Dan and I Just returned from a spectacular 7 day cruise on the Nile River on the Explore Egypt Dahabiya Dream.
We have enjoyed many previous Nile river cruises on board the large cruise boats, but a dahabiya is the ultimate way to sail the Nile!
A dahabiya is a two Masted sailing boat. By definition, it must not have an engine. It has a tender which is able to tow the boat when the wind is either non- existent or not conducive to travelling under sail. Dream has six large cabins with either twin or double beds. They are large and have their own individual en-suite shower rooms with the most up to date sanitary ware.
There is an onboard generator to provide electricity (240 volts) for lighting, air conditioning and power.
There are 12 crew for a maximum 12 passengers! Rest assured you will be treated royally!
The boat manager is Mahmoud; his English is excellent and he runs his boat with precision. Indeed, the crew are well established and need no direction to perform their individual tasks. Our chef has spoilt us by preparing a very delicious breakfast, lunch, dinner and afternoon tea
Teeto our waiter was excellent and has provided us with lovely cocktails and fresh drinks on our return from each tour and he does anticipate your every need!
The house keeper is extremely efficient and everything was kept disinfected at all times. In fact the whole boat was spotless and everyone was very professional in their approach to the current covid situation making us feel very safe and at ease, it was very impressive.
Mahmoud, the boat manager is also adept at manning the rudder in order to steer the boat and clambering the masts whenever the boat is moving under sail!. He is also the King of dancers whenever the crew break out into impromptu entertainment.
Our Egyptologist Ahmed was extremely knowledgeable and very passionate about his field, he manged to bring the life back to all these amazing monuments we have visited. We were lucky to have most of the ancient sites to ourselves to enjoy as the number of tourists are small.
Another advantage of dahabiya Dream travel is that it is able to moor at sites inadmissible to larger cruise boats.
Needless to say, I cannot recommend this holiday highly enough and Thank you to all the Dream team who made us feel safe, healthy and most importantly gave us a break to forget what is going on the world right now
Would I do it again: certainly!
Kind regards,
Barbara and Dan
Travel Date February 2021