Staying healthy, food, cruise
We are going on the Jewels of the Nile trip on Sept 5. We are bringing every OTC medication that is recommended and will be super careful on washing hands, masks, no ice, no fresh veggies, etc. Did anyone out there who took this trip have stomach issues? Also, how were the experiences with food. The cruise boat looks great. What did folks think about the boat? And were there issues with mosquitos. We are spraying our clothes with permitheren, and bringing DEET. Thanks!
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I did Egypt with another company, but all of the itineraries are about the same. The food and water provided for you will be safe. Normal sanitation procedures (e.g., hand washing) should be done. I don’t remember any mosquitoes.
You can see our trip at - https://www.mikeandjudytravel.com/2018EgyptAndTheNile-01.htm
We chose the wrong time of year and it was hot so check the weather sites to see when is the best time to go. We did two trips back-to-back to save air fare but that put us in Egypt at the wrong time of year. Live and learn.
September is going to be hot.
My husband and I took this tour in late October of 2021. It was excellent. Really enjoyed the boat, and with the best food of the trip. I do not recall mosquitoes, but it is best to be prepared. We were careful about what we ate, avoiding salads, etc. I think it will be hot in September. I recommend bringing some powdered electrolyte packets, such as Drip Drop. It is easy to pour one into a bottle of water.
I did this tour in Jan 2023. There were no bug issues during my trip.
The day I got home, I got an Rx from the local urgent care for a one-time megadose of antibiotic and that cleared the issue immediately.
I did get Mohammed's Revenge, for the first time ever on this trip, and I've been to a lot of third world countries. I'm always careful not to eat salads, fresh veggies, ice, etc., keep my mouth/nose covered in the shower while washing my face/hair, etc. It happened on the next to last day of the tour at a restaurant the group went to in the large market in Cairo. The first leg flight home wasn't fun for me or the person I had to climb over to go to the bathroom every hour or so on the first leg in Euro fake-biz class.
I'm not a cruise fan. That said, the boat was OK, though the internet connection was terrible, when it worked at all. I didn't like sleeping on the boat for its final night while the it remained docked in Aswan the entire time, when we could have had two nights in the fabulous Old Cataract Hotel, instead of one.
Is the boat actually docked near the old cataract hotel?
No. You'll travel from the Sofitel Legend Old Cataract Hotel to the High Dam, Saint Simeon Monastery, airport, local boat landing to Temple of Isis at Philae on Agiilkia Island, and your Nile River cruiser by bus.
It does, however dock right in front of the twin temples of Kom Ombo and the Crocodile mummy museum, but you take a short bus trip to the Temple of Horus at Edfu (at one time this trip was done in a donkey cart.)
The boat does not dock within walking distance of any attraction in Luxor- not Valley of Kings and Valley of Queens which are on the west side of the Nile, nor the Temple of Luxor and the Temple of Karnak. We parked a ways upstream (south of Luxor). When we exited the bus it was through security in the lobby of a river-front hotel before we boarded the bus.
Thanks all. Very helpful!
It's a good idea to ask your doctor for an antibiotic for Travelers' Diarrhea to take with you just in case, and any other medications you might need.
Glad folks said no mosquitos. Thought our Travel clinic person said to spray clothes with permethrin, which we got, because apparently there is Dengue fever around. She recommended to spray just about everything, including PJs! Curious if anyone sprayed their clothes, particularly evening wear.
You can spray whatever you want but it takes a massive amount of permethrin to do all that as you are supposed to almost soak the garment in it. I mean it takes bottles and bottles of it if you are taking lots of clothes. As previously mentioned in other threads, whilst wer, Premethrin is toxic. So you should wear a mask and do all this outside in the open and get it thoroughly dry before bringing it inside the house.