Egypt Guide
The Nile Valley
Nile cruise boats
The indubitable advantage of Nile cruises is that they're cheap. Package tours from Europe with a return flight and a cruise often cost far less than flights and hotels booked independently. Peak times are Christmas, New Year and Easter, when most (but not all) tour operators raise their prices. In Britain, you can search for deals at Nile Cruises Direct ( 
www.nilecruisesdirect.com ). Independent travellers can find bargains in Luxor or Aswan (Cairo is risky unless you deal directly with the company owning the boat). Budget hotels like Luxor's Happy Land can book a double cabin in a five-star boat for $70 a night, or a three-star ship for $55 (except in December, when boats may well be unavailable). Alternatively, you can put on smart clothes and go hunting along the Corniche, where boats are moored three or four abreast. The boat manager is likely to quote a lower rate than travel agencies, especially if the boat is near its sailing time and only half full, or you have a bottle of Johnny Walker Black Label to throw into negotiations.
There are two basic itineraries: seven nights to Aswan and back starting from Luxor, or a briefer trip commencing at either end, which means two nights' sailing if you start from Luxor or a one-night cruise from Aswan, both journeys including stopovers at the temples of Edfu and Kom Ombo. In both cases, there's an indeterminate wait to pass through the locks at Esna, which makes it unwise to rely on getting back to Luxor or Cairo in time for a flight home. When the locks are closed for a fortnight's maintenance in June and the first half of December, passengers are bussed from Esna to sites up to three hours' distant. These routes aside, there are also cruises on Lake Nasser.