Live trip report for Amawaterways Egypt with Jordan pre tour

[Coral]

5 hours ago, jpalbny said:

Love your report! 

 

Agree that it's not worth lugging cameras any more, unless you need the zoom for wildlife close up sots.

 

I haven't brought a camera on our past two trips and I don't have one now on our current cruise. My Samsung is great for landscapes.

 

Chris and I went inside the great pyramid. It was really cool and not that difficult. We have way too much FOMO to pass up an opportunity like that.

I hope you are enjoying Spain and Portugal.

Edited November 21, 2021 by Coral

[divot33]

Thank you for this great report! We just started looking into Egypt cruises for this summer. My wife is a teacher, so we're limited in when we can go. 

 

There aren't many operators that have summer itineraries for Egypt and we found that AMA has a few dates that would work for us - early June 2022 will be our target..

 

Pretty new to this type of vacation. We did a Viking China trip a few years ago with my parents - they arranged and paid for. A few years later, I think it was 2019, we did an Adventures by Disney Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia trip. Both of those were amazing.

 

Is there any benefit to going through a TA for AMA cruises? Possible discounts? I don't have a TA and it hasn't seemed easy to find one that specializes (or even advertises that they work with) in AMA.

 

 My parents did the Viking Egypt tour a few years ago - when I mentioned that my wife and I were considering this one, they said they really loved the Viking trip and would also think about going back and doing the AMA trip - they loved Egypt that much.

[Cruisepucks]

We did a similar trip in very early 2020 before the pandemic took hold. A week in Jordan followed by 12 days in Egypt which included a week long Nile cruise. 

 

If anyone is interested, we created a fairly photo heavy blog with posts just about daily since we had good wifi access daily. We added a few more posts and photos after we got home.

 

Overall, an excellent trip to a very interesting part of the world. We were fortunate to have world class guides in both Jordan and Egypt - personable and knowledgeable. We are happy to answer anyone's questions if they post them.

 

Here, FYI, is a link to our blog posts.

 

https://canucksinegypt.blogspot.com/2020/02/to-do-lists-weather-reports-packing-and.html

 

Enjoy your weekend. Stay positive, but test negative!

 

Salaam

[vino100]

4 hours ago, Cruisepucks said:

We did a similar trip in very early 2020 before the pandemic took hold. A week in Jordan followed by 12 days in Egypt which included a week long Nile cruise. 

 

If anyone is interested, we created a fairly photo heavy blog with posts just about daily since we had good wifi access daily. We added a few more posts and photos after we got home.

 

Overall, an excellent trip to a very interesting part of the world. We were fortunate to have world class guides in both Jordan and Egypt - personable and knowledgeable. We are happy to answer anyone's questions if they post them.

 

Here, FYI, is a link to our blog posts.

 

https://canucksinegypt.blogspot.com/2020/02/to-do-lists-weather-reports-packing-and.html

 

Enjoy your weekend. Stay positive, but test negative!

 

Salaam

thank you for sharing your blog. Very helpful. What tour company did you use ? 

[Cruisepucks]

Hi, Vino 100,

 

Glad the blog was of use. We used Uniworld on that trip. Had a couple disappointing hiccups with them before the trip, but once we arrived, everything went smoothly. Good hotels and busses. Air travel from Jordan to Egypt and within Egypt was well done. Tours were super, as you can see. 

 

Hope you get there sometime.

[vino100]

1 hour ago, Cruisepucks said:

Hi, Vino 100,

 

Glad the blog was of use. We used Uniworld on that trip. Had a couple disappointing hiccups with them before the trip, but once we arrived, everything went smoothly. Good hotels and busses. Air travel from Jordan to Egypt and within Egypt was well done. Tours were super, as you can see. 

 

Hope you get there sometime.

well we love Uniworld. Looking to book this next year if Covid allows. 

[natonater]

Has anyone taken the AMA cruise to Egypt and gone to afternoon tea at the Cataract hotel? This is an optional excursion, and I believe it is offered the same day as the flight to Abu Simbel?

[Host Jazzbeau]

2 hours ago, natonater said:

Has anyone taken the AMA cruise to Egypt and gone to afternoon tea at the Cataract hotel? This is an optional excursion, and I believe it is offered the same day as the flight to Abu Simbel?

I have been researching this cruise also.  The way I read the AMA description only the Abu Simbel part is optional [vs 'free morning']; in the afternoon everyone does the felucca ride and Cataract hotel tea.  Hope that somebody who has done it can confirm.

[josumello]

2 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

I have been researching this cruise also.  The way I read the AMA description only the Abu Simbel part is optional [vs 'free morning']; in the afternoon everyone does the felucca ride and Cataract hotel tea.  Hope that somebody who has done it can confirm.

We did this cruise. However we did not do the high tea. You are right. It is the same day as the feluca ride. The people who chose the high tea were let off at the hotel from the feluca ride. The rest of us continued back to the river boat. 
Our feeling was that the tea was crammed into a very long day. We were ready to head back. The people we spoke to who did the tea confirmed it was more of a rush job. They were disappointed. Just our opinion. Maybe someone else will chime in. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

1 hour ago, josumello said:

We did this cruise. However we did not do the high tea. You are right. It is the same day as the feluca ride. The people who chose the high tea were let off at the hotel from the feluca ride. The rest of us continued back to the river boat. 
Our feeling was that the tea was crammed into a very long day. We were ready to head back. The people we spoke to who did the tea confirmed it was more of a rush job. They were disappointed. Just our opinion. Maybe someone else will chime in. 

It does look like a long day for those who start with Abu Simbel [as we would].  Also High Tea isn't our thing [give me a Devon cream tea any day!]

[natonater]

Thank you for your input. I still would probably choose to go in order to see the hotel. Just curious and this is a “one and only“ trip, so I will not pass this way again. 
 

Any other advice or observations?……….please share.

Many Thanks.

[CruiseIreland]

On 6/18/2023 at 6:32 PM, natonater said:

Has anyone taken the AMA cruise to Egypt and gone to afternoon tea at the Cataract hotel? This is an optional excursion, and I believe it is offered the same day as the flight to Abu Simbel?

This guy, Gary Bembridge   recently travelled to Egypt with Ama. Here's a link to his YT channel https://youtube.com/@tipsfortravellers?feature=share9

[natonater]

Thank you to CruiseIreland. The videos were very informative. 
 

[CastleCritic]

If anyone was looking (and patient)  AMA just opened their 2025 Egypt bookings with a 5% discount, 10% if you are willing to go in the summer and get a balcony/suite.

 

(they also seem to have put up all the other non-europe cruises as well with a listed discount up to 20%, not sure where that is.)

 

I delayed a booking I had for next June to January to get out of the heat and get my mother to agree to go with me.

Edited June 23, 2023 by CastleCritic

[Host Jazzbeau]

I recently watched an AMA webinar with my travel agent and at the end they offered a special 10% discount plus pre-paid gratuities on all 2023 and 2024 Europe and Mekong sailings.  I don't know if any other TAs would have this offer, and sadly can't tell you any more about mine.