GCT M/S River Anuket Cruise Egypt

We're going on the river cruise as part of our 15 day tour of Egypt May 20th of this year. We're wondering if anyone has taken this ship and what they thought of the cruise with Grand Circle Travel.

We went to China last year with them and was very impressed and hope we have the same luck this year.:)

Hi Marylin and John welcome to cruise critic. I will be happy to let you know about the cruise when we return but we will not be home before June the 1st. Happy Sailing, Joy

Hi Joy,

Yes you and Fred are taking the pre and post trips and I believe you start your trip in Aswan and work your way north. We thought of that cruise but I don't get out of teaching until the 18th of May so that is why we're taking the May 20th trip.

We have plenty of memory for our digital cameras and plenty of tapes for our digital video camera and we'll check back here when we're back and share stories and photos.

We loved Australia and spent three weeks exploring the eastern coast and will be going back for much more.

Our China trip was fantastic and if you'd like to see the photos here is the site I put them on www.flickr.com/photos/prius-04 enjoy.:D

Marilyn

We've taken three trips, all ocean cruises, with Grand Circle Travel, and generally have been quite pleased with their product.

Their Air Department is somewhat difficult to deal with - but by being persistent, we were able to resolve the routing/deviation issues that we had.

Hi Druke I Thank you for your comments on Grand Circle. This will be our 2nd river cruise with them and we were very pleased with them on our first cruise of the Danube. Marylin I found that egypt frommers.com has some wonderful information and also a a great message board that has lots of information on Egypt. Happy Sailing, Joy

Thanks Joy, we'll check out the site. Still debating on what to wear but understanding the area we'll go with what Grand Circle recommends.

Marilyn

Marilin when Fred and I were in Istanbul I found that I was fine in dress if I covered my head with a scarf in Holy places and also had my arms covered. They do require you to remove your shoes in Mosques but I brought new disposable slippers to wear inside and they allowed me to do this. Happy Saiing, Joy

When you say, cover your arms, do you mean shoulders or all the way to the wrist? Thanks - first time to visit Muslim country and want to be respectful of culture.

While in a Muslim country I have worn very light cotton long sleeve blouses & long light cotton skirt or capris. I have been surprised to see tourists in very short shorts & tight tank tops & that doesn't seem to be a problem, but I feel we should respect the people of the country we are visiting.

Thanks for your impute on the dress. We are going on GCT Egypt tour and have been very concerned on if I should cover my arms.

SOLARCOUPLE,

Would love to hear about your GCT Egypt trip! We are booked on the Oct 15 departure.

Also, anyone who's done this with GCT, please, I'd love to see some details on how it went, especially about the home hosted dinner and their optional tours.

Thanks in advance!

We just got back from Egypt with GCT and had a great time. The ship is wonderful. Our total group was 130+people, which was divided into 4 smaller groups for tours etc. It did work out. The only thing we would change is the balloon ride. They put 20 people into one basket. We were told there were compartments and only three would be in each compartment and they put five of us into each. We didn't find out about this until we were boarding the ride. Everyone verbalized our discontent but didn't help. $150. per person is also very high considering the wages paid the people. Great trip would do it again but not take most of the extra tours.

Curly 14,

Thank you so much for the reply! That is really dissappointing about the Balloon ride as we are looking forward to do it. We had planned to go ballooning in the Loire Valley last May but it was cancelled due to high winds and now this was to be our opportunity! Drat!

Did you do the Abu Simbel optional? Since we booked so late we could not do it with them and I was looking into booking a local tour, however, my husband is not so sure it's worth the $200 plus the uncertainty of local guides that we know nothing about. What is your take on it?

Any other comments are welcome. Feel free to e-mail me privately, if you wish.

Thank you for posting your Trip Report.

How /where was your cabin and the Anuket's facilities ? We are also interested in the other Optional Side Trips and the general quality of the Tour including the food. I know this trip is not about cuisine, but there are so few CruiseCritic Threads on GCT/ Ancient Egypt that I am hungry for Feedback !

We went on GCT Nile trip in March with the pre trip to Israel and post trip to Jordan.

It was wonderful.

Optionals we took were all worth it:

Israel - Masada and the Dead Sea. Full day. Masada was awesome. Cool day so most did not go into Dead Sea.

Egypt - Alexandria. Very nice. Tour group was too large in the Library at Alexandria, but we could hear ok. Train ride from Cairo to Alexandria was very nice.

- Saqkara (sp?) - Oldest building in the world and the first major pyramid.

- Abu Simbel - Expensive ($190), but worth it and more. The temples of Ramses II and Hathor are amazing. The effort to move them was tremendous.

Jordan - Jerash - Well preserve Roman city and former capital of Decapolis. The best part were the wonderful children there on field trips from school.

- Wadi Rum - Our flight from Amman to Cairo did not leave until 8PM or so, so the guide (Anas) arranged a half day trip to Wadi Rum. This is in the desert in SE Jordan about 12 miles from Saudi Arabia. It is where Lawrence of Arabia fought the Ottomans in the early 20th century and were the movie was filmed. It was a great day.

Paul

Our cabin was great, lots of room. The beds were very comfortable and lots of storage space in the closet for suitcases. Do take plenty of anti-diarrhea medication. Most of our group had a problem with that. I do think it had to do with brushing teeth. It’s hard not to just turn on the facet and brush your teeth.

We didn’t do the Abu Simbel tour, we were afraid the weather wouldn’t be right and everything would be for nothing. Also that’s a lot of flying on top of everything else.

All our tours where absolutely wonderful except for the balloon ride which I didn’t think was even safe. On ship the room stewards are so talented. They made animals etc. with our bath towels. Great learning experience overall.

We had dinner with a local family one night. From the outside of their home (apartment) it didn’t look like much but once inside the home we were very pleasantly surprised to a Very nice home. The foods we were served must have taken them a couple of days to prepare. One family member spoke English so we were able to converse with them. Very comfortable situation.

Also there is Salt in the bottled water, 35mg per liter. Some had a problem with ankles and hands becoming edematous. The hibiscus juice they serve is great and is a diuretic.

That was great input and I appreciate your response.

Curly14,

Thank you so much for all the good tidbits! We leave next Sunday!

A couple of more questions, if you don't mind:

Did you or anyone in your group bring a gift for the home-hosted dinner?

Any recommendations as to what would be appropriate?

For women, is it OK to wear sleeveless blouses (not tank-tops),or would it be preferable to have sleeves, even if only for protection from the sun?

Also, could you elaborate on your comment regarding the Balloon Ride?

Thank you so much!

Only one person in our group brought a gift for the home-host dinner. The hosts were polite and accepted the gift but they seemed more interested in education us to the ways of the Egyptian people. I’m sure the gifts were appreciated but when everyone has trouble with the language it is difficult.

As far as dress go, when you are doing the pyramids and on ship anything goes. Some even wore spaghetti strap. Short sleeves are very acceptable anyplace and anytime. I didn’t see any sleeveless shirts, blouses in the cities but you aren’t always in the city. In Cairo I did go for a walk and got a lot of looks so when back and change into long pants. The people there are very accepting of us and as long as we respect them there is no problem.

Balloon ride: When landing the balloons you are supposed to bend and lean against the back of the basket. Our baskets were too full and there wasn’t enough room for all of us to have an area to lean against so several of us had to more or less set in our spouse’s lap when landing. Also we all couldn’t look over the side of the basket at the same time, had to take turns.

Hope this helps! Just my opionion. This is a great trip and you will enjoy all.

Thanks for the reply on the balloon situation. I think that's a shame that they would cram so many people to the point that it takes away from the experience.

I am considering going with a different operator for the balloon ride. Some have quoted me as little as $85 including pick up at our ship and breakfast.

Any thoughts on this idea?

ajilimojil

Don't know anything about other balloon rides but I know many other balloons were taking off at the same time that we did. We had breakfast at the take off area. We left the ship early 4:45AM. The breakfast is juice, tea, rolls(cold) and cheese with cold cuts sandwiches. There was no refregeration that I saw. We had breakfast on the ship when we got back. THey served breakfast 7 to 10 that day as I remember. Just remember not to miss the boat. The ship took off at 8:45AM for the next stop so not long to play around with. Don't know what you should do but I do believe the balloon operators were not paid the full amount that we were charge. I would be afraid I would miss the ship. The transportation there does not look that reliable.

Curly14,

Again, your comments are very helpful. I had not thought about the ship leaving port because, according to our schedule, that morning they also go to Karnak,then visit the Brooke Animal Hospital. The booklet says "You'll be back onboard for lunch as you set sail for Esna".

My other concern is that they change the order of the sites and, if I commit to another operator, the dates will be off. That's why I asked them how much time in advance they "really" need (they originally said 2 weeks, which I don't have!), I could just try to contact them before we leave for Aswan.

Hi - we are leaving on February 24th with GCT for their Nile trip. Thanks for all the information on this site.

Does anyone know which optional tours they enjoyed most? I would like to skip some of them and have some free time to explore, but not sure which ones to cut out.

Any tips on what to do that you enjoyed most during your free time?

Any info is greatly appreciated. I notice that wine is not included with this trip as it is on the Europe ones. Do you recommend bringing a bottle of wine? I have read that the Egyptian wines leave something to be desired.

Thanks Much

Nancy C:

I asked a similar question on this Thread earlier and maybe the responses would be helpful to you :

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=436652

You probably already had to book Abu Simbel if you are going in February. Hope you will have a great trip and write a review before our April departure !

We booked GCT's Ancient Egypt and the Nile tour with a pre-trip to Jerusalem leaving Jan. 7th. I have questions about clothes to bring. The weather seems quite cool in Jerusalem - has anyone traveled there this time of the year? I have been reading the threads and they are very helpful. It looks like skirts and slacks are more appropriate with long sleeves. Is that correct?

Also, GTC says it isn't necessary to bring dressy clothes. Are the farewell dinners dress casual? Do men need a sport coat?

Thanks for your help.

Ruth