Egypt Luxury Vacation Review: Dahabiya 7-Day Cruise, Cairo, Luxor, Aswan, Museum & Pyramids

We just returned from a two-week, trip of a lifetime, to Egypt with this travel company. We were introduced to our trip planner and this travel company by Zicasso, com, which we’d used 5 years ago for a trip to Turkey. This trip exceeded any and all expectations we

(two couples) had and we have fallen love with a land we knew so little about.

Once we established our budget of time and money, and the desire to spend a week on the Nile River on a dahabiya…. the only way to really see the country…. our trip planner did everything else. We tacked on an extra day of rest upon arriving in Cairo at a wonderful hotel, having travelled eight time zones.

There are at least three areas in which this trip stood out:

1. the itinerary, with careful planning of the daily schedule was exceptional. Our trip was (roughly) 3 days in Luxor, 7 days on the lovely Dahabiya, including several days in Aswan, and two final days back in Cairo visiting The Egyptian Museum, the Pyramids and Sphinx at Giza. We saw all the BIG sights and many even more interesting, lesser known treasures by being on the river. We four thought our seven days on the dahabiya to be the best single decision we made in planning our trip.

Second, our guide is the best guide we have ever met and we were astonished that he travelled with us for our full twelve days of touring. Once we met our guide in Luxor, he took care of EVERYTHING. Not only does he know Egypt backwards and forwards, he is a storyteller, almost a reenactor, who made 5000 years of history come alive.

Our guide was able to shuffle the schedule after a late flight, get our van closer to several entrances to help one of us who had a sprained ankle, help with a minor medical issue at our next stop on the river, and shorten several days when we “mentally” done for the day and just wanted to relax at one of our beautiful hotels or the boat.

We had access to all of the “extra ticket” tomb and crypts and felt that we were travelling as friends, not just clients, because our guide is well known and well liked everywhere we went.

Nothing was more appreciated than that after our guide left us in Aswan, he took the overnight train, 12 hours, to Cairo (while we flew) and met us the next morning, always enthusiastic, excited and ready to go. We have always been used to meeting new guides in each new city and never really developing a strong relationship. When we left our guide for the last time, we all were tearful.

Third, as a former guide himself, our trip planner has done things the right way. He has a large, full time staff in Egypt, who work just for him. From the greeters at the airport, the drivers and the wonderful hotels that we stayed in, it was all first class. They anticipate, and take care of everything. And when the unexpected happened, everyone did their best to accommodate our needs.

The trip planner employs the best drivers, has new, well-maintained vehicles and you feel safe…. as safe as one can in the crazy Cairo traffic.

One of my misconceptions before the trip was that Egypt had been discovered and there was “nothing new” to see. Nothing could be farther from the truth. With teams of Egyptologists from all over the world both exploring for unearthed treasures and restoring those they know, Egypt is a 10,000 year old work in progress. In fact, we saw construction of the new Grand Egyptian Museum, set to open in 2020, adjacent to the Pyramids of Giza.

If one wants to see Egypt in all it’s splendor, in style and comfort, let this travel company and our trip planner be your guide.