Nile Cruise Line recommendation

[EP824]

Anyone of a suggestion of a Nile cruise line other than Viking? They are out of our price range for this one. I've seen a few local lines, but not sure how reputable they would be. Thanks very much!

[Host Jazzbeau]

All the other major river cruise lines that market in North America will be priced similarly to Viking.  IMHO this is a case of 'you get what you pay for' – going local may be cheaper but how can you know what you're going to get?

[RobInMN]

This is definitely on my list to do someday, but I would add that with what I've read about gastro-intestinal issues in this part of the world, I would not even consider any company that was not catering specifically to Americans. Going "local" in this case seems like a very bad idea. 

[fred111]

My wife and I took a Nile River cruise with Uniworld.  It was absolutely outstanding.  Ship and crew were great, as was the itinerary.  Best part was the professional Egyptologists assigned to each group.  They made the trip!!!

 

[CDNPolar]

We were originally booked on Viking for the Nile.  We were booked on one of Viking's new ships and 6 months before our sail date, the ship had not even been water launched.  We anticipated that this cruise would be delayed, canceled, or whatever...   We already had flights booked, so we went looking for another line that had same dates...

 

So we went with Uniworld and at the time, we saved thousands moving over.  We got an incredible deal, but part of this was the payment discount, and the extras that we got based on the big box TA that we used.

 

All in all we saved over 10K by moving to Uniworld - at that time which was 1.5 years ago.

[JordanF]

Check out Gate 1.  They are less expensive than others, but do a fantastic job.  (I have not been to Egypt with them, but have been to China, Iceland and the Danube, and am leaving for SE Asia with them next week--so I am a definite fanboy!)

[Mrs. Claypool]

Uniworld. Best guides on the river!

[gingerspike]

We booked with a local company Djed Egypt Tours and they were fantastic. We were originally booked on a Uniworld cruise but then Covid.  During the downtime, I did more looking around and found Djed.

 

In October 2021, we spent a month in Egypt and Jordan. In Egypt, we used Djed to arrange everything. We did an extensive land tour with private guides and drivers. The Djed representative met us on arrival at the Cairo airport and sped us through the entry process. We spent 3 days in Cairo and Giza, flew to Luxor for 4 nights and saw Karnak and temples, Valleys of the Kings and Queens, took a hot air balloon ride and a cooking class. We sailed the Nile for 4 nights on a dahabiya from Esna to Aswan with an overnight excursion to Abu Simbel. The dahabiya is a traditional sailing boat and accommodates only 12 passengers.  Our guides were phenomenal. The trip was less expensive, longer, totally private for the 2 of us and a great experience. 

 

I would also recommend the company we used in Jordan, Zaid Tours & Travel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[franski]

We went with a company  here that arranged everything (as a package)  in Egypt, Israel & Jordan.  Our boat was older - but quite clean. It was not full. The staff were wonderful.  We got back home just as Covid hit...

 

My only suggestion is to book something with 7 days on the Nile.  You can do 3 or 4 night cruises - and see the same things - but it would be very rushed. Also - we did the add-on to Abu Simbel - and it was amazing. 

 

Fran 

[twototravel]

@EP824 Check out Overseas Adventure Travel. They have a trip to Egypt that includes a 5 day cruise on the Nile on a private yacht. Trip is one of their bestsellers.

[EP824]

On 2/9/2024 at 5:51 AM, gingerspike said:

We booked with a local company Djed Egypt Tours and they were fantastic. We were originally booked on a Uniworld cruise but then Covid.  During the downtime, I did more looking around and found Djed.

 

In October 2021, we spent a month in Egypt and Jordan. In Egypt, we used Djed to arrange everything. We did an extensive land tour with private guides and drivers. The Djed representative met us on arrival at the Cairo airport and sped us through the entry process. We spent 3 days in Cairo and Giza, flew to Luxor for 4 nights and saw Karnak and temples, Valleys of the Kings and Queens, took a hot air balloon ride and a cooking class. We sailed the Nile for 4 nights on a dahabiya from Esna to Aswan with an overnight excursion to Abu Simbel. The dahabiya is a traditional sailing boat and accommodates only 12 passengers.  Our guides were phenomenal. The trip was less expensive, longer, totally private for the 2 of us and a great experience. 

 

I would also recommend the company we used in Jordan, Zaid Tours & Travel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have read a few other recommendations for this company and have been waiting several days for a quote. Hope they come through. 

[EP824]

1 minute ago, EP824 said:

I have read a few other recommendations for this company and have been waiting several days for a quote. Hope they come through. 

Thanks everyone. I'll check out Uniworld and Overseas Adventure. Hadn't come across either before. 

[gingerspike]

4 minutes ago, EP824 said:

I have read a few other recommendations for this company and have been waiting several days for a quote. Hope they come through. 

If you haven't already,  be sure to follow up with another email or phone call. As I recall, I had to send a second email to get a response. Office seems slow, but the team on the ground was awesome.  We had a problem with the copy of our PCR results and the Cairo representative went above and beyond to make sure we had them in hand for our flight out of Egypt in the morning.

[RobInMN]

Overseas Adventure Travels is part of Grand Circle Corporation, the parent company of Grand Circle Cruise Lines.

 

[EP824]

15 minutes ago, gingerspike said:

If you haven't already,  be sure to follow up with another email or phone call. As I recall, I had to send a second email to get a response. Office seems slow, but the team on the ground was awesome.  We had a problem with the copy of our PCR results and the Cairo representative went above and beyond to make sure we had them in hand for our flight out of Egypt in the morning.

Good to know. Thank you.