MS Emilio Review

Overall Rating

Visits To Ancient Sites/Egyptologist/accommodation/optional tours offered.

Boat administration/service (at times).

After a late arrival at 23:00 we were made to feel welcome and a hot meal was provided.

On our cruise the passenger mix was predominantly Italian/British (50/50) with the average age being 35(ish).

We had a suite that was well worth paying for, it being twice the size of a normal cabin. It was generally clean and the towels changed at least twice a day. The cabin steward proved to be friendly and entertaining with his towel sculptures! Note that the boat often moors alongside other boats and the curtains have to be drawn for privacy.

The meals were OK but the chefs seemed to have a somewhat limited repertoire. That said the food was fine and there were no reported stomach upsets. The queues for the buffet were often long but we avoided them by arriving 15 minutes after the meal started, a full selection was still available. Service at meal times varied from lethargic to over enthusiastic with the crockery and cutlery being taken before you have finished. If you have a birthday during the cruise the staff drag you up to dance during dinner - so if you are not into this I suggest you let the restaurant manager know!

Entertainment was somewhat lacklustre, a bingo night, dress like an Egyptian night, Nubian dancing night and belly dancing night. The 'dress like an Egyptian' night was the best with most people taking part. If you are not that bothered with the entertainment you can spend the time after dinner on the sundeck having a drink of looking out over the Nile.

The tours to temples and other sites, the reason why we went on the cruise, were exceptional. The starts were early but this meant that you missed the crowds and the heat of the day. Our guide was very knowledgeable and was happy to give supplementary information if required.

We took advantage of the optional visit to Abu Simbel by air, the motor boat tour at Aswan and the hot air balloon trip. All were well worth the money and it meant that we had a packed week. Note that if you go to Abu Simbel by air there can be delays to flights thus reducing the time on site, fortunately this did not happen to us.

At the sites' street vendors' can be a pain at first, as can the requirement to barter for everything. However, you soon get into the swing of things and our Egyptologist gave advice and assistance as required.

Tipping is a way of life in Egypt. A GBP7.00 tip per person was collected at the start of the holiday by the Egyptologist for drivers, tomb attendants, and boatmen etc. - this worked fine. It is recommended that the boat crew and Egyptologist respectively receive GBP3.50 and GBP1.50 per person per day as a tip. The boat tip is put anonymously in a box at reception and shared equally between the crew; the tip for the Egyptologist is given direct. It is up to individuals to tip toilet attendants, taxi drivers etc.

The general service onboard varied from outstanding to lethargic for no apparent reason. On the Monday after most people had handed in their tip envelope a noticeable drop in standards was commented on by several groups of passengers.

All drinks are on a tab system with the bill being paid at the end of the cruise. Our bill and several others were incorrect and the reception staff were neither bothered nor willing to look into it. There being no check of keycards when drinks are signed for I suspect that drinks had been billed to the wrong room on several occasions. I recouped my losses by reducing the tip! This marred an otherwise good week.

The Egyptian star rating of the boat cannot be compared with UK standards however it was one of the better boats we saw. We went to Egypt to see the temples and other ancient sites and this cruise met all our expectations in this respect. I would recommend this cruise for this reason alone. If you want buzzing evenings this is not the cruise for you.