Grand Circle Travel Nile Cruises

[LewiLewi]

We are thinking about taking a Nile cruise on the MS Stephanie or Anuket. Also spending time in Cairo. Has anyone been there recently. Are Americans and Jewish Americans safe there?

[LOBOGORDO]

We are thinking about taking a Nile cruise on the MS Stephanie or Anuket. Also spending time in Cairo. Has anyone been there recently. Are Americans and Jewish Americans safe there?

We have just yesterday booked a November, 2010, cruise/tour with Grand Circle of Cairo and the Nile on the River Anuket. After looking at other options we went with the record and reputation of Grand Circle. Safety and security are definite considerations, but I've seen no recent reports of problems in that area.

[Hlitner]

We cannot speak to the Grand Circle question but can sure talk about Egypt. DW and I went to Egypt (3 years ago) on our own for a 2 week country-wide trip. We utilized private cars, our own drivers and our own licensed guides in many parts of the country and saw Egypt from Alexandria in the North to Abu Simbal in the south. I am a Jewish American (or course we don't wear a star of David on our shirt) and nobody ever asked so we never told this to folks. However, in our 2 weeks, including 5 days on the Nile on the Oberoi Philae, internal Egyptair flights to Abu Simbal, and hundreds of miles on the roads. To be very blunt, we enjoyed every moment, found every Egyptian to be friendly, gracious and helpful. We did a lot of exploring on our own (walked throught Cairo, Luxor, and smaller villages) and always felt comfortable (but we are pretty experienced travelers). When we would tell a local we were Americans they would usually shake our hands and say "than you for coming to my country." Sure, there are security issues within the country, but they have very professional police that do a good job. We did go on one long ride (with our driver and guide) between Luxor and Dendara, and this region has some internal problems so we had to take that 2 hour drive as part of a large convoy (they had two of these per day) that had armed police at both the front and the rear. The convoy was fun and we were a small car tucked in among many tour buses and a few other cars. At every intersection along the road we would see an old pensioner with their AK47 (some of them looked rusty) guarding the intersection where the only other traffic might have been a farm tractor. Was a great trip.

 

Hank