How much does a Nile cruise cost in 2026/2027?

Each cell is the median of every ship’s cheapest published fare for that length and season, per person sharing a double, with the middle half of ships shown so you can see the spread. Low season is May to September, high season October to April, and the festive weeks are Christmas, New Year and Easter.

Tiers are price bands, not star ratings: a ship’s tier is its own median fare per person per night in a double cabin outside the festive weeks. Budget is under US$200 a night, Mid-range US$200 to US$300, 5-star deluxe US$300 to US$600, Luxury US$600 and over; dahabiyas and Lake Nasser ships are grouped separately. “Few ships” marks cells with fewer than four vessels. 7-night ship rows are derived from each vessel’s 3-night plus 4-night fares, so read them as “about”, not as quoted fares; only one luxury ship publishes a true 7-night fare (US$13,495). International lines (Viking, Uniworld, AmaWaterways) sell 11 to 12-day packages with Cairo included, from about US$5,500 to US$7,500, and are not in the table.

On every Egyptian-operated tier the fare covers your cabin, full board, guided temple visits with an Egyptologist, the entrance tickets and the transfers between ship and site. On every tier it excludes soft drinks, alcohol and tips. The international lines are the exception: Viking and Uniworld bundle drinks, tips, Cairo hotel nights and internal flights into one price.

Built from 20 published programmes, two to six per tier, so treat a “not stated” as unknown rather than excluded. Two quotes for the same ship can differ by the value of the tickets alone: a handful of budget sellers quote a low fare and bill the temple tickets separately, which adds US$60 to US$100 per person over four nights at 2026 prices. Before comparing two boats, ask each seller the same four questions: tickets, guide, transfers, Abu Simbel.

The same 4 winter nights cost US$768 on the cheapest mid-range ship and US$1,615 on the dearest, and up to US$5,860 on a luxury ship. Five things set the number: the ship, the season, the cabin, the length and who is selling it.

1. 1The ship. Guest count, cabin size, dining to order and the year of the last rebuild are what you pay for. Two ships with the same five stars and the same route can sit three tiers apart.
2. 2The season. Most ships publish two rates, May to September and October to April, about 15 to 25 per cent apart; September is priced as winter by some sellers and summer by others. Christmas, New Year and Easter get a third band: on a mid-range ship the festive 4-night median is US$1,230, on the top luxury ships over US$6,000.
3. 3The cabin. Upper decks and suites cost more on every ship; a single cabin costs 60 to 70 per cent more than the per-person double fare (see below). Triple cabins, where they exist, are priced a little below the double rate.
4. 4The length. Per night, longer is cheaper: a 7-night round trip on a mid-range ship works out about US$225 to US$265 a night against US$240 to US$280 for 3 nights, because the fixed costs (transfers, the first-day briefing) are spread across more days.
5. 5The seller. Most ships are sold by dozens of agencies at rack rates each agency sets, with different inclusions. That is why the same cabin appears at five prices online, and why we quote live and show the published range on each ship's page where sellers disagree.

About US$2,580 for two before international flights: US$2,000 for the cruise, US$160 in tips, US$60 in visas, about US$240 for Abu Simbel by road and US$120 or so at the bar. Add US$100 to US$300 per person for the domestic flights and the balloon if you want it.

Swap the fare line for any cell in the price table to rebuild the worksheet for a different tier or season. In summer the same trip is about US$2,288 for two; on a five-star deluxe ship in winter about US$4,286.

Sail in May, June or September on the same ship and pay 15 to 25 per cent less; avoid the festive bands unless the dates matter to you; book the ship, not the package, and add flights and Cairo yourself; compare like with like on inclusions; and ask for a live quote rather than trusting a rack rate, because most ships have room to move outside the peak weeks.

1. 1Pick the shoulder. October and April are priced as high season by most sellers but crowd less than December to February; May and September are priced as summer by many sellers with highs of 39 C rather than 41 C. See when to go for the month table.
2. 2Buy the boat, not the package. International packages price the whole holiday. If you are happy to book Cairo hotels and the EgyptAir flights yourself, an Egyptian five-star deluxe ship plus your own land days usually comes in far under a bundled 12-day trip of the same standard.
3. 3Compare inclusions before prices. Tickets, guide, transfers, Abu Simbel. A US$100 cheaper fare that bills the tickets separately is not cheaper.
4. 4Go for the cabin you will use. Upper-deck cabins cost more for the view; on a 4-night cruise most of your waking hours are on the sun deck or ashore. A lower-deck cabin on a better ship beats a suite on a worse one.
5. 5Ask for the live rate. Published rack rates are the ceiling. Outside Christmas, New Year and Easter, operators quote below them for dates with spare cabins, especially inside four to six weeks. Message us with your dates and we check.