General: Egypt

Before even beginning this review of our recent holiday, I must preface it with the fact that my wife works as a cruise consultant for MyTravel plc, and so we got a heavily-discounted price for this holiday of a lifetime: consequently any overall holiday cost indication would be irrelevant. ( I daren't even say how little we paid for it, but my wife had worked hard to get the bonus points and concessions she used against the cost, honest!)
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...allegedly starting at Luxor, followed by a 7 night stay at the Iberhotel, 4*, in Luxor, beginning in early June 2006 through Panorama Holidays, part of MyTravel.

As the flight time from Manchester was over 5 hours to Luxor, my wife had taken the very wise move of pre-booking extra-legroom seats both ways (about £40 per person), which, as I am 6ft and notoriously twitchy on planes, was a definite GOOD IDEA: all the sardines squashed ... more

Before even beginning this review of our recent holiday, I must preface it with the fact that my wife works as a cruise consultant for MyTravel plc, and so we got a heavily-discounted price for this holiday of a lifetime: consequently any overall holiday cost indication would be irrelevant. ( I daren't even say how little we paid for it, but my wife had worked hard to get the bonus points and concessions she used against the cost, honest!)

We booked a 7-night cruise on the Nile, allegedly starting at Luxor, followed by a 7 night stay at the Iberhotel, 4*, in Luxor, beginning in early June 2006 through Panorama Holidays, part of MyTravel.

As the flight time from Manchester was over 5 hours to Luxor, my wife had taken the very wise move of pre-booking extra-legroom seats both ways (about £40 per person), which, as I am 6ft and notoriously twitchy on planes, was a definite GOOD IDEA: all the sardines squashed into the charter plane for 5 hours eyed me, luxuriously and ostentatiously stretching my legs out and waggling my feet about in the air, with considerable jealousy.

The flight left on time and was uneventful and smooth, ( we'd also prepaid for inflight meals) so we were looking forward with considerable anticipation to our embarkation on board the cruise ship at Luxor.

On arrival at Luxor airport, the usual immigration.carousel hassle occurs, with the added excitement of having to give £10 cash to some guy in a booth per person, for a visa, who then gives you a great fistful of indescribably filthy and smelly Egyptian notes in change, if you don't tender precisely the correct amount. Useful as tips, however.

Reunited with our bags, we made our way outside, dodging the 'porters', as we'd been to North Africa before, and were directed to our transfer coach. This was around midnight, by then, and I forgot to mention the impact of the heat we experienced when leaving the plane via the steps they thoughtfully provided. On leaving the plane, it was as if we'd stepped into the exhaust from the plane's engines: it was 40C at about 11.30 pm! Quite warm.

On presenting ourselves at our coach, amidst considerable confusion and chaos and 40C temperature and darkness and lots of men running around in long dresses, we were told that in fact our cruise ship was some 1 hour's drive away, at Esna, not at Luxor,as it was the time when the locks are closed on the Nile. Fortunately I'd taken the precaution of filling a pop bottle with vodka & orange before we left, so by that time, I didn't really care.

Our first impressions had not been particularly favourable, as you may have guessed. A note for alcohol drinkers: Egypt is a Muslim country, and alcohol is not freely available in shops. Drinks in hotel bars and restaurants are roughly UK prices, and then some, so before departing, hide lots of Asda booze in your luggage, or buy it at the Duty-Free shop at Luxor airport, after immigration, BEFORE leaving the airport for your coach: same goes for decent cigarrettes.

So, we finally left the airport in a convoy of coaches along the bumpy dusty potholed roads, accompanied by an armed Police escort ( more of this later), to Esna, some 40 or 50 miles away.

We had booked the cruise on board the MV 'Suntimes' on an all-inclusive basis, for which I was again eternally grateful for my wife's foresight, as bar-drinks on board the merely 'full-board' cruise ships we heard later, were Very expensive ( try £ 6.00 for a spirit and £3.00 for a brand beer). Just let it be said that I always get MAXIMUM value from any holiday which includes free drinks... enough said.

At around 1.00 AM we finally embarked on board the Suntimes, having passed through several other cruisers to get to it.... the cruisers all park up for the night line abreast, maybe 5 or 6 side by side, so yours might be in the middle of this gang of ships, or at the end. not terribly-disabled-friendly, by the way, as there's lots of jumping or stepping onto cruisers parked side by side, but this is mentioned in the brochure.

All Nile Cruisers seem to have been built by the same shipyard, as they're nearly all the same shape and size and configuration, and they cruise about in convoys and park up together in a huddle for the night: there's hundreds of them, btw, but the Nile's an Extremely wide river, mostly, so it's not like you're on a kinda fairground ride thing.They're about the size of a Mississippi steamship,I imagine, for my American cousins,with about 80 cabins, all pretty much the same.

Nice short welcoming party ( it was after 1.00 am!), in the extremely luxurious surroundings of the Suntimes' bar, where we met our tourguide and 'rep', Rami, a postgraduate in Egyptology and Egyptian Antiquities and very nice guy,

He cooly informed us that our first trip to the Valley of the Kings (in Luxor, you remember, where we'd just been driven 40 miles from) left at 6.00 AM, with breakfast at 5.00 AM (4 hours sleep).
This was greeted with groans, but as all the trips were included in the price, we couldn't really miss, could we?
Cabins are nice, very compact but clean, and with a nightly jokey towel-arrangement on your bed every evening, provided by the ever-zealous cabin stewards, more of whom later.

I believe that the trips to the various temples, tombs, etc on the west bank of the Nile @ Luxor are covered pretty well elsewhere in Luxor section, so I won't dwell. Everything that is said is correct... sadly, in summer the temperature there soars to well above 50C in the sun, by around 11:00 AM, which is why the early starts are vital: for a Northern European, temperatures approching 130F are simply unbearable: you just want to run away, believe me! Even the water in your bottle almost starts to boil: no wonder those mummies stayed so dried up & well preserved; I felt like one myself. Going in 3 tombs is enough, believe me.

But, back at the ship, everything is ultimate Luxury. on arrival back from each hot sweaty trip, you're greeted with glasses of hot Egyptian tea ( which actually is better at cooling you down than a cold drink), and cooling towels for your face & hands.

Fabulous.

The Suntimes is one of the newer ships on the Nile, and as such is extremely kind of, retro-P&O circa 1935. Gleaming polished brasswork, mahogany walls, crystal chandeliers eveywhere, comfy sofas, wall-to-wall servants carrying silver trays full of free drinks at your slightest command, free delicious snacks if you aren't already stuffed from the 3 buffet meals you have to eat every day. That's not to mention the freshly-made crepes or cakes which are presented at around 4: pm every afternoon on the top sundeck. With extra drinks, of course. You can also have coffee & tea .
The cruise experience on board this ship mirrors, on a smaller scale, that which you get on board an upscale P & O cruise, minus the many bars, theatres, etc.
On arrival, as with most cruises, you're allocated a set table, with a bunch of strangers, who soon become your friends, as you have to see them 3 times a day for meals.

The food is of extremely high quality: normally standard Euro-Food, with a great choice, along with Middle-Eastern cuisine and Egyptian delicacies. Although it must be said, those Brits with a penchant for beans on toast, liver & onions, fish & chips, or sausage and mash need not apply for this holiday. Stay in Magaluf if you require this. Bacon is unavailable.

The wall-to-wall staff are extremely highly trained and very friendly, and keep the drinks flowing with a minimum of fuss.

Every night in the large bar, there's a variety of Egyptian entertainment, and free drinks, with belly-dancers, whirling dervishes, magicians, crap singers and Nubian horse-dancers: an amazing experience. Followed by a Euro-disco, if you're up for it, considering you need to be up very early the following morning for the next trip out.

Our in-house tour guide and mentor was an extremely affable and knowledgeable guy named Rami, who, as well as being a Post-Grad in egyptian archaeology, was an expert in explaining all the finer points of heiroglyphics, how to avoid hassle, how to best approach every Egyptian mystical object we encountered, the demography of the country, and the cultural significance of everything we saw. He guided us us every day in our little group of around 30 with skill and considerable knowledge: it makes a great difference if your guide is highly intelligent and cultured: Panorama had got it just right employing this guy. He was also apparently very attractive to the females in our group. I wouldn't know,

Included in the Nile Cruise was at least one excursion per day, including a visit to the Aswan dam, which is VERY big, the Temples of Kom Ombo, Temple of Hatchetsup, Karnak, Luxor, Phylae, Edfu Temple, Temples of Horus and and Collossi of Memnon, unfinished obelisk(which was crap, btw... avoid), a Felucca ride at sunset, accompanied by lil boys in home-made boats,and some others which I forget. Too many to mention,each of which was made even more magical by our resident Egyptologist, Rami. A few stops en-route to various perfume factories, alabaster factories, papyrus factories, etc, are also included. the majority of these trips are fairly standard, and i chose not to cover them in this review: details are available elsewhere.

Every night, after you'd left your cabin for dinner, on arrival back at the cabin to refresh before going down to the bar, the cabin steward had cheekily created a wierd scupture of towels and a variety of your personal belongings left on the table or bed, such as Mummy with shades, a monkey hanging from the ceiling, swans, crocodiles, etc, etc. Very amusing when you've had a couple of drinks. They also quietly noted that it was my wife's 50th birthday one evening, and the chef baked a special iced cake for her & left it in our room, with flowers, candles and a card signed by the crew. She was in tears when she saw that, as were our by now firm table friends, after returning from the bar, although at all times, the cabin staff remain largely invisible to the guests.

The actual cruise bit of the trip was extremely memorable, as you may tell from this review, but bear in mind the extreme heat on the top deck. The internal body of the ship is very well air-conditioned, but the top deck, with bar, snack-bar and pool, is open to the full 50C+ temperatures and blazing blue skies: so only serious sunbathers need apply to this bit. shaded sunbeds and comfy sofas are available at the back bit of the top deck.

The scenery whilst cruising slowly up and down the Nile, is also amazing. It's an extremely fast-flowing river, but there's no feeling of motion. Villages, small towns, fields, floating islands of papyrus leaves with herons nests, logs passing by, ibises flying around the ship, villagers and camels waving at you as you glide by... magical.

However....one small thing.....Everywhere you go in Egypt, you're accompanied by big Kalashnikov-wielding Tourist/Antiquities guards/soldiers, some of whom even stay discreetly on the cruise ships. They are very nice, fairly discreet, and very welcome, I'll tell you. They stay in the background.

These guys are Well-Hard, well tooled-up with heavy-duty weapons, and, make any potential worry of being threatened by terrorist acts disappear, honest. In fact, me & my wife always made a point of saying ' Salaam Aleikum' to every one of them, and sticking close to em, just in case! HaHa. We were very well protected against any spurious terrorist attempt and after a bit they just become part of the scenery. Very reassuring, those guys were.

Needless to say, after the week's cruise, we were very sad to leave the Suntimes: holiday of a lifetime, believe you me!

And, btw, not a single nasty smell encountered anywhere on the Nile, nor mosquitoes, nor flies. We were most surprised.. and this was in June.

After the cruise, we had a week's stay at the Iberhotel in Luxor, which is very nice, but not a patch on the cruise bit.

The hotel is a 4*, and perfectly nice, with a balcony view across the Nile to the Valley of the Kings and Hatchetsup's Temple, and only a 5 minute walk from the Temple of Luxor, or a 5 minute taxi-ride from the Temple of Karnak, which, btw, is best viewed after 7:00 pm, when the sun's setting and the temperature's dropped below 45C, and the light makes for very good dramatic pictures.

After the cruise experience, a bit of a let down, but the museum at Luxor is WELL worth a visit: Small, one big room, but with VERY dramatic lighting, lots of carefully-chosen exhibits, including maby excellent bits from Tutankhamun's tomb, and 2 extremely good and scary-looking Mummies The Mummification museum is very poor in comparison.

Visit the Karnak or Luxor temples after 7: 00 pm for good photos - the setting sun from the West Bank makes for very dramatic, shadowed, golden-tinged photos, and it's quieter and cooler.. they were both open til about 9 or 10 pm when we were there.

Best to eat at the small restaurants/kebab/cafe places next to the Nile, opposite the Winter Palace, for a real Egyptian cullinary experience... take the steps DOWN to the riverside from the main promenade and you'll avoid all the hustlers on the promenade there... it's guarded by the ubiquitous AK-wielding tourist guards, who keep the hustlers away, and is a nice relaxing experience, at cheap prices. And, unbelievably, no flies or mosquitoes or nasty smells: my wife couldn't believe it... the first time she's not been bitten in over 30 years of travelling round Europe.

For those who don't want to pay exhorbitant prices for booze:

Bottles of sprits at roughly Asda/Walmart prices are available secretly by flagging down a taxi. Sorry, waiting 10 seconds for a taxi to stop next to you, and saying' I want alcohol and British cigarettes'... the driver'll sort you out by taking you immediately to an appropriate shop in the dusty scary crazy heartland of Luxor, at a very reasonable price, even more reasonable if you give them the promise of hiring them for a trip somewhere the following day. An experience in itself, but rewarding: you won't get ripped off.

Sorry if this review's gone on a bit, but I was honestly trying to contribute a fairly accurate description of our last vacation.

Bear in mind that Egypt is a developing country, and try to be as generous and nice as possible to the lovely people there. It's an amazing experience.

 

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