Mini Travel Rosetta Nile River Cruises

Trip: 3 Day Cruise from Luxor to Aswan

Official Accomodation rating: 5 Star

Boat: M/S Rosetta

Travel Agent: Osheen Tours, Hurghada

Inclusive: Food and drink, travel to and from,excurions

We had some awful experiences on what we thought would be a lovely trip, it hadn't started well with our journey from Hurghada.

The journey was long and 4 of us were packed into a small car with no air con. The driver made sure he had plenty of room though, extending his seat as far to the back as possible so he could barely reach his peddles. His driving style was adapted only to suit him, completely ignoring his passengers requests to slow down from 90mph around mountain roads. Resisting the temptation to throw up down his neck he decided not to slow down or stop for anything in his way. Having killed a dog on the road we thought he might be on a mission to kill us all too if not other road users.

The journey took around 3.5 hours to Luxor.

Having reached the docks i decided to chain smoke for a while, we were sat in a restaurant by the docks and were sold a day trip as the boat wasnt available until 2.30pm.

We had a spot of lunch and went to see Karnak Temple, the Papyrus Institute, Valley of the Queens, followed by the compulsory visits to shops and factories.

We believed we were running late as the boat was leaving at 2.30pm. We had already had a time change from leaving Hurghada at 2.50am changed to 5am.

It had been a long day and the heat was around 46c and were quite desperate to get to our boat rooms and have a shower and a rest.

Thinking we were going back to the port at Luxor, we were wrong, we were driven to a destination about 25 miles south of Luxor to a remote spot.

We were the only ones there. The guide said that the boat would be there shortly. We kinda looked at each other despairingly as im sure previous visitors to Egypt will know, you never seem to get a straight honest answer about anything, or what is going on.

The boat finally arrived around 6.30pm and couldnt dock but instead pointed the bow of the boat to the concrete block on the riverside. We were expected to climb the bow to get on.

I may have just managed it with a 2ft gap of water between the boat and the bank but of the party of 4 i was by far the youngest person at 45 and there was no way the others including the women were going to be able to do this. So everntually they decided a ladder might be needed. HOW THOUGHTFUL!

We got on the boat and knew within a few minutes that this was not the 5star boat that we had been told about.The rooms were not exactly dirty, but not exactly clean either, the towels were grey, the decor was low grade throughout.

The bathroom had mould in it and it smelt of mould, most people will know this is a health risk. Having unstuck myself from the shower curtain which was insistent on becoming part of my clothing, i lay in the cool room for a bit on the bed and switch the telly on for a few mins before going for a beer. The telly didn't work. I thought it might be the remote that was stuck together with sticky tape or maybe the batteries that weren't in properly as the cover was missing. But nope, i was mistaken the telly did work, it was simply that there were no channels.

Staff were rude and generally unhelpful(particularly the kitchen staff who serve the food), this was indicated by lots of huffing and puffing if you so much as had to ask what the food was in each dish at the buffet. All the guests were asking and you would have thought that they would have used small cards by each dish to let people know what was available.

Swimming Pool water was cloudy so we avoided the pool. I mentioned this to the manager and i was told the water would be changed at our next stop.

It wasn't!

This trip was sold to us by Osheen tours in Hurghada as 5 star but on the website we see it is supposedly 4 star.Another lie we had been told. Either way, if you are European or from the US, don't be fooled by this rating. This is Egyptian 4/5 star and not European 5 star. There is a big difference! This would get two star at the most, at a stretch 3 star in europe, thats if it was allowed to operate in europe.

There were no exchange facilities on-board,& they do not accept credit cards . You have to handover the correct money or they have no change.A common problem in all of Egypt.

You are constantly (and i do mean constantly,they won't take no for an answer)pestered by massage staff to spend £$' for a massage and hassled by shop staff selling nothing more then tat that you find on the street sellers, this as you go up or down the stairs.

The lunch time buffet was ok but the evening meal was a set meal and had n o choice about what you were given. The evening meal was of lower quality than the lunchtime food.

Breakfast buffet was also poor choice of food with cold tea/coffee, which you had to prompt someone to get for you.

No water with meals unless you pay for it. We were told it was all inclusive except alcohol, but when we arrived we found that this too was a lie. All drinks had to be paid for.

No tea or coffee offered after meals (except breakfast), staff hurried everyone out within 30-40 minutes of sitting down often taking your plate away before you or members in your party had barely finished their last bite.

We witnessed on two occasions kitchen staff on the lower deck throwing rubbish overboard into the river ,bottles ,cans and food waste. I notified the manager about this and he went down and there was much shouting coming from the deck below.

Television did occasionally operated with a broken remote control and we had a grainy Polish channel one evening and an Arabic channel on another. When we asked for more channels nothing was done about it, only channels were available when the boat had stopped. But this wasn't the case as it never happened.

The boat was mainly filled with Polish passengers, which isnt a problem for us but the daily itinerary was in Polish and there were a few younger Australian backpackers onboard. Our itinerary was given to us on a post-it-note each evening.

We stopped at Edfu Temple, Komobo Temple, and Aswan. The guide on one of these trips was excellent, but alas the guide on the others didn't seem interested other than what commission they could earn from us by taking us to shops and arranging other trips direct with them.

The reception desk as you check out is totally unabashed about asking for a tip for all the staff. You are handed an envelope and this can then be filled with your money. The money is then shared with all the staff onboard.

We left the room cleaner a tip as he was the only one we can say deserved it.

The journey home was equally interesting, the driver kept falling asleep at the wheel. But only for one minute he claimed..... hearts in our mouths, were glad to get back to Hurghada alive!

The boat in no way caters for international passengers and i am shocked at the poor standard this boat and travel companies operate to.

I would never book a trip through an Egyptian company again as our experience constantly shows that they lie to you, never tell you the truth, and dont want to listen to their customers.

Don't be lured by a reasonable price you'll be disappointed. Pay more and book through a well know european or american firm where the standard and any cause for complaint will be taken seriously.Thank goodness the view of the Nile and the visits to temples helped take our mind off it.

Whatever you do however, you mustn't complain, if you do you are met by massive and intimidating abuse by a 5 foot high little squirt called Mahmoud who is the guy that apparently operates these cruises and the transport between Hurghada and Luxor. He can often be seen operating the small mini buses near a restaurant on the docks where you wait for details of your boat.

I felt like flattening him but i wanted to get transport back to hurghada.

The travel agent, Hany of Osheen Travel didn't offer anything when we went to speak to him.

Hey ho, you live and learn, defintely a trip to remember!