A Cruise to remember

During one of our holidays to Crocodile Island at Luxor in Egypt we signed up to go on a Nile Cruise with our tour operator, Thomsons. It was for four days and three nights and cost £330 all inclusive this included an outside cabin, (a window cabin), all meals some buffet some a la Carte, our own guide, (English speaking Egyptologist), all the trips and entrance charges to the temples and museums. We were so excited as we had not planned to do a cruise before we came to Egypt, but we were shown a short film and given all the details at our welcome rep meeting when we first arrived. They made the cruise sound so exotic and beautiful and yes they were right it was everything and more. We were advised on what we should wear and that we would need plenty of water as all the trips to the temples and museums would be at the hottest time of the day. Plenty of sun block for my wife and daughter and hats or caps for us all. I'm just thinking now how much has happened over the centuries up and down The Nile the mind wonders at the romance and history of it all, and we were a part of that history, nothing spectacular I know, but still a part. We were told to be up for five o'clock Tuesday morning ready to go on our journey, we had arranged with the hotel, The Movenpick Jolie Ville, to have three packed breakfasts to go and sure enough they were there at reception waiting for us.

Not many people about at this time as they were probably still unpacking, we did notice a swimming pool though, only small but a very welcome sight. We decided to sit for a while and take it all in and within thirty seconds a waiter came over and asked us if we wanted anything. This was the life I thought and we ordered one tea, one coffee and a fanta. Tips, ( bacsheesh ),make up and add to a waiters wages, which are about £3 a week so we always work on a 10% of the bill this gives us peace of mind and the waiter normally gives you a better looking after if that's at all possible. The whole of the area that was the upper deck was under shade and that made it more comforting as there was no breeze at all. It was not long before the bell rang out telling us that lunch was served so we made our way to the dining area where there were at least twenty tables laid out beautifully with shining cutlery and sparkling glasses. We were shown to our table, which seated six of us, this being where we had to sit for the duration of the journey, the other three on the table were from Mansfield and we made good friends with them over the next few days.The food was brilliant and there was plenty of it and it was laid out buffet style this is what we preferred as we like bits and pieces of everything rather than a lot of one thing.

We ended the evening in the bar where you could get all the usual drinks including bottled or draught lager, all the main spirits and all the usual soft drinks, tea and coffee could be had at anytime. Getting to sleep was easy after the hard day we had eating and drinking and sunning ourselves, oh and the gentle sway of the boat from the slow current of the Nile tied up alongside the jetty. The next morning we awoke early and were first to the buffet breakfast, this is when we were given the itinerary for the rest of the journey, and after that we had to meet in reception and we were put into our groups this is when we met our guide. He was an Egyptologist from Cairo and could speak better English than me, it took him no time at all to introduce himself and to tell us that he would not have too much time for stragglers so please stay together at all times and try to keep an eye on him up front waving his Indiana Jones style of hat aloft. He told we were off to the valley of the Kings and Queens and promptly led us down to the awaiting coach that whisked us off to the valley. On entering the start of the valley of the Kings there is not a lot to see as this was one reason why the Pharaohs picked this valley as security against robbers. We had to go from the coach on to a tractor road train with four open air carriages that took us the final half a mile to where all the tourist would congregate a short walk away from the tomb entrances.

On the way back we stopped at an Alabaster factory, in the town called Qurna, where there were dozens of children scattered around the place covered in fine white dust from head to toe all with hammers and chisels in their hands trying to form various statues and Pharaoh type busts from various sized lumps of marble like stone. In the shop it was stacked from floor to ceiling with all kinds of historical figures and animals, no prices though you are expected to haggle. After about an hour here it was back on the coach and back to the boat, in the shower, get changed and then back to the upper deck for a lounge and drink. A camera is a must because there was a photo opportunity every five minutes, like the train of donkey's with extremely large quantities of sugar cain on their backs, or the small mountains

Pictures of Nile cruises

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A boat

This was now our last night on board the boat, it was Thursday and we were all to dress up for our final dinner but this time it was on the Upper deck. While we were at the temple they had cleared the whole of the upper deck and put the table and chairs from the dining room in place of the loungers it was a great sight to be seen. Down the centre of the tables was a very long table where all the food was to be laid out. We new about all this when we first got our itinerary which gave us ample time to plan and buy whatever we fancied dressing up like. They wanted us to dress traditionally Egyptian style and luckily there was a small shop onboard that catered for this, how handy was that then. All three of us picked Galabaya's as our attire for the evening one because they were cheap second because they were light cool and third because you could wear them over anything. Everyone that we could see were all very much enjoying themselves, they were all getting their photo's taken by some of the waiters and the shop owner was going around taking pictures of everyone to sell the next day. There was plenty to eat and drink and it was of the highest quality. We all then ended up in the bar where we played games for hours, I got wrapped in toilet paper and looked like a mummy but we did not complete the game quick enough and got beat by a French couple who must have had better quality toilet paper than us, damn cheek.

They bragged that they could mimic all the great perfumes of the world and all the great names of the world were mentioned. They came round everyone painting a small sample on different parts of our arms and then asking us who they thought made this scent. It did go on for a while and it was good that they had all them fans as it would of been very hot. At the end of the lecture, by the so called Doctor of Perfume we were asked which perfume we wanted to buy at a fraction of the cost of high street prices, all major credit cards accepted, oh and cash. Back to the boat for the last time this is when we all said goodbye to our wonderful guide who looked after us all extremely well and guided us with distinction, he was well tipped by all and gave a short speech on how we were the best group he had led, yeah ok. Then we had our last lunch before joining our coach for the long four and a half hour journey back to Luxor. When we got on the coach we had to join a very long convoy of over fifty coaches, mini buses and cars that were travelling north to Luxor that had to be escorted by the army for security reasons, thing is we have always felt very secure and welcome in this country.