Ancient Adriatic Treasures

[jc522]

We might book this cruise for February of 2024. The highlights for us would be the Grand Bazaar and Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. I'm doing some guessing because Viking's phone staff are no help, but it doesn't look like we can see those sites. On the first day there, the only (3) excursions are all at night. So, I guess the ship gets to Istanbul late in the day. The second day is disembarkation. If someone has done this cruise, can you tell me if it is possible to see the Grand Bazaar and Hagia Sophia without booking an extension?

Edited April 8, 2023 by jc522

[JM0115]

1 minute ago, jc522 said:

We might book this cruise for February of 2024. The highlights for us would be the Grand Bazaar and Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. I'm doing some guessing because Viking's phone staff are no help, but it doesn't look like we can see those sites. On the first day there, the only (3) excursions are all at night. The second day is disembarkation. If someone has done this cruise, can you tell me if it is possible to see the Grand Bazaar and Hagia Sophia without booking an extension?

Try getting a private tour.

[jc522]

Just now, JM0115 said:

Try getting a private tour.

At night?

[JM0115]

Just now, jc522 said:

At night?

I didn’t realize you were only there at night. Not sure either the bazaar or Hagia Sophia are open at night?

[jc522]

2 minutes ago, JM0115 said:

I didn’t realize you were only there at night.

That's my guess, but I'm hoping someone who has taken this cruise can verify that.

Edited April 8, 2023 by jc522

[jc522]

Why would a cruise ship go to Istanbul and not give their passengers an opportunity to visit the 2 biggest attractions in that city, the Grand Bazaar and the Hagia Sophia? Is viking doing this on purpose to generating extra revenue by selling Extensions?

[Azulann]

I was curious  about your question of  this cruise and the overnight stay in Istanbul.

On the Viking ocean web site, it says the evening  tour of Hagia Sophia and the cistern are  privileged access  evening excursions.  I  would  think the ship is in port for a full day / overnight and disembarks the next day. . No reason that Viking would not offer  day tours these places also.

As others have said, one can always  do a private tour . All guides in Turkey are licensed but by the  state , and they all have passed  courses on historical  sites and speak multiple languages.

I  used three different private guides  in various ports in Turkey and in Istanbul. They were all excellent . I organized  groups on my roll call. This was on another cruise line a number of years ago.

I even bought a hand made rug in the Grand Bazaar with an advanced reservation with a rug dealer recommended by a friend. 

 We stayed in Istanbul post  cruise for four days. Love the city , food, and the  ancient sites.

Both the Hagia Sophia and the Grand Bazaar are not opened at night to the general public. Easy to do  a tour of both with a private tour guide or even on your own  if you  prefer. 

 The itenary  looks really interesting. Been to most of the ports which are full of historical sites of the ancient world.

[jc522]

29 minutes ago, Azulann said:

I  would  think the ship is in port for a full day...

 

Why? If so, wouldn't they have excursions during the day? There are none listed.

 

Edited April 8, 2023 by jc522

[jc522]

36 minutes ago, Azulann said:

As others have said, one can always  do a private tour.

If Viking doesn't offer the excursions, I might do that. First, I need to determine whether the ship gets there early enough, and so far it doesn't look good. Looking for someone with first-hand experience.

Edited April 8, 2023 by jc522

[Azulann]

I am going on a Viking cruise ending in Copenhagen. It arrives on morning and stays overnight. Lots of day excursions to pick from. All the Viking cruises at have looked at with overnight, had a full day first in same port. 

[lackcreativity]

We are booked on this itinerary departing on October 13, 2023. My invoice shows us arriving in Istanbul at 7:00 AM on October 26 and departing the ship the morning of October 27. When I booked the cruise, I asked the agent this same question, and was told there would be daytime excursions. I am not completely trusting that claim, as often the agents are not as informed as they should be. However, I am counting on the arrival time giving us a full day in Istanbul, and will book a private tour if necessary. 

Edited April 8, 2023 by lackcreativity

[jc522]

3 hours ago, lackcreativity said:

We are booked on this itinerary departing on October 13, 2023. My invoice shows us arriving in Istanbul at 7:00 AM on October 26 and departing the ship the morning of October 27. When I booked the cruise, I asked the agent this same question, and was told there would be daytime excursions. I am not completely trusting that claim, as often the agents are not as informed as they should be. However, I am counting on the arrival time giving us a full day in Istanbul, and will book a private tour if necessary. 

Thanks! That's the information I needed.

[Heidi13]

10 hours ago, jc522 said:

Why would a cruise ship go to Istanbul and not give their passengers an opportunity to visit the 2 biggest attractions in that city, the Grand Bazaar and the Hagia Sophia? Is viking doing this on purpose to generating extra revenue by selling Extensions?

 

You are considering a cruise where Istanbul is a TAR (disembarkation) port. Although in a number of embarkation/disembarkation ports, Viking do offer some overnights. I note that the greatest majority of cruises depart on day of embarkation and arrive early morning on disembarkation day. Therefore, if you wish to spend time at TAR ports you need to book pre/post extensions.

 

The benefit of arriving in Istanbul early evening is the scenic cruising through the Dardanelles. Having been in Istanbul many times over the years, an early morning arrival in Istanbul misses the Dardanelles transit at night.

 

Therefore, I consider an early evening arrival at TAR port as the best option, as you get the spectacular scenic cruising through the Dardanelles, evening tours in Istanbul and then some additional days to see the attractions after disembarkation. Personally, I would not use a Viking extension. 

[Vagabond51]

We are in Istanbul four days having done the precruise extension. An option you may wish to investigate is the public tram line. It is clean, modern and efficient. A less than two block walk from the cruise dock puts you at the Tophane stop on the T1 line. You can buy an Istanbul Card for $1.75 right there and put some fares on it for another $3. Two stops toward town you can get off and walk a block to the Spice Market. When done, get back on, go two more stops and get off at the Sultanahmet stop. Hagia Sophia, The Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, Hippodrome and many other cultural sites are within a short walk. Get back on, go two more stops and your right at the Grand Bizare. When done, take the tram all the way back to Tophane for a short walk onto the ship. All for under $15 for two and you get to choose what you want to see and for how long. There are dozens of YT videos explaining all this. These tech centric young moderns LOVE to travel and do a great job at helping each other online, just like here!! On our transition day from the hotel to the ship the entire day is consumed with a 10 minute vehicle ride from the hotel to the ship. I'm hopeful I can make better use of the day than that. Some folks have "heartburn" rubbing elbows with the locals. We love it! Street food, shop hawkers, pickpockets, people watching, it's all part of the show.

 

Edited April 8, 2023 by Vagabond51

[Travelswithmycamera]

Booked on this cruise for Aug/23.  A great resource on this forum is from Sleep7 (2022) who provided an excellent and detailed trip report.  She included copies of the tours that were offered each day that we cannot see yet.  On her itinerary the ship arrives in Istanbul in the am.  Several tours were offered that day (page 6 of her report).  From my research it looks like traffic is quite troublesome in town and public transport via a tram is the best method if you choose an independent tour.  You will enjoy her report as I did as it is full of very useful information for this cruise.   We are extending our cruise in Istanbul however not using Viking extension as the hotel is too far out.  All the best!!

[Ray4Fun]

We've done both. One was a Cruise ship tour, the second was private. The Grand Bazaar, Lots of memories. Think a USA shopping mall on steroids. Walk 5' and you're in the face of someone selling something from his wears. If that sounds bad, it is, and if you're aware it is one of the best times. If you can haggle with the stall vendors then you'll have a great time. For us we had to go back a second time. My partner first go round was taken back. Upon reflection she was upset at herself so that I re-booked for Istanbul. Second time was the charm. First time we prob spend 45 minutes in there. Second time a couple plus hours. If your into this then do it. 

 

As the others have stated, Hagia Sophia, The Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace all are good. They are the history of Turkey. I would personally say the Palace is first, Blue Mosque second and Hage Sophia last on that list. 

 

Or, you can cross into Asia, and back with a taxi. That was also interesting. 

 

Istanbul is a great place, the people were the attraction after all. We were apprehensive at first. We now would go back if the offer came up. Good luck, 

 

[Kentishincanada]

We stayed four nights prior to our cruise in October.  We stayed at Sirkeci Mansion hotel which is charming and in the old town.  We walked to all the historic sites and were a stone’s throw from Topkapi Palace - so very pleased we selected our own hotel.  Heard on the Viking excursion after we had boarded that buses from the Viking hotel had take ages to get back into town.

We really enjoyed Istanbul and felt very safe.  Everyone we met was very friendly and helpful.

The worse part was the new cruise port - we walked for miles and it was so frustrating as we could almost touch the ship but were sent down a warren to get on to it.

 

[jc522]

I received our Guest Statement. It shows us arriving in Istanbul at 7am and disembarking the next day. I'm sure there will be an opportunity to see the sites.

 

Thanks to all for the responses.

Edited April 23, 2023 by jc522

[HDS]

Vagabobd51 you are my kind of traveler.  Thank you for your post on Istanbul.  That’s the way we like to get around a city.  We are very frustrated when our ship docks at industrial ports where pedestrian access/egress is denied and/or there is no public transport to the city.

[duquephart]

On 4/8/2023 at 6:59 AM, Travelswithmycamera said:

Booked on this cruise for Aug/23.  A great resource on this forum is from Sleep7 (2022) who provided an excellent and detailed trip report.  She included copies of the tours that were offered each day that we cannot see yet.  On her itinerary the ship arrives in Istanbul in the am.  Several tours were offered that day (page 6 of her report).  From my research it looks like traffic is quite troublesome in town and public transport via a tram is the best method if you choose an independent tour.  You will enjoy her report as I did as it is full of very useful information for this cruise.   We are extending our cruise in Istanbul however not using Viking extension as the hotel is too far out.  All the best!!

 

Would you be so kind as to link to the Sleep7 report?

[duquephart]

Anyone care to weigh in on the Istanbul post extension? We booked this cruise several months ago for a year from now and that extension was already sold out. Looks like a whirlwind "highlights" tour on day one and then "at your leisure" on day two before leaving on day three. The "highlights" portion could be easily done on one's own or by private tour on the full day before disembarkation.

[arlowood]

On 4/23/2023 at 5:59 PM, jc522 said:

I received our Guest Statement. It shows us arriving in Istanbul at 7am and disembarking the next day. I'm sure there will be an opportunity to see the sites.

 

Thanks to all for the responses.

It's possible that your arrival in Istanbul constitutes a changeover day where some passengers may be continuing on to a follow-on itinerary and others will be disembarking. 

I have read that, to save confusion, Viking does not normally advertise day excursions ahead of the cruise and that they will be publicised to eligible passengers while on board.

Just a thought as to the reason for the absence of day excursions

[jc522]

You are correct. We experienced that on our previous Viking cruise. I'm not sure why they wait until we are onboard to list their excursions for the day prior to changeover. They do list them on their web site in the generic description of the cruise, but not in the Guest Statement. On the previous cruise, the list (almost exactly the same as the generic list) was in our stateroom when we boarded the ship. That created a rush to research the choices and sign up, at a point when we would have preferred to just relax onboard after a very long flight. This time, before we leave for the cruise, we will study the excursions that are listed on their site so we aren't as rushed upon boarding.

[lackcreativity]

9 hours ago, arlowood said:

It's possible that your arrival in Istanbul constitutes a changeover day where some passengers may be continuing on to a follow-on itinerary and others will be disembarking. 

I have read that, to save confusion, Viking does not normally advertise day excursions ahead of the cruise and that they will be publicised to eligible passengers while on board.

Just a thought as to the reason for the absence of day excursions

That is true, and it would make sense if Istanbul were a changeover port on two or more back to back cruise options.  As far as I can tell, the only way that would happen is if someone were to pretty much go back the way they came, repeating much of the same itinerary in reverse. While not impossible, it seems unlikely that they would have many who would choose that route. I don't think Viking markets it as such.

 

Since we are scheduled for a two part cruise from Venice to Istanbul this fall, I will just have to wait until excursions are posted in August to find out what choices are actually available for excursions on the day we arrive in Istanbul. Given how Viking operates most of the other cruises we have taken with them, this one seems to be an anomaly.