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Hot on the Nile! |
| Reviewed By: lines, clacton on sea on 11th Jun 2008 |
| Cruise Line: Discover Egypt |
Times cruised before: 0 |
| Cruise Ship: Viking Premiere |
Sailed:
June,
2008 |
| Destination: Nile |
Age: 65+ |
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Having completed 40 tradition al cruises it was a shock to find that different standards apply even on a 5+ River Boat. The Viking Premiere quite an elegant interior but in need of some refurbishment. Apart from a bar of soap their were no other toiletries, the toilet paper very small and of poor quality. The Cabin Stewards very clever at making all sorts of objects with your towels which was a pleasant suprise when returning to your cabin, he had made an elephant, a crab, a scorpion using bottle tops for eyes, also leaving the Cabin in good clean condition. The shower rooms quite small with only a small shelf for toiletries, larger people will find it difficult to manage. The very small television was of little use only to show a video at 2.30 and 10.30 daily.
Entertainment was pretty poor apart from a mediocre Belly Dancer which was followed by a stunning Whirling Dervish act of top quality, highlight of the entertainment during the week.
The food was a disappointment being almost repetetive, the meats, fish and chicken were of poor quality by western standards and the sweets left a lot to be desired.
The tours were very good indeed with top quality guides, our guide was Mohamed who was an Egyptologist having a Degree in Egyptology and it showed-he was excellent, adding a little humour in between the History lessons.
We visited the Valley of the Kings and Queens, Aswan High Dam and the Karnak Temple amongst ten free Tours, an option to go to Abu Simbel at 4am in the morning was possible although we decided against this as my wife was struggling in the 46c to 50c heat all week, those who did go said it was an enjoyable trip with breakfast boxes provided. We also visited Karnak Temple a second time to see the Sound and Light show which promised so much and gave so little, a missed opportunity as with several hundred others expected so much more. The show started with wonderful voices from I believe Judy Dench, Anthony Hopkirk and Omar Sheriff and good background music telling the story of Ramises and the history of the Tombs and Temples, but the let down was the lighting, only use of ground lights which glowed on and off from time to time, this was the extent of the lighting where with such a lovely setting modern technology with Lazer Lighting, etc. could make the memory so much better.
For all my comments, it was my wife.s 70th Birthday, they made her a lovely cake which we shared amongst about 20 other passengers and sang to her with the Drums banging away, a friendly crew and fellow passengers, we enjoyed the holiday spoilt really by the tremendous heat, although comparing the star rating with modern cruise ships I would grade the Viking Premier at just about 3stars with food and entertainment at 2+.
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