Nile River cruise review - Long!

[Traveler50]

I intended to say that it was in the Valley of the Kings where we saw the camera card taken away. In many of the temples they did not care if you took pictures or not. It's just best to find out before you take a chance on taking them if you are requested not to.

The Egyptian Museum in Cairo was supposed to be pretty strict about not letting you take pictures but we saw some

young (Egyptian) girls blatantly even using a flash right over the mummies in The Royal Mummy Room. I found that very disrespectful and know in that case it probably was doing harm since they were using the flash (on purpose).

[Traveler50]

Travel 50

 

Been sending everyone an email trying to get on your slideshow list.

We are going on GCT Egypt tour in August. Enjoyed your comment

and made several notes.

 

Thanks

 

Thanks, I just now saw this message. I just finished up the slideshow so will be sending it out probably tomorrow by email. It took longer than I had thought to complete it. I ended up making a Part I & Part II to make each one not as long. I condensed each part to about 100 photos.

 

Once I send the email it is easy for the next person to forward it on to someone else. There will be instructions to download a free viewer and then you have to download the show within 10 days but I can always send it again if needed.

[seafun]

Traveler50, I'm happy to hear you've gotten your slide show done!

Anxiously looking forward to seeing it soon. :D

[newretiree]

Traveler50, We are starting to plan a trip to Egypt and the Nile in either 2009 or 2010, and I would love to see your slideshow. I have been lurking in this forum for a while, and have enjoyed your trip report. Also yours - Seafun! My email is rcken@comcast.net. Thanks.

[Traveler50]

Traveler50, We are starting to plan a trip to Egypt and the Nile in either 2009 or 2010, and I would love to see your slideshow. I have been lurking in this forum for a while, and have enjoyed your trip report. Also yours - Seafun! My email is rcken@comcast.net. Thanks.

I just sent the slideshows out to the CC members that have requested it along with an email address. It will come to you as a PhotoParade because that is the name of the software that I used to create the slideshow.

 

Thanks so much for your interest and I'll be glad to answer any questions!

[seafun]

Dear Traveler50 (Kay) -- THANK YOU!

 

I received your slide shows, Part 1 and 2 tonight. I've just spent a very wonderful hour watching them, and needed to thank you immediately for sharing them, and for all the hard work you have put into them. :) And you're right... the music adds tremendously to the atmosphere, as well as your thoughtful comments and narrative.

 

I'm currently about two hours late on getting to bed, (I have to work tomorrow), but what a great treat, and I savored every minute!

 

You really should consider posting the link to them, so that many other people can enjoy them as well. They make my pictures -- merely posted in a Shutterfly album, with a descriptive comment, seem like an amateur show by comparison. Note to newlyretired... the link to my photos that you asked for is: http://seafunegypt.shutterfly.com/action/?a=2AaMnLVo0YsnHA&notag=1

 

These web forums have been such a great place to share information, experiences and memories of Egypt! :) (And lots of other cruises and vacations as well... )

 

Thanks again to all who contribute, and to all those who are amused, enlightened or pleased by our contributions! :D

[MVPinBoynton]

Traveler50,

I have just watched part 1. I am at work and will have to wait till lunch to watch part 2. Just outstanding! It makes Cairo and Alexandria look much nicer than I expected. I can't wait to see part 2. Thank you so much for making the slide show and for sending it to us.

[newretiree]

Traveler50, I have just made time to watch the first part of your slideshow, and have been entranced! I can't wait to watch part 2 later today. I loved the format of the slideshow and your pictures. I am even more excited about planning a trip for next year! Thanks again. Nancy

 

Seafun - thanks for the link to your pics on Shutterfly. I use Shutterfly too for all sorts of photos, and really like their service.

[MVPinBoynton]

Traveler50,

I was able to see part 2 during lunch. Most enjoyable. It certainly heightens my anticipation for my upcoming visit in 101 days. Since we only have a 4 day cruise, we will miss out on being able to visit the school and some of the other sites you were able to go to. But we can't do everything, even though I want to. :) It does look like you had a wonderful time. Thanks again for sharing your wonderful presentation with us.

[Traveler50]

Dear Traveler50 (Kay) -- THANK YOU!

 

I received your slide shows, Part 1 and 2 tonight. I've just spent a very wonderful hour watching them, and needed to thank you immediately for sharing them, and for all the hard work you have put into them. :) And you're right... the music adds tremendously to the atmosphere, as well as your thoughtful comments and narrative.

 

I'm currently about two hours late on getting to bed, (I have to work tomorrow), but what a great treat, and I savored every minute!

 

You really should consider posting the link to them, so that many other people can enjoy them as well. ! :D

 

Hi, I am so flattered by your kinds words about my slide show. You are right that I do put lots of hours into creating it and so I do appreciate when someone takes the time to view it. It's funny because your review inspired and prepared me so much for my own trip....even a few of my quotes were inspired by you! You have such a gift for story telling but I rely a lot on my pictures and then try to make a story out of it. I started doing the slide shows originally to get my grandchildren interested in my trips so I could share the learning experience with them. I also figured out they were more interested if I was in some of the pictures...then I started making a story out of it. When we get home from a trip we always have a party with the theme of the country to give out the presents we brought back. Even though some of the things I bring back are a little touristy it teaches them about what the country is known for. We are pretty light packers so the biggest challenge is fitting everything into the luggage. I always bring a fold-out bag so that helps some.

 

Just wanted thank the others also that responded about watching my slide show...I really appreciate your interest and I know you will enjoy your Egypt trip to! I will definitely want to see your pictures too when you return.

 

Also, I am still willing to send the slideshow to anyone else that is interested and wants to post their email address.

I will check into creating a link to the slideshow but I don't think that is possible with the way this software works since you have to pick it up within 10 days and then download it to your computer. I have to insert a person's email address at and click "send" and then photoparade sends that person an email to pick up and download the show. So I don't see how a link could work but maybe I can figure out a way.

[banditoo]

Traveler 50, I would very much love the slide show as well. Am hoping to book for Egypt for early 2009. My email address is bahansen@shaw.ca

I eagerly await the slide show and then the real thing too!

[tnsauerkraut]

TRaveler 50,

 

your slide show was fantastic! I so enjoyed it and can't wait for our own cruise in Feb.

 

Quick question....how on earth did you remember everything you saw and where did youfind the little tidbits of info you had on eaach slide? I also do slideshows after my trips, but nothing as good as yours and I would love to learn to get in little bits of info.

 

Thanks so much!

[Pia1913]

also loved when we visited a school in the town of Quena when we were on the Nile Cruise. The children made us feel so welcome and so glad that we were there. Something we did that I didn't see mentioned on either review was in the city of Quena. It is a beautiful town which takes pride in being one of the cleanest cities in Egypt. We toured the town one night in tram parade that took us through the streets of the city where people were lined up and waving and smiling to make us feel welcome....then we were treated to a reception and folkloric dancing...complete with complimentary refreshments. It was a heart-warming welcome that I will always remember

The above paragraph was taken from one of Traveler50's posts, for which I would like to add my comments. The tram ride was OK; we got to our destination and return to ship w/o any incidents. However, it is not at all pleasant to see all the uniforms with guns, rifles and AK-47's along the way. This is almost constant security for the American tour groups; europeans are not treated the same.

 

We returned Saturday from the same Grand Circle trip and yes, Egypt is unique. It brings us back thousands of years with wonders as to how these people did such miraculous engineering. The structures are awesome.

 

We always had an armed security person with us on the bus everywhere we went in Cairo and environs. Luxor and Aswan seemed to be more relaxed.

 

For those travelling with Grand Circle, be advised that they do an excellent job. They are thorough and detail oriented. It seems that everyone, no matter where they live, are flown on the same flight; non stop JFK to Cairo on Egypt Air. We upgraded to Business Class; glad we did. The flight from NY is approx. 11 hours going and 12 hours returning. I used the Business Center at the Marriott; couldn't live w/o my internet completely. Charge is 31 Egyptian pounds for 15 minutes and only one pound more for 1/2 hour. They don't tell you unless you ask. The Egyptian pound is approx. 5.34 per u.s. dollar. There is an internet cafe across from where you dock in Luxor; 5 Egyptian pounds for 1/2 hour; less than a buck! Also, the banks (there are two of them) in the Marriott are open 24 hours a day and there is a bakery on the premises that makes very inexpensive good sandwiches.

 

Not much more I can add. Traveler50's observations are quite complete.

 

Oh yes, the shower on the ship is much better than the usual cruise ship. It's a walk in stall w/o the huggy/kissy shower curtain. :)

 

Pia

[hcleaner]

Traveler50, please send me your slideshow! We are cruising to Egypt next November '09 and I would love to experience Egypt through your photo's. Thank You so much.

 

Wendy

 

WendyFrederick@juno.com

[Traveler50]

TRaveler 50,

 

your slide show was fantastic! I so enjoyed it and can't wait for our own cruise in Feb.

 

Quick question....how on earth did you remember everything you saw and where did youfind the little tidbits of info you had on eaach slide? I also do slideshows after my trips, but nothing as good as yours and I would love to learn to get in little bits of info.

 

Thanks so much!

 

Thanks to you for taking the time to watch and for your nice comments. By the way I love your quote "The World's a book..." and when I read something it usually sticks in my mind and it might be appropriate for another slideshow that I use. My quotes are a combination of things I remember from the trip...(and sometimes my feelings at the time) but I also do some research to get facts at time IF I don't remember specifics about the photo.

When you travel with GCT they usually are good at giving handouts with facts about what you are seeing and they have excellent tour guides. I tend to come up with things in my own words but I find that in doing my research I find out I learn new things too. It's sort of like doing a term paper but with personal quotes too! The alloted space for the titles & captions is limited, so the real challenge is to condense or only put an important fact that is interesting. Plus the photos go by quickly so you have to be sure there is time to read the caption.

 

I pick out the photos I am going to use (which is another real challenge since I took about 2,000 photos in 2 weeks in Egypt!) and start a draft slideshow and then I go back and put the captions and rearrange the photos in the correct order of my story. Then I'll work on it and add and delete if I have new ideas, etc. I think most people don't have the patience to do all this but I don't feel like my trip is complete until I tell the story about it. I love it when people tell me they felt like "they were on the trip with me". That is my goal but I also have to remember that people only have a certain attention span so I can't tell every single thing about it....just the highlights.

 

I didn't intend to go on so long but I hope I have given you some ideas!

Of course I have slide shows for all my trips... but one of my favorites is of an Antarctica/S.America Princess cruise that we took 01/07. It was the largest ship at the time to ever go to Antarctica. If anyone is interested in going there I'll be glad to send that one too...it was just as amazing as Egypt.

[MLinFL]

We are also planning a trip to Egypt. Could you send me the slide show, also? We would appreciate it. Thanks,

 

Mary Lou

marylouinohio@hmcltd.net

[Traveler50]

also loved when we visited a school in the town of Quena when we were on the Nile Cruise. The children made us feel so welcome and so glad that we were there. Something we did that I didn't see mentioned on either review was in the city of Quena. It is a beautiful town which takes pride in being one of the cleanest cities in Egypt. We toured the town one night in tram parade that took us through the streets of the city where people were lined up and waving and smiling to make us feel welcome....then we were treated to a reception and folkloric dancing...complete with complimentary refreshments. It was a heart-warming welcome that I will always remember

 

The above paragraph was taken from one of Traveler50's posts, for which I would like to add my comments. The tram ride was OK; we got to our destination and return to ship w/o any incidents. However, it is not at all pleasant to see all the uniforms with guns, rifles and AK-47's along the way. This is almost constant security for the American tour groups; europeans are not treated the same.

Pia

 

The night of the parade I did notice all of the security but I was so overcome and touched by the welcome we were receiving that I did not feel at all threatened. I guess I was just caught up in the moment or maybe I was in denial (or "daNile"?) but it was a very heart-warming night for me. I guess I am truly an adventure seeker and it seemed like a grand adventure to me! By that time I guess I had become accustomed to the high security...although it did seem more intense in that area of the cruise.

I heard some other people reflect on your same thoughts about the safety issue the next day. At the same time I heard one lady say she thought it was the highlight of our trip. I guess I fell somewhere in between.

 

You are absolutely right about the shower...it was better than a cruise ship!

[tnsauerkraut]

TRaveler 50,

 

It's nice to know that GCT will give us handouts with info. MOst companies don't do this and it's nice to not run around trying to capture the info, instead being able to focus on what I'm seeing. Thanks for that!

 

Would love to see your slideshow on Antarctica. My friend is doing her best to talk me into doing that trip, but I'm very aprehensive about crossing that rough channel.

 

What other great trips have you taken? My favorites have been our week in China, my two weeks in Alaska, and our Mediterranean/Greek Isles cruise last year for our 2oth wedding anniversary.

[tnsauerkraut]

Pia1913,

 

it must have been unsettling to see armed guards on a trip if you're not used to it, but I have spent time in the MIddle East, including a stint in the Army in Saudi Arabia during Desert Storm, and believe me, it would be more unsettling to not have armed guards and have the possibility of a terrorist strike against you. One must remember that even though Egypt is a tourist mecca, it is still part of the MIddle East and is prone to terrorist attacks and that is a risk we all take when we travel. Although, I guess realistically, we are prone to attacks anywhere we travel. The price of living in todays world.....

[Pia1913]

Pia1913,

 

it must have been unsettling to see armed guards on a trip if you're not used to it, but I have spent time in the MIddle East, including a stint in the Army in Saudi Arabia during Desert Storm, and believe me, it would be more unsettling to not have armed guards and have the possibility of a terrorist strike against you. One must remember that even though Egypt is a tourist mecca, it is still part of the MIddle East and is prone to terrorist attacks and that is a risk we all take when we travel. Although, I guess realistically, we are prone to attacks anywhere we travel. The price of living in todays world.....

 

I never said it was unsettling, nor did I feel threatened. We went to Morocco the week after 9/11. I know all about high security.

 

Pia

[Traveler50]

TRaveler 50,

 

It's nice to know that GCT will give us handouts with info. MOst companies don't do this and it's nice to not run around trying to capture the info, instead being able to focus on what I'm seeing. Thanks for that!

 

Would love to see your slideshow on Antarctica. My friend is doing her best to talk me into doing that trip, but I'm very aprehensive about crossing that rough channel.

 

What other great trips have you taken? My favorites have been our week in China, my two weeks in Alaska, and our Mediterranean/Greek Isles cruise last year for our 2oth wedding anniversary.

 

We went to China last year with GCT and it was a great trip also. My husband and I have decided instead of making a "Bucket List" (like in the Jack Nicholson movie) we are making a "WOW" list of places we have been. Our top "WOW" as of now is Machu Picchu in Peru. We did that one in 2006 with OAT which is also a GCT company but the groups are smaller with no more than 16 and their trips are a little more adventurous.

The 2nd "WOW" for us is Antarctica and Abu Simbel in Egypt is a close 3rd, along with the Terra Cotta Warriors in China.

 

Before I got married 3 years ago I traveled with some friends from High School and we celebrated our 50th bdays in Spain in 1994 and that was my first trip outside the USA, except for the Mexican border (I live in Texas). Since that time we also have traveled to Italy, Greece, Malta, Australia, Alaska (60th bdays) & they all joined us in 2005 for a Scandinavian cruise (our honeymoon!).

 

One of my friends lives in Boston and is married and her husband was also on the cruise. The other friend lives in Abilene (Texas) but since I got married she had lost her traveling companion so invited someone else. We had a wonderful time and they got to meet my husband. It is always a grand reunion when we get together. They also went with us on the Peru trip to Macchu Picchu. So I am glad we all got to share that one together since it was so special.

[Traveler50]

Would love to see your slideshow on Antarctica. My friend is doing her best to talk me into doing that trip, but I'm very aprehensive about crossing that rough channel

 

I will send you the Antarctica slideshow. The ship we were on was "Golden Princess" and it held 2600 passengers... so crossing Drake Passage was not as bad as when you are on one of the smaller ships. This was the first time they had given permission for a ship that big to go into Antarctica waters and there was a lot of controversy over it. We were not allowed to get off the ship but we had beautiful weather once we got inside the pennisula of Antartica and we were there for 3 or 4 days. We saw some marvelous scenery...plus thousands of iceburgs and sometimes penquins and seals floating by on them. We were much closer to all of it than I thought we would be. It is very dependent on the weather about how close you can get. That is true even if you are on a smaller ship....and even on those there is a possibility that you can't get off if the weather is bad .

 

One advantage of the large ship (besides that you don't feel the roughness as much) is that the price is about 1/2 as much as the smaller ships even for a balcony (and it is definitely worth it). The cruise we were on was for 21 days but it started in Rio de Janeiro and went to many South American ports plus the Falkland Islands. Now I think Princess has made it a 2 week trip from Buenos Aires. I think that is better because we had to pay nearly $300 (for 2) for a Brazil visa just for being there 1 1/2 days.

[tnsauerkraut]

We've cruised with Princess now a total of 6 times and love it more each time. Maybe I can do the Drake Passage on a larger ship....I don't know....

 

I have another question for anyone that can answer. We're flying out of JFK on Feb 28 and returning March 20, also on Egypt Air. GCT wants to charge us an additional $730 each for our flight from KNoxville to JFK. I'm thinking of trying to get our own flights, but of course, have no info on when Egypt Air leaves JFK or returns. Any bits of wisdom from anyone?

[newretiree]

Traveler50, I love your idea of the "WOW" list. Hope you don't mind if I borrow it............. My list right now would include the Canadian Rockies (3completed trips and one coming up), the ruins at Ephesus, and the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.

 

Did you happen to do a slideshow for your trip to Machu Picchu? If so, I would love to see it, if you would send it to me. We are thinking that may be the one we would like to do after Egypt next year.

My email is rcken@comcast.net.

 

Thanks. Nancy

[Pia1913]

 

I have another question for anyone that can answer. We're flying out of JFK on Feb 28 and returning March 20, also on Egypt Air. GCT wants to charge us an additional $730 each for our flight from KNoxville to JFK. I'm thinking of trying to get our own flights, but of course, have no info on when Egypt Air leaves JFK or returns. Any bits of wisdom from anyone?

 

We just came back on Egypt Air Saturday May 31st. Flight arrives into JFK at 3:15 PM, though we did arrive about 40 minutes early. We left JFK to Cairo at 6:30 PM on May 17th. You should book your GCT trip from NY and buy your own RT air to/from JFK. That's exactly what we did. Grand Circle charges way too much airfare for those flying from outside their metro area (usually NY and Boston) and I've found that you can do your own air for much less money. Everyone on this trip flies together no matter where they start. All the California folks came to NY too.

 

Egypt Air was a great airline with good, friendly service.

 

Pia