Cruising

Shirley and I had never been on any kind of cruise before and we had always spurned the idea of "all inclusive" holidays. So booking a Nile cruise aboard the "Al Horeya" was something of a departure for us. We fancied Egypt but not the idea of making independent arrangements as we have so often done in the past.

All cruise boats on The Nile look similar. They need to fit through the locks at Esna and they need to pass under bridges. Our boat had five decks with the top one being a lounge area complete with a bar,  a small swimming pool and two little jacuzzi pools. I swam in the pool twice.

Our cabin (Number 420) was on the fourth deck and we were pretty happy with it. The twin beds that butted up with each other were spacious and the pure white Egyptian cotton bedding was smooth and clean. The little bathroom was perfectly serviceable and the hot water supply was reliable. There was a narrow Juliet balcony overlooking the river. The only thing I did not appreciate was that there was a locked connecting door to our neighbours' cabin. Fortunately the couple next door were as quiet as us. The majority of cabins did not have that issue.

Fourth floor housekeeping was undertaken by two young men - Mustafa and Mahmoud who were always smiley and always there. They kept sculpting our towels. See below...

Most passengers ate down on Deck 2 where the Lazeeza restaurant was located. Here breakfast and lunch were buffet affairs. For evening meals there was waiter service.

We were very happy with the food choices and at lunch and dinner there was always something different on the menu. At breakfast I had a freshly made omelette every day after watching it being made by happy Mohamed in his tall toque blanche.

One lunchtime Shirley and I raved about the spinach tagine and I even got the recipe from the head chef. He seemed delighted to be asked.

There were 140 passengers on the boat and eighty two members of staff. We found them all to be diligent, welcoming and smiley. By the way - there were no women in the staff team with only one working woman on board - our holiday rep from Shropshire - Katie. She was very nice and had a fine singing voice too.

We found ourselves conversing at length with several other couples on our boat and this was an enjoyable part of the experience. There were some very nice people but one or two whose main topic of conversation was themselves - where they had been, what they had achieved, what they thought. Once stung, you made a point of avoiding these windbags. There were two widows sharing a cabin, a brother chaperoning his disabled brother and two pairs of gay men who were very comfortable with the holiday experience even though homosexuality is still highly stigmatized in Egypt.

There was a lovely, relaxed atmosphere on board and if someone had said to me - this is how the rest of your life will be from now on, I would not have minded.

Cruising along The Nile with a G&T in your hand. There are far worse things you could spend your remaining time doing.