Another Sharm question

Off to Sharm at Xmas and have three days booked with Emperor Divers
(have used them before) I am reliably informed that they now only
accept Euro's in their centre so my question is, will I need Egyptian
Pounds for everything else or am I best paying for our visas in US
Dollars? It's a nightmare trying to decide how much to take of each
currency.

TIA
Reg

PanMan <reg@talktwoone.com> writes:

>Off to Sharm at Xmas and have three days booked with Emperor Divers
>(have used them before) I am reliably informed that they now only
>accept Euro's in their centre so my question is, will I need Egyptian
>Pounds for everything else or am I best paying for our visas in US
>Dollars? It's a nightmare trying to decide how much to take of each
>currency.

You pay for your visa at the airport in UK pounds. You will still need
to take Egyptian pounds for the boat and for meals in the evening.

Since all the dive shops take credit cards, I don't see any point
in you incurring a load of charges to change money into Euros
just so you can spend it in the dive centre.

If Emperor divers won't accept a credit card, bin them and go
somewhere like Red Sea Diving College instead. Having experienced
both, I'd do that anyway.

Pete

--
__________________________________________________ __________________
Pete Young pete@antipope.org Remove dot. to reply
"Just another crouton, floating on the bouillabaisse of life"

Pete Young wrote:

> PanMan <reg@talktwoone.com> writes:
>
> >Off to Sharm at Xmas and have three days booked with Emperor Divers
> >(have used them before) I am reliably informed that they now only
> >accept Euro's in their centre so my question is, will I need Egyptian
> >Pounds for everything else or am I best paying for our visas in US
> >Dollars? It's a nightmare trying to decide how much to take of each
> >currency.
>
> You pay for your visa at the airport in UK pounds. You will still need
> to take Egyptian pounds for the boat and for meals in the evening.
>
> Since all the dive shops take credit cards, I don't see any point
> in you incurring a load of charges to change money into Euros
> just so you can spend it in the dive centre.
>
> If Emperor divers won't accept a credit card, bin them and go
> somewhere like Red Sea Diving College instead. Having experienced
> both, I'd do that anyway.
>
> Pete
>

Thanks for the reply Pete. Can't use anyone else now as dive package has
already been paid for. Last time I used ED the chap who looked after us
wore a RSDC tee-shirt all the time anyway, so I always assumed they were
one and the same. I was interested in your piont about us UK £ for paying
for visa's as Regal Dive suggest $ is the way to go. Might take both
anyway.

Thanks again
Reg

>am I best paying for our visas in US
>Dollars?

There's a weird new thing with visas in sharm now, in that if you are just
staying in sharm itself and not going to Ras Mo' or Thistlegorm or anywhere
else out of the local area (Tiran is counted as local) then you don't need a
visa. I couldn't quite believe this when the rep told me and thought it was a
translation problem or something, but sure enough i told the passport control
guy i was just staying in sharm and bingo - i didn't need a visa. Saves queing
for one and plus i don't rate Ras Mo' highly at all (yes, yes, i'm at odds with
the rest of the world on this I know ). And if you change your mind during
the holiday and want to go to Thistlegorm or anywhere non-local you can
apparently just go back to the airport and buy a visa as and when you need it.

With the euro-dollars thing, Ocean College priced everything in euro's but
accepted dollars if you had them. Might suggest Emperor would do the same, but
not definate or anything.

HTH

Rob F.

Why change into US-Ds?
Change into Euros and there won't be a problem.
regards
Matty

--
REMOVE to reply

"Matthias Weissgram" <motorrad@REMOVEweissgram.at> wrote in message
news:3fcdf452$0$27514$91cee783@newsreader01.highwa y.telekom.at...
> Why change into US-Ds?
> Change into Euros and there won't be a problem.
> regards
> Matty

Yes! I agree. I returned from a southern liveaboard recently. We could have
paid for our visa in either US $ or Euro. Someone paying in Euros told me
they were more popular in Egypt now than US dollars.

Take some Eygptian £ to pay for your midday meal if you are day running from
Sharm. I found these meals really good value.

I went with Ocean College, Sharm a couple of years ago and found them very
good. The daily shuttle from hotel to dive boats and back again in the
evening was simple and quick. The crush in the morning to get on the boat
has to be seen to be believed.

Be prepared for a long wait at Sharm airport both at arrival and departure.
Much patience required!

Eddie


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"Eddie" <Eddie@btinternet.com> writes:

> "Matthias Weissgram" <motorrad@REMOVEweissgram.at> wrote in message
> news:3fcdf452$0$27514$91cee783@newsreader01.highwa y.telekom.at...
> > Why change into US-Ds?
> > Change into Euros and there won't be a problem.
> > regards
> > Matty
>
> Yes! I agree. I returned from a southern liveaboard recently. We could have
> paid for our visa in either US $ or Euro. Someone paying in Euros told me
> they were more popular in Egypt now than US dollars.

Well everyone may not be aware of this, but there's been a huge change in the
US$/Euro exchange rate (like, 0.8 $/E last year vs. 1.2 $/E now!) so assuming
the Egyptian £ is more or less pegged on the US$, no wonder Euros are now
popular there !!

"PanMan" <reg@talktwoone.com> wrote in message
news:3FCDD514.9CC44644@talktwoone.com...
> Pete Young wrote:
>
> Thanks for the reply Pete. Can't use anyone else now as dive package has
> already been paid for. Last time I used ED the chap who looked after us
> wore a RSDC tee-shirt all the time anyway, so I always assumed they were
> one and the same. I was interested in your piont about us UK £ for paying
> for visa's as Regal Dive suggest $ is the way to go. Might take both
> anyway.

In my experience of Sharm, the best *cash* currency to take with you is
Egyptian pounds as just about everything in Sharm is priced up in Egyptian
pounds and it takes the hassle out of converting currencies. As for the dive
centres, just pay the bill at the end of the week on your VISA card...

"PanMan" <reg@talktwoone.com> wrote in message
news:3FCDC81A.2480C2C6@talktwoone.com...
> Off to Sharm at Xmas and have three days booked with Emperor Divers
> (have used them before) I am reliably informed that they now only
> accept Euro's in their centre so my question is, will I need Egyptian
> Pounds for everything else or am I best paying for our visas in US
> Dollars? It's a nightmare trying to decide how much to take of each
> currency.
>
> TIA
> Reg
>

The US is buggering around in Arab countries blowing things up with cheerful
abandon. and as Egypt is an Arab country I would expect to see the USD drop
out of favour in egypt. They believe in Solidarity with their arab brethren.

it's all very political. Hence totally over Shrubs head.

rhys

On Thu, 4 Dec 2003 08:56:23 +1300, "rnf2" <rnf2@NOSPAMwaikato.ac.nz>
wrote:

>
>"PanMan" <reg@talktwoone.com> wrote in message
>news:3FCDC81A.2480C2C6@talktwoone.com...
>> Off to Sharm at Xmas and have three days booked with Emperor Divers
>> (have used them before) I am reliably informed that they now only
>> accept Euro's in their centre so my question is, will I need Egyptian
>> Pounds for everything else or am I best paying for our visas in US
>> Dollars? It's a nightmare trying to decide how much to take of each
>> currency.
>>
>> TIA
>> Reg
>>
>
>The US is buggering around in Arab countries blowing things up with cheerful
>abandon. and as Egypt is an Arab country I would expect to see the USD drop
>out of favour in egypt. They believe in Solidarity with their arab brethren.
>
>it's all very political. Hence totally over Shrubs head.

Maybe. It's also the case that a lot of the tourists over there are
Italian or German, and so it makes some sense that if they are going
to price things in a foreign currency it makes some sense to use the
one a lot of the customers are used to.

The crazy thing though, based on Ocean College 2 weeks ago, is that
while their prices are all in Euros right now the banks won't allow
them to charge cards in Euros. They had to convert the Euro bill into
Dollars for me to pay.

Back to the original question: The only things you'll pay in Dollars
OR Euros are bills from the dive centre at the end of the week. bars,
meals on and off boat and shops will all expect you to pay in LE, so
get them. Of course there are a reasonable number of perfectly good
ATM's.
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