Good point!

If I were you, I wouldn't give up the st Regis 35k night, rather I'd give up IC, since CAI is so far away from city, I wouldn't want to do more than 1 trip from airport to city.

My trip is to fly to CAI connecting to Aswan/Abu Simbel, then cruise to Luxor. From there, I can fly or take train (I know it's not nice, but for 150EGP/pp, about $10usd, what can you expect?). Train is debatable actually, as the Cairo train station is just 2km from St Regis :)

As far as M club, I've tried many, or so many. None of that in US or U.K. is good, maybe Marriott woodland hill in LA is one of the best (before pandemic). The one in Madrid close to airport is so good (seriously, but it's before pandemic). The one in turkey Izmir Marriott is good, lounge is just a little small. Ankara JW is super good. Sydney harbor Marriott lounge is big, food quality is just not fine enough. Rome flora lounge has best view, food was also good, but it was many years ago. Vancouver Marriott has super good harbor view, food was just ok. Calgary lounge has 2 levels when we were there, food wasn't impressive. Oh, Sheraton in Lisbon serve elite food downstairs (club still closed), very fine cuisine!

Having said that, I still haven't tried as many as Marriott I wanted to :)