Viking Pharaohs and Pyramids Cruise on the Nile

We cruised on the Nile River on the Viking MS Antares in late October 2024 and then took the extension tour to Jordan immediately following the cruise. I’ve been writing these day-by-day articles about the various Viking Cruises we have taken for the past couple of years, and I hope that you find them interesting whether you are revisiting a cruise you have taken or are thinking of choosing this cruise for an upcoming vacation.

This initial article summarizes what you can expect on this cruise, the lessons we learned about traveling to and from Egypt (and Jordan) and outlines the overall itinerary. I’m still processing the 4000+ photographs I took on the cruise and will add my day-by-day articles as soon as I can. This cruise was one of the most active and complex ones we have taken – both in terms of the number of tours and also in terms of the vast amount of information we were given by the excellent Egyptologists who accompany you through the entire cruise.

Whenever we thought about Egypt, we thought of these pyramids and wondered how such an ancient civilization could have organized the building of them. But we discovered on this cruise that Ancient Egypt is far, far more advanced than that. You could say the pyramids are just blocks of stone piled on top of each other, but what we saw in Luxor and the cities farther south were statues, carvings, tombs, temples and wall paintings that blew the mind in terms of their complexity and the sheer skill and organization needed to create such artwork. And new things are being discovered even now – in fact, an unopened tomb was found in Luxor during our visit there.

Before you go

Perhaps I should have started with “Booking your cruise” as we discovered a useful extra discount several years into our voyages with Viking – check out this article for more details of using a travel agent to gain some extra shipboard credits. There is also a big choice that you need to make about which ship to choose. Viking now has nine modern boats that are all designed in the Viking style for the cruise. They hold 82 passengers and have rooms similar to other river boats and ocean ships. We had booked (without knowing anything about it) on the MS Antares, which is a Viking owned ship that was built in 2009. This ship only holds 62 passengers, but the staterooms are enormous – probably double the size of the ocean cabins.

To the left in this photo is the bathroom with a shower inside the bath, and two large wardrobes plus a small writing desk. The ship is definitely older, but in very good condition with wood everywhere. With only 62 guests, the dining room and lounge/bar are perhaps less crowded. The downside of this ship, perhaps, was that the internet was not great in the rooms, and I don’t recall any USB ports. but we had no issues with anything else. The power sockets generally have a complex design that accept US plugs (although it is 240V). We took some European style two pin plugs that seemed to fit better and were more reliable as well as a couple of USB power blocks.

Jordan, in particular, prohibits powerful binoculars (I think they say 10x is the cut-off point) and could have taken issue with the 400mm (8x) lens I had for my camera. As it was, my camera and lens were examined at almost every checkpoint (including in Newark on our return). Most people use phones, of course, but I did find the telephoto lens to be really useful when we were cruising along the river, and a “proper” camera is likely to be able to cope with the very dark conditions in tombs and temples as well as the pre-dawn light during the balloon ride. The big downside is the weight!

My final bit of advice for this cruise is that it is far more active than any other Viking cruise we have taken. You will walk a long way, often on uneven surfaces and so our group tended to spread out on tours, with the people less sure on their feet at the back of our group while touring each site!

Getting to Egypt

We decided to take the optional Air Plus to allow us to select United Airlines flights for all the main legs of the trip. That gave us the Economy Plus seats with extra legroom at no additional cost, but it is your choice as to whether to accept the initial flight itinerary if you have purchased a cruise with included airfare. The big advantage of booking your airfare using Viking is that they are there to meet you when the plane lands and will have organized transfers either to the hotel or direct to the ship as necessary. In fact, there was a Viking rep by the plane gate when we changed flights in Frankfurt to explain how to get to our next flight – which turned out to be very helpful in a complex airport like Frankfurt. Having said that, we plan to book our own air package on a cruise to Iceland next year and had no difficulty getting to Amman airport in Jordan using Uber after staying an extra day in the city. It depends how comfortable you are in navigating new airports.

You need a Visa to enter Egypt (and Jordan) but there is no need to worry about this in advance. The Viking rep is there in Cairo to help you obtain that visa – you need $25 in clean notes for each passenger to get the visa, which is then stuck into your passport. There was no charge for the visa into Jordan and again the Viking rep took all the passports of the group and organized the issuing of the visas on arrival in Amman.

Money and Tips

Some people on the cruise had obtained a supply of Egyptian Pounds before leaving home. There is absolutely no need to have Egyptian pounds at all (and in fact they are impossible to change back into dollars when you leave the country). Everyone and every place either take credit cards or US dollars and there is no-one we met would prefer Egyptian pounds to dollars. It is often thought that this gives the recipient a problem with spending them, but they do seem to be preferred as a much more stable currency. So don’t change money in advance and don’t use an ATM to get some pounds on arrival. We took about $80 in $1 bills, perhaps $40 in $5s and then some $20 and clean $100 bills for emergencies. You can exchange a $20 bill for $1s from any trader or even from the people waiting for tips if you have visited their home (as you do in Luxor). You often need to pay to use the toilet in many places – $1 is fine for two people, or just $1 if you are on your own. It is probably a good idea to have some toilet paper in your pocket or purse – you can take sheets from your bathroom on the ship! The toilets were almost always clean and in good condition – the person taking the money is responsible for keeping the toilets clean.

We did give $1 tips in Jordan, but there is much more of an expectation to use their currency. I used the ATM in one of the hotels to get some Jordanian dinars and managed to spend most of them. Using Uber to get around the city on our own was much easier than taxis as the costs are simply charged against my credit card.

Viking Gratuities

Viking will charge optional (sort of) gratuities to your room at the end of the cruise and charge them to your credit card. But you need cash to tip the drivers of the coaches ($2 a day per person) although your guide will tell you if the same driver will be with you on the next day. Some people also tipped the policeman who travels with the coach on each outing. These are Egyptian policemen assigned to watch over tourists and were unfailingly helpful and vigilant, making sure that no-one is lost or left behind. Finally, although the Egyptologist/Tour Director gets a share of the gratuities collected on the ship, most people separately tipped these guides – $20 a day for a couple seems to be the rate, but that is purely up to you. The Tour Director/Egyptologist is assigned to your coach right on the first day and you stay with that coach group (and that same Tour Director) for the entire time in Egypt, so you get to know them pretty well. As a result, they are far more involved with you that the Tour Director on an ocean ship, for instance, or for any of the other cruises we have taken.

On the boat

A big question is always – what should we pack? We almost always take too much and a couple we sat with for most meals only packed one carry-on bag each – we had one checked bag each! The cruise is pretty low key – people do wear smarter clothes for dinner in the evening, but no-one would be upset if you didn’t have time to change. We found, however, that we were never that rushed – there was always time to have a shower if necessary and change into some different clothes, but to be honest, you don’t need too many changes. The on-board laundry is great. A shirt cost 200 pounds for washing and ironing, which is about $4, and I left the bag when we went to dinner, and it was back in the morning of the following day with the clothes very neatly pressed. We washed underwear and socks and hung those in the bathroom.

My wife is gluten free, and this was the best cruise so far in terms of handling that. Each morning the restaurant manager would go through the lunch and dinner menu explaining not just which items were already gluten free, but how they could modify the other ones to make them gluten free. GF bread was always provided and freshly made GF pancakes were available at breakfast. A great service.

As I mentioned, the internet in Egypt is not great – and I understand that some government restrictions on satellite internet are partly to blame. I went to the reception to connect and didn’t really have issues.

Finally, there is very little to buy on the ship apart from the jewelry shop. Quite expensive in my opinion, but that didn’t stop the purchase of one of those cartouches with my wife’s name in hieroglyphics!

Brief Outline of the cruise

I’m going to write individual articles about each day and will provide an index here for each of those pieces. But the basic outline is that you arrive in Cairo and are taken by coach to the hotel. We arrived very late in the evening after a few delays and the next day had breakfast followed at 8am with a get to know you meeting. 8am in Cairo is midnight in Texas and for some reason neither of us heard our alarm on the iPad. So, no breakfast, but I did make that meeting! You are assigned to one of two coaches (one of three I believe on the modern ships that have 82 passengers) and you are on that coach with the same Egyptologist for the rest of the cruise. We left at 9am, for the Cairo Citadel and the Egyptian museum before returning around 1:30pm for a lunch on your own and a welcome relaxation. We had a big lunch in the hotel restaurant and didn’t bother with dinner that evening. The Egyptian museum is the old one and is pretty crowded, although the Tutankhamun treasures were still there. There is a brand-new museum by the pyramids in Gaza and it is likely that this will become part of the agenda shortly.

You can walk about the city around the hotel although Cairo is a very, very busy and active city:

I did go out for a stroll and didn’t really have any issues, although a man told me about a great view of all this traffic congestion from a bridge further down the road (which was probably true) and he could show me how to get there and then see the market, which sounded more problematic. So, I walked with him a short distance and then moved swiftly into the entrance to the hotel. The next day was a coach tour to the Sakkara step pyramid, Giza and the Spinx. This is where your guide really comes into their own. Our guide, Younis (actually Mohammed Younis but so many people in Egypt are called Mohammed that most use their last name instead), was great at getting his knowledge across, but was fantastic in passing his enthusiasm for what we were seeing across to his group. The tombs around the Step pyramid were our first introduction to the artwork that the craftsmen were capable of. Every surface inside a temple or tomb was decorated either with hieroglyphics or images and all of them were 3-D with the original surface of the stone carved away to create layered images (which were originally then painted), such as this detail of getting a herd of cattle across a river by tying one of the calves to the boat so the cows would follow. Alligators lurked in the depths!

The step pyramid was one of the earliest with a magnificent temple leading to it. I did wander off the beaten track in our free time and a nice man on a horse with pony posed for me in front of the pyramid.

I offered the usual $1 for his pose but he refused (which is odd) and insisted that he could take my photo in front of the pyramid. He grabbed at my camera strap pretty firmly as I was moving away telling him I didn’t want the photo, and I offered the dollar again. He then said he wanted Egyptian money, which I didn’t have and so he replied that he could take $10 and give me the change! Fat chance! So, I continued to walk away and eventually he agreed that the $1 tip would suffice.

Following lunch overlooking the new Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), we visited the three main Giza pyramids where a camel ride had been laid on. Most people had a go at that – I preferred to photograph the scenes surrounding us, and we closed the day with a visit to the Sphinx:

We finally meet the MS Antares in Luxor

Another very early rise for the charter flight from Cairo to Luxor followed by a tour of the Karnak Temple and the local museum and finally we boarded our vessel. Another welcome rest as there was more to come – a tour of the Luxor Temple at sunset. The lighting surrounding this temple with its enormous statues at the entrance added much to the visit. This was the start of being amazed at each new site! The scale of these statues carved from one solid piece of granite (that itself had been transported from Aswan much further south on the Nile) is difficult to imagine, but just look at the size of the people by the lower left corner!

The following day, we took the optional excursion at 4am for the Hot Air Balloon ride. I used to own a hot air balloon in a syndicate many years ago, but this was something else. Each balloon holds about 24 people, and they are well prepared to help less agile people climb over the side of the basket so anyone can physically handle the excursion. I don’t know how many balloons launched that morning, but it was a magnificent sight. The official rules say that nothing other than a phone is allowed on the balloon to avoid falling objects hitting someone, but as usual in Egypt, you are told to pack a camera in your backpack, and only get it out when you are in the air.

We were back on board to allow the Antares to depart to the north at 8am. Most cruise ships don’t do this part of the Nile, and I think I understood that this was one of the last Viking cruises for the season as the water level in the Nile is lowered over the winter to allow dredging of the various canals and waterways. We were headed to Qena and the Dendera Temple. The sail up the river was serene – calm water, friendly children on the banks waving as we passed by – they don’t see many boats on this section of the river and so it was quite the scene. Life is going on along these banks much as it has for many years and fascinating to watch.

Qena

We were almost alone at the Dendara Temple, so we had plenty of time to both be escorted around to understand the background and then have some free time to explore on our own. To whet your appetite, here is a section of the ceiling of the temple with the intricately carved and painted carvings. Like many temples and ancient buildings in Egypt this had been occupied by the local people who made their homes inside the massive stone buildings, lighting fires and cooking their meals over the millennia. When the restoration work began, the ceilings had been completely black with soot and grease and only some recent restoration work with new cleaning materials have finally removed those stains to show just how the ceilings would have looked when the temple had its original purpose. Magnificent!

Luxor, again

The boat sailed back to Luxor that evening so that we were ready for our next excursion at 8am to the Valley of the Kings and the Howard Carter house. There is a brand-new bridge across the Nile which makes this trip far easier than in the past, and so you have lots of time to explore the tombs. We were given tickets for 4 tombs plus the much more expensive King Seti 1 tomb but Younis explained which ones he thought we should visit. They were busy, but not too crowded and the King Seti tomb is particularly memorable and complex underground.

The Howard Carter house is pretty interesting as well – we explored this on our own. As usual, everywhere you go there are many traders and individuals trying to sell you things! Then we were off to the Mortuary temple of Hatshepsut which is built into the hillside on the other side of the Valley of the Kings mountain range:

This is impressive as a building but a bit less so when you actually get up close. Although it could have been that we were hot and tired by this stage and thinking about lunch!

After lunch, we were sailing south to Esna. Several talks and events were organized, but the highlight was perhaps the performance of a Whirling Dervish in the lounge after dinner. It certainly makes you wonder how he keeps both his balance and his energy high for his long and involved spinning dances.

Going south there are many more cruise boats around – many of them triple parked in the ports so that passengers pass through the other boats to get ashore. We were pleased to see that Viking doesn’t do that – even when another Viking ship was in port, we always docked alongside the promenade.

Esna

In Esna, there were two included tours. One visited the Temple of Esna, which has been excavated in the town itself, and had suffered, like the earlier temple, from being used as housing and cooking facilities, but, again, the interior has been mainly cleaned and renovated. Some work was still going on, which shows how recent this has been. The other option was a walking tour around the village to see what life was (and still is) like in the community. We took the former, although we heard good stories about the village tour albeit there were four security guards around the group on that one!

One joy awaits you in Esna. Like many places, the route to any monument passes through a trading area with many stalls and locals trying to sell you things. But here you need to buy something! There is an Egyptian night where most guests and crew dress in traditional Egyptian clothing and Esna is your opportunity to buy something suitable. We noticed that the traders had better prices when you are leaving the ship to visit the temple, and magically, the prices increase on the return journey to the ship. So, we ignored them to get back to the ship and then went back into the market with a group from another ship. The advice is to never go into their stalls, make sure you look for what you really want, and never pay more than $15 in any market. Nothing is worth more than $15. So, we haggled and managed to buy clothes for both of us for $30, one of which (not mine) was actually quite a nice-looking dress!

When we awoke, we were in Aswan – the end of the journey to the south. Some guests went on the optional tour (via air) to Abu Simbel and they had great things to say about the excursion. We stayed in Aswan to visit the dam (which is OK) and then a sailing excursion on the Nile on a traditional Felucca sailing ship. A great way to see the sights around this historic city.

The next morning was another boating trip! This time in a small motorboat to go downstream towards the dam and the rapids that marked the end of the navigable section on this part of the Nile. The dam, has, of course, made this much less dramatic than it would have been when the Nile was a full flood stage in the summer months, but still very interesting to see how the large slow Nile river is actually quite narrow and fast moving between the granite rocks in the river. This location is where all the granite for statues and massive obelisks further north was extracted from quarries and can be seen everywhere. The small boats were ideal for birdwatching, and our Egyptologist, Younis, was also a very keen bird spotter and so every species was identified as we slowly moved up the river to the Nubian village.

In the Nubian village we visited a home and got the opportunity (for $1!) to have a small alligator on our head for a photo and also visited a school with delightful toddlers. But the day was not over yet – another small boat ride took us to an island in the lake formed by the creation of the Aswan High Dam on which a reconstructed Philae Temple has been situated. It’s original location is now submerged in the lake.

And all that was before 1:30pm! At that point was we finally sat down for lunch, the ship departed to head back downstream towards Kom Ombo and an opportunity to see that temple at sunset.

Kom Ombo

We docked pretty much alongside the temple and so it was a short walk to the site (via the obligatory shopping arcade!) and we were treated to another enthusiastic explanation of what we were seeing.

I took my tripod to this site (without any issues) and captured some early evening views with a few ghost tourists around!

Edfu

At dinner, the ship departed for Edfu and our last excursion on this cruise. Another magnificent temple laid out over many acres in the center of the city.

This time the boat departed at 10:30am for an afternoon of scenic sailing back to Luxor and our departure for the airport to fly back to Cairo (this time to a high-end hotel nearer the airport) and our final goodbyes. We went to Jordan for the extension, and I have written the overview of that experience here. I’ll continue to write more detailed articles in the weeks to come.

The first of the detailed articles is now available:

1. Tours around Cairo before the flight to Luxor