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Hello Ephesus Tour Company

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Flocruiser

Flocruiser

Posted
Posted
This tour company provided us with the highlight of our Mediterranean trip.

We had a large minivan, a driver, a knowledgeable guide and lunch.

The cost was low, the guide was helpful and informative. We enjoyed our experience very much. There was a pitch for rug purchase at the end but

nothing to ruin our day.

Maquette of Missouri

 

 

Hi Marquette,

 

We are thinking of using Hello Ephesus -- can you give me any more info on them or can I contact you via email. Let me know. Thank you!

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Hlitner "Live from...." Rare

Hlitner

Posted
Posted

I have been helping folks with European and Med ports for many years and this entire thread does nothing but set off alarm bells in my little skull. The only positive feedback on this company is from a person with only 1 post on CC. There is nothing positve about this company listed on other trusted sources. My only conclusion is that it is a very new company or perhaps not what it seems. Ephesus is a wonderful place (we were just there last month for our 3rd visit (4th visit to Kusadasi) and it would be a shame for anyone to have their day ruined. My question to your folks who want to book this company is why would you pick an unknown outfit when there are numerous companies and individual guides with a long string of positive recommendations. A private guide/tour is a great way to see Ephesus, but 40 years of international travel has tought me not to be a "guinea pig" for a relative unknown when there are alternative options. Just one guys opinion. I do hope that all turns out well with the folks using this company, but I sure would not personally recommend them until there was significant positive feedback.

 

Hank

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Marie-Claude

Marie-Claude

Posted
Posted

Thanks Hank for your insight...

 

I also booked with Hello for a tour in Ephesus and Istanbul for our November Cruise on Az Quest...

Why did we book with them?

 

Simple... out of 7 companies I have emailed to, they were 1 of 2 to answer me back!! Promptly, and thoroughly. When I have a question, I get an answer within 24 hours. They are not requesting advance deposit and were also able to provide a French speaking guide, which the other company (Ekol) could not.

 

I think your points are extremely valid, and I sure hope that we will soon get positive feedback from Cruise Criticers... On the other hand, I did get positive feedback from the other well known travel discussion forum.

 

Let's hope we won't be disappointed!!

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California Native

California Native

Posted
Posted

Hi Everyone...

We just returned from our land vacation in Turkey

and we had planned to use AllIstanbulTours.com for our Cappadocia trip, they were TURSAB approved and easy to work with initially.

We're savvy back roads travellers and have worked in the industry.

We made sure everything checked out and it did for awhile.

But as time went by we saw that their business marketing practice were unscrupulous..and we cancelled

This company HELLO EPHESUS/KUSADASI..that you are referring to did NOT check out.

Have you googled their Tursab number? i couldn't/can't find it in tursabs affiliations. and when you google the number it comes up a private guide.

BUT NO OTHER AFFILIATIONS.

When I was reading this post the hair on the back of my neck stood up.

I would email all the references you can find. check to see if they are on cruisecritic or tripadvisor, ask for their screen names and check their history of posts. Do the posts sound like English is their 1st language? if not, you've got a poser.

Personally, I would come up with a plan b...

I do hope I'm wrong about this though!

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Marie-Claude

Marie-Claude

Posted
Posted

Thanks Where2next!

 

On Hello Ephesus home page, there is a Tursab Registration number A-3028. In checking on the Tursab page, it does not show up.

 

So I have emailed Tursab to confirm that number with them. As previously said by some people, it looks like it is a new agency. That may be the reason why they are not yet listed on Tursab website. While we all look for experienced tour operators, I would not have a problem dealing with a new agency as most of the guides (experienced or not) work as free-lancers dealing with many agencies at the same time.

 

Once I hear back from Tursab, I will definitely post back here!!

 

Thanks for your heads-up!!

 

BTW - who did you end up doing your tours with?

 

MC

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Kathy & George

Kathy & George

Posted
Posted

I have also e-mailed TURSAB in regards to their registry. Hello Ephesus is a relatively new company started this last Feb. The TURSAB site lists agencies from 2007 and before, so I too am waiting to see if their registry number is ligit. I will also report back with what I hear.

I am not worried about them being a new company, just that they are a good company and not doing anything illegally. They have been excellant about returning my emails and giving information.

Kathy

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Beardie

Beardie

Posted
Posted

Kathy,

I believe Badtwin should be cruising now, and promised to report back re. Helloephesus. Hopefully, we'll get some more info. to go by. We too have booked them for our Sept. cruise.

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Kathy & George

Kathy & George

Posted
Posted

I have received the following information from Bluege Travel confirming that Hello Ephesus is in good standing with TURSAB.

 

 

Dear Kathleen Negoshian,

 

Thank you very much for your mail concerning our new web site 'Hello Ephesus'. We are an authorized legal travel company registered and licensed by the Ministry of Turkish Culture and Tourism. The TURSAB certificate numbered 3028 belongs to our Company located in Izmir, Turkey.

We have been in travel business since 1998. Therefore, we have several web sites with different domain names and "hello ephesus" is one of them. The others are;

 

www.tur-tour.com

www.bluegetravel.com

www.turkeyturkiye.com

 

We have also a branch office based in Kusadasi and thought that the domain name "hello ephesus" has sounded nice and warm for those cruisers having excursions to Ephesus. We believe that in this big market there is nothing wrong for being more competitive with the others.

 

I hereby confirm that www.helloephesus.com is affiliated with our company and we are the co-owner of the mentioned organization.

 

Regards,

 

Yusuf Savat

Managing Director &

Licensed Tour Guide

 

BluEge Travel Co.Ltd.

www.bluegetravel.com

 

Tur & Tour Travel Services

www.tur-tour.com

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Hlitner "Live from...." Rare

Hlitner

Posted
Posted

I would only add one additional comment about some companies requiring an advance deposit on tours. At least one well-known and highly respected company has adopted a deposit requirement to protect themselves. In the past, quite a few cruise passengers would reserve tours and than fail to show-up for their tour. As a result, the tour company lost a considerable amount of money related to these no-shows since they still had to pay their staff, guides, drivers, etc. On our most recent visit to Ephesus (last month) we decided to book a private guide for just ourselves (my DW and myself) to try and get a more in depth perspective than we had on our previous visits. We elected to choose the best known local tour company recommended on this site, and pre-paid our entire tour (it was less than $200) to get a 25% discount. The tour company provided us with a guide who had advanced education plus a driver and a nice air conditioned van. We spent more than 5 hours with our guide and driver for less money than the shoreter (and much less comprehensive) cruise line tour. Would it have been reasonable for this company to have provided a guide, driver and van with no guarantee that we would show for our tour? I think not. Would I trust a company that wanted no deposit or guarantee? I personally would take the risk only if I had a good alternative way to see Ephesus. By the way, for anyone going to Ephesus do not even think about a tour that does not include admission to the Terrace Houses. They are the most recent addition to the ruins and truly amazing!

 

Hank

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Kathy & George

Kathy & George

Posted
Posted

The Terrace Houses have such a great following here that we decided to add them to our tour. Hello is making the addition for the cost of entry only to our original tour price. I don't have to worry if the cruise line changes itineary or if weather is bad when we arrive, as there is no loss of money and Hello is willing to change the day if necessary due to itineary changes. We are there in Kusadassi for two days on our trip in Nov. so I now have much more flexibility. The guide book I have also says that the Dolmus busses go regular routes to Ephesus and are easy to use. So with a bit of research we can DIY. I am looking forward to a great tour and a fabulous experience.

Kathy

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Hlitner "Live from...." Rare

Hlitner

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Posted

The company we used was Ekol, which has long been a popular company with CC posters. Anyone who has followed my posts (from even before there was a CC) would attest that I am generally anti-tour and we have a long history of doing things on our own. I had previously posted that our first two visits to Ephesus were on a Princess cruises tour (from Izmir) and the 2nd visit was totally on our own by using the local van/bus and than hiking the last mile to the ruins (not sure why any tour book would say its easy to do with local buses...which are more like crowded large vans). On our last visit (only a few weeks ago) we decided to go back to Ephesus (where we have already spent more than 6 hours) to see the newly opened Terrace Houses and to also see what it would be like to have our own professional guide. We chose Ekol because of all the positive posts we have seen here and on some other travel sites. Our guide was absolutely fantastic, and since he had studied archaeology as well as history (at the college level) he was able to give us a more in-depth and advanced perspective that one would normally get with a large group tour. Not only did we have the advantage of a personal guide, but we could set our own pace and spend as much time as we pleased in the ruins. Many larger tours are often rushed through the ruins so that the tour company can get the group to shopping sites where the tour company gets a kick-back on all sales. I again repeat my previous recommendation that first-time visitors stick with well-known recommended tour companies and/or guides.

 

Hank

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badtwin

badtwin

Posted
Posted

I am back and taking a break from laundry and unpacking (ugh).

 

We (me, 18 year old DDand my DH) were well pleased with our tour but before I give details, let me give some back ground. We were on a 10 day/8 port eastern Med. cruise on Celebrity Solstice. This was the one port we used a guide - the rest we used interent walking tours and guidebooks. One of our other highlights was the 7 mile hike from Fira to Oia on Santorini if that gives you an idea of our preferences for travel. I don't have any other tours to compare.

 

That said, we enjoyed our tour and would reocmmend to friends and others. The guides are subcontractors. Ours was Zafer Bozoglu and he knowledgeable and spoke English well. He was waiting when we disembarked and led us to a very nice van with good air-conditioning.

We had the 7 hour tour that included the Mary House, the Ephesus site, St. John’s basilica and lunch. This was $45 (dollars – not euros) per person and we were going to add the Terrace houses for another $15 each but it was too hot and too crowded when we got there so we decided not to do that.

As I said, our guide was knowledgeable and friendly and gave some good back ground before reaching to sites. He tried to get us in the shade whenever possible at the locations and gave us plenty of information. He was very much interested in what we were interested in and asked for our questions which I liked. This was not a pat tour that he had memorized. He was sensitive to the fact that for us this was not a religious tour but more historical. He let us set the pace and took photos when we requested.

We did get the rug tour – for us this was okay. I am not sure it could be avoided since this is where we got lunch. Before the tour we had a very nice lunch of Turkish food in a very nice setting outdoors with plenty of shade. Actually, lunch was fantastic in my opinion. (Be warned alcohol is extra and you will need some cash to pay for it). The tour was at a school (we were told) to teach the craft and included a sales pitch. Before we went in, our guide said we could leave when we wanted and that he wanted us to be comfortable. We enjoyed seeing how the rugs were made and how the silk was gathered. We liked to see the variety so the sales part was okay – but for those who do not like sales pressure this might be an issue.

The one thing I found somewhat off putting was that our guide took a few phone calls while we were in the van. I thought this sort of unprofessional. However, given the amount of time we were in the van I was pleased to get a break from the tour and just enjoy the country side.

Why did we go with the unknown company? Price, the tours offered and the fact they did not expect a deposit. They responded promptly to my email, even though they could not get through on Comcast and had to call me.

This tour was one of our highlights and I would use this company again. For those who have signed up, I would not worry. I view some of the comments on these boards the same way I view comments of friends who only buy brand name products – you can save a lot of money if you are willing to try something else and get a good product too.

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auducky2

auducky2

Posted
Posted
I am back and taking a break from laundry and unpacking (ugh).

 

We (me, 18 year old DDand my DH) were well pleased with our tour but before I give details, let me give some back ground. We were on a 10 day/8 port eastern Med. cruise on Celebrity Solstice. This was the one port we used a guide - the rest we used interent walking tours and guidebooks. One of our other highlights was the 7 mile hike from Fira to Oia on Santorini if that gives you an idea of our preferences for travel. I don't have any other tours to compare.

 

That said, we enjoyed our tour and would reocmmend to friends and others. The guides are subcontractors. Ours was Zafer Bozoglu and he knowledgeable and spoke English well. He was waiting when we disembarked and led us to a very nice van with good air-conditioning.

 

We had the 7 hour tour that included the Mary House, the Ephesus site, St. John’s basilica and lunch. This was $45 (dollars – not euros) per person and we were going to add the Terrace houses for another $15 each but it was too hot and too crowded when we got there so we decided not to do that.

 

As I said, our guide was knowledgeable and friendly and gave some good back ground before reaching to sites. He tried to get us in the shade whenever possible at the locations and gave us plenty of information. He was very much interested in what we were interested in and asked for our questions which I liked. This was not a pat tour that he had memorized. He was sensitive to the fact that for us this was not a religious tour but more historical. He let us set the pace and took photos when we requested.

 

We did get the rug tour – for us this was okay. I am not sure it could be avoided since this is where we got lunch. Before the tour we had a very nice lunch of Turkish food in a very nice setting outdoors with plenty of shade. Actually, lunch was fantastic in my opinion. (Be warned alcohol is extra and you will need some cash to pay for it). The tour was at a school (we were told) to teach the craft and included a sales pitch. Before we went in, our guide said we could leave when we wanted and that he wanted us to be comfortable. We enjoyed seeing how the rugs were made and how the silk was gathered. We liked to see the variety so the sales part was okay – but for those who do not like sales pressure this might be an issue.

 

The one thing I found somewhat off putting was that our guide took a few phone calls while we were in the van. I thought this sort of unprofessional. However, given the amount of time we were in the van I was pleased to get a break from the tour and just enjoy the country side.

 

Why did we go with the unknown company? Price, the tours offered and the fact they did not expect a deposit. They responded promptly to my email, even though they could not get through on Comcast and had to call me.

 

This tour was one of our highlights and I would use this company again. For those who have signed up, I would not worry. I view some of the comments on these boards the same way I view comments of friends who only buy brand name products – you can save a lot of money if you are willing to try something else and get a good product too.

 

 

Thanks for the review! It has given me some peace of mind.

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Marie-Claude

Marie-Claude

Posted
Posted

Thank for your much awaited review!

 

I also appreciate Hank's rationale and comments on private tours, deposits etc. But I've been burned a few times paying deposits for private tours and seeing the ports of call cancelled for all kinds of reason - from bad weather to mechanical problems... so I am a bit reluctant to pay deposits ahead of time.

 

Again, thanks Batwin for reassuring us all!

MC

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