Sonesta Moon Goddess??
 

Thinking about this ship for a 4 night 5 day Nile cruise from Aswan to Luxor. Like that they offer balconies and bathtubs with shower. Website pictures look pretty good. I checked some recent posts but didn't find anything from any one who had been on this ship recently. The pictures of the balcony show 2 nice size chairs and a very small round table. The website also lists some of the entertainment and 1 night is a galabeya party. Does that mean you dress in a galabeya and if so should I buy one in Cairo before the cruise?? What do the men wear?? Do you have to dress in costume?? Thanks. And I'll keep searching for reviews.

we were on the star goddess in september and while it was not mandatory to dress up most people did. you can rent galabeyas onboard, but they were about $30 to $40 to rent - so i would buy one if you want to dress up. it was fun.

I sailed on the Moon Goddess quite a few years back and she was lovely. I was alone in my cabin but it was quite large and I had more then enuff room including a bit of a bath tub! The balcony was nice and I sat out there many a late afternoon and watched the sun set!!

My guide took me to the Aswan market to by a galabaya for myself and hubbie. My guide did the negotiations at the market and a I got 2 traditional black galabayas with fabulous beading and a matching headscarf(just like a local woman would wear) for 150 Egyptian pounds each - about 30 US. Half the people on my nile cruised dressed up for galabaya night. My guide Aamer Ibrahim hosted our night - he wanted to make sure we had a fabulous night - and we did!

LEANNA-Your reply makes me feel even better about choosing the Moon Goddess. Thanks!!

MissGreen-I read your trip report and it sounded as though you had a wonderful time and really felt LE did a super job. We are going to ask them for a quote for our trip. So, I can go to a market in Aswan to buy the galabayas-men wear them too?? I wonder if I can talk my husband into that-lol!!! We will be in Aswan for 2 or 3 nights before getting on our cruise so I should have plenty of time to do that. Thanks for that info.

Chris... Hubbie bought a galabaya for him at the same market. I cannot recall the exact price but I think it was about 100 EGP - 20 US approx. Hubbie wore his with only his underpants! lol Our guide Aamer jokingly pinched him at "underwear height" on his hip to see if he was wearing underpants as we'd joke about going "commando" in the heat! You will have plenty of time to stroll around Aswan Chris. It is so relaxing and everyone is used to tourists and didn't bother us at all in the streets. At the market we were approached and called out to as we walked through the market.

Chris... another favourite fun purchase of Hubbie's is his 25 EGP (a super cheap 5 bucks) pharoah sandals!! They are leather or fake leather sandals with hieroglypics on them. He has promised me that he'll wear his Egyptian outfit on Christmas day here in Australia as it usually is stinking hot!!

MissGreen-Hope you took pictures!! Right now my husband is saying "No way" but I'll wear him down and I'll be sure to take pictures to show everyone back home!!

My husband also said NO WAY. But he did get a shirt and loved it & wore it quite a bit. It washes up nicely. Wish I had gotten more-Oh well.

My hubbie was so keen to give it a try... he even wanted to wear it to work for fun for a day! lol

Chris, I wish I had gotten more Mobacco polo shirts for hubbie. He loves them and they were so cheap for the quality.

BeniciaChris and MissGreen-the shirts sound like something I'd want to buy. Where did you get them? Do they have really big sizes? My husband is 6'3" with a 50" chest so here in the states I buy shirts like polos in XXL.

We are booked on this boat in March. There are very few reviews-if you are traveling before then, please let us know what you thought.

pirouette-Unfortunately, our trip isn't until May 2011. I did find a few reviews which seemed positive so fingers crossed!!!

Hope you have a great trip and that everything meets or exceeds your expectations of the Moon Goddess. Meanwhile, I'll keep looking for reviews.

MOBOCCO COTTON shops are everywhere there is a 5* hotel almost or a mall. City Stars Mall has one of the biggest shops. They should have XXL shirts, I'm pretty sure. That doesn't sound unusual. They might even have XXXL. If they don't, there are special shops around for BIG men. Where are you staying?

C_C Right now debating between the Movenpick and the Pyramisa. However, it appears that there are NO rooms available at Pyramisa for my dates of May 22, 2011-May 24, 2011. I can get a nice superior room of 38 sq. m. at the Movenpick with Nile view, bathtub, and balcony at really great rates. $320 for 2 nights includes breakfast and all service chgs. taxes. I may send an e-mail to Pyramisa as it's a big resort-maybe my dates are too far in the future?? I'm also open to any suggestions-must be clean, not too isolated, nice pool, balcony would be nice, view-I'd pay extra for that.

chris45ny, you can't possibly be "too far in the future" - your trip is only six months from now!

Are you talking about the Movenpick and Pyramisa in Aswan? If so, just wanted you to know we stayed at the Pyramisa. You can see a picture of the view from our room on this link. The room itself was very plain, but with a good bathroom. The grounds and the pool are very nice.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo...eat=directlink

sf7307-Yes-looking for places in Aswan now. Cairo, Nile cruise, Luxor, and Sharm pretty much done for accommodations. Wow-it looks so much like what I want to see. Just beautiful. I tried all different categories or rooms, made small adjustments with dates but was told-nothing available. It's a big place so I was surprised. Maybe there's some convention or something going on?? I'll send an e-mail. I did that with the Hilton in Sharm and heard back in a day or so. So strange-I just checked the Iberotel for same dates and got same response-nothing available.

Chris.. are you talking about trying to get a mens galabaya in a large size or the cotton polos that CC spoke about. Just went away for weekend and hubbie wore his 2 Mobacco polos.. they looked so smart... and the camel logo was cute?

Will have to settle for the cotton polos as DH says no way to a galabaya. I'll be sure to map out the City Stars Mall. Right now it looks like we will be staying at the Movenpick. Thanks to everyone for all the help.

Chris... he might be lulled in to wearing one in the right atmosphere...... lol

I just got back to Doha from a 4 night trip on the Sonesta Moon Goddess from Aswan to Luxor. I would highly recommend you NOT book a cruise on this ship unless you get a SUBSTANTIAL DISCOUNT off of rack rates. My husband and I and our two kids paid full price ($1000/night) for this cruise and it was an enormous disappointment. Yes, there are balconies, but the rooms are tired, the decor is tired, the rooms and hallways smelled either like diesel exhaust or mold, and the food was nothing special. When one pays a 5 star price, one expects 5 star quality. This was more like 3 star quality and then we discovered that others on the boat had paid half the price we did...we were lucky to pay the sucker price, I guess. I have communicated with the reservations office at Sonesta about my extreme disappointment and have asked for a partial discount. The manager is on vacation and to return tomorrow. We will see if ultimately their customer service lives up to the price I paid.

Sorry, but the question begs to be asked - Why did you pay RACK RATE? Rack rate is just a number in the sky that they can say they charge so they can give discounts of any size to the guests. Did you try to price it against other boats?

Another question - for $250 per person, were you in normal rooms or a suite for the 4 of you? I hope the later so you at least had something a little special. $250 per person is EXPENSIVE for a Nile Cruise even with tours included. I don't suppose you got private tours, did you?

Just curious.

Wow this makes me so sad. It really was a lovely boat when I was on it.

Casual Cairo. The Rack rate was the only rate quoted to me by the Sonesta Reservations desk and as I am new to the nile cruise swindle I was unaware of heavy discounts. I have spoken with Heba Amir in the Cairo Rerservations office of Sonesta and she says that I paid full price because the boat had been fully booked beginning October 4th and when I called on October 16th (30 days in advance) it was still fully booked but MAGICALLY it became not fully booked on October 18 (which was after a 30 day advance deadline) and so I got to pay full price. When I asked Heba if she thought the Moon Goddess was worth $1000/night her reply was "Actually, I think it is worth much more." Can you believe that?

Our guide had origianally booked us on Sonesta Moon-I am glad I asked him to try to get Oberie Philae-It was first class. Balconys room plenty big. One thing that I insisted upon with help from Fodorites is from Aswan to Luxor ask for a starboard side. You are docked most of the time and if on port you look at a cement wall!!
Also we stayed 3 nights at Movenpick-Aswan First 2 nights in room 301-went to Abu Simbel for 1 nights & requested room # 462 on other side which had a spectacular view. BUT-the AC wasn't working properly. The GM Dino had greeted us when we came back-sent a bottle of wine to our room and a plate of pastries.
I called maintence to see about fixing AC-after a few hours by pool room not cooling-when we left with our guide to the Nubian Village & dinner ||||I asked to see Dino re our room. He told me if they could not fix to our satisfaction he would have 2 rooms picked out for us. They ended up giving us a 2 floor suite and moved all our belongings. This place is first class. The room we slept in was 107-it was dark now so all we needed to do was sleep-Nile Cruise awaited us next day.
OUr guide for our 8 days in Upper Egypt was Mohamed-he was rec's by Elizabeth-the nicest young man and very informative. My guide who arranged our whole Egypt?Jordan trip-Ahmed Hamed Yousif. I also used Bashar who was rec'd by Liz in Jordan. Great trip-Chris

<<I am new to the nile cruise swindle I was unaware of heavy discounts.>>

FYI - The term Rack Rate is not just a Nile Cruise boat term - it applies to ALL hotels. Hotels certainly have room to move off RACK RATE but I guess the idea is to NOT want something so bad you can't get a deal on it. If you HAVE to be on that boat or in that HOTEL and they can sense that, ... guess what rate you'll probably pay?

I guess I should clarify that there are a handful of hotels that actually have set prices that are fair and a value from the start. They should not be expected to move from those - such as the Longchamps.
The statements above are pretty much focused on 5* facilities.

Going on this ship in Feb. Could anyone give me info regarding dress for the rest of the evenings? How dressy is the cocktail party? Specifically, do men need a coat and tie, or is it more casual?

On the Oberie Philae my husband had to wear long pants for dinner every night-NO TIES. The pants were bad enough for him inthe heat of October

@BeniciaChris, we are going to Egypt in April with Ahmed Hamed Yousif. Curious, did you have to tell him to arrange the starboard side room or did he just do it? I'm wondering how specific to be regarding things like that--I am trying to not be an overly controlling pest! Thanks. :)