Azamazing Evening in Aqaba

I'm looking for some information from anyone who has taken part in an AzAmazing Night offered in Aqaba for the Wadi Rum. (offered Nov. 2017)

I don't know if it has been offered on a previous cruise but if it has, I'd appreciate some kind of feedback that will assist me in deciding whether to miss the evening in favour for an overnight in Petra.

This is the description of the evening.

AzAmazing Evening - Music and Dance of the Wadi Rum Bedouin - AQ22

Explore the exotic culture of the Zelabia Bedouin during this marvelous performance of music and dance in the heart of the desert. The Wadi Rum is a vast, silent landscape of desert, dotted with yellow and red rocks, sculpted by wind and time into enchanting silhouettes. While this region is sometimes called the Valley of the Moon — wadi means valley in Arabic — the etymological history of the name likely refers to the topography of a valley surrounded by high rock formations. Today, the Zelabia Bedouin live nomadically throughout the valley in tents of goat hair just as their ancestors did thousands of years ago. In a desert camp constructed especially to meet visitors, relax upon traditional Bedouin cushions under the starry night sky. Watch in wonder as the Bedouin perform traditional music and dances in the mystical ambience of the night.

Highlights:

-Enjoy the music and dance of the Zelabia Bedouin, passed down for thousands of years.

-Journey into the mystical desert of the Wadi Rum for a night of starry skies and fresh air.

I am just back from a cruise that included this evening. We certainly enjoyed the event. We enjoyed the drive out to the Wadi as the light was fading. The actual concert was fine the music is a little repetitive but that is how it is.

Overall the views of others ranged from fantastic to it was ok.

It's hard though to say whether to opt for this or your overnight- we know there were two views about an overnight experience including Petra one couple loved it the other wished they had just done the ships trip the next day.

Sorry I can't be more helpful I suppose what I'm saying is it is a lovely evening but not necessarily a must do or you will feel you missed out - but I'm not sure any Azamazing evening has that tag.

Thank you for your prompt response and your feedback.

I know that everyone has a different take on events but it's still nice to get different viewpoints.

Time will tell what we decide to do, probably within the next month in order to book a tour.

In May 2016 a group of 25 of us did a private tour into Wadi Rum in the afternoon for either a 1 or 2 hour drive in the back of a Toyota Hilux. This was a wonderful experience. We moved on to Petra for a mediocre dinner at the hotel and we were at Petra around opening time.

Petra before the crowds was just outstanding. We even left our slow group and wandered through the Siq by ourselves, which was a rare privilege. We then spent several hours exploring Petra. On our return through the Siq, around midday, the bus groups were walking through it. As Regent were also in port, the crowd was enormous - just one group after another.

The prime highlight of the cruise for us.

Tony

I meant to say check how many ships are in port. Azamara was the only one in until mid morning so there was no crowds we past the MSC folks lunchtime as we were walking up. Up to then it was fellow passengers and few others so all my photos are uncrowded.

We did this on the same cruise as uktog, and it was fun. We are booked to do a similar itinerary in 2018, going the other way, and we plan to give it a miss in favour of staying overnight near Petra. The opportunity to get to Petra as early in the day as possible outweighs the Azamazing Evening.

In May 2016 a group of 25 of us did a private tour into Wadi Rum in the afternoon for either a 1 or 2 hour drive in the back of a Toyota Hilux. This was a wonderful experience. We moved on to Petra for a mediocre dinner at the hotel and we were at Petra around opening time.

 

Petra before the crowds was just outstanding. We even left our slow group and wandered through the Siq by ourselves, which was a rare privilege. We then spent several hours exploring Petra. On our return through the Siq, around midday, the bus groups were walking through it. As Regent were also in port, the crowd was enormous - just one group after another.

 

The prime highlight of the cruise for us.

 

Tony

Hi Tony and Celia, Hope you're well!

I agree, we did go to the amazing evening, enjoyed it, but given the chance we would advise friends considering the same trip to do was exactly what you did too. The to drive to in early evening was lovely and I'm glad for the experience. The dancing at Wadi Rum was entertaining though somewhat repetitive, but a very nice cultural experience if that's your kind of thing.

D&K Travel, as uktog said I'd check if you were the only ship in the Port of Aquaba on those days. The tourist numbers are really down these days and the crowds aren't too bad, we didn't think with two ships in it was crowded or uncomfortable. BUT I understand the beauty of few people being around Petra first thing in the morning. This happened to us once as we were 2nd group through the gates at Pompeii (for our second visit) and nothing compares to that experience. Photo's with no people in them!

Can you go via Wadi Rum to Petra, just make sure you do the drive to Petra in the daylight as the view is as outstanding as Petra itself is.

It's a fantastic itinerary, you've picked a great one, with a great cruise line. ENJOY!

Regards Jenny and Neil.

I am SO glad that I posted here. Thanks for the advice.

I checked and we are the only ship in port.

I'm leaning towards doing the overnight trip which includes a 2 hour jeep ride in the Wadi Rum. I'll have to see if there are others interested in joining us to make it more worthwhile.

Maybe someone will video some of the AzAmazing Night and share it with us. :)

We were also on the May 2016 cruise and did the Azamazing evening and the ship's tour to Petra the next day. We were not overly impressed with the Azamazing evening as it was quite a bit of repetitive music and dancing and we were ready to leave after 15 minutes of watching the show. I wish we would have done the private tour with the dune bashing on the way to Petra and the overnight in Petra, and I would recommend to anyone to skip the azamazing evening and do the dune bashing in Wadi Rum on the way to Petra and overnight in Petra on the private tour. You will love this cruise and itinerary!!

Hi to Tony and Celia - we met you guys playing Trivia with Pat and Joe!!

Leslie

Hi Jenny, Neil and Leslie

We're both well and looking forward to Hong Kong to Singapore on 19 Jan.

Just a couple points about the private tour. The Wadi Rum tour wasn't a dune bash as such - we were driven across very firm land the whole way but left the cars on foot a number of times. While a wonderful experience, it was fairly primitive, in the sense that we were seated on dodgy, makeshift padded benches, without any seat belts, in the back of Toyota Hiluxes. On firm ground it felt very safe (zero traffic) - indeed our 13 years old driver did a great job. If we'd been dune bashing we would have undoubtedly stopped every 20 metres because someone had fallen out.

The groups that did the 2 hour trip arrived back at the same time the Azamazing buses were arriving, i.e early evening; so we drove to Petra through dusk and into night, and missed the scenic highlights that Jenny referred to. However, we did enjoy all those views and sights the next afternoon in our return to Azamara - agree completely with Jenny on the approaches to/from Petra - Jordan has very different and expansive landscapes.

It took a long time for us to decide to miss the Azamazing night, as we've previously enjoyed those nights on other cruises. However, the chance to tour through the Wadi Rum area and beat the Petra crowds was too enticing. We have no regrets about our decision (although the dinner and breakfast on Azamara is far superior).

Tony

Tony, we are on the journey for Christmas and the Quest in February . I'll email soon. Jenny

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Greetings,

Thank you for the very helpful information regarding the AzAmazing Evening. Would you mind telling me how long the drive is from the ship to the event. I'm putting together a private desert tour of Wadi Rum during the day. I'm going to ask the tour company if they can drop us off at the event. My travel agent has emailed the shore excursions desk to ask for the location of the event.

Many thanks,

Tracey Skaar

Greetings,

Thank you for the very helpful information regarding the AzAmazing Evening. Would you mind telling me how long the drive is from the ship to the event. I'm putting together a private desert tour of Wadi Rum during the day. I'm going to ask the tour company if they can drop us off at the event. My travel agent has emailed the shore excursions desk to ask for the location of the event.

 

Many thanks,

Tracey Skaar

I was about 40 minutes

I was about 40 minutes

Your memory is better than mine UKtog, Google maps says 58 minutes or 70km[emoji3] whatever did we do without Dr Google[emoji41]

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Thank you!! [emoji4][emoji108]🏼 Do you remember if you left the ship at 7 and arrived at the AzAmazing event around 8:00 PM? I'm trying to figure out what time to ask my Wadi Rum tour guide to drop us off at the venue, after touring the desert in the afternoon.

I'm so grateful to you all for your assistance.

Happy travels!

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They have you at Wadi Rum before sunset. My recollection is we left the ship about 4. We were back by 8 and enjoyed opera under the stars as well that night.

That sounds wonderful. Thank you! [emoji4]

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Ann, what is the appropriate dress for the Azamazing Evening? I'm guessing a jacket or sweater is a good idea due to the nighttime desert temps, but is dress more casual or not?

Thanks,

Holly

Quite casual it wasn’t as cool to us so we did not need sweaters but others did

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