We have just boooked by phone for 12th March. Took a lot of deciding whether to go with this one or kuoni Nile romance. Ended up being £2oo difference in price even when you add on the cost of tours. Hope it will be ok. The girl in our local first choice phoned for me to get details of the excursions as there were no details in the brochure. Also told me that it is the Orchid.

Graham, that's what I thought too.

Julie, what details have you got on the excursions?

Cheers. Stace.x

Stace
my husband has the list at work with him. Will send details when he gets
home. I can remember that the Abu simbel trip was £90 extra to fly and £55 by road. All the other trips were included in the £120.
At least I will be able to let you know how it was before you go !

Julie

Hi everyone!

We are travelling on the First Choice 7 day cruise on the MS Orchid from 6th March. I'll post you my feedback week commencing 20th. We are really looking forward to the trip as there has been so much positive information regarding trips, etc. on this and other post sites.

I'm sure all will be well!

Cheers
San

hi
Here is the excursion itineary.

Luxor's west bank -valley of the kings/queens
East Bank
Esna-farming town
Edfu- temple of Horus

Abu Simbel extra

Julie
ps I notice they now have the cruise on lastminute.com .

Hi,
I have just returned today from Nile cruise on Magic 1, booked with Hayes and Jarvis. My husband and I really enjoyed this holiday, it was a fantastic experience and I am glad we have had the opportunity to see these wonderful sights.
I will write a proper review when recovered from holiday early mornings.I have also had to go straight back to work today.
I took great interest in the other boats we passed, we saw the Orchid and she certainly looked a nice boat. We travelled with First Choice and lots of the people on the plane had been on the Orchid and said they had had a wonderful holiday with good food excellent guides and staff everything good on board. Im sure the people I spoke to said their local drinks were included but they paid extra for thier excersion package.
We also passed the Emilio Dominia Prestige and she looked really beautiful as she is a new boat she really stood out.I also spoke to a young Australian couple who were on her and they said most of the guests on her were British with about 6 Spanish, and everything on the boat was lovely.

its nice to hear from someone who has seen the orchid. Not too many weeks to go as we are off on 13th mMarch. Just have to sort out jabs!
Glad you had a good time, look forwrd to reading your report.

Julie

Do you need any vaccinations before travelling to Eygpt? I thought as long as you were up to date with routine jabs you were OK. I'm a bit worried now as we are off in 3 weeks and 4 days ( not that I'm counting!). Can't wait!

Daughter & I have just returned from 4 nights Nile Cruise, 3 nights Cairo with VJV - Absolutley FANTASTIC!! I've waited some 20 years to do this trip and definitely wasn't disappointed. We sailed on MS Caprice for 4 nights then on to Cairo for 3 nights. The organisation was excellent (except for the queue at Luxor airport on arrival to get our visas (prepaid!)) and the Tour Manager could not have been bettered! The boat/ship was excellent in every respect - food, hygiene etc. As an "experienced" cruiser in the Med/Adriatic etc it could not have been better. Our Tour Agent ( a 25 yr old Egyptology graduate) was FANTASTIC - so knowledgeable and able to impart this knowledge to us in an understandable and amusing way - he could make and understand jokes in English tho he has not yet been able to get a Visa to visit Europe - such a pity when you consider who does get into our country!! It is an experience which I would not have missed for the World - to stand inside the burial chanber in the 2nd Pyramid - some 4 1/2 - 5000 years old!!! Simply mind-blowing!! I would recommend this trip to anyone - whether or not you have ever considered Egyptology as "interesting" because you will be "hooked" on it by the end of the tour - you will also take some weeks to really come to terms with what you have seen! How this civilisation did what they did with the tools in their posession is unbelievable! Don't anyone decry their intelligence - we have gone backwards, not forwards, in our abilitiies!!

Temperatures while we were there were reasonable (low 70;s) thro the day but quite cold at night - take a couple of "woolies " + a "fleece" if you're going to a "Son et Lumiere" - it was very cold at he Pyramids at 7pm!!

Re vaccinations before departure, we were advised Typhoid and Hepatitis C (Malaria not necessary before April) - these had to be at least 14 days before depoarture. Hope you have a fabulous time as we did!

Well, I have taken the plunge at last - in more ways than one!

Following two emergency evacuations from planes in quick succession, I decided I would never fly again. That was almost 20 years ago and, up until recently, I have stuck to it.

However, I am a great arrmchair traveller and have been lurking in this site for over a year now.

You have inspired me! After reading all the posts in here, last October, I cashed in an ISA and hotfooted it down to Thomsons and booked a cruise on the Ra II followed by a week at the Sheraton in Luxor for me and my fairly new (5 years) husband. I haven't told him; it's to be a surprise. He knows that on 3 April we are flying off somewhere - he thinks it's to visit a relative in Spain. I just know he will love it - we both will, as he spends so much time watching programmes and reading books about Egypt.

A few weeks after booking, I realized that I was going to have to fly and started to panic. Solution? After (again) reading pages on this site, I booked a week in Prague and actually managed to get on the plane with the aid of only two (well, 3) g&ts. Had a fantastic time! Can thoroughly recommend it and would love to go back.

So, my fears re flying are alleviated. I have no problems on boats.

HOWEVER (and isn't there always one?) - I have a few queries, viz:

1) I understood visas could be obtained in the airport in Luxor, but somebody has told me I have to get them beforehand. If this is the case, then my surprise will be spoiled as I shall have to ask him for his passport. It is up-to-date - he renewed it last summer. Could someone clarify, please?

2) I have been told to take some warm clothing as it is cold at nights. In Egypt? In April? Surely not! If this is the case and it is chilly, would I get away with a pashmina (cashmere shawl)?

3) Just bought a digital camera. How much memory would you consider to be the minimum to take? Can I get discs burnt in Luxor to free the memory? Should I take my camcorder, or is it just something else to carry?

4) Husband is a keen fisherman (we both are). Anyone know if it is possible to hire a boat and equipment and go fishing? I think he would quite enjoy landing one of thoose enormous Nile perch!

5) Is there the chance from Luxor to go out and spend the night in the desert?

I am just so excited now! I really don't care about being harassed and - to be honest - am quite looking forward to it.

I just cannoit thank you posters enough for all the wonderful info you have given and - above all - inspiring me to undertake what will be - for us - the trip of a lifetime. Especial thanks to Boothers, Tex and Sancho Proudfoot for their superb posts.

p.s. The "other plunge" I have taken is signing up to this site and typing my first ever post! Apologies if I have the protocol wrong; I am sure somebody will put me right.

[/list]

What a good post!!!
Sorry, I don't have any answers for you, but I'm very interested in any replies that you get. (We are off in March).

Hi Essie,
Will try to answer a few of your questions:
1. Visa's No you don't need them beforehand. Just follow the rest of the people off your flight to the relevant window. Have yourself a crisp £10 & £5 note ready for each visa you require. It is also handy to have, a pen, your passport, information as to where you will be staying etc. It is not a complicated form so don't worry! Just fill it in to the best of your ability and hand it over with your (Sterling only) money, and you will receive a nice visa in your passport.

2. I have never been cold in Luxor in April, if you want take a (very) light cardigan. We all know how you ladies feel the chill.

3.Definatley take your camcorder! plus plenty of spare cassettes/discs at least 5 hours worth. As for your digital camera, I am not sure if anyone can download your camera card to a disc, but I am sure someone in Luxor can. I always take a spare card, if you have around 125 MB available and take your pictures at a medium resolution you should be able to take hundreds of pictures.

4. Nile Perch! well that's a different matter. I will stand corrected on this one but I have never seen anyone fishing with a rod & line in Egypt. My own experience of these monsters is from Africa in general where they frequent various rivers and lakes. You usually have to use a bright coloured lure (yellow is best) and troll it up and down from a boat. I would think that if you take a bit of gear with you, you should be able to fix something up with a local boat owner.

5. What exactly do you mean by "a night in the dessert" If you mean a trip out to the dessert and a good evening meal in a Bedouin type camp then 'yes' These are available by booking at places like Jolleys travel (near the old Winter Palace) or by going to an hotel like the Sonesta St George and booking direct. The dessert in Egypt is not particularly romantic, it is not sand! more like a mixture of sand, grit, bits of rock & camel Poo plus the odd body part of an ancient person. not to mention the odd snake or scorpion. Not the best place for a kip and it can be very cold.

I do hope this helps and have a wonderful time, your hubby will be over the moon when he realises what you have booked for him, you must love him a lot.

Tez

Hi
This is my first attempt at asking/posting a question so I apologise if I get the system wrong.

I am going with 3 others for a holiday on the Domina Prestige and wondered if anyone can give me any information on the single cabin accommodation? I understand that single cabins are smaller but would like to know if I've booked us all into cupboards. I also understand that the windows are smaller but again am having trouble finding out exactly how much smaller. Any help or advice would be very much appreciated. I'm really looking forward to our trip and having read some of your personal experiences of your own holidays makes it so much more exciting.

Can anyone tell me if the Domina Prestige is also known as the Domina Prestige Emilio or are they two different boats/ships?

Hope someone can help.

Many thanks
Jael

Hi Jael
Try this website http://www.dominaprestigeemiliocruise.com it will give you some info on your boat, it looks very nice. Yes single cabins are usually a bit smaller as they tend to be the ones that they 'fit in' so to speak. That is to say there are always places on any boat where corridors or other things make that area a bit too small for a double cabin to fit in. It will be a bit smaller but it wont be small, it still has to have a bed a bathroom/shower a toilet etc. Look at the picture of the boat and you will not see any 'small' windows, all windows are usually picture windows and not portholes. Anyway, as anyone will tell you, you will spend very little time in your cabin other than to sleep so don't worry. As a rule unless you can book a Junior Suite most double cabins are fairly small by hotel room standards, remember the boat does have to pass through a giant canal lock at Esna.
Tez

Hi Jael
I saw the Domina Prestige last week from our cruise boat and she lookes impressive. After passing through several boats to get ashore, as they all moor against one another, they all look pretty similar in layout and our twin bedded cabin had plenty of space. I dont think the size of a window would matrer either because you are often aginst another boat with about a foot between so you pretty much keep your curtains closed most of the time. With the early starts, on ours we had a couple before 5am, you sleep as soon as your head touches the pillow, then when your awake your up showered and out, so dont worry about the size of the cabin. I would suggest you pack earplugs though because you do get noise from the engines and generators.
Have a wonderful trip, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
We got our Visas at Luxor airport on arrival, I gave the man £20 for 2 and he gave me change I think he gave me E£30.

Hi Tez
Hi Raych

Your messages have been a really big help for which I thank you very much. I've been spending some time reading the reviews others have posted. It's amazing how many areas of information, top tips and advice are covered. So thank you all for taking the trouble for the rest of us, as yet, inexperienced Nile visitors. I hope that after my visit in May I'll be able to help do the same.

Now, If I can just work out where to send this reply......

Regards
Jael

Very many thanks for your response, Tez. The info is much appreciated and useful.

Scorpions, huh? Think we'll give the night out in the desert a miss. I've never had a problem with snakes - I spent the first 5 years of my life in Karachi (my father worked out there) and still have memories of the mongoose that was kept in the house to get rid of them. I was more frightened of that mongoose than I was of any snake!

I also intend to book the balloon flight and sea-plane flight for him, as he has always wanted to do both.

Yes - I do love the old darling very much - and he adores me! Big change from my first marriage- (won't even go there). I just know he is going to love it. He was watching aprogramme on Sky the other night about Egypt and said, "I wish I could see it for myself. Still, I'll keep buying the lottery ticket and maybe one day..." I was itching to tell him, but I will keep it as a surprise.

Hello,

My boyfirend and I are thinking about going to Egypt in June, probably independently as we want the freedom to move around when we please. I'd like to do a 2-3 day cruise between Aswan and Luxor (or vice versa) taking in nearby sites. Can we book it from this end or wait till we get there? And does anyone have any recommendations as to boats/operators?

Many thanks.

Hi Jael
When are you going on the Emilio??? I think I have searched just about every message board, review and forum about the boat and have found nothing but resounding praise in about 99.5 percent of cases (and lets face it you cant please all of the people all of the time )
I am sure though your single cabins will be smaller they will still be very well appointed.
By the way my travel agent personally holidayed for a week on the Emilio about two weeks ago and had a fabulous time!!