LET'S get one important fact out of the way. Of all my two dozen fellow voyagers on the SS Sudan, plying the Nile between Aswan and Luxor, not a single one was murdered.

This was in sharp contrast to the experience of five passengers who undertook a trip on the very same boat more than 70 years ago, and were all shot dead. That's a death rate of one in four.

There was only one essential difference between the two voyages: the 1936 one was fictional. It is, though, well known to millions of readers of Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile.

Many more who have not read the book have seen at least one of the two films of it, with Peter Ustinov and David Suchet playing the ill-moustached Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. The steamship played itself, rather more convincingly.

A five-star Nile cruise

A new ship is lending some modern luxury to the ancient Egyptian waterway. Susan d’Arcy sails in style

The Nile in even more style

Cruising the Nile in style on a new cruiser - never mind the sub-machineguns, hibiscus juice, anyone?

Cairo's Egyptian Museum in a day

Daniel Jacobs, co-author of the Rough Guide to Egypt, reveals the rapid guide to Cairo's immense museum

• Egypt's other pyramids

Related Internet Links

• More ideas for holidays in Egypt

Related Links

• A five-star Nile cruise

The idea for the novel came to Christie when, during an Egyptian winter holiday, she went on the same journey that she made Poirot take a year later. That voyage is no longer available; the building of the Aswan Dam in the 1960s made it impossible. But I went on a Nile cruise even more remarkable, north from Aswan to Luxor, with three luxurious nights on board and some of the most fascinating, awe-inspiring, breathtaking and beautiful sights in the world along the way

The first surprise came within a few seconds of my boarding. I was greeted with a cool towel, a refreshing hibiscus drink and a few words of welcome - in French. I soon realised why. This quintessentially English cruise was, in fact, wholly French, from the company that owns the boat to the paying passengers.

The excellent crew and restaurant staff spoke good French and usually poor English. There was, I discovered later, one English couple on board who seemed entirely unfazed by the Francophone nature of the exercise. But more British travellers would, I'm sure, lead to a better level of communication in English.

The SS Sudan is the only steamship still operating on the river, and, moreover, doing so with the same technology that it had when it started life as a gift to King Fouad of Egypt in 1885. It glides as silently as it ever did when packed with the glittering society of the belle époque. Recently renovated, or rather, restored, to former glory, it has 23 wood-panelled cabins, five of them suites, furnished with taste in late 19th-century style, with the unobtrusive addition of the modern amenities, including air-conditioning.

The cruise divides into two memorable parts -- on and off the boat. On it, we were calm and lazy, sipping drinks and reading on the sundeck, having desultory conversations as the Sudan gently made her way up the wide river with its hardly changing riverbanks. We watched with pleasure the graceful progress of the feluccas, the Nile's single-sail riverboats, and with distaste the grotesquely large and brash floating hotels that dwarf our intimate vessel.

The cuisine on board is of high quality, honest rather than inspired. Breakfasts and lunches are buffet, dinner is served. There are touches of Egyptian influence, but for the most part the dishes are safely European. The French, after all, are not known for their gastronomic adventurousness. They were obviously satisfied. Everyone I spoke to praised the food highly. I can add my satisfaction in finding an unexpectedly good Egyptian red wine - Jardin du Nil. And I needn't have worried about my stomach. Don't, I was warned before I left, eat any salads - lettuces are washed in dodgy water; and don't put ice cubes in your drink. No need to worry, we were told in the manager's welcoming speech, since only mineral water is used to wash food or make ice.

It was, I suppose, too much to ask that the elegance of the boat be matched by the sartorial elegance of the guests. I was not expecting the women to grace dinner in long dresses and pearls, nor the men in dinner jackets, but I entertained a faint hope that a modest dress code be insisted on. True, nobody turned up in shorts, sandals or T-shirts, but no other demands were made, not even on the second evening, when the restaurant was illuminated by candles and a violinist played soft music. Heads turned when a young Parisienne descended in an elegant feast of red and white; alas, her entrance may have been like a denouement in one of Christie's plots, but she was the only one of us who had made the effort. A touch more formality would have been appropriate, several of us agreed the following morning as we idled on the upper deck; on the other hand it would mean packing even more into a suitcase, others argued, and diminish the feeling of relaxation.

Our soporific timeless existence turned into frenetic activity when the SS Sudan berthed, to allow us to visit one of the glorious ancient temples or tombs that line the river. Timing was a problem. Arrive at the wrong time of day and a group finds itself fighting for breathing space with the heaving tourist masses from dozens of countries. The SS Sudan was impressively adept at choosing the quieter times, even if it meant, on the last morning, breakfasting at five to get to the Valley of the Kings before six.

What wondrous joys were these excursions. Five of them were on the itinerary, every one of them spectacular, exciting, different from the others and opening up a field of knowledge of which I had hitherto been ignorant. We - the English couple and I - had the benefit of an excellent guide, learned, interesting, still enthusiastic and with very good English.

We started with the Temple of Isis on Philae; the following day it was the temple at Kom Ombo, dedicated to both the god Horus and the sacred crocodile Sobek, thence to the most completely preserved temple in all Egypt, at Edfu. We reached Luxor on the penultimate day. On the east bank is Karnak, the unimaginably huge temple complex, expanded by a succession of Pharaohs over more than 1,300 years; across the river is the Valley of the Kings, final resting places of the Pharaohs, the colours in some of the tombs still astonishingly vivid after thousands of years.

If the Agatha Christie connection had long been forgotten in the awe and excitement of meeting Ancient Egypt, it was briefly revived at Luxor's Old Winter Palace hotel, where I stayed the evening after leaving the cruise. Built in 1886, the year after the SS Sudan, the opulent colonial-style hotel, with its lush gardens, has been host to countless crowned heads and leaders of nations as well as the Queen of Crime. But its most famous moment came on November 26, 1922, when Howard Carter put a message on the hotel noticeboard announcing his discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun. The thought of that, as I stood on my balcony and marvelled at the golden setting of the sun, was a fitting coda to a precious voyage into the past.

Need to know

Audley Travel, (01993 838400, www.audleytravel.com) offers seven nights in Egypt from £1,900pp. The cost includes a three-night cruise on the steamship SS Sudan with all meals, two nights' B&B at the Hyatt hotel in Cairo and two nights B&B at the the Old Winter Palace hotel in Luxor, flights, transfers and guided sightseeing.

Single sail or five-star luxury?

Bask in 21st-century luxury aboard the swish Oberoi Zahra, with cooling mist sprays wafting over the sundeck, computerised telescope, spa and gourmet chefs. Cruise for a week as part of an 11-night holiday with Cox & Kings (020-7873 5000, www.coxandkings.co.uk ) that includes private excursions and three nights in a pyramid-view room at the Oberoi Mena House in Cairo. From £2,895pp.

See all the sites and sights on group tours guided by helpful and knowledgeable guides on a one-week package aboard 58-cabin Viking Premiere. There is a plunge pool on deck and in-cabin televisions showing local stations and DVDs. Book with Discover Egypt (0844 8800461, www.discover egypt.co.uk) from £549pp.

Get close to river life sailing for three days on a romantic felucca.

“Simple, limited facilities” - meaning no lavatories or showers - are more than made up for by early-morning swims in the Nile and sleeping on deck under the stars. Go with Explore (0844 4990901, www.explore.co.uk) as part of a nine-night trip, including overnight train from Cairo to Aswan. From £775pp.

Meet the locals by organising your own felucca trip from Aswan to Esna. The Lonely Planet Guide to Egypt (£15.99) has tips on finding a reliable captain in Aswan and making sure the boat is riverworthy. Aim to pay about £12pp, excluding food and tips (based on eight sharing).

Caroline Hendrie

Times recommends

• Oasis of the Seas: the Times review
• The 20 best new year party places to stay
• Green Spaces 2009: are you the winning writer?