Why I won’t be joining Nile cruise ever again.

Why am I talking about not doing the Nile cruise in Egypt if that’s what everybody recommends? I guess my opinion can easily become very unpopular, but here it goes…

Ever since I read “In the Desert and Wilderness” as a child by a Polish Nobel prize laureate, Henryk Sienkiewicz, my desire to sail along the breathtaking Nile was always present on my travel bucket list. It’s been a long time till I finally booked my flight to Egypt and reserved a cabin on a cruise to spend 4 dreamy days admiring the longest river in the world. I wished to see crocodiles while doing so, but it was way too much to ask. I learned later, that all the crocodiles are kept in captivity in the Nubian village in the Aswan area (some mentioned that it’s for selfie-snapping purposes). So no free crocodiles to admire.

Nile cruise – a trip to reconsider

As I planned the trip, I was prepared for street hassling or vendors being persistent to sell me something. Knowing that cruise trips have quite a few people on board, I anticipated crowds in the restaurant during meal times. What I did not expect and what became the reasons why I will never do a Nile cruise again are all below.

Whatever experience I got, I would just love to say that if you are expecting to have these breathtaking views for four days straight, taking a Nile cruise is the best option. But I won’t. I can’t. I just simply cannot tell you that it was an amazingly memorable experience and everyone should put it on their travel bucket lists.

Reasons why I would not take the Nile cruise again

I am really trying to be as objective as possible in this post putting aside my travel preferences. I don’t want to discourage anyone to travel to Egypt; it has many places worth visiting and, as we all know, it’s full of history that would otherwise only witness in books or tv programmes. I believe that going to at least once to Egypt is an unbeatable history lesson and a bucket list destination.

Pollution and dozens of other cruises

Do you see the cruises in the photo below? There were 62 sailing together throwing black smoke all at the same time. You’d think that you could be chilling on the deck overlooking the river banks with a breeze in your hair and breathing fresh air. Instead, we were hiding inside the boat whenever the other cruises sailed too close to us to avoid getting black, stinky smoke into our lungs.

Little sailing time

There was very little sailing time. The cruise we joined was four days and three nights long. Before the cruise we agreed on the itinerary with the tour provider; what we didn’t know at that point was that many tour companies share the same cruise with people having different itineraries.

According to my calculations, over the four days of the cruise, we only sailed for around a day and a half. For that, I’d rather fly to places to see all the attractions, and be independent and flexible to see the temples for as long as I want.

To experience sailing on the Nile with amazing views, a half day of felucca ride would be great.

You are stuck with groups of different itineraries

We started in Aswan. Our itinerary looked like this:

Day 1: Aswan.

We got picked up by the tour operator, who took us to the cruise to drop off the luggage (after nearly being left behind, but that’s another story). Then almost immediately we headed to a tour bus to visit all the attractions of Aswan, which took from around 9:30 to 2:30 pm. Not as long as I expected. Lunch was served on the boat after check-in, then we had free time or the option of a tour for an additional fee.

The room was nice with a large window. We were quite excited about having the views of the Nile all the way. Our excitement faded soon enough.

We spent the evening on the boat, had dinner, and waited to take off. But nope! It didn’t happen. To our surprise, we didn’t start sailing until the evening of the following day. Had we known that, we would not spend the previous day in Aswan.

Day 2: Aswan.

Some people left the boat at 4 am to go to Abu Simbel (approximately 4 hours bus journey each way). We went to Abu Simbel independently just before the cruise (I’ll write all about it in a different post to tell you why) and agreed before booking the cruise that we don’t want it. We also spent a day in Aswan before the cruise thinking that after the tour on the first day, we will start sailing. Nothing was clearly explained, although it looked like it was.

Abu Simbel wasn’t on our itinerary, but for many others it was. Of course, like in the case of many other details, we were not informed that this would make the whole group of approximately 200 people spend another day in Aswan. We were offered, however, to join some excursions (by paying extra). The Abu Simbel group came back in the afternoon, exhausted and unwell after being forced to spend the whole journey in the freezing bus (because apparently it costs too much money in petrol to put the heating on even though they offered to pay for it…that’s how desperate and cold they were).

We started sailing around 4-5 pm to make it to the first temple on the way before closing time: Kom Umbu. As you can imagine, we only arrived there after sunset, just barely before the end of the work day. We had to rush from the boat to get there: passengers from all 62 boats altogether. The visit was brief, rushed and crowded. I barely remember the temple. If you asked me what was it like, I wouldn’t be able to answer. Quite a disappointing experience.

Day 3: Edfu and Luxor

We sailed overnight and arrived in Edfu before sunrise. Unexpectedly, we were told that the wake-up call is around 5 am, as we need to rush to get to the temple and be back on the boat by 7 am to keep sailing to catch the dam opening.

This excursion was probably the worst part of the whole trip and I wished I could just fast-forward the time on the cruise.

As we exited the boat (and again, together with passengers from the other ones), we were put onto smelly and dirty horse carriages (which I really didn’t like and never do this kind of activity anywhere I travel) that took us to Edfu temple. They were just about to open the gates. Around six thousand tourists from all 62 cruises (according to my rough estimations) arrived at the entrance at the same time, more or less. The guides purchased the tickets and in a small room, we all stood (or better said crashed each other) in the line for 30 minutes or so to enter. It was manic! People pushing and squashing; it was hard to breathe.

We were given 20 minutes to see the temple, which obviously wasn’t much. It was still dark as the sun was just about to raise. Then running back to the carriages, we were hustled all the way by local vendors. I actually felt bad for them, because how they can possibly make any money when all the tourists from cruises are given so little time to look around and make a purchase? And it was a few thousand of us, surely the local people could get a decent living if the cruises were organised in a better way. Seeing a lack of support for the local community was quite disappointing. 

The night we spent in Luxor, where we arrived in the early evening and what was offered as an extra excursion (paid separately, of course) was a visit to Luxor temple, which is just right next to the promenade. Being fed up and exhausted, we decided to do what we love most: enjoy the place independently at the pace that we wanted.

Luxor was actually nice; much cleaner and prettier than other cities. We loved the Winter Palace hotel by Sofitel, too. If I ever go back, I’d love to stay there.

Day 4: Luxor

On the last day of the cruise, we visited the two temple sites of Luxor which are located away from the city: the Valley of the Queens and the Valley of the Kings. The places are spectacular and cannot be missed. However, you don’t really need to join a cruise to see them.

Lunchtime was the last part of the cruise. It was probably the worst food I’ve had on my travels for a very long time. It has nothing to do with the cruise though, but rather a tour operator. Disappointing nonetheless. The cruise ended right after lunch and that was it.

All the boats sail and dock together

This was one of the biggest shockers. Every time we docked, 5 boats would park in parallel, meaning that to exit ours, sometimes we had to cross four other vessels. This also meant that the view from our room was completely clocked by other boats for extended periods of time. And since we didn’t sail much, the window in the cabin was not as exciting as it might sound.

It’s expensive

Like anything else, you have quite affordable options for cruises. I do not know though, how the price affects the whole experience, the quality of the boat or food. The rooms were nice and the meals decent, although a couple of hundred people in a small dining room was a bit uncomfortable.

Our boat was rated 5 stars (I’d say it was more like a 4) and the price was higher than many other boats, but it wasn’t the top end when they charge $US 3000 per person. I don’t think this price can be justified, but I guess everybody has different standards when it comes to quality versus price.

What I would recommend instead of the cruise

• Visit Abu Simbel independently, not as part of a cruise unless it involves flying. A long bus journey was negatively commented on by passengers on my cruise.
• Fly to Aswan and see all the places independently or hire excursions from there. One or two days is plenty. When in Aswan, hire a local felucca to admire the beautiful Nile. It was unbeatable.          Ask for Mohammed near the entrance to the Movenpick hotel (the one on the island). We had the most amazing time and Mohammed’s felucca was impeccable. On top of that, he had tons of stories to tell.
• Fly to Luxor and stay for a couple of days (should be enough), enjoy the beautiful promenade and take your time visiting the temples.
• Edfu and Kom Umbu temples- visit them on an excursion with a safe provider, there are great options from Aswan. During the cruise, it was waste of time, really.

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P.S. I know that some people might not like post, but if you are thinking about leaving an angry comment or sending me an email about it, save yourself and me the time. Some people might love the experience of the cruise, but I didn’t. It’s like any other destination or travel experience. I was as objective as I could presenting the facts and our experiences.

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Please note that this post included affiliate links, when you decide to purchase anything through these links I get a small commission at NO extra cost to you, it helps me to keep running this blog! I only promote products and services I use or would use myself. All images are the property of Postcards from the World and cannot be used without permission.

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See also:

Layover in Dubai: what to see and do in 48 hours.

5 reasons that make Dubai an amazing holiday destination

The best hotels in Qatar for an ultimate luxury experience.

10 days in Oman. How to plan a perfect road trip guide and itinerary.

Happy travels!

Love, Ania

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