I communicated with Mahmoud in regards to the trip itself, and I talked to two other people from Ramasside (one in charge of accomodation and one of domestic flights). Mahmoud was always very patient and answered my many questions. He always responded promptly as well. He helped me organize a personalized trip so that I could see everything i wanted to see. The planning was smooth and efficient.
I will write another review about my experience when the trip is over, but the first 5 days have gone smoothly.

I’ve been remiss in not posting this review earlier. [And I’m posting it under both the Alexandria listing (where the company is based) and the Cairo listing (where most people actually come in contact with Ramasside)].

We took a most excellent tour with Ramasside in the first half of April. After looking through many online tour listings, we concluded that Ramasside offered tours most closely covering the sights we wanted to see in Egypt and for roughly the time we wanted to spend seeing them. Haitham Masoud at Ramasside rapidly assisted us in booking the tour and he was most helpful in customizing the tour. This is something I had not previously known was even possible. We ended up taking a 12-day Classic Egypt Treasures tour with an extra three days (for a total of 15) spread throughout the trip to give us more down time and more time to look around on our own.

Ramasside provided excellent service on arrival, even meeting us airside(!) and helping us quickly navigate through the customs and immigration formalities. While we took care of obtaining visas in advance, Ramasside would also have been able to arrange something similar that would also make for quick formalities on arrival.

While in Cairo, Mohamed Talat took us on the requisite visits to the pyramids, Sphinx, and Egyptian Museum (the new one isn’t quite open yet). He and our drivers Farouk and Abdul provided kind and solicitous service, from hotel pickup to the onsite touring to finding enjoyable lunches for us. Given how long our tour was, we included Memphis and Saqqara (I recommend both as being less crowded and fascinating in their own rights) as well as a diverting tour into the Khan el-Khalili souk that was less about the shopping (plenty of that too), but more about the food and culture. Given the less-than-convenient public transportation options in Cairo and the fact that the city isn’t really oriented towards pedestrians (crossing streets can be an adventure in itself), having transportation and a guide really reduces the hassles of sightseeing.

When we originally booked our tour, we figured it would be a small group tour. It ended up being a very small group – just my wife and myself. But there was no additional charge for our getting to monopolize the guides or not having to travel in a bus with dozens of our closest friends, so we were extra pleased with choosing Ramasside rather than one of those operations that packs everyone in.

A tour in Egypt will involve many early mornings. Our air travel to Luxor and many of the sights we saw there involved departing the hotel or boat at 6 a.m. While this is tiring on a lengthy tour such as ours, it optimizes your visits and allows you to beat both the crowds and the heat. In Luxor and Aswan, our guide was Hassan and he was excellent at getting out ahead of the crowds. This is reflected in many of our pictures where the big tour operators had not yet marshalled their large groups into the various temples and tombs, so we have nice unobstructed views to snap. Hassan is a veritable font of knowledge (both of the history of ancient Egypt and the meaning of the art and antiquities we saw) and is only too happy to repeat himself when it became obvious that we hadn’t done quite enough research to keep our Egyptian gods and hieroglyphs straight. He also offered us opportunities beyond what we had booked for our tour such that we were able to try out a felucca ride in Luxor and dine with the locals at a delicious barbeque restaurant in Luxor. I wish we had taken his advice and tried the morning hot air balloon ride over the Valley of the Kings because we saw video that one other tourist had taken and I agree with her that it looked like an awesome experience. Next time. ;-) Hassan was also great at giving us free time to explore at the sights after he had explained everything, so we never felt rushed. I had been afraid that a large group tour was going to involve heavily regimented boardings and departures, but our unexpectedly private tour made for a much more enjoyable pace.

We did select a tour that included the journey to Abu Simbel. Unavoidably, that involves an extra early departure from Aswan because of the roughly 3-hour drive that tour entails. Hassan ably organized boxed meals for us so that we could sleep in the minivan on the way down and eat when we were more awake. We really appreciated those little things that maximized both our sleep and our time to enjoy the actual sights.

Returning from Aswan, we took an overnight tour of Alexandria, which I highly recommend. While it’s not replete with nearly the historical sights of Cairo, Luxor, or even Aswan, it’s got a gorgeous and photogenic location on the Mediterranean Sea and features understandably excellent seafood. Our guide there was Karim Serrie and he’s both well-versed in his home town and a very funny guy, full of jokes that kept us laughing. He also introduced us to the Cristal Confiserie where he bought us chocolate-covered dates that my wife and I still rave about. There’s really nothing like them here in the US (believe me, we’ve already tried several online orders and have been disappointed).

I’ll sum this review up by saying that we were really pleased with the service that Ramasside provided. 15 days in Egypt can be exhausting, but the Ramasside crew made it unforgettable and utterly enjoyable. Now I’m plotting when I can return to visit some of lesser places we didn’t have time to see this trip, like the holy sites in the Sinai peninsula, El Alamein, a desert oasis, maybe a Red Sea resort, and some additional tombs near Luxor. There’s a lot to see and do in Egypt and Ramasside made it happen for us.

One note – April is when temperatures start to get warmer. You have to balance the thick crowds of winter with the elevated temperatures of spring. On the whole, I think we did pretty well.