Category Archives: R. Doug Wicker

Before heading down to the cabin, let’s look around the top deck of Jaz Cruises’ River Nile boat Jaz Celebrity. Up here you’ll find sun lounges, a bar with lunch snacks (mostly sandwiches and some sweets), and a pool. That’s on top of the great River Nile views, so you’ll probably be spending a lot of time up here. And don’t worry about getting too much sun. There are tables and chairs beneath shades toward the aft end of the boat.

There are no “inside” cabins on these River Nile boats. Everyone has an exterior cabin with exterior views. But before you get to your room, even the hallways are nicely appointed:

The Jaz Celebrity has five decks open to passengers: Main Deck, Middle Deck, Upper Deck 1, Upper Deck 2, and the Sun Deck.

Our cabin was on Upper Deck 1, room 309. Don’t let that location next to the atrium scare you. Noise from the main lobby, shops, etc., was nonexistent.

Expecting something cramped, as is typical for many much larger ocean-going ships? Not here:

Rooms come equipped with television, safe, and a mini bar, but don’t expect world-class internet. You’re not going to get that on this voyage. But that’s a small price to pay, especially as your itinerary will afford you many opportunities to snag cell service on a daily basis.

Even the bathroom is quite spacious here, and the shower is certainly much larger than what you’ll typically find aboard most cruise ships.

Our cabin steward was efficient and friendly. Meet Anwar:

Anwar is also quite handy at towel are. One day we came in to find a Nile crocodile waiting for us atop the bed, complete with a water bottle and Ursula’s sunglasses:

On Friday I’ll show you the onboard dining options.

Слава Україні! (Slava Ukraini!)

Ursula and I left Cairo behind and flew south, reaching our next destination on this months-long trip, Aswan, on Wednesday, 26 February of this year. Here we were greeted by a driver from Luxor and Asway Travel, which would be supplying us the best guide we’ve ever encountered in all our travels. Not only would this guide, Mohamad Salah, meet us on our boat, he would sail with us in his own cabin and arrange travel and tours for us the entire cruise beginning with the day before we set sail.

Now let me describe our boat. For this journey we were traveling with Jaz Cruises aboard their Jaz Celebrity. Although our River Nile cruise would not leave until the next day, we boarded on the 26th and overnighted in Aswan, which saves hotel and dining expenses for one night. Nothing wrong with that scenario.

I’ll show your our room and a couple of other places aboard Celebrity on Wednesday, and boat-board dining options on Friday, but today is mostly concentrated upon comon areas starting with the atrium. This is the impressive view greeting you upon boarding:

This view is of the atrium opening from an intermediate deck:

The Jaz Celebrity game room contains a pool table:

Pool not your thing? How about a library and some chess?

Or perhaps you would prefer a bit of shopping:

Yes, these boats do have lounges with fully equipped bars:

And the seating is quite nice:

But let’s face it. We’re here for the view, and views are in abundance up on the top deck. And feluccas are everywhere:

More views of the Jaz Celebrity on Wednesday, with an emphasis on our accommodations.

Слава Україні! (Slava Ukraini!)