Sanctuary Sun Boat III
Small river ship. Operated by A&K Sanctuary (Abercrombie & Kent).
Sailing, two sources checked 12 Sep 2026
Our view
This is the intimate boat in the A&K Egypt fleet and the harder of the two to price, because A&K will not print a number for it. The hull dates from 1993 and no refit year is published, which matters more on a river ship than it would on a dahabiya. Get the cabin count and the refit history in writing before you commit, because four A&K sources disagree on the first and none of them answers the second.
Who it suits
- Travellers who want a river ship but not a large one
- Guests who like 1920s period styling
- Anyone already booking A&K's wider Egypt programme
- Whole boat charter for a group of up to 32
Who it does not suit
- Anyone who wants a published rate, A&K answers please enquire for all four cabin categories on this boat
- Guests who cannot manage a spiral staircase, that is the main link between the decks
- Travellers who want to know what they are buying, A&K's own pages give 14, 16 and 18 cabins for this hull
- Anyone expecting a swimming pool, this is a plunge pool
- Families with children under 10
- Service style
- Small river ship run on a hotel model with the operator's own Egyptologists, sold mainly inside longer A&K journeys or as a whole boat charter.
- The cabin we would book
- One of the four suites. On a 32 guest boat they are the only category that buys meaningful floor space, and A&K does not dispute their number the way it does the cabin count.
- Nearest alternative: Sanctuary Sun Boat IV
- Same operator, same styling, same inclusions and the same guides. Sun Boat III takes 32 guests and publishes no rates. Sun Boat IV takes 76 and publishes a full rate table. See its record →
Identity · 3 of 4 on file
The vessel · 11 of 13 on file
How it operates · 6 of 9 on file
Price · 2 of 5 on file
Reputation · 3 of 3 on file
What we could not establish
Every empty cell above has a reason. These are the reasons for this vessel, written down at the time the record was made, including the places where published sources contradict each other.
Cabin count is the main unresolved point. A&K's current spec sheet and deck plan state 16 cabins and 32 guests. A&K's own cabin copy reads "The 14 luxury cabins". A&K's booking inventory carries category totals that sum to 18. CruiseMapper, Steppes Travel, Adventure Life and Africa Odyssey all state 18 cabins and 36 guests. A refit that removed two cabins would explain the discrepancy, but no source states that one took place.
The refit year is not published by the operator. CruiseMapper gives 2009. Several sellers say the vessel was fully renovated in 2005. Because the sources conflict and the operator publishes nothing, we left the refit year blank.
The crew count is not published by the operator. CruiseMapper gives 45. Tripadvisor gives 40. We left the figure blank because the sources conflict and no operator figure exists to resolve them.
The flag and registration are not published on any source we read.
No starting or top cabin rate is available. The vessel's rate panel on the A&K page reads "Please enquire for rates" for all four cabin categories. The only A&K prices we found that are tied to this vessel are whole-journey prices for the 13-day Ultimate Egypt small group journey. Those prices include flights, hotels and land arrangements and are not cabin rates.
Departure days follow no published weekly pattern. A&K publishes dated departures for the charter journey but does not state which days of the week sailings begin.
The operating season is not stated by A&K. Third-party sources disagree with each other. Africa Odyssey states the vessel is closed for maintenance in August. Steppes Travel states there are no departures in June. A&K's own published 2027 departures run from February to November.
Recorded 12 September 2026. If you can settle any of these, tell us and we will correct the record in public.
Press, awards and guest reviews
What other people published about this vessel. These are not our claims and they are not our view. Where an entry was the source for a fact above, the note says so.
Guest reviews
Something here wrong? Say so and we will correct it in public, with the old value left visible. See the corrections log.