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Nile River Cruises- Luxury (& not so) Nile Cruise Holidays For years, cruising the Nile was the best and virtually the only way to visit southern Egypt, see the classical sites there, and visit the temples and tombs located along this stretch of the Nile River.
Sure, nowadays one can travel there via airliner, but there is still something magical about seeing old Egypt the old way - a Nile river cruise. It is also still a great way to visit Upper Egypt, and has certain advantages to more pedestrian means of travel.
Why Nile River Cruises?One obvious advantage is that when cruising you don't have to constantly pack, unpack and pack. Move your baggage aboard, set up your quarters, and off you go. Your "hotel" travels with you. You can relax.Another advantage to the tourist is the opportunity to stop and spend some time at various local attractions, the ones airplanes simply fly over and bypass. One can gain an appreciation of the realities of life in rural Egypt, as well as the antiquities to be found there.
You just can't beat sitting in the shade on the deck of your floating hotel and enjoying a tall, cool drink as you watch the essence of Egypt drift by. With occasional stops permitting one to disembark and mingle with the local merchants, a Nile cruise can be a most fulfilling way to go.
 Types of Nile CruisesNile River cruises are usually either three, four or seven nights, but these can vary quite a bit. The shorter tours generally operate between Luxor and Aswan, while the longer cruises journey further to the north, including Dendera and often offer ground tours to more remote areas. Thus, a fairly complete 14-day tour of Egypt might include several days around Cairo, including seeing the Giza pyramids, museums and other antiquities, and a brief flight down to Abu Simbel in the very southern part of Egypt, all surrounding a basic, seven-day Nile River Cruise.And, importantly, you don't have to worry about being uncomfortable or inconvenienced in any way by virtue of your choice to travel by river. Most of the available cruise ships really are nothing but floating hotels, with all the amenities and pampering one would expect from their land-based cousins. You will discover night clubs, swimming pools, hot tubs, top restaurants, and even libraries, all aboard you cruise ship.
Just as with regular hotels, you get what you pay for when it comes to the rooms themselves, with everything from the most luxurious suites to basic single-bed accomodations from which to choose. It is common for there to be video movies each night, and some boats are even equipped with cameras allowing passengers to view the countryside from the TV in their cabins. (Nice, but . . . Oh, I don't know - why not step outside?)
One thing though, you will want to bring along (or purchase onboard) bottled water to drink. The ships claim to have the most modern of water filtration systems, which is great for showering, but when it comes to drinking water the safe side is best.
 Felucca Nile CruisesThere is another option for the more adventurous: A "felucca" is a traditional Egyptian sailboat, used for centuries on the Nile. One can easily arrange a short trip upon a felucca, and longer multi-day trips are available too. In fact, you can travel between Luxor and Aswan by felucca, a most inspiring and fascinating way to see the country.
Just keep in mind, a felucca is most definitely NOT a floating hotel! Accommodations can be primitive, with some tourists sleep in the open on deck, and the sailors doubling as cooks.
 The best time for a Nile River Cruise is basically between October and mid April, when the weather is nice and cool, and all the Nile's locks are open. Still, cruises are available year-round, with transfers from one boat to another available as a way of by-passing closed locks. Finally, similar to land-based hotels, there is a wide range of pricing from which to choose. These are based on the quality of the boats and their accomodations. Decent boats can range in price between about $55.00 USD to almost $300.00 USD per night, with seasonal increases of between 25% to 50% during Christmas and Easter.
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