What is it like taking a free cruise in Egypt? We’ll after almost a week at sea I can confirm pretty bloody good, but how does one go about getting a free cruise and what does it entail?
In the interests of my river cruise I was obviously representing Young Pioneer Tours with the thought of expanding operations here. This was through what is known as a FAM trip.
What is a FAM trip?
FAM is a term used within the travel industry to denote a free, or partially free trip. In this regards dam stands for “free as marketing”.
The idea being that you get a free trip, you see what it is like and ideally use the experience and talks with the local operators to begin tours to that destination.
This was how I ended up in Egypt.
Are FAM trips free?
Any FAM trip, or “free cruise” is near going to be completely free, for example you will need to pay your own transport to the country at the bare minimum. Then there are other costs such as hotels before your trip starts, as well as visas and the like. Such things are almost never included, even with a free cruise.
You are also expected to pay for extra tour things, as well as tip. And while you should always tip, on a free cruise you are expo ted again quite rightly to tip well.
Om top[ of this there might be other expenses, or it might simply be just a reduced cost tour. There is no definitive policy.
When is the best time for a free cruise?
Of course no cruises work the same, but generally speaking you do a FAM trip or free cruise is essentially when no one else actually wants to go there. This is pretty much the end of the season, whatever that season for where you are going.
In Egypt this meant coming to the country at the start of June. And you know what the Middle-East is hot in summer. Again though understandable, because why would you give away or discount when you can easily just sell the trip.
Interestingly and on a side note, before we started Libya Tours I was offered a “free trip” just after Gaddafi was gone. Well then some people got murdered and the trip was canceled. Our plan was to be part of a larger Italian group.
Was a summer Nile cruise worth it?
I will do a much longer piece on how the actual journey was and indeed what it is like to cruise the Nile later. Overall though it was both a great research trip, as well as a stunning glimpse into a very interesting country.
Our ship the Royal Beau Rivage was great, as were the other ships we looked at. The sites we stopped at were also much more interesting than I had expected.
Was it a little hot? Yes, nut as always no pain no gain. And as for Egypt cruises? They are very much now in our plans.
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