Istanbul port

Hi,

Our family is sailing in on N.C.L in October,arriving at 9.am:):).My question is if we rise early,to see the sights,would we really be gaining by taking a bosphorus cruise?I can see that anyone staying at a hotel would find it a worthwhile experience.

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

You can ask this question on the Ports of Call at this link:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=234

I don't think the Bosphorus cruise is a "must do" if you only have a day in Istanbul. For folks staying 3-4 days in the city, then yes (although it still doesn't rank that high on my list with all the things to do in and around the city....

We were on the port side of the ship cruising in to Istanbul last July and it was just spectacular. We didn't take a Bospherous cruise but from the ship we had an amazing view of the Sultenhamet district with its temples and palaces.

Hi,

Our family is sailing in on N.C.L in October,arriving at 9.am:):).My question is if we rise early,to see the sights,would we really be gaining by taking a bosphorus cruise?I can see that anyone staying at a hotel would find it a worthwhile experience.

The Bosphorus has been traversed for thousands of years by a countless multitude of people and peoples. Besides it's obvious and immediate use as a working commute lane between the two continents that contain the city of Istanbul, it is the gateway to both Greece and the European Mediterranean to the south in general and the Black Sea and the Asia and the Russias to the north. It is still today used for trade, commerce and leisure as it always has been. So what would you gain by a Bosphorus cruise? Besides seeing the pretty sights from a separate and unique literal and figurative vantage point, you would gain the ability to irrefutably state that you have sailed on and been an active participant on one of the world's greatest and most storied waterways since the beginning of time. You'd gain being part of some real and serious history that most Americans or Westerners are unable to claim and probably never will. That's why we took the cruise in our 3-day post-sailing a couple of weeks ago.

If you have the time in Istanbul of three days than I would take a cruise of the Bosphorus but if you don't have much time there are many other things to see in Istanbul.

Keith