OP
@Trailboss123 posted a great trip report about his RSA 3 (southern route) trip followed with the Nile Queen cruise. This was very helpful - thanks! We're going on the RSA 2 (northern route) in June/July and hope to combine it with a Nile Cruise. Unfortunately the Nile Queen is not running the week we get back to Hurghada. We've found other possible cruises, but have several questions about logistics.
Hurghada Arrival: we'll arrive on June 24 the evening before the liveaboard sails and taxi to a hotel. The RSA 2 leaves from the "Old Sheraton Marina"; I'm assuming we can just get a local taxi for the (short?) ride to the ship.
Any recommendations for a hotel close to where the RSA2 docks? We probably won't have much time to explore Hurghada.
Cruise: We've located other 5 day / 4 night Nile cruises from Luxor to Aswan, and we can get flights home from Aswan, but need to get from Hurghada to Luxor.
Driving from Hurghada -> Luxor takes ca. 5 hours and we could leave the RSA2 very early on Saturday, June 2, but how to arrange a driver to Luxor? The Nile cruise won't be an Aggressor, so we can't use their services and they apparently overcharge for land transport anyway. The taxi driver will need to find the RSA pier in Hurghada at ca. 5-6am, AND we'll have to figure out where to meet up with the tour once we're in Luxor. Is Whatsapp the preferred means of communication with locals (like it is in Mexico?)
Flying home from Aswan: We'll have the choice of staying overnight in Aswan and taking a 6AM flight, or leaving Aswan at 8:20PM the night before, which would involve getting on a 2:30 AM flight in Cairo, which sounds like a pain. Any idea how early we'd need to get to the Aswan airport for a 6AM flight to Cairo? Any hotel recommendations in Aswan (close to airport?)
The cruise itself... there are several outfits that book 5 day/ 4 night Nile cruises (e.g. MarsaAlam tours, Journey to Egypt) I think they're all just travel agents for the ships. Let me know if you've had any good or bad experiences with any of these.
Yes, we understand it will be incredibly hot (average high ca. 40 C / 104 F), especially visiting the sites along the Nile, but this is the only travel window we'll have for a while. It would be a shame to invest the time and $$ getting from the US to Egypt and not see the sites. We won't feel too bad missing Cairo and Giza, if we can make the most of the lower Nile sites.
Sorry for such a long post with lots of questions... thanks in advance for any advice.
-Don
Hurghada Arrival: we'll arrive on June 24 the evening before the liveaboard sails and taxi to a hotel. The RSA 2 leaves from the "Old Sheraton Marina"; I'm assuming we can just get a local taxi for the (short?) ride to the ship.
Any recommendations for a hotel close to where the RSA2 docks? We probably won't have much time to explore Hurghada.
Cruise: We've located other 5 day / 4 night Nile cruises from Luxor to Aswan, and we can get flights home from Aswan, but need to get from Hurghada to Luxor.
Driving from Hurghada -> Luxor takes ca. 5 hours and we could leave the RSA2 very early on Saturday, June 2, but how to arrange a driver to Luxor? The Nile cruise won't be an Aggressor, so we can't use their services and they apparently overcharge for land transport anyway. The taxi driver will need to find the RSA pier in Hurghada at ca. 5-6am, AND we'll have to figure out where to meet up with the tour once we're in Luxor. Is Whatsapp the preferred means of communication with locals (like it is in Mexico?)
Flying home from Aswan: We'll have the choice of staying overnight in Aswan and taking a 6AM flight, or leaving Aswan at 8:20PM the night before, which would involve getting on a 2:30 AM flight in Cairo, which sounds like a pain. Any idea how early we'd need to get to the Aswan airport for a 6AM flight to Cairo? Any hotel recommendations in Aswan (close to airport?)
The cruise itself... there are several outfits that book 5 day/ 4 night Nile cruises (e.g. MarsaAlam tours, Journey to Egypt) I think they're all just travel agents for the ships. Let me know if you've had any good or bad experiences with any of these.
Yes, we understand it will be incredibly hot (average high ca. 40 C / 104 F), especially visiting the sites along the Nile, but this is the only travel window we'll have for a while. It would be a shame to invest the time and $$ getting from the US to Egypt and not see the sites. We won't feel too bad missing Cairo and Giza, if we can make the most of the lower Nile sites.
Sorry for such a long post with lots of questions... thanks in advance for any advice.
-Don
