Trip Comments, September 2025

Photoblue · October 15

I appreciate the information shared on this topic, but would like to update and address some of the questions raised in the past.

Security: Both countries use metal detectors and bag xray machines liberally. In addition, the airports have multiple stages of security, and pat downs of everyone after passing the metal detector. Be prepared to quickly pull out your cell phone and take off your watch, and stash it in your backpack/purse to go through the xray machine at the airports. At the historic sites and hotels, you can pass your camera/phone/watch around the metal detector in a small tray on top of the machine. Jordan seemed very safe, but we still had a low-key security guard on most of our trips. Egypt is more serious, and our security guard (sometimes 2) was armed. We saw no problems at any time. One guest did have a credit card compromised.
Alcohol: Both countries are about 85% Muslim, and most Muslims do not drink alcohol. Imported wine is taxed by Egypt at 500%! Egypt does make wine. The Egyptian white wine is bad and the red wine is terrible. You can buy shots of liquor, and ask them to add soda and a lime, for example. Do not expect the bartender to know anything about cocktails. The Egyptian beer (Sakara) is passable, in my opinion. There was poor communication about the availability of wine and beer on the river boat. Our tour director told us on day one that no alcohol would be provided with meals, but this seemed to vary.
Shopping: This is not a good shopping trip. You can look online at the types of souvenirs available at the bazaar, and you will get an hour to shop there on the last day. The hotels have very limited shops, and most are in a walled security perimeter isolated from local shops. The only exception was lunch at the Ritz Carlton, which has a good jewelry store and Egyptian cotton clothing store. Side note: I lost my USB cable on the way over, and was unable to replace it for the duration of the trip. The tour director was not helpful.
Packing/unpacking: Because of the trip's use of shuttle flights to various monuments, you will sometimes spend a day without your suitcase. Our tour director would sometimes tell us to put all valuables in our carry ons, sometimes in our suitcases. We were warned about the risk of suitcase break ins, which just raised the anxiety level. No one had any theft problems from luggage. The buses were secured during our tours, and we could leave valuables on board.
Trip pace and schedule: This trip packs a lot of destinations in the 12 days. We were all getting tired towards the end. There are some afternoons off, but only in a secured resort setting. Our tour director often changed the 'on the bus' time daily, trying to beat the crowds at the more popular sites. This was not communicated well, and only verbally. Our tour director was very rigid about the schedule, and only allowed 15 minutes at the Ritz Carlton, the only good shopping location.
Food safety: Our 'small group' was really small, only 13 people. 4 people had gastrointestinal issues around day 10 (Egypt). Be careful! I suspect the salads in my case, but who knows?
River boat: This was one of the highlights of our trip. The rooms were luxurious, and the crew was wonderful. It also allowed us to unpack for a few days. The laundry service on board is very good.

It was a thrill to visit these ancient, famous monuments. I'm glad I went. I hope this information helps others to enjoy their trip.

PureLuxury · October 15

Photoblue Great feedback for future travelers. I was on this tour right after the pandemic when things were starting to open up. I think we had 12 people in our group. It was as if we had a private tour for every site. There were NO crowds. It's amazing when I look at my pictures of these wonderful places and there is no one in the background...my pictures are like post cards. I'm glad tourism is almost back to normal levels. I will return in the future because unfortunately the GEM hadn't opened yet during my visit. My TD was Debra Grant - she was awesome and very accommodating.

Kathrine_Wnek · October 26

I agree with most of your comments, my husband and I just finished this trip and really enjoyed seeing all of the sites, many times not in large crowds, which is why you go with Tauck! Going into this trip, we are wine drinkers and really needed to lower those expectations! Some folks on this site, said the wine was fine - not really! The ship did have wine to purchase, there were wine racks behind the bar and I checked out the 5? Different reds - all rated about 3.4 on Vivino, so even if you wanted to spend, that wasn’t option! I managed to find the Italian soda I like at a few of the templates and added the vodka in the room to that and enjoyed that by the pool! The only great drink (a cosmo) was at the Old Cataract House and I paid, dearly for it! Don’t even think about Grey Goose - the tax on French products was very high!

This was our first Tauck tour and I loved about 80% of it. I didn’t like eating similar food at lunch buffets. Egyptians eat other things besides hummus, chicken and lamb - this is what Tauck orders because think they Americans will be happy! Lol - I asked about getting the rice stuffed pigeon at lunch and that request was rejected because I wouldn’t like it. As I sit at the Cairo St Regis, I finally got my rice stuffed pigeon at a flea market yesterday - it was delicious!

Also, tried to go fabric shopping and was told it didn’t really exist, then we drove into that whole area and it only a couple of blocks away from the market. I think Tauck, wants to keep everyone in a tight sealed bubble, I have been all over the world with either private tours or something I planned - I don’t need to be coddled and protected. A bit over scheduled in my opinion and not spontaneous at all. I have another trip, but a river one and I will be modifying that as needed. I like to see things and relax on the same trip, not get up before 6 four days a row, that is not a vacation to me. When I booked, I expected to get a more detail schedule before the trip, but it was just a rehash of what I already knew. Survey needs to be online, I hate written surveys. Not useful.

Our group was 17 and no one reported any illness besides a cold or two and one person being under hydrated and falling down. They were fine, but you have to drink lots of water! Unfortunately, we missed the GEM opening by a week - oh well!

I will say, the tour that just does Egypt ends up at the St Regis and this hotel is lovely! Great Bar, Marriott upgraded us to a suite and the Asian restaurant was very good. We are doing the Italian one tonight. We also are having cartouches with our names being made in bracket form for both of us from the jewelry store - Thanks Tony O for that helpful detail!

British · October 26

Thank you for your review Katherine. Tauck tours are ‘tours’, so there has to be schedules and order. Some people need or want to be escorted, they feel safer or more confident that way.If I want to see more of a place, I arrive early or take an independent trip, just on our own. There is no way I want to take a tour and sit around a pool, I can do that anytime.
Not everyone is obsessed with wine, some don’t even drink. This is why I think that alcohol be not included at all meals, if you want it, then pay for it and keep the tour less expensive for those who don’t drink. We do appreciate being able to drink wine on tours because we are very strict about not drinking and driving, so when we dine out, one of us abstains.

MotherOfPoodles · October 26

Agree with British. It is a tour. You want to see as much as you can. We are going on this tour in January. Can’t wait! We buy liquor in duty free and have cocktail hours al fresco on our terrace before dinner. Works out perfectly.

Kathrine_Wnek · October 27

It is a tour, but it’s also a vacation! MotherOfPoodles, good luck popping into the duty free shop, to pick up something, we blew by those in seconds! On the other hand, you will enjoy the sites very much, hotels and service very much - they did a wonderful job there!

We did add days in Dubai, prior to the trip, added two extra nights at the Kempinski at the Dead Sea to enjoy the Spa and hired a prior guide for the day to go the baptism site and a place in Amman that I was interested in. Also, ate two different versions of Kunafa at a local place in the middle of Amman, great tasting dessert - much better than the desserts we got at Tauck choices. Added two extra nights at the St Regis to hang out. If anyone does the Egypt tour you will be here for two nights. The Asian restaurant was excellent - service, atmosphere and food. The Italian one, I would pass on - try the Steak place? Great music and piano player at night!

I did learn a few things, which I was surprised by, the tour director doesn’t eat with you. That seemed very odd to us. Also, days ago I was supposed to get an email with picture attachments and everyone’s email and my husband and I have nothing - not in spam, either. Lucky, we do have one persons email, so hopefully we can resolve this.

Lol - we did have to giggle when our tour director mentioned Open Bar a couple of times, which was really bad wine or beer. I did have to ask the question, is that different when you are in Paris or London tour? It appears it is, so MotherOfPoodles, don’t be thinking in Egypt you will be getting a G&T! Enjoy your trip, it was busy and we did blow off a temple or two - it’s like seeing too many churches in Italy or Spain! I will say the group of folks were just great to travel with - everyone on time, no drama and everyone was fine with eating with anyone! We did also mention to have plenty of dinners with just us, also!

British, LOL not sure why you added the last line - that is why Uber exists!

British · October 27

Katherine, yes we use Uber, that of course is a recent thing.
Tauck makes it clear that their tours are not shopping expeditions. Airport shopping, is that a priority for you? If shopping is your thing, it can be done in the more and more ample free time that tours have these days.
Tour directors have a lot of things to do behind the scenes and that is why they mostly do not eat with you. This includes reporting on each guest back to headquarters, so if you are a pain in the neck you will get flagged.
Maybe others did not want their email going to you. Some people on the tours decline being put on the email list.

Wan · October 27

Thank you Photoblue for your insights and tips. I have been looking at this tour for years.

Interesting comments by Katherine. I've taken 12 Tauck tours over 10 years (3 planned for next year) and never once felt like I was on a "vacation". To me that is not the point of going. However, frequently we encounter guests who like to take a day or two and just hang back and relax. I guess if you are the type of person that likes to do that, you are correct that it is a good idea to inquire about possible lounging days and what the "lounging" experience would be like if you choose to skip a day of activity. For me, if I am paying a minimum of $1,000 pp per day for a tour, I am not going to be missing anything unless I am unwell.

Regarding your disappointment with the alcohol, this sounds like it is part of the Egyptian culture and not a Tauck issue.

Regarding being "coddled and protected", that is why a lot of us use Tauck. You won't notice this nearly as much if you are with Tauck in North America, Europe or Australia/NZ, but definitely if it is a tour in one of the more "exotic" countries. There are some parts of the world where I definitely want to feel coddled and protected. (Just ask the Tauck guests who were in Israel on Oct 7 a couple of years ago.)

It is not clear if you are coming to Tauck from other touring companies or from traveling on your own. I can't imagine other American group tour companies would give a much less protected experience in this area. I think it is important to clarify if your comments are directed at Tauck or just the group tour experience in general. And yes it is odd in a way that the TD does not dine with the group but I can certainly come up with at least 3 reasons why they don't, so to me it's a non-issue.

I'm certainly glad you enjoyed the group traveling with you. I really like meeting all the interesting people on Tauck tours and one reason why we have stayed with this company.

MCD · October 27

I have always seen Tauck Directors dining alone or, on land tours, with the bus driver. I surmise that it is to avoid charges of favoritism of some guests over others.

bucketlist · October 27

I agree with MCD. Years ago when we started traveling with Tauck, the TD would make an exception on the last night. We were told that TDs and bus drivers ate separately to allow the guests to enjoy each others company. I also think it allows the TD to eat in peace and not be bothered with complaints, etc. during dinner. Even when they ate alone, many times some TDs were alert on the service and food and would step right up to fix the situation. I remember once in Switzerland the meal was scimpy and the TD got the management to give us free wine and beer! This past tour, the wait staff was ignoring our requests and the TD tried to mitigate and said he would report the situaiton. During dinner that TD was getting caught up on his paperwork bit sitting nearby.

kfnknfzk · October 27

I also agree with MCD. The directors certainly deserve a break and need that time alone to recuperate a bit. Besides, there are always tour logistics to work on.

I know from personal experience there are times an unruly guest has been reported to the corporate office, but I’m confident those instances are rare. As far as compiling dossiers on every guest, I think the directors have far better things to do. It’s more probable that some guests might engage in such behavior.

MotherOfPoodles · October 27

We hit the duty frees in our home airport. We don't leave it up to chance ! We can usually get the soft drink mixers while there. By no means are we lushes haha, just like a bourbon or gin before dinner while gazing at whatever sites there are!
Thank you all so much for your insights to this tour! Staying an extra day because the GEM is pretty close to the Mena house hotel and would like to spend more time there , even if the Tut exhibits are not open yet.

Kathrine_Wnek · October 29

MotherOfPoodles, you will certainly enjoy the trip - we did! Learned a lot about Tauck and group tours. I keep saying this is the first one we have done, everything else including Singita safaris, Belmont Peru, Galapagos, etc has been private tours or I did all the planning. So yes, I go to enjoy the sites, relax, shopping, culture and great food and wine. I knew the wine would be a problem and it was. So, not sure some folks keep trying to write slightly nasty comments back at me, these are my opinions. BTW, Uber has been around 16 years, not recent!

WAN, we did exactly that one day, I really wanted to enjoy the Old Cataract Hotel and read Death on the Nile while I was there looking at the Nile! So we did miss an important item, but that item wasn’t my main point of going on this tour, so my husband I loved getting up late, having a nice long breakfast, laying by the pool, looking at the various old hotel photos and enjoying the scenery. A private driver that our TD arranged took us to meet the boat. It was a great, relaxing day.

I made a comment about not receiving the promised email from our TD. I did have a few emails addresses already and no one received the email with the promised links. One person in the group is working on resolving that problem. Actually, the TD, may be doing our next Tauck adventure next year. I hope he is, nice person!

MotherOfPoodles, I didn’t live this, so I would research. The Kempenski Isthar Dead Sea Hotel will scan your luggage and may not let you drink that duty free stuff in your room. Goes for food also, according to a private guide that we used. We aren’t lushes either, but I agree, sometimes it is easier to do it yourself! Originally, I was going to stick a great bottle of wine in the checked luggage, but we decided to add Dubai at the beginning of the trip and decided against packing the wine.

Trip Comments, September 2025

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