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

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Roy, you seem to be quite new in diving, and I suppose it was going to be one of your first trip to Egypt... so let's answer seriously your questions :

(...)
* Are the Egyptian local taking this very seriously. If they are going to Friday prepares then I consider that the risk is Extremely High. We've seen/heard about too many examples in Europe and elsewhere where large congregations are basically to be avoided at all costs.

No. They are not really aware.

* Are the hotels actually doing the clean up/disinfection that the government has announced.

No. Good desinfectant products are expensive, they clean up, yes, but don't even think they have something like chlorhexidine soaps or disinfectant gel everywhere...

* Any links or websites that can be trusted for actual stats concerning new cases/deaths in Egypt.
Egypt is the not the best ambassador of from speech and good journalism so it would be good to have some feedback about the real situation.

No. You know that in USA and even in Europe, the covid tests are limited and thus the number of cases are barely underestimated. Furthermore, the healthcare system in Egypt is far (very far) from the european system, which is overloaded now in Italy, Spain, soon in France...
Do you really think any website could give actual stats about egyptian situation ?
Do you have consider one time visiting Hurghada's hospital ?

At the latest, Emporer Divers will refund up to 50% of the trip if cancelled at least 28 days prior to the voyage. So I currently have 4 weeks left to make up my mind about cancelling or not.

At the moment I have a hard time believing that it will be OK, permitted, safe or wise to travel to Egypt even at the end of May..

For this, you are right...
 
We had a group discussion last night, there are 7 of us in total and I believe that everyone is under the same dark cloud.. We will indeed be modifying our vacation..

It is highly doubtful that the DFAE ( The Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs ) will allow flight to Egypt during our dates.

I've just seen on the Emporer Site that they are accepting modifications to the dates free of charge. So we will probably go down that route.

Emperor Divers News


Easyjet will also allow us to modify our flights for free , it just too soon to book for next year.
 
I was scheduled to land in Marsa Alam on March 19th, sailing to Sudan on a 2 week LOB. On March 2nd we got an emailed statement saying that they had hired a disinfecting company to disinfect the boat between trips and the crew would disinfect daily (not sure why the daily, if someone on the boat had it when they got on, we would all get it on such a small boat).
On March 15th they cancelled all trips through the end of May, offering a credit good for 2 years.
Given that I didn't want to be tied to a single boat and unsure if dates would line up in the future, as well as the risk of being out $4k if the company files bankruptcy, I requested a clawback on my credit card under Canadian consumer protection laws for service not rendered (I had to submit proof that the operator cancelled, not me). The credit card tried to push me towards trip cancellation insurance, but the Canadian laws are clear, so they finally accepted the clawback request.

Not sure if you have equivalent laws that you could apply, but it's worth a look, depending obviously on if your trip is officially cancelled, or if you are the one cancelling.
For my flights I had to wait until they cancelled the flight in order to get a full refund as opposed to a credit. They waited until the very last second and formally cancelled my flight, which was due to land in egypt after the airport closure anyways, 2.5 hours prior to take-off of my first flight. It was like playing a game of chicken with the airline, but in the end I got full refunds for my entire trip.
 
Very interesting experience return, a_lamonta !

Unfortunately, if payment was a bank transfer, as usually in Europe, it won't work for Roy_W.... and I'm not sure that the european laws have the same dispositions ; of course, clawback request exists, but I'm pretty sure it will be very complicated.

And in this case, as the boat and the airline offer changing dates without fees... perfect for him !
 
Unfortunately, if payment was a bank transfer, as usually in Europe, it won't work for Roy_W.... and I'm not sure that the european laws have the same dispositions ; of course, clawback request exists, but I'm pretty sure it will be very complicated.

Hi, depends on his local laws by country. Despite very good laws in Canada, my credit card tried to push me to claim under trip cancellation insurance twice... "so you want to make a trip cancellation claim?" me: "no, this is not an insurance claim, this is a service not rendered, I am requesting a claw-back under consumer protection laws"

So it's not about payment type, it's about knowing your local laws so that you can claim properly. ie: my credit card trip cancellation max was $1.5k, my clawback was $4.3k... It was absolutely more complicated, but given the $ difference, also worth the effort. It's about educating yourself on your local laws and avenues given the current situation!
 
We have pushed back our May dives to October in the Red Sea, I hope things may have got clearer by then, but Egypt is not known for good governance. K
 
We have pushed back our May dives to October in the Red Sea, I hope things may have got clearer by then, but Egypt is not known for good governance. K

October is often the peak month in Egypt ; good weather, good water temperature.
Let's hope we'll return to normal life before ... but I'm not sure. Situation is going very bad in UK, Khrissi...
 
It's bad but no worse than other countries and I am a key worker so it will be carry on best you can. K
 
October is often the peak month in Egypt ; good weather, good water temperature.
Let's hope we'll return to normal life before ... but I'm not sure. Situation is going very bad in UK, Khrissi...

We have a trip to Marsa Alam booked for October. Im also not so sure the situation will have improved sufficiently enough to feel comfortable traveling to Egypt, even if flights have resumed by then.
I'm guessing flights from/to UK will have resumed by then but I'm not convinced Egypt will be on top of things.
Either way, I think global travel is going to feel very different for some time, until an effective vaccine is released at least.
It's ashame but ultimately it's best to be patient and have to accept that we may not be able to (or it maybe best not to) travel this year. We've already had our trip to Maldives cancelled that was due on 10 April.
Ultimately, we're very fortunate to be in a position to travel globally and pursue our wonderful hobby/obsession in the first place, so not traveling for a while is not really too much of a sacrifice to help save lives and take the pressure off our health services.
Stay safe everyone and hope things are sorted sooner rather than later (not least so we can dive again!).
 
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