Nile River Cruise

[Northern Residence]

Has anyone been on a Nile cruise since the recent unrest? If so, could you share your thoughts on safety, both on the river and in Cairo?

[theduffys]

Would also like to here about this. We are schedualed in July.

[wantocruisemore]

I was checking into this when all the unrest started. Had hoped to schedule something for Nov.

 

What are the cruises everyone is scheduling?

[theduffys]

We are using Grand European Tours. Taking 2 grandsons with us. River cruise in on the Medea.

[alexandra cruiser]

when travel warnings were issued for Egypt,,yrs.ago,,,we were literally sitting at airport...went anyway,,,we were escorted by armed guards with machine guns,,,,roads at intersections were blocked when mini bus we were it got there,,,ship was guarded ALL the time...we felt like royalty...and glad we went,,,felt VERY safe....did stay with groups during excursions,,but would have anyway,,even then...if you re booked,,,,I d take a chance and go...if NOT,,,maybe wait till clears up??a really personal decision ...what YOU re comfortable with....good luck.;)

[Northern Residence]

We are booked on the Oberoi Zahra in November. I just can't get a feel for what is going on regarding river cruises. Some websites show cancellations for upcoming months, others (including Oberoi) say nothing at all.

The Canadian Govt Travel Advice shows "exercise high degree of caution" for Luxor, Aswan, Hurghada and SharmEl Sheikh. But has a higher advisory for Cairo and rest of Egypt, saying "avoid non-essential travel" So, perhaps the Nie cruise is ok but who can go to Egypt without seeing Cairo and the Pyramids?

I have posted both here and on the Port of Call forum and have yet to hear from anyone who has actually been there since the unrest began. Very odd.

Still hoping for some input.

[cormike1]

Northern Residence...were you able to get cancellation insurance? I was reading some reports that Canadians were upset that Princess ships were now going back to Egypt and their cancellation insurance would not be honoured because of the Gov't website still saying the "non-essental travel" warning. Have you taken out cancellation insurance and is it going to honoured? We were scheduled to go for 3 weeks back on Feb. 21st and we had to cancel when the Gov't posted "no travel" warnings. Even Air Egypt wasn't flying into Cairo lol. We are just getting our money back now...it has been a real pain in the butt believe me. We aren't looking at going now until next year. I was so disappointed not being able to go. Hopefully everything will be better next year and we can plan my dream trip again.

[sands28]

But we cancelled because of the uncertainty of the situation. Uniworld has cancelled all River Tosca cruises till September. We transfered our resevation from the River Tosca to the Duoro Spirit in Portugal in June 2012. It cost us $200pp. We also canceled our Luftansa flights to Egypt and intend to rebook on Luftansa for the June 2012 Duoro River trip (at a lose of $250 pp).

 

We hope to eventually cruise the Nile, etc, but we are planning on booking the Oddessey-Unlimited tour cruise instead of Uniworld. It is much more extensive and cheaper than Uniworld. The next result is that we will break even between the two trips.

[sandyoftheseas]

But we cancelled because of the uncertainty of the situation. Uniworld has cancelled all River Tosca cruises till September. We transfered our resevation from the River Tosca to the Duoro Spirit in Portugal in June 2012. It cost us $200pp. We also canceled our Luftansa flights to Egypt and intend to rebook on Luftansa for the June 2012 Duoro River trip (at a lose of $250 pp).

 

We hope to eventually cruise the Nile, etc, but we are planning on booking the Oddessey-Unlimited tour cruise instead of Uniworld. It is much more extensive and cheaper than Uniworld. The next result is that we will break even between the two trips.

 

sands28,

Sorry to hear that you won't be joining us at the end of October. Hope you enjoy the Duoro Spirit in Portugal and glad to hear you're still planning to experience Egypt eventually.

 

Rob (Sandy's DH)

[micro yaya]

really didn't read all the posts, but i just wanted to kind of warn/give advise. when in egypt be very carefull what you eat drink, shake hands ets...everyone who went to cairo for the tour, cane back sick... BRING PEPTO BISMOL the line to see the doctor was at least 25 people long

[Northern Residence]

Cormike1, sorry to take so long to reply. We have now cancelled for November- the pyramids and the Nile will still be there in a year or two. We were flying on points so no problem there and Oberoi has agreed to refund our 15% deposit. So, although very disappointed, we're not out of pocket.

[jmlh]

We are still scheduled to go to Egypt at the end of October. We are keeping a very keen eye on current events and will make a decision in a couple of months. Really hoping that we will be able to go!!!

[sandyoftheseas]

We are still scheduled to go to Egypt at the end of October. We are keeping a very keen eye on current events and will make a decision in a couple of months. Really hoping that we will be able to go!!!

 

We're doing the same. We'll keep an eye on things and make a decision closer to departure. We bought a good cancel for any reason insurance policy so we can afford to wait a while before making the final decision.