www.minamar.com
We used Minamar Travel in Jan 2011 for 11 nights private tour in Eygpt. 4 star hotels in Cairo and Luxor. 5 nights on a dahabia from Luxor to Aswan. Minamar did everything they claimed they would. Organisation was good. Guides and drivers were excellent.
Traffic in Egypt is wild so it pays to have a good driver.
In Cairo we used the Hotel Barcelo Pyramids. Very comfortable and clean. Reasonably sound proof but if you are a light sleeper you will still hear some traffic noise and the prayer calls. In Luxor it was the Iberotel. Again it was very comfortable and clean. Great views if you get a room on the river side and a very attractive pool setting at the river's edge.
Minamar's own dahabia is very relaxing and a great old looking boat (it is actually quite new).
The 6 in our group were the only guests on this trip so we were very well attended to by the 12 crew. The food was excellent. Usually Egyptian style for lunch and a bit more western for dinner. The rooms were functional and beds reasonable but the bathrooms were poorly built. Hot water occasionally failed and when showering the water would be everywhere in the bathroom. Toilet paper has to be put in a bin not in the toilet. You get used to it (almost) but I have suggested they rework the whole wet area of each room and they say they have plans for just that.
We had one guide for Cairo and another while on the dahabia and they were very knowledgable friendly and flexible with the day's acttivities.
Minamar staff were there for all transfers, airport to hotel plus to and from the overnight train we used from Cairo to Luxor and back.
The only problem encounted in the whole trip was a communication problem on boarding the train. We had no cabins allocated. I think the tips didn't get to all involved but after giving the train chief the phone number of my Minamar rep it was sorted (at about 23:00). The train from Cairo to Luxor was very dirty. Beds were clean but everything else was very bad. Don't bother with the meal supplied. It is not good. Just take some food with you. The same train from Aswan to Cairo was much better. Food still not much good but the carriage was much cleaner.
Over all we very impressed with Minamar and their staff. The trip was excellent value for money and I would recommend Minamar to arrange your holiday. Of course you might want to wait until the political unrest has been sorted. We left the day before the protests started.
Egypt is a fascinating place.

On a recent trip to Egypt we decided to put the itinerary together ourselves and then booked some things direct (flights, hotels etc) and chose Minamar to book our Dahabiya, a car to pick us up from Cairo Airport, arrange guides in Luxor and Aswan and to be a source of information for us. We were in contact with Raed Sedki of MInamar who patiently put up with a large number questions and when we had made up our minds handled the bookings. This all happened without a hitch and when we arrived in Egypt everything worked as planned. We requested, and Minamar arranged, Amr to be our guide both in Luxor and Aswan and also on the Dahabiya. Amr was an excellent guide and a good companion who taught us how to play 31 (a variant of Backgammon) and I would recommend him to other travellers.

Whilst in Egypt Raed Sedki was always available on the phone if necessary (I recommend a Egyptian Sim card to keep the cost of calls down).

I have read some negative comments about Minamar and can only say that they do not in any way reflect my experience.

We just returned from a fantastic dahabiya cruise from Luxor to Aswan, arranged by Minamar Hotels & Travel in Cairo. We booked the trip online from Canada, so were unsure what to expect, but the trip far surpassed our expectations. The boat was very nice and comfortable. We stayed in a suite at the back of the boat which was a very good size and had a private balcony. All the crew were so friendly & helpful, and the chef made us such tasty meals. Our guide, Amr, was excellent - very knowledgeable and personable - by the end of our journey he felt just like family. This was truly the highlight of our trip to egypt!

We booked a three day camping trip in the white desert through Minamar hotel.. We were picked up in Cairo and taken to Bahariyah in a private van as promised. We were actually taken to the Beshmo Lodge and told that the Minamar hotel was closed. Beshmo didnt look like the best place, but we didnt care as we were not staying there.. Our guide, Wally was very nice, although his english is not good at all. The camel riding was ok as was the camping, although the "american tents" they promise do not seem to exist.. we had no tents at all, just some dirty sleeping bags on mats. We didnt mind that we didnt have tents though as it was pleasant sleeping under the stars.. The food was very questionable, as was the cleanliness of the cook.. I dont think we saw everything that we were told by our guide that we would see.. most of the time our guide went on ahead in a car and we were left with the camel handlers who spoke no english at all.... Now for the worst part.....

We were abandoned by Minamar on our last day.. Our guide dropped us off back at the Beshmo Lodge and told us that our ride back to Cairo would be along in an hour.. After several hours a small van came and we were told that it was our ride.. The van was not from Minamar.. We were told that several tour companies had gone together for this van,,, We were crammed into the small van with two other groups of people.. the driver spoke no english. We were assured that when we reached Cairo, three cars would be waiting to take the three groups where they needed to go, and that the driver would know where we were going... The driver of the small van made several stops, leaving us waiting.. once he stopped at a mosque, then at what looked like someone's home for a bit... when we finally arrived at the outskirts of Cairo, we pulled over on the side of the higway and the three groups were herded into one van that was waiting.. This driver also spoke no english and had no clue where we were all headed.. I tried to tell him the name of the street our apartment was on in Giza, but he did not know it, or did not understand me.. I was finally able to tell him the name of a major street in the area.. He went to it and we told him to stop when we saw something that looked familiar.. we still couldnt find our way back and started making phone calls until someone we knew came out to find us...

The desert is beautiful and we do not regret going at all... we just wish we had used a different tour company.

Bottom line... If you book with Minamar, you will regret it!