia with Grand Circle....our best ever

flgirl0817

Have you looked at Vantage Travel? They have a 3 day Lake Nasser and a 3 day Nile cruise. I have booked my trip to South Africa with this tour group. I found good feedback about them on various message boards. Good luck.

southeastern

We did Globus Egypt and enjoyed it. It was a couple of years after 911 and tourism was way down. Only had 24 on our bus which was very nice. We did an OAT, our first, to Thailand this past Jan. and loved it. We have booked Egypt, Red Sea, and Jordan trip with OAT because it was so "in depth" and small.