Stormsaker

What agency did you use?

Hi,

1) we visited as part of last years world cruise our arrival was 7am and departed 11pm although we left earlier as everyone was onboard. We got picked up right on 7am we got off straight away before all the buses and returned at 4pm in this time we explored Petra had lunch at the movenpick resort (Same place as ships tour) drove to wadi rum visited an old Turkish train and camp site could easily have spent more time but we just wanted to head back - our driver offered to take us around Aqaba city for a tour but we declined.

2)Petra is a must do, walking out the siq and seeing the treasury was fantastic you will see the wadi rum from a distance on the drive but if you had time you could drive in on the way back and have a quick look it's only 15min drive of the main road and about 35 mins to the port - it doesn't seem like a busy road you will see a few trucks struggling up the hills (and a few break downs) and it was just under 2 hours with 2 shopping stops - we recommend skipping that and doing it on the way back

We did lots of research for our trip with a mixture of private and ships tours and Jordan was a tricky one as we couldn't get a lot of information and we had some concerns about the region but it was great very friendly people English widely spoken and very safe, our driver was fantastic. In fact our 80 year old grand parents did the wadi rum with the father of our driver and loved it ( they didn't feel they could manage Petra) and just drove around the wadi rum and did some local things we all had a great time

Our tour was not an agency it's a private driver (he works with hotels and cruise ship passengers) the car was a brand Hyundai sedan. I just found him online hence our worry if we would be ok - everyone was worried before we left and recommended against it but we are happy we took the chance and experienced something a little bit different.

That's why I posted our review, to let people know that it's a pretty safe country (as safe as anywhere ) and the locals really do look after tourists. I actually had one of the little kids in Petra who sell post cards warn me to close my backpack as it was open. We spoke about terrorism and local issues affecting Jordan very interesting. My partner just mentioned he felt more uncomftable on ship tours as you could pick us as tourists especially with the lanyards around the neck. Hope this helps :))

http://www.facebook.com/Jordan1.taxi

Hi,

We visited Aqaba for Jordan in June 2015 and did a private tour, we were a little worried before we left but had a great day and most important felt very safe.

We got picked up right at the ship (right at the gangway) and reached Petra before all the tour buses. It was an amazing walk in and it was shady and cool. Got some great photos of the treasury before the buses arrived did a lot of walking and it gets hot, my partner was sick with a pretty bad flu so we caught a horse and cart out (it gets pretty hot and you do a lot of walking in the site)

We too had been warned about the dangers of the horse and cart but it was perfectly fine they don't go fast and one stretch is a little slippery (even when walking in) and the man walked the horse through this part really slowly. It cost about $30 U.S. For a one way ride the horse makes $5 ( we asked them to buy him some carrots:) it was probably more dangerous for the people walking in at that point.

We did get judged by other cruise ship passengers as they walked in through the siq, but we heard later that a lot of people struggled to walk back out - it's not a hard walk but the heat and sheer amount of walking already done makes it a bit challenging (and illness in our case)

We had lunch at the hotel right at the entrance to Petra (same as the ships tour) then continued on our trip back to the ship via the wadi rum.

It was a fantastic day we used taxi to Petra (you can find them on face book) it cost about $250 Aus for 2 but we did Petra and wadi rum, so similar price to the ship but we did 2 highlights and most importantly beat the " crowd" in Petra. Our main concern was safety and getting back to the ship. Our driver was fantastic and the car was brand new so we had no problems. The road is pretty quiet so I wouldn't worry about delays back to the ship.

We also had the option to explore Aqaba but we just wanted to head back to the ship it was 38c and we were exhausted. If you have any more questions we are happy to help.