Blue Sky Travel Group, MS Terramar Review

Overall Rating

see below

see below

The majority of the reports you will read on the MS Terramar will tell you that it is an exceptional Nile boat and it is. However, my report will also include some details that are not in the brochures.
Firstly, Egyptian money: my advice is to obtain it prior to leaving home as the opportunities to change into Egyptian pounds when on board are severely limited and, as explained below, the opportunities to locate an exchange bureau when ashore are virtually nil. However, the need to use Egyptian money is restricted to the odd barter or tip, or for toilet stop when ashore. We took from UK the Egyptian pounds equivalent to £100.00 sterling and that was more than enough for one week on the Nile and one week over at the Red Sea.
On-board, all bills are settled at the end of the cruise and money does not change hands in the restaurant or the bars. Most guests settle with plastic or Euro/Sterling. As an example our bar bill for the week on board was £80.00 (two persons).
There are two shops on board: gold/jewellery and a gift shop; they will trade in any currency and credit/debit cards also. A snap survey showed that the boat prices were reasonable and not a lot different from ashore. Bartering was not encouraged on board but was absolutely essential when on shore.
MS Terramar is one of several Nile boats managed by Sunrise and Blue Sky Tours and they moor about 12kms downstream from the main town of Luxor. While this makes for a quieter mooring point it does severely restrict your opportunity to leave the ship and tour the local shops ' " this will mean a taxi ride of 15 minutes or so. The car/bus park at the mooring has two or three small shops but severely limited as to what was on sale. The majority of Nile cruises dock right in the centre of Luxor and ashore shopping from those boats is much easier. A similar circumstance takes place at Aswan (the other major city) where the boat is moored away from the main tourist area.
A word of warning at this point. The boats managed by Sunrise are vastly different in quality although the brochures and/or prices may not reflect this. The MS Terramar is exceptionally luxurious in the style of the old RAJ (although only about seven years old). The internal decoration and spaciousness is superb. The sister ship is the MS Semiramis and, by comparison, is very very poor and not recommended. One obvious reason is the size of the latter boat as it is much bigger and carries many more passengers. The standard of cleanliness on the Semiramis is poor yet it is classed as'an exclusive cruise ship'with a high star rating.
Some information about the MS Terramar: there are a total of 20 suites and all the suites are forward of the central reception area. There are three levels for the accommodation: the lower deck (below reception) is on the waterline and there are 6 suites on this level (plus several suites for staff); three are on the port side and three on the starboard side. If you look at a photograph of the boat ' " each suite on the lower deck has two square windows. The size of these suites is impressively big and consists of a spacious living room and a spacious bedroom with a divider between the rooms. There is also a separate room with toilet and shower facilities. The living room has a settee and an armchair, coffee table, sideboard, dining table with two chairs, a mini bar and flat screen TV. The standard of decoration is very pleasing. The bedroom has twin large beds (larger than a standard single and smaller than a standard double size). Extremely comfortable and air-conditioning is available if needed. We were located in the lower deck and the only criticism of the suite was the dirty windows which clearly had not been cleaned for some time. It was the only negative feedback we left for the tour operator.

On the second level there are 8 suites in the same area as the lower deck so the assumption is that they must be smaller in size although we never got to view them.
The upper deck also has six suites of the same size and decor as the lower deck. The essential difference between the upper and lower suites is that the windows of the upper suites can be opened. The main grievance of passengers staying on the upper deck was the allocation of the cabins (which was on arrival). Two of the six upper suites were known as executive suites and they were slightly bigger and had additional windows looking forward over the bow of the boat. It was the luck of the draw as to who was allocated the superior suites. Apparently, they could not be pre-booked or reserved and this did disappoint several of the parties on board.
On our cruise there were 11 Brits and 13 Europeans and everyone mixed by the end of the cruise (one of the benefits of only 20 suites on board). The only disappointment aired by the Brits was that they were all accommodated on the port side of the boat and were allocated port side tables in the dining room. The Europeans were allocated on the starboard side. The significance of this was very apparent when docked as the boats do not have single moorings and are stacked up alongside each other. The MS Terramar (being a smaller boat) was usually moored on the outside of the stack and always pointed in the direction of travel. This meant that the port side was always alongside another boat which effectively cut off all light in the cabins and restaurant. Port-side cabin windows at all levels were totally useless when docked as there was nothing to see except the sides of the adjacent boats. Starboard-side cabins looked out onto the Nile without restriction. As a lot of time was spent moored during the cruise, it meant that the Europeans had a definite advantage over allocation of suites.

Cleanliness on board appeared to be ok although several of the Brits were stricken with severe stomach bugs that ruined their holiday. Most Brits took their own sterilizing gels and we were extremely surprised to see no evidence of sterilizing gels outside the restaurant (anyone who has recently cruised the Med will know that sterilizing the hands before entering the restaurants is mandatory). When we aired this with the rep we were advised that Egypt has not yet reached that level of awareness. Many on board were taking the local Antinal tablets as a preventive measure (available for 50 pence a box from the pharmacy). It was significant that the rep made a coach stop at a pharmacy at the earliest opportunity in order that these medicines could be purchased. It is recommended that you take Buscopan to counteract the severe cramps that are a feature of catching the bug!
With regard to the staff on board: all were extremely helpful and cheerful but their level of 5-star service is somewhat different from the cruise liners. As an example, the soap/shampoo in the suite was never replaced (we used our own as it happened). We also had to request toilet rolls rather than the cabin staff noting that they needed replacing. And on a final toilet note: no toilet paper was allowed to be flushed away: as in the remote Greek islands, the toilet paper had to be deposited into a flip top bin!
One bad mark for the bar staff: this event took place early morning towards the end of the cruise. The barman was obviously auditing his stock and had a simplistic way of measuring the spirits left in the various bottles. He lined up all the different gins and proceeded to pour from one brand into another brand to equalise the levels in the bottles!! He continued this exercise with the brandy and vodka. God knows what combination of local and imported spirits were being served to us during the course of the cruise.

Other reports on the MS Terramar will praise the tour guides and the plaudits are justified as they are extremely informative and worthy of the tips that are recommended at the end of the tour. I cannot speak for the Europeans, but the Brits were given an envelope for the guide's tip and an envelope for the combined boat staffs' tip and the suggested amount was £20.00 per person into each envelope. The actual amount will be your own decision as the sealed envelopes are given back to the guide on the final night.

Members' Comments onmmulhern's Review

• fabianfinlay on 11th May 2008

  The review gave very detailed and useful criticisms with recommendations

• jamescredmond on 11th Jan 2009

  This is a useful and quality review. I wish that other reviews could be as informative.
  
  Looking forward to do a Nile cruise soon.
  
  thank you.