Steam Ship Sudan
Steamship. Operated by Voyageurs du Monde / Original Travel (exclusive).
Sailing, two sources checked 12 Sep 2026
Our view
The Sudan is the one vessel in this collection you would book for the hull itself rather than for the route. The Agatha Christie story is the operator's claim, the two dates in circulation do not agree and no passenger record has surfaced, so buy the ship and not the anecdote. Everything about actually booking it is awkward, including the absence of a public calendar and of any cruise only rate.
Who it suits
- Travellers who came for the ship rather than the route
- Anyone who wants a vessel with a documented history
- Whole boat charter, this is one of the few here with a published charter figure
- Guests who want a short cruise of four or five nights
Who it does not suit
- Anyone who cannot manage stairs, the cabins open off the promenade decks and no source describes a lift or a step free cabin
- Families with children under six, they are not carried and the operator gives safety as the reason
- Travellers who want to book a dated departure online, nobody publishes a calendar for this ship
- Anyone who wants a cruise only price, every public number is a package that includes flights and hotels
- Guests who want a pool or a spa, no source describes either
- Service style
- Restored 1885 paddle steamer with a crew of 18, sold as a tailor made package through two exclusive tour operators, with guided visits included.
- The cabin we would book
- The Odilo Suite on the sun deck. It was added in January 2022 and is the newest room on a ship where everything else is a restoration.
- Nearest alternative: Steam Ship Misr
- The two surviving Nile steamers. The Sudan is older at 1885, smaller at 48 guests, and sold only through its two exclusive operators. The Misr carries a hotel brand, has a pool and sells through Accor. See its record →
Shown in the currency the operator published it in, on the basis the operator sells it on. We do not convert currencies and we do not divide a package total into a nightly rate, because both would produce a number nobody quoted. See how this compares on the rates page.
Identity · 3 of 4 on file
The vessel · 11 of 13 on file
How it operates · 6 of 9 on file
Price · 4 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.
The only bookable date we found comes from no live availability calendar. No source we read publishes one for this vessel. Booking runs through Original Travel and Voyageurs du Monde as a tailor-made package, so the only public numbers are package totals that include flights and hotels. The starting rate is derived from a third-party agent's approximate five-night package price, not from anything the operator published.
The cabin count has a clean explanation but a messy public record. The operator says 18 cabins and 6 suites, which is 24. Wikipedia, Vita Brevis and the Voyageurs du Monde French copy still say 23 including 5 suites, which was the count before the Odilo Suite was added in January 2022.
Five different years are in circulation for the restoration: 2000, 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2022. No operator page states one.
Every source describes working steam machinery and one reports a visitable engine room, but no source we read says whether a modern engine now does the work or assists.
We did not find the flag or registration, an overall length as a single agreed figure, whether there is a pool, whether there is a lift or any step-free cabin, a fixed weekly departure pattern, a charter minimum, or a published operating season.
The operating season is actively contradictory. The operator says only that low water stops the Luxor to Qena leg from late November to mid-February. Comptoir des Voyages calls November to April the best season. Authentic Hotels lists closures of 1 to 15 December and the whole of June. Those cannot all be current, so we have left the operating season blank.
Wikipedia lists LTI Hotels as the current operator, which contradicts the ship's own site. That appears stale but we have not been able to confirm it.
On the Agatha Christie claim, the operator's own homepage title calls the vessel Agatha Christie's Steamer while the page body makes no historical claim at all. The two dates given in third-party sources, 1931 and 1933, do not agree.
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.
Press
Awards
Guest reviews
Something here wrong? Say so and we will correct it in public, with the old value left visible. See the corrections log.