Istanbul, Turkey Port Reviews

Lots of people! Did third party excursion through United.

The tour was too rushed and not enjoyable. The site visits were not balanced. We had 40 minutes at the bazar. Then was told I will find you by tour guide. We were 5 minutes late to the meeting point and she was irritated with us. This was not enjoyable. Need more time. Also b/c of the traffic etc did not fee comfortable getting off the ship the 2nd day. 1 day was more than enough

I would say this was one of my favorite ports. Istanbul is a huge city with an incredible skyline. We visited the Blue Mosque, the detail inside and outside the mosque is incredible. The mosque was super busy to get in, but once we were in there was plenty of room. After this we visited the Basilica Cistern. It was fascinating to visit this historical site. The decorations/carvings on the columns in the cistern are very interesting. We then went on a river boat cruise of the straights of Bosphorus. The scenery on this cruise was breath taking. This included a meal which was delicious. Finally we went to the spice bazzar, it was a lot of fun to wander around the bazzar and see all the stuff for sale.

We disembarked in Istanbul but had an evening flight so deposited our luggage at the port and had 4 hours wandering around the city before taking a cab to the airport. Warning: Easy Point luggage storage at Galataport is - in theory - easy and cheap (€10 for 6 hours per case) and convenient. BUT everyone was struggling with the app unless you have a Turkish mobile number! The ground level shop doesn’t open until 10am and we wasted 90 minutes trying to get the self service lockers to work on level P1. Once the shop opened, the employee was brilliant setting ours up using her Turkish mobile to get locker code etc. It was Friday so mosques closed to the public but we had a lovely few hours seeing the main sites etc. Got our luggage then a Galataport taxi to the airport!

Always loved Istanbul...not enough time...the excursion we would have gone on to the Hagia Sophia was not clearly explained. The Topkapi palace was the other option which we found ourselves on.

Language barrier was difficult. Money was confusing

Port ok did walk about town exercusion I lpved.

Probably my least favorite. Z

The boat docked late (originally should have been 10am). We were scheduled for an excursion THROUGH CRUISES ONLY. BUT the ships doors did not open till 10:23. Our driver left at 10:25, so we were abandoned! Sadly, it was an $800+ trip! When we contacted Cruises, they REJECTED our claim and are holding us responsible for the cost! So for this reason….we will NEVER USE CRUISES ONLY AGAIN!

Very interesting place to visit.