Nile Story: a small tall tale
If you understand that everything about tourism, especially in Egypt, has been monetized then some of the irritants here will not inflame you. But maybe you will agree that 5 stars is a bit too high if you have any actual 5 star context.
The excellent: Mostafa our guide was superb. Five stars for Mostafa for sure. He arranged things last minute and bought us ice cream when we were light headed and also gave us fivers for the toilet when we only had hundos. He knew an immense amount about the sites we visited and was kind and funny. All the drivers were also excellent and professional.
Excursions: you definitely see what they advertise and can pay more for additional excursions (eg Abu Simbel, Nubian village, balloon ride). We had plenty of time too because we aren’t dawdlers who read every sign, and it is extremely helpful to have a guide. The 430am departure hot air balloon ride is a must.
Now, the “needs improvement”.
First, the boat: it’s a get-what-you-get situation. They must have taken pictures of the best boats back in the 90s or something because… no. The boat we stayed on did not sink. I think that’s about the best we can say about it. The boat alone is a 2 star boat on a scale of dinghy to yacht.
Amenities: there is a massage parlor peddled by a friendly but absolutely unrelenting person who obviously intends to profit from friendship. This is the same with the store which sells t-shirt merch for 10x the street price. The only path to our room was past these perennial hecklers and we actually found ourselves slinking past and trying to dodge them on our “luxury” experience, which probably doesn’t need further highlighting of how much a detractor that is.
The food: Meh. I mean it’s fine. There are some tourist groups who seem to have never eaten before and they cause mass devastation as their plates are piled high. If you want any of the food you should get there at opening. There are loosely assigned tables and they seem upset if you don’t sit there even if there are no seats or no cutlery. Also, every drink will cost you money and they have no chill about charging you. They write you a receipt immediately and make you sign it to the room. There is no waiting to the end even if you are planning to order more drinks. The staff and chefs were nice and friendly but the whole dining room was just sort of chaotic vibes.
The tone of this review would probably be different if we didn’t basically get swindled at the end. We had a three hour wait in the lobby from tour end to airport transport and we got hungry. We were talking about lunch and they said yes please join us downstairs. We had already checked out but nobody said anything about paying or anything and since we had just tipped and had been pretty generous all around we went down for lunch. We ate half a plate each and were there for a total of 15 minutes, had a nice chat on our way out with people who had seen us everyday and then were presented with a 500LE bill after witnessing a heated exchange between the man “running” the restaurant and front desk with a lot of angry glances at us from the former.
The bottom line is that it would be hard to see so many things so efficiently but the pictures and descriptions of the boat are misleading and everyone who handles you is constantly trying to extract money out of you all day, everyday, and especially when you are leaving. That is not consistent with a five star experience.
82tiar · mei 2023 · via Tripadvisor
Sayed is the best!
Me and my friends did a private tour from Aswan to Luxor and we had the best of the best tour guide. Sayed is our man. He took care of us so well. Very informative, caring, helpful and have a great energy. We did and lot of activities and visited every temples. I recommend this tour. You will have an amazing time in Egypt.
Jp J · mei 2023 · via Tripadvisor
Sayed the Great
The Nile cruise is an absolute must. You get to visit all the amazing places that make Egypt so magical. The boat was very clean and the staff kind.
It was an even more phenomenal experience due to our incredible tour guide Sayed!!
My friends and I had a blast. He truly went above and beyond. First, Sayed is so brilliant, he is a man who is proud of his culture and really stresses the importance of understanding why you visit each and every site. Being in the glory of the temples and witnessing something that been around for CENTURIES is such a beautiful sight to behold.
Sayed ALWAYS made sure we were well hydrated and was sooo patient whenever we needed anything (food, shopping, bathroom break). Even when the weather was especially hot he made sure we kept cool by buying us sugar cane juice and snacks.
Everywhere he went he would greet his friends with such admiration and was extremely honest about everything. Protective and knowledgeable making the whole trip that much more fun!!!
PLUS he’s an incredible photographer.
Thank you so much Sayed for being you. I’m so blessed to have gotten the opportunity to meet you. I will never forget you!
Cadvincula123 · mei 2023 · via Tripadvisor
Amazing!
Mohamed was a great tour guide. So knowledgeable and so accommodating and very funny on top of that. Learned so much in such a short time. Definitely a tour I would recommend.
J9477XLarianap · mei 2023 · via Tripadvisor
Crociera consigliata
Guida che parlava in italiano dedicata a noi veramente in gamba e preparata. Ottimo cibo. Tour che ha toccato i siti più importanti. Bisogna essere pronti a svegliarsi presto; si potrebbe migliorare qualcosa relativamente ai tempi (ad esempio al tempio di Kom Ombo abbiamo avuto poco tempo, a Luxor abbiamo attraccato a circa 30 min di macchina da centro). Comunque crociera consigliata
Gabriele_I · mei 2023 · via Viator
Expérience positive grâce à la beauté des sites visités, ne pas prendre l'option guide privé!
De manière générale, la croisière s'est bien passée avec une chambre de qualité, le personnel du bateau toujours agréable et la restauration variée et bonne. Le rythme est assez soutenu avec des visites très tôt le matin. Seulement une nuit de navigation, c'est dommage. Une première nuit à quai à Assouan et une troisième nuit à quai à Louxor.
Beaucoup de belles visites avec de magnifiques découvertes.
Nous avions pris l'option guide privé et quelle déception. Nous sommes déçus de celle-ci.
Les seuls points positifs sont la facilité de la logistique.
Passons aux points négatifs: guide privé sans plus value, visite rapide sur lieux, exemple de visite type: à l'arrivée explications rapides et brèves, non poussées. Il nous laisse un peu de temps pour prendre des photos en nous attendant à l'ombre sur un banc! Seulement trois visites détaillée, Philaé, Kom Ombo et Edfu. Loin de nos attentes!
Des propositions pour acheter du parfum, des papyrus et statues sur différents lieux, à fuir totalement, arnaque!!!!!!!! Dommage que ce soit notre propre guide privé qui nous propose cela! Visite du dernier jour très décevante car notre guide devait... prendre le train à 10h30!!!!! Nous avons donc fait tout très vite et même depuis la voiture avec des explications sans même sortir de la voiture! Vraiment nous ne recommandons pas de prendre l'option guide privé! Nous avons davantage appris avec le guide du routard!
Expérience générale globalement positif tout de même par la beauté des sites visités!
Kevin_B · mei 2023 · via Viator
Not As Advertised
I did not get the cruise I selected and paid for. There was supposed to be belly dancing as entertainment. There was no entertainment at all! I purposely chose not to go to a belly dance show off ship because there was supposed to be a performance on ship. So I missed that opportunity. My guide even seemed puzzled about the lack of the entertainment.
The food was awful and very little to no Egyptian food offered. What Egyptian food offered was bland. Thank goodness I had traveled a week by myself without a tour group before the cruise or else I would have missed all the incredible food there is to eat in Egypt! It is amazing food! Some of the best street and local food there is!
I paid extra money to have a cabin to myself and was stuck in a grungy room that smelled like diesel fuel the whole time. I had headaches the whole time on board.
I got sick partly due to the smell and could not get hot water for a mint tea packet I had to ease my stomach nausea because hot water for drinking was only available during meal times in the dining room.
The only good thing about the cruise was my guide and drivers. Because I paid to have a private room, I got my own guide, who was the same the whole trip. This meant I had my own driver at each stop & excursion along the way. My guide and drivers were amazing. It was wonderful to get to know them. This also allowed me to spend more time at the sites and have a personalized tour based on my interests, which is not usually the same as others because I am not the typical touristy traveler.
If I ever get to return to Egypt, I would probably try a felucca or just travel by train and hire a guide & driver for the side trips separately if not part of the felucca reservation.
Kimberly_C · mei 2023 · via Viator
Amazing Egpyt Tour
Best trip, our guide Salama was honestly above what we expected, very knowledgeable, fun and friendly, took us to places that he told us about off tour that were so much better than you could imagine, also helped us out with anything we asked for from shopping, to getting a SIM card or escorting me to an atm, felt very safe and very welcomed in his company.
Thanks you for our great experience.
Matt and Abbie
J9960WKmattn · mei 2023 · via Tripadvisor
4-Day 3-Night Nile Cruise from Aswan to Luxor - Private Tour with the best guide Hassan
My sister and I went on a Nile Cruise ,3nights-4 days on the Sonesta moon goddess. We booked through Laxor and Aswan Travel. They gave us a very good offer and all expectations were met. Our private tour was led by Hassan our tour guide, who made this trip all worthwhile. His knowledge, humor and reading our demeanor was spot on!!! I can recommend him to anyone wanting a tour guide for their trip. Just ask for him when you book to be your guide. Staying an extra day in Luxor is worthwhile as there are many things to see beside what was included in the cruise itinerary. Hassan planned our tours for this day as well and choose the most awesome sights to see. This cruise is definitely recommended with Hassan as your tour guide!
mariesas2023 · mei 2023 · via Tripadvisor
La chambre était bien et...
La chambre était bien et les lits confortable mais la climatisation beaucoup trop forte.
La salle à manger était peu agréable, la nourriture moyenne et les serveurs bien que gentils étaient parfois mêler. Pas beaucoup d'atmosphère en général. Bref correct.
Avis: augmenter un peu vos forfaits et incluer les breuvages (sauf alcool) dans le prix.
Enfin, notre guide privé était exceptionnel, il a fait oublié le négatif.
Pierre_B · apr 2023 · via Viator
