First Nile river cruise-Which company?

[Animated-one]

Hi there,

 

Here we go again, into uncharted waters! My husband and I have been avid cruisers for many years so when were looking for somewhere exciting, exotic, and where we have never been before, I got an email from travel agent about Nile River cruises!! So this is are new quest, taking a Nile river cruise in 2008! So my question is, what company do we use? The more we look at Nile cruises, the more confused :confused: we are over who has the best itinerary, the best boats, and of course the best price (without breaking the bank?). Our bank account is not at the "luxury" level, but maybe in the deluxe to first class level. We are also looking to stay at least 4 days in Cario before we start our river cruise! Any suggestions would be deeply appreciated!

[murphysmum]

Hello...

 

You might want to take a look at booking directly with the Oberoi group....I think it's Oberoi.com, but easy enough to Google.

 

You can book directly with the Mena Oberoi near Giza/pyramids and then directly with Oberoi Philae (different than the other two Oberoi ships which are not on this website). You will save a lot booking independently. The ship is grand and is one of only two on the Nile with it's own docking facilities in all ports so you don't have to side tie with six other boats.

 

I wanted to take this ship, but I couldn't find a tour company that used the ship AND stayed at the hotels I wanted. I don't really like tours anyway....prefer to design my own. If you did book it through a tour company, it seemed to me that it was a lot more expensive, although that was not my prime consideration. I wanted freedom of choice.

 

Good luck and enjoy!

 

murphysmum;)

[CruisenOne]

We chose Grand Circle Travel for our trip in May, of this year.

Pricing was very competitive; round trip air, Hotel in Cairo and a Nile River Cruise.

 

Hotel, in Cairo, was very good. Most meals were included.

Nile River Boat, from what we saw, was quite adequate.

On the Nile, the Boats tie up next to each other and we had to cross several Boats; naturally, we looked around.

 

Tour guides were excelent.

 

Google: GCT.com (Grand Circle Travel)

 

No matter which Company you chose -- It is a great experience.

[JordanF]

We (myself, wife and two teenagers) took a two week trip to Egypt with Grand Circle Travel last December. The trip included a week in Cairo and a week on the Nile (Luxor to Aswan). The entire trip was terrific, and a very good value.

 

There is a Cruise Critic forum for river cruising--my review, and many others, are there.

[MercedMike]

Animated one --

 

I am flattered that you read my web page and emailed me. For the benefit of lurkers, I will repeat what I told you in email.

 

We had a wonderful tour and Nile cruise with Globus. Check out

http://www.elite.net/~thehalls/egyptmain.html

Globus is a good moderate priced middle line company that includes all the major sites. I would thoroughly recommend them. The boat they used was the Oberoi Shehrayar, and our Cairo hotel was the Mena Oberoi Pyramids.

 

We also had a good shore excursion with Egyptian Express. Check out

http://www.elite.net/~thehalls/holyland2.html

They are a more deluxe company and I am sure they could do a very first class Nile cruise and tour for you.

 

A Nile cruise is not to be compared to a cruise ship. It is a totally different experience. The entertainment is small, the meals are moderate, but the sites you are passing and visiting are awesome!

 

Have a GREAT cruise!

[travelbugs]

Animated one,

I can totally understand where you're coming from! We just returned from a 12 day trip to Egypt. 4 nights Cairo, 2 luxor, 4 night Nile cruise, then 1 night Cairo (Heliopolis by the airport). We went through Ya'lla Tours. We actually went through our local Travel agent who went through them. They have a state side office in Oregon and their main office is in Cairo. We were able to have our own Egyptologist that traveled with us throughout the entire trip. They have different levels of traveling and you can pick and choose (your riverboat, your hotels), from whatever level you want. I have to say that this was one top-notch company. They were there from the time our plane touched down in Cairo to the time our flight took off on the last day. Private drivers every step of the way (very nice vans also). If you'd like more information, let me know, otherwise I'll keep rambling on... ~Travelbugs

[ptmullins]

I am researching this great special for a 15 day cruise flying out of jfk to Cairo and week cruise on the nile for under $2000. You might want to check it out.

[seafun]

I'm seriously researching a trip to Egypt in February, and wanted to thank you for your superb pictorial review. What a treat to read and see the pictures!

I've found a company, Gate 1 Travel, (seems to be linked to Vacations to Go) that offers an 8 day package, similar to your itinerary, for just under $3000.

 

That includes airfare from Seattle to Cairo, the inside Egypt air fares, hotels, a single supplement on the 3 day river cruise on the King of Thebes or Queen of the Nile cruise ship, several optional excursions (sound and light, pyramids, etc.), most meals.

Does that seem reasonable to other folks that have done this? Mind you -- coming all the way from Seattle, and adding a single supplement are probably adding a fair amount to the total, but it didn't seem outrageous to me.

Any feedback from other Cruise Critic folks?? Thanks!

[DaytonGirl]

Gate 1 is not affliated wtih Vacations To Go but I do recommend www.*****.com as the place to see a comprehensive listing of tours to Egypt. Select "Escorted Travel" in the upper right hand corner of their site and then "Egypt Tours"

 

You will get a huge list tours with the number of days, price, catagory, etc.

 

We ended up choosing the Tauck Egypt & Jordan tour in 2008. It's rated deluxe but sounds luxury to me. :)

[smeyer418]

We just returned from a Gate 1 Egypt cruise yesterday. We chose the group A tour over the Group B. We had a total of 8 in the group as opposed to 28 in the other. We stayed in 5 star hotels through out and had a MovenPick cruise ship( we were upgraded to a ship that is one month old)...it was a good buy. We flew in a week before the tour started for the same price(air) and used a small hotel on Zemelack and took side tours arranged by local travel agents. ITBE and an american expat. Go this year- they are changing from changing in dollars to charging in Euros. We had an absolutely great time. We had the best guides and arrangements and moved much faster than the larger group...you can see some of the pictures from the trip at my youtube site....smeyer418.....

 

The Queen of Thebes is an older ship(it was what the B group was on) but the staff treated the gate 1 people very well(one of the couples got engaged at Ebu Simbel....and the crew did an engagement party for them.

 

PS the Egypt air flight was fine.

 

The Mena house is the Best hotel in Egypt.....we had a day room outside the tour...I have a short movie of it at my youtube site....

[JordanF]

Grand Circle Travel was less expensive (about $2500 pp incl RT air from Ohio), and for a longer trip (15 days). We had a great time and thought that GCT provided an excellent value.

[Animated-one]

We just returned from a Gate 1 Egypt cruise yesterday. We chose the group A tour over the Group B. We had a total of 8 in the group as opposed to 28 in the other. We stayed in 5 star hotels through out and had a MovenPick cruise ship( we were upgraded to a ship that is one month old)...it was a good buy. We flew in a week before the tour started for the same price(air) and used a small hotel on Zemelack and took side tours arranged by local travel agents. ITBE and an american expat. Go this year- they are changing from changing in dollars to charging in Euros. We had an absolutely great time. We had the best guides and arrangements and moved much faster than the larger group...you can see some of the pictures from the trip at my youtube site....smeyer418.....

 

The Queen of Thebes is an older ship(it was what the B group was on) but the staff treated the gate 1 people very well(one of the couples got engaged at Ebu Simbel....and the crew did an engagement party for them.

 

PS the Egypt air flight was fine.

 

The Mena house is the Best hotel in Egypt.....we had a day room outside the tour...I have a short movie of it at my youtube site....

 

Hi there,

I'm curious, when is Egypt going to change to the euro??? Could you please email me with your contacts at emailtrish@cox.net

 

Thanks,

Trish

[smeyer418]

Hi there,

I'm curious, when is Egypt going to change to the euro??? Could you please email me with your contacts at emailtrish@cox.net

 

Thanks,

Trish

 

I thought someone might be interested in my response.

 

We used gate 1. We upgraded to the more expensive option. I doubt that Egypt will officially convert to the Euro BUT the hotels will be quoting using Euros pretty much next year instead of dollars because the dollar is doing so poorly. You can pretty much use Euros now they know the exchange rate but for tips they can't exchange coins into LE(Egyptian Pounds) so the fact there is no Euro one note is a problem for them. They don't have coins for their own currency either. We exchanged some one euro coins for some of the tips that the guards got(2 euros = $3.00) and some tourist gave quarters to bathroom attendants...use 1 pound notes for than worth about 20 cents US...if that helps....where most tourist travel they take anything Sterling, Euros dollars etc...even their own currency for cabs you need LE's.....

 

Hotel bills at the major hotels were rendered in Dollars, Euros and Egyptian pounds.

 

I think they would need the European communities approval to change to Euros and since even the EC countries still don't all use it, I don't see Egypt changing as well(the two leading tourist countries for Egypt are the US and the UK- neither which use the Euro).We also went to Cairo I week before the tour started, and stayed in a small hotel highly recommended called Longchamps....the only bad part of that was the elevator.

Besides the normal tourist things we also went to the Suez Canal and Fayum Oasis.

We used two different touring companies in Cairo, ITBE and an American expat Debbie. They were both excellent but significantly different. If any one is interested let me know and I'll post more about them.

[Animated-one]

I would like to thank everyone who has posted about the companies you have used, it was all very good advise!!:) I think I have a handle on it now, after numerous hours on the internet checking companies all out.... I think I got it down to 2 companies, Gate 1 and Globus. They both use the same ship/boat the "Royal Lotus". The big difference with Globus is, their package does not include flights from the U.S. to Cairo and back again!!! But the hotels they use are not less then the WOW factor!!!!....Also, the rep I talked to said that Globus packages has alot more to see and do in them.....Comparing the two, I'm not seeing it, they look pretty simular to me! My BIG concern is, if we book our Nile cruise in the next couple days, will we be lock into that price?? I'm getting conflicting reports/feedback from both companies! The gas surcharge is not just affecting the airlines, but also the cruise ships, the hotels, shore excurisons, and now maybe changing to the euro?!!:eek: ...One of the rep said, the only way to make sure that you do not incur anymore fees is to pay it off NOW!!! E-Z for them to say that, with Christmas almost here, not to mention, I'm paying off my South America cruise this morning!

Oh well, so what if I'm spending my kids inheritence!!!!;)

[cruisemom42]

We used two different touring companies in Cairo, ITBE and an American expat Debbie. They were both excellent but significantly different. If any one is interested let me know and I'll post more about them.

 

 

Is the Debbie you mention Debbie Senters of Casual Cairo Detours? If so, please share any info. I'm currently communicating with her for a tour in Cairo to cover some things that are not on the "usual" Cairo tours (since most of those will be covered in my group tour).

[smeyer418]

Is the Debbie you mention Debbie Senters of Casual Cairo Detours? If so, please share any info. I'm currently communicating with her for a tour in Cairo to cover some things that are not on the "usual" Cairo tours (since most of those will be covered in my group tour).

Yes that Debbie....

Debbie is great. She is the one feeding the water to the Camels at www.youtube.com/smeyer418. Her Driver is Tarique. He wasn't anywhere near the camels....his ride of choice besides the car is the Donkey. Tell her Sid and Marian say Hi....Her tours are unusual in that she really knows where to take you and well worth the money in my opinion.

[Animated-one]

We just returned from a Gate 1 Egypt cruise yesterday. We chose the group A tour over the Group B. We had a total of 8 in the group as opposed to 28 in the other. We stayed in 5 star hotels through out and had a MovenPick cruise ship( we were upgraded to a ship that is one month old)...it was a good buy. We flew in a week before the tour started for the same price(air) and used a small hotel on Zemelack and took side tours arranged by local travel agents. ITBE and an american expat. Go this year- they are changing from changing in dollars to charging in Euros. We had an absolutely great time. We had the best guides and arrangements and moved much faster than the larger group...you can see some of the pictures from the trip at my youtube site....smeyer418.....

 

The Queen of Thebes is an older ship(it was what the B group was on) but the staff treated the gate 1 people very well(one of the couples got engaged at Ebu Simbel....and the crew did an engagement party for them.

 

PS the Egypt air flight was fine.

 

The Mena house is the Best hotel in Egypt.....we had a day room outside the tour...I have a short movie of it at my youtube site....

 

Hi there again,

Just a couple more questions: Should we be concern about Egyptian Air?

I know you went with plan A, which is what we plan to do. But Gate 1 did not offer Mena House in either of their plans!.... So how did you get to stay there?....I agree with you! WoW, what a stunning hotel (5 stars for sure)!

 

Trish

[smeyer418]

Hi there again,

Just a couple more questions: Should we be concern about Egyptian Air?

I know you went with plan A, which is what we plan to do. But Gate 1 did not offer Mena House in either of their plans!.... So how did you get to stay there?....I agree with you! WoW, what a stunning hotel (5 stars for sure)!

 

Trish

 

We did the Breakfast ride with Debbie to the Pyramids on absolutely clear day(which doesn't happen in Cairo often) then instead of sightseeing we took a day room at the Mena House. Worth every Penny(and it was in fact reasonable)... you can see the short clip at my you tube site...

 

We went in a week before and stayed in a small hotel on Zemalack. Gate 1 allowed the change without charge(but we had to do are own transfer to our arranged hotel....the cab was $20 US and that was with a $7.00 tip...

 

I liked Egypt air(except I would like wine with dinner- they serve no alcohol)...the food was better than most airlines I have been on recently head and shoulders over Delta. We had pre reserved our seats(by going on the Egypt air site and emailing their call center in Egypt. I never know which plan is a or b we upgraded to the higher plan. We had only 8 people in our tour- it was like a private tour. They charged ships on us from the Royal Lotus to the Royal Lilly which was less than a month old. The other hotels were better than the other group but not by that much. The first one in Helipolis you get in at 3 and are up to make your next plane by 5 am the next morning I was so happy we went in a six days before the non upgraded group had 28 but can be as large as 40...They hated us.

We kept being escorted to the front of the line...We had nothing to do with it we just were following orders...

[smeyer418]

here are pictures. I am still working on the captions this is down from 1300 pictures to about 250....Its in date order. Starting in Cairo flying to Aswan cruise eventually to Luxor(including Abu Simbel on the way---by plane) and then back to Cairo with two side trips one at the beginning to the Suez Canal and the last to Fayum Oasis....

 

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AbsWrRu1ctGZY

 

you have been warned its a lot of pictures...:)

[Animated-one]

here are pictures. I am still working on the captions this is down from 1300 pictures to about 250....Its in date order. Starting in Cairo flying to Aswan cruise eventually to Luxor(including Abu Simbel on the way---by plane) and then back to Cairo with two side trips one at the beginning to the Suez Canal and the last to Fayum Oasis....

 

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AbsWrRu1ctGZY

 

you have been warned its a lot of pictures...:)

 

 

Hi Sid,

 

I enjoyed ALL 248 pics., or was it 249?.... You looked like you and your wife(?) had a awesome time!

If you had it to do over, would you have done it differently?

I'm not sure if I can fly with Egyptian Air because they don't serve alcohol!!:eek: I'm kidding! But it sure would make flying (overseas) a little less stressfull for me!!!

 

Trish

[smeyer418]

Hi Sid,

 

I enjoyed ALL 248 pics., or was it 249?.... You looked like you and your wife(?) had a awesome time!

If you had it to do over, would you have done it differently?

I'm not sure if I can fly with Egyptian Air because they don't serve alcohol!!:eek: I'm kidding! But it sure would make flying (overseas) a little less stressfull for me!!!

 

Trish

 

I probably wouldn't go to Fayum but try to do a real desert track to a real Oasis. Yes it was my wife and we enjoyed every minute of it. For you, you have to change planes where ever you go. The flights from and to Kennedy on Air Egypt are non stops... I hate to tell you what time you will have to get up when you fly back....like 2 in the Am we made a leisurely 10:10 flight and landed at Kennedy at about 3:30 pm. The last full day is a killer and very exhausting on Gate 1 The Egyption Museum the Pryrmids at Giza, Islamic Cairo and the Souk shopping...not enough time ---we blew it off because we had already done every part of it....A car, driver and an English speaking guide only runs about $100 per day. Debbie costs more but is also worth it...

[seafun]

Thanks for all the great information on this thread folks. I'm just about to book for February and although smeyer hinted at it, I'm looking for specific info on return flights from Gate1.

I need to know when I can plan on going back to work. :(

I live in Seattle, so I suppose if the flight gets into N.Y in mid afternooon, I could probably connect on to Seattle that same day?? What time were you done clearing customs?

[paul929207]

We took the GCT tour in March 2006 & loved it.

 

Egypt Air was fine. They fed us n every flight.

[smeyer418]

Thanks for all the great information on this thread folks. I'm just about to book for February and although smeyer hinted at it, I'm looking for specific info on return flights from Gate1.

 

I need to know when I can plan on going back to work. :(

 

I live in Seattle, so I suppose if the flight gets into N.Y in mid afternooon, I could probably connect on to Seattle that same day?? What time were you done clearing customs?

 

Our flight landed 20 minutes late but the luggage came out quickly and we were in the car headed home by 4:45. The plane landed and was at the gate about 3:45. Are there late afternoon evening flights back to SEA?

 

The reason the plane landed late had nothing to do with Egypt air(although frankly any thing with in an hour of schedule to me isn't late anymore) but with US ATC. We flew the last 4 hours at below 450 MPH while the plane(a 777) can normally goes 100 mph faster than that. Also by Boston we did a number of S turns that slow the flight up too....I have flown back from Europe long enough to know the flight pattern real well....and the plane overflies Spain on its way to the Atlantic...

[smeyer418]

My wife wanted me to mention that we booked the day room at the Mena house by contacting them directly. We originally asked for a Cabana by the pool and they gave us that and then wrote back that they were upgrading us without charge to a Garden room. We found out why a few days before we got there as we learned the pool was closed for its annual cleaning. We originally were disappointed but decided we would go anyway and see if they would upgrade us to a room in the original part that has direct views of the Pyramids or if not discuss a discount. When we checked in we spoke with them and they tried for a direct view room but they were all filled but gave us the room you see with a full view of the Great Pyramid.....

PS the pool had opened the day before.