Originally Posted by
goofygoofygooberyeah
Sorry in advance for being "one of those" people who answer someone's question with an answer to a question that the person didn't actually ask...
But have you considered not taking a river cruise? I also had in mind that the only thing to do was to take a cruise, but after a gigantic amount of research we (gf and I) instead booked a private car that took us along the exact route as the cruises, but with our own private guide and at our own pace. And then we stayed in some of the very nice (and very cheap) resort hotels in Aswan and Luxor instead of worrying about the condition of the boat. And then we did a few hours of sailing in Aswan in a felucca to get our Nile sailing checkmark. All for quite a bit cheaper than the Nile cruises and for what I think was a perfect way to see upper Egypt.
Feel free to ignore this if you are really set on a cruise!
This is exactly what we did. ^ Private guide for Aswan, the road to Luxor with its various stops along the way, and 2 days in Luxor. We booked our own hotels. (The Hilton in Luxor is excellent, BTW. We had a very cheap hotel in Aswan - name escapes me.)
Wouldn't do it any other way... 4 days would be spent 1 in Aswan, 1 in transit (with perhaps a couple Luxor sites in the late afternoon), and 2 in Luxor. (And then you might want more time in Luxor!) You'd see far more than you'd ever see on a cruise.