Incredible experience. We booked the 8 hour Prince’s Island tour as a last minute addition to our Istanbul itinerary, based only off Tripadvisor reviews, unsure what to expect. (Spoiler alert: we loved it so much, we booked it a second day.)

Our group was myself, my sister, my mother, and our significant others. Ages 24-56. All are very different and have different expectations/traveling experience, but the boat was one of the top activities we did in Turkey for most of our party.

The yacht was lovely. Plenty of room to lounge, and very clean.

We sailed south on the Bosphorous around Prince’s Islands, stopping at Büyükada to walk around. We were worried about getting seasick, but the captain drove slowly and surely. We also anchored in coves to swim. The crew was very flexible with how long we wanted to spend on which activity.

We brought our own alcohol and snacks, and the company was kind enough to waive the 50Euro corkage fee. We did elect to pay for the mezze option on board. I wasn’t in love with the mezze, but it was more food than expected. The boat picked us up at a small port much closer to our hotel than a ferry would have been. The crew member was happy to grab us drinks or water or ice or whatever we needed whenever we needed it. Both he and the captain were so kind and helpful.

My parents, who are notoriously difficult to please, especially in a foreign country, loved it so much that upon leaving that day, they immediately requested I reach out to the company and ask if we could book the boat again the next day. Which we did.

On the second day, we sailed north on the Bosphorous to a fishing village, Anadolu Kavagi. A server from a waterfront restaurant met us at the boat to escort us to the restaurant, Yosun Restaurant, which had plenty of fish and some non-fish options at reasonable prices, as well as a beautiful view. We walked around a bit before setting sail again further north, to the edge of the Bosphorous and Black Sea, to do some swimming.

The captain and crew were very flexible on incorporating our last minute ideas and requests, and the individual I emailed with to set up each request was extremely helpful. Overall, the service was professional and luxurious, and the experience was more than I had ever expected.