Red Sea (Egypt) closed (covid-19 confined)

[Ministryofgiraffes]

Outside of the very low capacity, how is the Emperor Superior? I was originally scheduled on that boat for this month, but moved to this time next year. Just wondering what you thought of the boat and the crew. I realize things can change in a year, but insight / feedback is appreciated.

thanks

Yeah, I really liked the crew and the boat was decent, not sure I would want to be on it full but there was lots of room with just 7 divers. I actually took my dive guide down to the elite as a private guide for the second week. I only have the blue to compare to. Food Better than the blue but not as good as Caribbean boats IMO. It’s a 100% wooden boat though so if you are doing a long sailing itinerary there is going to be some chop. The compressor broke on the forst day, but we were still diving in hurghadha and they didn’t bull **** us, told us immediately and we went back to port and they hauled it out and put a new one in, we stayed on schedule and made up the night dive later in the week. It was well dealt with.

UK owned boat, so there are beers and Fun attitude to go with it. We had 70-90 min dives as a standard. Empty boat/empty sites. I’ll dive on the superior again, but probably not on an itinerary with lots of overnight crossings just due to the chop.

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

Current situation. I honestly wouldn’t pay in advance for a boat. I would fly over and book the day before sailing with a backup plan of going to stay and dive at the breakers. There will be no issue getting a spot on a boat though. I could book 5+ boats right now that are sailing tomorrow and just jump on them tomorrow am.

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

Also, don’t bother using liveaboard.com or padi travel as a solid reference to availability. They have a lot of boats advertised as sailing which aren’t and they are still showing them as available after they have been informed that they aren’t sailing. Best to contact the boats directly.

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

Outside of the very low capacity, how is the Emperor Superior? I was originally scheduled on that boat for this month, but moved to this time next year. Just wondering what you thought of the boat and the crew. I realize things can change in a year, but insight / feedback is appreciated.

Oh and how was Egypt Air -- I've crossed them off my list of potential airlines (even though they always seem to have award seat availability) due to on-line reviews that their business class product is very dated, their in-flight entertainment is old and their seats are middle of the road at best.


thanks

forgot to add, I have zero issues with egyptair business class for the price. I got return from Toronto to Cairo for under $2.3k CAD for a great deal and that with 2 x 50 LB checked baggage and 2 x carryon. The seats are close enough to flat that I slept relatively well. I don’t care about inflight ents etc. I bring my own iPad. If I was an Instagram reviewer travelling the world comparing to Qatar airways at 8k+ etc I might give it an average score compared to emirates/Cathay pacific etc. But I’m on this flight to get somewhere, not rate champagne options etc. Suffice it to say it’s the 3rd time I’ve flown to Egypt business class on egyptair in 16 months. It does the job and I get to sleep for 10+ hours flat ‘bed’ and I don’t care about booze etc on this flight. I wouldn’t likely do it for 5k... but at the price I’m good with it.

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

Basically business class return and 2 x weeks in the Red Sea for less than an aggressor Caribbean week excluding flights.

 

[Illini_Fan]

forgot to add, I have zero issues with egyptair business class for the price. I got return from Toronto to Cairo for under $2.3k CAD for a great deal and that with 2 x 50 LB checked baggage and 2 x carryon. The seats are close enough to flat that I slept relatively well. I don’t care about inflight ents etc. I bring my own iPad. If I was an Instagram reviewer travelling the world comparing to Qatar airways at 8k+ etc I might give it an average score compared to emirates/Cathay pacific etc. But I’m on this flight to get somewhere, not rate champagne options etc. Suffice it to say it’s the 3rd time I’ve flown to Egypt business class on egyptair in 16 months. It does the job and I get to for 10+ hours flat ‘bed’ and I don’t care about booze etc on this flight. I wouldn’t likely do it for 5k... but at the price I’m good with it.

Thank you.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Turkish Air is supposed to be a good airline. Is anyone able to confirm?

It used to be quite easy to get to Istanbul and then to Cairo from there.

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

Turkish Air is supposed to be a good airline. Is anyone able to confirm?

It used to be quite easy to get to Istanbul and then to Cairo from there.

It’s generally a bit of a pain as it can be expensive from North America and the flight from Istanbul tends to arrive in hurghadha at around 12:30am sat morning, meaning you get a couple of hours sleep before a 3 dive day. Pegasus also flies through Istanbul. The guys coming through Istanbul are always the last on the boat and if there are delays it can be rough.