I have never used 'wine boxes' before - how many glasses do you get out of them, and how long do they stay fresh once opened I know I shall miss a nice glass of white over there and think this a great idea

A 3 litre wine box will theoretically give you around 25 pub size glasses of wine, or 12 "normal" large glasses. Once opened, put them in your mini bar fridge, they keep for ages!

Oh well thats me sorted then... guess what I shall be buying in the duty free shop [take it thats the best place to purchase them]:D. By the time I get enough cigs for the forthnight and the wine I shall be pretty loaded down with hand luggage mind you. And theres definately no problem in getting through passport control with wine in your hand luggage Would break my heart if it was confiscated

No problems at all getting through passport control, you have already cleared passport control at Gatwick and had your hand luggage checked before you reach the duty free shops so thats o.k, and I didnt see anybody have their stuff checked or searched as we went through immigration at Taba or Sharm.
The hotel security checked our bags when we first arrived at Taba, and they were fine, by that point we had accumilated several boxes of wine and 6 bottles of spirit!
There are 4 bottles of wine per box, and you can pick them up for about £10 so a great deal. You they have a built in "tap" so they stay fresh for ages. We cleared everything out of our mini bar and put the white wine in instead.

Thats great! Bit concerned about hotel security going through your stuff though on arrival - never come across that before. Once when in Turkey if you had been out they asked to check your carriers when you came back to hotel to make sure you werent bringing drinks or food in, which hacked me off a bit I have got to say!

At least now I can look forward to sitting on my balcony/terrace [which I had to pay a supplement for ] sipping my chilled wine before dinner... perfect.

Not all hotels check your baggage LD, so don't worry too much. You'll probably find that they haven't built anywhere for security to sit yet when you get to the Coral Sea! Sorry, couldn't resist it!

So subtle carrot!

Gixer thanks for the info! Will see how I get on.

Wasnt sure if you could buy wine boxes at a duty free! So looking fwd to going, its only 3 more sleeps!

Jilly

We'll be taking some wine boxes to Sharm.
I prefer rose wine (I can't find an e with an accent on my keyboard!), does anyone know if you can by it by the box?

Hey Roger

A 3 litre wine box will theoretically give you around 25 pub size glasses of wine, or 12 "normal" large glasses.

Or 2 Phyll (my Mum) size glasses!

Remember this?

CLICK HERE

Pippy,

Regarding taking rose wine boxes to Egypt. Asda have got a nice Californian rose on offer at the moment which is under a tenner for a 3litre box.

Think I Shall have to make space for one of those in my suitcase... thats excellent... good old Asda price eh!

Come on guys... be sensible !

You are staying at an all inclusive resort and you are going to go through all the hassle as well as use up valuable luggage space, not to mention run the risk of ruining all your belongings in the suitcase, ( and do nt expect the insurance to pay you in this case if anything should go wrong ), just to bring in as much plonk as possible !!!

Of course no hotelier in his right mind will object to you bringing it into his hotel if he is operating it on an all inclusive basis as he can save costs. And every hotelier needs every penny he can save as the prices are so low anyway.

For the hotels in Taba Heights... yes they do charge above average prices for Egyptian wines ( and imported wines as there is so much tax on imported alcohol ) but on the other hand the rates for accommodation including breakfast and dinner that they are giving to the tour operators are really low and would be laughed at by any 5 star hotel in Europe.

If you really need to gamble with your belongings and pack in wine boxes, by all means do so... but afterwards if anything gets damaged don t cry over the spilt milk .... .... I mean wine !!!

Pippy... was in Asda last night and they still do the rose in a box for £9.99.

Swiss... I do like a nice glass of white before dinner sitting on the balcony whilst painting my nails!!!!

Tried the egyptian 'stuff' before - free or not I couldnt stummoch it I'm afraid. Shall probably just buy a couple of boxes in Duty Free and carry it through though just in case of any spills...

Can anyone tell me if I do take out boxes of white wine has I like New Zealand Wine will I be able to take put this into water bottles and take into the restaurants with me?

Also what sort of wine do they serve in the bars, like the camel bar and Hard Rock?

How much does it cost for a vodka and coke.

Going on Saturday 25th so would appreciate your replies soon.

JJ2006,
wife and I have just returned from a Nile Cruise (Etoile du Nil III) and week stay in Sonesta St. George in Luxor. I've posted reviews of both these, in the Nile Cruise review thread and the Hotel Review, Egypt, Sonesta.

We took 2 three litre white wine boxes. One in the main case (bought at Tesco a week or two before dep.) and the other purchased at Manchester Airport duty free shop (Stowells wine).

Weight was a problem as MyTravel / Airtours only permit 20kg of checked luggage per passenger. By purchasing 3 litres at Manchester this was not counted as part of the carry-on luggage weight.

I drink red and had heard that red wine in Egypt is OK. White however is dire in Egypt. Obelisk appears to be the most common and it really does taste of TCP but without any medicinal properties.

Obelisk red, a Cabernet Sauvignon, is pleasant enough and on our boat was priced at just 85 Eg£ (£8.50 sterling). That's all that was available on the boat but the Sonesta had Obelisk, Sharazade, Omar Kyham (?) and Chateau de Reves. This is still Egyptian but is produced using traditional French methods and the description was in French. At £20 (sterling) a bottle in the hotel it was atad expensive although better than the others. I tried Sharazade and though it was perfectly acceptable and at £14 a little more sensibly priced.

Viv did take a glass back to the room, kept it in the fridge, along with the wine box insert, and enjoyed a pre-dinner white each night. She topped this up and took the glas with her to dinner. This required a little explanation along the lines of......"We bought this upstairs at the bar earlier"......and they didn't charge or get too upset about this. I was buying a bottle of red alternat nights however, so they perhaps turned a blind eye.

At the hotel we didn't try it. To be fair, the Sonesta offer a corkage fee of £5 (sterling) per bottle and I would be happy to pay this on future visits as the imported white wines were approaching the £35 (sterling) mark and didn't appear to be anything special. Viv discovered the Mai Tai towards the end of the hols so, combined with a glass of white in the room prior to dinner, she suffered the trauma.

the wine in the case survived without a problem - we did leave it in it's box until we arrived on the boat.

In luxor, almost directly opposite the Mercure Hotel on the Corniche, there's a floating cocktail bar called "Cocktail Sunset". It's well worth a visit. A decent choice of Egyptian beers, larger and less expensive than on the boats, usual wines and of course cocktails. The owner is from Belgium and the staff are really friendly, helpful and efficient. We had a great night in there on the final night on the boat as it was docked within 50mt of the bar.

Up near the Pyramisa Isis hotel there are a couple (maybe 3) English type bars. We didn't visit any of them but friends at the hotel recommended all of them for cleanliness, service and low cost drinks. There were good reports also of Maxime's restaurant. Fillet steak in a sauce, soup to start and a dessert for about £7 (sterling) per head.

Mike

Blimey the lengths some people go to get a glass of wine! I love semillon chardonnay and couldn't get that in Egypt and I also love a glass of Rose - we found the best Rose was the Obelisk - it was between £10 and £13 a bottle - which is only what you would pay for a bottle in a pub in London so we weren't too bothered about the prices. The white was a bit like paint stripper but after the second glass tasted Fab!

I drink Vodka and Slimline Tonic as a rule but enjoy a glass of wine with my dinner and you can't get tonic anywhere in Sharm!!!!

I think its really cheeky JJ2006 that your asking about taking your drink in plastic bottles to a restaurant!! The price of food out there is cheap so what you lose out on on the alcohol you make up for on food. Do you do this back home when you go out to a restaurant?

Hi

Going to Taba in a week, has anyone come across any good offers for boxes of wine, I think red will be best then I can keep the fridge for water and stuff for Katie (think it will be small anyway).

Tesco, Asda and Morrisons are all local, so if anyone has seen any good bargins I would be grateful. Thanks

Just been to Asda, got 2 x 3L boxes of a Californian Red on offer to £5.99 a box... couldn`t leave them on the shelf could I? They will fit nicely, one in each suitcase. Also the white is on offer as well, so bought one of them for the fridge now.

Well Done if I had an Asda near me I'd be tempted myself. I know you must be going soon. Have a great time.