Post Cruise Questionnaire

[Azamarajunkie]

We have just arrived home from our 18 day Athens to Dubai Cruise on the Quest, which was excellent in all respects and have just completed our post cruise questionnaire confirming this. All went well completing the information requested until we reached the continuation part of the form requesting feedback on our ports of call, apparently after negotiating the Suez Canal we stopped at Yangon, Hambantota, Columbo and Cochin on the way to Dubai. No mention of Ashdod, Aqaba, Safaga, then it resumed with Salalah, Muscat and Dubai. The Web gurus have struck again.

[manc]

We too had the same problem. The clerical errors are the downside of going with Azamara as they seem to create difficulties and confusion for their loyal guests. 

[cruiservirginia]

Azamarajunkie, We just returned home from the TA on the Journey.  While on board, we booked the Quest sailing from Dubai to Athens.  Would appreciate any advice on excursions.

[Grandma Cruising]

57 minutes ago, cruiservirginia said:

Azamarajunkie, We just returned home from the TA on the Journey.  While on board, we booked the Quest sailing from Dubai to Athens.  Would appreciate any advice on excursions.

We have done that cruise 3 times. Regarding excursions, last time (a year ago), we did two excursions. We did the Azamara tour to Petra and a private 2 day tour to Luxor & the Valley of the Kings. We would thoroughly recommend both of these. They were both on our ‘bucket’ list. We couldn’t do them the other times we did the cruise because the first time my DH had just had a knee replacement, the second time I had.

We did the Luxor tour from Safaga, where the ship was docked for the best part of 2 days. We did it with ‘Your Egypt Tours’ ( highly rated on Trip Advisor). It was brilliant & fantastic value for money. The ship’s tour to Petra was very good too.

 

[manc]

we just returned from this trip

We did not get the 2 nights in Egypt so the shore excursion from the ship was a long 15 or 16 hours. If we went again we

would take a private trip but the sort time in port is a problem. 

At Petra we did a private tour which was excellent. 

The temperature is high and it is humid which not every one expected. 

Muscat was lovely to wander round having taken the shuttle into town and we had an overnight there, 

Great trip would recommend the cruise but excursions need some thought

[Azamarajunkie]

16 hours ago, cruiservirginia said:

Azamarajunkie, We just returned home from the TA on the Journey.  While on board, we booked the Quest sailing from Dubai to Athens.  Would appreciate any advice on excursions.

 

We used mostly private tours on the cruise, we were a group of four.

 

In Israel we used Guided Tours Israel and had a lovely guide called Charles who drove us past the West Bank to En Gedi, Masada and the Dead Sea for the obligatory dip in the sea. He was very good and we were out all day. The next day we used a ships tour of Jerusalem but if we return again would do our own thing there. The Ships Tour was all a bit rushed.

The Azamazing Evening in Ashdod was excellent.

 

In Aqaba, Jordan we used Via Jordan and met our guide Mohammed at 6.15am and arrived at Petra at 9.00am having stopped for a puncture on the way! A beautiful day seeing the Treasury early in the day when it was highlighted by the sun. Mohammed guided us through the site and then let us wander back to the exit on our own, meeting us for lunch at a restaurant called My Mom's Recipe which had an excellent buffet, all included in the price of our tour. After lunch we left for the ship arriving back about 4.00pm.

 

In Safaga, another early start to meet our guide from Ramasside  Tours, we then had a long drive to Luxor and arrived at Karnak about 10.40am, after spending time being shown around by our guide we had another excellent lunch, again included with a good view of Luxor Temple and the Nile. We then had a boat ride across the nile, joined our private van and went to the Valley of the Kings, visiting the tombs there. We got back to the ship about 7.30pm

 

In Salalah we used a ships tour, next time we would look towards using a private guide.

 

In Muscat we had a private tour with Oman Day Tours and went dune bashing in Wahiba Sands (great fun!), and went to Wadi Bani Khalid where we had a picnic and went swimming in the Wadi.  We had a delayed but interesting drive back to the ship as there was a rainstorm and the road back was flooded in a number of places. We arrived back at the ship about 8.00pm, just when the White Night buffet was closing, but managed to snaffle enough food  before the dancing began. Day 2 in Muscat we did the ships Dhow Cruise.

 

In Dubai, we did another ships tour, the Bedouin Dinner which included more dune bashing, camel riding, barbecue dinner, Sheesha smoking, henna tattoos and a Belly Dancer. 

 

We did the ships tours as we had a large amount of OBC to use up, normally most of our tours would be privately arranged.

 

Its a great itinerary and is one we will definitely repeat sometime in the future 

 

 

[excitedofharpenden]

I’d concur with others.  You really should go and see Petra.  You overnight in Aqaba on Wednesday night which gives you the opportunity to go and see the light show too.  There are tour companies who will arrange this and an overnight stay in Petra so you can be there early the next day before it gets hot and the crowds arrive.  Not cheap, but I found it an amazing experience.  You need to be pretty fit.

 

Luxor and the Valley of the Kings is worth a visit, but I found the Temples of Karnak even more impressive.  Both doable in a day.  The ship probably runs a tour.

 

The coast around Salalah is very beautiful.  Do a bit of research and find a good guide to take you out in a 4 x 4.

 

Phil

[cruiservirginia]

Thanks for the very helpful advice!

[manc]

You can a book a private tour with a golf cart if the heat combined with the walk is a concern. We had a driver and excellent guide and stopped at the treasury to explore and again at the stadium/theatre. Had plenty of time to look, walk, have a drink at the Treasury.