Nile Cruise with a nine year old?
 

We are traveling with a 9 year old and are trying to decide wether or not to take a Nile Cruise. Has anyone taken a Nile cruise with a child? What was there for them to do on the boat?

Frankly, unless the 9 year old is way ahead of his age group, I'm not so sure he (or she) would enjoy visiting Egypt at all. Not really a whole lot like someplace a child could really enjoy.

But as far as the cruise itself - I don't know about the one you're looking at but on ours we were not on the ship much of the time. We were out touring during the day and really only had free time on it around lunchtime and before dinner. There was a pool on the upper deck. There was maybe one day when we sailed most of the day so that day might be boring for a 9 year old I guess. We mainly read and watched the scenery as we floated by.

We took our boys when they were in 4th/5th grade - so my younger son was about 9. They were the only kids on the boat, but they kept themselves amused.

They crew loved them - taking them on a tour of the boat, making sure they had plenty of french fries and drinks, etc. They had fun at the evening events...and that's the only time in 4 years that I ever got them in galabayas!!!! The boat also had a pool table and they spent many hours playing.

When we were at the Esna locks - and all the merchants were next to us in their little boats - the boys came in quite handy. Catching items being tossed up to us, and then (accurately) throwing them back to the men in the little boats ended up being their jobs! Even other people on the cruise asked them to "toss back" their unwanted items.

Now, there were 2 of them and that made quite a difference. What does the rest of your itinerary look like?

Hi Grcxx3,

We are planning on touring Cairo for 2 days seeing the Pyramids, the Sphynx, the museum ect. and then either take a Nile cruise or take an overnight train and tour Luxor for 2 day and then spend 4 days in Dahab. Our family loves to snorkel and Dahab sounds like the best choice for us.

We are also considering ending the trip in with a 1 day tour of Petra. We would fly from Cairo to Amman and tour Petra for a day and then return to the US from Amman.

I would love to hear any thoughts you have.

We were living in Egypt when we took our Nile Cruise; we don't have small children, but there was a pool on the upper deck to all enjoy. Lots of walking and sightseeing during the day will help your son expend some of his energy.

Our trip began in Aswan, which was literally the most beautiful place in Egypt ... very green, especially Kitchener's Island, which you can visit via faluka (little sailboat.) Before beginning our cruise, we flew to Abu Simbul to see the famous temple; if you stay overnight, there's a light show to enjoy. The actual cruise began in Aswan and we enjoyed sightseeing along the river on our way to the various temples, watching people going about their everyday lives -- fishing, washing clothes, etc. Our trip ended in Luxor, where we also took a cab (on our own) over to the temple of Hepshetsut (sp); the next day, we went on a pre-arranged daytrip to the temples of Abydos and Dendara. (I told our tour operator we were doing this trip just once, so asked her for add'l recommendations; Abydos and Dendara were very interesting and definitely worth an extra day!)

In Cairo, the pyramids and National Museum are a must. You might also enjoy a tour of the Khan El Khalili, but I would absolutely have a guide for that trip! I'd also make time for a trip to the Citadel; your son might enjoy the weapons displayed there (we did!)

Our favorite Red Sea resort was in Sharm El Shek; we did weekend trips there (I saw a lion fish once!), and a side trip to St. Catherine's Monastery is of great interest as well -- this is supposedly the area where Moses received the Ten Commandments.

Petra is also very beautiful, but you might just be "historied out" after your Nile Cruise, LOL!

Nine year olds love Egypt. They will love the temples, tombs, and mummies. Get a good guide that can bring the museum to life for him and he'll probably deal with that pretty well too.

I say anyone over 6 is pretty good for Egypt. Anyone smaller than that might have fun if there are brothers and sisters to keep them occupied, but otherwise, maybe not so much....depends on the child.

I agree with Debbie - that is a great age (especially with a boy) to explore Egypt. And Egyptians LOVE children, so he will be well taken care of!

Now this is where I go back to my "cheesy but might be worth it" suggestion...

With a child that age I would suggest visiting the Pharonic Village in Cairo. It is a bit like "Disney-on-a-budget does Egypt" - but for kids (and even adults), it is a very good intro to ancient Egypt. It has a kid-friendly introduction to all the gods and goddesses, the meaning behind the temples, demonstrations on baking bread, overall village life, plus a recreation of what King Tut's tomb looked like when Carter first found it.

I went there with a friend and our 4 kids (1st-5th grades). Even tho the kids had lived in Egypt for 2 years and had studied a good bit of Egyptian history/culture - they loved it! To be honest, even my friend and I enjoyed the visit. The boat ride along the canals (off the Nile) was quite relaxing and we learned a great deal.

http://www.pharaonicvillage.com/index.html

One suggestion I try to make for people with children that are planning to take them to the Museum is follow Grcxx3's advice and do Pharonic Village first. If the child is old enough and you can help him understand what the King Tut Tomb re-creation is all about, then my idea is to find something inside the PV tomb that the child can remember, and then when you go to the museum, help him find the REAL piece in the museum (a bit like a treasure hunt) so he understands, maybe a little better, what this museum is all about. It might click that the things in there under glass were once in a tomb or under the ground or something like that. I know as a kid, I never quite made that connection. Museums were boring and things under glass were just things under glass.

I wasn't the brightest child though. :D

Following on Casual_Cairo's advice (and I'm sure she was a VERY bright child!!!!)....

One thing we used to do when the kids were young (elementary school age) was to go to the museum gift shop first and let each child pick out 4-5 postcards of objects/artwork in the museum. Then the actual visit through the museum really was like a scavenger hunt as the boys used to try to "find" their chosen objects.

The Egyptian museum is a fascinating place - but it is NOT kid-friendly like so many museums are these days. No interactive or hands-on exhibits - so you need to make it accessible. And if he's interested, definitely pay the extra fee for the Mummy Room!!!!

Nobody commented on your 1 day in Petra idea -- to me that seems like a bit much to accomplish in 1 day. The drive from Amman to Petra is a few hours, if I recall correctly. We did a 4 day extension to Jordan on our Egypt trip and 4 days felt like not nearly enough. But one hectic day going to Petra is better than not seeing it at all!

Grcxx3 - GREAT idea! Can I pass that on too?

Debbie - Of course!!!!! :)

The great thing about living overseas with kids is that you learn "tricks" to make trips/vacations workable for everyone!

Thank you all so much for your great comments and ideas. We are definately going to use them.