for those who joined Celebrity's Istanbul Shore Excursion before

[youngreflection]

Hi! We are 70% going to diy in Istanbul via tram to avoid the traffic as I often read. But still thinking of joining the shp excursion.

I just want to ask for those who have taken Celebrity Shore Excursion in Istanbul. Were you able to finish/go to all places listed? Since I have read before that some places were missed because of the traffic to get back on the ship on time. But if the ship itinerary (Reflection) stays overnight in Istanbul, I guess every thing will be covered. Any one has any experience?

Thank you.

[Chazteach1]

Hi! We are 70% going to diy in Istanbul via tram to avoid the traffic as I often read. But still thinking of joining the shp excursion.

 

I just want to ask for those who have taken Celebrity Shore Excursion in Istanbul. Were you able to finish/go to all places listed? Since I have read before that some places were missed because of the traffic to get back on the ship on time. But if the ship itinerary (Reflection) stays overnight in Istanbul, I guess every thing will be covered. Any one has any experience?

 

Thank you.

 

 

Been on Ephesus walking tour - excellent!, visited blue mosque and topkapi palace too, hag Sophia also in same area - beautiful gardens

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app - My next cruise - Equinox - B2B 6/2014

[frankt]

We used daily tours of Istanbul the tour guide was excellent will use them again when we return.

[Lauren and John]

Hi.

We went on the two day complete Istanbul tour, and I had mixed feelings. The sites were all beautiful, and the tour was fairly well organized. Our tour guide, however, brought us to a carpet factory, where we were unfortunately a captive audience for FAR TOO LONG. I think that one or two people on the bus may have been interested in purchasing carpets, but the rest of us had to waste an hour waiting for them. To top it off, we then had to rush through our next site (the spice market) in order to complete the tour on time. My advice would be to insist that you not visit a carpet factory until after all of the promised sites are visited or that you not visit a carpet factory at all! One last thing about this tour guide: she hawked expensive Turkish Delight to us while on the bus. Again, the captive audience thing. Just curious if other tour guides did the same...

[curtdesilets]

Traffic was pretty bad, but we did a longer tour on the first day and a shorter one on the second day. The one advantage of booking with Celebrity is that the ship will wait for you if the tour is stuck in traffic. So no worries.

 

If the tram breaks down while you DIY, you are on your own.

 

Some Suggestions: Hagga Sophia and the spice market are worth seeing. Do not forget to try and/or buy Turkish Delight. The Shopping/Haggling in the Bazaar is priceless. Also, buy SAFFRON!!! It is about 100 time better and 100 times cheaper in turkey than in the states.

 

Have a GREAT trip!!

[cruise47]

Traffic was pretty bad, but we did a longer tour on the first day and a shorter one on the second day. The one advantage of booking with Celebrity is that the ship will wait for you if the tour is stuck in traffic. So no worries.

 

If the tram breaks down while you DIY, you are on your own.

 

Some Suggestions: Hagga Sophia and the spice market are worth seeing. Do not forget to try and/or buy Turkish Delight. The Shopping/Haggling in the Bazaar is priceless. Also, buy SAFFRON!!! It is about 100 time better and 100 times cheaper in turkey than in the states.

 

Have a GREAT trip!!

 

Ditto and ditto on the above comments.

[footer6]

We were on the 2 day tour last July. This was about 4 hours per day. We visited all of the places listed (Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace, the Hippodrome, the bazaar, across the bridge onto the Asian side). The guide was excellent. There are 15 million people in Istanbul, so there was some traffic, but we never were stuck in traffic.

[cruisemom42]

Traffic was pretty bad, but we did a longer tour on the first day and a shorter one on the second day. The one advantage of booking with Celebrity is that the ship will wait for you if the tour is stuck in traffic. So no worries.

 

If the tram breaks down while you DIY, you are on your own.

 

 

I wonder what the chances are of the tram you are on just happening to break down -- maybe 1 in 1,000?

 

And if it should break down, the trams run about every 10-15 minutes, so really can't imagine it would be a dealbreaker in terms of getting back to the ship.

 

To the OP:

 

I really recommend doing it on your own or at least with a private guide (preferably a walking tour). Avoid a bus tour or driving tour, or use the tram for transport.

 

I haven't done Istanbul with Celebrity, but several people on shore tours with Princess and HAL have had experiences similar to the one posted above where either lunch or a carpet demo took waaaay longer than it should've and consequently key sites (like Haghia Sophia) were cut very short.

 

Most lines use very similar shore tours....

[Verona Gal]

We had an overnight stop in Istanbul two years ago. We took the ships two day excursion and loved it. We visited all the key sites and also had a cruise on the Bosporus. The guide was excellent. Although the Topkapi section of the excursion did not include a visit to the harem, he arranged for us to join the lunch there late so we would have time to do the harem on our own. Yes we did visit a carpet store, but it was actually interesting and they served refreshments. I seriously doubt we could have covered all these sites on our own in as efficient a manner.

[ClairetoCruise]

The two days of touring w/Celebrity were disappointing.

At Topkapi the guide gave instructions to get in a long line on the right, or go straight and get in line for the restrooms. "Meet here in 45 minutes". We wandered the grounds at Topkapi but did not have time to go inside. Not enough time.

 

At the Blue Mosque, the line was very long (it was the 3rd Fri. of the month, "Call to Prayer". There was no time to wait in line to go inside the Blue Mosque.

 

We left the tour and did it ourselves. It was a waste of time and an expensive lesson.

 

Second day, we had a short time to tour Hagia Sophia on our own. Otherwise, it was a scenic drive that ended with a carpet display.

 

It was good we left the first tour as it gave us time to meet the kind people in Istanbul and we shopped at the Grand Bazaar.

 

The area is compact enough that we could have toured by ourselves and saved the tour money.

 

We reported to Celebrity what a poor tour it was and the representative just shrugged. If we'd requested a refund we might have gotten some of the money back, but how many times will we get to tour Istanbul. I wouldn't book another Celebrity tour there. BUT, the tours are organized locally and other cruise ship tours can deliver the same experience.

 

In Kusadasi, the Celebrity tour was excellent. We visited Ephesus, the Terrace Houses, and a Museum, then had a Roman era lunch overlooking the sea. At the carpet demonstration, we excused ourselves promptly as we weren't interested. We could walk to the ship from the carpet shop. The ship docks close to the fun alleys of the bazaar.

 

I hope this helps.

Claire

Edited May 1, 2014 by ClairetoCruise