We are on the tour and agree about the safety and security. If anyone has concerns about security, we feel very safe. A Tauck representative met us at the airport BEFORE the immigration and stayed with us to get the luggage and then connect us to the diver. Everything was FIRST CLASS. All the hotels in Jordan are absolutely wonderful.
Again, thank you to all those who commented to answer my question about Safety and Security. Now that I am here, I am happy to tell all future travelers that we feel very safe.
Any updates on the security on these trips and concern for your safety? I heard that our large group dropped from 29 to 20 in the last couple of weeks. Has anyone just returned?
Egypt has always had high potential for terrorism going back many many years. Have you enrolled in the government ‘STEP’ program. We use it for almost all our trips and we get alerts if there is extra risk. Here is the latest one for Egypt.
We read international news daily and i haven’t seen anything about Egypt. We certainly don’t just rely on any news from US channels because they are not impressive, too US focused.
If you cancel now, it’s never going to improve, so you might as well take it off your travel list forever.
We have never been there, It has never been on our radar. We find Roman history and architecture far more interesting, which I know is unusual here. I’m not saying we will never go become we’ve seen some excellent tours for Egypt which are super interesting, it’s just that for us, there are so many other places we would like to go instead.
We are lucky to have been to UAE, Oman and Qatar with Tauck as well as Jordan and Israel and we did enjoy those countries. Our next trip is Morocco in a couple of weeks and we really look forward to that.
Hope you make the right decision for you. The smaller group size for you sounds great to me,
Ah, I just realized you like to take a lot of luggage on your trips. If Tauck has to evacuate you, you may have to leave stuff behind, so it’s worth thinking about.
About twenty years ago, we met a couple on a Tauck tour who contacted us to see if we wanted to go to Egypt with them, of course we said we were not interested so said no. Wouldn’t you know they were there when the Arab Spring uprising happened and Tauck had to evacuate them and they told us all about it. I don't remember a lot of the detail apart from the fact that they offered to take them all to Athens for the remainder of the time of the trip.
Tauck do have 24/7 access to an evacuation flight. The other incidences I know about when it has been used are the terrorist attack in Mumbai and the Israeli current war. The latter was more impressive than what happened to our neighbors there with another tour company who abandoned them, they were stuck there for days and are still traumatized by it.
There can never be safety guarantees, but Tauck is not going to jeopardize the well being of their guests. Through the years they have published information related to their readiness infrastructure in case some calamity occurs. When traveling with them, you are within their 'bubble'. Political strife, terrorism and uprisings can occur anywhere. I am more concerned about it here in the U.S. then abroad, particularly antisemitism, but I refuse to live my life in fear and/or deny my own heritage. My perspective is that life is far too short not to travel and experience all the good that exists in the world.
When I went to Egypt, there was a plain clothes cop assigned to us, carrying a pistol. He's not going to be able to protect you from terrorists but he will protect you from street crime. I never felt insecure on the Egypt trip.
Perhaps the worse thing you'll encounter is the aggressive store merchants.
Good reply Mike. There are people on Tauck tours who ignore common sense advise from Tauck about reducing their chances of petty crime. I see huge diamond rings, necklaces and fancy watches.
We are on the tour as I write this. So far, safety has not been anyone’s concern. There are 26 of us (small group size for the price of a regular trip). It’s been fantastic already!
Comments
Erikaph, thanks for sharing. Looking forward to out Dec 1 departure.😃
Thank you Erikaph and all who commented.
We are on the tour and agree about the safety and security. If anyone has concerns about security, we feel very safe. A Tauck representative met us at the airport BEFORE the immigration and stayed with us to get the luggage and then connect us to the diver. Everything was FIRST CLASS. All the hotels in Jordan are absolutely wonderful.
Again, thank you to all those who commented to answer my question about Safety and Security. Now that I am here, I am happy to tell all future travelers that we feel very safe.
erikaph- your screen names sounds like a pharaonic name!
e.g. Pharaoh Merenptah or the previously unknown Pharaoh Erikaph 
Hi John, thanks for the latest. How many people are in your group? Just curious. (We are going any way regardless of the answer)
Any updates on the security on these trips and concern for your safety? I heard that our large group dropped from 29 to 20 in the last couple of weeks. Has anyone just returned?
Egypt has always had high potential for terrorism going back many many years. Have you enrolled in the government ‘STEP’ program. We use it for almost all our trips and we get alerts if there is extra risk. Here is the latest one for Egypt.
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/egypt-travel-advisory.html
We read international news daily and i haven’t seen anything about Egypt. We certainly don’t just rely on any news from US channels because they are not impressive, too US focused.
If you cancel now, it’s never going to improve, so you might as well take it off your travel list forever.
We have never been there, It has never been on our radar. We find Roman history and architecture far more interesting, which I know is unusual here. I’m not saying we will never go become we’ve seen some excellent tours for Egypt which are super interesting, it’s just that for us, there are so many other places we would like to go instead.
We are lucky to have been to UAE, Oman and Qatar with Tauck as well as Jordan and Israel and we did enjoy those countries. Our next trip is Morocco in a couple of weeks and we really look forward to that.
Hope you make the right decision for you. The smaller group size for you sounds great to me,
Ah, I just realized you like to take a lot of luggage on your trips. If Tauck has to evacuate you, you may have to leave stuff behind, so it’s worth thinking about.
About twenty years ago, we met a couple on a Tauck tour who contacted us to see if we wanted to go to Egypt with them, of course we said we were not interested so said no. Wouldn’t you know they were there when the Arab Spring uprising happened and Tauck had to evacuate them and they told us all about it. I don't remember a lot of the detail apart from the fact that they offered to take them all to Athens for the remainder of the time of the trip.
Tauck do have 24/7 access to an evacuation flight. The other incidences I know about when it has been used are the terrorist attack in Mumbai and the Israeli current war. The latter was more impressive than what happened to our neighbors there with another tour company who abandoned them, they were stuck there for days and are still traumatized by it.
There can never be safety guarantees, but Tauck is not going to jeopardize the well being of their guests. Through the years they have published information related to their readiness infrastructure in case some calamity occurs. When traveling with them, you are within their 'bubble'. Political strife, terrorism and uprisings can occur anywhere. I am more concerned about it here in the U.S. then abroad, particularly antisemitism, but I refuse to live my life in fear and/or deny my own heritage. My perspective is that life is far too short not to travel and experience all the good that exists in the world.
Emergency evacuation while on vacation sounds like a once in a lifetime opportunity not to miss.
Travel in a bubble does not sound good to me!
Probably a greater chance of being run over in a German or French street by a terrorist or even here in the US.
When I went to Egypt, there was a plain clothes cop assigned to us, carrying a pistol. He's not going to be able to protect you from terrorists but he will protect you from street crime. I never felt insecure on the Egypt trip.
Perhaps the worse thing you'll encounter is the aggressive store merchants.
Good reply Mike. There are people on Tauck tours who ignore common sense advise from Tauck about reducing their chances of petty crime. I see huge diamond rings, necklaces and fancy watches.
We are on the tour as I write this. So far, safety has not been anyone’s concern. There are 26 of us (small group size for the price of a regular trip). It’s been fantastic already!