Nile Cruise

[charlie-le-chat]

We're considering a Nile cruise for January 2023. Does anyone know anything about this:

https://travel.saga.co.uk/holidays/destinations/africa/egypt/land-of-the-pharaohs-archaeology.aspx

I can't find any reviews at all.

 

Thanks in advance

[arlowood]

We did this cruise with Saga way back in 2012. As far as I can see the itinerary is more or less identical to the one we did. We sailed in November but a January sailing should also be fine.

 

We had a wonderful time and can thoroughly recommend it if you are into your Egyptian history. It could be described as fairly demanding at some stages as we often had quite early starts in order to get through the various tours before the worst of the days heat. We actually skipped the Abu Simbel trip because it meant a very early start (3am or 4am I think) and by that time we were pretty tired from our previous travels. We did do the post trip extension in Luxor and that was great because it gave us time to relax and wind down a bit but also allowed us to do the hot air balloon trip over the Valley of the Kings.

 

The Pyramisa Isis is also a great hotel (or it certainly was back then) set on an island in the Nile not far from the cataracts.

[charlie-le-chat]

Thanks for your detailed response.

[waggie]

We were comparing Magic of the Nile to Land of the Pharoahs for January 2023.

Saga informed me yesterday that they are not doing LotP next year, so we have gone for Magic of the Nile, despite it not having Cairo on the itinerary. They offered 2 night extensions to Cairo but it would be independent travel without a representative support, so we will have to miss Cairo. 
now that Saga have joined with Titan the choice of Nile trips may expand but not in time for us!

[charlie-le-chat]

Thanks for you reply. It's Interesting then that 'Land of the Pharoahs' and 'Land of the Pharoahs Archaeology' are still available on the website for January 2023. Did you speak to SAGA on the phone? I've just given up after being on hold for 30 minutes with no indication of how long the queue was. We probably wouldn't be interested if Cairo wasn't included as part of the main holiday though.

[charlie-le-chat]

Update. I eventually got through after 20 minutes on the second attempt to contact SAGA on the number given for river cruises. It turns out that to book this Nile cruise (Africa right?)  I need to phone the number they give for European holidays. I phoned and immediately hung up on learining that the wait time was likely to be one hour. I wonder if any SAGA representative monitors this forum. If so thanks SAGA for wasting 50+ minutes of my time on hold. You really need to make it clear which number to use. Fortunately at least two other companies are offering a very similar cruise early in 2023 so I will be contacting them.

[waggie]

They are really struggling to maintain their place in the market. Believe me, all the numbers take ages to respond! We had a European river cruise that we needed to move and The Nile was on our bucket list. I am dissapointed that Cairo was only offered as an extension without any excursions or assistance, but they do offer Alexandria, Cairo etc. as a new tour now. They use Egypt air and the reviews on Trip Advisor and YouTube are not that good.

 I might be tempted to look elsewhere too,

I hope you find what you are looking for.

[nosapphire]

On 7/21/2022 at 10:43 PM, waggie said:

extracted:

now that Saga have joined with Titan the choice of Nile trips may expand but not in time for us!

Just for the record, Saga bought Titan in October 2009, but continued running it as a separate company.

They were trying to sell it again since (I think) 2019, but the pandemic meant no takers, hence all the publicity about the two sector being "merged" - although how they can be merged and still operate under separate trading names is unclear (to me).

 

You could always try calling the Titan phone number and see if they can sell you the Saga river cruise you are interested in?

[waggie]

On 7/22/2022 at 4:48 PM, charlie-le-chat said:

Update. I eventually got through after 20 minutes on the second attempt to contact SAGA on the number given for river cruises. It turns out that to book this Nile cruise (Africa right?)  I need to phone the number they give for European holidays. I phoned and immediately hung up on learining that the wait time was likely to be one hour. I wonder if any SAGA representative monitors this forum. If so thanks SAGA for wasting 50+ minutes of my time on hold. You really need to make it clear which number to use. Fortunately at least two other companies are offering a very similar cruise early in 2023 so I will be contacting them.

Update!! I did a mock booking for Land of the Pharaohs for January 2023 and then telephoned at 09.00 on Monday - the best time to call clearly!!. Yes, it is available and they will generously transfer us from Magic of the Nile (considering we were misled). If you haven't made other plans do get back to them.

[charlie-le-chat]

1 hour ago, waggie said:

Update!! I did a mock booking for Land of the Pharaohs for January 2023 and then telephoned at 09.00 on Monday - the best time to call clearly!!. Yes, it is available and they will generously transfer us from Magic of the Nile (considering we were misled). If you haven't made other plans do get back to them.

Thanks. That's encouraging. I may try again.