TESTIMONIALS

Royal Viking
Pyramids Park Hotel, Cairo

Having just returned from the 1 week Nile Cruise and visit to Cairo I must tell you how much we enjoyed the whole experience.

The organisation of transfers, welcome meetings, visits to temples, flights to Cairo and return were all managed with skill, humour and care.

We stayed on Royal Viking and were most impressed with the standard of food, cleanliness and the skilled crew on the boat. Never having done anything quite like this before, (our holidays had just involved the two of us) we were somewhat anxious about being in a group with organised activities. However we soon changed our mind and were so pleased to have had such knowledgeable guides when visiting these most amazing temples and tombs. Without them we would not have found out so much about the Ancient Egyptians.

It was certainly an action packed 4 days whilst on the cruise. This was necessary to fit all the visits into such a short space of time. The times we were on board during sailing times were spent watching the Nile drift slowly past. From the comfort of the sun deck life was peaceful . Once docked and surrounded by the many other boats we still found it a fascinating experience and part of the whole.

There were optional extra tours but we didn?t do any as we preferred a little more free time on our own. This gave us the chance to wander the market streets in Aswan, something I can highly recommend. The mint tea at a little cafe was wonderful. Shopkeepers, when treated with a little humour, were great fun to haggle with over the price of spices, teas and jewellery.

The four days went by in a flash and soon it was time for the flight to Cairo. It was great being Business class even for such a short trip so thank you for that little extra touch.

We were met and transfered via the Sphinx Sound and Light show. For such a world famous venue we, and others, were very disappointed with the amateurish display which fell way behind other internationally renowned performances we have seen. The only complaint of the holiday.

We were then taken on to our hotel, The Pyramids Park. This was a large resort hotel which, although a contrast to the peace and tranquility of the boat was nevertheless a great place to spend the few days in Cairo.

Cairo was hectic. We decided to take the 2 tours that were on offer. One day was spent out at the Pyramids and the other in the Cairo Museum, mosques and churches. This gave us a brief glimpse into Cairo life and made us think we would like to return with more time to just wander and breathe in the atmosphere.

Many thanks for your personal touch in advising us when making the booking and for the little card waiting for us on our return. Little things make all the difference.

With best wishes,

Royal Viking
Cairo

Further to our telephone conversation yesterday I promised to write to express our great pleasure and satisfaction with the arrangements for our trip to Egypt recently completed.

We had a truly wonderful and memorable time. The reps were friendly and efficient and nothing was too much trouble even when we wanted to do something off schedule. The Egyptologists were fantastic - not only hugely informative but their enthusiasm for their subject was infectious and I am now looking for an evening class in Egyptology!

The Royal Viking boat was beautiful and we were delighted with everything - our cabin (big!), the food (delicious and plentiful!) the marvellous staff and the little extra touches like the artistic towel arrangements - different each evening!

The hotel in Cairo was perhaps the only (very slight) disappointment mainly owing to the food and service in the dining room. It was billed as 5 star but we felt 3-4 star would be more accurate. Having said that, the room was comfortable and the swimming pool and gym facilities were good. It certainly didn't spoil our holiday but I expect you want all the feedback even the less positive bits.

Richard and I would like to thank you for all your hard work to make our time in Egypt magical and I for one would certainly return to Egypt again and would recommend you to anyone who wanted a trouble-free and memorable holiday.

All good wishes,

Nile Cruise
Cairo

Just wanted to send you a quick message.

We have had the best holiday ever!!

My friend Edith and I had waited 23 years to go to Egypt and it was everything we had dreamed of and more. We honestly cant' believe how much we packed into our ten days. The hotel in Cairo was great and how close to the Pyramids!! We have spent 10 days saying, "Oh my God" and "Wow!!".

The ship was brill, lovely cabin, great staff. Peter was really nice and so helpful and our guide in Cairo, Sally, was great. How much info can one person carry around in their heads? And our guide on the ship, Charley, well what can you say? He was amazing, a fountain of knowledge and handsome as well!

We did two extra things, hot air ballooning, that was WOW truly amazing, drifting over the Valley Of The Kings at 3000 ft as the sun came up over the Nile, oh my God, did I really do that? That was a once in a lifetime experience that we will never forget.

Then of course Abu Simbel. What can you say about that? Unbelievable.

We were impressed from the beginning of the holiday until the end by the well oiled, well timed organisation. We were met at the airport when we landed and taken to the hotel, again met by our guides when and where they said, our coaches were always on time, the tours on time, taken back to the airport on time, everything was really well organised.

I dont' know if we will ever have the chance to return to Egypt, but never say never. But if we do we have already said that we would book through you again, no doubt.

Thank you so much for the help you gave us for our holiday of a lifetime that was way more than we could ever have hoped for.

Thanks,

Lynne & Edith

Nile Cruise

Just to say thank you for the welcome card you sent me and to say what a wonderful, hectic at times, holiday I had.

Though some people had tummy upsets, I was fine throughout the week.  Everything you said it would be, it was.  The wine, the excursions, the food on the boat, the weather, the local people, and not forgetting our representative Ahman.  He was always there for us, polite, helpful, informative and knowledgeable on Ancient Egyptian civilisation.

The Nile is a beautiful part of Egypt.  In fact, it is the life source of Egypt.

I would most certainly travel with you again.  Egypt was an education and a wonderful life experience, and I have many, many photographs to remin me.

If you pushed me very hard to say something negative, well, THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING BAD I could say to disappoint you.

Very best wishes to you.

Pete F.

Sonesta St. George Nile Cruise Ship

Royal Viking
Movenpick Resort, EL Gouna
Mercure (Sofitel) Le Sphinx Hotel, Cairo

Royal Viking

Sorry not to have contacted you sooner but we have had a lot to catch up with since arriving home late Monday night.

The holiday was excellent, starting with the service from yourself.  Everything you told us was accurate.  I would recommend the Royal Viking to anyone.

The cabin was spacious and comfortable.  The crew were helpful and friendly and the food was very good.  Attention to hygene was thorough and we did not suffer from any stomach complaints.

The tours were excellent.  We have seen pictures of the various sites but to see them in real life is something else!  The guides were knowledgable and helpful.  It was also great to relax on the deck in the warm sunshine and watch the banks of the Nile.

The whole holiday was very well organised and we didnt' have to worry about a thing.  The only thing that could be improved was larger seats on the Monarch flight.

John & Deanne

MS Stephanie & Sonesta St. George, Luxor

Hi Barbara,

This is just to thank you for the excellent arrangements for myself and Roger in Egypt. Everything that you did for us went like clockwork. The only thing that did not, which was quite out of your control, was the chaos at Luxor Airport. Mondays have four flights arriving within one hour with queues and chaos aplenty.

The cruise on the MS Stephanie was a dream and you managed to request top deck cabin space for us - well done. The crew were super attentive and your advice to pay up-front for alchohol was exactly tight. The Egyptologist (Sam) was of enormous value, highly instructive and knowledgable with a clarity of delivery which made everything come alive. Your suggestion as to the Sonesta St. George Hotel in Luxor was excellent with top grade room service and beautifully appointed rooms with quality furniture.

We really appreciated your attention to detail. We would strongly urge anybody with even the slightest interest in history and particularly the history of Ancient Egypt to take the cruise asap! However I would add one caveat. namely it pays you back "hand over fist" to do a little bit of background reading. Egyptian history is just too long to cover more than the highlights on the cruise. I would suggest that a quick "mug-up" on the 18th Dynasty, Ramses II and Tutankhamun would greatly increase one's appreciation of what is on offer.

Thank you Barbara for your fine efforts on our behalf.

Best wishes,

Charles A.

March 2010

MS Stephanie
Jolie Ville Maritim Hotel, Luxor

The vessel, the food, the standard of accommodation and the boat was so very good and the staff went out of their way to make everyones trip extra enjoyable. The organisation was superb and great consideration was given by all the staff to make the whole trip the best.

Both our guides on the excursions, Waheed and George, were so knowledgable and so helpful, making every excursion an adventure and a delight.

Peter Barnett gets singled out for his attention to detail and his constant involvement that everything was as it should be. He was very efficient and friendly too, taking a personal interest in people and ensuring their holiday was the best it could be.

I then went on to a week at the Hotel Jolie Ville on Kings Island, Luxor and this too could not have been better. Again the accommodation, the grounds, the location, the food and the staff were superb. It was a peaceful hotel but with enough to do in the evenings so one did not get bored. I especially liked the "sunset hour" when everyone watched the sun go down over the Nile whilst classical music played, the birds sung and in the distance one could hear people being called to prayer. It was a delight. I would certainly go back again.

My special thanks go to Barbara Maddocks who organised this for me and I have to say she was extremely efficient and so helpful. I was impressed and will definitely use the company again.

Many thanks and regards,

Kathleen C.

MS Da Vinci

We were both very impressed with your service and both enjoyed the holiday.

We have been on a Nile cruise twice before and knew what to expect but this was better than the others.

The ship, (MS Da Vinci) was great and we had a wonderful time. It was all well organised and our guide was brilliant.

The food on the ship was good and we had a fair amount of choice.

The waiters did all they could to ensure that we were happy.

Thank you

MS Stephanie
Sunrise Garden Beach, Hurghada

Royal Viking Nile Cruise
Three Corners Ocean View, El Gouna

Royal Viking
Movenpick, El Gouna

Firstly many thanks for the post card awaiting us on our return last week ? better than the 9 postcards I posted in the box on the reception desk on Royal Viking 3 weeks ago!!

Anyway we had a fantastic time ? the first week was culture and the second a complete chillout ? exactly what we had wanted and planned for with your assistance.

Nile Cruise-- Royal Viking

From arrival at Luxor Airport it was a week of laughs ? we had a great crowd on our table and all the multi-tasking crew were very friendly and entertaining but without a doubt it was our Egyptologist Mohammed (from Cairo) whose enthusiasm for the subject and our wellbeing helped to ensure we had the trip of a lifetime. His trademark blue umbrella together with his references to us as his Kings and Queens will stay in our memory for a long time.

The restaurant made a special event of any birthdays etc and it was pure luck that mine happened to be on the night of the Galabaia party ? much fun and much appreciated.

Hygiene and cleanliness aboard Royal Viking was excellent and the variety and quality of the food was very good.

There was so much to absorb from the trips and it will take revisiting the photographs to recall each event ? each one had something special about it and the planning of the itinerary very much developed like a crescendo culminating with Karnak. Even the early starts faded into insignificance as the treasures unfolded.

The highlight? Easy ? the hot air balloon ride on the penultimate morning. It was a magical experience floating over the Valley of the Kings (that we had visited 5 days earlier) and the West Bank watching the dawn rise all guided safely by our Pilot. I recommend it to anyone including those not happy about heights (as we were).

There were a couple of negatives. Firstly the fact that there was little opportunity to open our window and enjoy the balcony and views as we sailed the Nile because much of mooring time spent alongside so many other boats.

Regardless we recommend a Nile Cruise and particularly aboard Royal Viking.

Red Sea -- El Gouna

Then it was a five-hour coach journey to the Red Sea ? but there was much to enjoy with the changing geography from the fertile lands of Luxor through the dramatic scenery of the Red Sea Mountains.

El Gouna is a very interesting place split as it is into two distinct zones ? Downtown and Marina ? with a wide variety of restaurants serving excellent food at very reasonable prices.

Our week here was spent recovering from the active week and recharging batteries for the onslaught of Autumn/Winter in UK ? this was easily achieved with the option of pool or sea areas for sunbeds and swimming. In fact we enjoyed mostly spending the day on Zeytouna Island with the clean and clear swimming and reasonably priced bar/restaurant.

As for the Moevenpick it was not in the 5* bracket when we compare to Ritz-Carlton in Sharm-el-Sheikh and Elysium in Paphos which is what we had hoped for.

Our room was very nice and the view (we paid extra at last minute) spectacular but the service and attitude of staff at Il Limone and Spa Pool bar left an awful lot to be desired. The breakfast chef vanished for a full 5 minutes while we were waiting for eggs; coffee was in short supply and on many occasions had to ask for it more than once; tables were not reset complete until we sat down and then cups would be missing. At the pool bar after waiting 20minutes enquired where our food was to be told ?the restaurant (across otherside of pool) is busy implying we had to wait for them to fit us in; asked for draught Heineken to be told ?pump is broken?. Small points maybe but not consistent with 5* standards.

We visited adjoining Sheraton Miramar and asked Guest Services if we could look around with possible future return ? the girl replied ?of course ? are you from Moevenpick! Says it all!

Would we recommend El Gouna ? Yes. Would we recommend the Moevenpick ? No.

We will recommend Nile Cruises 4 U.

If you wish to use any part of this in your reviews feel free to so do. It?s what helped us in our research and I believe in knowing rather than hiding experiences.

We are now looking to how and where to relax in 2011!

Thanks,

Andrew & Heather B.

MS Fleurette

MS Fleurette January 2011

Dear Barbara,

Thank you so much for this wonderful holiday.

I must say that, apart from the Karnak sound and light show which was awful, boring, unspectacular and not worth the ?25 by any means(apart from 1 passenger, everyone said the same), everything else was perfect.

The Flourette was exactly as described in your brochure and the staff and crew were extremely friendly. The other optional tours which I did, Hatsheput's Temple, Abu Simbel and the Balloon trip were well worth the money, and spectacular. All the tours included were worth going on, and our guide was extremely knowledgable and interesting.

The food on board was geared totally towards the English palate apart from the Egyptian night dinner which was more flavoursome, but the chefs did a very good job in keeping high standards of food, and a well stocked buffet table. We were actually told by repeat visitors that the food on the Flourette was better then on the Da Vinci, which is 5*.

I loved the view across the Nile from my lower deck cabin. It was wonderful to be so close to the water, and get a different viewpoint. It really is unnecessary to pay for an upgrade to a higher deck, as from the sundeck one can see everything at a higher viewpoint for free, as the boat only has 4 decks anyway.

I didn't go to the galabaya party as I was extremely tired that night having arisen early for an excursion, but everyone said that it was great fun.

This is a most interesting holiday giving enough time to relax plus enjoy the highlights of the Nile's most famous treasures. I would highly recommend it to anyone!

I look forward to booking one of your different holiday packages for next year, but will most definately revisit Egypt in the near future.

Once again I thank you for your most professional help, including phoning me in Spain, to set the trip up from day one.

Regards,

Simon
January 2011

MS Stephanie, Cairo & El Gouna January 2011

March 2011 Oberoi Philae Nile Cruise

Lake Nasser Cruise & Aswan March 2011

MS Grand Preziosa Nile Cruise March 2011

Domina Prestige April 2011

Hi Barbara and Colin

I just want to say what an absolutely fabulous holiday I had on the Domina Prestige.  Everything was just magical.  I am sure some people won?t agree with me but it is what I think that matters to me. 

The cabin was a little small but it was a single and I was hardly ever in it.  The staff were great and I thoroughly enjoyed all my meals.  It made no difference travelling alone because the group of people I was with were extremely kind to this lone traveller.  Our guide Walid was very knowledgeable and passed on his knowledge very well.  I really can?t say enough about the trip and how much I enjoyed my holiday. 

Many thanks for your help in arranging the Domina especially when my original cruise was cancelled.

 Many kind regards

 Gill  

MS Stephanie April 2011

Firstly, thanks to Colin and Barbara Maddocks of Nile Cruises 4U for their part in arranging our booking on this cruise and getting our admin swiftly organized. 

We had received a deflating blow 5days before our departure date, leaving us nonplussed with the prospect of no holiday cruise following the demise of African Safari Club with whom we were originally booked. Colin and Barbara were able to arrange our replacement booking on the MS Stephanie on the same dates, albeit we had to pay out again (thank goodness for credit card facilities) pending our claim for recompense via CAA.

To all our Tour Guides and organisers a BIG THANK YOU to ALL for their MARVELLOUS organisation from the moment we collected our baggage after arrival at Luxor Airport throughout our cruise to the point of our arrival back at Luxor Airport for departure.  We were immediately put at our ease on being warmly greeted after arrival at Luxor Airport by George, one of our Group Guides.  When on board our Cruise boat we were split into 2 groups looked after by either George (Group Name : Isis) or Ayman (Group Name : Habiby) and our group.

All excursions and activities were expertly organised.  Daily itineraries posted on the notice-board in the reception foyer may have initially looked daunting, but everything was arranged at a reasonable and relaxing pace, with ample time for meals, preparation for excursions, leisure time in-between trips. When there were no trips there was relaxation however you pleased; on the spacious well furnished sundeck, in the lounge bar, other quiet areas or your cabin.

Excursions to Temples, Bird Watching & Nubian Farm, Nubian Museum, Kitcheners Botanical Island, other places of interest including perfumery, alabaster or papyrus institutes with associate shops; be it travel by coach, motor launch or felucca  (each a story in themselves) were generally well timed with inclusion of informative talks, guided tour plus time to browse, take photos or purchase goods. Passengers needing a guiding hand on/off boats were carefully helped and encouraged by the boatman, our guide or fellow passengers.  Returning from morning or afternoon trips we were welcomed back on board our beautiful boat by staff serving a refreshing glass of warm lemon/mint tea and offering each traveller a rolled dampened towelling flannel to wipe hands and face.

Our Guide, Ayman, (we're sure George was too) was very knowledgeable on Egyptology, explained the history of each Temple visited with interest, clarity and enthusiasm; never sounding matter-of-fact, mundane or overbearing.

The on-board Nubian entertainment evening was good fun as was the Egyptian Dress Party evening.  We could perhaps have done with another evening of entertainment possibly with a singer and incorporating audience participation. Perhaps this may be food for thought in the future.

We thoroughly recommend the inclusive tariff to include drinks ( tea/coffee/water/ soft drinks, local wines, beers[Stella] and spirits) plus a single payment to cover all staffing tips.

To any one booked/considering a cruise it should be noted that all optional extras on board including extra excursions are payable in cash only either sterling or Egyptian pounds.  The onboard jewellery shop and similarly the perfumery, alabaster and papyrus shops accepted credit card payment.

To Staff and Crew of MS Stephanie thanks for their services and facilities.  Entering into the reception foyer with anti dazzle viewing windows either side, was like stepping back in time with a magnificent double ornamented staircase, landing and central chandelier in a style reminiscent of that seen in the film Titanic.  The lounge bar offered a variety of comfortable seating, again with views either side when cruising; albeit this room could be a little dark at times.  The dining room on lower deck was always laid out with fresh and different coloured linens at each of the 3 meals served daily.  The only meal not taken on board MS Stephanie was breakfast on the early morning coach trip (4am) to Abu Simbel when a generous breakfast pack was provided. 

All dining room meals were served on a buffet basis; both hot and cold food, well presented, the hot food in covered heated tureens each labelled with its contents.  Plenty of choice and quantity for all.  Pleasant, friendly, smart waiters were on hand to help as necessary plus serve drinks as required.  Most evenings there was a Birthday celebrated by a passenger or two including our own son. At the end of the meal, the waiters grouped and serenaded with gusto a local traditional greeting with drum and tambourine accompaniment followed by the traditional Happy Birthday chorus sung by all to the recipient of a personalised candle lit sponge cake (arranged at extra cost) happily shared with neighbouring diners.
 
The cabins, ensuite and air conditioned, were spacious smartly and adequately furnished with advantage of sliding anti-dazzle patio doors with verandah panel and rail at which to sit or stand and gaze at the world go by whilst cruising, if not elsewhere on the boat.  The cabin crew, who took obvious pride in their work, looking after the boat, excellently maintained the accommodation housework. They delighted and enthused in their artistic talent of creating animal and character creations with fresh towels in the cabins every evening.

The only criticism we would make is a disappointment that the Boat Manager never introduced himself to the passengers.  We thought it would have been a pleasant gesture if he had appeared at the first evening meal as an introduction and welcome plus at the last evening meal to say farewell and express a thank you on behalf of ALL the crew for the contribution of the gratuity received from passengers en-block via the tour guides.

All in all we enjoyed a wonderful exhilarating enlightening experience into another world. One we will relive in our minds and through our digital photos.

We hope me may return to see other parts of Egypt and its antiquities at some future time, health and opportunity permitting.

Edward, Margaret and Richard

Domina Prestige Apr 2011

MS Grand Rose - April 2011

Domina Prestige Nile Cruise - May 2011

Hi Barbara and Colin

I just want to say what an absolutely fabulous holiday I had on the Domina Prestige.  Everything was just magical.  I am sure some people won't agree with me but it is what I think that matters to me. 

The cabin was a little small but it was a single and I was hardly ever in it.  The staff were great and I thoroughly enjoyed all my meals.  It made no difference travelling alone because the group of people I was with were extremely kind to this lone traveller. 

Our guide Walid was very knowledgeable and passed on his knowledge very well.  I really can't say enough about the trip and how much I enjoyed my holiday.
 
Many thanks for your help in arranging the Domina especially when my original cruise was cancelled.

Many kind regards

Gill  

Grand Star. May 2011

Hi Barbara and Colin,

Thank you for organising our trip so efficiently and easily.

The organisation in Egypt was faultless.  The cabins are very comfortable and quiet and the food was good.  All the staff were extremely nice and attentive. 

Our guide, David, was excellent and looked after us well. We enjoyed  relaxing on board and the included excursions were fascinating.  The additional excursions to Abu Simbel and the balloon ride were memorable.

It was a wonderful holiday and incredibly good value.

Kind regards,

Michael, May2011

Domina Prestige March 2011

Hi Barbara and Colin,

I would like to congratulate you and your organisation for making our holiday absolutely wonderful. It was everything I had always envisaged it would be and more.

The organisation from the very moment we booked was absolutely faultless. Your advice and help was invaluable. Your representatives in Egypt were very professional, well presented, helpful and were always available should be need to ask anything. Everything was organised down to the last full stop. Wonderful. The trips were stupendous, again so well organised.

The Domina Prestige is luxury on the water. The cabins were spacious, bathrooms lovely with all the toiletries one would need. The patio doors with the Juliette Balcony was great. It meant we would just open the curtains, in a morning, open the patio doors and just watch everything go by. The food was delicious, always hot and with a very good variety. Lunch was just as good as the evening meal. I would certainly recommend anybody to go All Inclusive as it takes the hassle out of buying drinks, especially in the evening when you are with a crowd. Every meal time, we had two bottles of water given to us to take away.

All the Staff were so welcoming ,helpful, friendly and nothing was too much trouble for them. It was great to come back to the cabin in the evening to find a different towel sculpture every day.

Our Egyptologist was Amir, and he was absolutely excellent. He was so passionate about Egypt and it certainly rubbed off to all his group. We were called his "Family" and he most certainly made you feel that way. How he could remember all the things he told us is just amazing. A Truly Dedicated Egyptologist. I would highly recommend him to any Travel Company who needs an Egyptologist.

We travelled a few weeks after the trouble in Cairo and can honestly say, we saw nothing whatsoever of anything ever having happened.

Please, anybody who reads this and is interested in going to Egypt, it is perfectly safe, absolutely brilliant and has such magnificent sites to see.

One of the "MUST DO" trips is the Abu Simbel. We travelled early in the morning by coach, along with our pillows. It was absolutely magical. We saw the dawn rise over the Sahara, which is a sight to be remembered and never to be forgotten.

On arrival at Abu Simbel, it just made the hairs stand up on the back of your neck. Absolutely magnificent If there is one sight you should see in a life time, it is definitely Abu Simbel,. On our return journey, we saw mirages in the desert. Again an absolutely Must.

Well I could go on and on. Praise after praise is all that we can give for this holiday.

Once again a very big THANK YOU. We will certainly be booking with you again and have already spread the word around about what a magnificent holiday we had with the help of you. We have told everybody to make sure they book with Nile Cruises 4U.

I do see that you do other destinations such as Kenya so we must get researching for next year.

Mavis and Charles

Sale
Cheshire

Sun Boat IV & Hurghada September 2011

Dear Barbara,

If you are thinking of going to Egypt or are thinking of going again - now is the time!

The Nile is quiet, the temples and tombs are empty (except for their righful occupants!).

We had a week on the Nile in September on the Sun Boat IV and what a wonderful week. Excellent food and accommodation, perfect service, an informative and enthusiastic guide. For 40 years I have always wanted to see the Nile and it's temples, after a visit to the exhibition in the British Museum back in the 1970's. It was everything I hoped for and more and the visit to Abu Simbel was unworldly.

The only "revolution" we came across was a small demonstration because some people's houses were being knocked down as they were built on some 4000 year old tombs and a group of workers protesting about their poor pay in Hurghada (looks like democracy is taking hold). Nothing compared to what happened in London a week before we travelled.

Our second week was very different in the "Three Corners Sunny Beach" in Hurghada. Highlights were snorkelling on the Red Sea reefs, quad biking over the desert and relaxing on the beach. The downside was that most of Hurghada is a building site, the food in the hotel was bland although plentiful. This particular hotel was a bit "Butlins on the Red Sea".

Thank you for a wonderful holiday, we are recommending it to all our friends. Next will be Cairo, Alexandria and the Nile Delta.

Jon and Sue

Nile Cruise, Lake Nasser Cruise, Cairo & Luxor

Dear Colin & Barbara,

Just to say that we had an absolutely fabulous holiday and to thank you for helping us to arrange it.

Needless to say but the tourist trade was very quiet, making it a great time to visit the sites without too many queues. On the security side, we could not visit Edfu because of some local problems and we restricted ourselves to the museum in Cairo, otherwise we felt perfectly safe at all times.

The itinerary (Nile cruise, Lake Nasser, Cairo & Luxor) worked perfectly and we would recommend it to anyone looking for a 2 week holiday seeing as many sites as possible. We debated if we should have done Cairo at a different stage of the holiday but I think it works best if you do the museum after you have seen some of the sites that the pieces came from.

Personally, I would not have liked to have finished the holiday in Cairo - it was too busy and polluted to be enjoyable but we could not miss seeing the pyramids or the museum.

A quick summary of the boats and hotels:The Ra II. It was about 70% full which was nice. Any more and it might have been a bit cramped on the sundeck etc. The Egyptologist (Mohammed) was excellent and we were in a group of between 6 and 14 depending on the excursion. Our first impressions were that the boat was a little "tired" but we soon got used to it. We particularly liked the fact that we had a Julliette style balcony and could open the windows. Some of the newer boats seemed to have full length windows that could not be opened. Fortunately, we only had one night when we were moored next to another boat.

The food was very good and the staff could not have been better. They managed the fact that we were on a 4 night cruise whilst most others were on a 7 night cruise very well. We saw Luxor and Karnak on the 2nd afternoon (while the 7 dayers had an afternoon off) and we could only see either Kom Ombo or Edfu (as Edfu had security problems, this did not affect us). Otherwise we saw just about everything, just with less leisure time. Sailing to Dendra on the first day was a bonus - not many boats seemed to do this.

The Omar al Kayham. As you know, we were moved to this boat from the Prince Abbas. I don't know if it was a better boat than the Prince Abbas but it was very good and it is difficult to imagine a better boat. There were only 27 passengers on this 3 night cruise of Lake Nasser. We were told that there were 130 crew which meant that we got excellent service even though it surely could not profitable. The cabin was about twice the size of the Ra II and we had a small balcony which was big enough to fit 2 chairs on. We really enjoyed this cruise, it is more relaxing than the Nile and the scenery is different. We typically had one stop of about 2 hours to see the temples and would usually see 3 or 4 temples in one stop. The only slight criticisms of this boat were that the reception struggled to change English money into Egyptian (we eventually got ?20 changed).

Mercure La Sphinx, Giza. Well located and reasonable quality. Most guests seemed to stay for only 1 night which meant that the lounge area felt a bit like an airport transit lounge at times. The pool and gardens were a nice escape from the city outside the hotel. A good choice for 2-3 nights. A taxi into the museum took 50-60 minutes. The pyramids excursion that you arranged for us was very enjoyable. We had been warned that many of these excursions insisted on visiting the carpet / papyrus shops. We made it clear that we were not interested and it was not a problem. The guide asked what we wanted to do about lunch and drink breaks. We agreed to simply have a drinks stop for about 45 mins and this worked fine. A little disappointed that we did not have the option to see the Solar Boat (he told us it was not open but other people staying at the hotel said that they saw it). Also, it would have been nice to have had the option to extend the day to include Dashur.

Sheraton, Luxor. Very pleased that we went for the superior room with the Nile View, it finished the holiday off very nicely. Excellent hotel and we like that it was situated just out of town. As it happens, the Ra II moors next to the Sheraton. It appeared that the travel companies were pushing the hotel as a place for a family break in the sun. Given the state of the tourist trade, we could not blame them for trying but it did detract from the quality of the hotel at times (I know, I am a snob!). We did not feel confident enough to eat out in the evening but the on-site Italian restaurant was very good. We would have struggled to find somewhere we wanted to eat if we had been there for longer.  The hotel were giving big discounts on food and drinks which made them quite reasonable.

As you told us they would, all the transfers went very well - from the moment we got off the plane until we checked in for our return. After a while we learnt to just trust things and they seemed to happen. The Rep in Luxor arranged a hot-air balloon ride for us at short notice - an experience not to be missed!

Thanks again for helping make this a successful and special holiday for us. We have already recommended you to friends who are thinking of an Egyptian holiday.

Best regards

Duncan & Susan

Nile Cruises 4u is a trading name of The Freedom Travel Group Limited registered in England and Wales with registered number 3816981. Vat No. 403 3146 04. Registered Office: New century House, Manchester, M60 4ES. Head Office: Hamil Road, Burslem, Stoke-On-Trent, ST6 1AJ. The Freedom Travel Group Limited is part of Co-operative Group Limited.