El Alamein Private Day Trip from Alexandria

Good road from Alexandria to El Alamein, meant the journey each way took 1.5hrs. Extraordinary to see all the development along the route. The three cemeteries were very quiet and learning that development is encroaching on them was a worry as they did not care about the history and the dead. The museum was very interesting, well laid out, the staff member very keen to show me round and explain the exhibits in good English. Our guide for the day was Mohamed, and he together with the driver made it a very worthwhile trip and answered and explained additional information along the way. I know about WWII in North Africa and would thoroughly recommend for anyone with an interest in history to do this tour.

Good road from Alexandria to El Alamein, meant the journey each way took 1.5hrs. Extraordinary to see all the development along the route. The cemeteries were very quiet, the museum really interesting, well laid out and the staff member very keen to show us round and explain the exhibits in good English. Our guide for the day was Nessrin, and she together with her driver made it a very worthwhile trip. I knew very little about WW11 in North Africa and would thoroughly recommend for anyone with an interest in history.

This is a copy of our complaint to Viator. We have been sent a stock reply - and they now refuse to answer us. It is interesting to see how many new 5* ratings have since been provided. We are writing with reference to a day trip from Alexandria to El Alamein we took through your company (via Viator) on Tuesday 3 October this year. The trip was booked in the name of AG (full name removed) in early September or late August. The relevant references are ... Confirmation number: 1440324001 Booking reference number: 1054025617 The tour promised us "TOP VIP TREATMENT! We were entirely dissatisfied with the whole experience - pick-up, car, guiding, lunch. For the pick-up - in a bit of an old banger of a car (perfectly pleasant driver, though) - the guide was not present, and the driver, who did not speak English, gave a reference we did not recognise (not including El Alamein) and so time was lost identifying it as our car. We then lost a further 30 minutes picking the guide up in town. He was clearly tired and actually fell asleep as we drove along. We had to make a coffee stop to get him to function again. His English was not good at all. For example, he had to break down years like: one-nine-four-two, for 1942. We often had to ask him to repeat what he said because we couldn't understand him. He knew almost nothing about the context and history of the El Alamein battle, and the little information he did give included obvious errors. At the different sites, he added nothing - beyond occasionally restating the information that was on the display boards (as if we couldn't read), or just sat in the car. We had to drag him out of the car to get the Italian memorial opened for us - having told us "you can't get in". The lunch, at a big tourist fish restaurant on the main harbour, was "off menu" - just a dried out, cold and not very tasty fish of some unidentified species, with some very simple mezes. Drinks were extra. And the guide complained about how late we were eating! Entrance fees were paraded in the Viator information as included in our option - but this was something of a misrepresentation as the only entrance fee was at the Museum, and was very modest. We had considered just hiring a local taxi, which we understood would cost at most $50 for the round trip with stops. But we decided to make more of a "VIP event" of it and so went with Viator who engaged your company. What a mistake! We were charged A$ 285.86, a huge amount of money in the Egyptian context. What's going on? We'd like our money back please! This complaint has been delayed as we were still on the road travelling until 30 October. Yours Sincerely, AG CM