Thread: EGYPT River Cruise

Mike and I went to Egypt last fall with Amadeus for our first ever river cruise. It was a part land and part Nile River cruise, and we saw some amazing sites. We traveled as far north as Alexandria and as far south as Abu Simbel. Very different from cruising on the big ships.

We have posted our review with loads of pictures at Home Page if you are interested.

Very and nice review on your homepage, good work.
We think for a long time do the same cruise but first visit some other places.
This one stay for sure on our list

Cruising the Nile is truly an unforgettable experience!

However, be warned! The water is not digestable anywhere!
DO NOT even brush your teeth in the ships water! I always suggest to my clients to take a roll of special plastic bubbles that make ice cubes which you can fill with bottled water and ask a steward to put it in the ship's deep freeze for you. ONLY use these ice cubes in your drinks!

The ships on the Nile also have humidifiers on the decks. Keep a small hand towel with you to wipe your lips! Alcohol based wet wipes are also good to have.

Clorine tablets, a broadband anit-bacterial antibiotic and tummy medicines are a MUST on any Nile cruise.

Do this and you will really enjoy your Nile Cruise.

Thanks for the heads up! Never thought about the water on the ship not being drinkable.

Carol - thank you for posting your review. I always wanted to do a cruise on the Nile. Now, after reading your report even more so

*****
I never thought the water situation was so bad. Thanks for reminding us

Something you must also do is have a dinner cruise! (Seperate from your main Nile Cruise) This is usually a nice buffet and lasts about 3-4 hours.

The Egyptian National dances are spectacular! They do offer these on the Nile Cruise ships as well, but I found the dancers on the "dinner restaurant ships" much better!
On my dinner cruise, a man spun in circles for 45 minutes non-stop swirling his national dress in an amazing way and then asks for paticipation! The longest anyone from our group of 20 Travel Agents could spin was 2 minutes! LOL! I got ALL 45 minutes of it on video Amazing!

Half way through your cruise, you tend to have had enough of the tombs. We elected to take the horse taxis and explore the little villages along the way (scheduled stops) by ourselves. When the locals see you in the carriage, the children run ahead and shout "Americans! Americans! and the whole vibe changes with you being swamped by people selling their wares! Be careful of con-artists!

The perfume bottles are a good bet for souvenirs and prices range from EPounds 1 to EPounds 50! The perfumes CAN be a tad expensive, and lose their scent if kept for a long time. I suggest you buy the empty bottles and fill them up with something at home to give as gifts.

On your cruise you will also stop at little towns where you can buy your Arab clothing for that special evening on board. The key word here is BARGAIN! Never pay the asking price. Offer 50% to 70% of their asking price as a start and work your way up and ALWAYS play one trader against the other! They love it!

On your tour to the Sphinx, you will find a little restaurant overlooking the pyramids. They serve the BEST mango juice you will find in the whole world!

You must remember that Egypt is always HOT! At the visit to the unfinished obilix the temperature was 50 degrees C. The stone was so hot that my sneakers started to melt! Remember to ask your hotel to freeze a bottle of water for you and take this with you on the Cairo Day Tours.

Riding a camel is really good fun and this is an optional extra at the pyramids. Once again, the camel masters will put a turban on your head...if they do this they EXPECT you to pay whether you ride the camel or not and if you take photos they also want payment! Cost of a camel ride is around 75 EPounds.

Will I go back to Egypt? You bet!

Thanks for the details! We never made it to Egypt to see the Pyramids or the Sphinx. Now the trip would be too hard on us, so we live vicariously thru the reports of others.

What shall I call you? It seems strange to be calling someone younger than me "grandad"

Hi Char

You can call me "Chuck"

I got the nickname "Nutty Grandad" many years ago from my MMORPG gaming community. The youngsters never expected to see a person my age playing role playing games on the internet, never mind actually hosting them! Since then, around 70k gamers know me well by this name and I now use it everywhere LOL!

Since a retrenchment put me into semi-retirement 3 years ago, I now run a South African online cruise travel agency for South African Cruises. I am trying darned hard to get registered with other cruise lines, but not having much joy as I am not in the USA
I have also been an inbound tour operator to South Africa for 30 years and am a registered National Tourist Guide.

Regards

Charles E Robbie III

OK Chuck! That sounds better.

We are privileged to have such a knowledgeable member onboard! I'll bet you have some interesting stories to tell. Folks in the travel industry always do. Please feel free to jump in and post wherever you can add a thought or two.

Good luck with your plans of expansion.

This is a GREAT thread!

Thanks, Carol, for starting it with you wonderful photos; and, Chuck, your additional information is very much appreciated.