Upsell
The afternoon we arrived to Cairo our Tour Operator, Nadeer, presented us with a few extra excursions we could add to our program. Of the four he presented to us, two were (in his words) “must do” to complete our experience in Egypt. One was a dinner cruise on the Nile which included traditional dance performances, and the other an evening Sound & Light show at the Pyramids. Under the pressure of needing to give him an answer then & there, we buckled and opted in to both.
Nile Dinner Cruise (21 Oct)
Our dinner cruise along the Nile was slated following our full day of pyramid sightseeing. We were pretty exhausted, but we freshened up & met back downstairs in the lobby for 6:30pm. It took one full hour to drive from our hotel to the Nile cruise spot. I was a bit anxious because we were told the cruise started at 7:30pm and we pulled up at about 7:28pm. Turns out it didn’t matter . . . The boat sat docked for the first 1.5 hours!!
No kidding, it wasn’t until almost 9:00pm that the boat finally pulled away from the dock and started moving in the Nile! In the meantime we ate dinner and were “entertained” by a man singing in English (not his native tongue). The minute we sat down on the boat we all regretted signing up for this excursion. The food was mediocre (at best), the music blared at a literally deafening sound and the dancing entertainment was just plain awkward. First up was a man who spun around for about 5 minutes straight, twirling his skirt adorned with lights. Only a video will explain, see below :) After that a woman belly dancer was up. She did well enough, but by that point we were so ready to get off the darn boat that we stopped paying attention. Sounds bad, I know, but I guarantee if you’d been there, you’d have had the same reaction. A few times we left the dining room to get some fresh air on the deck & escape the deafening music. On the bright side, we did have some neat views of the Nile banks for an hour before the boat docked again.
The only genuinely enjoyable part of the night was when a table of (we think Brazilian) women started dancing. They were dancing like nobody’s business. I couldn’t help but go up & join them! It was all so incredibly cheesy & hilarious. My Mom & I were the first ones out on the dance floor to join the fun. I was laughing so hard at how ridiculous the whole scene was, that I had tears rolling down my face. Priceless! Soon enough, Doug, Paige & Sadie (somewhat reluctantly) joined us and were laughing as well.
Quick side note: I *rarely* blow dry my hair anymore. I think I can count on one hand how many times I've been able to over the course of our almost four months on the road. Tonight I did, and here's what Sadie said to me out of the blue "Mommy, you look so beautiful with your hair like that (blow dried). You look like a movie star, but not the clothes, just your hair. You look like the girl with the purple hair from the Descendants (Disney movie), but without purple hair.” HA!
Back to what I was saying . . . All six of us agreed the Nile dinner cruise was completely lame & cheesy (although P&S were mesmerized during parts of the show), and something we definitely should NOT have done. It was a good reminder that one person’s “must do” (particularly when sales commission is involved) does not make it ours too! We’ll try and be more discerning before we say “yes” to tourist traps like these ahead.
Pyramid Sound & Light Show (23 Oct)
Following the less-than-stellar dinner cruise, we weren’t sure what to expect at the other additional excursion we had opted into, the Pyramid Sound & Light Show.
We went to the show on our final night in Egypt. Fortunately this was far more conveniently located, only about a 15 minute drive from our hotel. We bought VIP seats to assure us seats in the first two rows. The show started at 7:00pm, by which point the sun had long set. Seeing the pyramids (relatively up close) at night, with stars above, was incredible. With our "VIP" seats, we had unobstructed views of the pyramids and were able to get some really awesome, memorable pictures before the show started. The girls got into a tiff over who-knows-what during the pictures; hence the blurry one catching their cat fight.
The show itself was about 50 minutes of light & sound, just as advertised :) The show narrated loads of facts about the pyramids, their creation, etc. and told stories of many aspects of Egyptian life and Pharaohs. Along with the audio, lights & images were projected onto the pyramids. It was beautiful, albeit a bit long. Neither of the girls were into it. Literally minutes into the show, both girls were asking when it would be done :) I too, admittedly, thought it dragged on.
But I’m glad we did it. Getting to experience the pyramids up close, under a starlit sky, was a super way to close out our time in Egypt.
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