20250228 Friday, February 28, 2025 to Saturday March 1, 2025. Heading to Egypt

20250228 Friday, February 28, 2025 to Saturday March 1, 2025. Heading to Egypt 

After we had to cancel our Viking Mekong Delta cruise last year because we wouldn’t have had time to get the very expensive tourist visa, we booked the Viking Nile Pharaohs and Pyramids cruise.  They had just launched the first of two new Nile River cruise ships, the Osiris, but had just opened bookings for the second ship, the Hathor.  Much to our surprise, there was only a single stateroom left on the ship that hadn’t been booked.  Sailings were already selling out leading into 2026, so we booked that last stateroom because it was during the ideal time for sailing when the temperatures are moderate and dry.  This will be a waterline stateroom without a veranda, but it will have a window and there are plenty of comfortable public spaces above to hang out in.  

It seems like a lot of people we know have recently been to Egypt.  Janet’s brother and his wife were there just last year, and one of Ben’s brothers also went last year.  We actually have some framed papyrus art that Janet’s father had purchased when he had been to Egypt many decades ago.  So it’s time we checked it out for ourselves.

Just 2 days before departure, we got a panic stricken call from our travel agent who had Norma from Viking Air on the line.  Our flights had originally been scheduled from SEA to Washington DC, Munich, and then Cairo.  Unfortunately, a labor strike in Munich cancelled our flight.  Lufthansa had defaulted to place on a different flight the following day, which would have meant missing out on our first day in Cairo.  Norma was able to find an alternative that would get us to Cairo on time, but it would require a two connection flight- Seattle, Denver, Frankfurt, Cairo.  Not wanting to miss out on the Cairo tour, we said YES.  However, that also meant that our departure out of SEA would be at 8:50am instead of 2:30pm.  Out shuttle service to the airport unfortunately doesn’t run hourly, so in order to catch an 8:50am flight, we have to catch a 2am shuttle, which arrives at 4:30am.  The next shuttle which leaves at 4am would get us in 7:15am, which is cutting it a bit too close for getting through security during the morning rush hour.  

Fortunately, since we are flying business class, we have access to the United lounge, so we had a relaxing early breakfast instead of slumping on the seats at the gate for several hours.  Although their rules officially say no laying on or putting your feet on the furniture, the lounge was not very crowded and we found a quiet spot near the back where Janet could stretch out on a bench and catch a few zzz’s.  The lounge has a full complement of beverages including apple, pink grapefruit and orange juices, automatic espresso drink machines, teas and soft drinks.  The bar was closed until 10am so really hard core alcoholics will have to toughen up a bit.  The breakfast service was pretty decent, offering toast, Danish, cinnamon buns, croissant and English muffin breakfast sandwiches, cereal, oat meal, fruit and berry salads, yogurt and granola.  Since we had been on the road since 2am, we did appreciate having some early breakfast.

The flight from Seattle to Denver was only 2-1/2hrs.  Business class domestic on the A320neo featured seats that recline by rocking the back and bottom forward as a unit.  This causes the video display on the seat backs to also drop dramatically, but they do pivot out at the bottom so you can still see the screen after the seat in front of you reclines.  

The Denver airport seems thoroughly modernized, but the gates are laid out in very long linear rows that stretch out a great distance.  There are moving walkways to help cover the distances, and people mover trains that move people between the terminals.  There is a United lounge in the A terminal and main terminal.  We arrived at the main terminal and had to take the people mover over to the A terminal, but since we had a 3-1/2hr layover, there was no problem once we figured out the layout.  We had lunch at the United lounge in the A terminal and then boarded our Denver to Frankfurt flight later in the afternoon.  

The Denver to Frankfurt flight was a 787 Dreamliner, and the business class seats are individual fully reclining pods.  These allow for more restful sleep, although with all the noise and other distractions, it’s still hard to get a decent night’s rest.  Ben ended up watching Gladiator 2, and then sleeping for several hours before the breakfast service stirred things up in the cabin.

We got into Frankfurt airport on time, which was comforting because we only had a 90 minute layover there.  We also did not have to clear customs or security since our bags were checked all the way through to Cairo, and United Airlines had issued us boarding passes for the Lufthansa flight to Cairo.  Stepping off the plane in Frankfurt was also like stepping back in time to the 1970’s because the jetways don’t align properly with the thresholds of the planes.  This resulted in an 8” step down that Janet nearly tripped over.  Then the jet ways lead to a series of stairs.  It would have been extremely difficult to get someone who was wheelchair dependent onto and back off planes there.  Our boarding gate was also just a bus stop where we boarded a bus which then took us out onto the tarmac amongst taxing jets, luggage handling equipment, fuel trucks and all sorts of other traffic.  It seemed so potentially hazardous.  Ben wondered how often an inadvertent jet blast might send a piece of equipment or personnel tumbling across the tarmac.

Be was quite surprised that the flight got off to a late start.  So much for German efficiency.  Apparently, someone decided not to board the plane, even though their luggage had been loaded onto the plane.  This meant they had to take all the luggage out of the plane’s cargo hold, find that person’s bags, pull them out and then reload all the bags.  

Business class on this Lufthansa was simply not booking a third passenger in the middle of each of the first 10 rows of the plane.  We did have nice meal and beverage services though. Ben got introduced to a unique liquor called Ziegler Avionic, something made specifically for Lufthansa.  It is a sweet, fruity and herbal digestif which when mixed with bitter lemon makes a very refreshing and interesting cocktail.  

We arrived just a little late in Cairo.  As we approached Cairo, it was astounding how green and lush the Nile Delta looks like from the air.  Ben had imagined nothing but desert.  As we got closer to Cairo, we got a glimpse of the Great Pyramids of Giza from about 3000’ as the plane made its final approach turn for the airport.  Closer to the airport, things do look like a desert.  There is also a remarkable degree of urban sprawl in Cairo.  

We were met coming off the plane headed towards immigration by a Viking representative, who helped passengers obtain their Egyptian visas if they didn’t  do the e-Visa online like we had.  Those who got their visas at the airport got fancy looking sticky stamps which got pasted into their passports.  We just got an ugly rubber stamp.  

The Viking passengers are pretty easy to pick out of a crowd by their demographics (well to do recently American retirees) and their red Viking luggage tags.  There were about 27 or so on our flight, and about half or more had been flying business class as we had.  There was one Asian couple from New Jersey.  Everyone else, myself excluded, was typical white American tourists.

We got loaded up into a nice new Viking tour coach, identical to the ones used n their European River cruise operations.  We were informed that Ramadan had just begun, so traffic could either be decent or terrible as people rushed home to celebrate with families.  The first Arabic phrase she taught us was “Ramadan Karim”, which literally translates to Ramadan generous, but means Happy Ramadan.  

It ended up taking just a half hour to get from the airport to the Sofitel hotel where we would be staying.  Our program director introduced herself as Fatma AbdAlla, and she will be with us for the duration of the cruise.  There are 3 bus loads that will be on the Viking Hathor, and we were bus B.  The total number of passengers on this cruise will be 82 or 83.  The other two program directors were Manal Fathy and Randa Riad.  It’s not clear at this point if they will be our “Egyptologists”.  We will be getting the Vox box devices tomorrow to use on our tours so we will be able to hear her in crowded areas.

The sun was rapidly setting as we arrived at the hotel.  Our first night is on our own, although most people were pretty worn out from the flights and just looking forward to showers and a decent night’s sleep in a bed.  That’s certainly all we did. Fatima said there were many others that will be arriving after midnight tonight.  We imagine they will not be able to enjoy tomorrow’s tours nearly as much as us.
The hotel is very nice and the rooms are up to our high expectations for Viking accommodations.  We have a nice view of the Nile from a small balcony, and a very spacious room.  We unfortunately discovered later that the bedsheets have a faint odor of tobacco.  Someone in the Laundry must be sneaking smoke breaks in the sheet storage room.

We will set our alarm clocks to get us up for breakfast tomorrow which starts at 6:30am.  Our tour begins at 7:55am with a morning briefing before we board the buses and head out.