After six weeks travelling through Upper Egypt, Cairo and Alexandria we are now back in Berlin. Working in Egypt for a guide book research was quite a different experience from just travelling independently through the country. As there were not many tourists due to the summer heat and the revolution, people were quite eager to show us around. Obviously everybody wanted to present their hotel, restaurant or ship at its best.
Once we visited a cruise ship that was not in operation but we were planning to include in our Egypt guide book. We had to enter a special harbour area in Aswan and then a small boat brought our small party out to the ship, where the captain and one other staff member were already waiting.
A cruise ship on hold
We were prepared for dimly lit cabins, and a semi-dark dining hall with the chairs put up on the tables.
What a surprise when we found the ship in full operation and fully lit. The Jacuzzis and the pool were filled, some of the cabins prepared as if guests would arrive within the next hour. Only the giant fridges in the kitchen were empty except for a few sad tomatoes and some La vache qui rit cream cheese.
Later we found out that the fleet manager accompanying us does not visit all that often and so this was a chance for the crew to impress.
How many ships for a guide book?
In total we visited and compared about 30 ships and joined two cruises for our guide book on Egypt: One classical Nile cruise and one on Lake Nasser south of Aswan. We enjoyed both. Especially the lack of mobile / internet connection on Lake Nasser was quite something! But alas, the guide book is still not written…
NB: Our trips on the Nile cruise ships were sponsored in relation to the Egypt guide book. In general, the travels to Egypt were not. Neither did we receive any sponsoring for writing blog posts about our Egypt travel experiences.
