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Epic Highs & Unwelcome Lows I Had Cruising the Nile!
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Jan 28, 2025
I reveal the best and very worst things I experienced on my AmaWaterways Nile River Cruise and time in Cairo, and answer if all things considered is it worth taking this trip. It's complicated For bonus & exclusive content (including videos, articles, eBooks and more) become a channel member or patron: --------------------------------------------------- * Patreon Patron: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers * YouTube Channel Member: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_qE-Obs2ocdmPXY0TIU-cw/join Check out my cruise-themed T-shirts and products: --------------------------------------------------- * T-Shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStore * Mugs, notebooks, hoodies etc: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/tipsfortravellers?ref_id=22354 My social media: --------------------------------------------------- * Blog: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com * Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge * Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers * Instagram: http://www.instgram.com/garybembridge * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bembridge
View Video Transcript
0:00
it never crossed my mind that I would
0:02
have to sleep on the bathroom floor on
0:05
my Amma waterways Nile river cruise to
0:07
avoid a downside that no one had warned
0:10
me about I instead of course have been
0:11
warned to watch out for things like
0:13
safety issues pushy vendors getting the
0:16
infamous Egyptian upset stomach so in
0:19
the end how did I find it all was it
0:21
worth it even with those nights sleeping
0:24
on the bathroom floor welcome aboard I'm
0:26
Gary bembridge let's start with the
0:29
highs first off although I knew it would
0:31
be impressive nothing had prepared me
0:34
for the actual Grandeur of the sites
0:37
themselves Miami waterways trip by the
0:39
way was 11 days started with three
0:40
nights in Cairo a seven night Nile River
0:43
Cruise selling from Luxor to Aswan and
0:46
back and one final night back in Cairo
0:48
while in that City they took us to see
0:51
the three enormous pyramids and the
0:54
Great Sphinx at Giza where many guests
0:56
also went on camera rides two other
0:59
Cairo how highlights for me with the
1:01
alabaster mosque at the Citadel of Salah
1:04
eladin and of course the famous Museum
1:07
of Egyptian Antiquities but for me the
1:10
absolute best sites were on the cruise
1:12
itself at the start in Luxor we visited
1:15
the Valley of the Queens to see the
1:17
remarkable nefertari's tomb and others
1:20
like titi's tomb who was wife of
1:22
Ramesses III in Valley of the Kings I
1:24
got to see Tutankhamun's tomb and three
1:27
other magnificent tombs with the most
1:30
remarkable being titi's husband Ramesses
1:32
III's tomb stretching deep into the
1:35
hillside we also spent time which I
1:37
loved at the multi-level Queen hat cheap
1:40
shoots Temple carved into the
1:42
Mountainside this is one of my absolute
1:44
favorites from the entire trip also in
1:47
like so we explored the almost 250 acre
1:51
Karnak Temple complex which transported
1:54
me by the way into scenes that I
1:55
remember from Agatha Christie's death on
1:57
the Nile film we also ventured North to
2:00
the Temple of hathor goddess of love
2:02
near Queener with his magnificent blue
2:05
ceilings depicting the Zodiac then on
2:08
the sailings to and from Luxor to Aswan
2:10
we call it an edfu to see the enormous
2:13
Temple of Horus and at com umbo visited
2:16
the only Temple dedicated to two Gods
2:18
Sobek the crocodile God and where is the
2:22
falcon-headed good doctor God once in
2:25
Aswan we explored the philai temple
2:27
which was moved in its entirety from an
2:29
island that was going to disappear under
2:31
Rising lake waters to a totally new
2:34
island I also experienced two things in
2:36
Aswan that will stay with me forever
2:39
first we're selling on a feluca from the
2:43
amadalia ship I was on to have afternoon
2:45
tea at the famous old cataract hotel
2:48
where Agatha Christie spent time writing
2:50
death on the Nile and second was Abu
2:54
simbel these massive and jaw-dropping
2:57
temples were moved 62 meters up and 200
3:00
meters along to avoid the rising Waters
3:03
when Lake NASA was built in the 1960s
3:05
ever since I was 10 years old when I
3:08
learned to this I wanted to see it it
3:10
was the absolute highlight for me of the
3:13
entire trip seeing so much packed into a
3:15
10-day trip was something I loved about
3:18
this trip though with so many temples
3:19
and so many tombs many people have asked
3:21
me if I got tomb fatigue while of course
3:25
seeing so much could have got repetitive
3:27
it was not thanks to the egyptologist
3:29
guides on Amber waterways there was one
3:32
per group of 24 passengers I discovered
3:34
to become an egyptologist takes four
3:37
year study and I found mine no mean a
3:40
mountain of information she was
3:41
entertaining knowledgeable and actually
3:43
a dab hand at helping us navigate some
3:46
of the challenges that I will come to
3:48
later I came away convinced that no mean
3:50
was crucial in making my trip so if you
3:53
ever Cruise the Nile make sure you check
3:55
just how good the company you're
3:57
considering is rated for the Egypt
3:59
ecologist guides fundamentally critical
4:03
another best thing for me was sailing
4:05
the Nile itself unfortunately there
4:07
wasn't as much sailing as I'd hoped
4:09
because the distance covered is not that
4:12
far it's just about 140 miles that's 225
4:15
kilometers from Luxor to Aswan and many
4:18
days we did not sell at all and we were
4:20
docked overnight more on that later as
4:23
that brought some really unwelcome
4:25
downsides but when selling it was
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beautiful and calming I especially
4:31
enjoyed our first day of sailing when
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all the ships departed Luxor roughly the
4:35
same time and raced each other down to
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the Esna locks which are between Luxor
4:40
and Aswan only two ships can enter the
4:43
locks at a time and it's on a first come
4:45
first serve basis watching the ship's
4:48
kind of jostling down the river was
4:50
really really entertaining one of the
4:51
fun things once after locks were the
4:54
vendors in tiny little robots that
4:56
surrounded the ship shouting up about
4:58
what they were selling throwing items up
5:00
to guests high up on the sun deck and
5:03
kind of negotiating from there it was
5:05
really entertaining and unthreatening
5:07
unlike the vendors on land that again I
5:11
will come to a little bit later another
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thing I also really liked was my Emma
5:15
waterways Fair as with most Nile cruises
5:18
was all-inclusive and pretty much
5:20
everything was included and that
5:23
included someone on hand guiding us all
5:25
the time from arrival to departure which
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as you will see later is really really
5:31
important it was not a cheap trip and
5:34
the 11 nights including pre and post
5:36
days and Cairo cost based on your cabin
5:39
type between about nine thousand US
5:41
Dollars and 12 000 US dollars per couple
5:44
excluding flights that's about seven
5:45
thousand Pounds to about nine thousand
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five hundred pounds now within that fair
5:49
I like that I was met before immigration
5:51
at the airport and guided through had
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all transfers hotels in Cairo flights to
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and from Luxor the river cruise entry to
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all the sites food breakfast lunch often
6:02
in tea and dinner Wi-Fi although it
6:04
wasn't that good daily Sip and sale hour
6:06
with all drinks using Egyptian Spirits
6:09
every single evening Egyptian beers and
6:11
wines with lunch and dinner
6:13
entertainment events and the cruise
6:15
manager Walla and those egyptologists I
6:18
spoke about earlier the only extra cost
6:20
by the way were all optional and those
6:22
were gratuities which were about 250
6:24
dollars per person for the land and
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cruise teams are quite High laundry of
6:29
course and in three optional tours
6:31
abusabel 350 roughly because that
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involved flights the old cataract Hotel
6:36
afternoon tea about 50 and those camel
6:39
rides at Giza Pyramids so all of those
6:41
were the best parts now let me talk
6:43
about some unexpected lows about Nile
6:45
River cruising starting with this really
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important one I was told by the crew
6:50
that there are at least
6:52
250 ships sailing the Nile which means
6:55
it is very busy because all are selling
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that short 140 miles or so between Luxor
7:00
and Aswan which is why I saw 50 or more
7:03
ships docked in some places for example
7:06
as we pull into edfu to visit the Temple
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of Horus I counted 50 ships there and I
7:12
counted even more in S180 gave up
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counting as there were limited places to
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dock ship stock side by side sometimes
7:19
four or five ships deep and also in rows
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and on some occasions I had four ships
7:25
to walk through just to get onto the
7:27
bank it also meant that my cabin often
7:29
had another ship at just literally a few
7:31
feet away making a kind of dark venues
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like the dining room and Lounge would
7:35
have the same too this of course happens
7:37
on European river cruises too but a
7:39
difference here created another problem
7:42
unlike in Europe there's no short side
7:45
power to plug into in Europe the river
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cruises ships seemed to mostly switch
7:49
their engines off and use electricity
7:51
when they're docked in Egypt the noisy
7:54
and fume generating petrol or diesel
7:57
engines run 24 hours a day seven days a
8:00
week whether they're sailing or or not
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and because they dock in rows close in
8:04
front I discovered that a cabin like
8:06
mine close to the front is unbelievably
8:08
noisy from those engines just a few feet
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away from you that's why the first and
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last night doctor overnight in Luxor
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even with earplugs I ended up making a
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bed in my bathroom to close the door and
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try and reduce the noise it was
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unbelievably noisy so make sure you book
8:26
midship as cabins at the rear could also
8:29
have vibrational noise from your ship's
8:30
engines too this is very key because
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ships are docked almost every single
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night we were docked for six of the
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seven nights of the cruise not
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surprising with all the ships the
8:41
land-based visitors and The Limited
8:43
sites to go to meant all the places we
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went were extremely busy I think
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probably the worst was the Valley of the
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Kings which no mean are egyptologists
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called the Valley of the tourists in
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many terms it meant shuffling through
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with lines of people although other
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places including Queen had cheap
9:01
Temple Konica Knoxville temples in Luxor
9:05
and in Cairo at the pyramids in the
9:07
museum they were all jam-packed too one
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good thing about Amber waterways and
9:11
doing a seven night itinerary is they
9:13
did try and visit when places would be a
9:16
little bit less frantic so for example
9:18
at the Temple of Horus we got there
9:20
mid-morning when the bark of the ships
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had finished there are more kind of
9:23
morning visits and were leaving we
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called into com umbo early evening and
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we were the only ship there and when we
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went through the essenor locks on the
9:32
way back to Luxor we went early morning
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when there were no other ships one of
9:37
the downsides of my Nile River Cruise
9:39
was the vendors and the focus on
9:41
shopping is it was basically a bit
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draining every site requires visitors to
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go through a market stall area to get in
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and out there is no way round running
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the vendor Gauntlet the vendors are
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pushy they get in your face and are
9:57
incredibly persistent so I found I just
10:00
had to get ready
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walk bristly through keep my eyes
10:03
forward not glance or look at anything
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not anyone put anything on me nor take
10:09
anything that was offered and just keep
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consistently shaking my head saying no
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no or in fact la la because that
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apparently means no I also by the way I
10:18
was not that excited by what was on sale
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either it seemed to be they all seem to
10:21
be selling the same stuff it all looked
10:23
very mass produced and very touristy on
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the upside there did not seem to be any
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other issues like pickpocketing scams
10:30
and tricks other than over charging now
10:32
the mean told us to aim to pay only
10:35
about 30 percent of what they start
10:37
asking for the other thing which I was
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less keen on although we to be fair
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didn't have a lot of it on our trip
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where shopping trips dressed up as
10:45
excursions for example we went to the
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Luxor Papyrus Institute which really in
10:51
my view was just a shopping trip so we
10:52
did get a short demonstration on high
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Papyrus it's made and we got to paint
10:57
our name in hieroglyphics on a prepared
11:00
parchment kind of in return for the
11:02
shopping trip one of the things I must
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admit that I did constantly think about
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during the trip was getting the upset
11:08
stomach that many people warned me about
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mostly because I was worried about the
11:12
impact it would have on going out on
11:13
those long trips to the sites knowing
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the toilets were limited and generously
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saying not appealing I found the toilets
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overall at the sites were rather grubby
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and you you had to also pay to use them
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they didn't cost much by the way you
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know maybe one US dollar or less would
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suffice but I would not want to really
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sit down in most of them unlike as a
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number of people did on the trip I did
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not get an upset stomach to avoid
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getting one I was a bit obsessed I used
11:40
hand gel all the time and out including
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after touching banknotes as that was a
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tip someone gave me I used bottled water
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supplied by the line both on and off the
11:49
ship including when brushing my teeth
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and rinsing my toothbrush I never had
11:54
ice I avoided salad it's actually the
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first time in my life that I've gone
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nearly two weeks eating no salad and I
12:00
only had food if it was peeled and only
12:03
had cooked vegetables I noticed by the
12:05
way all the bottles of water had
12:06
reminders from the manufacturers to
12:08
check its field before drinking because
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what happens is the vendors fill up
12:12
empty bottles and sell them at the
12:13
various sites which is how some tourists
12:15
actually get upset stomachs apparently
12:17
people that did get upset stomachs told
12:19
me they found Imodium which is what I
12:21
had brought with me did not really work
12:23
but a local remedy the ship provider for
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free if asked worked so that's a good
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tip to remember now the closer I got to
12:29
going the issue of Safety and Security
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worried me because so many people
12:32
started raising it and even when I
12:34
checked the UK foreign office travel
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advice it was full of watch outs that
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sense of worry did hover
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kind of during the trip because
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everywhere we went there were armed
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military and police with barriers
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checkpoints metal screenings to enter
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every single site including the hotel
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and there's up to three screenings at
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airports we also had police escorts a
12:55
few times like from the airport and we
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also had one when we were visiting Kina
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and there was a lingering concern that I
13:01
would inadvertently do something wrong
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for example while the cruise manager
13:05
ordered us to never take photos of the
13:08
police or checkpoints be careful taking
13:10
photos at airports as many have military
13:12
aircraft too not to even take binoculars
13:15
out because that could be misinterpreted
13:17
as spying or suspicious and he advised
13:20
me to not take out some of my camera
13:22
equipment like tripods because again
13:24
that could kind of cause some questions
13:26
with the authorities so while that
13:28
safety was a concern I found traveling
13:31
in the emerald ways kind of bubble
13:33
alleviated most of that because we
13:35
always had someone with us to Shepherd
13:37
us around the issues brief us on what to
13:40
do and intervene if anything arose there
13:43
is for example much online about how
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LGBT people are harassing Egypt and
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being in that bubble I think helped with
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the LGBT couples on our trip they were
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kind of avoid being exposed into that
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risk because we always in a group and
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being Shepherd around so while Safety
13:58
and Security were a concern traveling in
14:00
the ammo Autos bubble for me anyway made
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me feel comfortable and reassured that
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of course for some will be a real
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downside because it means you should be
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staying in the bubble and not truly kind
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of roaming exploring engaging with the
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locals I have to say I never left the
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bubble on the trip although we actually
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didn't really have any time or
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opportunity to and I did have amazing
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time which if I'd chosen a cabin more
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midships would have probably edged that
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up even more to get the answers to the
14:29
most asked questions I keep getting
14:31
including what the ships are really like
14:33
and who should not go coping with the
14:36
heat and a key question that you really
14:38
should be asking if you're thinking of
14:40
the Nile watch this video see you over
14:42
there
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