Nile River Cruise – Cruising Egyptian Style

Whether it was the housekeeping staff who arranged our towels in different shapes each day (my favorite was the crocodile), or the restaurant staff who knew what Eamonn was going to ask for before he opened his mouth, everyone on the boat was there to make our cruise as relaxing and easy as possible. Add to this the service of a private guide for all your tours and sightseeing, and you are looking at a well-organized, value-for money cruising experience.

The scenery along the Nile is stunning. Outside of the main cities, the water is a deep blue while the banks are lined with lush greenery, dramatically backed against the yellow and orange sands of the desert. From time to time, we would pass small villages or isolated houses where local farmers and their families were going about their daily business. The odd water buffalo would appear on the fringe of the banks, chewing lazily on reeds and water plants. The only sounds to be heard were the braying donkeys and the occasional call to prayer from the mosques hidden amongst the palm trees.

My favorite day on the tour was during the leg from Luxor to Aswan. There is a lock that all river traffic must pass through to get between the two great cities, however, there are a lot of cruise ships servicing the Nile.

At many ports of call your boat lines up side by side with three or four others and you will walk through the lobbies of each ship to get to shore. Because of the number of vessels, on arrival in Esna it is 99 percent guaranteed you will have to wait your turn to pass. It may only be an hour, it may be several, it all depends on traffic on the day. When it was our turn, we spent almost a whole day waiting on the far side of the lock. This is the side without a town attached, so the boats just line up and park and there is nowhere to go. You may think—how dull! But you would be wrong, this was a great day! Without any time pressures to be on and off the boat for shore visits, we were free to laze around for the whole day. Almost the whole boat headed to the sun deck to claim a lounge and settle in for the day. After breakfast we claimed our spot and settled in, until the inboard massage therapist came around to tempt us. Eamonn was not to be swayed, I on the other hand couldn’t resist a one hour massage at the bargain price of forty dollars.