Sailing Nile Cruise from Aswan to Luxor for 3 Nights

CRUISE Aswan and Luxor are beautiful and lots to see. We sailed on the M/S Mojito, modern ship with enough facilities. Our cabin was spacious and very clean. We especially enjoyed the creativity with the towels. We had a dog and a monkey hanging from the roof. Food was excellent, we especially enjoyed the Oriental night served on the sun deck. The one and only breakfast on the ship was the best breakfast we had until that point. Two of our breakfasts were takeaway as we started the day very early. However, the 7 of us in our group were extremely unimpressed with the takeaway. We brought this to the attention of our guide who then spoke to the restaurant (manager). He did try to accommodate us but unfortunately didn’t get it right. I was warned by family and friends that we will definitely get scammed, which I took with a pinch of salt. Nevertheless, I didn’t expect that from our guide Mohamed Gobran. On the first day that we met him, he explained that it would be better for us to pay upfront for all our temple / museum entrances he also said that we should pay the tips over to him and in turn he will pay it out. Everyone else in the group accepted this so my daughter and I felt comfortable doing this. Until, the day of our Hot Air Balloon trip, when the captain, Mahmoud an elderly person with many hours of flying to his credit, said to us we should tip the guys as they worked hard on that day. It was only then that I realised that something was amiss. It was at this point that I began replaying the situation. · If Mohamed only came to the Hot Air Balloon site when we landed, how was he going to tip the guys doing the hard work? · Why did he insist on us paying in cash for the entrance fees and tips? He told us we could pay by card at Aswan Spice shop but they would add on an additional 3%. He also made the driver stop at several points to ensure we were able to draw the necessary amount as we had exceeded our limit. I also needed to lift my daily withdrawal limit in order to have the necessary amount on hand. · Why did each one of us need to pay a tipping charge? If my daughter and I ate at a restaurant or took an Uber we would pay 1 tip. In the same sense if we were sharing a cabin, we would give 1 tip. Of the six people in our group 3 were sharing. · Mohamed was adamant that each one of us do a Travel Advisor review for him. He pressured us into doing the reviews by sending us the links and continuously telling us our reviews did not appear. Each person paid 5465 Egyptian Pounds over to Mohamed of which $19 per person was for tips. There were many people who were so deserving of tips but we will never know whether or not they actually received anything at all. Even some of the drivers couldn’t speak English but made an effort to speak to us and offer advice. My daughter and I traveled through 5 cities in India with 5 different guides and 4 cities in Turkey with 4 different guides. We found every guide to be so helpful, unfortunately I cannot say the same for Mohamed Gobran who comes across as being arrogant. Even though I told him my daughter and I would like to buy some souvenirs and small gifts he didn’t offer any information. The only thing he told us was that we must be careful of pricing at a shop that he took us to because the power at the Perfume Factory was off. Obviously, I didn’t expect him to take us to the markets or souks but he could've, at the least told us where we could go. On Thursday, 18 July 2024, our tours finished at 12noon. We sat on the cruise boat until 5.30pm doing absolutely nothing. My intention for writing to Mody Travel is for future travelers not to go home feeling the way my daughter and I feel. Egypt is a country with rich history and culture and it would be a shame if I can not recommend it to family and friends based on our experience.