Last Minute Vacation Deals

The boat and accommodation were superb, all the staff / crew were wonderful the food was great and plentiful and our tour-guide knowledgeable and helpful and most amazingly assigned to just the 2 of us for the whole week!

Morley Ms Mayfair January 12

We felt very relaxed on the RA II and the staff were very friendly and eager to please. May not be the newest or poshest boat on the river but I'd choose it again. Must have a decent reputation with other operators as there were a number of client groups transferred to the RA II from other boats (apparently over 70% were not sailing, just tied up, and others not full).

Food was what I expected for europeans in north africa, and found dishes at every meal. The Maitre De was very committed to hygiene right across the catering.

Excursions were all without a hitch and the guide was well organised and kept the history interesting as well as informative. Some sites were quite busy even with the vastly reduced tourist numbers, wouldn't want to be there at peak times !

My wife would have been happy to spend our 2nd week cruising on the river also.

El Gouna was a bit larger than I imagined for a purpose built resort here. The Nubian style low rise buildings were pleasant to look at and were enhanced by the coluorful masses of palm trees and shrubbery, not to mention the lagoons.

The Three Corners Rihana is well laid out around three pools and has curved connecting paths through the gardens to the facilities. The lagoon beach and sea beach (free shuttle bus) were great for chilling out, with hot / cold/ bbq food at lunch. There were a number of daytime bars plus a quiet evening bar and another with entertainment.

Although our hotel was full some others were struggling and most of the villas / appartments were empty. Both the El Tig marina and Downtown areas were very quiet indeed.

The towns 4 shuttle bus routes only cost £2 sterling for a weekly ticket, good way to get around as the hotel is one of the stops.

The food was not as good as the boat, but was ok. However the El Gouna hotels have a 'Dine Around' scheme so you can get a credit at many other hotel restaurants. The on-site Chez Pascal restaurant had really good food, their chateaubriand was superb.

All in all we enjoyed the 2 weeks very much, and it was definately worth the price.

Cater - Cruise and Stay November 11 

The trip was fabulous! thank you very much. The people were great and always very helpful and we have bunch of the most amazing photos and good memories. 

Zukauskaite - Grand Rose Nile Cruise October 11 

We got back last night from our trip and had a very enjoyable time so thank you for this. Everything ran smoothly and our guide was very informative and pleasant.

Wong - Classical Egypt October 11 

Fantastic trip well organised. Staff in general were very welcoming and helpful

Manning - Cruise and Cairo August 11

Let me start by thanking you for a really great holiday. Every member of our group can't stop talking about it and have found it very difficult to get back to normal life at home.

So to summarise;
UK arrangements:
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We all really appreciated the way you booked the holiday and accommodated us on the finer details. You handled the whole booking very professionally. So hats off to you Andrew. My brother, his wife and possibly my parents are also considering a trip to Egypt soon so you will be the first person they call.
We believe, everything you promised was delivered in this holiday with the exception of one minor thing but don't think that's your fault (In room entertainment on Star Goddess, will mention later)

LHR: No problems at all.

CAIRO: Greeted by Airport Rep (Mustafa) on time with a smile. escorted outside airport to meet Cairo Rep (Ahmed). Taken to Movenpick and assisted with check in. Provided itinerary for Cairo and Introduced us to Cairo tour guide Sherine. Ahmed was a very nice guy who was very friendly and also willing to help us out. Even booked us for a meal at the Mina House. Highly recommend Ahmed to anyone. Now Sherine, Wow, that lady knew her stuff. Really, we should have addressed her as Dr Sherine as she has a PHD in Egyptology. We asked her so many questions that even a saint would have gone crazy. She was so patient and accommodating. She was even kind enough to give us her email in case we had anymore questions. She took us to the all the points on the tour as arranged. She is an excellent guide. Thanks for the S&L show at Pyramids, easily the best as I have seen the Phili, Karnack & Abu Simbel to compare.
Movenpick; Was OK, rooms good and clean but breakfast was sadly limited in range & quality. Staff not that friendly but that might be a Cairo thing. Given these factors, it's unlikely I would recommend or stay at this hotel again, (sorry).

LUXOR: Well our scheduled internal flight was cancelled due to limited passengers so we had to take the next one at 12:30pm, this in term caused us to miss our first Temple visit to Karnack & Luxor. We were greeted at Luxor airport by a really nice & funny rep (Mohamed Ali, not the boxer). He immediately asked me more details about my sons birthday and the cake, (fantastic efforts, thanks for sorting this out as it added a really special touch for my son).

SONESTA STAR GODDESS: The ship was really nice. Once on board, we were allocated rooms on the 3rd floor but at the back end of the ship and not the front as originally thought. When asked if we could have rooms in the front, we were told there weren't any but shortly discovered that there were only 9 suites in total being used and most of them were at the back, anyway we were too tired to pursue this and just got on with the cruise. The rooms were really nice and spacious, very clean too. The bathrooms could do with a bit of updating though. Other than the room locations, the only other point as mentioned at the start was the in room entertainment. My son packed a few DVDs as the website clearly said that EVERY suite has a LCD TV, DVD player & Satellite channels. Well they definitely don't have DVD players and the strangest part is the TV/Sat channels only work when the ship is docked (is that normal for cruise ships?). They should consider improving the in-room entertainment system if they are to attract repeat customers. We heard many passengers talking about this issue. Anyway enough about the rooms. Now the restaurant, Wow, the food was awesome, breakfast, lunch & dinner. Couldn't fault it at all. Elegant dinning. Service was great too. The staff on the Sonesta were really nice and very helpful. Excellent crew except for one of the sailors/porters who got greedy & upset on the last morning after I tipped him 20LE for carrying our luggage, If I had time, I would have complained to the captain. Evening entertainment was good too. Sad that the ship was so empty. There were days when we would have the sun deck and bar to our selves.

NILE TOUR GUIDE: Mohamed Ayyad, nice enough chap, seemed to know his stuff on Egyptology. Not always sure if he was getting us the best deals down the Nile when it came to shopping though. He covered all the tours on the schedule and arranged/accompanied us to Abu Simbel as well. On the return journey, we told him we wanted to rest for the remainder on the cruise and asked if he could check with Creative Travel in Cairo to see if we could exchange the day trip to Luxor & Karnack temple with the S&L show there. He managed to arrange this for us so all worked out well in the end.

LUXOR to LHR: Will try to avoid Egypt Air at all costs next time. The return flight home was delayed for 2 hours and the plane was old and in need of updating. Staff unfriendly, almost rude. BMI was miles better.

ALL IN ALL: Creative Travel did a great job bringing this package together. Well Done. Hopefully you can use my comments to help improve on some of the points mentioned. I tried to be subjective but always fare in my comments.

I have some photos of the ship & Movenpick, so please let me know if you require any images or further details about any of the points mentioned.

Egypt is safe and not as bad as the press has lead on. We never felt in danger even when near the Cairo Museum. They are killing tourism there and the locals are really suffering.

Lastly, please convey our sincere thanks to all those who really made this holiday a success for us. Yourself, Ahmed, Sherine, Mohamed Ali, Mohamed Ayyad, Sonesta staff & drivers.

Munasinghe - Cairo and Cruise July 11

We had a good holiday, the boat and staff were very welcoming and the food was excellent.  I did want the pastry chef to come home with me but he refused but then you can't have everything. We benefited from the fact there were less tourists around so no queues at the temples etc, guide was great and Egypt was as enthralling as ever, I was sad to return home. Angela really enjoyed the sights and the company on the boat and we would both definitely recommend this holiday
Wells - RA II April 11

Would we book the RA II again? Yes we would!
Lloyd - RA II March 11

We have enjoyed this trip with you as much as our two previous trips in 1999 and 2007 and look forward to our next one on the RA II
Maidment - RA II March 11

This has been our first Nile Cruise and we have enjoyed ourselves very much and we will come back again.
Amaira - RA II March 11

One of the best set of staff we have come across. Thank you everyone, well done.
Whitlam - RA II January 11

We would like to thank you for an exceptionally well organised and faultless holiday. We have had a fantastic time. Our meet and greet representatives were good and all transfers were very smooth and punctual. We could not have wished for more knowledgeable and friendly tour guides, not forgetting to mention our driver in Cairo, amazingly calm and jolly on amazingly busy journeys.

Having all the entrance tickets already paid for and available on the days made all our visits so much easier. We would not have been able to see half as much had we been trying to organise it ourselves. Thanks once again and hopefully we will certainly be back in touch with you when we are planning another adventure.
Connew - 7 Night Classic Egypt January 11

Exceptionally helpful and friendly staff, a very enjoyable experience. We will be back !
Wade - Esadora I November 10

Would recommend this ship and tour to all my friends.
Stevens - RA II November 10

This has been our third time on the RA II. Everyone has done their very best as always to make this another wonderful holiday. Thanks to all of you. 
Hooton - RA II November 10

Had a wonderful time and would love to do it all over again.
Morris - RA II November 10

First time to Egypt and we will definitely be returning. Wonderful people, wonderful sites, wonderful ship and wonderful guide.
Smith - Esadora I November 10

We had a fabulous time. Fantastic staff and really helpful, great guide and we will definitely be coming back. Thank you for organising a wonderful holiday.
Orton - Esadora I October 10

The transfers were always in place to meet us; the guides were excellent; the hotel in Cairo was very good (if a long way from both the airport and the city centre), and the Nile cruise was really excellent, with a truly friendly crew, good food, and very comfortable.
Barnes - 7 night tour May 10

We have thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Egypt and our guide was responsible for making our stay a memorable one. His knowledge and enthusiasm opened up ancient Egypt and its customs and ancient history and we will definitely return. 
McAllister - Royal Esadora April 10

The staff could not have been more helpful, well done and brilliantly creative with the towels. All in all a wonderful week.
Clayton -Royal Esadora February 10

We have had a wonderful holiday because we had superb ship, polite friendly staff, enjoyable food and everything else expertly arranged by a charming and knowledgeable guide
Leach - Royal Esadora March 09

Overall a very good holiday. Mahmoud was an excellent guide.
Forest - RA II March 08

Very enjoyable time and Mansour worked really hard to make sure we had a very good time.
Rowley - RA II July 08

From the start we have received such a warm welcome reception by everyone on the boat and made to feel very comfortable. A million thank you's for a wonderful holiday
Raine - RA II November 07