Cruise Lines

Good news for river cruise companies from cruise.co.uk this week. It reckons river cruising is where ocean was 10 years ago and poised to grow, so it has made its first foray into the market. River cruises are now featured on the web site along with news, deals and more

Apparently clients aged 55-plus with large disposable incomes are driving the demand, which I don't doubt. But if it really is where ocean cruising was a decade ago, then surely it's time river cruise companies took another leaf out of the ocean book and tried to widen the appeal by developing the product to appeal to 30 or 40-somethings and families?

Families? Well why not? River cruising is a terrific way to see some of Europe's great cities and it's very educational for children, but none of the operators do anything to keep youngsters entertained as the boats cruise from one place to another.

I'm not talking big kids' clubs - these are small boats after all - but why not a room where they can paint or draw, play on computers, or where teens could hang out away from prying parents. Maybe the river cruise companies could even try family cruises, less formal but still desirable, so kids won't irritate the blue-rinse brigade, and vice-versa.

As more agents move in on the river market, maybe this is the time to take a giant step into the 21st century.

Apologies but blogs are going to get a bit erratic for a few days as I'm cruising between Moscow and St Petersburg with Viking River Cruises.

A fascinating experience. Just been learning today how a bell was punished and banished to Siberia. Well this is Russia. Food and service are a bit iffy, and my room is a little bizarre, but the big problem - slow and expensive internet.

So this comes to you from Uglich - an unknown town but really quite sweet and at least the sun is shining. I'll be back when I can find more cheap street internet cafes like this.

More than the service, more than the destinations we visited, more than the food, the big topic of conversation on my cruise from Moscow to St Petersburg was the internet. Or rather lack of it.

"If you come in a month it will be working," Viking River Cruises chairman Torstein Hagen told me. Not really a lot of good to those of us spending a swingeing 10 euros (£8.30) for an hour online, during which time we were lucky to open one email.

I do admire his confidence, especially as the problems have nothing to do with techie stuff, but rather the fact that right piece of paper hasn't been signed by the Russian authorities. That's the bit he expects to be completed in the next few weeks.

But if he can cut through the red tape that has wound its way around so much of Russian life since the ending of the Soviet regime, and it really does happen, it's great news for all Viking's Russian river cruisers to come.

Even better, Hagen tells me that from the start of 2009, all Viking ships except those sailing the Yangtze in China, will have free wi-fi and laptops to hire for those who don't want to drag their own on holiday.

What a difference an upgrade makes. This is a standard cabin on Viking River Cruises' Viking Surkov. See where the pole is? That's where the wall of the cabin used to be.

During last winter's upgrade, two standard cabins were knocked into one to at least give some space to swing a cat. The bathrooms were enlarged so there is now a separate sink and shower.

At the same time, two deluxe cabins have been made into three. Which no doubt explains why I also have a pole. I did wonder. Even more odd, I have a door that opens into a wall. A bit alarming when you forget....

Mine is a deluxe cabin, but quite compact, and I managed to cause upset in the Viking family by saying I found the décor a bit drab. Heavy brown curtains combined with dark bedspread (it did help to keep the net curtains open to let in the light, but meant passing passengers also got a clear view in).

"You find it drab because you are too young for this cruise," I was told.

As I had preceeded my Viking Russian river cruise with a stint on Swan Hellenic (average age 70) I'm getting used to being told I'm too young.

It's quite flattering really, but suggests a) that river cruising is only for oldies and b) that oldies only like drab. I don't buy either.

So full marks to Victoria Kennedy, the hotel and entertainment manager on Swan for livening up the cabins with white curtains with coloured flag motifs and a matching bed runner. As my cabin was small with only a small window to let in the light, it was a welcome bit of cheer, appreciated even by the oldies.

It's good to see that Peter Deilmann's previous disdain for agents is well and truly over, with a cash bonus the latest evidence that managing director Stuart Perl's really does know the benefit of having the trade on board, so to speak.

The incentive is simple. Agents who book a client on one of four half-price cruises this autumn not only get their standard commission, but an extra £40 per person booked to pocket as well. That's £80 for just one booking for two people, more for more bookings, but I'll leave you to do the maths.

Bookings need to be made before July 31, but with cruises along some of Europe's most iconic rivers at half price - that's less than £400 per person cruise-only on some itineraries - that should surely not be too difficult, especially for agents who know what this river cruise lark is all about.

Stuart Perl says he expecting strong support and a big payout. Not too big, I hope. He is still supposed to be making a profit, after all.

Yet another fuel surcharge story, I'm afraid, but read on because this time it's good news.

Travelmole reports that Peter Deilmann has promised there will be no fuel surcharge in 2009 and Viking River Cruises UK managing director Wendy Atkin-Smith tells me Viking has not imposed any fuel supplements this year or next, although she admits they might have to bring in a charge for 2009 later down the line.

Our past passengers are very loyal so we have brought out nest year's brochure two months earlier than usual so they can book 2009. There are no fuel surcharges now, but I can't promise that won't change.

It's also good to see that Deilmann is now including one excursion per day per cruise in the price. Viking includes daily excursions in the price. Everyone takes them and it seems to give the boats a feeling of camaraderie.

Yet funnily, when I asked Torstein Hagen, Mr Viking himself, why they don't include drinks in the cruise price - even just wine at dinner - guess what? He said it's because passengers don't want to pay for drinks they don't want.

I guess I can just about see the logic. But the other journo at the table nodding wisely in agreement? What is the profession coming to?

Yes you have seen this headline before, but I have to admit I misunderstood what Peter Deilmann is doing next year - namely including one excursion per day in the cruise price, not just one excursion per cruise, as I had originally thought.

Great news. Thanks to managing director Stuart Perl for putting me right.

This has to be the perfect cruise for any budding Picassos out there. A seven-night Nile cruise-cum-painting holiday with Sherree Valentine Daines, billed as the face of Modern British Impressionism.

She will be giving painting lessons each day and be on hand to offer help and guidance to passengers trying to capture the scenes from the riverbank on canvas. There will also be a programme of daily excursions.

I can just about manage to paint a wall - one colour you understand! - so for me the best bit of this trip is that you'll be on a dahabiyya, a wooden sailing boat built to resemble vessels used in the 19th century by aristos doing the Nile tour.

I cruised on one a while back and they are superb. They have just six double cabins, hug the river bank as they sail, tie up away from the unattractive big boats ploughing up and down the Nile and the service is wonderful.

The cruise, departing October 18, is available from Bales Worldwide from £2,295 per person, which includes flights and transfers, all meals and drinks on the boat, sightseeing and painting lessons. See your travel agent, call Bales on 0845 057 0600 or visit the website.

Here's a river cruise with a difference from Bales Worldwide - eight nights sailing down the Rajang River in Sarawak, Borneo, in the footsteps of British explorer Redmond O'Hanlon.

The Into Borneo Expedition Cruise, on the 30-cabin Orient Pandaw, will take you through the region's rainforest with the chance to go jungle trekking and exploring up the Kanowit River on a long boat.

You'll visit a traditional long house, where the Iban tribes live, a rattan workshop, deer farm, pepper plantation and the Brooke Raj Fort Emma, built by the Brooke family, who ruled Sarawak for 100 years. It is now part of Eastern Malaysia.

The cruise is new to Bales this summer and costs from £1,765 per person for departures in July and August, including flights, accommodation, full board on the cruise, English-speaking guides and a full sightseeing programme. Call 0845 057 0600 for more information

I am intrigued to know what persuaded Mr Meyer - or whoever started Meyer Werft shipyard in Germany in 1795 - that it would be a good idea to build ships up a river, miles from the sea.

I admit when the idea was conceived, ships were a lot smaller and who back then who would have thought they would get as big as Celebrity Cruises' 122,000-ton 2,850-passenger Celebrity Equinox, which managed to squeeze through the locks at the weekend, en route to its sea trials in the North Sea.

The ship had to be tugged backwards down the river (which is confusing when you are finding your way around as if you walk in the direction the ship is moving, which is forwards normally, you are actually going to the back, and vice-versa) and there was also a tug at the back, which was really the front, to keep the ship on course.

At about 10.30pm the cry went up that the lock gates connecting the shipyard to the river had opened so we rushed out to watch the first manoeuvre. I was still not convinced the ship would fit through the gap - especially when the clock ticked on to 12.30am and we were still in front of the first lock, pictured here.

I assumed they were carefully calculating widths. But no.

Apparently opening the lock gates created a wave and we had to wait for the wave to come back (I'm not entirely sure where it went but given the long wait it must have been a long way away) to give the ship enough depth to get through. It really was that critical.

"There's no way I'm buying till it gets out to sea," Dan Hanrahan, Celebrity's president and chief executive officer, had joked earlier. At least I think it was a joke.

Both sides of the locks were lined with locals who had been waiting in campervans for much of the day in the hope the ship would set off - it is always a bit touch and go whether this so-called conveyance will happen as planned as the wind and tides have to be exactly right.

As we went through, touching some grass overhanging the the bank I am sure, Rod Stewart's "We Are Sailing" blasted out from somewhere on land. Corny but appropriate.

The ship tugged on through the night - I am told at one point a bridge had to be dismantled for it to get through but I'm afraid I was asleep by then (I reckoned it would have been too dark to see much anyway). By 6.30am this was the rather murky view from my cabin.

By 7.30am, people were starting to line the river bank to watch our progress and by 10am, we were face to face with the next lock - well more a barrier - at Gandersum. Again it looked far too narrow but Equinox sailed through with room to spare! Enough space to park a London taxi cab, I am told. Really? That much?

All the unessential folk - that included me, other journalists and travel agents, and even Dan Hanrahan, who's only wanted next to sign the cheque - were dropped off at Emden in Germany and the ship sailed on to Eemshaven in Holland to collect provisions before heading out to be put through its sea trials.

With luck, that's where it is now. Another month and it will be in Southampton, where it is to be named by.... Ah sorry, you'll have to wait a few more days to find that out.

European Waterways is offering a six-week, 1,000-mile journey from Avignon to Amsterdam on the hotel barge Anjodi, which rose to fame a few years back when Rick Stein and his film crew were on board to make a 400-mile French Odyssey for TV.

Stein won't be on this journey, but it sounds as if it'll be pretty good without him, visiting cities such as Lyon, Paris and Cologne, cruising the Rhone, Seine and Rhine and the Canal de Bourgogne (the canal, 150 miles long, with 209 locks, connects the Med to the Atlantic via the Yonne and Seine to the Saône and Rhone). The full itinerary is here.

You'll spend the days cruising, sightseeing and enjoying good food, prepared by the on-board chef, and wine from the regions you are sailing through. And you'll have to do that for six weeks, from November 8 to December 18. How tough is that!

Anjodi is small, with room for just eight passengers in four cabins, and looks lovely with lots of wood panelling and brass. All the accommodation is en-suite with air-conditioning, and there is a sun deck with heated sunken jacuzzi.

Prices start from £15,000 per person including all food, an open bar and excursions. Alternatively, you can charter the vessel for £110,000.

Nothing to do with having a miserable weather or being feasted on by mozzies in the Scottish highlands and islands, but everything to do with Hebridean International Cruises, which went into administration earlier this year.

Mundy Cruising, one of the top creditors of the failed company, has put together a top-10-tips booklet ostensibly to help Hebridean fans get over the demise of their favourite cruiseline but to try to win a few bookings from people who missed their cruise when the line collapsed.

Tips three to nine are suggestions of other small cruiselines that might appeal, starting with Noble Caledonia's Island Sky, a sister ship to Hebridean Spirit, which Hebridean International sold off just before its demise.

Next comes Orion Expedition Cruises, an Australian-based cruiseline that sails around the Kimberley region of Oz, Papua New Guinea and Antarctica. Coincidentally, an Australian couple of my cruise in Svalbard had been on Orion and loved it.

With luck I'm meeting the lady behind Orion in a couple of weeks so I'll be able to tell you more about it.

Others selected by Mundy include Cruise West, Yachts of Seabourn's three small sisters, Viking River Cruises, Windstar Cruises two 147-passenger ships and SeaDream Yacht Club.

Interestingly, the one cruiseline not mentioned is the phoenix-like Hebridean, which was acquired by All Leisure Group, lock, stock and one ship, Hebridean Princess, and renamed Hebridean Island Cruises.

The tiny Princess, with room for just 49 passengers, is still cruising the Scottish islands from Oban, offering cruises with drinks, excursions and gratuities included in the price.

Personally the Princess itineraries aren't as interesting as those on the Spirit, which sailed to some exciting and exotic parts of the world, but surely it's still an option for anyone in need of a Hebridean fix?

Tempted to see what all the cruising hype is about or just planning to book your next holiday at sea? Then get on down to your local travel agents next week and see what offers they have in store.

From September 20-27 it's National Cruise Week - seven days when the cruiselines go mad and offer some amazing prices.

* More than £650 off the cost of a nine-night Caribbean cruise with Windstar departing November 21 2009, bringing the from price down to £2,087 per person including flights. And if you book next week you'll also receive £300 credit to spend on board.

* Get a free cabin upgrade with Carnival Cruise Lines by quoting "National Cruise Week" at the time of booking. Prices from £969 for nine nights in the Caribbean including flights.

* Orion Expedition Cruises is offering 20% off a six-night Great Barrier Reef voyage departing November 20 2009.

* Save £300 per stateroom when you book a Princess Cruises' Mediterranean voyage on Ruby Princess. Prices from £1,149 per person including flights and transfers.

* Save £1,000 per couple on Viking River Cruises Imperial Jewels of China cruise. Prices from £2,135 per person including flights, transfers and excursions.

The list goes on and on, and your cruise agent will have them all. But don't think too long. Remember it all ends September 27.

Who would have thought even a couple of years ago that Dubai would become the next battle ground for cruise lines?

Yet it is. Costa got there first, offering seven-night Arabian Gulf cruises initially in winter 2006/07, along with Germany's Aida, and is now to be joined by Royal Caribbean International, which is basing Brilliance of the Seas in Dubai from January 2010.

Royal tied up a deal with Dubailand, which owns shopping malls, hotels, golf courses and will have a load of theme parks when it is finished, to enhanbce its commitment to the region. Now Costa is naming a ship there - the Costa Deliziosa - to "further strengthen ties between Dubai and Costa Cruises".

Deliziosa will be named in the emirate on February 23 2010, during the ship's grand inaugural cruise from Savona in Italy to Dubai, departing February 5. It will be the first cruise ship to be named in an Arabian city and passengers will be able to attend the christening ceremony.

Incidentally, there is a second maiden leg, so to speak, from Dubai to Goa, Cochin, Mumbai and back departing February 25, which can be combined with the Savona-Dubai voyage.

I hestitate to use the word battleground and Vietnam in one sentence, so instead I'll note that Vietnam also looks set to become the next BIG thing in cruising. Not for ocean cruise lines - they are aleady there - but for the river operators.

At World Travel Market on Tuesday, AMA Waterways president Rudi Schreiner told me they start building a new vessel to cruise on the Mekong River between Ho Chi Minh City and Siem Reap in Cambodia before the end of this year, with launch set for 12 months hence.

Why? Because AMA already has one ship in the Mekong, La Marguerite, but it's in such demand it's often sold out.

Schreiner admits its inevitable that other river cruise companies will start to move in to the Mekong (Pandaw already sails there but it's not a big name in the UK and doesn't have the marketing skills of AMA).

I'm sure he's right. In fact, when I was cruising the Yangtze in China in May 2007 with Viking River Cruises, chairman Torstein Hagen was on board and in talks with a Vietnamese company (a representative was also on the cruise) about building a vessel for the Mekong. The recession made him put plans on hold, but Hagen, and others, will be back for sure.

Has anyone any thoughts about other hotspots for 2010? Why not drop me a line and let me know.

This was the day I had been so looking forward to. An excursion to the Cu Chi Tunnels outside Ho Chi Minh City or, as the Vietnamese call it, Saigon.

Crashing and banging on the ropes outside my cabin announced Spirit of Adventure's arrival in the city just before 9am on Monday. When I emerged onto the aft deck for breakfast, there was Silversea's Silver Whisper moored up behind us. First other cruise ship I've seen on this trip.

The big cruise ships have to dock way a long way out of town, but Spirit of Adventure was able to sail right up the Saigon River and moor in the city, 85km from the sea. Once we were loaded on our excursion coach, we turned a few corners out of the port and dived into the chaos that is Saigon roads.

There are eight million people in this city and 3.8 million scooters. To cross the road, you should walk slowly and never stop because the drivers will see you and steer around you. At least that's what our guide Vien said. So far I haven't put it to the test.

Drivers have to wear helmets by law. Woman also wear masks against pollution and gloves so they don't get tanned by the sun. "Men want to wear masks too but it's seen as a bit womanly," Vien whispered.

I'll bring you more about Saigon in the next post (we're in the city overnight so it's the city tour tomorrow) because today was the tunnels. They are about two hours' drive outside the city, in the province of Cu Chi, which was a Viet Cong stronghold during the war with the US.

Around 15,000 Viet Cong lived in the province, many of them in these tunnels, where they could hide and leap out at unsuspecting GIs. The entrance to the tunnels was incredibly small - this is me going inside, ready to shut the "door" behind me. I was the only one in our group small enough and agile enough to be able to give it a go. That really made my day!

The others had to make do with going into the tunnels that have been "westernised" - that is, they have made the entrance bigger! You can see once inside, they are still not very big and many either wouldn't try going in or turned back when they realised how small and claustrophobic it would be.

The first tunnels were dug in 1948, when the Vietnamese were fighting to be free of the French. Then there were 20km of tunnel. Twenty years later, they stretched 200km, were on three levels, either three metres, six metres or up to 10 metres below ground, and even ran under an American/South Vietnamese army base at one point.

As well as going inside the tunnels, we were able to see some of the booby traps the Viet Cong used to snare the Americans. It's brutal stuff. This was a pit, camouflaged with grass. When the GIs stood on it, it swung around, they fell in and were pierced by the sharpened bamboo stakes below. And there was a lot more in this vein.

There was also a hospital - well, a bed but no anasthetic where they would operate in an emergency - a workshop where they made weapons and another where they made VC uniforms.

Vien had some fascinating stories from the war. His was an affluent family so he and his sisters had a driver to take them to school and his mother also had a chauffeur to take her around. Turned out one was Viet Cong, the other was CIA, each in a covert job trying to get information about the other side. And neither ever knew who the other was!

After the war ended, life was very tough under the Communists and 90% of the South Vietnamese tried to leave. Remember the boat people?

But by 1985, when the old guard died out and younger people took over the government, things started to improve. And remember I said they call it Saigon? "We won the war as the name is still the same," Vien said.

River cruise operator AMAWaterways is giving away a free cruise to the travel agent or tour operator who comes up with the best name for the new vessel they are building to sail on the Mekong River.

This will be AMA's second river boat on the Mekong. The first, La Marguerite, launched in September 2009 but there's been such a lot of demand that now they are building a second to sail between Siem Reap in Cambodia and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. It's scheduled to launch in 2011.

La Marguerite was named after French novelist Marguerite Duras, who set many of her books in 1930's Indochine. For Mekong vessel number two, AMAWaterways is keen to come up with a name that uses its trademark AMA prefix, like the boats in Europe (Amacello, Amadolce, Amalyra and so on) although it promises all suggestions will be considered.

You have until March 6 to come up with a name; the winner will walk off a luxury, seven-night river cruise for two.

Email suggestions to tas@amawaterways.com, remembering to include your name, agency name, email address and day time phone number. You can suggest as many names as you like, but they do ask you send them all on one email.

What a cool guy Celebrity Cruises president and chief executive Dan Hanrahan is. Not just calm as his new ship Celebrity Eclipse negotiated the obstacle course known as the River Ems, but also totally laid back about the fact Eclipse looks a long way from being finished.

"When I see Bernard Meyer panic, I know it's time to get worried," he told me. "There is a lot to be done but I am confident if they tell me it will be ready on time, it will be ready on time."

Incidentally, Bernard Meyer was on board for the conveyance, and was quite confident that all was going according to plan.

Nonetheless, there are hardboard walkways, plastic sheets and bare rooms all over the ship, which is crawling with workers hammering, drilling and painting.

And this is how the lawn is looking....

It's been too cold in Papenburg to get it laid - and I can certainly testify that it was freezing there last week - so the plan now is to ship the grass from Italy, where it has been grown, to Eemshaven, on the edge of the North Sea, where the ship is now and, fingers crossed, they'll get some warm weather and be able to get it sorted.

Among other changes on the ship, Celebrity Eclipse will have a new speciality restaurant, Qsine, the brainchild of chef Jacques Van Staden, Celebrity's vice-president of culinary operations.

Jacques was on board for the conveyance and enthusing about the fish and chips popcorn and other weird foodie things on the menu. He dubs them "uniquely unordinary". I admit I was just struggling to envisage what it was all about.

To help us out, in the evening of the conveyance they served a few things from the menu in the Oceanview Cafe.

We sampled the popcorn fish, below (turns out it's pieces of battered fish served in a box - only about five or six pieces in each though, as the box is mainly filled with packaging), garlic brioche wrapped in paper cones, Crunchy Munchies, right, which are basically calories in a cardboard cone) and Disco Shrimp, bottom (it's prawn cocktail on a bed of plastic ice that flashes).

It'll cost $30 per person to eat there, which seems steep to me for what is rather ordinary food served in bits of cardboard and paper. Reminded me of McDonald's, but with more packing.

Of course we did only have a taste of things to come, not the whole menu, so rather than have to eat my words I'll stick with saying "seems" and wait to see the reaction of passengers when the ship launches - and don't forget, it'll be mainly Brits on Eclipse initially as the ship is sailing no-fly cruises from Southampton this summer.

I was unable to make it to Volendam in Holland last weekend to see Avalon Waterways' new vessel christened - I was otherwise engaged as one of the speakers at the Cruise show - but by all accounts it was a great occasion.

The ribbon was cut by godmother Measha Brueggergosman, whose previous engagement was singing at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and Avalon Felicity is now getting ready to operate a seven-night Romantic Rhine cruise from Amsterdam to Basle (and vice-versa). It runs from April 11 to the end of October.

A sister to Cosmos, Avalon is one of a rash of new river cruise companies to appear on the UK market in the past 12 months or so.

Except this one has actually been around for some time, but relying on other companies to sell it here in the UK. You can now book their cruises direct or through your local travel agent.

Felicity is Avalon's 10th river cruiser, 361 feet long and with capacity for 138 passengers in 65 cabins and four suites. Most have floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors with French balconies, which means you can get air in but there's not even room enough to stand outside.

A sister vessel, Luminary launches in July.

The Romantic Rhine cruise visits Strasbourg, Rudesheim, Koblenz, Cologne and Amsterdam, and costs from £1,325 including return flights, UK and overseas transfers, daily shore excursions and wines, beers or soft drinks with dinner.

It's not often that a company is big enough to hold up its hand and admit it got things wrong, so hat's off to US river cruise company Uniworld, which is sold in the UK by Elegant River Cruises (part of Titan Travel) and Saga.

River Tosca was supposed to be one of the most luxurious vessels to sail the Nile when it launched last year; instead, it seems there was nothing but complaints from passengers about the shoddy workmanship.

There were scratched floors, loose tiles, bad paint and wood work. Hardly life and death stuff, but not exactly luxurious either. So Uniworld took a deep breath and removed the River Tosca from service for seven weeks so the workmen could have another go (different ones I presume, although history does not relate).

Anyway, the seven weeks is up and the vessel is back in service, and looking rather good, if this picture of the lounge is anything to go by.

Uniworld president Guy Young is certainly pleased. He might be a bit biased but let's face it, he does need to make sure they have got it right this time.

"I can now proudly say after visiting the Tosca that all the deficiencies have been resolved. All the floors in the staterooms, corridors, stairwells, and restaurant have been replaced. There are new wall coverings in the staterooms and the furniture has been reupholstered with tones more appropriate to the destination."

I just hope they had a "not-up-to-scratch" (unfortunate term in the circumstances) clause in the build contract to help pay for the changes.

Not that Uniworld can be short of a bob or two because it has also been busy sprucing up another couple of its river cruise vessels - River Queen, which sails the Rhine and Moselle and is claimed to be the only river cruise vessel "in the entire (sic) world" to have a working fireplace, and Rhine River, which cruises the Rhine.

Cabins and public rooms have been redecorated, bathrooms have been upgraded and kitted out with L'Occitane products, Christies of Manchester towels and bathrobes.

This is a cabin on River Queen. Must admit it does look rather nice.

A friend got in touch after seeing my post about Uniworld's new river cruise vessel, River Tosca, agreeing it looked lovely, but questioning whether it would be child-friendly - indeed whether a Nile cruise itself works for kids.

Apparently she made a rash promise to take hers on one a while ago and needs to make good the pledge!

I took my daughter on a Nile cruise when she was 12, which was the youngest age the tour operator, Discover Egypt, would allow - quite rightly I think because there is just too much "boring" sightseeing for very little ones. Also, the boats don't have any kids facilities and there's no guarantee there will be other children to make friends with.

I had had my eye on Discover Egypt's luxurious Alexander the Great, but was persuaded it was not the best choice for a child, so we ended up on a bigger boat that was in desperate need of a makeover - you can read about the trip here - but was right for the circumstances.

Yes, I would have loved more luxury, but over-the-top service on a small vessel could make a 12-year-old a tad uncomfortable. More importantly, passengers who paid substantially more for their luxurious cruise might not have been very keen on having a 12-year-old, no matter how well behaved, in their midst.

In other words, with river cruising, like any holiday at sea, it is important to do your research and pick the right vessel.

Get it right - and I think we did despite the Pharaoh's revenge - and the kids will have a great time. Especially is you remember there is more to the Nile than temples and tombs, although you have to see them too.

Make sure also that it's something the children want to do. After all, if their idea of a holiday is a week in a resort hotel in Sharm el Sheikh where they can spend all day playing with other kids, or indeed one of the big child-frendly cruise ships, they'll never settle for seven days on the Nile.