Icmeler 15th June – 1st July

[sandybeach]

Flights[/u
Flew with Thomas Cr**k from Gatwick and was charged for 3kg of excess luggage allowance total cost £42. Totally gutted but hey ho despite buying one of the lightest suitcases being sold at the moment it seems I can also fit more in than my old trusty case and I could not make the decision on what to remove from the suitcase. Flight was ok and on time and bought 400 B & H on the plane for £45, I had bought 400 B & H at Gatwick, which were a lot more expensive at £58. Special offer on at Gatwick for spirits and I bought 1 litre Bacardi and 1 litre of Russian Standard Vodka for £20. The flight was on time and we landed at Dalaman at about 01:15. Only one other plane had just landed and as all kiosks to the visa paying point were open so managed to get through in about 5mins.
Luggage was being put on the carousel by the time we had paid for our visas and we had collected our luggage within 10 minutes. Also had a browse round Dalaman duty free and noticed that Captain Morgan 1ltr was on offer for £10, so I bought two of these as well, (Captain Morgan was £15 at Gatwick)

[u]Transfers
Having read reviews on another web site of problems with transfers with the company we was using (not ICR transfers) stating that they was asked to wait for other flights to come in and often waiting up to 2hrs at Dalaman for the flight to arrive. Once on their way they also had the compulsory stop half way to the resort and for the driver to get lost in Marmaris it had taken one couple 6 hours for their transfer from Dalaman to Icmeler. We booked a private transfer, which was waiting for us when we arrived and was transferred directly to Icmeler and arrived in Icmeler at about 03:30.

Accommodation
Stayed at the Ekinci Palace and the staff all very nice however; there was one waiter who was pressurising us to eat there all the time. I told him I liked to eat out at night as I was also having lunch and drinks by the pool every day so I was not obliged to eat there of an evening too. We did however eat there for the Turkish evening and the food was very good with the entertainment supplied by traditional Turkish folk dancers (Dervish), Female belly dancer, the robot, break dancers and of course Michael Jackson junior.
Accommodation was large and spacious, however the showerhead was broken and did not spray correctly, toilet roll holder broken, and there was not enough crockery for four persons (this was not a problem for me as I did not use but would be if a family of four were planning on being self-catering).
Balcony was large with a table and four chairs and we had a good view overlooking the pool.

Gojek
Stayed at Gojek for one night as I was visiting friends who live there and this is a really pretty little village about 20 minutes from Dalaman. There is no beaches here but there is a beautiful marina and lots of little restaurants on the promenade. I managed to walk past every single restaurant without any hassle, no one stands at the front of house handing out cards trying to coax you in and it did feel kind of strange not to receive any hassle. Once again a big thank you to Rami and the team for arranging my transfer, I will not forget this and despite not answering my email Rami I will be bringing a gift next year to express my appreciation : )

Boat Trips
As it was so hot in the resort in the last week we did four boat trips. The first one we bought was one from a vendor on the canal who promised us that the boat (Woodstock) would only be for maximum 35 people and it was AI, the AI being for everything except, chips, ice creams, crisps etc. The actual boat that we was put on was Woodstock H and held 120 people and it is a soft AI so only beer, wine, water and soft/fizzy drinks from bottles was actually included all spirits including local spirits had to be paid for. This is not the fault of the people responsible for the boat excursion but the vendors who are miss selling the trips. There was quite a few people on the first trip moaning that they only wanted the small boat and about it not being fully AI. One chap got a shock as he had ordered six portions of chips at 6 TL and thought it was part of the meal. Lunch was good with the normal bbq chicken, pasta, salad and bread.
Pampering Booked the Turkish bath on our second day which was good for 20 TL, also had a manicure and pedicure for 35 TL.

Restaurants Champagne bar
Favourite restaurant is still the Champagne, we ate there several times, and although the fillet steak is slightly more expensive than most other places at 31 TL for the fillet steak it is definitely still the best.
Blue Fox
We had breakfast here one morning as I wanted to have a chat with Ozzy and the breakfast was very good. Decided to try it for the evening meal and I was very disappointed with the meal, the steak had obviously been defrosted as there was several knife incisions in the steak and it was also rare even though I had asked for it to be cooked medium to well done. I asked for the steak to be cooked again and when the meal was returned the steak was still too rare for my liking and they had not bothered to replace or reheat the rice, veg and potatoes. I told Ozzy that I did not enjoy my meal and a couple of days later Ozzy had left the Blue Fox and was working at the Ege Restaurant.
Tommy’s
After all the glowing reviews we visited this restaurant on Sunday for the roast, very disappointed with this meal as the meat was processed, the gravy watery thin and tasteless, the one brussel sprout had only just defrosted, beans and carrots lukewarm, Yorkshire pud was ok.
Prince
On the recommendation of people staying at our apartments, we tried this restaurant and can recommend this restaurant 100%. We had the chicken curry one which was fab and a few nights later we had the chicken kebabs, both were great meals and reasonably priced. This was the only restaurant we was served the lavash bread all the other restaurants are just serving toast with their meze. It is also one of the only restaurants that I have seen that does not have a person at the front of house trying to lure people in to the restaurant.

Bahama Bar
This is the restaurant attached to the accommodation Ekinci Palace, had the usual snacks, poached egg on toast 7TL , full English 7.5TL, omelette 11 TL. Turkish night was very good with chicken shish kebabs, rice , chips salads, mezes, fruit etc for 30 TL plus you get a free breakfast the following day if you have an evening meal there.
Captain Sinbads
Called in for lunch one day and had a beautiful prawn salad, I cannot remember the exact price but I think it was about 20TL, very good and I would recommend.
Love Star
Very polite staff and the chicken shish kebab was cooked well but it was very expensive compared to most places and the portions were very small.
Harry Ramsdens
Very good value had the cod coujons with chips and mush peas, which is on offer at only 14TL. Homemade chips and beautifully cooked cod, even though I only asked for a small portion I still could not eat it all as there was so much there. Restaurant very busy of an evening and I will definitely visit again.
Bar One
Steak meal was very good here and reasonably priced, tables are laid out beautiful and nothing is too much trouble for Roma and the lads. It is unfortunate that the location of this restaurant is in an out of the way for most people as this would be a very popular restaurant if it was in a better location.

Summary All too soon the holiday was over and it was time to go home, it was my friends first time in Turkey and she absolutely loved it. Due to other holiday commitments, this will be only holiday to Icmeler this year but I will be visiting more than once next year and love that ICR are now doing a price match.
I am sure that I have left some restaurants out but I think I have gone on long enough now.
Hope you all have a great time.
Sandy