The Green Book for our 22 March departure arrived today. As usual, I compare the website and Green Book information and itineraries. A few Green Book descriptions differ from those on the website which is typical.
The Green Book sort of clears up the Jordanian visa question. It says, "All guests will be met at the Queen Alia International Airport in Amman by a Tauck representative. Upon your arrival, please proceed through Immigration, where a Tauck representative will be waiting with a Tauck sign" Then on the next page it says, "The Jordanian visa will be issued upon arrival to the airport at no cost." I said this "sort of" answers the question because you'll need a visa to "proceed through Immigration." Will there be two reps then? One before Immigration?? Or are our names on a list? I guess I'll call Tauck tomorrow unless one of the first group of J & E travelers reports in.
The Green Book does not address the Egyptian visa. You'll need to refer to the "Travel Documents" section of the "Before You Go" on the website which says,
"The Egypt visa will be issued on tour and is included in the tour cost."
Now to one of my favorite topics- the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM). No mention is made of visiting the GEM in the Green Book, unfortunately that is what I expected. However, the itinerary in the Green Book for Day 10 has changed. Like the website, the Green Book itinerary starts out with, "We'll be disembarking ship for an early flight to Cairo" then adds this new text, "We'll visit the National Museum (Old Egyptian Museum) with a local guide." But then on Day 12 both the Green Book and the online itinerary include this text, "Join our local guide for a visit to the Old Egyptian Museum this afternoon, housing the world's largest collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts, including many of the treasures found in King Tutankhamun’s tomb.
Join us for a farewell reception and dinner at your hotel tonight."
Do we visit the Old Museum twice? Is an error? Is one a placeholder for a behind the scenes tour which, based on what I learned recently, probably a non-starter? With all the objects that have already been moved to the GEM, what is left to see in the Old Museum; is it worth two visits? More questions for Tauck.
Oh, and one error; On Day 11- As I understand it, The Solar Boat Museum was not "built to house a replica of the cedar ship that was unearthed next to the Great Pyramid . . ." it houses an actual full size boat which was reassembled (the ship was disassembled around the funeral rites into 1224 small pieces and preserved about 2500 BC.) I guess since it has no mast or rigging and may not have been built to sail, but it bears some signs of having been used in water, theoretically you could call it a replica. But, at ****143 ft long****, it is not what I would call a replica!!!
