Satisfied with Egypt Trip arranged by Cox Chennai . Review on Cox and Kings, Mumbai

Cox and Kings Chennai arranged an Egypt Trip from Chennai in Oct 2012 for me and my spouse. I am very satisfied with the arrangements made and would recommend this company.

Some important things to note

1. Though we had requested the group tour, It appears we were the only ones who had booked and so we only had local guides. The local guides were professional and timely.

   
   




2. I have gone on group tours before and found the personal / private attention during the trip much better than group tours. However It would have been better if Cox and Kings Chennai had prepared us for Local Guides in advance instead of informing us at the last minute.

   
   




3. We were initially cautious / nervous about being in a private tour in an arab islamic country in the middle of political unrest. However after a day, we were relaxed and started enjoying our trip.

   
   




4. While Cox officially offered Ex-Mumbai and Ex-Delhi departures, Cox Chennai managed to get us direct Ex-Chennai Departures(paying extra of course, but reasonable). We were booked on Qatar Airways connecting via Doha.

   
   




5. Local Guides speak English well but have a different accent. Without prior knowledge of Egyptian History, the Local Guides may be hard to understand. I had however read well about Egyptian History and was satisfied with the depth of explanation provided by the local guides.

   
   




6. October was still too hot in Egypt during the day. Best time to visit would be between November to February

   
   




7. The overnight trains between Cairo and Aswan / Luxor were more like Indian Trains in cleanliness, speed and comfort and not as good as Trains in the West.

   
   




8. We took the Optional Hot Air Balloon RIde at Luxor(safely) and enjoyed our experience. This was the first time we were Hot Air Balooning.

   
   




9. The river cruise was enjoyable and the Maitre'd had arranged some vegetarian options for us for every meal. We are in our early thirties and we found the rest of the cruise passengers to be older Brits. The river Cruise we were booked on was M/S Ra II.

   
   




10. Indian Dinner was arranged(in Cairo only) at good Indian Restaurants. We enjoyed the Vegetarian Food provided.

    
    




11. Eastmar Tours was the local Operator in Egypt contracted by Cox and Kings.