One Week in Bodrum

My husband and I needed to plan and book our trip to Turkey quickly to rendezvous with our adult son, and working with Odynovo Tours was the best decision we could have made. Agent Reinself Wei crafted an itinerary within our budget that turned a last minute trip to Turkey into a trip of a lifetime. We had fantastic private guides (Hulya Civelek in Istanbul & Fatma Yildiz in Cappadocia) who were a pleasure to spend time with and took great care getting us where we needed to be and were delightfully informative all the while. And because of them, our robust itinerary was easy to manage and our 8 days in Turkey felt like 2 weeks. Reinself remained very responsive throughout our trip and we always felt like we had his undivided attention. We will definitely contact Odynovo Tours for any future travel opportunities.

Not all items of the itinerary were done (village tour, hamman bath, getting off the boat to explore and hike). We didn't have a trip manager. The toilet didn't work for 3 days and we didn't have warm water to shower in at any point. Otherwise great food, friendly crew.

There was no contiki representative on the trip so comunication was difficult. We didnt really know what was going on. There was things on the itinerary that didnt happen

It was terribly planned, there was absolutely no communication from contiki when the meet up location was changed, the itinerary did not resemble the trip at all, the crew was rude, unable to communicate, and completely unprepared. We almost got crushed by a tractor on the incredibly scary taxi ride over which we should not have had to take in the first place, and one of the travellers never was able to find us so was likely stranded in bodrum for an entire week with no communication from contiki at all. None of the into the crew had on us was accurate which would have been detrimental if anything went wrong, it was a mess from start to end.
The trip is advertised as 20 and our departure was fully booked but only had 11 booked (only 10 were able to find the boat after the last min location change contiki told none of us about)
There were also only twin sized beds that we all had to share, so be prepared to share a twin bed with someone you’ve just met.
There was also 0 sailing- the crew had removed the sails from the boat which really took away from the point of a “sailing trip”
I would strongly recommend touring with another company if you’re looking for a sailing trip such as G Adventures or Sail Croatia or really any group other than contiki.

"I do not recommend Windstar Cruises, at least not onboard 'Windstar'.

The only reason I could see to sail with them is for the evening event in Ephesus, which was unforgettable.

Reaching them via telephone, pre-cruise took 45mins+. Questions regarding one of Windstar's Private Driver & Guide tours I inquired about were not responded to, nor was a phone call made to me to report back. Instead, after 11pm, on the 3rd night onboard, I received an unacceptable, vague reply. Fortunately, in the week prior to cruise, my travel agent did a wonderful job of contacting a local tour/guide operator, and I had a wonderful experience.

I sailed on The Windstar in August 2022 for a Greek Isles cruise. Unfortunately, I was underwhelmed in most aspects, except for the spa staff, who were wonderful, and cabin stewards, dining staff, and pool area bartenders/staff, who were excellent.

While realizing it is a smaller 'sailing' ship,
it needs a major upgrade/overhaul, or perhaps replacement with a new ship.

Public areas, were substandard, pool had unsightly rusty colored sediment around the base of the waterline, whirlpool was neither heated, nor cooled, bed was uncomfortable, many times announcements by Captain could not be heard in cabin, nor were they repeated, in full, and slowly, a second time. Announcements meant for hallways or public areas only also were stated very quickly, and not repeated, slowly and with enunciation.

I felt the destination briefings could have been interactive, with repeated times, and a fun, learning experience, with some ideas of what, and how, to experience the islands, other than the Windstar, or alternate booked excursions. Such as having information on car rentals, motorbike rentals, and perhaps a packet with information on all port calls, with maps, in the cabins, upon check-in, or a designated, sit-down office, wherein one could obtain information, comfortably, without interruptions. While I realize all lines are short-staffed the past couple of years, I felt it was grossly understaffed in the dissemination of information, reception, and destination briefing department, and that staff could have been available for a longer period of time for public Q & A's.
I was actually distracted with number of times I heard 'Ladies & Gentlemen', during destination briefings, after almost every single sentence, that it interfered with information being given.

While an understanding was reached after a couple days, and Reception improved, I was, one time, given an 'attitude' by reception staff, which won't easily be forgotten.

My cabins portholes had exterior rust sediment build up which interfered with a nice view outside the portholes, and the smaller drain in the bathroom/head, outside the shower stall, had water coming up into/onto the toilet area and left the floorboards with that awful squeaky sound and also disallowed the use of fluffy area rug, instead needing 3 large towels to dry area after a shower. After this was reported to Manager, it was fixed, but by the night prior to end of cruise, it started happening again.

I also feel the cruise rates, as compared to other lines, are overpriced.

Perhaps Windstar's other, newer ships are different. One can only hope."

Only giving a 3 star because I loved the group I was with and the boat crew. We had no trip leader. Did not follow the itinerary whatsoever. If we didn't have a good group I don't think I would have enjoyed the trip as we really had to make our own entertainment as there's not a lot to do. Barely saw any civilisation and only went onto land 1 day. Also the boat kept running out of vodka