Aswan Travel Forum

My wife and I are planning a trip to Aswan in November this year (I know, quite far from now!!). We would like to take a cruise from Aswan to Luxor, preferrably 4 day/3 night cruise. We are doing travelling independently and not through any travel agency (packaged tour, etc).

Can cruises be easily booked once we are in Aswan or should we try to book something in advance?

How do we know which cruise to go with?

Which is better - felucca or cruise?

Any other information on nile cruise from Aswan to Luxor will be helpful.

Replies are much appreciated.

Thanks,
sb

Hello,

It should be quite easy to book your cruise in Aswan, depending on how busy it will be. You can book it with your hotel or any Travel Agency in Aswan. You can also try to go to one of the many cruise ships boarded in Aswan and ask for the manager. Ask him whether they still have free cabins, ask to see them and bargain for a price.

The choice between felucca and cruise ship is entirely up to you. What are your preferences? A felucca is more like camping. There are no sanitary facilities on the boat and you will have to sleep on deck. The sailor of the boat will prepare your meals. A felucca will only go as far as Edfu, because they can't cross the lock near Esna. From Edfu you have to organize transportation to Luxor, perhaps it will be within the package.

Cruise ships are more like big floating hotels, with all the luxury that comes with it.

Love, Dora.

Hi,

For the past 3 weeks I have been doing research on this particular kind of cruise as well.

This is the information I found so far:
- you can take a felucca cruise but it is extremely simple (meaning NO bathroom whatsoever onboard and you sleep on deck w/ a sleeping bag which you have to bring with you)
- there are some modified and quite luxurious feluccas for an up to 7-day trip (as they are sailing and not motoring) but they are also more costly. You can check some out on www.travelinstyle.com or www.4real.co.uk/trips/Nile-by-Felucca.html (or you google it)
- and then the regular cruise ships from 3* to 3/4* tourist class to 5*deluxe packages (htey are relatively inexpensive)

I am still not quite sure if it makes sense to book it all on your own or to find someone you can trust and have her/him do it for you.
I guess it depends if you want spend time bargaining a good deal for the trip or if you want to get there and just do it.

good Luck

Mick

Thanks everybody for their replies and feedback. Now, I have a decent idea of what to expect from a felluca and a cruise. We decided to go with a cruise from Aswan to Luxor. The question now is to decide on what cruise liner to choose among a plethora of 5 star liners. After some study, I have narrowed down the search to the following 5 star
- Radamis II
- Champollion 2
- Vittoria
- Imperial

Does anybody have taken a cruise on any of the above? What's the best way to book just the cruise in advance? Do we have to go through any travel agencies to do that or can we go directly to the cruise organizers? Any feedback on that would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
sb

There are over 300 cruise ships sailing the Nile between Luxor and Aswan. Hard to cover them all! But most are good. I guess the best way to book a cruise is to have someone in Egypt to do it for you. He or she will know about the prices and know how to bargain the best price for you.

If you like to do it by the Internet then write to a cruise company and bargain!!

Love, Dora.

Oh, and if you decide to do it by yourself, write to us the price they have given you. Than we can tell you whether it is a good price or not.

Love, Dora.

hi,

my girlfriend and i are going to egypt in 3 weeks and we are in the same boat as you guys (excuse the pun) and i'm just curious what you all found out since you must've gone already. did you book ahead of time or did you just find a cruise once you got to aswan? i've noticed most cruises leave mon, wed, or fri. was this the case?

any feedback you can get me would be great!
Thanks,
Ron

my partner and I are travelling to Egypt in about 8 weeks (but whos counting) and I've found soo much information on felucca's including prices, where to book, which ones are good etc in the Lonely Planet Egypt guidebook. hope this helps