maj2
Contributor
Since it is a new boat, I figured I would post a report of my recent trip. We booked the liveaboard a couple of years ago, before the old boat was lost to fire.
I will touch on both the liveaboard, as well as the week of land touring that we did, since it was all booked through All Star Liveaboards.
We were a group of 28 divers. Some went home after the liveaboard portion of the trip, and some non-divers joined friends and family for the land portion. I think we had 24 in or group for the land-based portion of the trip. This was a "Shark Week" cruise with Elke. It was the BDE route.
We flew direct from Toronto to Cairo, and had a brief layover before our flight to Hurghada. All in all, the flights were relatively painless, and we were in Hurghada by about 11am. For $20 or $25, we got day passes to the Marriott hotel and were able to relax there poolside until the Scuba Scene was ready for boarding. Here, we got to see the Scuba Scene across the marina.
Boarding was straightforward. We got our room assignments, and were able to get things squared away. Plenty of storage space under the beds through access hatches either on the side of the bed or under the mattress. Easily held all of my bags with all of my clothes going into the drawers and armoire available. Rooms were well appointed, although some found the mattresses quite hard. I like a firm mattress, so I was quite comfortable. There was a noticeable smell in the bathroom and shower. This improved a fair bit after a considerable amount of water was run in the shower and the window left open to air.
Air conditioning was very effective in all enclosed areas of the boat.
Otherwise, the boat was nicely laid out, but with a surprising amount of wear in places for such a new boat. Some paint adhesion problems on the hull, and finished woodwork around the pool and on tables in the bar area were noticeably peeling. None of this made much difference to us.
Lots of briefings... Safety briefing was comprehensive, as was the ship orientation briefing and Elke's shark briefings were very interesting. Elke and the crew were also more than willing to talk about the fire, which was interesting to hear as it played into some of the safety features of the new boat.
Food was pretty good. I am not the biggest fan of Middle Eastern food, but I tried it all and was very happy with the selections. Breakfast and lunch were buffet style (except for yor eggs and omelettes which were cooked to order. Diner each night was plated, with salads and desserts buffet style. I was never hungry!
We had three dives most days, with three nigh dives through the week. After our checkout dives, we made our way to the Brothers Islands, then Daedalus, and finally Elphinstone. After Elphinstone, we followed the Egyptian coast back to Hurghada with a number of reef dives along the way. Dives were always preceded by a mandatory briefing. Skip the briefing? No dive.
Dives were time limited to 60 minutes so that the boat could maintain some semblance of a schedule. Your maximum depth was whatever your training allowed. Most dives involved some options. You could be guided or not. Some sites allowed us to go deeper looking for thresher sharks and hammerheads. Here, we would go deep for a few minutes, see what there was to see, and then come to shallower depths. Didn't want to go deep? No worries-- stay wherever you were comfortable. Two or three dive plans were always presented, and we all got to choose with our buddies which we wanted to do. Once the briefing finished, we were divided into two groups with the first group gearing up first, and the second a few minutes later.
We only got to see one oceanic whitetip on our trip, with some in our group getting a very close encounter at the end of their dive. The week before us saw oceanic whitetips, a thresher, a hammerhead and a silky.
There are laundry machines on board, but they were understandably pretty busy at the end of our week as people wanted clean clothes for week 2. I was near the end of the line for the machines, but did eventually get my clothes washed and dried. Plan ahead for laundry, you can have it done earlier than I did.
Every dive on the liveaboard was amazing. It was my first trip to the red sea, so I was blown away by the reefs and the variety of fish that we saw. Too big a list to name them all!
We also booked land tours through All Star Liveaboards, so I will also comment briefly on this part of the tour. We disembarked the Scuba Scene early in th morning, and boarded a bus for a five hour trip through the desert to get to Luxor where we baorded a Nile Cruise on the MY Salima. This is a small Nile cruise ship, holding only about 30 passengers. So it was basically all our group plus a couple of extra cabins with people not related to our group. The boat was not as ornate as some of the bigger Nile Cruise ships, but the decor was very much to my liking. Food was good (buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner). Itinerary was a standard Nile cruise itinerary-- Luxor and Karnak temples, Edfu, Esna locks, Kom Ombo, Aswan. Paying extra for the morning balloon ride at Luxor was a highlight. Great views of the Nile valley, various ruin sites, as well as the spatial relationship etween the various sites that is hard to sense from a tour bus.
Many in our group did end up having to deal with "The Cure of the Pharoah." Some were sick for a few days. I was only down for a few hours. Our guides, Amira and Nermine, bent over backwards for us, making pharmacy runs for medications for us, and doing their best to keep everyone happy. I highly recommend the guides that AllStar Liveaboards set us up with. Great service, and just lovely people.
From Aswan, we had a 2 hour flight to Cairo on Air Cairo with no functioning air conditioning. The flight was two hours late, and very uncomfortable due to the heat. THat said, we got to our hotel (Hilton Pyramids Golf) with just enough time to drop our bags and make it to the pyramids sound and light show (for any that wanted to go). The show is a bit dated now, but some great photo opportunities. Happy that we went.
The next day was they pyramids, sphinx and Saqqara. The $20 camel ride was well worth it giving a gorgeous view of the pyramids away from the throngs of tourists.
Over the last couple of days, we got the the Civilization museum, Cairo museum, and Old Cairo for a VERY fast trip through each. We did get to see the high points, but I could have taken a couple of days at the Cairo museum. Again, Amira and Nermine were awesome guides!
Egypt has security everywhere, but people in our group who arrived Oct 1 said that there was no visible difference in security before and after the events of Oct 7. At no point during our two week stay did we feel in danger.
All in all, a great trip. Some of us are already taking about going back for a northern wrecks tor on the Scuba Scene. Loved the liveaboard!
I will touch on both the liveaboard, as well as the week of land touring that we did, since it was all booked through All Star Liveaboards.
We were a group of 28 divers. Some went home after the liveaboard portion of the trip, and some non-divers joined friends and family for the land portion. I think we had 24 in or group for the land-based portion of the trip. This was a "Shark Week" cruise with Elke. It was the BDE route.
We flew direct from Toronto to Cairo, and had a brief layover before our flight to Hurghada. All in all, the flights were relatively painless, and we were in Hurghada by about 11am. For $20 or $25, we got day passes to the Marriott hotel and were able to relax there poolside until the Scuba Scene was ready for boarding. Here, we got to see the Scuba Scene across the marina.
Boarding was straightforward. We got our room assignments, and were able to get things squared away. Plenty of storage space under the beds through access hatches either on the side of the bed or under the mattress. Easily held all of my bags with all of my clothes going into the drawers and armoire available. Rooms were well appointed, although some found the mattresses quite hard. I like a firm mattress, so I was quite comfortable. There was a noticeable smell in the bathroom and shower. This improved a fair bit after a considerable amount of water was run in the shower and the window left open to air.
Air conditioning was very effective in all enclosed areas of the boat.
Otherwise, the boat was nicely laid out, but with a surprising amount of wear in places for such a new boat. Some paint adhesion problems on the hull, and finished woodwork around the pool and on tables in the bar area were noticeably peeling. None of this made much difference to us.
Lots of briefings... Safety briefing was comprehensive, as was the ship orientation briefing and Elke's shark briefings were very interesting. Elke and the crew were also more than willing to talk about the fire, which was interesting to hear as it played into some of the safety features of the new boat.
Food was pretty good. I am not the biggest fan of Middle Eastern food, but I tried it all and was very happy with the selections. Breakfast and lunch were buffet style (except for yor eggs and omelettes which were cooked to order. Diner each night was plated, with salads and desserts buffet style. I was never hungry!
We had three dives most days, with three nigh dives through the week. After our checkout dives, we made our way to the Brothers Islands, then Daedalus, and finally Elphinstone. After Elphinstone, we followed the Egyptian coast back to Hurghada with a number of reef dives along the way. Dives were always preceded by a mandatory briefing. Skip the briefing? No dive.
Dives were time limited to 60 minutes so that the boat could maintain some semblance of a schedule. Your maximum depth was whatever your training allowed. Most dives involved some options. You could be guided or not. Some sites allowed us to go deeper looking for thresher sharks and hammerheads. Here, we would go deep for a few minutes, see what there was to see, and then come to shallower depths. Didn't want to go deep? No worries-- stay wherever you were comfortable. Two or three dive plans were always presented, and we all got to choose with our buddies which we wanted to do. Once the briefing finished, we were divided into two groups with the first group gearing up first, and the second a few minutes later.
We only got to see one oceanic whitetip on our trip, with some in our group getting a very close encounter at the end of their dive. The week before us saw oceanic whitetips, a thresher, a hammerhead and a silky.
There are laundry machines on board, but they were understandably pretty busy at the end of our week as people wanted clean clothes for week 2. I was near the end of the line for the machines, but did eventually get my clothes washed and dried. Plan ahead for laundry, you can have it done earlier than I did.
Every dive on the liveaboard was amazing. It was my first trip to the red sea, so I was blown away by the reefs and the variety of fish that we saw. Too big a list to name them all!
We also booked land tours through All Star Liveaboards, so I will also comment briefly on this part of the tour. We disembarked the Scuba Scene early in th morning, and boarded a bus for a five hour trip through the desert to get to Luxor where we baorded a Nile Cruise on the MY Salima. This is a small Nile cruise ship, holding only about 30 passengers. So it was basically all our group plus a couple of extra cabins with people not related to our group. The boat was not as ornate as some of the bigger Nile Cruise ships, but the decor was very much to my liking. Food was good (buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner). Itinerary was a standard Nile cruise itinerary-- Luxor and Karnak temples, Edfu, Esna locks, Kom Ombo, Aswan. Paying extra for the morning balloon ride at Luxor was a highlight. Great views of the Nile valley, various ruin sites, as well as the spatial relationship etween the various sites that is hard to sense from a tour bus.
Many in our group did end up having to deal with "The Cure of the Pharoah." Some were sick for a few days. I was only down for a few hours. Our guides, Amira and Nermine, bent over backwards for us, making pharmacy runs for medications for us, and doing their best to keep everyone happy. I highly recommend the guides that AllStar Liveaboards set us up with. Great service, and just lovely people.
From Aswan, we had a 2 hour flight to Cairo on Air Cairo with no functioning air conditioning. The flight was two hours late, and very uncomfortable due to the heat. THat said, we got to our hotel (Hilton Pyramids Golf) with just enough time to drop our bags and make it to the pyramids sound and light show (for any that wanted to go). The show is a bit dated now, but some great photo opportunities. Happy that we went.
The next day was they pyramids, sphinx and Saqqara. The $20 camel ride was well worth it giving a gorgeous view of the pyramids away from the throngs of tourists.
Over the last couple of days, we got the the Civilization museum, Cairo museum, and Old Cairo for a VERY fast trip through each. We did get to see the high points, but I could have taken a couple of days at the Cairo museum. Again, Amira and Nermine were awesome guides!
Egypt has security everywhere, but people in our group who arrived Oct 1 said that there was no visible difference in security before and after the events of Oct 7. At no point during our two week stay did we feel in danger.
All in all, a great trip. Some of us are already taking about going back for a northern wrecks tor on the Scuba Scene. Loved the liveaboard!
