Thanks for the info.

I remember the walls being thin, but basically the cabins are basically for sleeping and washing. Naturally the shipwrights will try to keep the weight of the ship down to a minimum to keep costs down and enigne efficiency up. Although the ship only has a speed of 18 knots (about 20mph) for all the good it does.

Why do you say that cabin 516 is to be avoided? Surely any problems experienced by one couple shouldn't mean that every person to sleep in that cabin will experience the same mishaps or faulty equipment. The cabins are inspected and repaired after every cruise as is the rest of the ship when it goes to refuel and resupply. Also one person's bad exepriences are usually only put down to a negative view of the situation. If you go on smiling through mishaps and mistakes and are determined to have a good holiday you certainly will.

Unless cabin 516 has some sort of amusing nautical myth to it. Now that would be interesting... a haunted cabin.

Coopster

If you post your query regarding the type of aircraft in the Flights Only forum HERE you will probably get a better response.

mhumphries

You get a receipt each time you sign for drinks or beauty salon treatments so you can add them up and keep track of your spending. Also as has been mentioned you can get an interim statement any time from reception.

luci

Ahh, good to know thanks. Don't want to end up using what I can't pay for!

how much money do we need for the stop in jordan is there any where to spend it?
thanks suzy

I just hope that there are no £10 paupers when we go. The last thing I need is someone gloating!!

BTW, does anybody know the minimum Roulette stakes

Our DE £10 cruise members are not paupers, they are very astute members who had the foresight to collect the tokens and apply for the offer.

I wish all those still waiting every success in securing a cruise.

luci

Oh dear Lucy, I'm very sorry you didnt catch the hint of sarcasm! I would have thought my comment about the MINIMUM roulette stakes would have made it obvious that I too am tight!

Again with a hint of sarcasm!

And yes I wish them all the luck in the world! A bargain once they get them!

I did indeed catch your hint of sarcasm, hence the after my post.

No idea the roulette minimum on the Spirit, but on one ship I was on the blackjack tables were $25 and $100 minimums.
luci

Hi, I'm interested in getting from Port Safaga to Hurghada under our own steam. Anyone done this? By taxi? Hire car? or is it a non-starter due to security?

I'm new to this, so apologies if this isn't the right way to ask a question, but:

Do the coaches used for the trips have toilets on board, or are there regular stops? Having bladder problems, I don't want to have to stop on the ships if the trips are "bladder-unfriendly" as it sounds as if wandering round the port towns isn't a practical option. May have to stick with the Canaries again!

Thanks for any advice.

John

Hiya peeps!

Just booked the Red Sea Magic 7 nights (Spirit) and I'm really excited! We are first time cruises so reading over the forums here has really helped already.
We fly from Manchester to Hurghada on 7th March.

No questions as yet but I'll be reading avidly to pick up tips!

We will probably end up doing the 3 trips in spite of them being long days and although they sound quite expensive, it may be safer than trying to do it independently...but i'm still open minded on that one!

We haven't taken out the drinks package option but intend to take some drink with us from home to chil out with whilst we are getting ready for the evening. I presume this is allowed?

I'm presuming that we will need local currency when out on the trips, so whats the best way to sort this out?

Anyone going at the same time as us????

Kay

We went on Red Sea Magic in November from Hurghada (Safaga). Thomson reserve places for the Luxor trip for all passengers embarking from Safaga. The trip goes the next day.

We did the trips to Petra and Cairo. Other people on this forum might know about Petra independently. You're probably better off doing the excursion to Cairo. All the coaches go in convoy. The port is miles from anywhere and I didn't see any taxis waiting for people.

At Jordan, Thomson arrange a shuttle (£5 per person return) into Aqaba. I think I saw taxis at the port though. You would have to check. Maybe someone else here knows.

As far as currency goes - we brought Egyptian pounds with us (my family had just returned from Egypt the week before and had small denominations left which we took.) You probably only need currency for Sharm-El-Sheik. Egyptians will take sterling, dollars and euros, but you get a better deal if you haggle with egyptian pounds.

The trip to Cairo doesn't include many shopping opportunties. You will probably stop at a Jewellers/Souvenir shop, but you don't get long!

In Jordan we got currency from the ATM's. There are banks near where the shuttle from the ship drops off. Bear in mind that you get to Jordan Friday so the banks are closed. The Thomson staff don't know the exchange rate for sterling to dinars, so you might want to look it up before you go. We had no idea how much things were costing but figured it was about £1 to 1 dinar. We weren't far wrong!!!

Don't know about taking drinks on board. We did get our bags scanned everytime we came back on board.

Have a great time.
Karen

Thanks for the reply Kazwaz!
I'm sure that I might have some more questions in the countdown!!

I think we might not do the Luxor trip and instead save that for a nile cruise some other time.

I have found a tour company 'memphis tours' that pick up from the ports too and they do seem to offer a similar itinary for less money so I might be tempted.

I think you said that you did the Cairo trip...what did you visit on the trip?

It looks as though people have some mixed feelings about this holiday, so we will just go with an open mind, no expectations and go with the flow.

Cheers
Kay

Has anyone been on this cruise?Mom myself and sister going February.We would like to know if there are any good shopping centres at the ports not too far to walk as Mom has walking difficulties.Thanks alot

Linda

There are various Cairo excursions on offer. We did the Pyramids and Cairo Museum.

On the coach the tour guide sells tickets for the Tutankamum exhibition but it's cheaper to buy the tickets in the museum. It's not included in the overall excursion price as it's a "optional extra".

Returned from the Red Sea Magic cruise on 3rd Jan. I'd agree with some previous postings regarding independent travel. Plenty of taxi's in Jordan offering good deals for day trips to Petra & Wadi Rum, but no sign of anything at the port near Cairo. I'd also add, that the day out in Petra was far better that the trip to the pyramids, which turned out to be a bit of an anticlimax.

Also a warning to those who've not yet travelled"¦when leaving the luggage outside the room on the day of departure from the ship, don't leave anything remotely valuable, and better still, check the luggage gets on to the deck at the rear of the ship as soon as possible. The ships crew managed to lose one of our cases and also another couple on a different deck lost a case; between the cabin and the dockside. I'd also be interested on those who've already travelled if they had had similar problems. Oh, and if they do lose it .apparently it's your own fault!

We didn't have problems with the ship exactly. More with the tour operator. Because there were 3 of us (me, Hubby and my dad!) we wanted a single and a double cabin. The tour operator couldn't do that on one booking so I had to do 2 bookings and they said they would link them.

Firstly, our tickets didn't arrive. Then, when we got to the airport, Dad was seated in a different part of the plane even though I pre-booked all three of us together.

When we got on board the ship, I checked to make sure that Dad was given the same sitting for the formal night as me and hubby. They said he was. When we got our invitations, his sitting was the late and we were early! We managed to swap his sitting so we were all together.

I spent most of the cruise trying to sort out the seating arrangements for the flight home. I was expected to phone Thomsons in England from Egypt/Jordan. It was only when I told them that if he was seated alone someone would be reponsible for him (he is profoundly deaf!) that our seats were guaranteed to be together on the plane.

Sorry for the rant - but as you can probably imagine, my mind wasn't really on enjoying the trips. Apart from that I had a really good time. Especially the cocktails in Horizons! They do a very good Cosmopolitan!!

Question for Karen and Mick!!

On the Cairo trip, was the sound and light show included? (is it worth it??) and did you have to make one of those silly stops to a jewellery shop or similar on route? Otherwise did you just stop off at Cairo for museum, and Giza, for pyramids and sphinx??

Mick did you talk to anyone that did the Petra trip by taxi? Would they have gone from the port or from Aqaba? (Or is Aqaba actually where you dock?)

Thanks for the tip about the luggage on the last day Mick! Can you actually stay on board after it docks in on the last day or has Safaga port got some wonderful sights (not!)

Sorry to hear about the problems you had Karen, that is actually disgraceful and unacceptable.

Kay

The Sound and Light show isn't part of the Cairo trip. You leave Cairo about 5ish and get back to the ship about 7ish. Just to let you know, the formal night is the night before the Cairo trips, which have a really early start!!

You do make a stop at a jewellry stop just before lunch. There is a bit of a bazaar at the pyramids if you are looking for shopping opportunities. There isn't any scheduled time in the Cairo museum shop. Our guide left us to our own devices at the King Tuk exhibition. We were given the meeting time for the coach and managed to sneak some time for the museum shop. (I like shopping!!).

When you board at Safaga you have all the next day in the port. There isn't much to see at Safaga. Most people who aren't going on the Luxor trip stayed on board. The dock is a long walk to the gate.

On the last day you don't get into Safaga until lunch time. Thomson arrange a shopping excursion to Hurghada for those leaving, but it doesn't take you to the airport and it doesn't get back to the ship until after the airport coaches have left. We were going to book it, until I asked what time it got back. I don't think it had occured to anybody in the excursions office that disembarking passengers couldn't go on it. It was specifically targeted to those passengers. It might be different now. We did go on the first cruise they did from Safaga!

We stayed on board, although you have to check out of your cabin by 10am. Hand luggage can be stored in the card room. It is manned by a member of the crew.

Your ship account is still open until an hour before you disembark so you can take advantage of the bars etc. Although the shops and casino aren't open when the ship is in port.