We are here in Cairo as guests of Viking Cruises. Tuesday evening at 7 pm our Viking guides announced the cancellation of the planned Nile River cruise to begin the following day, March 4.

The Viking staff told us that it was not Viking or Egypt that cancelled, but that they were following the US State Department recommendations.

Viking initially gave us all one extra night paid at the hotel. If your flights were scheduled by Viking, they would find you a flight home. If, like us, you had booked your own flight, then you had to arrange for your own travel out of Egypt.

Needless to say, it was a scramble at that point. We spent several hours attempting to reschedule our British Airways original flight which had us departing Cairo on March 12th. We eventually were able to find seats on a Cairo to London BA flight this upcoming Saturday, March 7.

We had to pay a change fee, as well as for two more nights at our Cairo hotel. We also completed the UK ETA for entry into the UK Saturday evening and made a hotel reservation in London.

There was quite a bit of confusion and frustration due to the official US State Department Egypt travel advisories.

The Level 2 advisory for Egypt has not changed since July 2025. Neither my sister or I follow X, or Facebook, where the Trump administration likes to post their “official” government announcements.

We have found the people of Egypt to be very friendly. No one here is panicking. Tourists from some other nations are not evacuating. We booked a day trip to Alexandria for Friday and had accepted our situation and expected to depart on Saturday, disappointed but resigned.

We made to most of our day yesterday, our logistics day, and enjoyed the hotel spa and pool.

Then we got a call from Viking asking us to attend an “urgent meeting” at 8 pm last night. At the meeting we were told Viking has chartered a flight to remove all guests. We will be flown to Frankfurt, Germany and will be “taken care of” by Viking staff and put up in a hotel in Frankfurt at no expense to us until they can find us a flight home. This applied to everyone, regardless of how your original flights were booked.

So Viking Cruises has stepped up to the level of their reputation. My sister specifically booked Viking for that purpose. Initially we had felt abandoned by Viking, but no, in the end they came through.

So we leave Cairo today on a chartered flight to Frankfurt.

We have never felt unsafe here. The people have been friendly and welcomed us warmly everywhere we went. Even in the crowded and high pressure sales marketplace, it was all with a smile. One shop owner asked me what I was looking for. I said “Nothing.” He laughed and responded with “We have nothing!”