Blue Cruise Offers: How to get the best deal on a gulet

Some time ago (not so long) I decided to take my family to Canary islands to a nice little holiday to some nice private villa. As an experienced travel agent and as somebody who is in tourism for more than 10 years I thought it will be a piece of cake to find a good deal and book.

So I followed the same procedure as I recommend when it comes to gulets. Did it work for me? Absolutely………NOT!!

What did I do? First I checked several web pages for villas. Then I determined my wishes. Close to the sea. Nice. With a pool. Not in some huge touristic city…and of course great value for money. All the normal stuff.

The first problem arrived who to contact. The possibilities were HUGE! And I must admit I hate all the SEARCH SYSTEMS with thousands of possibilities. So I wrote a nice little e-mail and I sent it to 3 agencies that gave me the best feeling.

And what happened next?

I received 3 offers from 3 agencies. Each agency offered me lets say on average 5 villas so I had in front of me 15 deals and I had no idea what is the best for me. I had no idea what to look for.

Is it more important to be closer to the sea or it is better to have a larger pool? What is the exact location? Is it better to stay in North or in South part of the island? What about the prices? Are there any hidden costs? How old are the houses? Do the pictures tell the real story?

And going through 15 offers was quite overwhelming.

Did I book something at the end? You are right. I did not. We went to Croatia on a gulet cruise instead and it was a great decision as we had an amazing time.

But if I would know how to check the offers and if these agencies gave me better info along with some advice…I am sure I would book immediately. And while all agencies in this times are concentrating more on discounts rather than on good advice lots of clients experience the same problems.

In this blog post, I would like to advise you what you should do, when you get the first Blue Cruise Offers on your e-mail.

I would advise you this (this is meant for the people that never cruised on gulets before):

Do not concentrate too much on details, try to see the big picture. Check the pictures of gulets and their prices and select a couple of gulets you like the most.
Check very closely any comments, advice and info the agency gives you besides the gulet offers. This might be more important in the first place then the size of the gulet in meters. You might learn some valuable lessons from there.
When you will check the gulet offers I am sure lots of questions will pop out to you. Write them down in the e-mail as soon as they get on your mind. And send them all to the agency. Do not feel bad if you asked too much questions.
ASK FOR ADVICE!! this is maybe even the most important part. The agency that will not be able to give you any advice but will only be able to write you name of the gulet and the discount they offer….well I would be very careful in that case.