moorish8idol
Contributor
JP Marine trip report – Brothers/Daedalus/[Elphinstone]
Hi folks! As promised, a little trip report from my recent trip to Egypt on the JP Marine. Hopefully this will be helpful as there wasn’t a lot of information about the boat on this or other fora. Overall, I would recommend this boat – the pros do outweigh the cons (for me), especially given the price – pretty good value. I will mention some of the hiccups along the way but you can decide whether it’s worth it for you or not!
Travel and transfers
I traveled direct to Marsa Alam with Tui NL – on time, comfortable and they have a generous carry-on allowance of 10 kg so I carried everything with me. Got my Egyptian visa ahead of time so skipped the visa lineup and got through the airport in a few minutes. My transfer driver was not there (admittedly I got through very quick) but some random taxi drivers waiting around called him for me and he showed up within 10 minutes. It was a 10 minute drive to the Port Ghalib marina and a 1 minute walk to the boat. Although check-in wasn’t until 5 pm, they happily welcomed me onboard around 2:30 and I joined a small group of guests that were halfway through a 2-week trip having done St John’s and the South the week before.
[On a side-note, I was a bit perturbed about our experience at the marina – our small group headed out to the small beach area in the marina for a swim and were told to “get out of the water” by security staff there saying that we had to pay to even swim there (we weren’t using the day beds or anything). Considering each person pays a $50 US extra fee to be docked at the marina in Port Ghalib, I found it quite bothersome that we were told we had to pay €10 to “use” the sea. Who owns the sea? Otherwise the marina area has a (non-authentic) souk where you can pick up souvenirs and last minute items (at a ghastly price – I paid €4,50 for a tiny bottle of body lotion) as well as a few restaurants that serve alcohol and sheesha.]
On our return, we were docked in the non-new “marina” area in Hurghada which was 8 km from the new marina area (Sheraton) and not particularly well-located. We were a bit confused at this but assumed the docking fees in Hurghada were high and the JP Marine didn’t want to pay them. It’s a €1-3 taxi (15 minutes) to the new marina area so after dinner, we stayed near the boat and walked down the street to where there are some restaurants and bars (area of the Hard Rock café). It’s a 15 minute ride to the airport.
I had heard a lot of negative things about what a nightmare Hurghada airport is with tons of security controls and long line-ups. Maybe I was lucky (though it was high season in August for European travelers and the end of Eid holidays) but the airport was cool, clean and quite efficient (yes the staff were surly but oh well). We had one initial security line-up to get to the check-in area and then another security check to get to the gate area. I flew Air Cairo direct to Copenhagen on the way back – they were on time and served a hot meal in the last 2 hours of the flight (though I found it weird that they had zero service before that, not even water!) and although my ticket said 8 kg max carry-on, no one weighed my bags or cared so I was able to keep my carry-on backpack with me on the way back as well. I was pleasantly surprised by the airline but the lady sitting next to me said that on the way down, the plane was delayed 8 hours (so they missed their first day of diving) and they had been served a measly dry sandwich.
Guests and crew
The boat was almost full – we had 26 divers, 2 dive guides and an Egyptian crew of 11. The guests were a really nice diverse mix of people, ages and nationalities: Brits, French, Italian, Swiss, German, Danish, Ukrainian, Russian, Turkish, Indian and Chinese! Although we had younger and old(er), most guests fell into the 30s and 40s demographic and I really enjoyed getting to know (almost) everyone! Many people on board were DMs and instructors with a lot of diving experience though, unfortunately there were a few people that weren’t very considerate divers and either due to carelessness or poor diving skills, had a tendency to be standing on top of coral and breaking off chunks every single time (and no they did not listen when repeatedly told not to do this sort of thing).
The crew were very hardworking and really friendly, doing everything they can to help you with anything you needed. There was always someone around to help you get in and out of your gear and I enjoyed using some of my (terrible) Arabic with them. Safety was clearly very important for them and their experience with diving the region was evident.
Cabins
Let’s say they are a bit rustic but functional. All cabins are twin with ensuite toilet/shower and air-conditioning. Crew does a brisk clean of the cabins each morning. You do not have your own climate control (you have to ask a crew member to adjust it for you) and it is shared between 2 cabins so you may have to come to a consensus between the 4 people as to how strong or low you want the AC. Beds were a bit small and narrow and we joked that they could use some seat-belts to hold those of us in that were in the upper-deck cabins (during the 3 nights we travelled). Lots of people slept outside in one of the myriad comfy areas – on the second floor deck, there is a shaded area full of beanbag chairs and the top deck is mostly sunny and runs the length of the boat with tons of comfy day beds to relax/sleep on.
Food and drink
Excellent! 3 meals a day were served buffet style but food was copious, varied and delicious – they definitely didn’t shy away from offering typical Egyptian food with each meal either (yum they served kibbe, foul, kushari). I had falafel and veggies for breakfast every day – lunch was always served with a delicious soup and there were usually 3 different types of salads, 2 sides (ie potatoes etc) and 2 main courses (meat, fish, curries, stews) as well as dessert. A mid-afternoon snack was also served and there was always coffee/tea/cookies for you to grab whenever. Vegetarians got on ok but the vegans did struggle a bit – it’s just not a concept the crew was very familiar with. But kudos to the chef – he really did a spectacular job the whole week.
The diviac website (and liveaboard) incorrectly state that you can purchase wine and beer on board. This is not true and luckily in correspondence with the boat in the week before, I learned that it was a BYOB boat OR you can put in an order with them ahead of time and then pay them in cash on arrival (500 ml local beer at €3 and local bottle of wine at €11). If you have time, best to bring your own as in the rush and confusion of things, not everyone got what they ordered (either the type or quantity of booze). Some people were unaware and so were upset that they had nothing to drink all week (we did share though!) and others were upset that they were asked to store their beer and wine in their cabins (other than what they needed that day) to conserve space in the small fridge.
[continued in post below]
Hi folks! As promised, a little trip report from my recent trip to Egypt on the JP Marine. Hopefully this will be helpful as there wasn’t a lot of information about the boat on this or other fora. Overall, I would recommend this boat – the pros do outweigh the cons (for me), especially given the price – pretty good value. I will mention some of the hiccups along the way but you can decide whether it’s worth it for you or not!
Travel and transfers
I traveled direct to Marsa Alam with Tui NL – on time, comfortable and they have a generous carry-on allowance of 10 kg so I carried everything with me. Got my Egyptian visa ahead of time so skipped the visa lineup and got through the airport in a few minutes. My transfer driver was not there (admittedly I got through very quick) but some random taxi drivers waiting around called him for me and he showed up within 10 minutes. It was a 10 minute drive to the Port Ghalib marina and a 1 minute walk to the boat. Although check-in wasn’t until 5 pm, they happily welcomed me onboard around 2:30 and I joined a small group of guests that were halfway through a 2-week trip having done St John’s and the South the week before.
[On a side-note, I was a bit perturbed about our experience at the marina – our small group headed out to the small beach area in the marina for a swim and were told to “get out of the water” by security staff there saying that we had to pay to even swim there (we weren’t using the day beds or anything). Considering each person pays a $50 US extra fee to be docked at the marina in Port Ghalib, I found it quite bothersome that we were told we had to pay €10 to “use” the sea. Who owns the sea? Otherwise the marina area has a (non-authentic) souk where you can pick up souvenirs and last minute items (at a ghastly price – I paid €4,50 for a tiny bottle of body lotion) as well as a few restaurants that serve alcohol and sheesha.]
On our return, we were docked in the non-new “marina” area in Hurghada which was 8 km from the new marina area (Sheraton) and not particularly well-located. We were a bit confused at this but assumed the docking fees in Hurghada were high and the JP Marine didn’t want to pay them. It’s a €1-3 taxi (15 minutes) to the new marina area so after dinner, we stayed near the boat and walked down the street to where there are some restaurants and bars (area of the Hard Rock café). It’s a 15 minute ride to the airport.
I had heard a lot of negative things about what a nightmare Hurghada airport is with tons of security controls and long line-ups. Maybe I was lucky (though it was high season in August for European travelers and the end of Eid holidays) but the airport was cool, clean and quite efficient (yes the staff were surly but oh well). We had one initial security line-up to get to the check-in area and then another security check to get to the gate area. I flew Air Cairo direct to Copenhagen on the way back – they were on time and served a hot meal in the last 2 hours of the flight (though I found it weird that they had zero service before that, not even water!) and although my ticket said 8 kg max carry-on, no one weighed my bags or cared so I was able to keep my carry-on backpack with me on the way back as well. I was pleasantly surprised by the airline but the lady sitting next to me said that on the way down, the plane was delayed 8 hours (so they missed their first day of diving) and they had been served a measly dry sandwich.
Guests and crew
The boat was almost full – we had 26 divers, 2 dive guides and an Egyptian crew of 11. The guests were a really nice diverse mix of people, ages and nationalities: Brits, French, Italian, Swiss, German, Danish, Ukrainian, Russian, Turkish, Indian and Chinese! Although we had younger and old(er), most guests fell into the 30s and 40s demographic and I really enjoyed getting to know (almost) everyone! Many people on board were DMs and instructors with a lot of diving experience though, unfortunately there were a few people that weren’t very considerate divers and either due to carelessness or poor diving skills, had a tendency to be standing on top of coral and breaking off chunks every single time (and no they did not listen when repeatedly told not to do this sort of thing).
The crew were very hardworking and really friendly, doing everything they can to help you with anything you needed. There was always someone around to help you get in and out of your gear and I enjoyed using some of my (terrible) Arabic with them. Safety was clearly very important for them and their experience with diving the region was evident.
Cabins
Let’s say they are a bit rustic but functional. All cabins are twin with ensuite toilet/shower and air-conditioning. Crew does a brisk clean of the cabins each morning. You do not have your own climate control (you have to ask a crew member to adjust it for you) and it is shared between 2 cabins so you may have to come to a consensus between the 4 people as to how strong or low you want the AC. Beds were a bit small and narrow and we joked that they could use some seat-belts to hold those of us in that were in the upper-deck cabins (during the 3 nights we travelled). Lots of people slept outside in one of the myriad comfy areas – on the second floor deck, there is a shaded area full of beanbag chairs and the top deck is mostly sunny and runs the length of the boat with tons of comfy day beds to relax/sleep on.
Food and drink
Excellent! 3 meals a day were served buffet style but food was copious, varied and delicious – they definitely didn’t shy away from offering typical Egyptian food with each meal either (yum they served kibbe, foul, kushari). I had falafel and veggies for breakfast every day – lunch was always served with a delicious soup and there were usually 3 different types of salads, 2 sides (ie potatoes etc) and 2 main courses (meat, fish, curries, stews) as well as dessert. A mid-afternoon snack was also served and there was always coffee/tea/cookies for you to grab whenever. Vegetarians got on ok but the vegans did struggle a bit – it’s just not a concept the crew was very familiar with. But kudos to the chef – he really did a spectacular job the whole week.
The diviac website (and liveaboard) incorrectly state that you can purchase wine and beer on board. This is not true and luckily in correspondence with the boat in the week before, I learned that it was a BYOB boat OR you can put in an order with them ahead of time and then pay them in cash on arrival (500 ml local beer at €3 and local bottle of wine at €11). If you have time, best to bring your own as in the rush and confusion of things, not everyone got what they ordered (either the type or quantity of booze). Some people were unaware and so were upset that they had nothing to drink all week (we did share though!) and others were upset that they were asked to store their beer and wine in their cabins (other than what they needed that day) to conserve space in the small fridge.
[continued in post below]
