Istanbul

[Travelswithmycamera]

Love this thread, returned from Viking cruise in September.  Did a private tour to Ephesus and felt the guide was hurrying us a bit.  Turned out I was right as we diverted to a pottery shop,leather shop (complete with fashion show on arrival) and finally the carpet shop complete with weaving demonstration and two young lads literally rolling out carpets so fast our heads were spinning.  They were stunning in their colours and designs however impractical for our home on a horse farm.  All in all it was a fun day but we were carpetless on our return to the ship.    Good luck and enjoy to all who are carpet shopping.

(ps our guide did do us a favour by taking us directly to the terrace houses early with no one but us inside)

[SteelCity Cruiser]

On 5/8/2024 at 12:46 PM, duquephart said:

Well ----- now I know about Kuşadası. The port area is strewn with shops - most of which appear to be very nice/high quality places selling all the usual stuff, with Viking (as noted) providing a list of shops that meet their approval according to some set of criteria. Following the tour of Ephesus we were herded (invited?) into a rug/jewelry shop the bus stopped at for a "demonstration" of rug making and "presentation" of the goods that the tour guide had pitched on the way back from the tour. Very slick and clearly a set-up - and Viking should be called out for allowing this. The demonstration and presentation followed a pattern that can be seen in any number of videos on the subject. The rugs are stunning (of course) and basically sell themselves. My "we don't need any rugs" other half and myself were easily taken in - which is the whole point of the process they are very good at. We are quite pleased with our purchase. We also got caught by one of the jewelry guys on the way out - you are basically running a gauntlet. We have a habit of purchasing very nice jewelry items that a given area is known for - Baltic amber for instance - and in Turkey that means Zultanite.

FWIW - all the cruise line tours do the 'rug shop' tours as part of their excursion itinerary and all of the shops are very experienced at the slick sales routines - it is their livelihood afterall.  Some are harder sells than others.  We had the option to duck out of the rug shop demo in Kusadasi and return to our ship when we were there last year which we did since we had seen something similar in Istanbul.

[Frenchberet]

2 hours ago, SteelCity Cruiser said:

FWIW - all the cruise line tours do the 'rug shop' tours as part of their excursion itinerary and all of the shops are very experienced at the slick sales routines - it is their livelihood afterall.  Some are harder sells than others.  We had the option to duck out of the rug shop demo in Kusadasi and return to our ship when we were there last year which we did since we had seen something similar in Istanbul.

 

We visited a carpet shop on our included excursion in Kusadasi last month.  It was interesting, part of their culture.  We enjoyed the presentation and the coffee.  No hard sell, we didn’t buy a rug.  Another shop was scheduled for our included excursion in Istanbul but we all told the guide we had just done it the prior day.  No problem, she let us have additional time at the Spice Market.
 

Fyi, Viking did a great job on our 2 day extension in Istanbul.  They kept us busy all day at the Grand Bazaar, Blue Mosque, Hagia Sofia, underground Cistern (very cool), and a lunch cruise in the Bosphorus, before taking us to the hotel. Very pleased.

[duquephart]

The carpet deal is not a part of any tour. Having "free time to browse ----- " is not the same as being herded into a shop. The guide waits around to get their kickback from any sales rather than taking folks back to the ship.

[duquephart]

The "sales routine" and the haggling were an interesting feature of the experience. I consider myself a savvy negotiator (car salesmen hide under their desks when they see me coming) but one of the tricks is to have a baseline starting point. With a car you can, with some research, arrive at a good idea of dealer cost and haggle up fom there. Much harder with the higher priced items in Turkey.

[OneSixtyToOne]

23 hours ago, SteelCity Cruiser said:

FWIW - all the cruise line tours do the 'rug shop' tours as part of their excursion itinerary and all of the shops are very experienced at the slick sales routines - it is their livelihood afterall.  Some are harder sells than others.  We had the option to duck out of the rug shop demo in Kusadasi and return to our ship when we were there last year which we did since we had seen something similar in Istanbul.

I have a feeling this is the quid pro quo that the cruise lines have negotiated with the government to allow them to dock. The rug shops that Viking visits are subsidized by the government.

[bookbabe]

49 minutes ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

I have a feeling this is the quid pro quo that the cruise lines have negotiated with the government to allow them to dock. The rug shops that Viking visits are subsidized by the government.

One of our guides in Turkey on a recent cruise let it slip that it’s a government requirement that all tours stop at a rug shop, one of the government-subsidized ones, as part of their initiative to preserve the carpet weaving art.  There’s a whole system of schools to train new weavers, with a lot of financial incentives to get girls to attend.

[duquephart]

4 hours ago, bookbabe said:

One of our guides in Turkey on a recent cruise let it slip that it’s a government requirement that all tours stop at a rug shop, one of the government-subsidized ones, as part of their initiative to preserve the carpet weaving art.  There’s a whole system of schools to train new weavers, with a lot of financial incentives to get girls to attend.

 

Were we herded into a government-subsidized store? Is that a requirement or just any store will do? We went to XYZ "Carpet & Jewelry" although the guide described it as a "guild."

[bookbabe]

39 minutes ago, duquephart said:

 

Were we herded into a government-subsidized store? Is that a requirement or just any store will do? We went to XYZ "Carpet & Jewelry" although the guide described it as a "guild."

According to our tour guide, yes.  He gave lots of info about how the government pays back the merchant for any shipping costs and provides training for the weavers and such.  No idea how much is fact and how much was part of his spiel, but that’s what he said.

[duquephart]

I guess it makes sense in an odd sort of way and would explain why Viking allows it. And Viking isn't likely to include a "we are required to ----- " line in their excursion descriptions.