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Istanbul - Current Status

Ballwin Babe
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Ballwin Babe

Ballwin Babe

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Are cruise ships currently stopping at Istanbul?  Given their abundance of caution, I put some value on their perception of the various threats in the Turkey, and Istanbul in particular.  I saw in a different post that the Turkey of today is not the Turkey of yesterday.   Any thoughts or input is greatly appreciated.

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dogs4fun

dogs4fun

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3 hours ago, Ballwin Babe said:

I saw in a different post that the Turkey of today is not the Turkey of yesterday. 

Unfortunately, this is true but Istanbul is a magnificent city that is well worth a visit.

3 hours ago, Ballwin Babe said:

Are cruise ships currently stopping at Istanbul?

Yes, quite a few. A quick review of an online TA sites will show that there are still cruise ships visiting Istanbul although there has been a marked decrease in the number of mega ships that port there.

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Gourmet Gal

Gourmet Gal

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Turkey is a spectacular country, the people are friendly, food is delicious and Istanbul is a fascinating city but I would hate to give my tourist dollars to a country run by a President who wants to do away with secularism and to take the country back a century.  His demonization of all Kurds is pure evil.

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  • 5 weeks later...
clairol

clairol

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Just wondering... does anyone have a current update on cruising in or out of Istanbul? Or even general travel in Istanbul at the moment? We have been looking forward to a cruise out of Istanbul in October with plans to stay several days in Istanbul on either end. Thanks in advance!

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IWantToLiveOverTheSea

IWantToLiveOverTheSea

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I just booked a cruise in May (Sirena) which starts in Istanbul and makes another stop or two in Turkey. I'm also curious to hear what people say about cruising now.  I really don't know the status of Turkey now, but can tell you that I've been looking on marinetraffic.com for a cruise ship stopping in Istanbul the last week or so and haven't seen one.  But many lines are just now starting up (including Oceania) so perhaps that means absolutely nothing.  I hope your cruise goes out as planned, and is uneventful and fabulous. 

 

We visited Istanbul once for 2 days before a cruise.  It is certainly a magnificent city, as the poster above stated.   

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cruisemom42 Great Review Rare

cruisemom42

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1 hour ago, IWantToLiveOverTheSea said:

I really don't know the status of Turkey now, but can tell you that I've been looking on marinetraffic.com for a cruise ship stopping in Istanbul the last week or so and haven't seen one.  But many lines are just now starting up (including Oceania) so perhaps that means absolutely nothing.

 

The issue, as I understood it a few weeks ago when I looked into it, is that Greece (and possibly other EU countries) were not allowing ships that called on ports in Turkey to stop in their ports. So for now, visits to Turkey were off the table for most ships.

 

You are right in that cruising is just starting up -- only a fraction of ships that usually sail the Med are active as of now, and the situation is likely to change quickly (for better or for worse, as we see by new quarantine requirements being imposed on US travelers by certain countries....)

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IWantToLiveOverTheSea

IWantToLiveOverTheSea

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On 9/13/2021 at 8:02 PM, cruisemom42 said:

 

The issue, as I understood it a few weeks ago when I looked into it, is that Greece (and possibly other EU countries) were not allowing ships that called on ports in Turkey to stop in their ports. So for now, visits to Turkey were off the table for most ships.

 

Thank you.  I didn't know that.  Hopefully, it will change (for the better) by the time I'm scheduled to cruise. 

 

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IWantToLiveOverTheSea

IWantToLiveOverTheSea

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On 9/29/2021 at 1:33 PM, clairol said:

Oceania just changed our October 18 embarkation from Istanbul to Athens because they could not assure entry to any EU port after visiting Turkey. They also removed Montenegro from the itinerary for the same reason.

Ouch.  I would rather start out in Istanbul than Athens, and I suppose you would too.  

 

I see today (Oct. 5)  that a Viking Ocean ship is on its way to Turkey (Kusadasi) after being in Greece.  So I guess Greece is OK with ships going from Greek ports to Turkish ports, but perhaps not the reverse.  I don't know where the ship is headed after Kusadasi -- maybe Troy/Canakkale and then Istanbul?

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timbloom

timbloom

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I hope there is not a problem either way. We fly on Oct 17 to Istanbul from the UK to join Viking Sky. This ship calls at 2 stops in Turkey and then Athens and Rhodes, I think, before turning back to a stop in Turkey, and after a couple of other stops goes back into the Med to go to Sicily, Naples & finishing in Rome. Viking are even now sending us stuff we have to do before flying and arriving at the ship, so if there was still a problem I would have thought they would have told us by now.

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cruisemom42 Great Review Rare

cruisemom42

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On 10/7/2021 at 12:24 PM, timbloom said:

I hope there is not a problem either way. We fly on Oct 17 to Istanbul from the UK to join Viking Sky. This ship calls at 2 stops in Turkey and then Athens and Rhodes, I think, before turning back to a stop in Turkey, and after a couple of other stops goes back into the Med to go to Sicily, Naples & finishing in Rome. Viking are even now sending us stuff we have to do before flying and arriving at the ship, so if there was still a problem I would have thought they would have told us by now.

 

I hope you'll come back and let us know how it goes. There has not been much info on sailing in or out of Istanbul recently. I think they have a new/updated port; it would be great to get some details.

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timbloom

timbloom

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On 10/10/2021 at 2:48 PM, cruisemom42 said:

 

I hope you'll come back and let us know how it goes. There has not been much info on sailing in or out of Istanbul recently. I think they have a new/updated port; it would be great to get some details.

Will do after we leave Istanbul on the 2nd day 18th Oct.

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IWantToLiveOverTheSea

IWantToLiveOverTheSea

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On 10/12/2021 at 6:17 PM, timbloom said:

Will do after we leave Istanbul on the 2nd day 18th Oct.

Thanks.  I see Sky is in Istanbul now, docked at same port as always (Salipazari in Karakoy), although I guess eventually the terminal will be underground - interesting!  Anyway,   I assume you're on board now.  I hear the port or the city gave the ship a warm welcome when the ship came in (previous cruise from yours, I think)  -- balloons and welcome from the dock, etc.  Can you see the little Kiz Kulesi tower and islet from the ship, over toward the Asian shore?  Hope you are able to come on here, or on the Facebook Viking Friends group I look at, to let us know what you think and how things are going.

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timbloom

timbloom

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Sorry but have been busy since we came back. To be honest Istanbul for us was a bit of a damp squid. We were told before we left we couldn't get off the ship on our own, but that was not the case when we got there. That didn't really give us time to plan anything or hire a private guide.

The two Viking excursions weren't great. The first was a coach tour that spent most of its time in traffic [seeing the distant rooves of the Blue Mosque etc and then on a boat tour of the Bosphorus, with an address system that was largely inaudible. Then we went on a dinner cruise that was cut short because the Viking Sky had to leave early because the Dardenelles were cut short for urgent maintenance on a bridge. To be fair Viking refunded 100% of the cost even though we had a rushed and average dinner. 

You really should get a local guide to see the historic sites in the old quarter as otherwise visiting Istanbul is waste of time IMO.

As a warning the Turkish authorities were getting silly at short notice about stopping at their ports. We couldn't go back to the port for Ephesus, & no stop at the port for Troy and Gallipoli.  

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vanchelle

vanchelle

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On 11/5/2021 at 6:37 PM, cruisemom42 said:

My sister and BIL are on an NCL cruise right now -- they were just told they wouldn't be able to make their port call in Turkey and were rescheduled to go to Volos (Greece) instead.

 

Thanks…we’re they scheduled to visit kusadasi or Istanbul? 

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danv3

danv3

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Wondering what the rules will be for stops in Turkey in 2022.  We have a cruise scheduled with stops in Istanbul and Kusadasi this July.  If I knew right now those stops wouldn't happen, I'd probably cancel.  

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