Habiba Mohamed

My family’s experience with Dubai left us with some good memories but not a place we would revisit. It started off with me telling our Kim Kim agent, Habiba, the wrong arrival date. This lead to her scrambling to rebook everything which is credit to her and my fault.
The booked events left something to be desired with a combination of tourist traps that were often backed by cold service.
Mr Zain gave us the city tour our first day and it felt very canned with short stops to pop out and snap a picture, then move on to the next spot. It didn't factor our personal interests and showed poor use of time. We got swindled by a vendor he personally took us to which was a head scratcher.
The safari experience epitomized tourist traps with a super lame quad ride on the dunes which we upgraded to side by sides at a significant expense. We had to follow a guide around who drove a quad on a path through the dunes making us feel like….tourists. The SUV trip our driver/guide took us on the reach the dinner spot was the highlight showing some very skilled and daring driving giving us a thrill. At the dinner location was a camel ride that amounted to one circle about 50’ in diameter. Every step along the way this evening provided opportunities to pay for pictures that were constantly being snapped throughout the desert safari embodying the tourist trap vibe.
We got to see the Burj Khalifa on another event which was worthy.
Durgesh (worked directly for Navita tours like Mr Zain) drove us to several events displaying a great personality and genuine interest in us having a quality experience. He personalized some unscheduled detours once he knew our interests.
My summary: Dubai has some pretty amazing food, especially Indian, a super conservative culture (good luck getting alcohol at a store on New Years Eve), and lots of mind boggling wealth. It felt like a combo of Vegas, Scottsdale, and Salt Lake City with a super conservative and mostly cold Middle East-Arabian/Muslim twist.

Activity Reviews

Dubai Marina Yacht Guided Tour with Breakfast or BBQ & Sunset

Dubai

Nice Indian guys who drove us around the protected inside water offering a great unique very of the city. The captain shared his personal beer when they saw my disappointment there was no alcohol served.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Dubai full day tour with Entry ticket to Burj Khalifa at the Top

Dubai

We separated the Burj experience on a different day than the city tour. Burj great, city tour not so much.

Quality of Experience

Our driver on the city tour (Mr Zain) was cold and condescending.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Great driver to Burj, lousy city tour guide.

Transport

Two different drivers leaving contrasting experiences.

Desert Safari, Quad Bike, Camel Ride & Al Khayma Camp

Dubai

Tourist trap.

I had a great experience working with Habiba! They were very responsive and always willing to be flexible when it came to adjusting plans, which I really appreciated. It made the entire process much easier and less stressful. However, there were a few moments where the itinerary seemed to lack some details, and I had to reach out for clarification. Despite that, the agent was quick to respond and provide the information I needed. Overall, I would still recommend their services for their responsiveness and adaptability.

Activity Reviews

Trip Hot Air Balloon Ride in Luxor, Egypt

Luxor

The hot air balloon ride over Luxor was absolutely breathtaking and magical - the stunning views of the Nile River, ancient temples, and the Valley of the Kings below were simply unforgettable. Watching the sun rise over such a historic and beautiful landscape was an experience like no other. I highly recommend this experience to anyone visiting Luxor – it’s truly a once-in-a-lifetime adventure that will leave you with memories to treasure forever.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Bedouin Safari and Star Gazing Tour

Sharm el-Sheikh

The Bedouin safari did not meet expectations. It wasn’t quite as advertised, and several aspects of the tour were lacking. The majority of the tour was an ATV ride, so if you choose to do this, be sure to bring a scarf or wear something you don’t mind getting dusty. The camel ride was only about 5 minutes long, just a quick trip towards the mountain and back, and the person taking photos for you will ask for a tip even though the pictures weren’t particularly great. The stargazing was pretty interesting, the astronomer discussed a few of the constellations and pointed out a few planets that we then used the telescope to look at - Saturn was the best. The dinner was as expected, but the show felt more like a random collection of acts. After the dinner and the show, you then drive the ATV back to where you started. Most importantly, it definitely didn't offer that romantic "under the stars, tent" Arabian night feeling we were hoping for. While you can still appreciate the experience for what it is, it didn’t quite live up to the magical atmosphere we envisioned. Overall, I would suggest managing expectations for the Bedouin safari.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

The country of so many world records was very interesting! We had a blast doing the X Line Zipline (which we added to our itinerary a couple of days before we arrived)! Definitely recommend for those on the more adventurous side!

We would also recommend going up to the top of the Burj Khalifa! Great views from that high!

We also really enjoyed the desert safari and paid extra for a more adventurous ride on the quad bikes which was worth the experience! Our guide for the evening was great! And the desert dinner and entertainment was enjoyable.

While the canal luxury cruise offered us awesome views of Dubai and great photos, we thought the food was just average, and was expecting a little better quality.
Our hotel, the Revier Dubai Hotel, was great! Very nice room and amenities. Loved to fitness center and the breakfast buffet was awesome! Wide variety and very good!

For things we felt needed improvement, real time communication had been a little difficult. Responses to questions or communication regarding pickup times came in when we were sleeping and because of that, we didn’t receive the change of plans/timing until the morning which threw us off a bit. Also, confirmation on adding additional itinerary items (example: adding the zip line) was a little slow. And, there seemed to be issues between the drivers and the tour office on pickup times, etc. We also arrived way too early in the evening for the dinner cruise, and had to just walk around in the heat which we did not enjoy. I would have preferred to be dropped off closer to our departure time. Finally, while a lot of things were air-conditioned, if we had had flexibility in our travel dates, I would have not wanted to visit in the middle of August when the temperatures were extremely high and made our trip more exhausting. I would definitely recommend visiting when it’s cooler! Unfortunately for this trip we didn’t have that flexibility.

All in all, our experiences in Dubai made it a memorable trip!

Hotel Review

Revier Dubai Hotel

Dubai

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Dubai full day tour with Entry ticket to Burj Khalifa at the Top

Dubai

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Zip Line across the Marina

Dubai

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Desert Safari, Quad Bike, Camel Ride & Al Khayma Camp

Dubai

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Food Tour

Dubai

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Dubai Luxury Canal Dinner Cruise

Dubai

Awesome views of the city at night. Relaxing. Food could have been better.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

What a trip! From the first planning stages till the last day of the trip, everything was as close to perfect as possible. Habiba Mohamed from Sun Pyramids Tours planned the trip for me after I mentioned what I thought I might like to see. She made some suggestions that I agreed upon and she also communicates very well and I was always kept up to date. My trip included Cairo, Aswan and Luxor. Hotels were arranged as well as in- country flights. But the best part was the guides and drivers. Habiba arranged them for me...I was met at airports, hotels and returned and always on time. the guides are a special breed. They all seemed to be "Egyptologists" having gone to school to learn more about their country and its history. Great detail, knowledge and passion from all of them. Special mention in Cairo to Ahmed Ibrahim, in Luxor to Ahmed Amin and in Aswan, Ahmed Amin. These men were personable, had great English skills, but more importantly, they all had a vast knowledge of Egypt, it's history, all the dynasties, periods, individual pharaohs and kings, what they did or did not accomplish during their reign and where they are buried. They are very proud of their country and its civilization. A pleasure to listen to and learn from. And a special mention to my driver in Cairo for a few days, Ahmed Zaher. Driving in Cairo is special as there are really no rules and all the cars dance with each other so closely...you really don't understand why they don't hit each other...but, Ahmed was amazing. An incredible trip planned almost perfectly!

Habiba made the whole planning and booking process extremely easy. She gave us a lot of great options and suggestions and took into consideration the things we did and did not want to do while in Egypt. Overall, the whole planning and booking experience was great. While we did still greatly enjoy the trip and our visit to Egypt, there were a few things that we weren't so happy with.

Our trip began in Cairo. After we landed at the airport, we were able to find our guide easily and he and our driver took us to our hotel. The guide (sorry I can't remember his name!) was very friendly and knowledgeable and told us a lot about Egypt and its history during the one-hour drive to the hotel. We were very impressed with our driver, as well. Cairo traffic is no joke, but he navigated it like a pro.

Our hotel was NOT what we were expecting, though. Great service, but the place simply was not done. Our itinerary said we were staying at the Great Pyramids Inn in Giza which, if you look it up on Tripadvisor, is a beautiful (completely built) hotel with a restaurant/bar on site. The hotel photos that were provided in our itinerary were extremely misleading. A completely different hotel. We were brought to the Royal Great Pyramids Inn (or something like that, Royal Pyramids Inn, I can't remember), which is still under construction. The first 4 floors are still being built and there was construction going on the whole time and there was a lot of dirt and dust from the construction. It looked nothing like the photos. Our room was very pretty and well decorated with a great view of the pyramids, but again, it wasn't finished. There were no towel racks or bars or hooks, nowhere to hang anything. Lots of hangers but no place to hang. We had to set our towels on a small table to dry them. 10 bottles each of shampoo and body wash, but no other toiletries (conditioner, lotion, etc.). The power went out for a little over an hour on our second day. That happens; not a big deal. It made us very hesitant to take the elevator in the building, but the staff insisted that we take the elevator anyway (I think because of all the construction mess on the stairs). The staff was incredibly kind and friendly, so that made it not quite as big of a deal that the hotel was totally different from what we were expecting. We were under the impression that there was a bar and restaurant on site. They did feed us the first night and breakfast was provided, but I would hardly call it a bar/restaurant. They were also surprised to hear that I am a vegetarian, even though I made that clear in our questionnaire before we started planning the trip.

A different guide took us to Cairo Tower the second night for dinner. We were expecting a nice romantic dinner, just the two of us, but our guide actually sat with us the whole time at dinner, and didn't eat anything. He was perfectly nice and pleasant, but it was a bit awkward. It also seemed like there were lots of issues with us getting into the tower and getting dinner because the guide kept having to get up to talk with the restaurant staff, and it took about 20 minutes for him to get our tickets into the tower. We weren't given a menu and were told that our options were chicken or beef. We were told that there were no vegetarian options, even though we noticed on our way out that the menu had plenty of vegetarian options. This was frustrating since I had included the fact that I'm a vegetarian in our questionnaire before we started planning the trip, so I would have hoped that some arrangements would have been made in advance. We also weren't offered any drinks or anything and had to ask for water after we'd been sitting there for a while. We saw after the fact that there were lots of drinks/wine/cocktails, etc. on the menu.

There were a few instances where our guides took us to places that weren't on our itinerary and which we would have expressly declined if we'd known in advance. Eg., we went to a papyrus store to "learn how papyrus is made" but it was really just a high-pressure sales pitch to get us to buy something. We were also taken to a jewelry store and a perfume store. Towards the end of the trip one of the guides pulled up to the front of an alabaster store. We said "we're good here, we don't need to go in" knowing that we'd just be pressured to buy something. I have no problems with these businesses or their sales tactics and I understand they're all just trying to make a living, but I would have appreciated a heads-up that we would be visiting these places. Because we would have said "no thank you." Our trip was jam-packed with sightseeing and we had very little downtime to begin with, so we would have preferred to skip those extra little outings that we didn't ask for.

It also seemed there wasn't clear communication with the timing of our itinerary at times. For example, we took a 3-night Nile Cruise and our itinerary said we would have lunch onboard on the last day before we departed on a 4-hour drive to the next destination. But we actually had to check out of the cruise at 8am that morning so we had to ask our guide to take us somewhere so we could buy lunch before we left.

None of that ruined the trip by any means. We still had a great time and got to see and do all the things we wanted to see and do. All of our guides and drivers were friendly and kind and helpful and, with the exception of the Cairo hotel, our accommodations exceeded our expectations.