twina49

My sister and brother-in-law are planning a trip to Egypt in a few years. What is the typical cost of a private tour guide such as Ahmed? Thanks!

Casual_Cairo

I suspect Ahmed is better than Mido and gets a bit more than that. I hope so anyway. Cheap guides are a dime a dozen in Egypt, but you have to look for the ones that are better than the norm and pay them more than $20 a day.
If all he takes is $20 a day, you can bet he is going to have a lot of shopping for you to do at a VERY high commission take for himself. He's got to make a living somehow, and it will be in Carpet Schools and Papyrus Museums/Institutes.

sheenaghp

Hey, Elizabeth we are both Queens/ you are the best queen to me because I printed your trip report and used it to help bring all of the details together. You must be special( as well as your husband) because both Achmed and Bashar spoke highly of the 2 of you I also knew that your husband was a polished photograper and opened your photo file. Sheenaghp bows to you

losaltos

Our experience was so very different from many of these posts that we decided to add our two cents. We planned our trip with Ahmed and spent about 12 days in Egypt and 4-5 days in Jordan this March '09. We booked with him because of all the wonderful raves we read. We asked for essentially the same trip as one other couple had booked but we got something much different. We were very disappointed in our service from Ahmed in many ways. A few examples:
--He seemed uninterested in doing any real guiding: e.g. at the Giza pyramids he gave us (literally) three sentences and then went back to his car to do email/phone work while we saw the sights. He also told us not to go around in back of the Giza pyramids because there were no tourist police there and it was dangerous. Turns out he simply didn't want to have to go to the Solar Boat installation there, which we only saw as we drove around back on our way out. When we asked what it was he told us it was "just an old boat".
--When we were at the Step Pyramid he did the same thing. Then we asked to drive to the Bent Pyramid and the Red Pyramid and he told us it was too late because it would take an hour to get there. We insisted and it took about 15 minutes.
--He seemed to think that a day of touring = four hours. If we asked to do something after lunch he said that we just wanted to do too much!
--We asked to see the Coptic cemetery in Cairo and he told us it was not open to the public. We went the next day without him and it was open, as it apparently always is.
--We told him we wanted to go to the Gayer Anderson museum and he said none of his clients liked it and it was just a "bunch of old furniture and stuff"! We went the next day and it was one of the highlights of our time in Cairo.
--We were told we had a "VIP" room at the Basma Hotel in Aswan. It turned out to have a full-size refrigrator in the hall of the room which had been ripped otu of the kitchenette. The wires were still poking out. One bed was backed up to the door to the adjacent room so my traveling companion got hit in the head if she sat up in bed. Oh and the room was a long walk up a steep hill! When we complained on the phone, Ahmed said we should concentrate on the view of the Nile which was splendid (it was) and overlook the other problems with the room. We didn't...we moved to another room down the hill which was fine.
--We had an itinerary booked for months showing we were at the Sonesta St. George in Luxor. The day before we were to arrive there our itinerary noted that we were staying in a less expensive hotel next door. We insisted and he moved us back to the Sonesta but complained that he had had to personally make up the difference. Why he didn't know that in the first place is anyone's guess.
--We specifically asked for a cabin in the front of the boat on the Sonesta St. George Nile cruise. We got one toward the back, near the engine.
--The trip we had modeled ours on (see post by Liz/Richard on Frommer's forum) had included a guide and driver for 4-5 days in Jordan. We had a driver but strangely no guide! We clearly thought we had paid for one since we had asked for the same trip -- and we paid the same money the others had. The "model trip" had also included a visit with guide to Wadi Rum. Ours did not. We went, but had to pay extra to a guide we found at the hotel.
There are other things that we could mention but will stop here. When we brought all of this up to Ahmed, he simply said that we were the "most difficult" clients he had ever had. Is it being "difficult" to want to get what you paid for? This trip cost us each $5700 and it was to be a "custom" tour. We got nothing that wasn't in every guide book about Egypt -- and didn't get some of the stuff that is in every guidebook about Jordan! If that's custom, we'll take vanilla and pay less!
Sorry to be negative but we would like to save others the problems we experienced. I think Ahmed might once have been a good guide. But perhaps all the praise -- and the business it has brought him -- has ruined things. He needs to get back to providing the excellent customer service we read about and stop being "King of Egypt" as he styles himself now (in jest we assume).
Tracy and Rosemary, northern California

Grcxx3

interesting comments losaltos. Thanks.

wanttogo

The comment from losaltos about her trip were disturbing. Over
on Frommers, there is a follow-up comment from the traveller
who accompanied losaltos on the trip. Obviously, something was
very amiss for these two travellers.

Is it against the rules for Ahmed to comment?

We have been seriously considering a trip to Egypt within the
next year with our travel arranged by Ahmed or by STI
in New Jersey. The report of losaltos pushes me toward STI,
without a doubt.

Pat

godin

To wanttogo,

I just got back from Egypt on Monday May 18th for an 18 days trip. We used Ahmed's services and it was great. HE made this dream vacation come true. You got to ask yourself wanttogo, there is only one negative comment about Ahmed and this is the first I have seen. THere are numerous positive comments. I would question this negative trip report very much! These 2 people who posted may had other issues with Ahmed. Did they agreed on an itinary before hand? You cannot add and change things around at the last minute when you travel!!As you can read by the numerous trip report, everyone that has used Ahmed were always satisfied. I would just disregard the comments by losaltos. Some people when they travel are a pain more than anything. It might not be Ahmed services but the expectation of these travellers!!
I can reasure you that everything went super well with Ahmed.We planned ahead with him and both of us agreed on the itinary and the cost, and procedure for the travell and everything. We did not have any problems. If I would return, I would certainly go with him again.Do not hesitate to book your travel plans with Ahmed Hamed Yousif and he can be reached at [email protected] . We had an amazing time!
Godin

wanttogo

Thank you for your thoughtful comments. Some of the complaints
of losaltos did not bother me but the hotel switch,the
lack of a printed itinerary and the obstinancy about the
museum that they wanted to visit really bothered me. I will take my time and think about it.

Pat

godin

Hi wanttogo
Yes do think about it. If you plan ahead and make specific request before leaving for Egypt, there would be no problem for Ahmed to accommodate you. This trip was my boyfriend's dream vacation, so he had specific things that he wanted to see and wanted to make sure he had enough time at each location. Ahmed was able to fulfill all our demands no problems for a fair price. We wanted to see Abydos, Dendera etc.., the guide in upper Egypt was very knowledgeable and answered all of our questions and gave us lots of time to take picture and enjoy all the temples.
godin

AZEBS

We took a 19 day trip with Ahmed and it was perfectly arranged. We had not a single glitch throughout Egypt or Jordan and got more than we had counted on. We found Ahmed to be very reliable, accommodating, charming and honest. He went out of his way to ensure us excellent hotels and accommodations at the hotel at every stop.