Arriving on a Tuesday at 1645, departing next day at 1605.

Free hotel from MS. And I assume free transit visa.

That said, 2 pax- how to maximize the stay. MS TA offered this;

"Have a good day from Karnak Egypt Air Tourism Sector

As long as you are two persons the cost will be as follows:

1) For the dinner cruise on the first day of arrival the cost will be 70$ only seventy American dollars per person including transportation and dinner on a 5 star ship moving on the River Nile for two hours starting at 8:00 pm finishes at 10:00 pm, with folklore dancing and a belly dance show.
Drinks are not included.

2) For the Sound and Light Show at the Pyramids area, it will cost you 50$ only fifty American dollars per person, including transportation and tickets to the show which starts at 07:00 pm finishes at 07:50 pm.

3) On the second day i recommend for you either the Pyramids and the Sphinx OR the Citadel. It will be costing you 45$ only forty five American dollars per person (for each sightseeing) including transportation, English guide and tickets to the area. The tour takes around 3 hours. Otherwise, I offer for you both the Pyramids and the Egyptian Museum costing you 70$ only seventy American dollars each person. That cost includes transportation, English guide and tickets to both areas. The excursion takes approxmately 5 hours. "

Any suggestions and improvements welcome^

Searched this forum for "Cairo", and none of the last years thread titles covered this aspect specifically.

With current riots in cairo, i would personally stay at the airport. But if you plan any excursions, do the nile dinner and the pyramids - or in other words, avoid the citadel for safety reasons

Actually the closest you will get to the protests is on the nile cruise. The citadel will be safe as it is in old cairo and on the outskirts. Outside of downtown and Tahrir the city is mostly running as normal even in Zamalek and Dokki.

I doubt the Egyptian museum is open right now so you will have to see the citadel.

Also, I would avoid the sound and light show personally, but if cheesey educational light shows are your thing go for it.

oops!

Both the evening options are kitsch with bells on. And pricey at that. But approached with the right attitude either could be fun. The fly in the ointment could be trouble/unrest in the central part of the city.

If the unrest has subsided you could have a far more interesting low-key evening strolling the Corniche and walking across the bridge to Zamalek. Otherwise a trip to Citystars mall (close to the airport) is an odd contrast to the pyramids, but it has restaurants, bars and cafes and gives you the chance to see another slice of Cairo life. If you can persuade MS to give you one of the Citystar hotels, you've got it on your doorstep.

As for the pyramids v citadel, i'd opt for the latter as it's less of a traffic hassle getting there from your (presumably) airport located hotel. But either are places you can visit yourselves by taxi - although getting a guide is a good way to insulate yourself from the inevitable hawkers and wannabe guides.