We just used Alaturka Cruises. Stay away. Nothing is as they represent.
We took the Fethiye to Olympos route on a cabin cruise (you book cabins as opposed to having to buy the whole boat for a week). Our cost was 175 Euros per person. 4 days, 3 nights. Half the people on our boat got it for half price through some travel service in the UK for students and backpackers.
Little of what Alaturka represents on their website was provided. The photos on their website look like nice, clean, modern ships, large rooms and space, with a feast of different foods to eat. And the descriptions sound like a wonderful experience. Our experience was quite the opposite. I certainly cannot recommend them nor would I think anyone else on my boat would, since we all complained to each other. Comments in the forums about their travel services and lack of what is represented taking place, seems to be consistent with what we found on our cruise. I will say Ned was always very friendly and helpful in our emails before the trip, and on meeting him at his hotel before our cruise. But providing something so far off from what was represented is unprofessional, if not a bait and switch.
If you are looking simply for a boat to get you from point A to point B along the coast, don’t care about the accommodations ,crew or itinerary, then Alaturka (or probably anyone) is fine, albeit expensive for what you get.
Here is what the Alaturka website said, and what we got:
The boat – it was not one of the ones listed on the website, nor looked like any of them. It was very small, and old. Although the website shows and lists rooms with twin beds, double beds, etc, our boat only had a large futon spread over a cabinet. . (I had booked 6 months ahead and specifically asked for two rooms with twin beds because my boys wont sleep together in the same bed, but of course did not get that….not that we ended up sleeping in the room anyway). Our room had little room to stand (about 18 inches square) but you wanted to avoid being in the room anyway as it was very hot and smelled from the bathroom. Bathroom smelled like an outhouse and even backed up from the main cesspool, smelling up the very hot room. The boat did not have a generator and one night it started to run out of battery power so we had to cut back on usage to a few light bulbs. The boat did have a nice covered area, as well as an uncovered sun deck, and respectable lounge cushions.
English Speaking crew – not on our trip. Was very hard to communicate anything. However, we did quickly learn that when the captain said “nine” he meant don’t do that. And pantomimes helped sometimes to convey what we wanted.
Three to four person crew – nope. We had a captain and what appeared to be his teenage son. Because the captain was also the chef, we could not travel when he was cooking, and many times had very late lunches or dinners, or a breakfast not being done till 10 or 11 followed a couple hours later by lunch and then 8 hours till dinner. We also ended up being late to leave our stops, then rushing to get to the next stop and skipping many of the places on the itinerary. (I will say our crew, of the Kaptain Murat, were very nice, cooked great food, were very friendly, and tried really hard. This review is not about them at all).
“BBQ every night” – nope. Not once.
“Fresh fish, chicken, Turkish meatballs, with traditional Turkish rice, and vegetable dishes. A number of fresh salads are also served. It’s a feast!” - Not quite. The photos on the website show multiple dishes. Our captain cooked great but simple, and clearly on the cheap, food. No such thing as a feast, nor multiple salads, or even more than two dishes (one type of stew, rice or pasta, and a mixed salad). Spaghetti with a vegetable stew 3 of the 4 lunches, Turkish meatballs (small fried hamburgers) , fried trout and a chicken stew for the dinners. He did make terrific stuffed peppers. The bread after a couple of days got so stale we all started to joke about it.
“It's tea / coffee time in the afternoon, with cookies and biscuits. “ – did have it once. And one other afternoon the captain made some cheese crepes.
“We also serve fresh seasonal fruits throughout the day and night.” - nope. But we did have it at a couple of meals.
“Bar and great music system” – does a cooler count? We did have music, but a “great music system” is a stretch. The teenage crew member plugged his laptop into the sound system, and someone plugged their ipod in too.
Snorkel gear available – not exactly. Of the few pieces there were, they were so old they literally fell apart in your hands, and were covered in such dirt and dust they looked like they had not been used in years. All of us on our boat bought our own (at 25YTK per person) at the first stop we could.
Reasonable (inexpensive) drinks – I guess that is subjective but having prices two to three times retail and at the higher end of restaurant prices is not my idea of inexpensive or reasonable. (beer you could buy at a mini mart for 2.5 YTL but it was 5 YTL on board, and water was 0.75 YTL at a store and 2.5 YTL on board.)
Hot water – some times. Usually for a few seconds or so. I think it was the little water that was near the engine that got hot.
Itinerary – skip that. The posted itinerary talks about numerous stops and things to do. The photos on the site look great. Too bad we did not stop at most of the places listed or shown. Everyone on our boat was complaining to the captain about can we stop here or will we stop there. Problem was he spoke little English so we basically got nowhere. We only stopped at two towns along the way, skipping over most of the listed sites. Butterfly valley he pulled into the cove never stopped and turned around. Oludeniz we stopped for lunch but away from the beach and never had a chance to explore. St Nicholas island, never got there. Etc. It appeared our crew was not familiar with the schedule as they kept looking at the V-go brochure. The trip even started off schedule, as Ned did not have the mini bus to take us to the boat until 1hour after we were supposed to leave, and then the mini bus drove us for an hour to a cove some distance from Fethiye (Ned said the boat was not able to make it all the way to Fethiye the night before for some reason, but I think it was so we could not complain to him once we got on the boat).
There was more (or rather less) but you get the idea.
All that said, as a cruise, putting aside the boat, it’s a wonderful experience and should not be missed. Taking a blue cruise is definitely something to do. The area is gorgeous, the water crystal clear and warm. Sleeping out on the deck is actually fun. (most websites mention that unless you have a private charter with air conditioning its way too hot in the cabins to sleep, and they are right).Just skip Alaturka.