Avalon Waterways Egypt - Farah Nile Cruise Review

[mrbocbox]

We booked the "Taste of Egypt with Jordan" with Avalon Waterways as it was a great balance between the uber expensive Viking and low-budget operators. It should be clear that this 14 Day itinerary is only 4 nights of actual cruise. It's more of an land-based tour with a cruise portion. The trip has 2 distinct parts, Egypt & Jordan. Arriving at 2am in Cairo, it was wonderful to have an agent of the line meet us before we reached immigration and customs officers. 

 

For the 1st part of the trip, we stayed at the Marriott Mena House in the shadow of the Pyramids. It was a nice hotel with good restaurants and a great place to have breakfast overlooking the pyramids. The first day, we visited the pyramids of giza, Sphinx, and Djoser's step pyramid. We were introduced to our Egyptologist, Ahmed, who stayed with us throughout our time in Egypt. The 2nd day in Cairo, we went to the Egyptian Museum, Churches, and the Alabaster Mosque. My strongest complaint about the entire trip was that we didn't have enough time at the Egyptian Museum. We spent less that 1.5 hours there. After our guide showed us a few items that he felt were important, he only gave us 30 mins to see the rest (including King Tut). 

 

Day 3 we flew to Luxor on Air Cairo. Our flight was delayed by about 45 minutes. It wasn't luxurious, but less than 45 mins long. Upon arrival in Luxor, we went to the Temples of Karnak and it was AMAZING. After that, we arrived our ship, Farah docked along the Nile. Nile ships are really different than other ships I've traveled on, but Farah was in good condition and our cabin was nice. The restaurant had good food, some really nice seafood options. Occasionally there would be some strange flavor combinations, but overall it was good. As the ship was less than 1/2 full, we got great service in the dining room, but it could sometimes seem like overkill or them hovering to assist. The next few days, the ship would stay docked in ports as we would visit sites and only a few times that we are actually sailing. We saw the temples of Luxor and Karnak, the valley of the kings, Edfu, Kom Ombo, and sites in Aswan. We opted for the $400 pp additional trip to Abu Simbel. I highly recommend this as it's an amazing sight to see. Much larger scale than statues we had seen. Another quick flight down and back to Aswan. In Aswan, the visit to the Unfinished Obelisk was less than thrilling. We flew back to Cairo for another few days of sightseeing before leaving for Jordan. 

 

We took a flight to Amman on Royal Jordanian. We were met at the really nice airport by an Avalon rep who took us to the Marriott in Amman. We had a lot of free time and we took an Uber to the Jordan Museum. Uber's are REALLY cheap in Egypt and Jordan. Like less than $5 anywhere. On our 1st full day in Jordan, we met Osama, our local guide and he was incredible. Friendly and knowledgeable, he was great. Of the 20 people that we were with in Egypt, only 7 of us did Jordan so it made the experience much more intimate. 2nd day in Jordan, we drove to Mt. Nebo and then 3 hours further to Petra. The hotel called Hayat Zaman was amazing. The best hotel of our whole trip. Such an lovely place. The next day, we scheduled 6 hours at the archeological site and it was amazing. It was hot and a huge place to explore. We hiked the 900 step to the Monastery. I only recommend doing this if you are in shape and capable. We're moderately capable and it was pretty strenuous. After the visit, we drove a scary road over the mountain to the Dead Sea resort where we spent the last 3 nights. It was a nice resort with great pools. We swam in the Dead Sea which was kinda unpleasant but very floaty. The last day we went to the ruins at Jerash and spent the rest of the day at the pool. 

 

Things about the trip:
I wish we had more free time at the sites in Egypt. Our guide in Egypt wouldn't tell us up front the amount of time we had at several sites and after he showed some highlights, only then he would tell us we had 20, 30, or 45 minutes at stellar historical sites. Towards the end of the trip, we started wondering from the group so we could experience the sites in their fullest. 

 

In Jordan, the Avalon crew let us know that all our tips for bag handling was included and that the porters were "Taken care of." We didn't get this information in Egypt. 

 

Egypt was dirty, crowded, and at times felt unsafe. Our group always had an armed guard with us as we toured around. Jordan was clean and felt very safe. The water from the tap isn't drinkable. We experienced a few days of intestinal discomfort despite following all the rules. 

 

Going in June/July means its HOT HOT HOT. Being from Texas, it wasn't actually much different from home. But, being out in the heat can really zap you. But, it's the low season and we didn't experience terrible crowds. 

 

Overall, it was a bucket list trip for us and we enjoyed this once in a lifetime experience. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

Thanks for posting.  I'm researching a similar trip for next year.  I'm not from Texas, so I wasn't even considering June or July!  [Preferably November...]

[CastleCritic]

Thanks for the review. I’m guessing the heat had a lot to do with the lower passenger numbers. I know ama at least stops their cruises during parts of the summer. (though I have to imagine they were also asking less for that week to compensate). How were the crowds at the attractions?
 

I was supposed to go in June next year but moved it to the following January due to the potential heat (and as a result get my mother to come with me). 
 

“wish I had a little more time” has occasionally been an issue with organized tours I think some of the guides forget they’ve seen it 1000 times but we haven’t. (Or there just isn’t enough time budgeted). 
 

 

[mrbocbox]

As far as crowds go, we missed the biggest masses because we started early most days. At several locations, we were among the first into the sites. 
 

At the Giza pyramids, we went inside the 2nd one of Kafre. This is not for those who don’t like confined spaces. It was over 100 degrees and you are crammed into a space 3x3 down a long way. I almost didn’t make it. The chambers inside aren’t ornate so if you have the least bit of trepidation, you won’t miss much. It seemed really crowded there. 
 

Only at Karnak and Edfu did I feel really crowded. But they have some smaller spaces that can get congested. 
 

In Jordan, Petra was really bustling by lunch time and it was most acute by the Treasury (the most iconic facade). But we started early and were able to get pictures without others in them. 

[JoieNsk]

Thank you very much for the review!

 

I am researching going to Egypt for a while. My husband doesn't want to go, so I would have to go by myself - and I am a female. So I have to go with the organized tour - there is no way I am going just by myself.

 

And Avalon seem to be the least pricey of all the companies I am comfortable with. But I could not find any reviews for their Egypt trips.
 

So that was really helpful for me!

[JoieNsk]

On 7/9/2023 at 3:21 PM, mrbocbox said:

Overall, it was a bucket list trip for us and we enjoyed this once in a lifetime experience. 

I noticed that many companies include one or two of "private" or "exclusive" experiences, where they would take you to some place without other groups, or do an after-hours visit.

 

Did Avalon have anything like this? 

 

Thank you in advance for all the info!

[mrbocbox]

The short answer is no. All the sites we visited were public. A few were pretty quiet when we visited so, it seemed like we got some dedicated space. 

 

We made some obligatory visits to "Alabaster Factory", "Nubian Spice Shop", and "Mosaic Factory." These were nothing more than sales pitch visits. Some were better than others and we bought a couple of places.  

[JoieNsk]

1 minute ago, mrbocbox said:

The short answer is no. All the sites we visited were public. A few were pretty quiet when we visited so, it seemed like we got some dedicated space. 

 

We made some obligatory visits to "Alabaster Factory", "Nubian Spice Shop", and "Mosaic Factory." These were nothing more than sales pitch visits. Some were better than others and we bought a couple of places.  

Thank you, Matt!

 

You were mentioning that you weren't quite happy with your Egyptologist tour guide.

 

Was it only because of the luck or time they gave you? Or something else was a concern?

 

I watched some reviews about other companies experiences (the lower priced and local based). And some of them praise their guides. But some of them were saying that the guides weren't really knowledgeable, or/and were kind of scamming the tourists to get as much money out of them as they could.

 

I read that even the companies well-known and well reviewed here cannot provide the same type of experience in Egypt comparing to what they provide in Europe for example. As things in Egypt are run differently, and the companies we book through can not really control a lot of experiences - even if they try.

 

 

[CastleCritic]

Egypt like a lot of places, has rules for who can run the tours and own the ships.  For example in Egypt you book the cruise through AMAwaterways for the AMADahlia or AMALilia with their logo on the side, but the ship is actually partially owned by and run by Wings Egypt because of local laws.   That means that while AMA has a say in how the ship is run it will differ from their European ships.

 

I cant find any info on how Viking is doing it, but their ships at least do look different than the rest of them.

Edited July 12, 2023 by CastleCritic

[Host Jazzbeau]

4 hours ago, CastleCritic said:

Egypt like a lot of places, has rules for who can run the tours and own the ships.  For example in Egypt you book the cruise through AMAwaterways for the AMADahlia or AMALilia with their logo on the side, but the ship is actually partially owned by and run by Wings Egypt because of local laws.   That means that while AMA has a say in how the ship is run it will differ from their European ships.

 

I cant find any info on how Viking is doing it, but their ships at least do look different than the rest of them.

The AMA ships also look different from others like the Sun Boat III that Scenic uses.  But if you want something really classic and really Egyptian how about King Farouk's personal yacht, now sailing as the SS Misr for Noble Caledonia:

https://www.noble-caledonia.co.uk/ships/river/misr/

[mrbocbox]

On 7/12/2023 at 12:50 PM, JoieNsk said:

Thank you, Matt!

 

You were mentioning that you weren't quite happy with your Egyptologist tour guide.

 

Was it only because of the luck or time they gave you? Or something else was a concern?

 

I watched some reviews about other companies experiences (the lower priced and local based). And some of them praise their guides. But some of them were saying that the guides weren't really knowledgeable, or/and were kind of scamming the tourists to get as much money out of them as they could.

 

I read that even the companies well-known and well reviewed here cannot provide the same type of experience in Egypt comparing to what they provide in Europe for example. As things in Egypt are run differently, and the companies we book through can not really control a lot of experiences - even if they try.

 

 

I'm trying to be as charitable as possible. I realize that catering to 20 people is hard. I think it was just the luck of the draw with this guide. We just found his narration sometime repetitive frequently veering off topic. 

 

Our guide in Jordan was excellent! He seemed really tuned into what the brand was about. He was actually the only one that mentioned Avalon repeated on the trip. He was thoughtful in content and our time at the sites. 

[carolina_yankee]

Thank you for the review! We are on the Egyptian part of this itinerary in January with 2 nights pre-tout in addition to the tour's 2 nights at Mena House so 4 in total. We really liked Avalon in France and the quality of their guides there, so were hoping for similar quality in Egypt.

 

We have thought about getting a guide (tours by locals, probably) for the Giza pyramids the one of those pre-days since we really want to savor the pyramids and don't mind going twice.

 

Do you have any thoughts on what in Cairo could have used more time if you had it, apart from the Egyptian Museum? It seems like most tours allow about 90 minutes there in their descriptions, so a fairly common duration.  Did you get to the new Grand Egyptian Museum at all?

 

Any other tips, learnings?  It will be cooler in January so we will avoid the heat issue for the most part.