Amazing experience with Mo!
Mohamed (Mo), our guide during the 4D3N cruise, was an exceptional, compassionate, and knowledgeable companion. He effortlessly led us through the significant attractions in South Egypt, imparting valuable insights into the archaeology, purpose, rituals, and landscapes associated with each temple. At every site, we left with a deeper understanding and increased knowledge. Mo's attentiveness was remarkable, constantly ensuring our comfort throughout the trip. He would promptly provide water if we were dehydrated and even surprise us with an ice cream treat when needed.
With fluency in hieroglyphics, English, and Arabic, and backed by 17 years of experience, Mo was undoubtedly instrumental in making our Luxor/Aswan experience unforgettable. If I ever have the opportunity to return, I would undoubtedly seek Mo's guidance once more. I would give him more than five stars if possible, but unfortunately, that is the maximum rating!
Chickkiwow · giu 2023 · tramite Tripadvisor
Ask for Mo!!
"You have the best tour guide in Egypt!" was what a shopowner told me as we walked through a bazaar. And true enough, Mohamed (Mo) was the most outstanding, caring and knowledgable guides I have had the pleasure of having.
Through our 4D3N on the cruise, Mo show us around the salient sights in South Egypt, explaining the archaeology, purpose, ritual and landscape behind each temple. We left every sight feeling a little more knowledgable than before. He is also attentive and ensures you are comfortable throughout your stay — always on the lookout if you're dehydrated and need more water, or if you need an ice-cream perk me up along the way.
Fluent in hieroglyphics, English and Arabic; backed with 17 years of experience, Mo was certainly a cornerstone in making our Luxor/Aswan experience. If I ever do come back, I would engage with Mo again. More stars if I could but 5 is the max!!
ryankueh · giu 2023 · tramite Tripadvisor
Crucero por el nilo
Excelente experiencia. Precioso el Nilo. La tripulacion del barco atenta y amable. Comida de buena calidad. Debwn mejorar los cocktailes. Excelente nuestro guia privado... solo que esta epoca del año es muy calurosa
pilita12 · giu 2023 · tramite Tripadvisor
Amr is an amazing guide...plus a few tips to prepare for a Nile cruise experience.
To start with: level-set your expectations. I have been on multiple five-star Nile River cruises and none of them are the same five star that you can expect on-land. I like to think of it as over-glorified camping. Once you accept that, and prepare yourself accordingly, this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience to see some of the richest historical sites in the world.
Remember, this a smaller river cruise ship...not a giant ocean liner. The cruise line will be adequate. It will be clean, have a sun deck and a working small bathroom. The staff will generally be friendly and attentive. Don't expect too much more. It's a clean place to sleep. At the end of the day, you will be so busy with activities and seeing the sites, that you won't really be spending all that much time on the boat, but for maybe an afternoon while in transit/sailing.
The food will leave something to be desired. It's not inedible or unclean, but it's certainly not gourmet. It's a buffet.
For us, the biggest negative was the other passengers during mealtime. They were pushing, shoving, and generally rude as soon as the meal time hit. This creates an arms race of people grabbing heaps of the good food because they didn't want to have to brave the buffet line twice. Honestly, my spouse and I felt like we were farm animals feeding from a trough because of this. We tried showing up later in the meal time, and got attitude from the staff (unacceptable). The meal services staff arbitrarily decides where you sit, which is common on any cruise as they want to keep people who booked with certain companies and speak certain languages together. Our issue was that they kept changing where they wanted us to sit...they even asked us to move arbitrarily after we sat down with our food from the same table we had sat at before to another table when we were there at the end of the meal time and nearly all the tables were empty. We didn't want to be 'those guys', but we picked up McDonald's and ate it in our cabin in peace for one meal because we simply didn't want to deal with the buffet onboard.
At the end of the cruise, the meal services director asked us to fill out a survey (which was only available in French). We filled it out and did not put our names, wanting to remain anonymous in the spirit of an accurate survey. The meal service director gave us attitude AGAIN for that.
You will have an exhausting experience. Your wake-ups will be 0430 or earlier and the days will be long...there is TONS to see and do. But, it is an amazingly rewarding and enriching experience to see the sites. Trust me on this, you do not want to opt out of anything during this cruise and it is absolutely worth the lack of sleep for a few days.
The absolute highlight of our experience was our guide, Amr. His passion for Ancient Egypt is contagious. To be honest, by the end of this kind of cruise, all of the temples and tombs tend to start blending together a bit...kind of variations on a theme. That and the lack of sleep can make it difficult to get excited about the sites sometimes. Amr kept us excited and attentive throughout...he was excited, piqued our curiosity, and answered our questions throughout. His love of Ancient Egypt and his ability to 'nerd out' (in the best way possible) and go off on tangents about all things Ancient Egypt absolutely made the trip for us. Remember, this is an educational experience...expect this to be like an interactive history lesson in the actual historical sites. If you are not expecting this, this kind of a cruise may not be for you.
Your tour guide will ultimately be the biggest variable in your experience. Your group's relationship with your guide should be a two-way street. Given that, Amr adapted and changed the itinerary for us based on our interests and desires. Amr was super kind to us, really showing us the famous Egyptian Hospitality at its finest...he even went the extra mile to come with us to the airport at the end when we were running late to make sure we didn't miss our flight. If you are lucky enough to get Amr as your guide, I promise you that you will have an amazing cruise...he made the grin-and-bear-it elements mentioned above more than worth it.
In summation, go into this cruise prepared both mentally and physically. Your guide and your own mindset will determine your level of enjoyment. And ask for Amr as your guide!
Joshua_L · mag 2023 · tramite Viator
Cruise experience
The cruise experience was ok, but the whole experience was definitely an A+ because of our tour guide Ahmed Salama, very patient, extremely knowledgeable and very charismatic!
Paula T · mag 2023 · tramite Tripadvisor
Great tour guide
I had a nice experience on my first river cruise. The food was really good, but what I enjoyed the most was the tour and all the temples we visited. We had our private tour guide Ahmed Salama who is an excellent guide, very informative, he took his time to explained us all about the temples, and some other places. He was very patient with us, and he always gave us enough time to go around, to take photos and to rest. He also gave us some information about how the cruise was working and how much we could tip.
Mario F · mag 2023 · tramite Tripadvisor
Amazing trip
We enjoyed our trip. We had a great guide ,Salama, who was very knowledgeable, accommodating, organized, and gave us great information and suggestions on additional activities. It was an experience of a life time
aqui123 · mag 2023 · tramite Tripadvisor
Meraviglioso
Siamo stati benissimo. La nostra guida Emad è stata molto cortese e ben informata. Emad parlava un ottimo inglese e spiegava tutto in dettaglio. Migliore esperienza. Consiglierei questo senza esitazione. Molto gentile e sopra le aspettative. Per favore, prova questo non te ne pentirai.
Q4202JJdant · mag 2023 · tramite Tripadvisor · Tradotta
Nile Story: una piccola storia alta
Se capisci che tutto ciò che riguarda il turismo, specialmente in Egitto, è stato monetizzato, allora alcune delle irritazioni qui non ti infiammeranno. Ma forse sarai d'accordo sul fatto che 5 stelle sono un po 'troppo alte se hai un vero contesto a 5 stelle.
L'eccellente: Mostafa, la nostra guida, è stata superba. Cinque stelle per Mostafa di sicuro. Ha organizzato le cose all'ultimo minuto e ci ha comprato il gelato quando eravamo storditi e ci ha anche dato cinque dollari per il bagno quando avevamo solo hundos. Sapeva moltissimo sui siti che visitavamo ed era gentile e divertente. Anche tutti i piloti erano eccellenti e professionali.
Escursioni: vedi sicuramente cosa pubblicizzano e puoi pagare di più per escursioni aggiuntive (ad es. Abu Simbel, villaggio nubiano, giro in mongolfiera). Abbiamo avuto anche un sacco di tempo perché non siamo dei perdigiorno che leggono ogni segno ed è estremamente utile avere una guida. Il giro in mongolfiera con partenza alle 430 è un must.
Ora, il "bisogno di miglioramento".
In primo luogo, la barca: è una situazione da ottenere - cosa - tu - ottieni. Devono aver scattato foto delle migliori barche negli anni '90 o qualcosa del genere perché... no. La barca su cui alloggiavamo non affondò. Penso che sia il meglio che possiamo dire al riguardo. La barca da sola è una barca a 2 stelle su una scala da gommone a yacht.
Servizi: c'è una sala massaggi spacciata da una persona amichevole ma assolutamente inesorabile che ovviamente intende trarre profitto dall'amicizia. Questo è lo stesso con il negozio che vende magliette per 10 volte il prezzo al pubblico. L'unico percorso per la nostra stanza era oltre questi disturbatori perenni e in realtà ci siamo ritrovati a sgattaiolare oltre e cercare di schivarli sulla nostra esperienza di "lusso", che probabilmente non ha bisogno di ulteriori evidenziazioni di quanto sia un detrattore.
Il cibo: mah. Voglio dire, va bene. Ci sono alcuni gruppi di turisti che sembrano non aver mai mangiato prima e causano una devastazione di massa mentre i loro piatti sono impilati. Se vuoi del cibo, dovresti arrivarci all'apertura. Ci sono tavoli assegnati in modo approssimativo e sembrano sconvolti se non ti siedi lì anche se non ci sono posti a sedere o posate. Inoltre, ogni drink ti costerà denaro e non hanno paura di farti pagare. Ti scrivono subito una ricevuta e te la fanno firmare in camera. Non c'è attesa fino alla fine anche se hai intenzione di ordinare più bevande. Il personale e gli chef erano gentili e cordiali, ma l'intera sala da pranzo era solo una sorta di vibrazioni caotiche.
Il tono di questa recensione sarebbe probabilmente diverso se alla fine non venissimo sostanzialmente truffati. Abbiamo aspettato tre ore nella hall dalla fine del tour al trasporto aeroportuale e abbiamo avuto fame. Stavamo parlando del pranzo e hanno detto di sì, per favore, unisciti a noi al piano di sotto. Avevamo già fatto il check-out ma nessuno ha detto nulla sul pagamento o altro e dato che avevamo appena dato la mancia ed eravamo stati piuttosto generosi tutt'intorno, siamo scesi a pranzo. Abbiamo mangiato mezzo piatto ciascuno e siamo rimasti lì per un totale di 15 minuti, abbiamo fatto una bella chiacchierata mentre uscivamo con persone che ci avevano visto tutti i giorni e poi ci è stato presentato un conto di 500 LE dopo aver assistito a un acceso scambio tra l'uomo "che correva ” il ristorante e la reception con molti sguardi arrabbiati verso di noi dal primo.
La linea di fondo è che sarebbe difficile vedere così tante cose in modo così efficiente, ma le immagini e le descrizioni della barca sono fuorvianti e tutti coloro che ti gestiscono cercano costantemente di estorcerti denaro tutto il giorno, tutti i giorni, e specialmente quando sei in partenza. Ciò non è coerente con un'esperienza a cinque stelle.
82tiar · mag 2023 · tramite Tripadvisor · Tradotta
Detto è il migliore!
Io e i miei amici abbiamo fatto un tour privato da Assuan a Luxor e abbiamo avuto il meglio della migliore guida turistica. Sayed è il nostro uomo. Si è preso cura di noi così bene. Molto istruttivo, premuroso, disponibile e con una grande energia. Abbiamo fatto molte attività e visitato tutti i templi. Consiglio questo tour. Ti divertirai moltissimo in Egitto.
Jp J · mag 2023 · tramite Tripadvisor · Tradotta
