I have been to Egypt before and was looking forward to doing a lovely private tour with my husband and his parents. Unfortunately, Lady Egypt's planning left a lot to be desired and hence our trip was one disappointment after another. The only saving grace was our guide, Hussein, who was amazing and did his best to make our trip a memorable one in whatever way he could.
1. For starters, our agent, Sara, was extremely responsive prior to us paying the deposit. After that, I had to send 2-3 emails to get her to answer our questions.
2. I had asked Lady Egypt to book flights for us so that we did not have to waste time doing a road transfer to Abu Simbel. I have a feeling that this fell through the cracks and hence they had to settle for last minute bookings which resulted in us having to catch a 5.30am flight to Aswan, spend 2.5 hours at the Aswan airport and catch a mid-morning flight to Abu Simbel and then catch an early afternoon flight back to Aswan. So all in all we travelled 12 hours (not exaggerating as we woke up at 2.30am and got back to Aswan at 2.30pm), to spend 1 hour 15 minutes at Abu Simbel. What a waste of time. Everyone was exhausted and did not enjoy that day at all.
3. We were looking to head back to Cairo on the 31st from Luxor and wanted Lady Egypt to book us evening tickets. Again, they obviously tried to do a last minute booking so they could only book us a flight at 8.30am or 9.30pm. They opted for the 8.30am flight which meant we lost an entire day in Luxor. We were supposed to do Karnak and Luxor Temple on that day so they squeezed them onto our previous days which meant that we were left running from place to place to try and squeeze everything in. With 3 nights in Luxor we should have been able to do everything at a much more leisurely pace.
4. Lady Egypt's hotel choice in Cairo left a lot to be desired. Steigenberger was one of our worst hotel stays anywhere in the world. We were also not informed by Lady Egypt in advance that there was a compulsory gala dinner which we had to pay separately for and cost USD150 per person. Totally not worth the price. If we had been informed we would have changed the tour around to have spent NYE in Luxor instead.
5. The desert eco camp in the Bahariya Oasis was a total disappointment. I had raised concerns about this when it was suggested to me but was assured that it was a lovely place. It was basic, the room had a horrible smell and the food was quite ordinary. I had also questioned Sara as to why she had allocated 2 nights for the trip and she was insistent that it was better that way because you could see more. But we actually felt like we were just wasting our time and just hanging around doing nothing at the eco camp - this could definitely have been done in one night and we didn't cover any sights that a normal one night camping trip doesn't go to.
6. Tipping was a very irritating component of this trip. We had to keep going to the ATM to get cash to tip every person we met. Lady Egypt should just include a tipping amount in their trip cost for the drivers, tour reps and others so that we only have to tip the guide. There were way too many people involved in this trip (tour leaders in every location, our guide, different drivers every day) and tipping everyone was a real hassle.
If it wasn't for our guide Hussein, who went out of his way to make our trip a success, this would have been a very expensive failure.
Dear Ms. Dilini,
In reference to your complaint below, first accept my apology for the delay of my reply, and before going into details, we would like to apologize for any inconvenience you might have faced during your trip, and we would like to offer your good self a 25% discount coupon on your upcoming trip to Egypt which you can use personally or gift to any family member who would be visiting Egypt.
Kindly find hereafter replies to your comments
1. From our long history in the travel business in Egypt, receiving the money due by any client does not mean we stop serving them, this is not a healthy procedure nor is it within our code of ethics.
2. Abu Simble flights are operated as a shuttle service rather than a separate sector flight, passengers are obliged to return on a specific flight, otherwise passengers wishing to stay longer will be charged double tickets.
As the below example, if you leave ASW to ABS on MS 145 you are obliged to return to ASW on MS 148, hence, the time of the visit is 1 hour and 55 minutes including shuttling between the Airport and the Temple both ways
07:25 Aswan International (ASW) Direct
08:10 Abu Simbel (ABS) Direct
Duration 00h45m
Egyptair (MS145)
11:05 Abu Simbel (ABS) Direct
11:45 Aswan International (ASW) Direct
Duration 00h40m
Egyptair (MS148)
3. Flights on December 31st are usually booked months in advance, and we always confirm bookings and issue tickets right after receiving the deposit as any other practice might result in a rate change that only Lady Egypt will bear, so it was never a matter of any reservation falling through the crack.
4. All communication states that the Gala Dinner is not included in your package, and you were informed with the cost of the Gala Dinner in advance (email attached)
5. We noted your comments about the Echo Lodge, and we will be dispatching a team member to inspect it in the very near future and we thank you about your comments. Considering the length of the drive to the Oasis, a minimum stay of two nights has always been the request of our travelers.
6. Regarding tipping, our standard procedure is that we collect the tipping kitty upon arrival and our team handles tipping throughout the trip to spare our guests the hassle, and that excludes always the Tour Guide as this is left up to your discretion
I booked the "Egypt Express" tour (also marketed as "Egypt on a Shoestring") by Encounters Travel. The guide we had for Aswan, Abu Simbel and Luxor was Emad Aiad Sobhy, who was absolutely terrific. His incredible knowledge of Egyptian history and his ability to explain things clearly to novices like me -- along with his good humor and obvious passion for his subject -- made for a thoroughly memorable tour. Highly recommended.
Don't go with Lady Egypt. You won't get your money back if you cancel. I booked a trip for March 2024 but had to cancel due to the war in the region. I cancelled on Nov. 13, 2023 which was well within the 40 day cancellation period. I have not seen. cent of my deposit. First they ignored me. Then they said that a portion would be remitted "in a few days". Now, they are totally silent in spite of follow ups via e mail.
Dear Mr. Francesco,
First allow us to express our concern for any inconvenience you might have faced, however, I would like to clear some facts.
In the aftermath of the incidents of October 7th, we received a large number of cancellation requests, and we had to handle all those requests with numerous suppliers who apply different cancellation policies and that was time consuming.
Right after receiving your request, you were informed that you will receive your money less the credit card fees which we can not bear.
Having all arrangements pre paid to all suppliers to secure requested space at such a busy time of the year made us schedule refunds in alignment with the refunds we receive from suppliers, nevertheless, some suppliers denied granting us cash refunds and insisted on keeping the paid amounts as a deposit for future business, despite that we promised you a cash refund and you were informed of a schedule of that payment
You received a partial payment in your account with the amount on USD 2,500.00 on December 17th, 2023 and the balance (USD 3,358.00) was refunded on December 24th, 2023
From the above, it is clear that we spared no effort to refund your good self the amounts due despite not receiving the same from all suppliers, which keeps us wondering as to why did you publish this complaint.
Had a great time with them. Very patient and helpful representative in making my tailored itinerary. Swift passport control and exit process with Hassan. The tour guide, Noor provided the best recommendations and was very informative. Would highly recommend their service.
My trip was exciting and educational. I had two awesome tour guides by the names of Doaa Abdelkader and Adham Mohamed. Accompanying Adham was Kerlos Selim (Carlos) who was also very nice as well as all the drivers that drove us everywhere. Both Adham and Doaa made me feel as though I was on a beautiful trip with some good old friends. They both are very knowledgeable about ancient Egyptian history. I also had the opportunity to experience the culture by visiting a genuine Papyrus museum from which I bought some beautiful wall mountings, a hand-made craft factory from which I also bought two wonderful vazes and enjoyed some local beats, a perfume store and a family owned herb shop where I got some items to take back home. During the entire trip both Doaa and Adham were very helpful in taking pictures even when not asked. Doaa guided us on how to bargain with the locals. She also guided us as to where best to buy certain items. Adham, on the other hand, though seemingly quiet, was very protective of us with the locals who often tried to sell us items as we walked by. I was very impressed with how the locals respected him after he would fend them off in his language about trying to get us to buy their goods. Aditionally, he often checked to make sure that we were happy and enjoying ourselves.
I might also add that though the travel advisory is still at a Level 3, at no time did I feel threatened by any level of terrorism. There was no upheaval of any sort and I actually found the people to be generally very trustworthy and thoughtful. At my next opportunity, I will visit Egypt again and definitely recommend Egypt to anyone who is interested in visiting. I couldn't have gotten better tour guides than Doaa and Adham. They are simply wonderful people who truly enjoy what they do for a living. I can't say enough, how much I enjoyed this trip! It was a blessing being able to visit my number one place on my bucket list for over twenty years.
