germanblonde

Which Nile cruise is better? I have a choice of a three night cruise or a four night cruise. The tour operator tell me the itinerary is the same and the three night cruise a rushed version of the four night cruise? Or, because of the Nile's currents travelling time on the 4 night cruise is longer? Which should I choose? Obviously, the four night cruise costs more. The three night cruise is better for my budget and for flight connections.

Thanks in advance.

Leslie_S

If the itinerary is the same I would do the 3 night version. I would assume, like you said, they just spread it out into 4 nights without adding extra site visits during that time.
There's also a difference depending on whether you're going up or down the Nile -- do you know if that's the reason for the different number of days? As you mentioned, the current would be a factor.

I did enjoy our Nile cruise but I wouldn't have needed to prolong it as long as all the stops are the same on both versions.

doug_stallings

On the contrary, they do add sights (or at the very least more time at sights). With a 4-night cruise, you'll either see more sights in Luxor or Aswan, and perhaps both. There's so much to see in Luxor, that you see only a fraction on most cruise tours (a couple of hours in the Valley of the Kings, a quick stop at the colossal statues of Rameses, and a run through either Luxor Temple or Karnak. In any case, you're not going to see a fraction of what there is to see. Take the longer tour.

shelleyk

I second Doug's vote for the longer cruise. A few year's ago we went for 6 nights. We stopped at extra temples along the way. And the sightseeing along the river banks is very interesting, watching the people attend to their daily chores, fishing and plowing their fields with water buffalo.. It's very easy to observe this because the river is so narrow.

germanblonde

Thank you for the feedback. I'd asked the tour company what is the difference between the 3 night and 4 night cruise. I just received an email from them. The company is telling me the sightseeing is the same including time at the various sights. The ship needs more time to travel when going south because the ship is sailing against the water flow of the Nile.

Elizabeth_S

If it is the same itinerary and amount of time I'd take the 3 night version but that also depends on whether you are going to Abu Simbel and how that fits with the 3/4 nights options

sandi

Ours was 4/nts departing from Aswan,
Day 1 - Boarded boat 12N (having visited Abu Simbel in the morning having flownn in from Cairo), spent this first afternoon sightseeing locally, overnight on boat in Aswan.
Day 2 - Aswan; morning visit at Philae, the dam and unfisnished obelisk. Afternoon sailing north with stop at Kom Ombo. Sailing to overnight at Edfu (we were right on the bulkhead here... no walking thru other boats).
Day 3 - Edfu; morning visit to this temple, in afternoon crusing with stop at Esna* Temple, then thru the locks and cruise to Luxor where we overnighted on the boat.
Day 4 - Luxor; very early morning visit to Valley of Kings/Queens, afternoon visit Luxor/Karnak temples and overnight on boat.
Day 5 - Luxor; having decided not to visit Luxor/Karnak temples afternoon before, instead we visited these on our own this morning; afternoon leisure on boat till our evening departure. Check-out was actually after breakfast, though we were able to use the boat facilities till late.

*not all the boats moving north stopped here.

Met some other visitors when we returned to Cairo, who had done the trip in reverse and they had the same stops - Luxor (VofKQ, Luxor/Karnak Temples), Edfu, Kom Ombo and Aswan/Philae - and their time spent at any of these wasn't any less than ours.

There were only 2/nts cruising, night of Days 2 & 3.

If your budget only allows for 3/nts and works with your flight schedules, then I'd go for this; you won't be missing anything.