Passport queues are not bad as some reviews suggest - I read all the reviews of long delays at passport control but decided to go anyway and I thought I would time it with stop watch and share my experience for others. I went on Friday 20th October towards the end of the season but the ferry was almost full. We were to get to the travel office at least an hour early so before 8am. Our taxi arrived at 7.50am and queued 14 mins and 30 seconds to checkin, only one needs to check In. There were no queues after 8.10am so maybe come a little latter. Passport control Turkish side was a breeze and just 5 mins and 47 seconds Ticket says no boarding after 8.30am but people were still boarding at 8.50am and we set off 9am on the dot to Samos. A big tip is to queue up at the back at 10.10am next to rope 5 mins before docking to be first off and be one of the first to passport control. Greece side passport control was just 4 minutes and 18 seconds and they seemed very organised with lots of staff on. We over five and a half hours on the island and had a great time. At 4pm we queued for 8 minutes 16 seconds to check in again and get past Greece passport control. There was No queue after 4.20 pm. People checked in and got past passport control that after that point Some tourists and locals were checking in as late as 4.45pm with no problem but do so at your own peril! Gates up at 4.51pm after last two Locals boarded and boat left early at 4.52pm arrived at 6.18pm, Queued up at the back of the boat again and got through Turkish passport control in 3 minutes and 10 seconds Easy peasy and not the drama many described. Worth the risk I think!

A little paradise - Took the ferry over to Samos, which took around 1 hr 15. Samos is a beautiful island and the restaurant staff are always happy to make recommendations on what you can do whilst there, either on foot, cycle or by car. The sea was easily accessible from any of the little beaches. Would recommend this trip as an excursion when travelling to Kusadasi. The custom process is a little lengthy though.

Port change - Transport was very good. I was just unsure where to disembark in Samos, as I was only able to buy Kuşadası -> Samos (Pythagorion) however the ferry docked in Samos Vathi which is where I ended up disembarking. From there, I took a taxi to Port Malagary, which is much closer than the port of Pythagorion.

Samos - Wonderful Journey to and from a pain...... - Lack of hotel pickup a minus. Waiting in chaotic queue at Meander Travel's office to pick up Boarding Card for 30 mins very definite minus. Passport Control and Customs at either end tedious as usual but reasonably well managed. Samos (Pythagorion) wonderful.

Immigration is a big problem - We made a trip to samos, we were aware of delays but decided to go. Boarding ferry in kusadasi was ok, queued 20 mins to get on board. Ferry was fine and took 1 hr 40 mins. When we arrived in Samos the earlier bigger faster ferry passengers were still queuing to go through immigration along dockside, so we were not allowed to disembark until they were through, so we waited 45 mins on the boat. It then took another 50 mins to go through immigration. This did leave us about 3.5hrs to walk around Vathy. The immigration process is certainly the problem, if they got their processing faster then visitors would have more time to spend on the island and people would spend more making more money for the local economy. Samos is lovely and people were very friendly.

Not a great value trip - Paid 72 euros with Tui to go on this trip left hotel at 7.30am took 45 mins to Get to the port then had to que to go through passport control an security before we could leave, the trip across Was lovely although could not imagine if it was a day when the sea was not as calm arrived at 11.30am got out of passport an security by 12ish samos is beautiful but once you were there you were on your own, samos beautiful people beautiful but to be honest not a lot to see out side the harbour, 4pm bk to que again finally got back to the hotel at 8.15pm so a very very long day an not a lot to see

Choose IDO for a Better Experience - Meander Tourism has monopolized the Kusadasi - Samos route for years, setting their own prices and ticket policies, and forcing people to use their services with ferries that should have been scrapped long ago. Thankfully, they now have a serious competitor (IDO) that reaches Samos in a third of the time with air-conditioned catamarans. Choose them instead.

A very bad experience - This is probably the worst experience I have had with a company. Me and the fiance went to the wrong meet up address that was posted on the site. We finally got to Meander late but they did not even have our registration. They said I never paid. I proved to them I paid and showed them the receipts. One staff member was making snarky jokes in Turkish. My fiance told me this because she is a Turkish native. We finally got everything fixed and they told us to come back the next day. They took our passports and printed boarding passes. They said all we had to do was pick up our tickets the next day. We arrive early the next day and stand in line. They handed us the tickets and then they took one back from my fiance. We were shocked and asked why. They told us that my fiance ( who has a Turkish passport) did not fill out a certain form online for the visa. This is never told to us the day before when we visited the office! Even on the website it says visa at the door. My fiance burst into tears and leaves. They did not even offer a refund or change of date. Everything I am saying is 100% the truth. This company is unprofessional. To this day we dont know what extra documentation that we needed.

Once, but never again. - The customs authorities on Samos are a disgrace. In Kusadadis we got through customs in 5 minutes. In Samos it took us about 60 minutes to get through customs. And on the way back it was the same drama again. What a shame for the beautiful island.

Terrible experience, just waiting in lines all day - The ferry takes 1 hour 40 minutes and you spend 1 hour 15 minutes at passport control on Samos. This means you get 4 hours in Samos. It’s ridiculous, please don’t go for a day trip because it’s stressful and you can’t enjoy. The staff is rude, since it’s a monopoly they just don’t care about customers. Costs 45 euros return ticket.