Rob has been on one of his diving forums and apparantly all is tickety boo in Sharm. The only question is then about the insurance..ie: do you have any if you are not covered to be in a zone where there is civil unrest...

If I was all of you, I would be worried as things stand now..but you have a while before you go so maybe there is time to let things settle down if there is a new government.

I also did not know that about Lloyds bank..our insurance is through our Lloyds bank account and the most we visit of anywhere is Egypt!
Luckily, we have additional insurance as we are divers and that covers us for the holiday too. Might have to look into the lloyds thing!
Thanks for the info whoever posted that!

Lyn,I have read that Easyjet are refunding money for people who are travelling in the next couple of weeks

That's good to know Jean .

I'm not going to get concerned unless things change for the worse. My flights are paid for and I can cancel my booking with hilton should the worst happen .

To be honest we wouldnt want to go anywhere else anyway . Our Easter week in Sharm is always essentially a dive trip for the men of my house and my bit of sunbed time .

Lyn,I have read that Easyjet are refunding money for people who are travelling in the next couple of weeks.

Easyjet are letting passengers change to alternative dates/destinations with EasyJet or they can cancel their plans and receive a travel voucher for the value of their booking which will be valid against future travel with EasyJet for up to one year.
They aren't offering cash refunds.

Helen,Our free insurance with Alliance and Leicester covered us for Egypt under a European policy despite Sharm being in Asia
We only opened the account because Lloyds woundnt insure me without paying a huge excess for pre medical conditions.
I have now got my insurance with Multitrip.com for less than the excess and they cover Egypt on European policies,unless they have changed this since the civil unrest.
Strange that the underwriter is AXA for both companies

At least thats more than Thomson and Thomas Cook are offering at the moment

Yep my insureandgo policy covers Egypt as europe but I know many dont .

Insurance policies should be fine at the moment for the Red Sea but that would all change if the foreign office advises people not to go there .

I should amagine those still going to luxor or cairo would have a problem with insurance validity and heaven knows where that leaves those heading off on a nile cruise . Are T/Os still going ahead with those bookings or have they now all been cancelled.

Still hearing reports of passengers not being allowed to cancel or change their bookings for luxor etc but I guess those are more than a few days away and they are only allowing change/cancelling for those travelling within the next couple of days .

I wonder what happens if the situation escalates with the insurance companies not insuring for Civil unrest.
What will happen to the holidaymakers already out there.

Jay Trip wrote:

I wonder what happens if the situation escalates with the insurance companies not insuring for Civil unrest.
What will happen to the holidaymakers already out there. :que

I guess you just have to pay to get yourself back, providing you can get on a flight. It's why I always take a credit card on holiday, just in case the worst comes to the worst.

I don't think this is unprecidented though as Insurance Companys have always had exclusions for civil unrest/acts of God it's not something new.

I'm glad you have posted about your Alliance and Leicester travel Insurance Jean as that is who mine is with so I am covered then for normal things. I kind of assumed that Egypt wouldn't be included.

So what does it mean to the situation now Mubarak is not going to stand for re election.
Sky news say there is an impromptu pop concert in Tahir Square!

I hope this is just what Egypt needs for the future.

Will First Choice still send us to Sharm on Friday, without option of changing our booking?

Jules

We've been to Egypt about 10 times in the last few years , (sharm, taba and luxor ) but had made no plans to visit this year and have already booked alternative places, and to be honest i'm quite relieved that we haven't booked egypt this year, its a great place and lovely people but the current unrest worries me and obviously it's worrying a lot of people who are due to go there. I think that people who have booked red sea resorts face a difficult choice as the situation will have an effect on their holiday like food and fuel supplies , yet the FO is not advising against travel to these resorts, so the travel operators are not obliged to refund or amend your booking, so i do feel sorry for everyone in this trap and i know that i would be unhappy if i was facing this problem.

One good point that travel operators have made clear , is that Sharm is 8 hours by road from Cairo , and they keep re-iterating this , and they are playing up this point , but usually the reps of the same travel operators try to keep this unique selling point quiet when trying to sell their "must see" day trips to Cairo.

i would not worry to much this is me views on it. no harm of yet has come to any tourists travelling in any part of egypt as to most egyptians we are there bread and butter so to speak without us they know there families would go hungry. places like sharm are full of hard working people out to make a crust to send back to there families in egypts captitals. until i am told otherwise i will not be canceling

Just been informed by Monarch - flights to Louxor from Manchester on Monday 7 Feb Cancelled. Whts it like in Mexico?

If you have an extra reason to be worried (in our case my parents are both 65+), First Choice will let you change, we have just been advised (after calling yet again).

The only thing is we have to travel before 28th Feb, and there is not much available in a warm and safe country.

We are looking though!

Jules

The mood in Tharir square has deteriorated rapidly today. Sky News has showed a great deal of fighting between pro and anti Mubarak protestors. It's tragic that the people are now fighting against each other. It's obvious that the Egyptian society is crumbling. The army are just standing by, and seem incapable of doing anything. Food shortages are now being reported, and institutions such as banks remain closed for the 5th day.

Hi Jules,

Well done. I have to say that I'm so pleased to hear that you have been given the chance to change your holiday especially because you were taking your elderley parents. Egypt certainly is no place for them at the moment!

As I mentioned in previous postings we were due to fly off last Monday (31/01/11) but decided not to even though we expected to forfeit the cost of the holiday. However, we also got the same offer from our travel company and have booked our new holiday for later this month!

Try the Canaries. Can be iffy this end of the year, but you should have some warm sunny days,

Trev

been on the phone to thomas cook were we booked threw and been told, dont panic all is well in sharm and the flights are still leaving from all the ports, so untill i get word from them reff my flight on the 15th feb i am still goin to egypt.

We are due to fly to Sharm on 14th February and also still intend going at present. Although I would welcome any information during the next week or so from anyone just returning. Kind of keep hoping it all might "blow over" before the 14th although this is possibly a case of burying my head in the sand!!!

salwal47 we all live in hope , im in the same boat as you , we fly to sharm on the 15thfeb

hi
i too am traveliing to Sharm on 14th feb with my family not really looking forward to it to be honest but cant afford to cancel and lose all the money im just hoping that things will have either calmed down a little by then of fc will have decided that it is a no go area i will have two very disappointed children though. Its a real shame as we had been looking forward to this hol for so long.
suzanne