Egypt 2022 - A Continuing Saga - October 2021

Egypt Trip Cancelled and Rebooked Next Day

AMAWaterways

Our April 2022 Egypt/Jordan trip was cancelled by Viking River Cruises last week. We immediately searched for
other Egypt trips with 2022 space availability. We knew this could be a challenge as many Egypt itineraries only have 2023 openings at this time. Egypt is a popular destination with limited capacity for Nile River cruises. Within a day, we found one cabin on a January 2022 trip that was being organized by a friend that has a business as an AMAWaterways booking agent. We previously had a great time traveling with his group in Myanmar and on the Rhine River.

The past few days have been busy with cancelling and rebooking hotels, rental cars and air travel. We were even able to transfer our travel insurance coverage, originally purchased in 2018.

Long-time Planning for This Trip

Starting in mid-2018, we began planning for an April 2020 trip to Israel, Egypt and Jordan. In early 2020, the pandemic caused major life challenges for everyone as well as disrupted international travel. Viking River Cruises cancelled this 2020 trip and we rebooked the itinerary with Viking River Cruises for April 2022. During the spring of 2021, we started to have second-thoughts about such a long duration trip and removed Israel from our itinerary. This reduced the overall trip duration by ten days. 

Last week, Viking confirmed that our April 2022 Nile and Jordan trip was cancelled due to its new ship, Viking Osiris, not being ready for guests. The Viking Osiris was originally scheduled to begin service in late 2020, rescheduled for April 2022 and now delayed until August 2022.  Labor and material availability apparently is the cause for the date slips. Viking offered to move us to a May 2023 sailing date, which is the beginning of higher summer temperatures and three years from our original travel target date . We opted to accept travel vouchers for future Viking River/Ocean travel which must be booked within the next two years.

AMADahlia, AMAWaterways

New Trip Details

Our new itinerary will start in Amman and Petra for several days, fly to Cairo for a four day visit, fly to Luxor to visit historical sites in the area and board the AMADahlia River boat. We’ll continue to sail on the Nile River for a week to Aswan, with day trips from the boat. Our river boat returns to Luxor for a final flight back to Cairo. After one night in Cairo, we’ll start back to the US.

The AMAWaterways itinerary is very similar to our former Viking River Cruises trip. The overall trip expense is now slightly less costly.  The AMADahlia is a new ship that entered service in September 2021. AMAWaterways apparently had fewer issues with river boat construction than Viking.

Preparation

In addition to typical travel planning, my immediate concern is to complete physical therapy related to my September bike-auto accident. I need my knee flexibility to return and periodic back aches to end.
Otherwise, this travel will be a challenge. I’m attending PT twice a week now for stretching and exercises. I'm seeing some knee flexibility improvement already.

I'm also researching packing lists that others have recommended for Egypt and Jordan. During late January, Jordan can range from 62F to 40F in early February. Looks like wearing layers will be the way to go during this trip.