Two ships, one company, almost the same name, and the same stretch of river. Guests ask us the difference, and it is simpler than the names suggest: Le Fayan is a five-star ship with cabins and a few suites, and Le Fayan Suites is a ship where every room is a suite. The route does not change. The room does.
- Le Fayan has forty rooms: thirty-seven standard cabins of 22 m² and three suites, the largest of them 63 m².
- Le Fayan Suites has thirty-seven rooms and every single one is a suite, thirty-six luxury suites and one Royal Suite.
- The two ships hold a similar number of guests and sail the same itinerary. You are choosing what is behind your door, not a different trip.
What is the same on both
Both are five-star ships running the classic route between Luxor and Aswan: three nights going north with the current, four nights going south against it, or the full week without changing ship. Both stop at the same temples, because every ship on this river stops at the same temples. Both are full board. Both have a sundeck with a pool, a spa, a gym, a restaurant and a bar.
And on both, the part that actually decides whether you enjoy the week is the same: a licensed Egyptologist travels with you and every transfer and entrance fee is arranged before you arrive. If you are still deciding which way round to sail, the two directions are covered here.
Le Fayan: cabins, with suites if you want one
Le Fayan is the more conventional of the two, and that is not a criticism. Thirty-seven of its rooms are standard cabins of 22 m², each with a panoramic window onto the Nile. Above them sit three suites: a junior suite of 26 m² on the third floor, a family suite of 32 m² and a Royal Suite of 63 m² on the fourth.
The public rooms are generous. The main restaurant on the main deck seats 130 in 270 m², the lounge bar on the first floor seats 126, and there is a second bar up on the sundeck beside the pool with seventy-two chairs and forty-eight couches around it. Cabins come with individual air conditioning, a mini bar, a tea and coffee station, a safe, a television and a telephone, and housekeeping comes through daily.
It suits people who want a proper five-star ship and do not need the room to be the highlight of the trip. For families it has the clearer answer: a 32 m² family suite, and an extra bed or a baby cot can be added to a cabin on request.
Le Fayan Suites: every room is a suite
Le Fayan Suites has no standard cabins at all. There are thirty-six luxury suites and one Royal Suite, and nothing below them. Each has a sitting area, a large window onto the river and a bathroom with a bathtub. The Royal Suite adds its own balcony. Suites come with air conditioning, a television, Wi-Fi, bathrobes and slippers.
The interior is quieter in style, wood and stone and glass, with a spiral staircase running up through the atrium. On the sundeck there is a pool and a jacuzzi with sunbeds and a deck bar around them, and below there is a wellness centre with massage rooms and a gym. The restaurant runs Egyptian and international menus, and the lounge bar looks straight out at the river.
It suits people for whom the room matters: honeymoons, anniversaries, anyone who intends to spend the middle of the afternoon in their own space rather than on deck.
The thing most people get wrong
Both ships hold a similar number of rooms, forty against thirty-seven, so Le Fayan Suites is not the quieter, emptier ship. The number of people at dinner is much the same. What changes is the floor area you personally get, and the standard of the room you get it in. If you want few people on board, that is a dahabiya, not either of these.
What we usually suggest
If this is your first Nile cruise and you are going to be off the ship most of the day anyway, take Le Fayan. The cabins are comfortable, the ship is large, and you will remember the temples more than the room.
If the trip is an occasion, or you have cruised before and remember the cabin feeling small, take Le Fayan Suites. A suite for four nights changes the trip more than most people expect.
If you want a third opinion, the rest of the luxury ships are worth a look, and you can send us your dates and we will tell you which of them is worth the difference in your week. The full range, from the cheapest standard ship to the top of luxury, is in how much a Nile cruise costs, and we have done the same side by side comparison for the six Mövenpick ships.
