Wansbrough's Cruise Blog

I start today by picking up from last night’s walk in Minya. I am not sure who is making the decisions about security but yesterday evening has to be one of the most bizarre walks I have ever taken in my life.  After asking if we could leave the boat for a walk we were told it isn’t really safe to do so. However during the course of the day it was arranged for us to go to a coffee shop in one group. There was a pre arranged meeting point of 8:45 in the reception after which we then walked out through the other boat up the steps into one of the craziest scenes I have ever seen, not only on a cruise, but in life generally.
At the top of the steps waiting for the 13 of us was the following assembly, 12 armed men who were a mixture of security guards, tourist police, standard police some of which wore black masks on their faces. Don’t let me stop there though, in addition we had a police car and motorcycle outrider periodically stopping the traffic when we needed to cross the road, I’m not quite finished yet, to complete the defence force there was also a large green van with a armed guard posted above the cab with a machine gun, it just made me think of Jones the butcher’s van in Dad’s Army complete with its round holes in the back section for a guns to be poked through. This small army escorted us for maybe a mile along the side of the river to pre-booked cafe (Si El-Said Café) where we stopped for some liquid refreshments, the whole time our small army sat outside on guard. The return journey was exactly the same, just over two dozen of us slowly strolling along the road to get back to the ship. We were met with some really strange looks from the locals but on the whole there were a lot of people who came up and said hello or welcome. I have no idea if it was all totally necessary but it did make for the most interesting evening. Unfortunately when asked, we were told no photos so I have nothing to show you how it looked, you will just have to take my word for it.

 

Today it was another early start for our morning excursion to Bani Hassan Tombs. Although it was only 20km away it took a good 45 minutes to get there because of the roads. We were again given a police escort but nowhere near the scale of last night. The route itself took us through some really rural villages and it was a very interesting to witness it first hand.

Upon arrival our tickets were purchased along with photography permits for those wanting to take photos inside the tombs. We then had a bit of a climb to reach the tombs themselves. We were shown around 4 tombs all very similar but each with their own history. Some of the paintings were in really good condition with many aspects of daily life being portrayed.

The journey back to the ship followed the same route and as soon as we were all onboard we set off for our next stop which has been brought forward.
After lunch we spent the afternoon up on deck once again enjoying the Nile River views and glorious sunshine.Being as there are a couple of Liverpool fans onboard and there is a Champions League game on tonight against Porto, when we got back from our trip last night we asked one of the bar staff if there was any chance of getting a TV in the bar to watch it. He told us he would have a word with his manager. Since then our Egyptologist and the Maitre D have both come forward claiming that they have arranged for this to happen. The fact that the TV was already in place when we arrived back from our morning excursion speaks volumes so we have just gone on and allowed them their moment of glory but we know who really pulled the strings.

In the evening we open the sliding doors but keep the fly mesh screens closed, the downside is you hear everything that is going on outside. So it was a big surprise to hear us depart from Beni Suef this morning around 3:00 when it was still pretty much dark outside. The itinerary said overnight and I had assumed we would depart around the same time as we did from Cairo.
Our stop at Beni Suef was a strange one, our guide told us that there was little there of interest but if we wanted to get off for a wander then there was all sorts of paper work that needed to be signed and a tourist police escort arranged. In the event we stayed onboard and entertained ourselves in lounge bar, nothing being provided by the boat on this occasion. I wonder if with a little planning they could have found a few musicians in Beni Suef to come onboard for an hour or so? Maybe it just wasn’t the best place to organise something like that hence our earlier departure.

This morning we had an hour long talk with our Egyptologist who gave us a little bit of insight to the up and coming few days. The timing worked well as the weather was a bit overcast first thing and as if by magic when we had finished the skies started to clear.

It’s fascinating just watching everything that is going on along the banks of the river, not just people and wildlife but the scenery as well. While you can’t take a photo of everything you see I have been looking for things that have some sort of visual impact.
Hopefully the next set of pictures will give some idea.

Another thing we have experienced on this cruise is our steward has taken the towel animal on the bed to another level. We didn’t take much notice the first night with our two swans but the next night a large peacock did catch our attention. But this morning after breakfast we arrived back from breakfast to find a large crocodile with a small child in its mouth. One wonders how he is going to top that.

One of the other men in our group also had the invitation to go and view the bridge this morning and meet the captain. Again it was a true experience to see what goes on behind the scenes. There are about 6 crew all living, working and sleeping in a small contained space. No navigation aids and just a knowledge of where to steer the boat to avoid any shallow areas. Much of the know-how has been handed down from generation to generation.

At 5:00 we arrived at Minya where we are to spend the next two nights. We pulled up alongside another boat called Nile Saray so we will need to walk through their reception to get off.
Tonight we have a cocktail party before dinner then hopefully a walk around Minya afterwards.

This morning we eventually set off on our trip to Luxor having spent the last two days in Cairo. As there will be no tours to tell you about I will spend some time telling you about the boat, our fellow passengers and our onboard experience so far.
On arrival we were allocated cabin 205 which is at the front and right next to reception. It’s a good sized cabin and really comfortable. It has all the usual amenities you would expect to find in a sea going version and we have a Juliet balcony which is accessed by a pair of sliding doors, there is also a separate pair of fly mesh screens which can be pulled close so that you leave the doors open at night without the worry of being nibbled to death by mosquitoes.

There is ample storage for clothing and free use of a mini safe. We are very pleased with it all because there was always a worry that it might not be as good as it was being depicted.
The most surprising thing is that the boat is far from full, there are 11 Brit’s, 5 German’s and 2 American’s on board. The latter two joining the boat yesterday so didn’t come with us on any of our tours. The crew easily outnumber the passengers by at least 1½ to 1 if not more and are being really attentive. Being as our English speaking group have spent 2 days touring Cairo we have all got to know each other fairly well and I can say with confidence that I know the name of at least 60% of our fellow passengers.

All meals are buffet style and the selection and quality of the food has been really good. Because Nicole is Vegan they are making special meals for her and the Maitre D has pretty much been asking Nicole what she wants the next day, it even arrives plated up for her. She is more than happy with the arrangement. There is a bar service during meal times and the prices are very reasonable, a large bottle of Stella (Egyptian beer) is about £4 and a the wine works out on average at about £15 a bottle. A 1.5 litre bottle of water is about £1 although much cheaper if you buy off the boat.
Public areas of the boat are really well maintained and because there are only 18 of us there are no space issues anywhere. It almost feels like we have the boat to ourselves at times.

There is a large lounge and bar area where last night we went to a display of Egyptian song and dance. It started with 2 guys playing some folk music on a lute and drum which for me went on far too long. This was followed by a whirling dervish who was really quite impressive, at the end of his performance he selected 3 people to have a go at it. Nicole being one of those and I have to say she was easily the best out of the three.
More traditional dancing followed and again some audience participation at the end when nearly all the ladies were invited up to copy lots of the dance moves. It turned out to be quite a fun evening but to-date it has been the only entertainment on offer.
The top deck has a small pool and about 60 or so sunbeds. I don’t think we are going to have any problems with the Germans bagging all beds on this cruise. One deck lower is where the lounge bar is but behind that is a covered outside area with tables and chairs where afternoon tea is served at 4:00.

Rafik, who is the onboard Egyptologist for the entire cruise has been absolutely fantastic. He pretty much takes care of everything for us, from sorting out the tips for the drivers to providing detailed information at all the sites we have visited.
He prefers to address us all as ‘your excellencies’ which we have found really endearing. He is a sub contractor and has no ties with the company that own the boat or agents and is our go between should we have any problems or issues with anything.

Ever since we have left Cairo we have been constantly accompanied by additional boats carrying armed tourist police. They have been doing it in relay handing over at different stages and along the river. We are currently on our third boat. The first one spent much of morning tied up to the back of our boat.

So back to today, despite having the chance to lie in we were awake not long after we started sailing. For an hour or so we just laid in bed with the windows open and watched our transit out of Cairo. It was really sad to see all the all cruise boats laid up and going rusty.
We went for breakfast at 7:45 thinking we would be on our own but there were in fact 10 of there just enjoying watching and eating breakfast.
The rest of the morning we spent up on the top deck enjoying the views and weather. A lovely lunch at 1:30 with some more relaxing up on top until we arrived at Beni Suef around 4:00. We are here overnight and will have a similar day tomorrow.

We are tied up directly outside the tourist police station where we stay until tomorrow morning when we will continue on to Minya.

After a slightly longer sleep than the previous night, we were again on the move at 8:00am for our second day in Cairo. Our first stop being Saladin Citadel on Mokattam hill where we were provided with a great view of the city.

We then moved on to the Mosque of Muhammad Ali which is also located within the Citadel walls.

We were there for about 2 hours before moving onto the Cairo Museum in the centre of the city. For today’s tour we had an additional member of the team, on top of the usual three we were joined by a plain closed armed police officer. It doesn’t look like they are prepared to take any chances with our security.

After getting our entrance tickets and an additional photography permit we passed through two separate sets of scanners on our way into the museum. If Egyptian relic’s are your thing then this has to be the place to visit.

Our guide walked us round many of the must see items before giving us an hour of free time to see some of the other items. Tutankhamen’s treasures being one area we wanted to see as this was left from the proper tour. Unfortunately this is one of the areas of the museum where photography is not permitted so we just have to be happy with being able to see it for ourselves. There are too many artifacts to list individually so I have put together a collage so that you can get some idea of what we saw.

The building is looking very dated and the new Grand Egyptian Museum which is currently under construction will eventually take its place with all the items moving over when it is completed. This is scheduled to be in 2020 so we may come back once it’s done. We saw the outside yesterday while in Giza and it looks a very impressive building already.
We were back onboard for lunch at 1:30 which was followed by some well deserved R&R.

Our alarm woke us up at 6:00 this morning and once we had finished our morning ablutions we had a wander around the ship for the first time.
The breakfast buffet didn’t open until 7:00 so we were able to get a good feel for our home for the next few days.
By 8:10 we were on our way to Giza for our first stop of the day. There are 11 of us in the group and we are accompanied by a driver, Egyptologist and an armed security guard.
It has been emphasized more than once that our safety is the most important thing. Having said that, there is absolutely no evidence of there being anything that would give rise to bringing any harm to anyone.

The pyramids were every bit as magical as the first time I visited in 1991. We had 30 minutes at the base of Cheops which is the largest of the 3 pyramids and 15 minutes for a photo stop at the viewing plateau. All the sites were very busy and I was very surprised to see the amount of people. Back in the bus and then on to see the Sphinx at close quarters.

Part of today’s tour involved a visit to an essence and perfume establishment where we were given a demonstration of glass essence bottle making which was followed by a sales pitch to tempt you to buy. Nicole succumbed to some Frankincense and Sandalwood essences.
A 40 minute drive then took us to Saqqara and lmhoteb Museum. There is a lot of renovation going on with the pyramid and one side was covered with the rickety timber scaffolding I have ever seen; rather them than me!

One final stop before we headed back to the boat was to see one of the tombs at the Saqqara complex. Our guide was keen to show us one in particular that has only been open to the public for 2 months. I forget the name.
Finally we made our way back to the boat for some down time before our evening meal.
Another early start tomorrow so we won’t be too late to bed.

We left home at just after 8:30 this morning in the pouring rain and it proceeded to precipitate for most of the journey to Heathrow’s terminal 2.
Our transit through the airport was fairly swift which gave us ample time to get some lunch and have a wander.
Unfortunately our carrier today, EgyptAir have a no alcohol policy so there wasn’t the option to do a spot of imbibing during the flight, at least it was only around 5 hours and not a true long haul. I was very impressed with the in flight meal, one of the best I’ve had and Nicole’s vegan meal was also well received.
The only negative about the flight was an unhappy toddler 2 rows forward who having missed his afternoon nap proceeded to cry for what seemed like an eternity at the time. When he eventually settled you could hear the cabin breathe a huge sigh of relief.
By the time we reached Cairo it was gone 8:45 PM and the sun had set and we landed in darkness. After what has to be the longest taxi to the terminal in the world we joined the masses in the immigration hall. Not before picking up our visa from the bank kiosk enroute. Quite a strange system as we were met by the Discover Egypt rep before both. Still he was very helpful and guided us to where we needed to be and pointed me in the direction of Etisalat kiosk while Nicole waited at the luggage carousel.
It was over an hour’s drive to then get to the boat. By the time all the formalities were done and we had unpacked it was 10 minutes short of midnight.Breakfast is served at 7:00 with a rendezvous time of 8:00 for our first tour. We have not had time to explore the boat yet and will be out all day tomorrow.
Time for some shut eye!!

An unfortunate and untimely medical crisis just prior to final balance payment meant we had to cancel our 28 night cruise on MSC Splendida and as a result we were left with a completely blank year as far as cruises go. Once a recovery timetable had been established we set about trying to book something new to fill the gap, thinking that somewhere warm would be appropriate for the recuperation process, we searched itineraries in the Caribbean and Middle East in the hope we could find a bargain. Nothing leapt out at us and we had almost resigned ourselves to a Med cruise later in the year when suddenly I spotted a Nile cruise which ticked a lot of the boxes. After much research we ended up booking a 12 night trip (11 onboard + 1 in a hotel) with an independent cruise consultant called Ian Warren who trades under the GoCruise franchise. I have to say I was very impressed with his professional approach along with his knowledge of the product and the whole process was completed within a couple of days with flights, transfers etc all confirmed as well.
The trip itself is a package from a company called Discover Egypt who pride themselves as being one of the UK’s leading specialist operators to Egypt and there are lots of positive comments about them on Tripadviser which I always deem as a good sign. More digging on the internet has revealed the boat itself which was built in 1992 is owned and operated by the Travco Group and being as their website leaves much to be desired with information on the boat then we will just have to trust the tour operators and cruise consultant on this occasion.
So, our first venture into river cruising will be on Jaz Royale and with 10 inclusive tours included, to say we are very excited is an understatement. We are really looking forward to the whole experience as it will completely different to anything we have done before. We have often wondered about a river cruise but never been brave enough to take the plunge, could this be opening up a new world for us?

Below is a breakdown of our itinerary, its more detailed in the respect it covers all the tours but less detailed in that there are no times indicated other than morning, afternoon and evening.

Itinerary

• Day 1 Cairo: Fly to Cairo and transfer to the Jaz Royale. Overnight on board in Cairo.
• Day 2 Pyramids and Sphinx: Visit the great Pyramids of Giza & Sphinx and the step Pyramid of King Zoser at Sakkara. Dinner and overnight on board in Cairo.
• Day 3 Egyptian Museum & Citadel: Visit the Egyptian Museum and Citadel. Afternoon at leisure or optional tour (approx. £43) of Old Cairo, known as Christian Coptic Cairo, also visit the Church of Abu-Sergah and St. Barbara, the hanging church, and the old Jewish Ben Ezra Synagogue. Dinner and overnight on board in Cairo.
• Day 4 Beni Suef : All day sailing to Beni Suef. Dinner and overnight on board in Ben Suef.
• Day 5 Minya: Enjoy the day sailing to Minya. Dinner and overnight on board in Minya.
• Day 6 Beni Hassan Tombs: Visit Tuna El Gebel. Visit Ashmunein. After lunch on board visit the Beni Hassan Tombs including the Tomb of Baqet III (BH15) Tomb of Khety (BH17), Tomb of Amenemhet (BH2), Tomb of Khnumhotep II (BH3) Dinner and overnight on board in Minya.
• Day 7 Tel El Amarna: Early morning sailing to Tel El Amarna. Visit he northern tombs including Tomb of Ahmose (EA3), Tomb of Meryre (EA4), Tomb of Pentu (EA5), Tomb of Panehesy (EA6), Royal Tomb of Akhenaten (EA26). The Great Palace of King Akhenaten, The Small and great temples of Aten. Afterwards, sail to Assiut. Dinner and overnight on board on Assiut.
• Day 8 Sohag: All day sailing to Sohag Dinner and overnight on board in Sohag.
• Day 9 Abydos & Denderah: Visit Abydos Temple and afterwards the Temple of Hathor at Denderah, which houses the chapel of the Goddess Nut. Return to the boat and sail to Naga Hamadi. Dinner and overnight on board in Naga Hamadi.
• Day 10 Luxor: All day sailing to Luxor. Dinner and overnight on board in Luxor.
• Day 11 West Bank: Visit the West Bank of the Nile including the two Colossi of Memnon, the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut at Deir El-Bahari and the Valley of the Kings. Afternoon at leisure in Luxor. Dinner and overnight on board in Luxor.
• Day 12 Karnak and Luxor: Morning visit to the Temple of Karnak and Temple of Luxor. In the afternoon, disembark and transfer to Luxor airport for flight to Cairo for overnight stay at an airport hotel.
• Day 13 Return to UK:

The Jaz Royale has been out of action for a while and there have been no reviews since 2012, however if the details I have managed to find on the internet are correct then it has been fully refurbished, therefore we can only go forth with optimism and whatever the outcome we intend to make the best of it.

On this cruise the cabins are not going to be allocated until we get onboard but being as there are only 48 in total, on this occasion I don’t think its going to make much of a difference which one we end up in. Below are plans of all the decks.

One thing I do have concerns about is being able to send posts on a daily basis and so I have weighing up the various options. After e-mailing Discover Egypt to enquire about the Wi-Fi onboard, I was advised it is not a good signal in most places and not to be relied on. So I have treated myself to a Huawei E5577c 4G Mobile WiFi Router which works using a mobile phone sim card. The plan being to purchase a data SIM card either at the airport or sometime before we set off from Cairo. Of the 3 main networks in Egypt, Etisalat seems to provide the best coverage along the river so they will be my first choice. Time permitting I hope to make the purchase in the arrivals hall at Cairo airport. This little gadget will allow up to 10 devices so should easily work for our two phones and my tablet.

I feel that I am now as well prepared as I can be so fingers crossed it all works out.