3 night Nile cruise
My tour guide Ahmed Salama was very knowledgeable and helpful. He spend time explaining the history and timeline. If you are very interested in the history then I suggest you have him as your guide. I was traveling solo and it was the right balance between helping, explaining and letting me do my thing.
The river cruise was decent but I didn’t realize that even thought the cruise says it starts on Wednesday, the boat didn’t leave until Thursday afternoon. So there was no need to get to Aswan on Sunday,
Felucca boat ride included with the cruise- waste of time. It was obvious that it was a forced part of the cruise- they bring you out to the middle of the river just off the boat, sit there for 20 minutes while one guy uncovers a table of junk to sell and embarrasses you into buying it- then you have to tip them
on top of it. I took a very nice felucca ride on my own the day before to the old Nubian village and it was great- separate from the cruise trip.
The Boat- was clean, well decorated, comfortable beds. Wifi is not the best but it is a boat so just don’t plan on needing it. The room cleaners do a great job and have fun making towel animals daily. The employees in the boat are very nice. Good source of transport from Aswan to Luxor if you’re ok with it not leaving until the next day.
Food was just average.
Not included—
-Abu Simbal was not included but was offered for and extra $160. 3 hour drive there and another 3 back- leave at 4:15 am. Worth it as Abu Simbal is very impressive- just kind of expensive for the drive.
- balloon ride in Luxor $90 extra but totally worth it.
Overall a nice trip with a good tour guide- I think the guide is what makes all the difference in the trip.
wildride · Feb 2022 · via Tripadvisor
Amazing Tour!!!
From the start to the end, Mohammed (the owner of the tour) was amazing, he also help us to bought a ticket to flight from Cairo to Aswan, unfortunatly we had an issue with the hot ballon that was cancelled due to bad water and Mohammed do not hesitate and return our money, it was 100% excelent!!!
Our both guides were amazing as well, both Mohammed with so much information to give!!!
Alessandro_Z · Jan 2022 · via Viator
Memorable tour of Ancient Egypt
Had the most amazing tour of Ancient Egypt on the beautiful Nile. Saw Egyptian monuments from Aswan to Luxor dating back thousands of years to the Pharaohs, Greeks and Romans. It was like traveling back into time. What an incredible experience. Our tour guide Ahmad Salama made our experience even more memorable and enjoyable . He is knowledgeable pleasant active and energetic and we thoroughly enjoyed being with him. Learned a lot about Ancient Egypt on this trip. Highly recommended!!
MrsNaim · Jan 2022 · via Tripadvisor
Experience of a lifetime.
Excellent cruise and it’s onboard and off and on shore activities. Well organized with staff and private tour guides. Food was plenty in variety and very tasteful. My private tour guide was very knowledgeable, polite, respectful and a thorough gentleman. He made our trip very exciting.
Soloxyz · Jan 2022 · via Tripadvisor
the guide spend more time trying to sell us staff rather than letting us enjoy the sites
You pay for a 4 day program but it doesn’t mention anywhere that you have to be in Aswan by 9am at the latest if you want to join the 1st day of activities. Even though we were lucky to join as we arrived a day early, our guide tried to skip the unfinished obelisk from the program. He simply asked the driver to pull over next to the fence on the way back to say what it is and then asked him to continue a minute later even though the tickets to the site are included in the price you pay. After our objection and convincing 4 of the people from our group that there is nothing to see he let us go in saying that we have 5 to 10 minutes to go around. This was very difficult for the other couple which came together with us because they had 2 small children that needed to be carried up and down the site. The guide did not even join us for explanations of the site and the money for the entrance fees for the other people who did not join I assume he kept for himself. In contrast, there was no time limit when he brought us to a parfum shop. We had to spend about an hour there even though we were ready to leave after the first 10 minutes, so I assume he earns a commission. Prices there are negotiable btw, and can be easily cut in half or more, unless you are stupid enough to pay the initial price. The same goes for the alabaster shop where he brought us. We felt really rushed at all the sites that we were supposed to visit, including Philae temple where at the end we spend an hour sitting at the café in front of the exit, so he can tell us about all the overpriced optional tours we can book. 120 USD per person for Abu Simbel, 80 USD pp for a Hot air balloon and so on, which you can book for half the price elsewhere. For example, we paid only 17eur pp for the Sound & Light show at Karnak temple, even though this tour asked for 50usd or 60usd for it. Btw, we do not recommend that show at all. Was so boring we couldn’t wait to leave. Every time the guide says this is the last time you see this driver it means you have to tip. For the boat to Philae temple he asked everyone in the boat to tip 10 egp (for a full boat) even though the day before the tour we paid the same amount for a private boat for 2 people over the same distance. All in all, I felt rushed and cheated during the tours. Our guide spent more time trying to sell us things and bragging over his PhD than he spent actually telling us something over the sights.
About the cruise boat, we were first told that we will travel on board of either Ms/Blue Shadow, Ms/Crown Prince or Radamis II cruise. Then a day before the tour we were told we will be on board of Jaz crown Jewel Nile cruise with a review score of only 7 out of 10 on Booking.com which I found disappointing given that we booked a more expensive tour hoping for a better boat. Luckily, in the end we traveled on board of Steigenberger Legacy Nile Cruise with a review score of 9.3 as there were not a lot of tourists for our dates. The room were nice and clean. The quality of the food on board was good. There was even a short entertainment program on the last day despite the fact the boat was almost empty. The only part that was not ok was the stereo music which had some sort of malfunction and kept going drastically up and down in volume or stopping all together, but I assume they will fix that.
PS. I also forgot to mention that we were not picked up from our hotel because it was on the west bank of the Nile and were asked to meet the guide on the East side of the river.
Iliana_A · Jan 2022 · via Viator
amazing trip
This was an incredible trip: We debated if going to Dubai or Egypt and I am so glad we went for Egypt. There was so much to see and do and the sites we visited were breathtaking. The trip is very well organized, complete with pick ups and drop off at airport, and the cruise is definitely the best and most comfortable way to see all the sites.
Special thanks to Achmed who made our trip unforgettable: he was extremely professional and courteous, patient and kind, knowledgeable and fun, and made sure everything would run smoothly for us, smiling throughout. which I am sure was not small feat given how many sites we visited and how much there was to do. Above all, our kids loved him and he was a great company for the adults as well.
London_traveller2022 · Jan 2022 · via Tripadvisor
Sailing The Nile
The boat was decent, and the food quite good. However- the trip was made truly special by our guide- Mohamed. His insight, experience, comedy, and perspective enhanced our trip every day.
Would strongly recommended touring these great locations with a consistent, quality guide. Also pay the extra money for the sunrise hot air balloon ride- well worth it!!
Roving17825883388 · Jan 2022 · via Tripadvisor
An amazing cruise experience
We took a 4 day 3 night cruise from Aswan to Luxor. The trip was fun with stoppage at different cities and temples. Beshoy Anton was our guide throughout the trip. He was quite patient and helpful to us during our 4 day trip. He is an interesting man doing different things. The cruise booked for us was M/S Sapphire, it's really nice and classy. The food is good, serving staff is very helpful. We visited several temples during this time
kiran288514 · Jan 2022 · via Tripadvisor
Reservamos o cruzeiro,...
Reservamos o cruzeiro, tivemos o acompanhamento do guia Mohamed, conhecedor da história do Egito.
Com relação ao barco, tudo muito bom, serviço e quarto maravilhosos. Infelizmente, fizeram alteração do nosso barco dia antes de embarcarmos, e o barco que navegamos era bem lento, o que resultou na chegada tardia à cidade de Luxor. Os passeios de um dia ficaram todos para o outro. Foi bem cansativo, e nossa sorte foi que o nosso vôo era apenas de noite, senão teríamos perdido as visitas ao Templo de Luxor e ao Templo de Karnak. Eu ainda mandei mensagem, meses antes do embarque, para a empresa perguntando qual seria nosso barco, e nos responderam outros que não foi o que embarcamos. Apesar do barco ser bom, sua navegação era muito mais lenta que os outros, o que poderia ter ocasionado a perda nas visitas dos templos.
RAISSA_B · Dec 2021 · via Viator
Cruise Aswan to luxor
Had a wonderfull time! Everything was well arranged and been taken care off.
My guide Achmed explained everything very good and with a lot off passion. Also he arranged everything for me during the cruise and if I had extra questions I could always ask him.
Very high quality tour!!!
WVlem · Dec 2021 · via Tripadvisor
