Uniworld Egypt -- Yes!

Just back from Uniworld’s “Splendors of Egypt and the Nile” and had a wonderful time. We were well taken care of from transfer to the Four Seasons Nile Plaza upon our arrival, which was a day early, to the transfer back to the airport for departure. On our pre-tour day, we slept in and took a half day visit to Old (Coptic) Cairo with a guide and driver as arranged by the hotel, and were glad we did.

The next day we met our fantastic Egyptologist/Cruise Manager Mohamed Ragheb, who traveled with us for the whole trip. By the end of the trip, we were recognizing the various main gods on the hieroglyphics on temple walls and got a good sense of Egyptian history, as well as life in Egypt today, from Mohamed’s point of view. He made the visits to the various temples unique and fascinating. It wasn’t just, “another day, another temple!”

We visited every site as described in the Day to Day Schedule on the Uniworld web site, except that Esna was substituted for Edfu and they were in a slightly different order. Mohamed added a few things not listed, such as a walk through the (very poor) neighborhood behind the Esna temple so we could see how the locals, who were friendly, lived; and a visit to a merchant’s mortuary temple and entry into his pyramid at Sakkara. He also arranged for a group photo at the pyramids and gave each couple a copy. The last day of touring, we asked for a lunch stop because we set out early for Sakkara and the pyramids and wouldn’t get back to the hotel until 4 PM. Mohamed gave us the choice of Pizza Hut (overlooks the pyramids) or the Mena House Hotel; we choose the Mena House and had a pleasant lunch that wasn’t terribly expensive. Mohamed didn’t shorten our tour because of that and we returned to the hotel around 5. We think a lunch stop should be provided by Uniworld that day as a matter of course.

Mohamed added two shopping stops to our itinerary, which were interesting enough: a visit to the Isis Papyrus Museum in Luxor, where we saw a demonstration of how papyrus is made and of course had the opportunity to buy prints on papyrus, which we hadn’t intended to do but ended us with four!; and in the Sakkara area, a carpet shop where we watched carpets being made (and visited the very clean WC).

Of course, there were constant opportunities to buy trinkets and post cards at every single place we visited, and even on the Nile, vendors in a small boat attached it to the Tosca twice, hoping to sell their goods, even in the Esna lock.

The Tosca is a wonderful ship. The staff is magnificent and takes care of every need. We had two travelers who needed to use canes to walk; they both fell at Dendara and received cuts and bruises. After that, Tosca staff accompanied them on the excursions, which involved quite a few stairs and uneven ground, not to mention the tricky transfers to the felucca and the motorboats.

The Tosca’s staterooms are much more spacious than those on the European river cruise ships, very clean, with comfortable beds and good storage. DH appreciated the understated décor, as opposed to that of the European ships. We found the food every bit as good as the food on the European trips we have taken with Uniworld. At the lunch buffet, my favorite meal, Egyptian food was among the many choices, and two dinners featured Egyptian food. We were surprised at the variety of choices offered for our group of only 26 Uniworld passengers, two ladies from Oregon with their own guide, and two Egyptian gentlemen and their young sons, also with their own guide.

Entertainment included a folklore music/dance show instead of the belly dancing show listed in the Day to Day; a brief Nubian drumming/dance performance; and the galabeya party, where most of us bought inexpensive galabeyas at the ship boutique to wear at dinner and the party with Egyptian music, when Tosca staff got most of us up for group dancing. A photographer was on hand and the next day we could buy packets of photos from the party; our packet of 18 photos, including a photo of the ship, cost $19. An optional Karnak Sound and Light show was offered, and those who went enjoyed seeing Karnak again, at night, and walking through a few places we hadn’t seen in the daytime. Another option was a hot air balloon ride at dawn from Luxor; one couple went and loved it. By the way, most of us were underwhelmed by the included Sound and Light show at the pyramids; after the first 15 minutes of gazing at the pyramids and sphinx, we found the narration slow and hokey, and it was very cold sitting out in the open. It took an hour each way from the hotel through the notorious Cairo traffic, which wasn’t pleasant, of course.

Most of us took the optional trip to see Abu Simbel and felt it worth it to get up early for a 6:55 AM flight. Breakfast was served early that day. I was on the left side of the jet and got a good photo of the temples as we came in to land. We were back at the ship for the 12:45 lunch.

We only ate food at the hotels and on the ship and did not suffer any health problems. We did use bottled water to brush our teeth on the ship, as directed. We never needed to buy bottled water as both at the Four Seasons and on the Tosca, plenty of water was provided daily, as well as on the bus excursions. Upon returning to the Tosca, we were offered hand sanitizer, a cool hand towel and a cool, delicious fruit drink, different each day. The weather was cool in Cairo and on the Nile, cool in the morning and pleasantly warm most of the day.

We did find that there were long days when we were hungry for lunch before returning to the ship, such as the first day’s tour of the Citadel and the Egyptian Museum, the day we flew from Cairo to Luxor and visited Karnak before boarding the ship, and the day we flew back to Cairo. We learned to take some fruit and bread from breakfast to take to tide us over because sometimes we didn’t return as early as the promised return time.

I know many travelers are wary of security in Egypt, as were we. Security was tight everywhere, from the airports where you must go through two security checks with full body pat downs each time, to travel police with a bomb sniffing dog at the hotel, to metal detectors and/or bag searches at each and every tourist site, to check points when passing through villages in the countryside. In Cairo we had an armed security officer ride with us on the bus, and an armed officer also traveled with us on the ship. They were unobtrusive but always there and we never felt uneasy.

We thoroughly enjoyed this trip. It was sad to see hundreds of riverboats empty and docked on the Nile. Docked at Luxor, we had to pass through five other ships to reach the Tosca. The only place we visited that was crowded was at the pyramids, partly because it was an Egyptian holiday and local families were enjoying rapid horse cart rides between the pyramids and crowding the area around the Sphinx with the tourists.

Comparing this trip to European trips we have taken, there is just about no time to explore on your own when docked. We just had free time, often about an hour, at sites we were visiting. There was much more time devoted to daytime sailing, which we enjoyed. Prices for things like a massage ($26), a bottle of Egyptian rose ($14) or a Coke ($1), or laundry, were much less. Unlike Uniworld’s all inclusive (except for optional excursions) European trips, we did have a few optional extras at site visits, such as the Mummy Rooms at the Egyptian Museum, Solar Boat and King’s Tut’s tomb, and a photography fee at a few sites, that cost a few dollars in Egyptian pounds. Not a big deal, just different. We had easy access to the ATM’s at the Four Seasons but not while cruising. Mohamed did stop the bus one day in Aswan so those who needed to use an ATM could do so. Also, he assisted those who needed to use a pharmacy to do so in Aswan as again, we did not have access to them on our excursions. The boutique on board did not stock toiletries of any kind. Speaking of money, we had about $20 in Egyptian pounds left and when we tried to change them for dollars at the Frankfurt airport in between flights, we were told that no one outside of Egypt changes Egyptian pounds right now.

As many have said, now is the time to visit Egypt. Uniworld is hanging in there, with only 25 guests expected for the next cruise. The Tosca’s staff will work other ships between Uniworld cruises, but will return to the Tosca when it sails, which is great, because they are a wonderful staff. The Egyptologists will vary, however.

I encourage anyone seriously thinking about visiting Egypt to do so. I’d be happy to answer any questions about our experience.

Welcome back! So glad to hear that the trip was as great as you expected. Sounds like Uniworld does a great job with this tour. Hope you post some pictures. :)

Thank you for posting about your trip! I really need to decide whether to pull the trigger on this in 2018 or not...

Thank you for posting about your trip! I really need to decide whether to pull the trigger on this in 2018 or not...

Yes. Go.

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We found the food every bit as good as the food on the European trips we have taken with Uniworld. At the lunch buffet, my favorite meal, Egyptian food was among the many choices, and two dinners featured Egyptian food. We were surprised at the variety of choices offered for our group of only 26 Uniworld passengers, two ladies from Oregon with their own guide, and two Egyptian gentlemen and their young sons, also with their own guide.

Were there really only Egyptian entrees offered twice at dinner on the River Tosca? That's a bit surprising to me. In Vietnam/Cambodia, most dinners had one locally-inspired entree and another for less adventurous eaters.

Can you tell I've moved into the consideration phase for this trip? ;)

Were there really only Egyptian entrees offered twice at dinner on the River Tosca? That's a bit surprising to me. In Vietnam/Cambodia, most dinners had one locally-inspired entree and another for less adventurous eaters.

 

Can you tell I've moved into the consideration phase for this trip? ;)

While two dinners were entirely Egyptian (although there were always alternate entrees, such as steak and salmon), there were frequently local fish dishes as entrees and sometimes an Egyptian appetizer. There were always three entrees, typically beef or veal, fish, and pasta or other vegetarian dish. I never had the steak but everyone said it was very good. Two delicious desserts were offered, or ice cream or fresh fruit as alternates.

Welcome back! So glad to hear that the trip was as great as you expected. Sounds like Uniworld does a great job with this tour. Hope you post some pictures. :)

Unfortunately, I still haven't figured out how to post photos on CC, although I've tried to follow the directions. Tech challenged!

Looking forward to reading about your upcoming voyage!

Thanks for the expanded detail on the food. That's more in line of what I would expect.

Just asked my travel agent for a quote on this one...... ;)

Having visited both Egypt and India, I would favor Egypt first. But both trips are pretty cool.

Do any recent Egypt Uniworld travelers have pricing for the optional excursions and onboard services? We're looking at a potentially large onboard credit (travel agent + Amex Plat benefits) and I want to make sure I can use it

Never mind, answered my own question. Looks like optional tours alone on this trip will cost $600, plus any drinks or massage services we purchase. Seems I could make good use of a fairly large OBC.

Ewizabeff found out the info. she wanted, but for others who might be interested, on our cruise, these were the prices of optional excursions:

Abu Simbel $295, Karnak Sound and Light Show $38, Cairo dinner cruise $73, Alexandria for those extending their stay $115. Plus a hot air balloon flight in Luxor/Valley of the Kings area -- don't know the price.

Just back myself from this cruise last month, and it was fabulous! I made many notes in the Uniworld Egypt Roll Call thread.

The hot air balloon ride was $45, I believe. One must get up and leave the boat around 4:00 or so to travel to get to the balloons so to be up and catch the sunrise. Then the balloons come down near the temple and the bus picks those passengers up there. None of our group choose to take that excursion.

LOL, good thing too! Balloons go where the wind takes them. On our morning, the wind was blowing in the wrond (unusual) direction and the balloons went away from the Temple and the Valley of the Kings instead of toward them! Oops!! The other groups had a longer bus ride that day chasing down their fellow passengers that had "gone astray"! :evilsmile:

We are booked!

But we still have 600 days before we sail.....yikes!

We are booked!

 

But we still have 600 days before we sail.....yikes!

That's awesome! Not the 600 days part, of course. That's so far away...

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That's awesome! Not the 600 days part, of course. That's so far away...

If I don't book 600 days out, how will I obsess about planning for the next two years? :D

Haha. That's true for the more DIY itineraries. But Egypt (and India for us) were pretty much 100% guided. So no planning...just impatiently looking at the calendar!

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Haha. That's true for the more DIY itineraries...

I have deplaned twice in Cairo with a backpack and NO reservations, and only a vague concept of what I was going to do. But then again I have done that in India also. A reasonable amount of money goes a LONG way in those countries, and I have had some incredibly trips. In Egypt I have been from Alexandria to Abu Simbal and from Siwa to the Suez with four days on a local boat on the Nile, Valley of the Kings, snorkeling in the Red Sea, etc, etc and spent WAY less than $1000 over 6-7 weeks (and had great food!). But I know that this is not for the timid.

Thom

THOM,

I really admire your tenacity. I'll go with you anytime, anywhere! :hearteyes:

Uniworld does a rotten job of advertising it, but they do an all post tour to Alexandria also, which I recommend. It is a 6:00 to 18:00 bus try but well worth it it. I also recommend flying in a day early and have the CD or Mohammed set you up on the Coptic tour also along with throwing in a visit to Cairo's main bazaar. It's much larger and far more interesting than any you'll see on the rest of the tour.

You can check the roll call section for the prices of the extra tours. They're listed there. So when planning your air, remember these two extra days there!

[quote name=pinotlover;52668684

You can check the roll call section for the prices of the extra tours. They're listed there. So when planning your air' date=' remember these two extra days there![/quote]

I've subscribed to the roll call to get all this info. I can't even book air until December, but we'll be thinking about all these other opportunities. Our arrival/departure dates will depend largely on frequent flier availability, although I have miles in 3 different programs I can book with so we should be able to find something.

And I will still manage to plan like crazy over the next 600 days. I need to read up on Egyptian history, watch some movies, and potentially figure out a place or two to eat in Cairo instead of the hotel (we are adventurous).

Read Wilbur Smith's series River God. Will help pass the time til you get there. Pat

DH and I read "Desert God" before the cruise. I read much of "Daughter of the Gods" by Stephanie Thornton, about Queen Hatshepsut, on the flight over and finished it on the sun deck cruising the Nile, and was so glad I had read it. I got goosebumps at her temple. While both books are of course fiction dressed up with fanciful situations, they are based enough on what is known to put you right into the life of the ancient Egyptians and made visiting the ancient sites that much more meaningful. I just finished Wilbur Smith's "The Seventh Scroll", which is a modern day sequel to "The Desert God." I always get a kick out of reading when a place I have visited is mentioned in a book. We recently also got a kick out of rewatching "The Mummy" and "The Egyptian," watching for brief footage of places we had visited.

Now I am rather at loose ends as we do not have a trip to plan at the moment! Reading day-by-day trip reviews will have to suffice for now. Thank you, JPAlbany!

That reminds me...i have to get back to that review.

I am embarrassed to say that we read a kid's series of books before Egypt. It was three books by Rick Riordan, called The Kane Chronicles. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kane_Chronicles

We really enjoyed them, and the bits of Egyptian mythology and theology that we picked up from the books was accurate, at least compared to what our guides told us.

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