Nile cruise useful advice and suggestions on the choice of cabins, menus, clothing, guides, excursions, to better spend your holidays
- Nile cruise useful tips and saving tips
- Nile cruise advice on what to eat
- Nile cruise clothing advice
- Nile cruise advice on the choice of cabins
- Nile cruise driving tips
Nile cruise useful tips and saving tips
This year my husband and I have decided to spend a different Christmas: and here we are immediately booking 2 seats for the Cruise "The River of the Gods".
We organized the trip entirely from the internet, avoiding to pay agency fees.
We found an amazing offer, a stroke of luck, paying only around € 600 per person all inclusive.
It starts from Milan Malpensa for Luxor.
The ship we have chosen for this adventure is the Lady Mary, is a Phone & Go ship and has 70 cabins spread over 3 decks.
It is of recent construction and is very well maintained, the interiors are very welcoming and the common areas are beautiful.
On the "sun deck" there is a bar, the swimming pool with 2 whirlpools, and there is a solarium area with sun beds, tables and chairs.
How to eat on an Egypt cruiseAnd it is here that hot tea and biscuits are served during the afternoon sailing.
While on the second deck there is the reception and the Lobby Bar where entertainment evenings are held in the evening, full of music and fun.
The restaurant is located on the first bridge.
The 3 main meals of the day are served buffet style at the restaurant: the menus are varied, the cuisine is international, but you will also find the local one.
Nile cruise advice on what to eat
Egyptian cooks really do their utmost to try to satisfy the tastes of Spaniards by imitating our cuisine, but it must be said with all frankness that the best dishes to choose on board are the traditional Egyptian ones: coscus, le falafel, meatballs, rice with chicken.
Because Spanish dishes are simply not cooked well.
For example, the “lasagna” they served us were nothing more than morning crepes placed on a tray and covered with canned bechamel, and even pasta and pizza boasted useless and unsuccessful attempts at imitation.
Instead, as regards the meat, I must say that it was very good (obviously pork is forbidden !!) and was always accompanied by various types of equally good cooked vegetables: baked or fried potatoes, ratatouille, green beans, carrots, broccoli.
In short, meat and side dish were the main dish, the one we gladly chose.
Each day, among other things, there was a large buffet-trolley with raw vegetables and various goat cheeses, also very good.
As for desserts, unfortunately, a pitiful veil has to be rolled out.
Every day on the counter alternated cakes in unimaginable and absolutely tasteless colors, sponge cakes soaked in fruit juice alternating with layers of chocolate-like cream and decorated with pieces of fruit… in short, even on desserts the attempts were in vain.
The fruit in December was not very varied, in fact there were only oranges, mandarins, guava fruit and bananas (the latter excellent though !!).
Turisanda travel experience
Nile cruise clothing advice
La Lady Mary, as well as most of the ships that offer this trip, it is not luxury and no formal dress or evening dresses are required for dinner, but at the entrance of the restaurant there is an explanatory sign where a decent clothing, i.e. no plastic slippers, no bathing suits or tank tops.
As for the day, on the other hand, since you do excursions most of the day, I recommend long pants and short-sleeved T-shirts, then I recommend always carrying a thick sweatshirt or jacket with you.
In Egypt there is atemperature range frightening, it starts in the early morning when it is close to 0 ° C, then around 8 it reaches 7/8 ° C while around noon and early afternoon it also reaches 18/20 ° C.
Usually the wind is always present, so I recommend going around the temples wearing sunglasses and a sweatshirt.
From sunset onwards, the temperature drops a lot so to stay out on the deck chatting in the evening or to walk around the villages you need a jacket and long pants.
Don't be fooled by the fact that theEgypt It is generally a hot country in fact after 2 days half of us already had a sore throat, cold, fever due to the fact that during the day we uncovered a lot and then stayed little dressed and tried to resist the cold wind in the evening.
Nile cruise advice on the choice of cabins
The cabins are all very large and well furnished, have a beautiful window that allows you to enjoy the splendid landscapes that can be seen while sailing on the Nilo.
The rooms are cleaned twice a day and it often happens that during the day, if you are in your room, the service guys will knock on your door to change your towels.
In the evening the same guys will always make you find on the bed the typical decorations made with folded towels in the shape of an elephant, crocodile, camel.
But this is where there is another sore point: when you board the ship, the guide will ask the crew for 25 € each for tips, specifying that they will take care of sharing them with all the staff in proportion to their role on the ship. ship, you will also be told not to give extra tips to anyone on the ship as the € 25 they collect is just to avoid having to go around the ship with pennies in your pocket.
I recommend choosing the cabins on the higher decks to fully enjoy the view.
Obviously the more you go up the more the cabins cost but it's worth it to spend a little more.
Nile cruise driving tips
As for the choice of guide, our group of Spaniards was divided into 2 buses of about 35/40 people, each with its own guide.
We super lucky got assigned to a Coptic Orthodox Christian, which has given us a lot of knowledge about the history of ancient Egyptians and he also told us many anecdotes related to the culture and traditions of modern Egypt.
In any case, I recommend that you inform yourself at the start and look for a valid guide by spending a little more.
To know the itinerary and for further advice: Nile cruise: itineraries and useful tips
