Well it’s been a rocky road from Nile Cruises 4u over the last week. Our hosting company decided that they were not going to support a particular web platform that Nile Cruise website was built on. Sadly they only notified us on the actual day that they were ceasing supporting that platform and so our website almost immediately ceased to function.

That meant we had to scramble around to find a good alternative hosting company that was suitable for us to swap the site to. This took a day or so and then we spent almost 8 days trying to move over the site and this Nile Cruises Blog. This sounds easy in theory but in practise is a nightmare. The things you think are going to be easy become difficult to achieve and the things you expect to be difficult become a nightmare. I think we are pretty much ok now but only time will tell if there is anything that still needs to be configured.

The say “what doesnt’ kill you makes you stronger”.

So if we take that adage at face value then I think we will be stronger for the awful experiences of the last 2 weeks. We have certainly learnt a few important lessons.

1) You cannot always depend on the “biggest” companies in any field. We were with one of the biggest hosting company’s in the world. They now sponsor football matches in this country. Yet thet let us down really badly and could have destroyed our website.

2) Make sure you “back-up” daily or as often as you can. Make sure that if the same thing happens again that you have all your files and content backed up so you at least can try and re-build your site.

3) Make sure you surround yourself with experts that you can call on to assist you with the things you cant’ do.

After that its’ just hard work and…luck.

What about 2012 and Nile Cruises?

Well, at the moment we have some great Nile Cruise Bargains available for January on ships such as the Grand Rose and Grand Preziosa but we also have a wonderful offer of 50% off the second person for the excellent 5 Star Viking Princess and the superb 5 Star Deluxe Royal Viking for selected dates throughout January to October 2012. If you call us on our Freephone 0808 1089 100 number we can tell you more about that superb offer.

So all it leaves now is for us to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year from all of us at Nile Cruises 4u.

Why not find out all about Nile Cruises by obtaining a copy of our exclusive FREE Nile Cruise Guide

The suppliers range from individual hotels worldwide to car hire companies and we will be adding to the Links Directory as time goes by.

Why not find out all about Nile Cruises by obtaining a copy of our exclusive FREE Nile Cruise Guide

I’ve had a glass of red wine and had my inflight meal and now I’m bored STIFF! I have never been able to sit still for very long so I’m trying to think of the exercises I need to do on a flight to stop deep-vein thrombosis. Trouble is I can’t remember them and so I keep flexing my calf muscles, flexing my feet in and out and trying to stretch my thighs…all whilst sitting in my seat. The guy next to me must think I’ve either got a bladder problem and need to keep fidgeting or that I fancy him as my right leg keeps touching left leg inadvertently. I’d better starting speaking to Barbara who’s sitting across the aisle, in a very deep and manly way!!

I guess the only way I’ll know if I’ve suffered a deep-vein thrombosis will be when the plane lands and I stand up and my legs don’t! Guess I’d just have shuffle off the plane on my backside.

We met a whole bunch of our clients at Luxor Airport and thankfully every single one of them had had a wonderful trip and loved every second of their Nile cruise holiday. Each of them have told us they will send us a testimonial to add to the Nile-Cruises-4u website and all of them said how welcoming they found the Egyptian people.

Yesterday Barbara and I visited 4 of the leading hotels in Luxor including the Sofitel Karnak, the Maritim Jolie Ville, the Sonesta St. George and the Old Winter Palace. All excellent hotels that you could spend a wonderful week’s holiday enjoying brilliant sunshine at a fraction of the cost you would spend if you chased guaranteed sunshine as far as the Caribbean. I’ll add full descriptions and photographs of the hotels over the next week or so.

Now it’s time to try and fill in time for the rest of the flight in some unique way I haven’t thought of yet. Perhaps the stewardesses would let me help serve the next drinks service?

Why not find out all about Nile Cruises by obtaining a copy of our exclusive FREE Nile Cruise Guide

The only problem was that instead of arriving at the flight desk at our normal time of 3 hours before we left it to 2 hours. Bad move as we were at the back of a long queue and there were 4 long queues. Normally we are at the front of the queue and have no waiting. This time we were actually the last people to check in and we were the last people to board the plane. Luckily we had good seats in row 3 so we weren’t right at the back if the plane.

Flight was delayed by an hour because of fog but the captain made up time and we arrived just 30 minutes late. After a smooth transfer through the airport we finally boarded our cruise ship, the excellent Royal Viking Nile cruise ship which is where I’m txting this now. We have a lovely upper deck cabin and we are just about to go down for dinner.

Early start tomorrow so we’ll probably have an early night.

To finish…I would definitely recommend the Premier Inn at Manchester Airport. I would suggest you ask the hotel reception the difference in costs between the shuttle and a taxi and I would always turn up early for check-in.

Why not find out all about Nile Cruises by obtaining a copy of our exclusive FREE Nile Cruise Guide

Our clients really enjoyed the treatment and warm wlecome they received from the Egyptian staff on board the ships and at the hotel and all together hard a wonderful time.

You can visit our Nile Cruise Testimonials page to read more testimonials but I’ve added it below to save you time:

Hi Colin
 
Thanks for your note and I hope you and Barbara have a great time next week.  The weather is gorgeous!
 
Our holiday was really fantastic from the moment we arrived at Luxor airport.  I was so impressed by the level of service we received from all the local reps out there.  They really looked after us and kept us informed at all times.

 
The Lake Nasser cruise was different to the Nile one but just as enjoyable.  It was almost like cruising at sea at times with the expanse of the lake and the landscape was not green and fertile but endless desert.  It was very relaxing and exciting too when we saw the awesome Abu Simbel temples and also a few others along the way.  We had the places to ourselves which was pretty special as there were only about 40 people on our boat.
 
Having the last 3 nights at the Movenpick was a great choice and the perfect location to wind down and just chill out before home.  The hotel was excellent – we loved the accommodation and the beautifully landscaped gardens.  Our first 2 nights we were upgraded from standard to a superior room which I put down to them being so quiet.  However when we returned 5 days later it seemed much busier but we were again upgraded from superior this time to a suite.  It was fantastic just sitting out on our terrace looking onto the Nile and the feluccas sailing sedately past Elephantine Island. 
 
Everything has been faultless for us and thanks again for organising our trip……it has been very memorable.  You never know we might decide to repeat it sometime….it’s temping!  Will definitely recommend you to all we know who may be thinking of a similar itinerary.
 
Kind Regards
 
Jean & Alex  

Why not find out all about Nile Cruises by obtaining a copy of our exclusive FREE Nile Cruise Guide

If you read our earlier post today you will have read that a client of ours is currently in Luxor and is due to cruise at any moment and reports that Luxor is as normal and that the Nile cruise ships are ready to recommence immediately.

Lets hope that travellers from the UK will start to visit Egypt as soon as possible to help restore Tourism which is such a great part of the Egyptian economy.

Why not find out all about Nile Cruises by obtaining a copy of our exclusive FREE Nile Cruise Guide

However, we are hoping that all Nile Cruises departing 21st March will go ahead normally.  Please keep looking at the main site to see our latest Nile Cruise Updates.

Thanks

Why not find out all about Nile Cruises by obtaining a copy of our exclusive FREE Nile Cruise Guide

Flight prices apparently start at £89.99 one way and flights are on a Monday and a Wednesday which fits in with most Nile Cruise ship departures.

The only thing you should remember is that if you do book the flights independently and then book the cruise through ourselves is that you would not have the same financial security protection as you would have if we booked the whole arrangement for you.  If you book the whole arrangement through Nile Cruises 4u you will be protected by our ATOL and ABTA licences and bonding.

However the extra flights from Easyjet do allow us to access alternatives if our usual suppliers flights are full.

Why not find out all about Nile Cruises by obtaining a copy of our exclusive FREE Nile Cruise Guide