Tours companies to Egypt
 

Going to Egypt in September and found a tour company - Homeric Tours - offering what sounds like a reasonably price package for approx $2,000/person (includes air, hotel, food). Does anyone have an opinion on them? Does anyone have a suggestion for a different tour company? Thanks for any info.

Last September for my trip to Egypt I used a company called Experience Egypt (www.tour2egypt.com).

I found them to be very reasonably priced although I only booked their services from landing at Cairo Airport and back to Cairo Airport. I booked my own flights. They are very flexible and will tailor an itinerary to your needs (ie time you have, where you want to go, quality of hotel you want etc).

I didn't have to pay anything in advance or even give my credit card details but that looks to have changed slightly. They now have a cancellation policy but it means you can cancel 20 days before travel with no penalty.

I don't know anything about the company you mention but thought this may help to give you a comparison.

Have a great time in Egypt - it's an amazing place.

If you want an American tour company with flight included, I've used Friendly Planet (www.friendlyplanet.com) and had excellent results. No custom tours, however and the groups can be large. In Egypt, I use Tut Egypt Tours (www.tutegypt.com) for custom tours with licensed Egyptologist guide. Haven't heard of the company you mention but there are so many.

Dear Emmitt,
That does sound like a great price, you just might want to check on things like how many people are in the group and look up all the hotels that come in the package in advance. There are SO many companies that do tours in Egypt that there is no need to settle (personally, the thought of being trapped in a giant tour bus with 40 other people has no appeal). We are using Egypt Highlights for our September tour, but can't speak for services delivered since we haven't taken the trip yet! Happy travels.

I took the Friendly Planet Pyramid and Nile Cruise in Sept 2006. They wear you out by traveling intra Eqypt in the middle of the night and the '5 star' hotel was filty, grimey and gross - can you imagine a used condom on the bathroom floor greeting you at 3 AM? Then there was the issue of being locked out of our 'private touring car' really an old junky mini van without seat belts or head lights for 30 minutes in the dark in a rest stop.We were told only 10 minutes - we took 10 they took 40. They had parked us completely away from any other vehicle and in an area without lights. We had no choice but to wait by the running locked van in 120 plus degrees. We were hasseled by men coming out of the trees. Other people on our return fight to JFK with different tour groups had a much better experience. Use another company - I wish I had.

We took a great tour in the 90's with ABC Tours. Great bang for the buck with airfare included.

www.clubabc.com

I have used this company for about 7 trips over the past 16 years until we found Tauck. We have used Tauck for 6 trips and are now using Roy Safari's for our Tanzania trip.

My dad and stepmom took a tour with Imaginative Traveler last year. They loved it, but it's a tour for more active people. Prices were very reasonable.

why don't you put the proposed itinerary on the board? We can critique it.

The original thread is from June 2005! Just went back to the top because of WLynn's (suspicious) negative review of the Lonely Planet tour.

We used Globus tours (http://www.globusjourneys.com/Produc...rce=toursearch). We purchased that tour using www.cheapertravel.com and got that tour about 12% cheaper than what Globus is offering... same tour, just cheaper.
In turn, Globus uses Misr Travel in Egypt. They are the government run travel agency and really take care of their customers. The tour was just fantastic, I would highly recommened it. The prices were very reasonable we though, and the tour guide was excellent.
See if you can book a tour directly through Misr (meaning Egypt in Egyptian). That will save you quite a bit of money I think.

Good luck. :)

In the immortal words of Emily Litella: Never Mind!

emmitt, we used GAT Tours for our trip this October. It was private,and we could customize it to our hearts content. You can read my trip report on here if it helps...

www.gattours.com ask for Marian, she's great!

We just returned from a two-week trip with Lady Egypt (also known as Experience Egypt). They are GREAT. All of the staff were very professional. The tour guides are excellent (Big Mo for Cairo & Alexandria and Mahmud for Aswan & Luxor). The representatives in Cairo, Aswan, Sharm, and Luxor were all VERY helpful, prompt, and courteous. Every step of the way, this company exceeded our expectations. They accomodated an itinerary change very easily. I would highly recommend Lady Egypt/Experience Egypt tours.

bookmarking

hello, anyone heard of the following company online called tripstogo, they seem to be consolidators for Collette Travel, Insight and Brennan along with many others. Anyone travel to Egypt with Collette, Insight or Brennan? They all have fairly good ratings with the BBB, I was going to use OATS, but after checking with the BBB was really put off. The above 3 companies offer good tours for what I consider reasonable prices. Any other companies I should check out? I look forward to any advice.

I used Insight. Had a lovely time.

Whatever you decide, don't use OAT.

<<Whatever you decide, don't use OAT>>

Why not?

I was going to use OAT, but took someone's advice and checked in the Better Business Bureau information on them, not a good report at all. I never thought of doing that and am very greatful for that advice. anyone ever use the Grand Tour of Egypt 12 day tour by Brennan? Or Smithsonian Journey bu COllette? I know that Brennan is owned by Globus and they have a good BBB rating as does Collette.

Did you check the BBB for the other tour operators?

Gate 1 does not have a good reputation. They have a great "bait-and-switch" game going on. I have had three people travel with them- all with disasterous results.

I've been looking into Egypt and have heard that a lot about Gate 1. Globus has taken me many places and i've always had a great time.

Heymo, that's very strange because I just returned from a wonderful Gate 1 tour of Israel. Maybe the bad rep is limited to Egypt?

The people I spoke to went on trips to China, Egypt and South America. Maybe it is only some of the trips...but that's three different areas of the world, so it makes you stop and wonder. I'd be happy to be wrong...their prices are always attractive.

Check out STI Travel (www.sti-travel.com) out of Hackensack, NJ. They work with Sakkara Group in Egypt and have excellent reputation and not a single compaint has been lodged against them with BBB. We are using them for Egypt and Jordan this May. Good luck!

My wife and I toured Egypt with OAT last November. We had a fantastic trip. Hotels, food, guides and sights were as advertised. One of the best trips we've ever taken.

Martin,

Nice to hear that you were happy with your OAT trip. Did you go to Alexandria or to Jordan?

Luisah, we didn't go to either place but those who took the Jordan pre-trip said it was terrific.

flagging