Luxury Beyond ImaginationBait and switch
Luxury Beyond Imagination: 10 Days in Egypt with Flights, Sofitel Old Cataract, Winter Palace, Ultra Deluxe 5★ Nile Cruise, Abu Simbel & Hot Air Balloon”
1.0
•
Bad
This is a bait and switch operation with serious deficiencies in service to boot. Here is my account:
1. Good things. There were some. Hotel accommodation was per the offer.
2. Not so good. Itinerary indicated travel to Aswan from Cairo would be after breakfast but we actually had to get up in the middle of the night to be picked up at 03:00am. Itaca apparently planned to do the same thing for the return to Cairo. We were able to get them to change that but it was difficult to get them to respond in a timely manner.
3. Not as agreed. Itaca advised that we would not have to take a tour of the Aswan High Dam but would go straight to the hotel. In Aswan we were told we either had to go to the dam or sit in the van. Similarly Itaca advised that we would be taken directly to the Valley of the Kings and not have to await the participants from the balloon trip. But then we were told we had to wait for the balloonists.
4. Failures to deliver. When we arrived in Aswan there was a complete logistical failure. There was no one to meet us, no message to indicate there was a problem and in fact when we called in the person we spoke to knew nothing about our arrival. The result was that we had to sit for over two hours outside a closed airport with zero facilities before things got worked out. The itinerary was totally disrupted as we had then been up since the middle of the night and were expecting to be delivered to our hotel for some rest before participating in the activities for that day but with the Dam portion deleted. An awful day. Then the same thing happened when we were due to depart from Luxor for Cairo although the delay was shorter and we were able to remain at the hotel. However we were quite anxious as we needed to catch the flight and by this point we had reason to wonder at the reliability of Itaca.
5. The Tour is billed as Luxury Beyond Imagination and specifically states it will include an Ultra Deluxe 5* Nile Cruise. Upon our return to Cairo and for our return to the airport for our departure Itaca provided transport in two old vehicles without seatbelts. This is not Luxury Beyond Imagination or even reasonable transportation but unsafe and irresponsible transport. As For the Cruise please note the Itaca Itinerary stated the Nile Cruise would be on Le Fayane which is an Ultra Deluxe 5* ship. But we were put on the Jaz Crown Emperor nominally rated as Deluxe 5*, not Ultra Deluxe 5*. It is a faded vessel which Travelocity and Expedia rate at 3.5. Expedia rates it even lower in some places. Nowhere is it rated as Ultra Deluxe 5*. This is reflected in the pricing which is at 50% or less than Le Fayane. Le Fayane is approx $ 3,200 for three nights, Jaz Crown Emperor.
6. Conclusion. There are numerous failures here as you can see from the detailed account. I can only hope Itaca examines their performance and makes the changes such that these deficiencies are not experienced by future clients. Beyond that it is not acceptable to be charged for something not received as is the case with the switch from the Le Fayane, the Ultra Deluxe 5* Cruise to the Jaz Crown Emperor.
A