1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?

Dhana Nature Reserve.

2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?

Be prepared for big variations in temperature (4am on the top of Mt Moses in Sinai can be freezing cold). Have lots of film! Jordan is a lot more expensive than Egypt however the facilities are more welcoming, better and generally cleaner.

3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, and minimized impacts on the environment?

Yes.

4. Any other comments?

i)The transfer planning from Egypt to Jordan leaves a lot to be desired. We left the Egypt Dahab Hotel at 8:30am and arrived at the Port at 9:30am as planned for what was understood to be a 12 noon sailing. We were re-scheduled on to the Fast Ferry scheduled for 2:30pm. We were left to our own devices in the terminal packed with other travellers from midday onwards as the Egypt Guides were not able to accompany us, which was a bit disconcerting given no directions on what would happen and when ...We were lucky to find a local Canadian among the passengers that briefed us on the loading process. Loading commenced at 1:30pm but we didn't leave Nuweiba port until after 4:30pm. Our passports were removed from us on board with the promise that we would get them back when exiting the Agaba port terminal upon presenting a tiny slip of paper... The sailing took about an hour but there was a further delay of two hours disembarking at the Aquaba end - we had no idea what was happening, we were asked to wait on board until we were informed to disembark. After a long walk to the terminal, we were finally met by the Jordan Guide at around 7:30pm. Consequently, we arrived at Wadi Rum camp site at 9pm and were four hours too late for the promised sunset, as well as missing all the scenery from Aquaba. To add to this, the Jordan Guide did not appear to be aware of the delays.

ii)Another concern is that none of us were given a contact person or/and a contact telephone in Jordan. We only had contacts in Egypt and an emergency number in the UK. This is unacceptable as we understand that the Egypt agency and Jordan agency are not related. One can visualise the chaos if we had to find a phone in Jordan to make an international call to your UK contact that evening if we failed to get in touch with our guide.

iii) In actuality, we spent the whole of the 6th day commuting from Egypt to Jordan despite the sailing is only about an hour. The schedule and transfer need to be revisited and better organised with the necessary information given to the group. We gathered there is a morning sailing at 7:30am from Nuweiba to Aquaba on Monday and Thursday. Perhaps consider a 12 days trip, flying to Cairo on a Wednesday evening, to Jordan on a Monday morning, spend 2 days in Dana since wildlife is better spotted in an early morning trip...The Dana reserve hike we partook started only at 10am - or even perhaps a day by the Dead Sea...

iv)The organisation around the local payment needs sorting. As directed, we paid GB £75 to the Egypt guide, and the Jordan Guide wanted us to pay an additional GB £50 when we arrived in Jordan. An argument of this nature after the frustrations of the transfer was not a highlight.

v)The schedule in Egypt called for a visit to the Pyramids in the morning followed by a visit to the Cairo museum. In actuality, we were taken the other way round. This meant that the Pyramids were visited at the hottest time of the day, and in addition, the sun was poorly placed for photography (e.g. Sphinx face is in deep shadow with the sun behind.) Sticking to the plan with a Morning visit to the Pyramids is highly recommended.

vi)Both Guides: Egypt-Max and Jordan-Samir were excellent in their own way. In particular, Samir's knowledge was impressive.

vii) Maybe it is our age showing, but the trip is not an 'easy' trip. With the amount of walking, climbing (and scrambling in Dhana), I would grade this trip as low-moderate. This would be especially true later in the year when temperatures are higher.

Read the operator's response here:

Thank you for the comments received following your recent trip with us to Egypt and Jordan. I was glad to hear you enjoyed the holiday and here I will address your comments. The midday boat service you were originally scheduled on takes 3 - 4 hours, instead of the 55 minutes for the faster service at 14:30 you travelled on so this was deemed the better option for your journey. Unfortunately, the weather meant this catamaran service was subject to delays. I am sorry that the reasoning for the change in plans was not communicated to you, and we will make sure the group leaders fully brief clients on future trips about the procedures for the journey as regards passports, loading procedures etc.

We are also investigating other options for future trips on earlier sailings to best facilitate an early arrival in Jordan and not have a full day of travelling (subject to issues like the weather, which are outside of our control). Our agents in Egypt and Jordan, while not linked, were in communication a number of times prior and during your sailing to make sure you were picked up on arrival. We will also update our joining instructions to show both agents emergency contact numbers, along with our own. I was in Egypt during your holiday and personally met with Maged to go through the details of the trip and our product manager is at the moment in Jordan doing exactly the same with our Jordanian agent.

I am unsure why you were asked to pay extra monies on arrival in Jordan and apologise for this - clear instructions were given to them NOT to take any money from you and this is another thing our product manager will be investigating during his trip. We are also working on the order of the sightseeing in Cairo and I will revisit the grading of the trip for our next brochure. Thank you for your comments - such feedback is invaluable to us in the ongoing assessment of our holidays and informs the improvements and enhancements we like to make.