Grand Princes Shore Excurision Experience Ephesus and Istanbul Turkey

[1KAP]

Please forward your experience with cruise line shore excursions or if you took non cruise line excursions and were very satisfied please forward name of company and costs.

[LHT28]

If you want to compare Princess shorex with others you may want to ask on the Princess forum for a better response

[Caribbean Sunsets]

Another option for private companies would be to check out the Ports of Call board.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=234

[cruisemom42]

I visited both Istanbul and Ephesus on a Princess cruise a couple of years ago. I'm normally a DIY type person, but my mom was terribly nervous and insisted on doing excursions through the ship. IMO, the Istanbul tour (we took the Elite tour) was unsatisfactory. Traffic is terrible in Istanbul and a lot of time was wasted getting from point to point during the day, including a lengthy lunch at Ciragan Palace which, while lovely, was not near any of the sites.

Your best bet in Istanbul is to take the public tram, which is very easy and efficient. It runs right by the dock and takes you into the heart of the old district (Sultanahmet) where most of the key sites for tourists are located within walking distance of each other, including Topkapi palace, the Blue Mosque, the Haghia Sophia, the Hippodrome, and the Basilica cistern. Even the Grand Bazaar is close -- you can either walk to it or hop back on the tram for another couple of stops.

As for Kusadasi, public transportation is not great, but a private tour can be had for less than the cost of a ship excursion for two people (and the price per person goes down if you have more people). Several good companies are frequently recommended on the Mediterranean board here, which I suggest you visit and read. On a second visit to Kusadasi, I did a tour with Ekol Travel (just google them) and was very satisfied.

[chipmaster]

Originally Posted by 1KAP

Please forward your experience with cruise line shore excursions or if you took non cruise line excursions and were very satisfied please forward name of company and costs.

Welcome to CC,

You might want to post on the ports of call. Many other ships and lines visit Istanbul and Kusadasi then princess so you can get many other cruisers opinion from Ports of Call here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=234

We did these two ports with Princess. I can't comment on any Princess priivate tours. We did private in both ports, actually private in almost EVERY port stop with DIY ( Do It Yourself ) for the ones we didn't pay private. If you have 1/2 day in Kusadasi it will be tight to DIY. Private tours are very reasonable in Turkey, we used EKOL. Some complain about the shopping stops with EKOL but we enjoyed our one stop in Kusadasi and our guide was great. If you go private with EKOL remember the guide and driver work for you. If you want to shop, stop, if you don't be clear with the guide. The private is far cheaper then the princess excursion. When we got off the boat the guide was waiting with a sign with our name on it in both ports. Had a nice bus for our small group versus pay a lot to be on a huge Cruise ship bus.

We were off early before all the big cruise tours and avoided the crowds at Ephesus. There was no way to avoid crowds in Istanbul but had again a small group versus a big group of 40. In my "opinion" private or DIY is the way to go. Istanbul can be done easily on your own, as all the attractions are close, one cab or bus ride away. Ephesus is far from port and probably needs guide/driver to get the most out of it.

Good luck planning