Uniworld Egypt?

To celebrate my husband's 60th, and our 25th anniversary? They are offering a past-passenger discount of 25%. I'm very tempted! It's a bucket-list item for him.

Any thoughts, recommendations, etc?

Robin

This is current US State Department Travel Warning for Egypt:

https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/alertswarnings/egypt-travel-warning.html

Beyond that, since the cruise is Cairo to Cairo, I recommend the Mena House Hotel which is right across the street from the pyramids in Giza for pre/post cruise stay.

http://menahousehotel.com

There is the Museum of Egyptian antiquities, the night time pyramid show, Coptic museum and so many other things to do - it's quite an amazing place.

If you decide to go, I would buy Cancel for Any Reason travel insurance from Insuremytrip.com just in case something happens that makes you decide you don't want to go.

Check out the Uniworld Egypt 2017 thread for recent experiences. We're booked for Nov 2018.

To celebrate my husband's 60th, and our 25th anniversary? They are offering a past-passenger discount of 25%. I'm very tempted! It's a bucket-list item for him.

 

Any thoughts, recommendations, etc?

 

Robin

Robin, we booked Viking's Pharaoh's & Pyramids for March 2018. We purchased Viking's Cancel for any Reason Insurance, just in case. They are putting a new river boat in service called the Viking Nile.

Robin, we booked Viking's Pharaoh's & Pyramids for March 2018. We purchased Viking's Cancel for any Reason Insurance, just in case. They are putting a new river boat in service called the Viking Nile.

Unfortunately "Cancel for any Reason" bought from a cruise line doesn't give back cash, only a voucher that has restrictions [not just Viking, this is common for most cruise lines]

To celebrate my husband's 60th, and our 25th anniversary? They are offering a past-passenger discount of 25%. I'm very tempted! It's a bucket-list item for him.

 

Any thoughts, recommendations, etc?

 

Robin

Yes. Go.

We went in 2012 with A&K, when they had to offer half-price tours in order to entice people to go. It was not long after the Arab Spring. Outside of the very top attractions, It was empty. But it was awesome. We never felt unsafe.

The fact that multiple cruise lines are now operating there should tell you that they think it's safe to be there. Egypt is not to be missed, and to have the chance to see it while it's not overcrowded is the cherry on top.

We've just returned from a cruise from Cairo to Aswan and can report that the Egyptian Government are taking the protection of tourists very seriously.

You need to be comfortable with the thought that you are going to see a lot of armed escorts traveling with you and positioned around the various historic locations, but we never felt unsafe.

Since our trip was the full length of the Nile from Cairo to Aswan we did pass through places that have not seen a lot of tourists for many years, but the reception was universally friendly and happy.

The only downside was that it was tricky to go for a walk on our own in any of the ports as the security staff were understandably very cautious, but they were also flexible enough to come along when a small group of us arranged a private trip to a museum not on our itinerary.

Our guides felt that the security was over-cautious, but it never really got in the way as long as you gave them a little notice of what you wanted to do off the ship.

The new museum in Cairo is still not open and looks very much like it needs another couple of years of building works, but we were told that they are trying to get a partial opening of some exhibits in the next 12 months or so. Very hard to judge if they will make that happen or not.