Has anyone done this cruise, or used Viking for a river cruise? Friends have invited us to accompany them, and I am already signed up, but I am curious as to what the "vibe" of a Viking cruise is, this one in particular. I tend to see cruisers as either Newlywed, Over Fed, and Nearly Dead, in my mind Viking fits into the last category. Any thoughts would be helpful, as I have a bit of time before I lose my deposit. Thanks in advance.

Viking is a good cruise line. It's not generally the first I recommend for clients for river cruises, but still a product that I sell. I generally find similar pricing on other lines, but the others have more inclusions. I also don't love that Viking requires full payment a lot further out than other lines. I have a current client that we are looking at Ama for their Nile.

As far as guests, Viking is generally an older crowd, but really you just don't spend much time onboard, so even if the people are "sleepy" it isn't a big deal. Also the Nile river ships generally hold fewer passengers than European river cruises.

I've only had one client book with Viking on the Nile but they loved it! They're on the older side which like others said is the usual Viking demographic. A&K is my favorite for the Nile but that's not what you asked.

The local guides and expertise were great, and they felt very safe. The days were pretty full so they were tired at the end of each day. They said the food was good, a nice mix of local and classic dishes. Going with friends will be great!

I did Egypt but rather than a cruise I booked a private tour through Memphis Tours. We got to spend more time in each site, had a private guide, and the ability to customize it to our interests. Also it was super cheap. They tacked on a few days of diving and an all inclusive on the Red Sea for us even. I'd highly recommend talking with them before finalizing a cruise.

I'm only 50 so probably still too young for river cruises but a Nile cruise is definitely on the bucket list for later on.

I know, that was a little tongue in cheek. We'll probably do one in a few years once the kids are gone and we have more flexibility.

We used Avalon for our Nile Cruise in 2023. They subcontracted to Farah Nile Cruises and both they and the boat were excellent. While I love to avoid tour companies when possible, I would highly recommend using a good service for Egypt. Our guide was a professor at University of Cairo who was actively involved in numerous digs at Valley of the Kings and other places. He was a wealth of knowledge and very personable.

Also having company representatives with us for transfers, etc. proved extremely valuable when my wife had her passport taken by a female security guard and would not return it. She called our handler and he had everything straightened out in short order, although he had to get pretty testy with the security guard. I had a similar problem with security at a later checkpoint and he again got everything cleared up.

BTW, we also came a couple of days early and booked some other activities around Cairo with Memphis Tours and they were great. Nothing but good to say about Memphis Tours.