Our group of eight used Ramses for a two day tour from Alexandria in early October. We all enjoyed our time in Egypt even though it was extremely crowded and rushed. But really, just our ship brought 3000 of our closest friends and we all wanted to see the same things! And we wanted to see everything. So the itinerary was (by our choice!) packed with things to see and do and places to go.
Our tour guide Shady (pronounced Shoddy) spoke excellent English and was very knowledgeable and informative and welcomed questions about modern Egyptian life, religion and politics in addition to ancient times. Our driver Sherif got us to the places we needed to go in one piece and made the best of the traffic situation. The one complaint we had was that lunch the first day was put off later and later by all the things we were scheduled to do until we begged to eat at 3 pm before Saqqara but then had to rush to make it before they closed at 4. But the other option of eating lunch at 4 pm made no sense to us since breakfast had been at 6 am and dinner was to be at 7:30 pm on the dinner cruise.
There were huge crowds everywhere but especially at Memphis where the small Sphynx and huge Ramses statue are and the Egyptian museum. The crowds made those stops less enjoyable but we still would have stopped to see them. But Shady urged us along so that we could fit everything into our short stay. We stayed at the Mercure which used to be Le Sofitel. We didn?t have any time to see anything in the evening because most of us went to the dinner show/cruise but in the morning I took the time to see the grounds. They were filled with gardens and an inviting pool area. It was a little oasis in the city. The drive back to Alexandria took almost 4 1/2 hours but nothing anyone can do about that! We still arrived in plenty of time before the ship left.
All in all, I think we were all pleased with the trip. We saw everything we could possibly fit into our time. I would stick with small groups. I think it went smoother than having more people would have. I can recommend Ramses as number one travel agency in Egypt.
Shady Anwar
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