Egypt: What's the experience of taking the Nile cruise?

When I was a child, I was deeply impressed by the luxury cruise ship in the movie "The Massacre on the Nile". During this trip to Egypt, we were lucky enough to board a cruise ship on the Nile and experience the life on the cruise ship for three days. Of course, our journey was not as thrilling as in the movie, and everything went smoothly. I was deeply impressed by the scenery along the way, the sunset and afternoon tea on the Nile, the water trade with Egyptian characteristics and the whole process of the ship passing through the Isna sluice.

Let's talk about the route of this cruise ship first. The Nile flows through Egypt from south to north, dividing ancient Egypt into upper and lower parts, belonging to two different dynasties. It was not until 3 100 BC that menes, the founder of the first dynasty of Egypt, unified upper and lower Egypt. Upper Egypt refers to the area south of Luxor, and lower Egypt refers to the north of Luxor. When we went to Egypt on this cruise, we boarded the ship from Aswan and disembarked at Luxor.

This is the cruise ship on this trip, with three floors and a deck and swimming pool at the top. Much bigger than the movie, but much smaller than the cruise ship in the ocean, with only a few dozen rooms. This trip is not full. I estimate that only about forty or fifty people live there.

The name of the cruise ship is "big princess". Every time we go to a scenic spot, the boat will stop for everyone to go ashore for sightseeing. At night, it has been sailing when we sleep.

This is the lobby of the cruise ship.

There is a boutique next to the hall.

Front desk and waiter

Although the cruise ship is small, it has complete facilities, including bars, conference rooms, billiards rooms, restaurants, swimming pools, performance halls and so on.

Luxury stairs and cafeteria

This is our room, a standard double room, which is bigger than the Li Xing cruise Gemini I took last time. Every room is a river view room.

On the first day, the cruise ship docked at Aswan Pier. This is the view from our room.

Night view of the same place

Before sunrise the next day.

After sunrise

During the three-day trip, we all had a buffet on the boat.

There are many kinds of buffets.

Mainly western food, but also a small number of Egyptian specialties, a lot of fruit.

This is the swimming pool on the top floor of the fourth floor.

The view of the Nile before sunrise

The feeling of taking a river cruise is completely different from that of taking a sea boat. The Nile flows slowly, and the boat is so smooth that it is almost imperceptible that the boat is moving. If the cruise ship in the sea is very shaken when it encounters big waves, people will feel dizzy. Secondly, cruise ships on the river have fewer passengers, so they won't feel crowded, and the comfort is much higher than that of seagoing ships.

After sunrise

Every day, the main service desk will announce the activity schedule of the day. When you want to get off the boat for sightseeing, you will gather here and return before the specified time.

It's around four o'clock every afternoon in tea time. You can have tea and dessert on the top deck, which is the most relaxing time.

At this time, you can also watch the water trade featuring the Nile.

The vendors caught up with the cruise ship in their boats. They hung up our boat first, then took out the goods and shouted for everyone to buy them.

They kept showing designs to see if any guests liked them. If anyone is interested, just throw the goods on the fourth deck, and things will fall to the ground impartially. Their skillful movements are admirable. Once someone answered on the deck, and then the tablecloth was lifted. Then the man looked dissatisfied and threw it down. It's really interesting to keep bargaining across a space of more than ten meters high!

In addition to water trading, watching the sunset on the deck is also unforgettable.

As the sun slowly sets, tea time is over. Everyone went back to their rooms to rest and prepare to go to the restaurant for dinner.

There is a performance in the performance hall at nine o'clock every night. This kind of folk dance is somewhat similar to the Turkish spin dance. The dancers keep spinning, which makes me dizzy.

How about belly dancing?

With the rhythm of the music, the dancer kept twisting her waist, which felt like a motor, which was very beautiful. [Laughter]

Jump very high and invite the audience to enjoy themselves on the stage.

What is even more memorable is the scene when the cruise ship passed the Isner sluice on the third night. Isner Sluice is the only pass from Aswan to Luxor, which is similar to our Gezhouba Sluice, but much smaller than Gezhouba Sluice, and can only accommodate one ship at a time, so it takes several hours to queue up to pass through this sluice during peak hours.

When our ship approached the sluice, it was already past 10 at night. 1 1 At the end of the month, the Nile is very cold at night, and my companion doesn't want to get up. I wrapped my down jacket alone and went to the fourth floor deck to watch filming.

Many people in the same boat also came out to watch.

Because it's a night ferry, we're the only one, so there's no need to queue up.

I didn't expect to see vendors selling goods again at the moment, even appearing in the waterway!

The waterway is very narrow, and the cruise ship is approaching step by step, but they are still showing tablecloths there regardless of the danger, which really worries them. [black line]

The process of the cruise ship passing through Isner sluice is exactly the same as what I saw in Gezhouba. As soon as the sluices on both sides were closed, the water began to drain. When the water level is equal to the downstream water level, the gate opens and the ship sails out.

This is a cruise ship crossing the gate. At this time, the nearest place to the shore is estimated to be one or two meters.

After the Isner sluice, it is not far from Luxor.

The time on the boat is very relaxed, basically just staying in the room and watching the scenery.

Our room has a sofa area, and the floor-to-ceiling glass door can be opened and closed at will, so it is very comfortable to sit on the sofa and watch the scenery.

The three-day cruise life was very comfortable, except that one morning three tourists who went to take a hot air balloon went out at four in the morning. When I came back, someone found that hundreds of dollars were missing from my wallet, but they reported the police in vain. The thief was clever and didn't steal all the cash. As for how many hundred-dollar bills were taken, it's hard to say clearly. The investigation took time, the ship was about to leave, and finally it had to be abandoned. This is also an episode on a cruise ship.