Sharm El-Sheikh

[razorbackdiver]

I posted this in the General Travel forum and recieved no response so if this post needs to be moved mods please do.

In June of 2014 I will be in the middle east and as this will probably be a once a lifetime event I would like dive in the Red Sea. I understand that Sharm El-Sheikh and Dahad are fairly safe even with everything else going on in Egypt. Has anyone been there recently and if so were any security concerns, can you recommend a resort, dive op, don't miss dive sites, or steer me clear of bad resorts and bad dive ops.

Thanks in advance,

Razorbackdiver

 

[jord1990]

I know of 3 people that had work meetings in Egypt that were cancelled because of the risk.
June however is far away though. Allot could change for the better or the worse. Here is a official advise link. You will see that sharm and dahbab are close to the dangerzone. If its worth the risk that is up to you.

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/egypt

Jord

 

[Tigerman]

The red sea resorts areas is and has been SAFE all along. There has NOT been any incidents there.
The socalled "demonstrations" you've been seeing in the media from the resorts has in reality been "celebrations". I was there for some this summer and I have diving booked early next june. Im not the least bit worried.

The map linked in the post above is less than useless. It has NEVER been safe to travel into the Sinai desert without armed escort and it never will be.

The US government is paranoid and have held ALL of Egypt as no travel for a long time.
European governments has been quite a bit more location specific and has kept the resort areas separated from the rest, simply because it is TOTALLY DIFFERENT in the resort areas compared to the rest of Egypt.

The UK travel advice btw has been "except the red sea resorts" ever since the revolution, as has most other european governments been. Some have for periods included the resorts, but have lifted that again..

---------- Post added November 14th, 2013 at 02:19 AM ----------

There IS one worry I WOULD have though and thats travel insurance. If your government gives a travel warning for the specific area, I bet your travel insurance is void and you wont get anything paid from it, regardless the nature or the cause of the event as they do tend to add clauses about the insurance as a whole being void if traveling to areas adviced against by the government..

 

[JBFG]

I was in Egypt on vacation in 2011 in the hight of the revolution.
I felt totally safe.
I did go to the Red Sea Sharm and Taba. I had no issue what so ever. spent a week and enjoyed every second.

The internal disordered didn'T bother me a bit. I even ended up by accident in a protest session in Cairo with 1 milion people. didn't feel unsafe, but than again I was on vacation from Afghanistan lol.

Anyway as mentioned before,the red sea resorts are very safe. go dive!!!

 

[Searcaigh]

I travel to Cairo every other month on business and have not had any issues whatsoever, I just wish I had time to add a few days and go diving too

 

[razorbackdiver]

Thanks. Any suggestions about dive operators?

 

[Oldbear]

My daughter and I were scheduled for an Egyptian holiday in March 2011, when the revolution hit. The U.S. State Deprtment restricted travel to Egypt and we had to change our plans to Thailand.

We were booked with Emporer Dives and when we asked for a refund or a postponement, due to the revolution, the home office in England was just down right rude and told us tough luck. My credit card company was more understanding and refunded my booking fee. Three hotels, a Nile Cruise, six excursions all refunded our payments without any issues...only Emporer Dives were greedy bums.

A year later I made it Sharm and stayed and dived with Oonas Dive Club. What a great experience. They picked us up at the airport, helped us thru customs and had nice rooms waiting for us. The boats were nice too with decent lunches. The equipment looked good, but I had my own. The guides were knowledgable and showed us great sights. I would highly recommend Oonas Dive Club; they also have lives boards if that is of interest to you.

Red Sea Diving Holiday, Oonas Hotel and Dive Club Sharm El Sheikh

Enjoy the Red Sea...and Egypt.

~Oldbear~

 

[Tigerman]

Any dive op would have refused a refund, just read their terms and understand that they are not in buisness for the fun of it.

As for dive ops some of the most reputable is Camel dive, Red sea college, Werner Lau and Emperor divers. Pretty much ALL of Emperors customers are british or fluent in english as is their staff. They do NOT cater to certain easter european countries with a reputation for being less than respectful to their enviroment, other divers and dive op, shop, hotel and bar staff..

 

[Crowley]

Let's keep it on topic folks, which is about the current situation in Sharm, not the personal opinion of whether a dive centre or their customers behaves in a professional manner. Given that I spent 4 years in Sharm (I left in Feb this year) and also know most of the staff at Emperor Divers, Sharm, I will say they are an excellent company with an excellent reputation for quality customer service and respect for the environment.

Many people have queried why they cannot get refunds if they do not wish to travel to tourist resorts in Egypt. The simple fact of the matter is that they remain at a distance from the troubles, and relatively independent. As long as travel is not restricted to these areas, the dive centres will not offer refunds unless they decide that the services that they offer are no longer possible given the political climate. Sharm remains a safe place to visit, and therefore people who wish to cancel their bookings need to look at the reasons they are cancelling those bookings and not the reasons that the dive centres are not offering refunds.

Tour operators are a different matter, and they are obliged to offer refunds or relocations should they decide that they are not willing to risk travel to certain locations for insurance reasons. I went through this for two years after the January 2011 revolution. I can tell you that from the information I have from friends still working in Sharm, and people who have recently been there, that it is a completely safe place to travel to.

Thanks,

Crowley

PS I also moved this to the Red Sea Forum...

 

[KathyV]

I posted this in the General Travel forum and recieved no response so if this post needs to be moved mods please do.

In June of 2014 I will be in the middle east and as this will probably be a once a lifetime event I would like dive in the Red Sea. I understand that Sharm El-Sheikh and Dahad are fairly safe even with everything else going on in Egypt. Has anyone been there recently and if so were any security concerns, can you recommend a resort, dive op, don't miss dive sites, or steer me clear of bad resorts and bad dive ops.

My husband and I once did an Aggressor Red Sea livaboard trip out of Sharm and it was wonderful, but that was more than a decade ago so I cannot comment on current operators and conditions. But I wanted to let you know that the Aggressor fleet is launching a new Red Sea Aggressor next year. It will operate out of the southern Red Sea, not Sharm - and if you could move your trip up a bit into May, you could get a great deal on the price - see the link below. We've been on 4 Aggressor livaboard trips and they were all fantastic!

Aggressor and Dancer Fleet