The MS Amwaj Livingstone is an ultra deluxe Nile cruise ship sailing between Luxor and Aswan, with 3, 4 and 7-night itineraries through Upper Egypt. Launched in 2014 and managed by Amwaj International, she carries 62 cabins and suites across four decks, with a sun deck pool, open-air jacuzzi, spa and gym. Every cabin is an outside cabin with full-height panoramic windows.
On our scale, ultra deluxe means the equivalent of a 4.5-star hotel in the United States or Europe. Most Egyptian operators market every ship on the river as five-star. We would rather tell you what you are actually booking, and the Amwaj Livingstone earns her rating honestly: large 20m2 deluxe cabins, four suite grades up to 50m2, and a standard of finish and service that sits comfortably above the deluxe ships and just below true luxury.
Every MS Amwaj Livingstone Nile cruise package is full board and led by an expert Egyptologist, with guided visits to Karnak Temple, the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut Temple, Edfu, Kom Ombo and Philae. Popular add-ons include Abu Simbel and a sunrise hot air balloon over Luxor.
Whether you are planning a honeymoon, a family holiday or a solo Egyptian adventure, this ultra deluxe Luxor to Aswan cruise delivers exceptional days on the Nile. Departures run weekly, with prices quoted per person on a full-board basis.
Book your MS Amwaj Livingstone Nile Cruise today and discover Upper Egypt’s greatest treasures.
Arrive in Aswan and begin your 4-day Nile cruise from Aswan to Luxor aboard the MS Amwaj Livingstone. Your Egyptologist guide from Egypt Best Vacations meets you at Aswan Airport or the railway station with a name board, and your sightseeing begins straight away.
You start at the Aswan High Dam, built through the 1960s to end the annual Nile flood and generate hydroelectric power, and the structure that created Lake Nasser behind it. From the crest you get the clearest view anywhere of how completely the river has been re-engineered.
Continue to the Temple of Isis at Philae, built mainly under the Ptolemies and among the last places in Egypt where the old religion was still practised. When the dams raised the water the temple spent decades partly submerged, and in the 1970s UNESCO moved it block by block to higher ground on Agilkia Island.
End at the granite quarries and the Unfinished Obelisk, abandoned where it lies after a crack opened through the stone. It is the clearest lesson in Egypt in how these monuments were actually made.
Transfer to the MS Amwaj Livingstone for embarkation. Lunch and dinner on board. The evening is free to explore the souk and the corniche at your own pace.
Optional Tour: Visit a traditional Nubian Village in Aswan
Breakfast on board, then a slow morning sailing north. This is the stretch of the Nile most people picture: a green farming strip a few fields wide, feluccas working the wind, and the desert beginning abruptly at the edge of the cultivation. The sun deck and pool are yours for the morning.
For travelers wanting more, an optional excursion to Abu Simbel is available. Ramses II’s colossal rock-cut temple and the smaller temple of Nefertari were both cut from the cliff and moved uphill in the 1960s ahead of the rising lake.
Around lunchtime the ship continues to Kom Ombo. Here you visit the twin temple of Sobek and Haroeris, unlike anything else in Egypt: two complete temples fused along a shared axis and mirrored left and right, so that neither god outranked the other. The reliefs include what is often read as a set of surgical instruments. A short visit to the Crocodile Museum next door displays mummified crocodiles recovered from the site.
Return on board and sail on to Edfu. Dinner and overnight moored at Edfu.
Early this morning a horse-drawn carriage takes you through the waking streets of Edfu to the Temple of Horus.
Nothing prepares you for how complete it is. Edfu lay buried under sand and village houses for centuries, which is precisely why it survived: the pylons, the courts, the roof, and the inner sanctuary with its polished granite shrine still standing. The walls carry the full account of the yearly festival in which Horus travelled to meet Hathor at Dendera. If you want to understand what an Egyptian temple was for rather than what it looked like, this is where it becomes clear.
Return by carriage and sail on to Luxor by way of the Esna Lock, a slow and rather enjoyable piece of theatre as the ship is raised between the gates.
Arriving in Luxor you visit Karnak, not one temple but the accumulated work of some thirty pharaohs over two thousand years, and the largest religious complex ever built. In the Great Hypostyle Hall a forest of sandstone columns still carries traces of original paint high up where the weather never reached.
Continue to Luxor Temple, built mainly by Amenhotep III and Ramesses II and connected to Karnak by an avenue of sphinxes running nearly three kilometres. Both were dedicated to the Theban triad of Amun, Mut and Khonsu.
Return to the ship for your final evening on board.
Breakfast on board, then disembark and cross to the west bank, which the ancient Egyptians associated with the setting sun and the dead.
You begin in the Valley of the Kings, where the New Kingdom pharaohs abandoned pyramids in favour of tombs cut deep into a remote desert valley, hoping to defeat the robbers. It did not work. Over sixty tombs have been found here and only one, Tutankhamun’s, was recovered close to intact. Your Egyptologist guide will recommend the best three tombs open on the day, chosen for their painting rather than their fame.
Continue to the temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari. She held the throne for around twenty years and was among the most successful rulers Egypt produced. Her mortuary temple rises in three colonnaded terraces set directly against the cliff, and the effect is startlingly modern. Reliefs inside record her trading expedition to the land of Punt, complete with the ships and the cargo.
End at the Colossi of Memnon, two enormous seated statues of Amenhotep III and all that is easily visible of what was once the largest mortuary temple in Egypt. In Roman times one of them was said to sing at dawn, and visitors came from across the empire to hear it.
Transfer to Luxor Airport, Luxor railway station or your hotel, concluding your 3-night cruise aboard the MS Amwaj Livingstone.
Optional Experience: Sunrise Hot Air Balloon Ride over Luxor
Your Egyptologist guide from Egypt Best Vacations meets you at Luxor International Airport or the railway station and your Nile cruise begins the same day.
You start at Karnak, the largest religious complex ever built, and the work of roughly thirty pharaohs across two thousand years. Walk the Great Hypostyle Hall, the sacred lake and the standing obelisks while your guide sets out the history of Thebes at its height.
Continue to Luxor Temple, one of the most elegant on the river, built mainly by Amenhotep III and extended by Ramesses II. It is at its best in the last hour of daylight, when the columns turn gold and the floodlights come up.
Transfer to the MS Amwaj Livingstone for embarkation and settle into your cabin. Lunch and dinner on board.
Optional Tour: Karnak Sound and Light Show in the evening
Breakfast on board, then across to the west bank.
Begin in the Valley of the Kings, where over sixty rock-cut tombs are hidden in a remote desert valley behind the cliffs. Your Egyptologist guide will recommend the best three tombs open on the day.
Continue to the temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari, rising in three colonnaded terraces against the cliff face, with reliefs recording her trading expedition to Punt. End at the Colossi of Memnon, the two seated giants of Amenhotep III that once flanked the gateway of the largest mortuary temple in Egypt.
Return on board and begin sailing toward Edfu by way of the Esna Lock. Afternoon tea on the sun deck as the river goes by. Dinner and overnight moored at Edfu.
Optional Tour: Sunrise Hot Air Balloon Ride over Luxor
Breakfast on board, then a horse-drawn carriage through Edfu to the Temple of Horus, the best-preserved temple in Egypt. Buried for centuries under sand and houses, it kept its pylons, its roof and its inner sanctuary intact, and the walls carry the complete record of the annual festival of Horus.
Return by carriage and continue sailing to Kom Ombo, where you visit the twin temple of Sobek and Haroeris, mirrored left and right along a shared axis so that neither god held precedence. The Crocodile Museum next door displays mummified crocodiles recovered from the site.
Sail on to Aswan through the afternoon. Egyptian galabeya party on board this evening.
Begin at the granite quarries and the Unfinished Obelisk, abandoned where it lies when a crack opened through the stone. You can still see the pounding marks and the trenches, and the exact point at which the plan failed.
Continue to the Aswan High Dam, built through the 1960s, which ended the annual flood, generates hydroelectric power and created Lake Nasser behind it.
Then to the Temple of Isis at Philae on Agilkia Island, one of the last places in Egypt where the old religion survived, and relocated stone by stone by UNESCO in the 1970s when the rising water threatened it. You would not know unless you were told.
Return to the ship, or take the afternoon to explore the Aswan souk and the corniche. Final evening on board.
Optional Tour: Visit a traditional Nubian Village in Aswan
Breakfast on board, then check out and disembark. Egypt Best Vacations transfers you to Aswan Airport, Aswan railway station or your hotel in Aswan.
Your 4-night cruise aboard the MS Amwaj Livingstone ends here, after the temples and royal tombs of Luxor, the best-preserved sanctuary in Egypt at Edfu, the mirrored temple at Kom Ombo and the islands and quarries of Aswan.
Optional Tour: Abu Simbel Temples Excursion
Your Egypt Best Vacations representative meets you at Luxor International Airport or railway station and transfers you to the MS Amwaj Livingstone for embarkation and check-in.
Settle into your cabin and take the rest of the day at your own pace. The sun deck, pool and jacuzzi are open, and Luxor itself is a short walk from the mooring if you would rather start exploring.
Lunch and dinner on board, and your first evening on the river.
Breakfast on board, then across to the west bank for the Valley of the Kings, where your Egyptologist guide will recommend the best three tombs open on the day. Continue to the terraced mortuary temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari and end at the Colossi of Memnon.
Return on board and sail toward Edfu via the Esna Lock. Overnight moored at Edfu.
Optional Tour: Sunrise Hot Air Balloon Ride over Luxor
Horse-drawn carriage through Edfu to the Temple of Horus, the most complete temple in Egypt. Return on board and sail to Kom Ombo for the twin temple of Sobek and Haroeris and the Crocodile Museum.
Continue sailing to Aswan through the afternoon. Overnight in Aswan.
The Unfinished Obelisk in the granite quarries, the Aswan High Dam, and the Temple of Isis at Philae on Agilkia Island. Afternoon free for the souk and the corniche.
Optional Tour: Visit a traditional Nubian Village in Aswan
A full free day moored at Aswan, and the reason to take the 7-night itinerary rather than the 4.
Aswan is the most relaxed place on the river. You can spend the day entirely on board using the pool, the jacuzzi, the spa and the sun deck, or go ashore for the Nubian Museum, a felucca around Elephantine Island and the Botanical Garden on Kitchener’s Island.
For those wanting the full Upper Egypt experience, this is the day for the optional excursion to Abu Simbel. Ramses II’s colossal rock-cut temples were cut from the cliff face and moved uphill in the 1960s ahead of the rising lake, and they remain the most spectacular monuments in Egypt.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
A sailing day north, and the most restful of the cruise.
The ship stops briefly at Kom Ombo so that newly boarding guests can visit the temple. If you saw it on the way south, this is your time on the sun deck watching the bank go past: farmland, buffalo, brick kilns and the desert edge beyond.
Continue to Edfu through the afternoon. Overnight moored at Edfu.
Once the newly boarding guests have completed their visit to the Temple of Horus, the ship sails on to Luxor through the Esna Lock.
Arriving in Luxor you visit Karnak, the largest religious complex ever built, and Luxor Temple, connected to it by the avenue of sphinxes. Both were dedicated to the Theban triad of Amun, Mut and Khonsu.
Final evening on board.
Breakfast on board, then disembark. Egypt Best Vacations transfers you to Luxor International Airport, Luxor railway station or your hotel.
Eight days on the Nile is long enough to stop counting them. You have walked into tombs cut three thousand years ago, stood in the most complete temple in Egypt, watched the river work from a deck chair, and seen the point where the cultivation stops and the desert starts. It is a strange trip to leave.
When you are ready for the next one, we are here.
