Sunrise balloon in Aswan on Pharoahs & Pyramids river cruise

[PRH]

First of all, I know this is Ocean rather than River but hope this will get the widest appeal.  I know it is competitive to reserve a balloon ride in Aswan, Egypt, via Viking.  Hints?  Has anyone reserved independently?  If so, what was your experience?  How did timing work with the ship?  Any guidance will be greatly appreciated!  Thanks.

[MarkTapley]

We did the balloon ride last September, from Viking Osiris.  Everyone from our sailing that wanted to go was able to get reservations.  Then Viking was not accepting any advanced reservations, so we booked once we were on the ship.  Not sure you need to try and setup an independent tour.  They told us if they need additional capacity, they just launch another balloon.

 

As far as timing, the group left the ship very early (4:30 AM?), took a smaller boat to the other side of the Nile and then got into vans for the ride to the balloon port.  In our case, we had to wait a couple of hours for the winds to subside before we took off; but if the winds are calm, the balloons take off more quickly.  Drifted around for an hour or so and landed on the east side of the river where we were picked up and went back to the ship.

 

And BTW, our balloon ride was from Luxor, not Aswan.

 

That was our experience.

Edited May 31, 2023 by MarkTapley
Clarification

[franski]

We tried to to do this when we were in Luxor - but the winds were too strong that morning, and so all balloons were grounded...  As Mark mentioned above, it was an early start...  and we made it across the river only to have to head back and return to the ship.  So disappointing...  😞

 

Fran