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Uniworld River Tosca

Small river ship. Operated by Uniworld (operated by Egypt-based partner).

Sailing, two sources  checked 12 Sep 2026

Our view

hotel-standard luxury

River Tosca sells exactly the same trip as the Sphinx on a hull twelve years older with no refit year published anywhere. The inclusions are the most complete of any river ship here, gratuities and internal flights included, and the programme is genuinely demanding rather than restful. Compare the two ships on your specific dates rather than assuming the older boat is the cheaper one, because the published prices do not run in that order.

Who it suits

  • First visit to Egypt
  • Travellers who want gratuities and internal flights inside one price
  • Families with children from five upwards
  • Anyone who wants every cabin to be a suite

Who it does not suit

  • Anyone with limited mobility, Uniworld publishes no step free, lift or wheelchair information for this ship and supplies the deck plan only as an image
  • Travellers who dislike early starts, Uniworld calls the programme active and warns of wake up calls at 5am or earlier
  • Anyone who wants a cruise only price, the published figure is a per person total covering seven ship nights and four Cairo hotel nights
  • Guests who assume the older hull is the cheaper one, on some dates River Tosca opens well above the Sphinx
  • Anyone who took the Uniworld name at face value, Uniworld prints a caveat on this ship's page that its amenities may differ from a company owned ship
Service style
Hotel service model inside a twelve day package, with eight days of Egyptologist guiding, Cairo hotel nights, internal flights and all gratuities included.
The cabin we would book
Any suite above the entry Grand Suite, chosen by date rather than by category. Every room here is a suite and the price gap between categories moves more between departures than between cabins.
Nearest alternative: Uniworld S.S. Sphinx
The same programme and the same inclusions sold on two hulls. River Tosca dates from 2009 with no published refit. Sphinx is the 2021 newbuild. Which is cheaper changes from date to date. See its record →
Everything in this box is opinion, not a sourced fact, and we say what it rests on: desk research only, by Christoph Paterok, 12 September 2026. Nobody here has sailed this vessel. Read it as a careful reading of the published record, which is what it is.

Identity · 3 of 4 on file

Official URL
https://www.uniworld.com/us/ships/river-tosca
Checked 12 Sep 2026. source, archived copy Operator states this, and a second source agrees.
Name variants
MS River Tosca
Checked 12 Sep 2026. source Operator states this, and a second source agrees.
Flag / registration
not checked
Operating status
sailing
Checked 12 Sep 2026. source, second source One source we consider reliable.

The vessel · 12 of 13 on file

Launch year
2009
Checked 12 Sep 2026. source, archived copy Operator states this, and a second source agrees.
Last refit year
not checked
Cabins
41
Checked 12 Sep 2026. source, archived copy, second source One source we consider reliable.
Suites
41
Checked 12 Sep 2026. source, archived copy One source we consider reliable.
Max guests
82
Checked 12 Sep 2026. source, archived copy Operator states this, and a second source agrees.
Crew
60
Checked 12 Sep 2026. source, archived copy Operator states this, and a second source agrees.
Length (m)
72
Checked 12 Sep 2026. source One source we consider reliable.
Propulsion
engine
Checked 12 Sep 2026. source One source, or sources that disagree. Treat as provisional.
Decks
5
Checked 12 Sep 2026. source One source, or sources that disagree. Treat as provisional.
Pool
pool
Checked 12 Sep 2026. source, archived copy One source we consider reliable.
Air conditioning
Yes
Checked 12 Sep 2026. source, archived copy Operator states this, and a second source agrees.
Wi-Fi
Yes
Checked 12 Sep 2026. source One source we consider reliable.
Accessibility notes
Uniworld describes the Splendors of Egypt and the Nile programme as an active one, with plenty of walking and early starts on most days. Flights between Cairo and Luxor may require wake-up calls at 5:00am or earlier. Uniworld publishes no step-free, lift or wheelchair information for River Tosca, and the ship's deck plan is supplied only as an image.
Checked 12 Sep 2026. source One source we consider reliable.

How it operates · 7 of 9 on file

Routes
Luxor to Luxor
Checked 12 Sep 2026. source Operator states this, and a second source agrees.
Nights offered
7
Checked 12 Sep 2026. source Operator states this, and a second source agrees.
Embarkation ports
Luxor
Checked 12 Sep 2026. source One source we consider reliable.
Departure days
not checked
Season months
January, February, March, April, May, September, October, November, December
Checked 12 Sep 2026. source One source we consider reliable.
Whole-boat charter
Yes
Checked 12 Sep 2026. source, archived copy One source, or sources that disagree. Treat as provisional.
Charter minimum cabins
not checked
Booking channels
direct, advisor
Checked 12 Sep 2026. source One source we consider reliable.
Minimum age
Uniworld requires guests on its Egypt programmes to be 5 years of age or older. Guests under 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian and booked in a cabin with someone aged 21 or older.
Checked 12 Sep 2026. source, archived copy Operator states this, and a second source agrees.

Price · 2 of 5 on file

Rate from
not checked
Rate to
not checked
Whole-boat charter rate
not checked
Inclusions
7 night cruise in a riverview stateroom on River Tosca or S.S. Sphinx, 4 nights in Cairo at the Four Seasons Hotel Cairo at Nile Plaza or the Nile Ritz-Carlton or similar, 11 breakfasts, 7 lunches and 8 dinners across the 12 day programme, House wine, local beer, soft drinks, tea and coffee at lunch and dinner onboard, Welcome and farewell receptions, 8 days of excursions hosted by English speaking Egyptologists, Flights between Cairo and Luxor, Free Wi-Fi, Gratuities for onboard and onshore personnel, including on pre and post cruise extensions
Checked 12 Sep 2026. source Operator states this, and a second source agrees.
Exclusions
Masterpiece Collection optional excursions, priced from 45 US dollars per person, Optional Jordan pre-cruise extension, Optional Red Sea post-cruise extension, Arrival and departure transfers, which are arranged separately
Checked 12 Sep 2026. source One source we consider reliable.

Reputation · 0 of 3 on file

Notable history
not checked
Awards
not checked
Guest review sources
not checked

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.

No starting rate, top rate, or charter rate is recorded. Uniworld publishes only package totals for this programme. The lowest 2026 figure is 6,999 US dollars per person on double occupancy for a Grand Suite on the 12 December 2026 River Tosca departure, and the highest is 12,349 per person for a Royal Suite on the same date. Those totals cover 11 nights, of which 4 are Cairo hotel nights, plus Cairo to Luxor flights and all excursions. The cruise night count inside the total is unambiguous at 7, but the total is not a cruise-only figure, so dividing it would produce a false per-night rate. None of a per-person-per-night, per-cabin or whole-boat rate describes it. These fields are left empty deliberately.

The departure days field is empty. Every published River Tosca date in 2026 and 2027 falls on a Saturday, and Uniworld tags each one Sat. Uniworld never states a weekly pattern in words, so this remains a dated calendar rather than a published pattern.

The refit year is empty. Uniworld's Quick Facts carry a field labelled Remodeled with the value 0001, which is a null placeholder rather than a year. CruiseMapper lists no refurbishment. The hull dates from 2009, so a refit may well have happened, but no year is published anywhere we checked.

The flag and registration are empty. No source we checked states a flag. CruiseMapper gives the builder as Maasara Shipyard in Cairo, the homeport as Cairo and the operator as Uniworld River Cruises Egypt, which points to Egyptian registration but does not establish it.

Uniworld prints a caveat on the River Tosca ship page: while the River Tosca is a beautiful and luxurious ship, its amenities may differ from those of a Uniworld company owned ship. The same caveat did not appear on the S.S. Sphinx pages a sister researcher checked. Every onboard amenity field for this vessel should be read with that caveat in mind.

On the operator. The River Tosca ship page footer reads copyright 2026 Uniworld Boutique River Cruises, the same entity the Sphinx sits under in our operators list. CruiseMapper gives the owner as The Travel Corporation and the operator as Uniworld River Cruises Egypt for River Tosca. Both ships are sold on the same itinerary page, share one day-by-day schedule and one inclusions list. They are the same company. The operator recorded here was not changed.

River Tosca is the cheaper of the two Uniworld Nile ships on most matched dates, but not consistently. On 12 December 2026 the entry Grand Suite is 6,999 against 7,199 for the Sphinx entry category. On 7 November 2026 River Tosca opens at 10,899 against 7,999 for the Sphinx. Pricing between the two ships is not consistently ordered.

Recorded 12 September 2026. If you can settle any of these, tell us and we will correct the record in public.

Something here wrong? Say so and we will correct it in public, with the old value left visible. See the corrections log.