Daily Mail Travel writer's Nile Cruise

I read a recent article in the Daily Mail from a writer who had enjoyed a week on the Nile (presumably paid for by the tour operator) and her heart had sank when she saw the "ugly floating hotels stacked 6 deep" and "passengers forced to walk cross the decks of others" and then she moved on to describe her own boat, prices for which started at £2745.00 pp for 8 nights.

Now I have never been on the boat she sailed on but it looks great (so it should for that money) and has a good number of facilities as well, but would it be worth paying that amount of money for the extra facilities and to have someone fix your laptop??

As with anything, you get what you pay for and whilst there are currently some great bargains to be had for not just Nile Cruises but alot of holidays in Egypt as operators cut prices to try to sell stock they hold, a Nile Cruise does not have to be an expensive holiday.

If you book early enough you can enjoy a Nile Cruise from £615.00 pp this winter on a good 5* boat or from around £899.00 for a luxury boat with your own private guide and transportation which to me represents much better value for what is essentially the same holiday visiting the same sites.

I agree with the writer on one thing and that is that Egypt needs tourism money right now, ideally the Ministry of Tourism is working on an incentive with the local operators as well as the airlines, fingers crossed.

But I think I would like her to view some of my boats before she puts us all in the same category for Nile Cruises

Egypt - New discoveries

After what most people involved in Egypt tourism would describe as a very bad year so far its great to see a story involving new discoveries which showcase Egypt positively. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-13522957

Egypt's Lost Cities which goes out on Monday the 30th May on BBC 1 at 2030 follows an American archaeologist as she excavates sites discovered through the use of satellite infra red imagery.

The findings include at least 2 new suspected pyramids and over 1000 tombs which eventually could lead to new tourist sites.

May and June Egypt Bargains

There are some great bargains to be had for both Nile Cruises and Luxor stay Holidays over the next couple of months due to the low flight rates that are currently available.

The Luxurious Ms Farah is available from £699.00 per person with free deck upgrades and the choice of private sightseeing on selected May and June departures which is a crazy price for a boat that is only 9 months old.

The RA II is also available from £569.00 which as anyone who has travelled on her before knows is a great offer and this includes sightseeing and all transfers

7 nights bed and breakfast at the Sofitel Karnak is available from just £329.00 pp and a week at the Sonesta St George in a side Nile view room from just £359.00 pp. You can then book some of our very well priced half and full day tours to enjoy the treasures of Luxor for a brilliant and cheap holiday.

Both hotels offer excellent value for money for a leisurely break

Nile Cruises 2011

With all of the recent bad press for Egypt and the demise of another Tour Operator - African Safari Club -its nice to be able to report something good.

We have managed to secure rates for winter 2011/2012 on many of our boats at the same prices as this years. So for early bookers we can offer lead in winter prices from £699.00 on the RA 2 and £899.00 on the Ms Farah.

These prices include return flights, full board on the boat, full sightseeing itinerary and all transfers in Egypt.

Slow restart to Tourism in Egypt

Although technically things are supposed to be back to normal its clear from talking to my guys in Egypt that things aren't as good as everyone would like.

As if to reinforce this, both inquiries and bookings have been slow with more people shopping than booking. The loss of the Easyjet Monday flight to Luzor for as yet unanswered reasons will also only add to problems as this will effect capacity and price leaving only Monarch operating a Monday Luxor flight.

Hopefully as clients return and we can add positive reviews this will help to spread the good word

Foreign Office Travel Advice - Luxor

The FCO yesterday changed its travel warning for Luxor and no longer advises against all but essential travel to there.

This is great news for all involved in tourism to Luxor but it now remains to be seen how quickly things get back to normal. Some of the charter companies had already cancelled flights for the next fews weeks and with a number of the Nile Cruise boats operating based on the flights some cruises may not start for several weeks.

Anyhow we all hope that over the coming weeks tourists return to all of Egypt as they will certainly need the economic boost.

Egypt unrest

Ive resisted posting anything on the current unrest for the simple reason that there is so much media attention as well as the other internet traffic - blog, facebook and twitter, that it does not really need anything else said, apart from what a terribly sad situation is.

Good friends of mine whose office happens to be in Tahrir Square have not been able to get to work due to the unrest and have no idea of the state of the office. Tourism in Cairo has ceased and having watched a John Simpson report this morning the attitudes of some Egyptians has turned quite nasty and you wonder how quickly this will change http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12387034

As someone who has worked in the Egypt Tourism industry for many years, been there many times and now a number of what I would call good friends it is both distressing and shocking at how quick things can deteriorate and I pray that somehow this ends quickly and peacefully.