Izmir Turkey - Simply Ephesus

[thunefeld]

The NCL Spirit Southern Europe * Eastern Mediterranean Cruise

October 26-Nov 6, 2013

Venice > Greece > Turkey > Western Italy > Barcelona

 

At Izmir, we took the 4.5 hour Simply Ephesus tour sponsored by NCL.

 

Ephesus is awe-inspiring and sometimes crowded. On the day we were there, 4 cruise ships were in port, one (ours) at Izmir and three in the port closer to Ephesus. By the time our bus arrived at Ephesus, the ruins were already jammed. It was a mass of humanity. Our guide told us that there would probably be 7000 visitors there that day, and we don’t doubt it.

 

But. . . it was totally worth it, Ephesus is a sight not to be missed. The best parts were the 2000 year old latrines (reminded me of my days in Fort Knox Basic Training in 1970) , the library (3 stories!! – holy cow!!) and the enormous (25,000 seat!) amphitheater. If your guide gives you 15 minutes of free time, be sure to climb The Great Theatre where the Apostle Paul spoke to the Ephesians in 54 A.D. before he was run out of town. At 25, 000 seats, it’s simply overwhelming. Wow.

 

We had a good guide with great people skills, great interpretation skills, and the ability to nimbly get us through the crowds but keep us all together – quite a feat!

 

THE DOWN SIDE: We were forced to stop at a leather store on the way back, what NCL literature calls “a leather outlet for refreshments and a shopping opportunity” which is really a well orchestrated attempt to extract money from your pockets. The salespeople are waiting for the buses like sharks going after a baby seal. The only good thing about that forced stop: The rest rooms were clean. Guide books say that these type of operations kick back 30-50% of revenues to the tour company.

 

Terry Hunefeld & Ann Dunham

Inn At Moonlight Beach Bed & Breakfast

San Diego

 

 

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p.s. If you’re on an NCL shore excursion, the process for disembarking for one of their paid shore excursions is streamlined, straightforward and efficient like all of the processes on NCL. This is quite a feat considering that there are sometimes thousands of cruisers getting off the boat to board dozens of different buses.

 

However, if you wish to do your own thing, and be among the first off the ship, here is a tip: For example, we wanted to do Athens “on our own” and it was our first port of call – so we had no experience with the disembarking process. We wanted to be in the first group off the ship to “beat feet down the street” to get to the metro and to the Acropolis when it opened at 8 a.m. to beat the crowds because Rick Steve said that the best time to be at the Acropolis is before the tour busses disgorge throngs of tourists at 10 a.m. He was dead-on correct!

 

BEWARE: NCL Spirit arrived at the cruise terminal at 6:40 a.m. We were told by two different NCL employees the evening before that there would be an announcement as to when we could disembark, so to be “waiting in our room” or in a “public area” until the announcement. We were discouraged from queuing up near the stairs or elevators prior to the announcement. When we had not heard anything by 7:20, we wandered down to see what was happening only to find that disembarkation had begun 25 minutes before! I inquired why (again asked 2 separate NCL employees) who replied that the ship does not make announcements before 8 a.m. So, there you have it… if you want to be first off before 8 a.m. on an NCL cruise, you need to be aware. My motto after this misinformation was to ask multiple different NCL employees the same question until I got the same answer THREE times. That seemed to work okay.

[wantocruisemore]

Thanks for your quick comment on Ephesus. But I hope you did not miss out on the fabulous Terrace Houses at Ephesus, especially since time was wasted at the leather stop.

 

Next time you may want to try a private tour, cheaper, you see more of what you want, and no forced shopping stops if you do not want to.