I never thought I would have to sleep on the
bathroom floor on my AmaWaterways Nile River cruise to avoid a downside that no one warned me
about. I instead had been told to watch out for safety issues, pushy vendors, and getting the
infamous Egyptian upset stomach. So, how did I find it all? Was it worth it, even with those
two nights of sleeping on the bathroom floor? Welcome aboard. I'm Gary Bembridge. Let’s start
with the highs. First off, although I knew it would be impressive, nothing had prepared
me for the actual grandeur of the sights. My AmaWaterways trip was 11 days,
starting with 3-nights in Cairo, a 7-night Nile River Cruise sailing from Luxor to
Aswan and back and one final night back in Cairo. While in the city they took us to
see the three enormous pyramids and Great Sphinx at Giza, where
many guests went on camel rides. Two other Cairo highlights for me
were the Alabaster Mosque at the Citadel of Salah Eldin, and the
Museum of Egyptian Antiquities. But for me, the best sights
were on the cruise itself. At the start in Luxor, we visited the Valley of
the Queens to see the remarkable Nefertari’s tomb, and others like Titi’s Tomb, wife of
Rameses III. In the Valley of the Kings, I saw Tutankhamen's tomb, and three other
magnificent tombs with the most remarkable being Titi’s husband Ramses III’s tomb
stretching deep into the hillside. We also went spent time at the multi-level
Queen Hatshepsut's temple carved into the mountain side. This is one of my
favourites from the entire trip. Also in Luxor, we explored the 250-acre Karnak
Temple complex, which transported me into scenes I remembered from Agatha Christie’s “Death on the
Nile” film. We also ventured north to the Temple of Hathor, Goddess of Love, near Qena with its
magnificent blue ceilings depicting the zodiac. Then on the sailings to and from Luxor
to Aswan we called in at Edfu to see the enormous Temple of Horus, and at Kom Ombo
visited the only temple dedicated to two gods, Sobek (the Crocodile God) and Haroeris
(the Falcon-headed Good Doctor God). Once in Aswan we explored the Philae
Temple, which was moved in its entirely from an island that was going to disappear
under rising lake waters to a new island. I also experienced two things in Aswan
that will stay with me for years. First, was sailing on a felucca from the AmaDahlia
ship to have afternoon tea at the famous Old Cataract Hotel, where Agatha Christie
spent time writing “Death on the Nile”. And second was Abu Simbel. These massive and
jaw-dropping temples were moved 62 metres up and 200 metres along to avoid the
rising waters when Lake Nasser was built in the 1960s. Ever since I was
10 years old, when I learnt of this, I wanted to see it. It was the
highlight of the entire trip. Seeing so much packed into a 10-day trip
was something I loved about this trip. Though with so many temples and tombs
many have asked if I got “tomb fatigue”. While seeing so much could have got
repetitive, it was not thanks to the Egyptologist Guide. On AmaWaterways,
there was one per group of 24 passengers. To become an Egyptologist takes four years study, and I found mine, Nermeen a mountain
of information. She was entertaining, knowledgeable and a dab hand at helping us
navigate some of the challenges I come to later. I came away convinced that Nermeen was crucial in
making this trip. So, if you ever cruise the Nile make sure you check how good the company you are
considering is rated for the Egyptologist guides. Another best thing was sailing
the Nile itself. Unfortunately, there wasn’t as much sailing as I'd hoped
because the distance covered is not that far. It’s just 140 miles (225km) from Luxor to
Aswan and many days we did not sail at all as we were docked overnight. More on that later
as that brought some unwelcome downsides. But when sailing, it was beautiful and calming. I especially enjoyed our first day of
sailing, when all the ships departed Luxor roughly the same time and raced each
other down to the Esna locks between Luxor and Aswan. Only 2 ships can enter
at a time, and it’s on a first come, first served basis. Watching the ships
jostling down the river was very entertaining. One of the fun things once at
the locks were the vendors in small rowboats that surrounded the ship,
shouting up about what they're selling, throwing items up to guests high up on
the sun deck and negotiating. It was entertaining and unthreatening, unlike the
vendors on land that I will come to a later. Another thing I liked was my AmaWaterways fare,
as with most Nile cruises, was all-inclusive, and pretty much everything was included,
and included someone on hand guiding us all the time from arrival to departure, which
as you will see later is very important. It was not a cheap trip and
the 11-nights including pre- and post-stays in Cairo cost
based on cabin type around $9,000 - $12,000 per couple excluding flights
there. (That’s around £7,000 - £9,500) Within that fare, I liked that I was met before
immigration at the airport and guided through, had all transfers, hotels in Cairo, flights to and
from Luxor, the river cruise, entry to the sites, food (breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner),
Wi-Fi (though not that good!), daily Sip & Sail hour with all drinks using Egyptian spirits
every evening, Egyptian beers and wines with lunch and dinner, entertainment events, and the
Cruise Manager (Walaa) and the Egyptologists. The only extra costs were optional and were
gratuities (around $250 per person for the land and cruise teams), laundry and three optional
tours (Abu Simbel at $350 as involved flights, Old Cataract Hotel Afternoon Tea
at $50 and Camel rides at Giza). Those were the best parts, now let
me talk about some unexpected lows about Nile River cruising, starting with this one. I was told by the crew that there are
at least 250 ships sailing the Nile, which means it is very busy as all are sailing
that short 120 Miles between Luxor and Aswan, which is why I saw 50 or more ships docked in
some places. For example, as we pulled into Edfu to visit the Temple of Horus, I counted
50 ships there. And counted even more in Aswan. As there are limited places to
dock, ships dock side by side, sometimes 4 or 5 ships deep, and in rows. On
some occasions I had four ships to walk through to get onto the bank. It meant my cabin
often had another ship a few feet away, making it dark. Venues like the dining
room and lounge would have the same too. This, of course, happens on European river
cruises too, but a difference here created another problem. Unlike in Europe, there is
no shore side power to plug into. In Europe, the river cruise ships mostly switch their
engines off and use electricity when docked. In Egypt the noisy and fume generating
petrol engines run 24 hours a day, seven days a week whether they are sailing or
not. And because they dock in rows close in front, I discovered that a cabin like mine close to the
front is unbelievably noisy from those engines. That’s why the first and last night docked
overnight in Luxor, even with earplugs, I ended up making a bed in my bathroom
to close the door and reduce the noise. It was unbelievably noisy, so make
sure you book midship as cabins at the rear could have the vibration and
noise from your ship’s engines too. This is very key as ships are
docked almost every night. We were docked for 6 of the 7 nights of the cruise! Not surprising with all the
ships, the land-based visitors, and the limited sites to go to meant
all places we went were extremely busy. The worst was the Valley of
the Kings, which Nermeen, our Egyptologist, called the “Valley of the
Tourists”. In the tombs it meant shuffling through with lines of people. Although
other places including Queen Hatshepsut temple, Karnak and Luxor Temples in Luxor and in
Cairo the pyramids and museum, were jam packed. One good thing about AmaWaterways and
doing a seven-night itinerary is they did try visit when places when it would
be less frantic. Like the Temple of Horus, we got there mid-morning when the bulk of
the ships had finished their morning visits and were leaving, we called into Kom Ombo
early evening and were the only ship there, and we went through Esna locks back to Luxor
early morning when no other ships were. One of the downsides of my Nile River cruise was the vendors and the focus on
shopping. It was a bit draining! Every site requires visitors to go through a
market stall area to get in and out. There is no way round running the vendor gauntlet. The vendors
are pushy, get in your face, and are persistent. So, I found I had to just get ready, walk
briskly through, keep my eyes forward, not glance or look at anything, not let anyone
put anything on me, nor take anything offered and keep constantly shaking my head saying, "No,
no, no, no, no” (or “la, la, la” which means no). I was not that excited by what was
on sale either. All seemed to be selling the same stuff, and looked
mass-produced, and very touristy. On the upside, there did not seem to be
other issues like pickpocketing, scams, and tricks other than over charging. Nermeen told us to always aim to pay only about
30% of what they start asking for. The other thing which I was less keen on,
although we didn't have a lot on our trip were shopping trips dressed up as excursions. For
example, we went to the Luxor Papyrus Institute, which really was a shopping trip. Though we did
get a short demonstration on how papyrus is made and to paint our name in hieroglyphics
on a prepared parchment in return. One of the things that I did constant think
about during the trip was getting the upset stomach many warned about, and the impact
it would have on going out for long trips to the sites knowing the toilets were
limited and not generally appealing. I found the toilets overall at
the sites were rather grubby and required paying to use. They
did not cost much to use though, and one US dollar or less would suffice.
But I would not want to do sit down in most! Unlike as number of people on the trip
I did not get one. To avoid getting one, I used hand gel all the time when out,
including after touching bank notes as that was a tip someone gave me. I
used bottled water supplied by the line both on and off the ship, including when
brushing my teeth and rinsing my toothbrush. I never had ice. I avoided salad, it's the first
time in my life that I've gone for nearly two weeks eating no salad. And I only had fruit if
it was peeled and only had cooked vegetables. I noticed all the bottles of water
had reminders from the manufacturers to check it’s sealed before drinking,
as vendors fill up empty bottles and sell them at the sites which is how
some tourists get upset stomachs. People that did get upset stomachs
told me they found Imodium, which is what I had brought with me,
did not really work but a local remedy the ship provided for free if asked
worked. So, that’s a tip to remember! The closer it got to going the issue of
safety and security worried me as so many people raised it, and even the UK Foreign
Office travel advice was full of watch outs. That sense of worry did hover during the trip, as everywhere we went there
were armed military and police with barriers, checkpoints, and metal screenings to enter every
site, the hotel, and up to three at airports. We also had police escorts a few times, like
from the airport and when visiting Qena. And there was a lingering concern that I would
invertedly do something wrong. For example, Walaa (the Cruise Manager) warned us to never
take photos of the police or check points, be careful taking photos at airports as many have
military aircraft too, not to take binoculars out as that could be misinterpreted as spying
or suspicious, and he advised me to not take some of my camera equipment like tripods out that
could cause some questions with the authorities. So, while that safety was a concern, I found
travelling in the AmaWaterways “bubble” alleviated that as we always had someone
with us to shepherd us around the issues, brief us on what to do and
intervene if anything arose. There is much online about how LGBT people are
harassed in Egypt but being in that bubble also helped I feel with the LGBT couples on our
trip avoid being exposed to any of that risk. So, while security and safety were a concern,
travelling in the AmaWaterways bubble for me made me feel comfortable and reassured. That
of course for some will be a downside as it means staying within the bubble and not truly
roaming, exploring, and engaging with the locals. I never left the bubble on the trip, although
we did not really have time nor opportunity to, and I did have an amazing time
which if I had chosen a cabin more midships would have edged it up even more. To get the answers to the most-asked
questions I keep getting, including what the ships are really like, who
should not go, coping with the heat, and the key question you really should be
asking, watch this video. See you over there.
