Egypt with Classic Holidays - a mix of very good and very bad - We spent 3 nights in Cairo, 7 on a Nile cruise and 4 in Hurghada. The good bits... Both the Kempinski Nile Garden Hotel in Cairo and Fort Arabesque in Hurghada were fantastic. The rooms were comfortable and spacious with big beds, and water/tea/coffee were replenished daily. The food in both hotels was good quality, varied, freshly prepared and well-presented. The hotel staff were friendly and polite throughout. The Kempinski's jazz bar and rooftop pool bar had gorgeous views over the Nile and city, and I'd recommend a visit to both. The snorkelling at Fort Arabesque is amazing. The corals and fish are so colourful and can be seen within a few metres of the shore - you don't actually need to snorkel as you can wade out and look down on the corals and fish. All of the cruise's included excursions were superb, being led by Ahmed who speaks excellent English, has outstanding knowledge and engaging delivery. The cruise staff were also very friendly and helpful. The bad bits... For the 'optional' excursions in Cairo we had a private car with our own excellent driver and guide (an unexpected bonus), but our guide spoke in very heavily accented English which was hard to understand. His knowledge was basic and he was unable to answer some simple questions - I don't think he understood what we were asking. He hurried us around the sights, not allowing enough time to read any information or just absorb the experiences. Our research before the holiday prepared us to expect (and refuse) hustlers demanding that we let them take our photos for tips at the main tourist spots. What surprised us was when our guide encouraged us to let a particular hustler take our pictures, saying that he was very good. We agreed, thinking he must be ok, but when we offered what we thought was a reasonable tip (£5) the 'photographer' demanded more. We only had a £10 note so we gave him that as well, and he still aggressively demanded even more while our guide just stood by. We felt he should have defended us from this harassment, not encouraged it. On the first day, between excursions, our guide took us to a carpet 'school', papyrus shop and perfumery, none of which were mentioned on the itinerary. Both of us hate shopping and it felt like we were wasting our holiday. In each case we were under heavy pressure to buy things we just didn't want and had not budgeted for, but we held out until the perfumery where we bought some very overpriced perfume out of awkwardness. After this I asked the guide not to take us to any more shops. Lunch that day was acceptable - it was of reasonable quality but we were surprised to have to pay extra for our tea and water. On the second day, despite my request for no more shopping, our guide took us to a jewellery shop, and again we were subjected to heavy pressure to buy some overpriced gold and touristy trinkets. We refused to enter the cotton shop, which was next on his itinerary. Following this we visited the Bazaar, where we expected to just wander and enjoy the sights, sounds and smells, but our guide steered us firmly inside a particular stall where we were heavily pressurised to buy more unwanted, massively overpriced tourist tat. We had to work hard to get out of there, spending the minimum amount possible. He then tried to get us into another jewellers but we refused. Lunch was on a boat on the Nile, which was ok, but again water and tea were extra. Our cruise ship, Semiramis III, was old-fashioned and tired-looking. The cabin was comfortable enough but the bathroom was shabby and smelled disgusting, with a stained bath and broken bath panel. Up on deck, the pool was a strange, dirty greenish-blue colour. Some of the guests were shocked on the first night when they were asked to pay £199 for the excursions that were included in the cruise price. (This was an admin error and was apparently sorted out by the next day but I don't know how quickly their money was refunded.) The food was poor throughout the cruise. The bread was always stale, the meat was often tough and the vegetables bland and overcooked. Cooked food was presented lukewarm, not hot, and, although I thoroughly support re-use of leftover food, I think some dishes reappeared more than once. Presumably the bad food hygiene was the reason several guests, including me, got food poisoning on the 5th day. I was violently sick for 24hrs, was too ill to attend the last day's excursions and felt ill for the rest of my holiday. This cruise was sold as a 5 star experience. I would have rated it as 3 stars but because of the food poisoning I'm giving it 2. Our pickup from Hurgada had not been booked. It was only sorted out 15 mins before the minibus arrived. Before the holiday it was hard to contact Classic Holidays with a query - emails were unanswered and the phone calls left to ring out.