Okay, here we go….

All of the info below is based on our group of travellers, and we took the ferry on the 23rd of October 2012. Mirjam and I travel on Dutch passports with two Dutch motorcycles. We travel together with two South Africans with their South African 4x4.
6,1 LE (Egyptian pound) is 1 USD
1,80 TL (Turkish Lira) is 1 USD

As our idea to go into Libya failed ( Egypt closed the border to Libya for non-Libyan/Egyptian passport holders) we had to take a ferry.
We checked out multiple options, including the boats leaving from Israel. Info on this you can find elsewhere.
This review is about the ferry from Port Said (Egypt) to Iskenderum (Turkey).

We have contacted some agents and fixers a few days before, and Sisa Shipping (Turkisch company) seemed very professional and we had heard good experiences from other travellers. (like easy changes in your booking in case your vehicle breaks down etc.)
They adviced us to contact Kadmar Shipping in Port Said.

TICKETS
We booked directly at Sisa Shipping (contact Ms. Saba Ipek, a very friendly lady who speaks very good English. saba.ipek[AT]sisashipping[DOT]com or +90 (216) 444 2954)
Prices:
130 USD for a Pullman seat (no cabin)
230 USD for a motorcycle
495 USD for the car, over 200 cm high, 5,5 meters long.
Cabins possible, 2 person cabin @ 275USD per person, 4 person cabin @ 225 USD per person
We were adviced to pay in cash (USD possible) at the office of Kadmar Shipping, after which we would receive the E-ticket.
We never got that one, but when you give your passport to the crew on the boat they check your booking and everything is okay.

I don’t think you really need to book the seats, as one person can travel for free with the vehicle we’ve heard and there are plenty of seats on the boat and nobody checks who is sitting on them.
To sleep, we’ve brought our matrasses and sleeping bags. (I am typing this actually ON the ferry, although I had to take a dongle with internet with me; no internet on the boat normally)
Dinner and breakfast included, and free tea and water unlimited. Take some extra food, as the boat delays often and no meals are served. You can leave your money ‘at home’ as you cannot buy anything on the boat. We had to wait for the boat because it was delayed; some fishing boat sank in the harbour, and thus the passengers didn’t have food on the ferry coming into Port Said for two additional nights! Be prepared…

AGENTS/CUSTOMS CLEARANCE @ Egypt
Here the horror starts.
We went to Kadmar office: Tel.:+2 0663344018
portsaid[AT]kadmar[DOT]com‎ GPS: N31 15.748 E32 18.686 5th floor. The door to the elevator is locked, wait for someone to come down, open it for you or take the stairs to the 3rd floor, the door can be opened there. Office open from 9am-5pm. Ask for Rola, very friendly woman who speaks good English and really tried to do her best.

We agreed on the following prices, and no extra costs besides these for the whole process:
150 USD customs clearance for the car
100 USD customs clearance per motorcycle (so 200 USD for the two)
50 USD agent fee (so 150 USD for the 3 of us)
They claimed to be able to do this all in the day before the ferry leaves, but later they advised us to come a day earlier so we had 2 full days to clear customs.

DAY 1.
We arrived at the office, paid all the fees and the tickets in cash and got receipts for all of it. We’ve met Kareem, their ‘fixer’ who took us to the harbour/customs compound. Mobile: 01226045183
He is very social with the police everywhere which speeds up the process, nice. He is also very stressy and unorganised, speaks bad English and keeps on saying ‘no problem, no worry’.
We got the vehicles to the customs compound and took the plates off. We drove to customs and had a nice chat, some guy there took the export slips off the carnets (they call the carnets ‘Triptek’ or something). No exit stamps on the carnets, but loads of paperwork in arabic.
At the end of the day, we parked the vehicles in some storage yard with guards, and later asked Kadmar for the prices. 50 LE per night for a car, 30 LE per night for a motorcycle. A bit steep!
Hotel De La Poste is close to the KADMAR office, and prices for the rooms range from 95-110LE, all including aircon, showers and a fridge.

DAY 2.
Full day at the vehicles, waiting for Kareem. We drove to customs once to write our name on a document, and some guys came over to check the VIN’s. The KADMAR-agent asked me to pay him 20LE bribe.
Then another bloke arrived, who wanted to check all the luggage of the car, a real hassle. Took very long, he even checked the amount of towels etc..

DAY 3.
Another guy of KADMAR took us to some office to get some stamps, and asked us to pay 100LE in bribes. We got some stamps, no idea for what.
Again to customs, where Kareem started to scream at all officials and in the end, he left pissed off, screamed at us and threw our paperwork to another fixer. We called the main KADMAR office immediately to explain that this was unacceptable. Kareem came back soon, a bit cooled down.
No stamps on the carnets, we got adviced to leave the Carnets in Egypt. KADMAR told us it would take 4 days minimum to get the stamps; they would send it to Europe or give it to other travellers to take with them. Finally we got some stamps on the back of the slip; another trick of customs to delay you I think. NEVER LEAVE YOUR CARNET BEHIND!
We explained it was unacceptable and that we would not board the ferry without our stamped carnets.
In the meantime, we contacted our Automobile clubs to ask about the consequences of not getting the stamps. (we waited a lot in the Kadmar office, which has fast WiFi, pw = 0123406018) Summary: it doesn’t make things easier, but if you check in in your home country and get the last sheet of the carnet stamped there it is okay. Egypt cannot claim anything then. (but you’ll have to go to customs in your home country again after expiry date of your carnet for another check, after which your deposit is released)
NEVER LEAVE YOUR CARNET BEHIND! The automobile clubs were very, very clear on this.

DAY 4.
More shit, Kareem took us to the customs office and started arguing with the officials straight away, not productive!
They didn’t want to stamp anything, so we drove around a bit.
We went to the parking/storage, to pay. They wanted 500LE all of a sudden, but I only took the agreed 330. They went down to 400LE, but stated the price was per day, not per night. I made a big fuss, showed them I didn’t have any extra money and they accepted.
Luckily, we saw the ferry get into port and thus we knew we would get on the boat that day.
Again, some officials came to our vehicles to check the VIN’s.
No idea why.
I argued with KADMAR that I thought it was ridiculous that we had to pay bribes all the time, as they got 500USD from us to arrange it all. After lengthy discussions they agreed and paid us back the 120LE.

We drove through the customs compound to the boat, and they wanted us to board. We refused, as the carnets were not stamped.
Kareem wanted to drive us to customs, but we simply couldn’t get through; trucks blocking the roads everywhere. We hopped on my bike, but the bike is not allowed to leave the terrain and thus Kareem left with an official to get the stamps in town. The official demanded more bribes from me (50LE per carnet)but I refused and told Kareem to solve it. They left and came back with stamps on the Carnets, and after this we boarded the ferry.
Turkey, here we come!

In the end, KADMAR delivered as promised as we got on the ferry with all stamps and vehicles.
I doubt whether they would serve other travellers, as they had a lot of shit to solve and I guess they had to pay more bribes than expected. Their fixer Kareem should be trained properly, and we had to fight for our stuff all the time. I don’t know whether I can really advice you to do business with them.
I can only advice: Avoid Egypt if possible!

We’ve also met another fixer: Eslam Mohamed. He seemed a nice guy, got some guys through with their vehicles a lot faster than KADMAR managed with us. He charges a higher price too, and works freelance. I did get the impression he pays more bribes to speed up the process and ‘arrange’ stamps and docs so he can speed up the process. (e.g. he could get our carnets stamped a day earlier, 500LE for the 3, by ‘buying’ a document which stated the vehicles were already loaded on the boat; while the boat was still out at sea)
Nevertheless, he was friendly and seemed to help out people nicely.
TEL: +201091191905 / +201091522262 @:

His ‘standard prices’:
- 1500LE for a vehicle leaving Egypt from Port Said to Turkey (guaranteed no extra costs)
- 3000LE for a vehicle entering Egypt in Port Said (guaranteed no extra costs)
A bit more expensive than KADMAR, but maybe better.

By the way, one last tip: NEVER LEAVE YOUR CARNET BEHIND! ;-)

THE BOAT:
We were on the Nissos Maros, a ferry from Greece.
Very nice, you don’t need to book any seats (the truckers all sleep in their trucks so the boat is very empty). All meals included, 3x per day, really nice. 20hrs sailing time.

TURKEY:
Once you arrive at the docks, you’ll have to wait for your passport
This may take up to an hour, and you might have to go to the police office 100 meters from the dock to get your visa. (was free for Schengen-members and South Africans).
The people in Turkey are fantastic, very polite and helpful, a big contrast to Egypt.
No worries, they will help you all the way through the process!
(the only thing we needed was some writing in our passports, they register your vehicle somewhere in their computer system. This is checked when you drive out of the harbour)

A fixer (Ibrahim) offered his services for 50USD per car and 40USD per bike, we refused. We managed to talk this down to 20USD each, but he messed up and couldn’t get us through on the same day.
In the end, we could arrange everything for free with the help of the other people in the harbour.
You can sleep (for free, with nice clean toilets etc) in the passenger terminal, not bad at all!
We arrived at 22:00 hrs and there was a 4 day Islamic fest coming up; therefore we had some delays with the paperwork and drove into Turkey just before lunch the next day.

p.s. 65km's south of Iskenderun is Antakya. You'll find the Mozaik Museum there (8 TL entrance, about 4-5USD) and it is absolutely fantastic!
Cheap hotels too (although no parking..), Öz Ercan Oteli for 35TL for a 2p room with free internet and private toilet/shower. Tel 0326215 62 73