Oceania cruises unveils details of $50 million fleet upgrade

[Palmetto Lady]

I am really excited about Egypt -- once we "tasted" Luxor in May we knew we had to go back.

 

I have set up the entire trip with the fabulous private guide we had in Luxor -- even arranged for him to be our private guide on the Nile cruise -- and I will be happy to share all the information when I return.

 

We are staying in Cairo 8 nights for (free at the fabulous Marriott -- a former palace --using points) and will use as a base for day trips elsewhere with our guide Mostafa. After Cairo, we fly to Abu Simbel for one day where we have a private guide and fly back to Aswan where Mostafa meets up with us again. After a brief tour of that area and an overnight stay we get on our cruise to Luxor for 3 nights. We stay one additional night in Luxor and then fly to Sharm El Sheikh for a few spa days at the Four Seasons (and to recover from what will be a somewhat exhausting trip). Nadia Dajani, the fabulous Jordanian jeweler who was on my May trip on Nautica, is planning to meet me in Sharm. Somehow the jewelers all become my friends. LOL

 

We are staying at the two iconic hotels in Aswan and Luxor -- the Old Cataract in Aswan (setting for Death on the Nile) and the Winter Palace in Luxor (an historic hotel that was a retreat for the British royal family).

 

This trip is dirt cheap IMO for what we are getting and I am really looking forward to it. I have been in touch with Mostafa weekly since meeting him in May. If anyone thinks they want to do a similar trip I can give you all the details. Make a note to contact me in mid March, after I return.

 

I'm wondering if Mustafa is the same guide we had in Egypt. He had worked in the USA for one of the airlines. His wife was the daughter of a diplomat who also had lived in the US. I've often thought of him during all of the uprising in Egypt and been hoping that he and his family are doing OK considering that tourism has been down in Egypt for obvious reasons.

[pacheco18]

Not the same. Very common Egyptian name