Classic HolidaysAnmeldelser 

We spent 7 nights on Royal Esadora for our Nile cruise, with a direct flight from UK to Luxor. The boat was lovely with brilliant, friendly staff. Our guide, Marco spoke great English, was so organised and gave us loads of information on Egyptology. Early starts ensured we missed the crowds and the heat giving us great experiences eg valley of the kings and queens, abu Simbel temple, Luxor temple, Karnak temple, Nubian village and nature boat trip, Philae temple with light show in the evening, optional hot air balloon ride. In the afternoon there were optional activities or a chance to laze in the sunshine or swim in the little pool on the top deck. Lots of included excursions plus a few optional add ons. After our amazing cruise to Aswan and return to Luxor, we flew from Luxor to Cairo for 4 nights in a lovely hotel, the pyramids Steinberger with a view of the pyramids from our balcony. Here we booked our own guides with ‘get your guide’ online to see the pyramids, camel ride, Egyptian museum and old Cairo tour. Bring lots of small change, in dollars, sterling or Egyptians pounds notes (10) particularly for toilets. Egypt takes any currency. Tips on the boat are paid in one lump sum for the whole staff which makes it easier as Egypt has a tipping culture, much more so than the UK. The whole trip was well worth the money and we really enjoyed it. We chose late November to early December for perfect temperatures to enjoy walking around the historical sites comfortably. We would recommend Classic holidays for this holiday.

Everything about the holiday was smooth and seamless and our tour guide,Marco,was absolutely brilliant.

From booking until departure it was pretty seamless. I did contact them a few times to upgrade a room and cancel our friend but it was always easy and helpful.

On arrivel in Cairo we had an email to say our boat had been changed to the Blue Shadow II as the Esadora was out of action. We walked thru the Esadora and felt our new boat was better anyway so no big deal.

Highly recommend a Full Pyramid View at the Steigenberger - it was magical. Our guide on the full day to the Pyramids, Sphinx and Egyptian Museam was great. The hawkers are something else so be prepared for an onslought everywhere you go, its just part of their culture but you dont have to engage.

The boat was great, the staff amazing, the excursions magical. Food can be hit and miss but you will always find something to eat. They were constantly cleaning. Our cabin guy kept us entertained with daily shapes of our towels, the room was always kept super clean. My partner fell ill on the Wednesday which we put down to bad luck. The reception staff and our guide couldnt do any more to help and went out of their way to make him feel comfortable. No issues with how this was handled. Seemed to be a one off as my group and I were fine.

The extra excursions are one to watch out for. We really wanted to fly to Abu Simbel but were told it wasnt possible due to availablitiy and if we insisted it would have to be the next day and miss out on high tea at the Old Cataract. Emad tried everything to keep us happy but we just accepted it would have to be by bus. It was worth the 7 total hours on the bus.

Exhaust fumes may bother some as may the pollution on the river but we put that down the country rather than anything else. It is what it is.

Hidden extras includes additonal tombs at the Valley of the Kings and Queens - eg: King Tuts tomb or Nefatari's tomb - so prepare for extras. You also cannot take photos of King Tuts jewels in the Egyptian Museum. Just things to take note of.

Our overall exprience was magical and we would certainly recommend this trip to anyone interested in Ancient Egypt.

Egyptair are not great and were late on every flight we took - the security process is something else. Food terrible, staff indifferent but again this is not a refelection on Classic Holidays.

Emad our Egyptologist for Orbital Travel was just the best. Such a great man and so enthusiastic.

If standards are super important you may want to try for the most expensive boat your money can buy - for us tho it was fine.

My final thoughts - the visits to the Papyrus factory, perfume factory and alabastor factory are all staged visits to get you to buy, they were a bit pointless to us and a waste of time.

Take lots or cash - sterling, egyptian and 1 dollar bills - youll need them all for tips and extras. Still cant grasp how the ship could take card for the bar bill but the guide insisted on cash for the extra excursions and £50 per person tips. Not ideal walking around with wads of notes. You could try an ATM if your guide is with you - a few seemed to do this. You need small notes to use toilets everywhere you go.

Just do your research and expect to be totally wowed by what you will see. It is truly an incredible place.

Thank you for a great experience!

Pretty downmarket set up. Boat upgrade was good.

Staff member I dealt with not very intelligent and not very helpful when my friend suddenly cancelled and I had to replace with another. Ended up having to bypass him by going direct to travel agency that arranges the boat who then told him what to do! Moved from 2 rooms to 1 everywhere but still an extra £1000 inc flights.
Pretty downmarket set up, though due to 2 late boat changes we were upgraded to the Grand Mandarin which was very good with lovely lovely staff and chefs.
Planning really not good - like get to Cairo late and be picked up 0730 for sightseeing (as is normal, so better to get there earlier bearing in mind time change!) Tour guide in Cairo v good however (Michael). Planning bad On boat we did 7 days so other groups do 3 days or 4 days which means we picked up different parties in various places en route and therefore had to sit idly in places we had already been to while the latest Chinese or whatever nationality group went to see the sights there (so we ended up on a bus for last bit of the return trip to Luxor in order to get their in time!). Maybe worth finding out if that will apply - thought lovely sitting area and small pool on top of boat.Tour guide Adel from Orbital Travel very knowledgeable and well qualified although quite hard to understand at times and we did end up paying extra not to miss things he recommended (and he was always right on what to skip, what to see).
Planning on flights bad on return - like get up 0545 to fly Hurghada-Cairo and spend the whole day in Cairo airport! Why not tell us there is a Gatwick as well as LHR flight??? And PS do not stay in Hurghada hotel strip...

A disappointing response from this company when our hotel booking was lost! Since this review Classic have been in contact. Classic have given some explanation about the problems encountered but insincere apology for the upset caused and no offer of compensation. Communication from the time of booking could be improved with more detail available on bespoke programmes. The programme of 12 promised excursions were very good and led by a super knowledgable guide, Hany. This is not 5* cruise trip by UK standards, so go prepared, but they do their best to provide a good experience. The Esadora will not provide water, tea or coffee, no internet (purchased internet rarely works) or TV in cabins, which you might expect for a cruise advertised as 5*. Customer services take comments seriously but they find any criticism difficult to accept.

My wife and I have very recently returned from an Egypt holiday booked through Classic Holidays which included a 3 night stay in Cairo, a 7 night Nile Cruise and a 4 night stay in Hurghada. The 3 night stay in Cairo was mainly satisfactory except we had a long delay at Cairo Airport on our arrival awaiting our transfer with fellow passengers to our hotel with no explanation from the rep who met us. We later discovered that we experienced a lack of communication and information throughout the whole holiday. Upon leaving Cairo, passengers initially had conflicting pick up times but eventually this was rectified. Upon boarding the MS Esadora for our Nile cruise we were disappointed by the appearance of the boat since it was supposed to be 5 star. No way was it and it was old and in of a refurbishment! We had booked an upper mid cabin but were allocated a lower cabin on first passenger level. This did not have the view we expected and we suffered excessive engine noise and fumes! Upon complaining on our arrival and again upon our return home, Classic repeatedly told us there was a deck below us and therefore we had an upper cabin. This is simply not true and below us was the restaurant and storage. This was also confirmed to us by a member of the crew. In Hurghada we had booked a superior double room at the hotel but on arrival we were told we had a twin room but the said they could configure the room to make it into a double. This they duly did but the result was unsatisfactory and frustrating as we only had 1 bedside table and the bedside light was in the middle of the bed together with the light switches and power points. Upon leaving the Urghada hotel to travel to Urghada airport we were told by a fellow passenger that the flight time had changed and also presumably the pickup time but we had not been informed. Only after emailing Classic did we receive confirmation. At Cairo Airport we had a long transfer wait of over 6 hours for our connecting flight to Heathrow but we understand that this was as a result of Egypt Air changing flight times. This was certainly not the case when we booked the holiday and Classic did offer us airport lounge refund but this was only obtained after we had requested it and it was not initially offered. Overall the holiday was not a totally satisfactory experience and one which we would not wish to repeat !!

I would not recommend booking a Nile Cruise/Hotel stay with Classic Holidays. We went on our holiday Sept/Oct 2023. We paid a lot of money for our trip, it was not a 5 star experience. Book with someone else.

Went on the 7 day boat cruise from Luxor and 2 nights in Cairo. Egypt Air all flights very good. Food and staff on the Iberotel Crown Empress cruiser very good. Boat needs a bit of a refurb though. Our guide Hany was fantastic, a very nice guy with super knowledge and a great sense of humour. Negatives: Super early starts that progressively, wore us out despite being very fit people. My wife got severe gastric problems starting on day 5 and myself on day 7. We had only eaten on the boat at that point, still not fully recovered yet. When the boat was docked which was a fair percentage of the time, we were constantly subjected to nauseating diesel fumes as the boats can be stacked up to 4 deep next to each other. But need to to be running their engines 24/7 to provide electrical power hot water etc. (Was grim, like standing next to the tail pipe of an old diesel London cab.) So you couldn't have your windows open in the cabin. Cairo has to be one of the most polluted cities on earth. Relentless pursuit of tourists by local people, who are quite desperate due to the economic situation in the country. We tipped generously on top of the £50 extra each we had to give for tips on arrival. Sorry to put negatives in, but I wanted to give a fair appraisal of the holiday plusses and minuses. PS The Nubian village was very interesting apart from the cruelty to the crocodiles. I suggest you remove it from the itineraries, because otherwise I will be forced to make it a bigger issue. Thanks in anticipation

A week on the Nile on the Royal Princess. I chose the boat before i chose the holiday as i liked the more 'old fashioned' elements of the Royal Princess. First ever trip to Egypt, first cruise. Pick up from airport was smooth (it was a late night flight) and baggage was in my cabin by the time i was. Travelling solo i did not have any issues. Our guide (Sam) travelled with us and was so knowledgeable but also great on helping on the general stuff too. I was lucky to meet some lovely people and the staff on the boat were great. Early mornings for Valley of the Kings and the final morning's Balloon ride - but well worth the early starts. Being aged (!) and not 100% mobile i did pick and choose on the excursions - enjoying some lovely time on the boat. Best excursion for me was actually the bird watching - great 'birdman' and a lovely morning on the felucca (motor boat). Food was good, company was grand, i did the tourist things - bought the video and the gallabiyah for the Egyptian night. Can recommend the cruise, the boat, the guide and Classic for making this such a memorable first Nile experience. Going back next year :)

I have to say we had an amazing holiday. As ever, there were a couple of niggles but nothing that spoiled our trip of a lifetime….tick on the bucket list!
3 nights in Cairo were amazing. The Steigenberger Pyramids hotel was stunning. Staff, food & excursions were spot on. Eesam was so personable & knowledgeable. The trips were brilliant. Lovely after a full day to go for a swim, have a drink at the pool bar & look at the pyramid. The food was great too. Lots of choice including lots of local dishes.
The cruise on the Royal Esadora was generally good too. Some of the food could have been hotter but there was always something that took our fancy & the freshly cooked pasta, with a choice of sauces was lovely. It was fairly basic but perfectly palatable. The choice of fresh breads/croissants were lovely in the morning along with meats, cheeses & salads. The cakes/deserts were divine. The choice was good bearing in mind it was a relatively small boat. The beers could have been better chilled & sometimes there was a shortage of staff.
One of our group had a birthday & the dining room staff did an amazing walk through of waiters, chefs etc playing musical instruments, singing, with a lovely birthday cake & then a similar display on our last night, saying ‘Goodbye’ which was lovely.
Our guide, Adel (Addy), was astonishing. An Egyptologist with so much knowledge. My brain nearly burst!! Keep together (as a group) like ‘sticky rice’ is a saying we’ve brought home for when we’re out with the grandchildren!!
The boat was generally good. Our room was perfectly adequate & in fact bigger than some of the larger cruise ships. Housekeeping staff were so helpful & decorated our beds with petals, towel models etc.They missed one day & I was so disappointed!!!
We went on after the 7 day Nile cruise to Hurgharda. The Fort Arabesque hotel was beautiful. The food was delicious, the room amazing, the pool bar fun, the beach & sea perfect, the staff so lovely, my husband’s massage was brilliant & although I think I had covid, I thoroughly enjoyed the time there. Again, the staff were amazing.
I would definitely book again & are planning a return trip.
Thank you to everyone concerned

Overall we had a great time with a few minor issues. All flights and pickups were on time which was one of my main concerns after reading other reviews. We stayed 3 nights in Cairo at the Mena Marriott hotel service was excellent apart from the last night dining where I can only presume the waiter was new. The room was amazing and the view of the pyramid 500m away outstanding. We did 2 full day tours whilst there with Essam our guide it was a whirlwind of sights and very exhausting but well worth it.
On arriving at the boat the Royal Esadora we were given a set meal as we were one of the first to arrive. Our cabin was quite spacious and the boat looked very clean. Staff were amazing although you did have to hunt for bar staff on the odd occasion. Food was basic buffet style but there always something to eat and the cakes were lovely. The food however was not piping hot and the beer was never cold could do with a small fridge in the restaurant to sort this out. Our swimming pool was drained for 3 days due to the pump being broke and it was regrouted at the same time. However because we were moored next to another boat belonging to the same company we were able to use their pool and get our drinks from there with no issues. My husband also had a massage on board and said that it was very good.
Now for Adel our Egyptologist what he didn’t know about Egypt wasn’t worth knowing he was absolutely brilliant with his Addy family shouts and his happy clappy and his 10 times of counting people on the coach to make sure no one was left behind at each of the sights. He was absolutely amazing and I can’t thank him enough for showing us the temples and the sights.
Our only gripe with the boat was being moored up between other boats and having no view from your cabin apart from when you were travelling.
For the last 4 nights we stayed at the Sonesta St George in Luxor hotel was lovely however it would have been nice to be informed beforehand that there was building work going on here just by the swimming pool. There was banging and grinding and welding going on for the most of each day and this rather spoiled it for us as we just wanted to relax. The views however were excellent looking out over the Nile especially in the morning watching the hot air balloons rise across the river and the evening sun setting.
All in all it was a trip of a lifetime and my husband and I thoroughly enjoyed it

I had a 10 day Egypt experience from 8th September to 28th 2023 and the hotel in Cairo and the excursion and guide was wonderful the flight to Luxor was ok and getting us on the Esadora cruise boat was very good. The quality of the boat was of a medium state the staff were great as was Adel our Egyptologist, but the food quality was poor and hot food was either cool or cold. A lot of my fellow travellers stayed the same and some of us left on 18th September and flew home some others had an extended trip in Cairo or Hurghada but some of us including me started with diarrhoea on Tuesday 19th and I still have it 10 days later and am waiting results of stool samples. Classic holidays have replied to me saying they had no complaints and it must if been from the plane or off of the boat, but not all who are unwell flew home at the same time . I would not recommend classic holidays and would not use them again

My daughter and I booked with Classic Holidays on board the MS Esadora in February 2023. We had the holiday of a lifetime. We were looked after from the plane door until we boarded to leave. Our guides were so knowledgeable and friendly as were the crew. Food was basic but plentiful with high hygiene standards. Highly recommend

Very helpful when booking the holiday that was supposed to be a trip of a lifetime. Only after booking and on final receipt of travel details did we realise that every single aspect of the holiday was subcontracted to third parties. To promote themselves as Egyptian holiday specialists is missleading.
The transfer arrangements through "Bedsonline" were appalling, no contact from local agent and on three occasions we had to get the hotel we were staying in to try and get in touch.
The actual 7N Nile cruise was provided by Orbital Travel and that was excellent.
Egyptair's timetable is a work of fiction and every flight was at least an hours delay. As a result the delayed connecting flight from Luxor meant a mad dash across terminals in Cairo to catch flight home. We learnt from other passengers that there is a direct daily flight from Luxor to LHR, but we were never offered this at the booking stage.
Lastly we were given a WhatsApp number to use when away in Egypt. I sent THREE messages and never received a single acknowledgement, let alone a constructive reply to my queries.

Further to your response, I beg to differ on two points. You may have booked the Nile cruise (which I rated as excellent), but in reality it is operated by Orbital Travel. My comments on Egyptair timetable were specifically about over 1 hour delay in connecting flight from Luxor to Cairo and not when the flight from Cairo to LHR landed.

Fabulous holiday, will definitely be booking again for next year. Loved the cruise, the staff on board the boat were amazing. Nothing was too much trouble and very friendly and the hotel was perfect. Only slight misunderstanding was the transfer to the hotel from Cairo airport, but we soon sorted it when we realised messages had been sent via WhatsApp and from that point it worked well.

Fantastic tours but the quality of food and drinks on the boat were poor and the flights were appalling. Do not fly with Egyptair!! Every flight was late and the service provided was the worst I have ever experienced

In reference to the reply from Classic holidays below….my name is Kellie not Keith so I have no idea how you have referenced my feedback accordingly! I also believe you are being disingenuous with your response as we marked food and drinks as low as possible on the feedback form…so if you think this is acceptable…that’s a reflection of your standards….not mine. If I’m being fully honest….the dining area was like a cattle market and was far too small and cramped….but you would have read that from my feedback!

Additional update
As a last piece of feedback…. I would recommend that the people at Classic Holidays do not request feedback from customers if they are not going to take any of it onboard. Any future customers should view your commentary as a reflection of the type of company you run!

This is the second time that we have been to Egypt with this company and we have enjoyed it so much that we are thinking about going again next year

We had a great sense that we were in safe hands...from the moment of arrival at Luxor the Orbital tour reps ushered us around in a polite & helpful way that removed any sense of anxiety. Information regarding what to expect was provided throughout the trip.
The accommodation, meals and excursions were of a very high standard.
The tour guides (both with PhDs in Egyptology) were charming and pitched their talks at the 'right' level. The excursions felt unhurried.
Classic Holidays answered all queries in good time before the trip and there were no hidden extra costs whatsoever.
Altogether a very professional experience.

The organisation of our holiday couldn’t have been better right from being met by your representative before we even went through passport control at Cairo airport.
To when we flew out of Luxor. Bessem our guide was excellent and very knowledgeable, and our group was only 6 people which we really liked. Really liked our boat the Royal Princess which was really traditional in design.

There were three elements to this package. The hotels, the cruise and the local organisers, Orbital Travel, who could not be faulted. Brilliantly organised, friendly, helpful and knowledgeable beyond belief. Adel, our guide and mentor on the cruise element, has a PhD in Egyptology and had worked on some restoration, having guided academics and well known figures; we could not have done better in that area.

The cruise was a mixed bag of the stunning Nile and delightful staff/crew (the usual warm Egyptian welcome) and some very disappointing elements. We spent 4 of our 7 nights on the river as the meat in a 3 or 5 boat sandwich. The cabin windows of the vessel next door 5 feet away and little natural light, in spite of being on the highest level. No privacy, no view and due to the idiotic lighting in the cabin, no reading either much of the time. The lights were either All ON or all OFF. On meant ceiling mounted spots directed at the pillows! If one wanted to read and the other sleep, it was impossible.

Our party consisted of well educated people used to reading a contract but still misunderstood the drinks policy. Apart from breakfast (tea/coffee) and an hour in the PM (tea coffee) all drinks were chargeable, including bottled water, which was necessary even to clean your teeth as the water is not potable under any cicumstances. The optional all inclusive deal was expensive.

The cabin otherwise was OK (Stretching the definition of 5 star a bit I think) and the food was fine. The boat had a bit of the happy campers/ Butlins about it and it was mostly a wine free fortnight for me as I was not willing to drink what was on offer; the Steigenberger Nile Palace in Luxor had the same poor offering as the boat (unlike the same company’s hotel in Giza, which had at least one nice bottle and was a nicer hotel generally, albeit out of Cairo center.) In Luxor, the NP was less appealing; think Las Vegas conference centre and it was full of conference attendees and noisy.

Egypt and its people were, as ever, a real pleasure but any return to the Nile would need to be on a smaller, more exclusive vessel, even if at greater cost; it would be worth it.

PS: I think the interpretation of my boat rating experience was a little optimistic. Read again, did I rate it as excellent?
PPS: Those individual elements were very good but they do not affect the criticism stated aove; sorry.