We are trying to decide on a tour to Egypt but I am having trouble finding many comments on the Nile River Cruises. In particular we are interested in the Insight Cruise, but are open to any recommendations. Also, we have been told by one travel agent that the cruises are affected by the total of ships doing them these days. The docking of them side by side and tip to tip, and the long wait to get through one of the locks. If you have any advice, I'd appreciate it!

I did search here for "Nile River cruise" and found 39 threads. I didn't look at any for your specific interests, have you?

regards - tom

My experience is that the boats are always docked in this manner. As for the wait to clear the locks I can't speak to that. I will say, however that the cruise on the Nile was one of the highlights of the trip. Sitting on the top deck and watching Egypt pass by was amazing.

Yes, the boats do tie up next to one another and tip-to-tip. Premier boat operators do tend to get the best spots at the bulkheads, so no walking thru boat-to-boat.

However, there is a rather tight scheduled for when boats arrive and leave to allow other boats to next tie-up.

Same holds true for passing thru Esna Lock... there's a schedule. Depending on your boat, time you left last stop before the locks, you can pass mid-afternoon, late-afternoon, early-evening or way into dark.

Watching the passage thru the locks is fascinating (if you haven't done, the Panama Canal or others), the vendors on shore trying to sell items. Just find a seat on top deck and watch life go by. Lots of fun and laughs.

My experience of the Esna locks was suprisingly short. When we aprroached Esna I wondered how long we would have to wait. As it turned our ship was the only one there. I was very interested as I had not had this experience before. Also as has been stated cruising down the Nile is fascinating.

We were in Egypt last year and traveled with Abercrombie and Kent. They are pricey but their ships do not dock next to any others because they own their own docks. At no time did we have to cross other ships and we were never side by side or tip to tip. The A&K docks are very conveniently located and boarding and disembarking is very easy. We had no wait to get through the locks.
No matter what ship you select, you will love it.

We were on the Nile Adventurer shorly before Christmas and I don't remember going through any locks - this seemed to be all done at night, leaving our days in port to tour. Our tour was with Tauck, not that should make a difference. You will always (as in Danube and Rhine cruises) tie up in tandem with other boats.

In response to one of the other postings, incidentally, other lines use A&K docks and you may go over, or though one of their docks. I don't think they own the docks, I think they just have signage rights.

We went with Maupintour and had a seven day cruise on the Nile on the Oberoi Philae. We never tied up with another boat - always had our own dock space.