Cruising on the Nile / Nile Safari

Re: Cruising on the Nile / Nile Safari

Whatever you do, include a Nile Cruise! : ) You won't regret it. I have just returned from Jewels of Egypt which included an 8 day cruise. I sooo wish I could do that again! The staff are really personable and funny and by the end of the cruise I was sad to leave them. The scenery we were passing by on the journey is like nothing you will have seen before. If you need to know anymore just message/e-mail me. Sarah

Re: Cruising on the Nile / Nile Safari

Firstly, let me say January is the primo time to go. I took photos with no other people in them! Also the temps are very doable - with valley of the kings not that bad at all.

Tourist class hotels are 3 star hotels - but these can vary widely, depending on the city you visit. A general rule is that they are clean, tidy, central, and have helpful local employees. There was only one hotel in Egypt that was borderline - and that was out at Siwa - but even then, it wasn't totally bad.

I didn't take either trip you listed, but wish I had taken a cruise - as one temple that I REALLY wanted to visit, we only had 20 minutes at as we were in a road convoy, and the tourist police specified the time we would have there.

Have a brilliant time and make the most of it

Cheers
T

Re: Cruising on the Nile / Nile Safari

Hi Penny,

Thanks for your questions.

Tae has basically summed the accommodation up perfectly and you are correct that the difference between Cruising the Nile and Nile Safari is that Nile Safari is one of our scheduled group tours with a tour leader and Cruising the Nile is an independent trip that you take on your own without a group or tour leader.

I hope this helps.

Regards,
Brendan

Re: Cruising on the Nile / Nile Safari

Hi everyone and thank you very much for your replies. Sounds exciting. I'm glad January is a good time - as my partner and I are both teachers this is the only time we can take a long holiday, and not a great time (weather wise) for Europe, where we're going as well. I thought it may be a good time for Egypt though.
Brendan, I have a couple more questions please.
1. Does Cruising on the Nile have a local payment? To me it seems it doesn't.
2. Can you tell me which hotel it would be in Cairo on this trip?
Thanks very much again, and regards
Penny

Re: Cruising on the Nile / Nile Safari

Hi Penny,

Thanks for getting back to me.

It is correct that there is no local payment on the Cruising on the Nile trip. The hotel normally used on this trip in Cairo is the Sofitel Sphinx.

I hope this helps?

Regards,
Brendan

Re: Cruising on the Nile / Nile Safari

Having been on Jewels of Egypt I can highly recommend having a tour guide. They know their way around all the cities and sites and all the places to go to eat and proprietors tend to recognise them and know not to overcharge etc as they will then not bring in future business. I think it allows you to relax without having to worry about anything. You will probably find that you can spend a lot of time on your own if you want to. So long as you are in the right place at the right time for travelling the guides are happy for you to do your own thing.

Of course, it depends on how confident and experienced you are as travellers i.e. getting a good deal on transport and knowing where to go at the best times etc.

Whatever you decide you will definitely have the most amazing time in an amazing country.

Lyn

Re: Cruising on the Nile / Nile Safari

Yes, thanks Brendan, that does help. So does your comment, thank you Lyn. We are pretty experienced independent travellers, but not in Egypt, so may indeed decide to go with a guide. We can't make any decisions about the trip until July, which gives me plenty of time to agonise...and keep watching this forum.
Thanks for your help
Penny

Re: Cruising on the Nile / Nile Safari

Hello Penny,

I have done both the Jewels of Egypt & the Nile Safari tours. Both were wonderful Like yourself I am impressed by the look of the Cruising the Nile tour.............looks wonderful. Im hoping I might get to enjoy this tour myself!!

I have visited Egypt a number of times, was last there in March. This is the only time I havent done a tour with Im Trav.......didnt do any tour , just didnt have the spare cash!! But had a wonderful time catching up with friends.

As others have said, the Hotels are generally quite good, clean, with working showers & toilets....what more can you ask for???

I last stayed at the Sofitel Le Sphinx in March, as usual it was lovely!!!

If you can afford to, try to do most of the optional tours, they are well worth the $$ & effort. Especially try to get yourself to Abu Simbel...........just breathtaking!!!

Dont forget that January in Egypt can be cold, so ensure you take a wind proof warm jacket of some sort. I left Australia in Dec '03 (temps at home were 40c+) for a month in Egypt & darn near froze!!! I am so glad I let myself be talked into taking a jacket!!

Which ever way you decide to go, you will be travelling with an excellent company. All their tours are very well planned. The tour leaders do their all to ensure that each tour members gets to see & do all they can. Have nothing but praise for these guys & gals!!! They work extremely hard to ensure that we all have the holiday of a lifetime!!!

Have a wonderful holiday. Dont forget to pack an open mind & your sense of humour!! If I can help in any other way, please drop me a line or two!! Kindest regards............Debbie

Re: Cruising on the Nile / Nile Safari

Thanks for that Debbie. All this input is really useful. I think we will go to Abu Simbel and it seems the better way is by bus. The other tour of my top two (not an ImTrav tour) includes Abu Simbel, but I have to say I get more impressed by Imaginative Traveller all the time, so am moving towards a decision between Cruising on the Nile and Nile Safari.

Could someone give me an estimate of how much I should expect to spend on meals and tours? I wouldn't expect we would buy much "stuff" as we will be travelling in Europe afterwards and won't want to carry it.

Thanks again everyone

Penny

Re: Cruising on the Nile / Nile Safari

Hi Penny,

Take a look at the [url=http://www.wanderwiki.com/index.php?title=Egypt_Country_Dossier]Country[/url] and [url=http://www.wanderwiki.com/index.php?title=ETNI_-_Nile_Safari_Trip_Dossier]Trip[/url] dossiers to help you work out your spending money whilst on tour.

Regards,
Brendan

Re: Cruising on the Nile / Nile Safari

Hi Penny!

I believe we've talked on another forum...

On my trip, we had the option of doing a daytrip over to Abu Simbel...definately worth it. We took the bus, it was an early morning so most people slept on the way.

I'm pretty sure both breakfast and dinner was included on the boat. I'm not 100% sure about lunch. I remember we went out for lunch once for sure in Aswan.

Re: Cruising on the Nile / Nile Safari

Hi Penny,,

A friend of mine once told me that you could easily travel in Egypt & budget at $25 to $30 per day per person. I have never tried to economise in this manner so I can't say if this is true or not. Everytime I go to Egypt, I go for fun & I really don't care if I spend all the available $$ I have!! It's a heck of a long way from Oz & I may never get back to Egypt again, so I always intend to enjoy myself!!

What I can say is the Egypt is a very cheap country to travel in so long as you are prepared not to eat in the high class Hotels all the time & haggle, haggle, haggle for everything you buy off vendors!!

I would choose a tour that included most of your meals & as many as the extra's as possible. These extra's do add up quite alot if your not prepared for them. Also remember that you have your local payment at the start of the tour plus your part of the kitty. All this will be mentioned in your tour info.

Hope this helps. All the best........Debbie

Re: Cruising on the Nile / Nile Safari

Hi all,

All meals are included whilst on board our Nile cruise ship, the MS Melodie

Our Traveller style tours include more extras such as all entrance fees and many meals.

Regards,
Brendan

Re: Cruising on the Nile / Nile Safari

Thanks everyone for all your help so far. I have thought of a couple more questions. Is it possible to fit a trip to St Simeon monastery into the time in Aswan on the Cruising on the Nile trip? Also, in the Cruising on the Nile dossier it specifically says there are no guides at Edfu and Kom Ombu. Is this the same for the Nile Safari, or is that guided because the trip has its own guide?

I have been looking through lots of the old posts on this forum and finding it fascinating. Thank you!

Re: Cruising on the Nile / Nile Safari

Hi Penny,

Thanks for your questions.

It is possible to take a trip to the St. Simeon monastery whilst you are in Aswan on either trip.

Typically there is no guide at Kom Ombo although I believe one can be arranged locally. It's quite a small ruin compared to the massive complex at Edfu, where a guide typically is included in all of our main group tours.

I hope this helps.

Regards,
Brendan

Re: Cruising on the Nile / Nile Safari

Just a little more on food costs...

OMG!!!

I am trying to think of the name of the meal I had ALL the time there - it is shop front food - fresh breadroll with fresh meat - and tabouleh (spelling???) and other veges/salads etc (yeah yeah don't eat the salads etc - but I never had a problem). I would buy a large roll, then walk around the corner and buy some chips/crisps/an orange or peelable fruit and a can of soft drink (or a popper of flavoured uht milke). That was my dinner many nights - grand total - depending on city between $2.50AUD to $3.00AUD.

Oh yeah - you must try all the middle east knock offs of popular branded chocolate bars etc... some are pretty horrible, but I found myself addicted to one Mars Bar knock off. Mars Bar (full size) for under 20cents AUD.

Also, the local pizzas (not really pizzas you buy them from sort of breadish shops) are AMAZING - fantastic bus or train food.

Finally, don't be afraid of fresh to eat meat - ie. just slaughtered - feels weird at first - but it tastes... oh so good. I think I helped depopulate the chickens of Egypt when I was there - especially once we got out of the nile valley.

PS. Pepsi (and other brands) have manufacturing plants in the region, but highly recommend you "take a punt" on the totally unknown - makes it so much more fun.

PPS. I found the Traveller meals in Egypt really boring - mind you I wasn't on the Melody - it made me much more adventurous in trying more local foods - WHEEE.

PPPS. Don't order that meal that is the mixture of everything - ickypants.

PPPPS. Large at a restaurant is REALLY large.

PPPPPS. My favourtie cafe/restaurant - purely for the view and the mint tea (got to love it) was in Luxor. On the McDonald's side of the temple, just down from Maccas actually, there is a restaurant/cafe that looks out across Luxor temple - relaxing there as the sun set was amazing and they did a fantastic local vege dish.

PPPPPPS. Best local restaurant was in Marsa Matrough - infact if you have time you should do the Siwa Oasis trip - that was seriously awesome - my trip incorporated it - and was absolutely the best part of my holiday. hehe I found it our first pass through the city (which is amazing - I ended up learning how to make lollies in a candy store and ate way too much icecream!) and when we came back through, I dragged my entire tour with me - ahhh happy tummy memories!

Re: Cruising on the Nile / Nile Safari

Thanks for your post Tae

Regards,
Brendan

Re: Cruising on the Nile / Nile Safari

Oh Tae!!!!!

You brought back so many memories as I read your post!!! MMMMMMMMMMMM the fab meal I had on the banks of the Nile at the Aswan Moon restaurant!!!

The delish meals onboard Amy & then Melodie when she pushed little Amy aside!! The chef used to do THE best carrot soup I had ever tasted. In Cairo a friend took me to this shop where you could sit in your car & order fruit salads etc & you would be sitting there enjoying this fabulous delicacies in the comfort of your car!!! Then there were the sorbets onboard Amy........wow!! Oh & the fresh lemon juice......so refreshing!!!

The there is my all time fav Koshary..........I LOVE koshary!!! Cant wait to get back to Egypt for my next taste!! Oh & aubergine salads!!!!

Gotta stop now, you've made me think to much!!!

See you............Debbie

Re: Cruising on the Nile / Nile Safari

Thanks everyone, especially Tae - informative AND entertaining! Made me laugh out loud. Keep it coming! (So I don't have to think of more questions to prompt more responses, when I don't really know what I should be asking!)

Thanks again

Penny

Re: Cruising on the Nile / Nile Safari

Oh you guys are making me wish September would come quicker....

Re: Cruising on the Nile / Nile Safari

Hi again
A question re: travel insurance. I read somewhere that most insurance provided through a credit card company isn't valid for these trips. How do you decide what is appropriate insurance? I have international travel insurance through my credit card that is provided by Zurich and includes unlimited medical expenses. Would that be OK, or are there other criteria?
Thanks
Penny

Re: Cruising on the Nile / Nile Safari

Hi Penny,

Thanks for your question.

Yout travel insurance needs to cover you for