среда, 25 декабря 2013 г.
Most of the cruises end up in a boat sandwich at some point in the journey. There are only so many
We took the three night cruise down the Nile from Aswan to Luxor aboard the Presidential Cruise Lines Nile Symphony. We had a triple cabin with one queen size bed and one twin. The cabin was very spacious, much bigger than I had expected. We had a full size bath tub and shower, a walk in closet, and lots of room to walk around. Our 3 year old can still fit in a full size crib so we asked for a crib in the room also. Unfortunately, the crib was tiny and she didn t fit at all, but we were able to take the mattress out and with the addition of a couple pillows denver hotels make a nice pad for her on the floor. Both the kids preferred this arrangement to sharing a twin bed.
The service on the boat was excellent. The staff was very friendly and the kids had a ball with them. Elizabeth got to walk around ringing the dinner bell one night and I ve never seen her smile bigger. Our rooms were made up each night at dinner and there was a different towel animal laid out on the bed each night. The kids thought this was great fun also. All the service was great, but the icing on the cake was the fact that we were allowed to remain aboard the boat for the entire day at the end of our three nights. We were catching the night train to Cairo and didn t need to leave until 9:00 pm. Not only did we have full use of the public areas on the boat, they gave us a cabin to use for the day also. Our triple had been booked, but they allowed us to use a double right behind the front desk. This room was significantly smaller. It is more in line with what I expected the room size to be with only a sliding closet and standing shower. I suspect this was the worst room on the boat; it was still nice though.
The food on the boat was pretty good. Breakfast and lunch were always buffet style and you could easily find something pleasing to your palette. denver hotels Breakfast included eggs made to order and there was always plenty of fresh fruit. Andrew keeps saying that he liked the food in Egypt better than anywhere else we have been, but that s just because most of the time we weren t eating Egyptian food and he got to pick what he wanted from the buffet. Dinners denver hotels were a set menu and they were served in multiple denver hotels courses at the table. None of the dinners was spectacular, but they were all good. With the multiple courses there was always something that was especially tasty. The one problem with dinner is that it didn t start until 8:00 or 8:30, which is usually when we try to get the kids to bed.
The top deck had a small pool which the kids enjoyed when we were not on tours during the heat of the day. It cools off fast at night though so the pool was less enjoyable in the late evening. At any time of day the top deck was a great place to watch life on the banks of the Nile passing by. There was also a ping pong table that we had a lot of fun with. In the lounge area there is a pool table and you can rent balls for $6/hour. The kids just played with the ping pong balls on it and nobody seemed to mind.
I ve read that some of the boats have great entertainment in the evenings. We did have a social hour hour with free drinks one night and there was belly dancing another night. The belly dancing was not that great and only lasted denver hotels 15 minutes. This didn t matter denver hotels that much to us though since we were exhausted by the time the entertainment was supposed to start and would have most likely gone to bed anyway.
Officially the Nile Symphony is a 5 star boat and it is certainly up to my standards, but if I had to put it on a typical American scale I d call it 4 starts. Somewhere on par with a nice Holiday Inn or the typical Marriott. It s nice, but it is not the lap of luxury. Speaking of luxury, we did get massages on the boat. These were good, but not the best massage I d ever had. Definitely worth the $30 for an hour massage though.
Most of the cruises end up in a boat sandwich at some point in the journey. There are only so many places to dock the boats so one boat will pull up to the dock and others will tie up to the first boat. This means that you have to walk through several lobbies to get to shore or put up with passengers from other boats walking through your lobby. This is not a big deal, but it is really best to be on the outside of the sandwich so that you don t lose your views.
We went on about six tours with other English speaking passengers from the boat. We had one guide, Rafik, for 10 adults and 5 kids. For the most part this was ok. The kids were easily distracted denver hotels and I missed some of the details of places denver hotels because I was busy rounding up kids or shushing them. Rafik was great with our children and he was very knowledgeable. Some of my favorite denver hotels conversations with him were about current affairs and not about the ancient sites we visited. He was a great guide. He is not tied to this particular boat, however. The guides are arranged by other booking agencies so you may have another guide on this boat. You also have the option to arrange private tours while on the boat. In general I think the tours are a bit rushed. I could have spent much longer at Valley of the Kings especially. Sometimes the tours have to follow the boat schedule, but frequently you would be free to spend longer if you had a private guide.
Overall, I would recommend the Nile cruise in general and the Nile Symphony specifically for families in Egypt. It is a nice balance between relaxing, kid friendly surroundings (like buffets denver hotels and the pool), denver hotels and taking in the ancient sites that the adults traveled so far to see.
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