Types of Cruises - Nile River Cruises
photo courtesy Uniworld
“A first time visitor to Egypt who wants a classical experience would do well to book a Nile cruise.”
So advises the Egyptian Tourist Authority.
History began on the banks of the Nile. Those who sailed the famous river were the ancient kings and queens – Akhenaton, Nefertiti, Tutankhamun, Ramses, Cleopatra (with either Caesar or Antony in close attendance). Today you can sail the same path aboard on any of more than 300 luxury Nile cruises.
Historically the Nile cruise was the only way to visit the temples and tombs located along the Nile. Nile cruises may vary considerably, but these types of cruises are either three, four or seven nights. The shorter tours usually operate between Luxor and Aswan, while the longer cruises travel further north to Dendera, often offering day tours overland to more remote locations.
Nile river cruises are available all year around, but in mid April, locks on the Nile are shut because of water levels. The best time to go on these types of cruises on the Nile is October to March when all the locks are open and it is cool.
Nile cruises allow tourists to gain a prospective of the rural Egypt, where people live much the same way they did even thousands of years ago, in mudbrick homes, tending their fields with wooden plows and moving produce via donkey. It is a wonderful experience to sit on a shaded deck of a floating hotel , sipping an iced beverage while watching 5,000 years of culture slowly drift by.
The better ships that ply the Nile River on these types of cruises have most of the accommodations of a land based hotel, including small swimming pools, hot tubs, exercise rooms, nightclubs, good restaurants, stores and even small libraries. These floating hotels also offer various entertainment
Luxor, a living museum with vast numbers of ancient Egyptian monuments, is the focal point for many of these types of cruises. The Temple of Karnak there is the largest religious complex ever built. There are excursions from Luxor to the Valley of the Kings, a World Heritage Site, resting place of some 63 pharaohs and including one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world, The Tomb of Tutankhamun.
