MS Le Fayan
<h1>A 5 Star Nile Cruise, and What the Rating Actually Covers</h1><p>A <strong>5 star nile cruise</strong> in Egypt is not the same promise as a five star hotel in Cairo. River vessels are rated on a separate national scale, and that scale weighs cabin size and public facilities far more heavily than service, food or the condition of the ship. Two boats with the same five stars on the brochure can be twenty years apart in age. So the rating is a starting point, not an answer.</p><p>What follows is what the rating does and does not tell you, and where MS Le Fayan, the vessel we use on most of our Nile itineraries, sits against it.</p><h2>What the rating does cover</h2><p>The classification requires a minimum cabin size, private bathrooms throughout, a restaurant seating all guests in one sitting, a sundeck, a pool and a lounge. Every genuine five star boat on the river has all of these. That is exactly why the rating does not separate them.</p><h2>What it does not cover</h2><p>The rating says nothing about the year of the last refit, the ratio of crew to guests, whether the windows open, or whether the boat moors alongside four others at Edfu so that your balcony looks into someone elses cabin. Those are the questions worth asking, and they are answerable before you book.</p><h2>Where MS Le Fayan sits</h2><p>Le Fayan is among the newer vessels on the river. Every category, from the Deluxe Room up, has floor to ceiling windows rather than portholes, which changes the sailing days more than any other single feature. Above the Deluxe are the Junior Suite, the Family Suite, which has a private balcony and a sofa arrangement for children, and the Presidential Suite, which has a separate bedroom, a dining area and a jacuzzi.</p><p>The public spaces are a sundeck with a pool, a lounge bar, a restaurant, a spa with two treatment beds, a sauna and a shower, and a gym. For a river vessel that is a full complement, and the spa in particular is not standard.</p><h2>The 5 star nile cruise routes between Luxor and Aswan</h2><p>Le Fayan runs a fixed weekly pattern. Departures leave Aswan every Monday for three or seven nights, and leave Luxor every Thursday for four or seven nights. This matters when you are building a wider Egypt itinerary, because the cruise dates are fixed points and Cairo flexes around them, not the other way round.</p><p>The three night Aswan departure covers Kom Ombo, Edfu and arrival into Luxor. The four night Luxor departure covers the West Bank, Esna, Edfu and Kom Ombo before Aswan. The seven night sailings do the full round trip and are the only version that gives you a second day in each city rather than a single morning.</p><h2>Who this suits, and who it does not</h2><p>It suits travellers who want the temples without a new hotel every two nights, and who are content to be on a schedule set by the river. It suits families, because the Family Suite genuinely accommodates children rather than adding a folding bed.</p><p>It suits you less if you want to decide each morning what to do. A cruise ship sails when it sails. If that is the thing you cannot live with, a dahabiya carrying a dozen guests under sail, or a land based itinerary with a hotel in Luxor, will suit you better.</p>
Frequently Asked Questions
The rating on the brochure tells you almost nothing. The deck plan tells you everything.
— iLuxury Egypt Team