advise for trip to Red Sea in Sept. 2013

[diverLux]

Hi again,

Instead of flying from the U.S. to Cairo take a flight to Germany; Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Cologne and book your flight to Marsa, Sharm or Hurghada with Air Berlin, Condor, TUI-Fly. This will be much easier, I have used all 3 airports and all 3 airlines in the past. ( should you decide to come to Luxembourg and book through LuxairTours in addition to your regular 20 kg luggage allowance you'll get additional 30 kg for sports gear ! )


The vast majority of the visitors to the Red Sea resorts besides Russians are from Germany so you'll find plenty of flights. In your particular case book your first flight into Marsa Alam and the return from Sharm. There must be direct flights from Marsa or Hurghada to Sharm I am sure.


There are occasional unrest in certain areas but Cairo has not become off-limits, the mess comes often from the News that can be exaggerated and misrepresent the true facts on the ground.


Happy diving.

 

[Tigerman]

Given the ammount of red sea visitors from the rest of of Europe, amongst others Britain and France and also seeing how full the flights from Norway are, I wouldnt be too sure about the "vast majority" of non-russians being german. Personally I run into almost only british in sharm..

 

[diverLux]

Hi again,

I had a look about the flights to Sharm and it seems there are no direct flights from Marsa or Hurghada and all connect via Cairo, but found direct flights from Luxor to Sharm by Egyptair 50 minutes, flight MS 440 and MS 438. Best of luck and I am logging out now going to book my trip Sharm for next week.

@Tigerman, we are getting off the subject here but for your benefit, lots of Italians in Sharm and especially Marsa, few French.

 

[Lorenzoid]

A week in Dahab seems like a long time to me. I haven't done a Red Sea liveaboard yet, but I did get in a couple of days of shore diving in Dahab as part of an otherwise tourism-oriented trip around Egypt. I suspect that after such awesome diving on the liveaboard, you will feel Dahab pales in comparison. If you haven't been to Egypt before, it's a no-brainer to use that week to see the sights, if you feel comfortable with the safety issues. I can't comment on the safety issues, as my trip was five or six years ago.

 

[Scubajeg1]

If I remember correctly, Blue O 2 in UK arranges charter flight to Hurghada from London. Direct flights avoiding Cairo. Blue O 2 was a great charter also . Did same locations in a best of trip. We also did a NIle cruise and was a highlight of the trip. It's a shame things are in such a mess right now. We were all over Cairo with no problems, but I guess things have changed. We also had another trip scheduled last Christmas and canceled due to unrest. The diving was great and makes us want to do it one more time.

Hi, Thank you all so much. We looked into blueo2 and flights from or thru UK , the prices were much higher ,evidently due to major euro holiday time in Aug.. We booked our liveaboard thru Emperors for a reasonable price compared to others.We are booking our own flights due to using points on our credit card and the uk just doesn't work out. We will have to stay 1 nite in cairo so inorder to fly to marsa alam the next day. Thank you again for all your help. Scubajeg1

---------- Post added May 1st, 2013 at 08:41 AM ----------

A week in Dahab seems like a long time to me. I haven't done a Red Sea liveaboard yet, but I did get in a couple of days of shore diving in Dahab as part of an otherwise tourism-oriented trip around Egypt. I suspect that after such awesome diving on the liveaboard, you will feel Dahab pales in comparison. If you haven't been to Egypt before, it's a no-brainer to use that week to see the sights, if you feel comfortable with the safety issues. I can't comment on the safety issues, as my trip was five or six years ago.

We will stay in sharm after liveaboard for 2-3 days and do day boat diving and then finish out our time in dahab, everything continues to evolve. Dahab seems to be a quiet place, relax and do shore and day boat diving , not anything like what we expect on the liveaboard but a different part of Egypt and inexpensive. This trip will be around 3 weeks and it cannot be all 5 star. I will post our experiences when we arrive back home. Thank you, Scubajeg1

 

[Tigerman]

Have you looked into hotels in sharm?
If you havent and you want something affordable, but clean go on travelrepublic and check out falcon naama star. Its at one of the checkpoints down to naama bay so itll be fairly quiet but within walking distance to all the shops and bars..

 

[Venus]

A few days in Sharm to do day boats after the liveaboard .... ok

Hundreds and hundreds of day boats go out of Sharm and Hurgahda every day, that's why easily reachable site from shore are over dived and busy busy
I'm about to head out for my eleventh Red Sea trip [eight liveaboards]

If you are doing the Daedalus, Elphinstone, Brothers itinerary you will have a fantastic time
Also the deep south is much better than the north

We booked our liveaboard thru Emperors for a reasonable price compared to others.
We will stay in sharm after liveaboard for 2-3 days and do day boat diving and then finish out our time in dahab, everything continues to evolve. Dahab seems to be a quiet place, relax and do shore and day boat diving , not anything like what we expect on the liveaboard but a different part of Egypt and inexpensive. This trip will be around 3 weeks and it cannot be all 5 star. I will post our experiences when we arrive back home. Thank you, Scubajeg1

 

[Scubajeg1]

Have you looked into hotels in sharm?
If you havent and you want something affordable, but clean go on travelrepublic and check out falcon naama star. Its at one of the checkpoints down to naama bay so itll be fairly quiet but within walking distance to all the shops and bars..

Sounds great . I will now work on back end of trip, I have confirmed flights and liveaboard and 4 days in Marsa alam before the liveaboard. Thank you again, Scubajeg1

 

[alsamalsa]

u can book your room alone and arrive alone on the airport there will be many ways to get to the hotel but stay with companies or taxis from in front of the airport taxi is cheaper though max 200 LE, regarding safety this area is mostly safe anyways there is no need to worry its media over exaggerating
the closest hotels near cairo airport to avoid traffic are novotel http://www.novotel.com/gb/booking/room-dates.shtml and radisson blu Cairo Accommodation. Book a room at Radisson Blu Hotel, Heliopolis jw marroit in mirage city 5-Star Hotel in Cairo, Egypt | Hotel in Cairo and fairmont towers heliopolis Guest Rooms in Cairo: Luxury Hotel Rooms at Fairmont
or if u prefer u can do a quick one day shopping at city stars mall and then stay in one of those hotels holiday inn citystars Cairo - Citystars Hotel in Cairo, Egypt | Holiday Inn or intercontinental citystars Cairo Semiramis Luxury Hotel in Cairo, Egypt | InterContinental Hotels & Resorts

 

[Scubajeg1]

Sounds good, we have noticed 4 of the hotels you listed, we will fly in abit late and then fly out or have to be at airport at 1:45 pm so not much time. Thank you.

---------- Post added May 7th, 2013 at 07:00 PM ----------

A few days in Sharm to do day boats after the liveaboard .... ok

Hundreds and hundreds of day boats go out of Sharm and Hurgahda every day, that's why easily reachable site from shore are over dived and busy busy
I'm about to head out for my eleventh Red Sea trip [eight liveaboards]

If you are doing the Daedalus, Elphinstone, Brothers itinerary you will have a fantastic time
Also the deep south is much better than the north

Hi Venus, We will stay over nite in Marsa alam after liveaboard waiting for flight to sharm . Sharm seems to be a good location to do certain dives before we travel on to Dahab to dive and relax. Thank you.

---------- Post added May 7th, 2013 at 07:01 PM ----------

Have you looked into hotels in sharm?
If you havent and you want something affordable, but clean go on travelrepublic and check out falcon naama star. Its at one of the checkpoints down to naama bay so itll be fairly quiet but within walking distance to all the shops and bars..

Hi, We will check out your suggestions . Thank you.