Ephesus Deluxe? Recent cruisers?

[JennAngel9]

Has anyone here done Biblical Ephesus with Ephesus Deluxe Tours? I'm especially interested in religious history and wondering if it is much better than the standard guided visits to the house of the virgin Mary and the basilica.

[mary_228]

That being said The private trip with "Bill" from Ephesus Deluxe was the highlight of our cruise and would recommend them handsdown.

Great value with all admission fees included. We had a large 16 passsenger van to ourselves. The guide allowed us an extra stop at a 13th century mosque because we expressed some curiosity about the Muslim faith. Very good lunch at the state run rug making coop and the process of extracting the silk from the cocoons was demonstrated. Brief rug pitch, but we were clearly not interested so it didn't last long. Recommended.

[ladykiller]

question to signalarmywife!!!!

have you done your ephesus de luxe tour in german or english?

is a visit to a carpet factory included?

we booked for our black sea cruise in september ephesus de luxe for two in german and hope this will be okay.

greets from austria, andrea

[Minoushka]

We just got bla ck from a med cruise on Noordam .we booked Ephesus deluxe for dudima priene and Miletus ...othe r ruins as w e had done Ephesus last year .we had a sedan very comfy and clean and mark was our guide who hated the sun explained it all then set us free to explore on our own

Lunch was included and the best I have ever had turkish food with all those salads was absolutely delicious

Mark warned me about snakes in priene ..saw one stopped me as I walked away from it .my son loved it I creeped out I hate snakes ...mark was protective could not believe my goose bumps when I saw that loathsome creature

 

Lots of walking in extreme heat in summer bring lots of water big hat

Very interesting tour lunch made it extra special 90$ plus tip per person all fees included I paid in $$$ not euros which was easier had we been more than 2price would have gone down

I recommend this tour company

[signalarmywife]

question to signalarmywife!!!!

have you done your ephesus de luxe tour in german or english?

is a visit to a carpet factory included?

we booked for our black sea cruise in september ephesus de luxe for two in german and hope this will be okay.

greets from austria, andrea

 

 

We did our tour in English however our tour guide was also fluent in German. Both my children are fluent in German so they had a lot of fun speaking with our tour guide in both languages. I speak German as well but not nearly as well as my kiddos. I requested not to go to the carpet factory because my husband and I were just there last year.

[mrszuhwiggins]

I just booked with Deluxe - will be cruising in early Sept and will report back. I wanted Ephesus w/Terrace houses and Virgin Mary's house plus lunch.... and they had that tour.

 

Seems from my searches that they have gotten favorable reviews plus they've been very responsive to my emails.

 

Hi there,

I searched, but didn't see a review of the Ephesus Deluxe tour. We are thinking about booking with them in November, but wanted to check in with you to see how your tour went. Is there a specific guide you might recommend?

Thanks!

[Janice621]

Our family of 6 used Ephesus Deluxe in May when we arrived in Kusadasi on the Celebrity Silhouette. The manager Deniz was very prompt in responses to my e-mails and when we had a change in itinerary, he worked everything out very efficiently. The tour of Ephesus included the ruins, the terrace houses, the Shrine of the Virgin Mary, lunch, a very short carpet demonstration with no pressure, and the museum. Lunch and all admissions were included and we had a very nice bus. I had requested Ms. Ahu, who had been highly recommended on these boards. Deniz complied with my request and our family was not disappointed. She was excellent, very informative and very accommodating to members of our family who had some problem with mobility.

 

I would have to say this excursion was one of the highlights of our cruise.

 

Janice

[SandySetsSail]

Recently returned from a 12-night Mediterranean cruise. In Kusadasi, my husband and I were with 6 others on an Ephesus Deluxe tour. I am doing a blog about our experiences. In fact, today I published a post about Ephesus. I will be completing my post about our day in Turkey tomorrow. You're welcome to check it out. http://www.SandySetsSail.wordpress.com (My other posts give details about Cannes, Pisa, Florence, Rome, and Athens. After I finish Kusadasi, I will be posting about Santorini and the Amalfi Coast) I hope to help others decide on what they want to see and do at each port.

[hansolosmom]

Thanks for all the info. I'm planning on booking with them for our trip next year.

 

Sandy - great blog, I'm really enjoying it. Thanks for sharing

[bacree3468]

Do they pretty much charge the cost that is listed on their web site? There are 10 of us going on Navigator May 19, 2013 so I was wondering if they give a discount for a large group.

[griffy116]

Can't remember the spelling for our guide but he was absolutely fabulous! He was so knowledgeable! We included the House of the Virgin Mary in our tour and it is truly a great inclusion. We told them we didn't want the rug tour and it was never mentioned to us. The van was large enough for about 15-16, but only the 5 of us. The guide was completely attentive and helped us make the most of our day. He had ice cold water for us and completely overwhelmed us! It was our BEST private tour ever!!!

[roberts2005]

On our recent Noordam cruise, we were met by Linda at the exit area. On the way to our van she told us the rest of our group was waiting.

 

Only problem, we had booked a private tour. Ephesus Deluxe was trying to combine us with someone else because they had a booking problem.

 

We were a group of 4 and did not wish to share. As soon as I mentioned cruise critic they backed off. We still lost over 40 minutes whille they located another van and guide,

 

Never again

[orangearmy]

My wife & I booked with Ephesus Deluxe on our August cruise. It was an awesome tour. Just the two of us, a great guide (I believe her name was Jana), and a driver with an air conditioned Ford Focus. We could not believe that we were getting such a personal tour at such a great price. Wonderful lunch provided. And we did do the Carpet demo. (It was actually interesting). We would not hesitate to use them again & would recommend them. We did the all day tour which included the Virgin Mary's house (the driver got us there before the excursion buses), Ephesus(including the Terrace houses), the museum in Selak, and the temple ruins. They also try to be very flexible as to what you wish to do.