One of many Most Luxurious Cruises in Egypt

We got here to Egypt for the temples. To see Dendera, Karnak, and Kom Ombo, the place the traditional columns and obelisks, hundreds of years outdated, nonetheless bear traces of paint. To study in regards to the pharaohs and their gods, and the way historic civilizations had been formed by the Nile River.

We’d see them over the course of per week aboard the 84-passenger Sphinx, one of many latest and most luxurious vessels on the river. Operated by Uniworld Boutique River Cruises, among the best river-cruise strains, the ship was the “method in” for our household of three. My husband, Rob, and I each fell for Luxor Temple, which we had nearly to ourselves throughout an after-hours tour below the moonlight. For our eight-year-old son, Bobby, a memorable second was seeing King Tut’s wizened and fragile mummy up shut, throughout our time within the Valley of the Kings. Equally spectacular had been a sequence of vivid stars, traced on an electrical blue ceiling, within the tomb of Ramses III.

However there was extra — way more — past the monuments that made this journey so compelling.

One morning, the Sphinx docked within the southern port metropolis of Aswan, famend for its Philae temple complicated, which dates to the seventh century BCE, and the Outdated Cataract Resort, frequented by Agatha Christie. With temperatures hovering round 100 levels, our household set out on a small motorboat with simply 4 different friends — the remaining had been apparently content material to remain behind, cocooned of their plush, air-conditioned cabins.

We had been crusing the Nile for a number of days, and the riverbanks, as seen from the Sphinx’s enjoyable prime deck, had begun to tackle a distant, rhythmic high quality: mountains, brick houses, youngsters splashing alongside the shore. Extra mountains, a subject or two, maybe a high-speed practice, all brushstrokes on a portray. This journey, at eye-level, felt extra alive: big boulders lay interspersed amongst swaying bamboo grass, tempting me to achieve out and contact. The sky was unusually cloudy, a reduction given the stifling warmth.

After weaving in and round a number of channels, we arrived at an impossibly tall sand dune, sharp-edged like a blade, with a small seating space on the base. “We get to climb that?” Bobby requested. “Cool!” No sooner had we disembarked than the sky turned a disconcerting, Fanta orange; we took shelter from the sandstorm in a close-by dwelling, the place the proprietor proudly confirmed off his pet crocodile. (For sure, that’s not a part of the common itinerary.)

Twenty minutes later, the storm had handed. Rob powered up the sand, gradual and regular, with Bobby in tow. I waited on the base, iPhone on the prepared for pictures. The not-so-graceful pair slid down on their boards to shrieks of enjoyment, falling into the sun-baked earth. Sweaty, drained, and coated in a skinny layer of grime, all of us had been relieved to return to the ship, the place contemporary juice awaited us, because it did after each tour, because of the ever-attentive crew.

Certainly, one might argue you select the Sphinx, one among two Uniworld vessels in Egypt, for the intuitive, faultless workers. Its 58 crew members, all of whom had been male, following native customized, taken care of us with nice care. (As a result of our end-of-season crusing wasn’t full, we loved near a 1:1 guest-to-staff ratio.)

Along with the common crew, there have been three Egyptolgists, all professional historians, on our crusing, to information us by way of the monuments, museums, and temples. We met our assigned Egyptologist, Akram Abdelmonein, in Cairo, earlier than even boarding the ship. He walked us by way of the grand halls of the unique Egyptian Museum, a 1902 landmark that’s dwelling to some 170,000 artifacts. Abdelmonein by no means left our group of 15, even flying with us to the grand, rock-carved temples of Abu Simbel, close to the Sudanese border. He answered each query with frankness and reassured Bobby that no query was too small — the signal, for my part, of a really nice information.

Here’s a nearer take a look at what you’ll be able to anticipate — on and off the ship — while you journey to Egypt on the Sphinx.

The Staterooms

Launched in 2021, the Sphinx stands out for its Egyptian craftsmanship and vivid colours. Framed, black and white pictures and drawings of historic ruins line the hallways and the bedrooms; Arabic espresso pots relaxation on small inlaid stools; brass lamps adorn the bedside tables; and the visitor room palette embraces royal blues and vivid golds, with carved, blonde-wood ceilings to offer an excellent better sense of top.

The 42 cabins, unfold throughout three decks, vary from a French Balcony (233 sq. toes) to a Royal Suite (495 sq. toes). All class varieties have French balconies, or home windows that decrease to permit in contemporary air, however I by no means as soon as thought-about opening mine, for worry of the warmth and bugs.

My household and I traveled in a 430-square-foot Grand Suite, on the sixth, or “Karnak,” deck, which had a small self-importance, beneficiant closets, and a well-appointed seating space, with a settee, espresso desk, and two chairs. Like our eating desk again dwelling, it grew to become our “stash” pad, the place we’d place our leftover gear — on this case, tickets, souvenirs, and whisper gadgets — upon coming back from an tour. The spacious, tan-and-blue tiled lavatory got here with a well-pressurized bathe and a deep soaking tub: a real splurge-worthy perk for resting weary toes. The Grand Suites, of which there are 20, are the preferred class; we discovered it provided greater than sufficient area for our group of three. (It’s price noting that youngsters have to be at the least 4 years outdated to sail in Egypt.) The great housekeeping workforce got here twice every day to freshen the room.

Bars and Eating places

There’s one most important eating room on the Sphinx, positioned on the fourth, or “Luxor,” deck, the bottom stage accessible to passengers. Intricate, pebble-tiled flooring, wood columns, carved chairs, and lamp-lit tables give the room a grand, formal feeling. But the world just isn’t so stuffy that passengers can’t costume casually, be a part of different teams on the giant tables, and make new associates. Each meal we had was plentiful, contemporary, and glorious; I’ll always remember tasting roasted Nile perch for the primary time, filetted proper in entrance of me by one of many useful culinary workforce. One other spotlight: the prospect to pattern okra soup and hawawshi, pita full of minced meat, on “Egyptian avenue meals day.”

Breakfast and lunch are served buffet type every day. At breakfast, Bobby made a beeline for the contemporary watermelon, whereas I opted for the selfmade pastries, every little thing from chocolate croissants to delicate bars, sugar-flecked and crisp. Our eating room servers, Mosan and Omar, shortly started to know our favourite drink orders — Turkish espresso for Rob and I; milk for Bobby — in order that they had been prepared inside minutes of strolling in.

At lunch, the chilly salad and bread station was a gem, with fattoush, tabouleh, cheeses, a number of kinds of olives, and home dressings; the recent part showcased a grill choice (lamb, rooster, fish) and several other entrées, every little thing from biryani to contemporary pasta. Mosan usually shocked us with a neighborhood Egyptian dish to share on the desk — one specific favourite was ful medames, or stewed fava beans — earlier than we even stood as much as fill our plates.

Dinner was at all times a la carte, with a alternative of a starter, soup, entrée, and dessert. A few of my favourite dishes included the rooster shawarma and saffron marinated sole; we frequently paired our entrées with home Egyptian wines, which accompanied each meal.

The sunshine-filled most important bar and lounge, on the fifth, or “Dendera,” deck was the gathering place for a night cocktail; it was additionally the place for “port talks” and different lectures about upcoming factors of curiosity. The ship’s solar deck additionally has drink service and the occasional gentle chew, corresponding to a champagne breakfast or afternoon tea.

The place the Ship Sails

The Sphinx, like its sibling ship, River Tosca, operates eight-day, spherical journeys from Luxor. Passengers should first fly to Cairo, the place there’s an elective one- or two-night keep within the Egyptian capital, together with issues like visits to the Egyptian Museum, the Alabaster Mosque, the Citadel of Salah al-Din, and the Pyramids of Giza all included. (The long-awaited, much-discussed Grand Egyptian Museum was sadly closed on the time of our go to, although it’s on many Uniworld itineraries.)

On my journey, all of the Sphinx passengers stayed on the luxe 4 Seasons Cairo at Nile Plaza, a centrally positioned choice with a stunning, shaded pool deck; a superb Lebanese restaurant; and lately renovated rooms, all light-filled and stocked with books on Egyptian historical past.

After a brief, one-hour and forty minute flight south to Luxor, we had been bused to the Sphinx, our dwelling for the week. Ports of name on all Uniworld voyages embody Dendera, Kom Ombo, Edfu, Esna, and Aswan. Most temples and monuments had been simply accessed both on foot or with a brief bus journey; visiting the temples at Abu Simbel requires a one-hour flight from Aswan Worldwide Airport to Abu Simbel Airport. This glorious tour is obtainable for an additional charge, however I extremely advocate it.

Shore Excursions

Uniworld contains one or two shore excursions, relying on the day, within the value of the cruise. Lots of them depart fairly early, to beat the warmth; on my journey, that meant departing as early as 7 a.m.

On our first large outing, nonetheless, there was no avoiding it. Shortly after touchdown in Luxor, we had been bused to the close by Karnak Temple, an unimaginable, open air complicated that’s arguably the most important spiritual web site on the planet, courting to roughly 2,000 BCE. It’s rightly well-known for its beautiful ramshead sphinxes and the columns of the Nice Hypostyle Corridor, nevertheless it was additionally full of vacationers from all around the world. Despite the warmth and crowds, Abdelmonnein, our considerate Egyptologist, shared tales of pharaohs and set the stage for the varied Egyptian dynasties we’d be exploring throughout our journey.

The following morning, once we arrived on the Dendera Temple Complicated, the distinction was exceptional. Our Uniworld group was the primary into the positioning, which is dominated by the Temple of Hathor, courting to 54 BCE. “Think about tons of of Egyptians coming to this place,” mentioned Abdelmonein, as we wandered the halls devoted to Hathor, the goddess of affection and fertility. There have been no different selfie-taking vacationers; it was simply us and the birds and some stray cats. With no crowds to jostle us, we might take our time inspecting the hundreds of hieroglyphics that adorn the partitions and ceilings. Abdelmonein even identified a uncommon depiction of Cleopatra and Caesarion, her son with Julius Caesar.

In a while within the cruise, we loved the temple of Kom Ombo, which is devoted to Sobek, the crocodile god, and Horus, the falcon god. It’s dwelling to a small museum crammed with mummified crocs — creepy, and really cool. We additionally visited Abu Simbel, by the use of a round-trip flight, organized at further expense by Uniworld. The journey was price it to see the bigger than life statues of Ramses II — and to marvel at the truth that this 3,000-year-old monument was saved by preservationists through the Sixties, when it was moved through the building of the Aswan Dam.

Facilities and Leisure

Don’t select the Sphinx — or any Egypt crusing, for that matter — in case your imaginative and prescient of a cruise trip contains a number of bars, water slides, and nightclubs. Like different ships on the Nile, this one is gorgeous however compact, with just a few key facilities, corresponding to a small top-deck pool with solar loungers. A lot to our shock, my household and I had been usually the one individuals cooling off on the pool, whether or not after a morning tour or a leisurely lunch.

The spa is basically extra like a therapeutic massage room, although the therapies I had had been glorious and inexpensive.

At night time, native musicians and dancers would generally carry out for us, in addition to the Uniworld crew — one spotlight of my journey was seeing one among my favourite bartenders, Ashraf, shifting on the dance flooring. However most evenings had been comparatively quiet, with issues winding down by about 10 p.m., in preparation for no matter adventures the subsequent day would possibly maintain.