I am posting this brief message on behalf of some 40-50 year-old female friends who have just completed a 4 day-3 night Fethiye-Olympos gulet cruise. They are still travelling in Turkey and will add to this post with more details on their return home.

They travelled on a gulet operated by Sempatik Cruise (also known as Olympos Yachting).

There were a number of horrid experiences during the 4 days, but to highlight a few:

1. Crew entering accommodation rooms and toilets without knocking while my friends were undressed (no locks on any doors)

2. The captain groping my friend's breasts while she was sitting playing cards on deck

3. The captain returning drunk at 3am from a night at a disco, starting up the engine and threatening the passengers that he was going to dump them all off at a beach somewhere.

These are just a few of the incidents that happened. The other people on the gulet, including a Turkish family, were also horrified and suggested that letters be written to the company head office and the Turkish Tourist police, which my friends have done.

I have to admit that my friends didn't research the gulet company very stringently before booking - in fact, the main reason for selecting it was that it sailed on the date required. To anyone considering a gulet trip - please take extra care to research the company you are travelling with so you aren't subjected to this kind of behaviour.

Sorry for this HELL story BUT they can complain this to TURSAB (The union of Travel Agencies in Turkey) their e-mail is [email protected]

If you do not reply from them PLEASE let me know.

Yes you are right You have to do YOUR HOMEWORK and search and research your company before buying your tour.

Sinan Akdeniz

Thanks for this information, Sinan. I have emailed the details to my friends.

If they have any further questions / problems, they may email you directly, if that's OK.

However, it is really difficult to find information about the various companies that offer the gulet trips. Even here in these forums there is very little. That is why I posted the story immediately instead of waiting for my friends to return home.

Again, thank you.

Well, now you have some interesting stories to tell all your friends and some unusual memories to get rid of!

Can you tell us about Turkey, though? What was traveling there like? Would you return to that part of the world sans gulets?

Thanks! Look forward to hearing your take!

Tara

I am curious whether the gulet's captain and staff were Turkish or foreigners.

Hi Chiriss_hk,

"If they have any further questions / problems, they may email you directly, if that's OK."

OF COURSE

Sinan Akdeniz

We went on a short gulet trip in 2001 with Pasha tours. Their brochure stated that the crew probably didn't speak english, and they didn't, but with hand signals and such we had a great time! It wasn't luxurious, infact all 9 of us passengers, (and we didn't know each other)slept on the sun deck, because the cabins had no a/c and it was too hot. I'm not an adventurer. I was 49 at the time, nice comfy suburban wife and mom and it will still be one of my fondest memories. I hope we can do it again someday, but I'll know to stay away from Sempatik Cruise!

"..COMPLETED a 4 day - 3 night cruise.."! As bad as you say it was I gotta wonder why you and your friends didn't get the heck off that boat at first opportunity?

I am sorry to hear about your gulet trip and your bad experience.
Gulet issue is a very delicate issue. Some boats are owned and run by its owners, some owned by a company and crew is hired. Some crew works on a single boat for years and runs the operation smoothly as the company policies, all goes very individuel.
One hint; what you pay is what you get as for the gulets. If one finds the right company with reputable operations than a gulet trip turns out to a marvelleous experince....
I read on the newspaper the other day thatDemi Moore and family had great gulet cruise at Gocek coasts two weeks ago. Obviously she hired a top end gulet with very good crew. Having said that you do not to hire a high end gulet to have a good experience but its important to search for the right ones. It always helps to work with experienced agents as they know the gulets and its crew members not to fail.
Seeing the post I found it necessary to post following feed back to show not all gulet experience goes wrong:

"We arrived back in Canada yesterday and I just wanted to let you know that we had a fabulous time in Turkey!!! The boat worked out perfectly. The crew was wonderful and particularly great with the kids and the food was fabulous. I can’t tell you how much we enjoyed it.
All the other arrangements went extremely smoothly. We had a lot of fun in Istanbul, though wish I had left more time. We can’t wait to come back to Turkey and spend more time.Next time we will meet!!
Please send me information regarding your hotel in Cappadocia. I hear it is great and we have friends going over sometime this fall.
Thanks so much for all your work on this."

Hiring a gulet privately or cruising on cabin charter is also makes a big difference....

Happy sailing, happy cruising,

Murat

Exactly the same topic has been posted and discussed on other forums too:

http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/p...2&start=10

********************************

Dear Sinan,

Quote:
They travelled on a gulet operated by Sempatik Cruise (also known as Olympos Yachting).


Sempatik Cruise and Olympos Yachting are two different companies.

Its the same if someone would write "They have been on a website operated by Turkeytravelplanner (also known as Thorntree-Lonelyplanet)."

To see Sempatik's website click here:
http://www.blueyachtcruise.com

To see Olympos Yachting website click here:
http://www.olymposyachting.com

Seems there is someone mixing up something.

************************

Dear Sinan,


as you have posted a story with a general interest to me, i've just figured out, which boat it was and who was the captain on the cruise mentioned.

The world became very small in this century of communication, and i am glad there are internet and mobile phones.

I just spoke to "the" captain on the phone, to tell him, he is getting famous on the net and to hear the other side of the medal, by the way he is 24 years old.

I got told that those 40-50 year-old female friends are possibly much older than 40-50 and that they tried to get sex with him, a 24 years old captain, but he denied their offers.

In general, during a cruise, the crew is entering cabins for following reasons: To empty rubbish bins, to switch off lights and to close water tabs, in case it has been forgotten by passengers.

There is a limited amount of freshwater and electricity on boats, and "normal people" which are normally living on land in a house, are not thinking about that the freshwater supply on a boat could be finish if they do forget to close the water tabs properly.

The crew on any boat is entering cabins for those reasons, while the passengers having meals or sunbathing on deck.

I got told that the captain has started the engine at 3am cause he was going to bring those women ashore, as they were still trying to have an adventure with him, but he was not interested at all.

I got told, one of those 40-50 years old women was waiting for him in his bed that night.

I got told, beside the Turkish family, the captain was also horrified.

Have a nice trip in Turkey

Sound like a lot of excuses - and male fantasy to me.

Almost any woman can tell stories of being groped in public - it;s happened to me on the subway. And the first things the man says are - you're imagining it, it didn't happen - and oh - you were really interested in me. (So the smart woman learns not to report it - unless it's serious - but to retaliate on the spot. I have found a stiletto heel with my full weight on a man's foot has a very intresting effect.)

Photo cell phones have helped with a lot of this - and several men have been charged with sex crimes in NYC subway and buses based on this evidence.

Obviously we weren't there and don;t KNOW what happened - but what is the motive of these "older than 40's/50's ladies" of making all these reports of things that didn;t happen?

While there are two sides to every story, I tend to believe the first story rather than the one where the woman was waiting in the captain's bed.

And please. . . trying to justify the idea of crew entering the cabins without knocking? Knocking or making one's presence known is not a foreign idea anywhere.

So we're also to believe this weak little 24 year old captain was so afraid of these big strong women, that at 3 AM he threatened to return them to shore or dump them on a beach because he just couldn't get them under control? I'm trying to picture a 24 year old Turkish man who wouldn't be able to fight off the amorous attempts of a group of women over 40 or 50. Please!

To nytraveler "what is the motive"

Well, first you have to know I am not related to the captain, the boat or the boating company but i am working in tourism, kinda "insider", okay.

As i have heard, after their cruise these women tried to get a full refund, for any reasons, but it was declined. Then somebody, started posting their stories on travel forums.

Anyway, the captain became jobless after this event - it won't happen a second time, you are right Neopolitan:

WHY this weak little 24 year old captain was so afraid of these big strong women, that at 3 AM he threatened to return them to shore or dump them on a beach because he just couldn't get them under control ???

Where are these gangs of 40 to 50 year old women demanding sex when you want them?

I have just read all the replies to this site with great amusement and have only one comment to make about the reply from Mr. ANZAC: "Who are you kidding!!!"

As if a group of 40-60 year old women would even be intersted in the things he is suggesting. And also to remind readers that there were exactly 4 women (two in their 40s, one in her 50's and one over 60). Hardly too many for the captain and crew to "manage" if they really were causing a problem on the cruise.

I also wonder why, if the Turkish family was so horrified by the women's behavior, they also huddled together with the women in one of the cabins while the captain ranted and threatened to dump them ashore at 3am.

Another question to ANZAC too... I arranged this trip via emails. Why do the email responses from the company regarding arrangements for the trip sometimes come with a Sempatic email address and others come with an Olympos email address if they are not the same company?

Thank you to all the supportive replies. And please TAKE CARE when you're booking a gulet trip in future. I am pleased that this particular captain is now jobless - it's what he deserved as a result of his behaviour and at least he won't be doing this to anyone else in future.

I am a solo female traveller. Visited Turkey a couple of years ago at 60 y.o.

I did my research. The Fethiye-Olympos gulet cruises are known for being 'party boats' - mostly youngsters that want to drink and 'party'.

I chose the Marmaris to Fethiye Cruise. It is a full 7-day round trip, but I arranged in advance to get off early.

On the boat were a couple, a single young man and another solo woman. The last did make advances to the captain, a mature, good looking man.

They went off together on a snorkeling trip on one of our swimming stops. The captain never behaved in any other way than with complete propriety at all times. The crew never entered the cabin while I was in it.

As in any trip, anywhere - Do Your Homework!!

This is the first time ever that I have participated in any sort of internet forum, but as one of the four women involved in this incident, I feel compelled to respond.
The airing of our experiences and issues were not to villify particular people, companies, countries or cultures, but simply to serve as a reminder for people to do their homework first, and look after yourself and your mates when travelling.
Clearly in this case, there are two significantly different versions to what happened on this cruise (ours and the captains- three if you include the company's position). Im not sure how to prove our side of the story, and to be honest, Im not sure if a "he said, she said" response would really help in this case. I/we know what happened, and I am very happy to answer any questions, on this website, or in any public/legal arena.

Some background first. I am 40 years old (although Im not quite sure how that is relevant). I travel 3 months of every year and have done so for many years now. I have lived in the Uk, Australia, Canada, Sweden, Thailand and HK in my time. So, from backpackers to 5* resorts, I think I am a pretty experienced traveller, and very open to different experiences and cultures.
What prompted me to enter into this dialogue was the entry refering to the captains side of the story. My first reaction was laughter ('get real!), my second response was how sad (he obviously needs help- either he really believes his own fantasy, or he really doesnt understand the seriousness of his actions- either way he needs a reality check) and my third reaction was anger- sexual harassment is, for many women (and men) a serious matter- and not something that should be ignored, tolerated or accepted unchallenged.
What I dont want to happen is for the actions of (mostly) one man to overshadow the the many great people we meet and places we visited.
Do I think the Captain's behaviour was inappropriate and unwarranted? Absolutely
Do I think the company should have done more to ensure the safety and well-being of the passengers (ie not 17 people being booked onto a 10 berth boat, ensuring privacy in the cabins, following the outlined itininary) Absolutely
Did any of us four women at any time in any way want or seek sexual encounters with the Captain? ABSOLUTELY NOT (I didnt even know he had a cabin/ aparticular bed, so Im curious in his fantasy, did we try to do it on the deck in front of the other cabin-less passengers? was it one of us at a time or a gang splash? How loudly must he have protested when 4 women aged 40-62 years of age tried to 'jump on his bones', and how admirable it was of him to refuse.
And finally, how noble of him to lose his job when he is oh so innocent (if this is in fact accurate- we have had no corrrespondence from the company re this outcome).
There are so many things I would like to express, and once again I invite direct questioning, but in the interim........
*Re the information regarding the many legitimate reasons why a crew member may enter a cabin. In one of our incidents, the woman traveller (in our foursome)woke up to find the crew member standing at the end of her bed. After yelling at him to leave, at least 4 times, Im struggling to comprehend (1) why he didnt knock before entering in the first instance and (2) when he entered the cabin, and it was obviously occupied at the time, why didnt he leave immediately?
*Secondly, re our attempts to seek retribution from the company. For accuracy sake, we requested two things
(1) an assurance that the Captain would not act in this manner again (we did not ask for him to be sacked)
(2) reinbursement for the fact that our 4 day trip was in fact much shorter, and the itininary followed was not as outline in the advertising
- in short, we did not disembark until close to 3pm on the first day (not 11am as outlined in the itininary)The captain, said to have a hangover (stated by another crew member) did not get onboard himself until 2pm. Consequently one of the main stops was completely missed. Plus, on the last day, because of the incident the night before, we were dumped on shore at approx 10am, instead of the scheduled 3pm.
We have not received one cent, nor any specific information re company actions towards the captain-its news to us that he was fired.
And just for the record, none of our travelling party have, until me, right now, aired our views directly on this, or any other website. Therefore, the inference that we started a smear campaign against the company because we didnt get a refund is , to my mind, false and dumbfounding.

For all four of us, life continues- working and travelling as always. We continue to stay in touch with others met on our Turkey travels- including the Turkish family on the boat, and other foreign passengers on the boat also. In all likelihood, we will not pursue this matter with Turkish officials and/or the company involved- for no other reasons other than lack of time and the tyranny of distance.

If the discussing of this incident makes people more careful and aware when travelling, then at least some good has come from this.

In the meantime, us four 'old birds' will keep living and learning- we just hope the Captain, and the company will do the same!

Thank you for posting. Just for the record, I believe every word you have said.

As they say there are two sides to every story. Regarding this one, we've heard a strangely contorted and illogical side, and a very logical and probably true side.

Thank you.
As they say "the truth will prevail....eventually"

Or that there are 3 versions of the truth: yours, mine and what actually happened.

Chrisshk and AllyHK, what a nightmare for you guys and thanks for posting your story. I have always wanted to do a gulet cruise and your information has given me food for thought.