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One-day Shore excursion in Istanbul


Anfudomain
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We shall be on Norwegian Cruise Ship Spirit stopping at Istanbul for 9 hours. We want to find an excursion which will not include hours for shopping. We found http://www.turistatravel.com with half day istanbul walking tour +half day Bosphorus-cruise.

 

Has anyone been on a Turista Travel? FEZ Travel Turkey Ltd.? Any advice? Any tips? Any suggestions? Thanks. Anfudomain

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Hi, & welcome to Cruise Critic,

Sorry, I know nothing about those operators.

Just posting to say that in a city like Istanbul, a "walking" tour shouldn't be construed as a "cheapskate" tour.

Traffic is pretty diabolical, and if your guide takes you on the tram you'll get from ship to sights so much quicker than by private transportation. Once in Sultanahmet, all the major sights and doubtless a number of smaller ones are easily walkable and can't be toured with a driver-guide - they'd have to be two people, one to stay with you & the other to stay with the car.

 

But a half-day tour?

It'll be rushed and I can't imagine it involving inside visits to many places.

 

If your ship is sailing into the Black Sea, a Bosphorus cruise would be covering the same ground.

And I do wonder about the value of any local cruise if you are in port for just the one day, there's an awful lot to see & experience.

 

Just MHO as always

 

JB :)

 

Edit: this is a quiet forum. You might want to repeat your post on the "Mediterranean - other ports" forum, plenty of posts on there about Istanbul.

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

Edited by John Bull
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Thanks JB for your very good information. This is my first posting. Your response is almost immediate. This is wonderful.

 

There are several reviews on visiting Istanbul which encourage self-guided tram and walking. Wonder how that works if one does not speak the language.

 

Again, many thanks. AD:)

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Thanks JB for your very good information. This is my first posting. Your response is almost immediate. This is wonderful.

 

There are several reviews on visiting Istanbul which encourage self-guided tram and walking. Wonder how that works if one does not speak the language.

 

Again, many thanks. AD:)

 

Your post suggests that your English is fine. ;)

Seriously, everyone in the tourist trade - and that includes Grand Bazaar/Spice Bazaar traders, cafes, restaurants, even the Muslim-orientated cafes (no alcohol) speak English.

Possibly no so good at the ferry booths, but you're not going to need a long conversation, just say for example "to Besiktas", hold up two fingers & hand over some TL - and you'll get your two tickets to Besiktas.

Not even that problem on the trams, tickets from a machine at the tram stop, all trips one price, instructions in English.

 

Yes, the tram is the way to get from the port to Sultanahmet, from there most sights are walkable - you work your way back toward the ship & at the Spice Market / Galata Bridge you either walk over the bridge or hop a tram, depending how energetic you feel & how far along your ship is parked.

 

JB :)

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Mediterrean ports - shore excursions. From the several reviews, I gather we can pretty much find our ways in Athens, Istanbul, Naples. At the same time, we think we may benefit from a good tour guide who will give more back ground information to help us understand better the various sites. We are going on NCL Spirit in 3 weeks from Venice, stopping over Athens, Kusadasi, Istanbul, Naples, Rome, Florence, & Barcelona. Can one get access to tour groups while on cruise, other than the NCL shore excursions? Or shall one research on line in advance to book the various port excursions. Advice, tips, anyone ????

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Different folks, different ideas about doing-your-own-thing or fixing up an excursion, whether ship's, private, or shared.

But in the Mediterranean there are rarely tours for sale at the port, other than ho-ho buses. There'll be taxis - OK to get you locally from A to B, but way too expensive to hire for a tour - and the driver may not even speak good English, let alone act as a guide. So if you want a tour rather than doing your own thing, you need to book soonest.

 

Kusadasi if you want to go to Ephesus (most folk do, & there's little else to offer at that port) you really could do with a guide or you won't have a clue what you're looking at. You could get there by taxi (about 50 euros round-trip) & hire a guide on-site but its not an economical way to do it.

Mebbe a guided tour for Florence, though we went there and Pisa in the one day, DIY by train.

Mebbe a guided tour too for Athens cos again it's a better & more informative experience, though public transport from port to city is good & not a huge amount of walking between sights. Again we've always done our own thing there.

Rome is difficult to advise. Train from Civi is crowded but cheap, & main sights in the city are walkable - but you do need to plan your day. So DIY or very expensive tour depends on your research & outlook. Great info on the Italy ports-of-call forum, & lots of fellow cruisers will be taking the train.

Naples itself I don't rate. But loads of choices, including Capri or Sorrento by ferry and/or Pompeii or Herculaneum by train. Capri & Sorrento no need for a guide. Pompeii & Herc. you can get audio guides or join guided groups when you get there, or wander without either. The only major option that needs a tour is the Amalfi Coast because it can't be done by buses, ferries & such in the time-scale.

Barca is easy to explore by ho-ho or metro. Once out of the port it's only a short walk to Las Ramblas.

 

As said, if you want to fix an excursion you need to do it ahead of your sailing - in fact, as soon as possible. Communication on the ship by phone or internet is expensive & unreliable. Some ships' tours may sell-out even before you sail. Shared tours need to be arranged through your RollCall before joining the ship, touting for shared tours while on the ship is a huge no-no.

 

As my first post this is a quiet and irrelevant forum, mainly used for Egypt - which of course is off-limits to cruise ships at the moment.

So you need to look beyond ............

Scroll to the bottom of this page & click on the arrow at "forum jump". This will bring up a list of forums. Scroll through them to Ports of Call and click on Greece or Italy or Spain or (for Kusadasi & Istanbul) other Med ports. It will bring up all threads about those countries, most of them about the ports you're visiting.

Have a look through those threads, much of what you're asking has been asked - and answered - already.

Mebbe use the "search this forum" facility to type in a word such as, on the other Med ports forum, "Kusadasi". This will shorten your search by listing only threads which mention Kusadasi.

Then ask your questions on those forums, preferably after gleaning what you can from existing threads.

When asking, I suggest you make the point, as you did here, that you're new to Cruise Critic - this will (hopefully :D) stop you from getting flamed for not finding answers on the forum before asking. But there are some very helpful folk on Cruise Critic.

 

For tour-sharing, you need to join your RollCall - this is a forum solely for folk on your cruise. There'll be folk on there who've fixed up van tours & looking for fellow-cruisers to share with them.

Go to that Forum Jump, scroll through to RollCalls (not "cruise lines") & click on Norwegian. Then you'll have to select your ship. Then scroll through to the one with your sailing date - they're not in chronological order.

If you can't find it (I struggled to find my way round this site), when you ask on those ports-of-call forums, quote your ship & sailing date, and ask if some kind soul will please provide a link.

 

(If you ever get lost on Cruise Critic, just click on your name, top right of any page, & you can navigate back to your posts.)

 

I'm off & away at daft o'clock tomorrow morning & won't be on-line for about 8 or 9 days.

And I doubt anyone else will look in on this thread, so you do need to go to those Ports of Call forums and your RollCall.

 

Brew a coffee, crack open a bottle of headache pills, & get searching this site - its very informative.

 

Happy huntin'

JB :)

Edited by John Bull
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I realize you will be away. Have a good vacation !

 

As always, thank you for your generous advices. I have signed up with Roll Call (I think). Not quite familiar with finding my way around in Cruise Critics.

 

I think I am going to approach Melitours and Tourista Travels. The latter has good and bad reviews, but its price is pretty good.

 

Cheers. AF

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I definitely recommend doing a walking tour with a guide in Istanbul. We hired a guide for 2 days when we went and it was the best decision. Not only do you get the history and someone who knows their way around to maximize what you see and do but you also get front of the line access. Certified guides have access to by-pass ticket lines that proved to be very helpful in the more popular places.

A must to do in advance.

Have a great time. Istanbul is one of our favorite places and we hope to get back there someday.

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Thank you so much for your quick response. We are running out of time. Can you give us some leads as to how to find good tour guides? Some web links? What about the guide you had?

 

We would like to have tour guide not only for Istanbul, but also Ephesus/Kusadasi, Naples, Toulon.

 

Looking forward to your suggestions. Best, AF:)

 

 

 

I definitely recommend doing a walking tour with a guide in Istanbul. We hired a guide for 2 days when we went and it was the best decision. Not only do you get the history and someone who knows their way around to maximize what you see and do but you also get front of the line access. Certified guides have access to by-pass ticket lines that proved to be very helpful in the more popular places.

A must to do in advance.

Have a great time. Istanbul is one of our favorite places and we hope to get back there someday.

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Thank you so much for your quick response. We are running out of time. Can you give us some leads as to how to find good tour guides? Some web links? What about the guide you had?

 

We would like to have tour guide not only for Istanbul, but also Ephesus/Kusadasi, Naples, Toulon.

 

Looking forward to your suggestions. Best, AF:)

 

My suggestion is to go onto the TripAdvisor website and look up Istanbul and then tour guides under Activities. There are many of them listed along with reviews on their services and how to get in touch with them. That is how I found our private guide when we went. It has been 4 years since we were there so I no longer have the info for our guide but i think you can get a lot of great info from TripAdvisor. Good luck

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