Review - Nile Rvier

[jmlh]

We have recently returned (October 24-31) from a Nile River cruise on the Movenpick Royal Lily. Our booking was done through an American travel agency that also has a Cairo office. This worked very well as we always felt we were in very safe and capable hands.

We began our holiday with 2 days in Cairo to get over jet lag and to see the Pyramids (staying at the Mena House in Giza) and after the cruise returned for an additional 2 days to see Cairo and Alexandria.

We began the Nile cruise in Luxor. Included with the cruise were many shore excursions which were made very interesting by the guide on the ship, Amru. In Luxor we visited Karnak Temple (& returned in the evening to see the highly recommended Sound & Light Show) and Luxor Temple (at sunset as the lights were just coming on - magical!). Other highlights were the Valley of the Kings/Queens, Edfu Temple (with an included horse & buggy ride!), Kom Ombo and Aswan. From Aswan, we did an optional flight to Abu Simbel to visit the temples. This is an incredible site and we would recommend that anyone visiting Egypt include this site, if possible.

The Movenpick Royal Lily is a lovely ship. It is modern and squeaky clean with wonderful staff and excellent food. We thoroughly enjoyed our time on board, in particular sitting on the upper deck and viewing the incredible scenery - just as we had imagined it! It was also great to have a pool and great bar on the upper deck - both were well used!

If anyone has any questions, I shall try to answer. It truly was a wonderful holiday.

[4774Papa]

JMLH, We are booked on one of your upcoming cruises in Australia: Celebrity Soltice February 15/13 - Perth to Sydney. It should be a great cruise.

[Coral]

Sounds like a trip of a lifetime!

 

Thanks for your review :)

[jmlh]

4774Papa - looking forward to chatting with you about NZ/Australia. And Coral... it was the trip of a lifetime!!!

Jan

[Coral]

I know several people who had planned to visit Egypt this summer and ended up canceling due to the unrest there.

 

I know under normal circumstances, security is pretty tight there anyway with tourist busses with armed guards and police car escorts in certain areas.

 

Did you get a feel for how much security was stepped up for you? Or do you think where you toured, security was similar to years past. It sounds like the tour company took care of everything and you said you felt very safe. Do you have any comments on how the unrest is affecting tourists, or maybe it isn't?

[jmlh]

Coral - I think it is essential to be travelling with a reputable company that looks after you at all times. If there was a possibility of a demonstration in any area that we were planning on going to our guide would change course. The end result was that we felt very safe at all times. Presently, I would not want to be travelling anywhere near Tahrir Square but hopefully this will soon change.

While on the Nile cruise, there was always an armed guard outside the riverboat while we were docked. We did not think that this was unusual as there are many security measures to board any ship. The rest of the time, we just drove to various sites with our driver and guide and there were no problems (other than the very awful traffic!!!).

[4774Papa]

Coral - I think it is essential to be travelling with a reputable company that looks after you at all times. If there was a possibility of a demonstration in any area that we were planning on going to our guide would change course. The end result was that we felt very safe at all times. Presently, I would not want to be travelling anywhere near Tahrir Square but hopefully this will soon change.

While on the Nile cruise, there was always an armed guard outside the riverboat while we were docked. We did not think that this was unusual as there are many security measures to board any ship. The rest of the time, we just drove to various sites with our driver and guide and there were no problems (other than the very awful traffic!!!).

IF you don't go near Tahrir square, then you will miss the Egyptian Museum, that is a big miss.

[jmlh]

4774 papa - I agree that it would be very unfortunate to miss the Egyptian Museum (it was one of the highlights of our Egypt holiday) - however one has to be careful of their surroundings at all times. We were very fortunate to be able to visit all sites in Cairo that we wanted and not have to worry about protests.

[trinitygirl]

having now spent time in the Luxor Museum, I would actually have been happy to miss the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. While it is full of amazing objects, it's a terrible museum - dirty, crowded, and very poorly curated. The museum in luxor is a model of what a museum ought to be, and as it is so much smaller, it's also much more manageable. I spent 2 days at the Egyptian museum and yet I learned more in 2 afternoon visits to the luxor museum - not to mention being moved to tears by the beauty of some of those objects.