petra tour excursion

[brentford]

We are in contact with a tour co.in Aqaba who will pick us up and return us to the ship, no money required until day of tour but our date of birth and passport nos are required to book the tour, is this normal practise.

[John Bull]

In various countries it's certainly normal practice for hotels (most hotels/motels in the US actually take copies of one of our passports). 

And I'm aware of tour operators etc in other countries that require it.

 

As long as the operator is well-established and well-reviewed I don't see a problem. 

Bear in mind that lots of folk have access to the information in your passport.

 

JB 

[SimplyMarvie]

9 hours ago, brentford said:

We are in contact with a tour co.in Aqaba who will pick us up and return us to the ship, no money required until day of tour but our date of birth and passport nos are required to book the tour, is this normal practise.

 

Yep, very normal in Jordan. I believe they're required to secure tickets for you to Petra.

[kira5]

Please post the tour operator if you are pleased with them.  We're planning a cruise next Spring to that destination.

[slidergirl]

Is your ship porting in Aqaba or Eliat?  If Eliat, you have to allow time for the border crossing.  

 It's a 2 hour drive from Aqaba to Wadi Musa.  To walk down to Treasury is about a mile.  Just walking down and up, there's an hour.  So, you've got 5 hours of transport via vehicle and foot round trip and you haven't walked further than The Treasury.  There is so much more to be seen, so plan carefully.  I doubt you'll have time to hike up to the Monestery.  You might have time to walk a little bit further down to see maybe maybe some of the ruins of various temples and churches.  Pick up a little souvenir from the son of the New Zealand woman who married a Beduin.  He has some nice silver pieces.  

[SRF]

When I went, I was told it was 1 km from the entrance to the start of the cut.  1 km from the start of the cut to the Treasury (which is only called that because of the Indiana Jones movie 😄 ).   Then more than 1 km to the actual city.

 

And it is pretty much all downhill going in.  But that means UP HILL coming out.

[Viv0828]

i would only do this excursion if my ship had a LONG port day! there is so much to see in petra.

[slidergirl]

22 minutes ago, Viv0828 said:

i would only do this excursion if my ship had a LONG port day! there is so much to see in petra.

I had 2 nights in Wadi Musa.  Spent about 8 hours inside Petra and I didn't see all I wanted to see.  The second day, I got to explore Wadi Rum.  Drive among the sand dunes, see some petroglyphs, found a Bedouin with his camel taking a break and talking on his cell phone (!), lunch in a Bedouin camp.  Wadi Rum is closer to Aqaba - if you want to play "Lawrence of Arabia", this is a good place to play.  

 

Petra is a hard excursion to do with just part of a day from a ship - it would be just a "checklist" trip.

[cruisemom42]

7 hours ago, SRF said:

When I went, I was told it was 1 km from the entrance to the start of the cut.  1 km from the start of the cut to the Treasury (which is only called that because of the Indiana Jones movie 😄 ).   

 

Not true - ancient history scholar here. It was named "The Treasury" (al Khazneh) by the local Bedouin tribes at least as far back as the 19th c. because they thought the urn (a prominent design element in the building's pediment) contained treasure hidden there in ages past. You can see bullet holes dating from the early 20th c. where tribesmen shot at it, trying to get at the loot it supposedly contained.

 

[MicCanberra]

Some wonderful information here. Thanks all.

[SRF]

2 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Not true - ancient history scholar here. It was named "The Treasury" (al Khazneh) by the local Bedouin tribes at least as far back as the 19th c. because they thought the urn (a prominent design element in the building's pediment) contained treasure hidden there in ages past. You can see bullet holes dating from the early 20th c. where tribesmen shot at it, trying to get at the loot it supposedly contained.

 

 

OK, thanks.

 

Although it was never really a treasury. 🙂

 

[annette54]

On 8/2/2019 at 1:34 PM, slidergirl said:

I had 2 nights in Wadi Musa.  Spent about 8 hours inside Petra and I didn't see all I wanted to see.  The second day, I got to explore Wadi Rum.  Drive among the sand dunes, see some petroglyphs, found a Bedouin with his camel taking a break and talking on his cell phone (!), lunch in a Bedouin camp.  Wadi Rum is closer to Aqaba - if you want to play "Lawrence of Arabia", this is a good place to play.  

 

Petra is a hard excursion to do with just part of a day from a ship - it would be just a "checklist" trip.

Hi, can you tell me what company you used for the Wadi Rum tour? Our ship gets into Aqaba in the early afternoon but has no shore excursions that afternoon. The ship is staying overnight. Thank you.

[slidergirl]

5 hours ago, annette54 said:

Hi, can you tell me what company you used for the Wadi Rum tour? Our ship gets into Aqaba in the early afternoon but has no shore excursions that afternoon. The ship is staying overnight. Thank you.

Sorry but I did this on a land trip, not a cruise.

[annette54]

1 hour ago, slidergirl said:

Sorry but I did this on a land trip, not a cruise.

Oh, ok. Thanks for replying.