twilightzone

Not sure of spelling.. Met an Egyptian lady last wk whose English is so-so...

I mentioned about the feluccia (sp?) boats on the Nile & she said that the markab (sp?) is much better. I have never been to Egypt.

Also, she mentioned that spring was a bad time in Egypt due to the winds & Oct was best.
Is that true? I thought Apr/May would have been brilliant.

Grcxx3

Late October/early November (even into early December) was my favorite time in Egypt. The spring is nice - but very unpredictable. Besides the occasional sand storms (no way to avoid them if they come up), the temps are quite variable. For almost every year we were there - I remember weeks in March/April when we were in t-shirts and then suddenly the next week we were in sweaters. Shoot -there was even one year when we had snow flurries and I think that was in April!!!! And by May - it can be downright hot!

As for markab (not sure of exact phonetic pronunciation) but I think that is the Arabic word for boat - so she is probably referring to the cruise boats that sail the Nile. Maybe Casual_Cairo can help us more here.

Casual_Cairo

I have no idea what she is talking about, but I think Grcxx3 is right. It is exactly what an Egyptian woman would say as well.... no respectable Egyptian woman would want to stay days on a Falouka, I suspect.

sandi

... and few western women, respectable or not!

Grcxx3

You're right about that, sandi!

twilightzone

well is a felucca better to sail on the Nile than a markab? I have seen pics of feluccas but no idea what a markab looks like or why it is better? Supposedly bigger?

Grcxx3

Here is a picture of a typical felluca -
http://www.gaiaworldtour.net/Gaia%20...pt/felluca.JPG

Here is a typical Nile River cruise boat -
http://www.memphistours.net/cruise_photo/big_10_1.jpg

Personally - I loved felluca rides on the Nile....for about 2 hours. By that time, the beer had kicked in and I needed a bathroom. The men can easily "go" over the side of the boat. The women....not so easily!

I know that there are fellucas that sail along the Nile (like between Luxor and Aswan) - and I think there may even be someone here on Fodors who did it - it is not an easy ride. Very spartan conditions. Unless you are really into roughing it - most people prefer a 1-2 hour sail rather than overnight cruising.

The Nile River cruise boats are not that big (not at all like the big cruise line boats). There are set tour itineraries, entertainment, a pool, nice staterooms, good meals, and - oh yeah - bathrooms!!!!!

So, most people going to Egypt and wanting to do a Nile cruise do it on the river boats, not fellucas.

Oh - and no one refers to them as "markabs." They're just cruise boats.

scotsgirl

Hi twilightzone, I would agree with grxxx3, the felucca is great for a relaxing sail, but yeah no toilets. And if you are like me and drink a lot of fluids you will find that as soon as you know you dont have a toilet - you need the toilet this is also true with many of the street cafe's, you think oh i'll nip in here for a cold drink - and then - oh okay - never thought about that toilet thing until it was at a desperate stage.

So, yeah as Grxxx3 says, nile cruise is much better in my opinion than the felucca for cruising.

Scotsgirl

Casual_Cairo

I agree with these girls, but if you were to go to Lonely Planet Thorntree site, you'd probably get a completely different perspective on the subject. If you like camping, and roughing it, then a falouka is a fine way to travel the Nile. People that enjoy that seem to love it and think that the big cruise boats that are belching black smoke out the back end are just discusting.
The cruise boats are hotels on water, plain and simple.
To each his own. You have an idea now what each is like and you know you better than we do - so you pick what is more your cup of tea, so they say.
Enjoy. B)

Casual_Cairo