Weadles

I meant to say that if you want to try different restaurants, etc. it's a hassle to stay at The Kempinski, since it's a 30 min or so cab ride every time you leave the premises.

Grcxx3

We stayed at the Kismet in Kusadasi last year. While the rooms were a little bit dated (not bad - just not luxuriously updated) - we really liked the hotel. Beautiful views, and next door to a wonderful fish restaurant. I had aubergine cuz I don't eat seafood - but DH and sons loved their meals.

I think 2 days in Bodrum is 1 day too too much, but if you stay at the Kempisnki and just want to hang out - that would work.

Weadles

We stayed at The Kismet last summer, too, on our way to Bodrum. I agree with everything the above poster wrote about it. Lovely hotel, although the large rooms seemed to come right out of a DYNASTY set! Kusadisi itself was just OK- very crowded and touristy, not much to see, but it is a convenient overnight stop for a trip to/from Ephesus.

tripgirl

ok.. here is the latest from Mehmet with prices. A bit higher than I thought and now that we are also including Egypt and Israel, I might not be able to spend this amount.

suggestions?

Hello Robyn,

Thanks for those details.
Well, I had thought The Marmara Bodrum would be a good choice but the reason I did not offer it is, it's not on the beach. Assuming that you already know this, in the fare below, I included a corner room at The Marmara Bodrum.

The price of that package tour would be USD 7235 per person sharing a double room, privately.
Including;
- 4 nights accommodation in a superior room at Four Seasons
- 3 nights accommodation in Honeymoon Suite at Esbelli Evi
- 1 nights accommodation in a deluxe room at Kismet Hotel (sea view)
- 3 nights accommodation in a corner room at The Marmara Bodrum Hotel (sea view)
- Guiding (except in Bodrum)
- Minivan with driver (except in Bodrum)
- Admission fees to the museums and sights
- Lunches (except in Bodrum)
- All expenses of driver and guide (food, accommodation etc.)
- All expenses of minivan (gasoline, parking fees etc.)
- Domestic flight tickets (Istanbul/Kayseri - Kayseri/Izmir - Bodrum/Istanbul)
- Tax

Excluding,
- International flight tickets
- Dinners
- Lunches in Bodrum
- Visa fee on arrival to Turkey
- Not mandatory but customary tips

This price is valid for 2008 and may change 5 to 10% depending on the prices of those hotels in 2009.

I hope this helps.

Best wishes,
Mehmet

ARGEUS TOURISM & TRAVEL
Istiklal Caddesi No:7
50400 Urgup - Nevsehir / Turkey
Tel : +90-384-3414688
Fax : +90-384-3414888
Mobile: +90-533-3090589
www.argeus.com.tr
www.cappadociaexclusive.com
[email protected]

Weadles

tripgirl,

We hired a private guide and driver with minivan from Anker Travel, based in Kusadisi. The guide and driver both went home at night, so we never had to pay for their dinners or accomodations. Where is Argeus Travel based? If they are not located near the areas you're visiting, that might be the reason you have to be charged for these things.

Also, have you checked the prices of the hotels online? It's always good to compare prices against what tour companies would charge. In some cases ( not always true) you can do better booking it yourself, although we did have a great deal of trouble trying to book The Kismet Hotel privately.

One last point: You really don't need a guide to meet you at the airport in Istanbul. The airport is not difficult on your own. You might want to arrange a private transfer if you have a lot of luggage, but I'm sure The Four Seasons can arrange that.

You don't really need a guide for the Grand Bazaar or the Spice market, either. We found most vendors spoke excellent English, and it really wasn't that hard to navigate either place by ourselves.

We had a wonderful guide for a two-day private walking tour of Istanbul who took us to the Blue Mosque, Topaki Palace, etc. and I will see if I can pull up the right file with his name in it.

I think there are many ways to save some money on this w/out drastically changing your itinerary...

propertravel

Hi Tripgirl;
Itinerary looks fine and ofcourse fine tuning is always possible.

Using different guides at different locations can be cost effective as Weadles suggests but there are pros and cons with it and you can decide about.
Hotels mentioned in last itinerary are expensive hotels. Both The Marmara Bodrum and Kempinski are my favorites too and they are the most expensive ones as well. With international flights inclusive for an upscale vacation, price seems OK to me.

I have one critique; as Mehmet worked on itinerary to post all excatly on the forum does not feel right to me. Yes Argeus is a reputable company, they are all my friends as well and Mehmets speedy answer also shows this.

Whatever you decide Happy Holidays in Turkey and have fun.

Murat

pirouette

Our family spent three weeks in Turkey last summer and did most everything on your proposed itinerary and more. I used Turkey Travel Planner extensively and booked a private tour through Credo Tours after weighing their planned itinerary with that offered by Argeus. We stayed at the Blue House in Istanbul, right across from the Blue Mosque and on our return near the end of our trip, we stayed at the Larespark near Taksim square. Both agencies are reputable and they appear to sub-contract to eachother. Credo is based in Istanbul and Argeus in Capadoccia. We had private guides and transport throughout our trip and the Capadoccia leg was led by Argeus. After reading reviews on Tripadvisor, I decided that we preferred not to stay at the Kismet in Kusadasi. Credo Tours was open to offering alternatives (we stayed at the Charisma) but Argeus was not. They tried to convince me that I would be very happy at the Kismet and were inflexible in suggesting other options. This was one of the deciding factors in my selection of Credo Tours over Argeus. My family would agree however that our guide in Capadoccia, who contracts to Argeus, was one of the best on our trip. He was selected by the Turkish government to guide Justice Bader-Ginsburg from the US Supreme Court on her trip to Turkey a few years ago. We stayed in the Anatolian Houses in Capadoccia-very near to Goreme. You may wish to get two quotes and compare from there.

tripgirl

First,

Murat, of course you are right! I probably should not have made it all public, but you know my intention was a good one; to have all of you to critique. Mehmet certainly is a delightful person!! Yes, I agree on how upscale this all is, the price seems fair.

I did however go back to Mehmet and asked for a lower price with him adjusting the itinerary if he can.

I did also e mail Credo and see what they can do as well.

The Istanbul and Cappadocia portions I am very satisfied with and would like to stick with those plans, its the rest that really we are flexible on, so we shall see.

In any event, as always, many thanks to you all.

any other suggestions are welcomed!

propertravel

Hi Tripgirl;
Thanks for understanding my point as well. I am sure you will get what you wanted at the end of the day. Once you have the itinerary I promise to give my commnets

Best Regards from snowy Cappadocia (though still beautiful)

Murat

tripgirl

Cappadocia sounds beautiful.

We have not had but a drop of snow this year in Washington DC!

Thanks for looking at the itinerary Murat; trust your opinions greatly!!!

tripgirl

OK....

UPDATE!

I did as a good traveler should and I got another quote. I started with Credo tours and for the same itinerary that Argeus provided, I am quoted only $3000.00 pp!!!

How can this be??!!!! Is Argeus that much more superior in its guiding, service, etc that it is more than twice the price pp.

It includes the same accommodations, same itinerary but does not include domestic air which Credo gave me the costs and they only add up to a total for the two of us at $510.
It even includes visiting Prienne, and all those other small towns. etc. The arrangment of the program makes a bit better sense too, getting to Cappadocia earlier, etc.

Soooooo.... my dear smart Fodors folks,,. what do you make of this. I have never had two companies come in so drastically different.

Murat, in particular could you assist me with this. I would be happy to furnish you with the details of Credo's itinerary to me since I am taking your wise advise to not post it here.

I have been so duly impressed with Mehmet at Argeus so far, he answers e mails like lightning and has such a pleasant manner about him. But Credo I just emailed a day or two ago and here there are as well.

Pirouette,

You used Credo. Were you happy with the other guides you had as well? You said the one contracted from Argeus for Cappadocia was your best, how were the rest?
How many guides did you have?


What to do????

tripgirl

ttt

someone, please comment on my last entry!!!!!

pirouette

If you are comparing prices then please ensure that you are comparing the same type of product. Our "tour" was a series of private guides and our own private driver and vehicle for our family. You will pay less if you join on with an existing group. The licensed guides seem to contract out their services to various tour companies. I know the young guide we had in Istanbul worked for several agencies. We had one guide for two days in Istanbul, another guide for Canakkale and Troy, and another guide for three days en route to Ephesus and all points in between to Kusadasi. We spent several days on a gulet from Bodrum and then flew to Capadoccia where we had another guide and private driver. All admission to the various attractions was covered by what we paid to Credo tours as were daily breakfast, many lunches and one dinner. We had four guides all together and as noted above, spent a couple of days (at least) with each. We were only disappointed in one of the guides-it is not that he was bad-it is just that we have travelled lots and have had better. All in all we were very satisfied with Credo and I have recommended them to other family members. The gulet (which we arranged ourselves)...well that's another story!

steamboatsista

I must say that I am surprised by the difference in cost. I found the prices quoted for the tour guides by Argeus to be well within my budget, so I did not get another quote (I guess I am a bad Fodorite). It seems like the cost with Argeus really went up when you added Israel and Egypt which is not their main area of expertise (I don't think). If I were in your shoes, I would contact Mehmet and give him a chance to meet or beat Credo's price.

tripgirl

pirouette,

We will not be joining a group; we do not travel this way.

steamboat,

This is cost ONLY for Turkey.

Argeus is NOT planning our Egypt and Israel parts.

And forgive me , Credo is charging us 3000E not $3000. But still w with our US exchange rate it comes to:

Argeus: For the original itinerary I presented here: $14470 for two with the domestic airfare incl

Credo: 3000 E ( at a calculated exchange rate of 1.49)=$4470 x 2=$8940 PLUS cost of domestic air= $379.95 pp x2=$759.90+ grand total for 2=$9699.90

SAVINGS WITH CREDO: $4770.10

A big difference. Argeus will however have us with the same exact guide throughout and hence I think paying for the guides accommodations and food adds up, but that much more ?!

What do you all think about one guide vs many different guides

Do you think I really should go back to Argeus and let them know another company quoted me this price for the same itinerary??

pirouette

It's up to you, but I would not want one guide for the whole trip. I saw an American family that did exactly that when we were in Turkey last summer. We commented (to ourselves) that we would have found this intrusive. To each his own and hopefully you will get on well with the chosen guide....I thought the series of guides gave us a broader perspective on Turkey and they were also regional experts. We always finished our day tours by late afternoon and had evenings to ourselves. The guides were able to go home for the evening.

Weadles

I agree with pirouette. We enjoyed our guides very much,but were glad that they could return to their own homes each night. It gave all of us some privacy after very long days.

I would not hestitate to contact Argeus and mention what you have found elsewhere. There may be a good explanation for the price differential, but you need to know what it is.

tripgirl

thanks piro and weadles,

I'm sooo bad about approaching a business questioning the prices as I am a business owner myself.

But I know the price diff is so great I need to.

Any suggestions on how to gracefully inquire???

steamboatsista

I would approach Argeus by saying that this is a large expense and that, as a wise consumer, you procured another quote. Given Argeus's reputation, you would like to go with them but the cost difference is a concern and you need to know why there is such a discrepancy. I think that any company can understand this and it gives them a chance to see what their competition is doing.

I also would go with separate guides in each location.

owkdupd

We are using Argeus travel for part of our Spring 2008 trip to Turkey. They always respond very quickly and communicate very effectively. They offer suggestions and advice, which I appreciate. They have made hotel, car, airline and tour reservations for us. We are very satisfied.