So the one week on the Nile part of our trip was advertised as a *5 star all inclusive cruise for 1 euro. (*Egyptian norm)
What we actually got:
*5 star cruise ship (*Egyptian norm)
To give an idea of what a 5 star cruise ship based on Egyptian norms is like, imagine a big casino based on Atlantic City norms and not say, Las Vegas norms.
Still it was nice, deck with a swimming pool and clean rooms the size of an average hotel in Paris with private bathroom and hot water. We even got a towelagami animal greeting us each day on our room after our daily morning visits (swan, alligator, monkey, and even Mickey Mouse - guy was a real artist).
All inclusive
Three meals a day and tea time in the afternoon whenever ship was in transit. Someone even rang a bell to get our Pavlov digestive juices going. Drinks not included in the all inclusive. We spent about 10 euros each for water for the week, double the going rate on the street. When we tried to bring water we bought on the street to the table we were scolded.
I had been told by friends that Egyptian food was nothing to write home about and I’d have to agree. On about the third day of the trip we were served spaghetti for appetizer, hamburger patties and fries to follow, and ice cream as dessert in what I interpreted to be some kind of effort to give the foreigners a taste of home.
Activities:
Life on the cruise ship can get boring but the crew has that covered with nightly planned fun inducing activities like gala dinners [read: same food served instead of buffet style with the lights dimed] and dancing to music ala my cafeteria middle school dances in the mid 90's [nobody asked me to dance then and husband didn't ask me to dance now].
We did participate in “Egyptian” night where we all dressed up in jilbabs and ate Egyptian food which I couldn’t really distinguish from Lebanese food. We ate quickly and were able to avoid the rest of Egyptian night involving wrapping people up in toilet paper, an activity I’m sure is practiced by all Egyptians. We weren’t however, able to avoid the photographer who made us do Egyptian poses. We passed on the 20 euro resulting photo.
Visits:
Visits were not included so we figured this was where they made their money, but I was thinking, this is Egypt how much could it be? In the end we spent a total of 210 euros per person on visits: 120 euros for the standard visits (10 visits) and splurged for two extra visits: Valley of the Kings for 30 euros and Abu Simbel for an outrageous 90 euros (apparently due to the fact that we had to be escorted by a convoy).
Visits included air conditioned transport, price of admission, and tour guide. When cross referenced with my lonely planet guide, we probably paid about 3 to 4 times what we would have paid had we done it by ourselves.
*Tipping (*Egyptian norm):
I had read that tipping is a part of daily life in Egypt but we didn’t really have this problem as 54 euros were extracted from us when we arrived at the airport to cover tips for the entire trip. We unfortunately had to explain this to the people who requested tips anyways. You can only say “Sorry we already paid the agency” so many times to a guy with holes in his shoes before you start to feel like an asshole.
There are no beggars in Egypt; people simply provide services you don’t ask for (jumping into your picture, putting a scarf on your head) and then asking for a tip afterwards. In a country so poor and the tourist industry in steep decline, competition was fierce and we were getting solicited left and right. Having already experienced similar situations in Asia I tried to keep a smile on my face while remaining firm but after a while anyone can get weary.
*Security (*Egyptian norm)
The main reason we went with an organized tour is because we felt it would be safer. There were security guards with guns but by the clumsy way the guns were handled I wondered to myself if it wasn’t just some country boy who’s mother tipped his way into a uniform and paycheck. There were metal detectors but it didn’t seem to bother anyone if it went off. Maybe instead of checking for weapons they were checking for the presence of enough change for tips and you were banned if the detector didn't go off?
All in all we paid about 275 euros pp which isn’t bad considering you get to cruise along the Nile River and have all your needs taken care of for you except personal hygiene.
Wouldn't be so bad if it didn't remind me a little of a old person's home.
What we actually got:
*5 star cruise ship (*Egyptian norm)
To give an idea of what a 5 star cruise ship based on Egyptian norms is like, imagine a big casino based on Atlantic City norms and not say, Las Vegas norms.
Still it was nice, deck with a swimming pool and clean rooms the size of an average hotel in Paris with private bathroom and hot water. We even got a towelagami animal greeting us each day on our room after our daily morning visits (swan, alligator, monkey, and even Mickey Mouse - guy was a real artist).
All inclusive
Three meals a day and tea time in the afternoon whenever ship was in transit. Someone even rang a bell to get our Pavlov digestive juices going. Drinks not included in the all inclusive. We spent about 10 euros each for water for the week, double the going rate on the street. When we tried to bring water we bought on the street to the table we were scolded.
I had been told by friends that Egyptian food was nothing to write home about and I’d have to agree. On about the third day of the trip we were served spaghetti for appetizer, hamburger patties and fries to follow, and ice cream as dessert in what I interpreted to be some kind of effort to give the foreigners a taste of home.
Activities:
Life on the cruise ship can get boring but the crew has that covered with nightly planned fun inducing activities like gala dinners [read: same food served instead of buffet style with the lights dimed] and dancing to music ala my cafeteria middle school dances in the mid 90's [nobody asked me to dance then and husband didn't ask me to dance now].
We did participate in “Egyptian” night where we all dressed up in jilbabs and ate Egyptian food which I couldn’t really distinguish from Lebanese food. We ate quickly and were able to avoid the rest of Egyptian night involving wrapping people up in toilet paper, an activity I’m sure is practiced by all Egyptians. We weren’t however, able to avoid the photographer who made us do Egyptian poses. We passed on the 20 euro resulting photo.
Visits:
Visits were not included so we figured this was where they made their money, but I was thinking, this is Egypt how much could it be? In the end we spent a total of 210 euros per person on visits: 120 euros for the standard visits (10 visits) and splurged for two extra visits: Valley of the Kings for 30 euros and Abu Simbel for an outrageous 90 euros (apparently due to the fact that we had to be escorted by a convoy).
Visits included air conditioned transport, price of admission, and tour guide. When cross referenced with my lonely planet guide, we probably paid about 3 to 4 times what we would have paid had we done it by ourselves.
*Tipping (*Egyptian norm):
I had read that tipping is a part of daily life in Egypt but we didn’t really have this problem as 54 euros were extracted from us when we arrived at the airport to cover tips for the entire trip. We unfortunately had to explain this to the people who requested tips anyways. You can only say “Sorry we already paid the agency” so many times to a guy with holes in his shoes before you start to feel like an asshole.
There are no beggars in Egypt; people simply provide services you don’t ask for (jumping into your picture, putting a scarf on your head) and then asking for a tip afterwards. In a country so poor and the tourist industry in steep decline, competition was fierce and we were getting solicited left and right. Having already experienced similar situations in Asia I tried to keep a smile on my face while remaining firm but after a while anyone can get weary.
*Security (*Egyptian norm)
The main reason we went with an organized tour is because we felt it would be safer. There were security guards with guns but by the clumsy way the guns were handled I wondered to myself if it wasn’t just some country boy who’s mother tipped his way into a uniform and paycheck. There were metal detectors but it didn’t seem to bother anyone if it went off. Maybe instead of checking for weapons they were checking for the presence of enough change for tips and you were banned if the detector didn't go off?
All in all we paid about 275 euros pp which isn’t bad considering you get to cruise along the Nile River and have all your needs taken care of for you except personal hygiene.
Wouldn't be so bad if it didn't remind me a little of a old person's home.
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