Great week in Egypt --- top notch experience

Egypt | Apr 12 - Apr 19, 2022

We had a spectacular 7-day trip in Egypt in April 2022. If I could give Dunes 6 stars, I would. This trip was postponed two years because of Covid. Sherif was understanding and patient in extending the trip and regularly checking with us to see if we were ready to schedule. Excellent and prompt communication before the trip, so we had all the information we needed.
Now to the trip itself. We were met at Cairo airport by Dunes rep Mr Ahmed. He met us really close to where we got off the plane and whisked us through getting a visa and getting out of the airport (basically, VIP service!). Then by a/c van to the Nile Kempinski hotel in the Cairo garden district. Mr Ahmed stayed with us until our rooms were assigned and we knew what to expect the next morning. This was a pattern everywhere. Dunes staff (and Sherif via WhatsApp) constantly checked on us and made sure we were completely taken care of. Everywhere we went, we had a comfortable a/c van. Pretty much everything was pre-paid and taken care of --- especially important for tickets at the various sites.
We had two expert guides --- Ms Nesrine in Cairo and Mr Alaa on our nile cruise. Both were excellent -- friendly, very well informed, with decades of experience, and who explained the history and significance of the things we saw. We were traveling as a family with our two adult children, and both of them were great at relating to everyone across generations.
I left the trip planning entirely to Sherif and he picked a great itinerary for us. First two days in Cairo for us to see the pyramids and sphinx and the Egyptian museum. Then flight to Aswan to get on a Nile cruise to Luxor. By choosing to start in Aswan and end in Luxor, we staged it perfectly so that we ended with the amazing Karnak and Luxor temples.
Sherif had advised us to upgrade to the Sonesta St George ship and I'm glad we did --- the ship was comfortable, the staff were incredibly friendly and the food was terrific. We are vegetarians, so the chefs went out of their way to get us some special options during the sit down dinners. The buffet had a ton of vegetarian options anyway, but I think Sherif had told them in advance, and so we got special treatment.
Finally, Dunes sent a travel coordinator to take us from the cruise ship to Luxor airport and onto our plane, then at the Cairo airport, we were met again by Mr Ahmed and escorted to the airport hotel as we had to stay overnight to catch our flight out of Egypt. Sherif also organized someone to come to our hotel to give us a covid test for our travel, and updated me regularly until we had the results.
Overall, this was top-notch service. Dunes took care of our every need. More importantly, they anticipated every potential need and took care of it for us. I rarely write reviews but this time I am because I am super-impressed by this excellent team of travel professionals who made our Egypt trip special.