Bospherus Cruise

I can definitely recommend AGAINST doing the full cruise all the way up the Bosporus that is recommended in Rick's book (at least it was a few years ago when I used it). The first part was interesting, but then it got boring, and the town you end up in (Anadolu Kavağı) is not too interesting, and then you have the long slog back. By the way, this cruise and a particular restaurant (Haci Abdulla - avoid, unless you want extreme attitude in a city where everyone else was overwhelming friendly and helpful) were the only two big "mistakes" in the book - all the other advice was great!

A friend of mine took one of the shorter Bosporus cruises and liked it much more than I liked mine (sorry - don't know the company).

If you want a real cheap and interesting "cruise," take the boat from Karaköy to Kadıköy. It's not the same as the Bosporus, but the views of Sultanahmet are great, and Kadıköy was quite interesting to walk around. As a bonus, it costs a regular tram/bus fare, and you can use your Istanbulkart for it.

And yes, I cut and pasted all those names to get the accent marks right!

You can see the different itineraries when you get down to the docks. There's no need to select in advance. You'll see the routes and prices on the posted maps. There's no reason to take a "tourist" or private cruise - the local cruises are very inexpensive and an excellent value because locals use the ferries.

Thank you so much Harold! You have saved me a lot of time and given me great advice.

Agnes:
I am glad I don't need to book before-hand. Thank you.
Jenn

I took four different ferries while in Istanbul: one up the Golden Horn, another to Kadikoy (on the Asia side), a third ferry north along the Bosphorus, and a fourth to the Princes Islands south of Istanbul. I really enjoyed them all, and they were very inexpensive. You can buy ferry tokens at the docks, and then go through the turnstiles for boarding. Just be aware, hardly anyone speaks any English so you'll have to wing it a bit. And you have to make sure you're at the correct dock because some trips are only from certain locations.

We visited Istanbul in Fall of 2013 and took a cruise into the Black Sea, as well as to the Aegean.

We transited the Bosphorus on our way to the Black Sea. I had the guidebook with detail descriptions and photos of the building on the Bosphorus. It was interesting, but it took us quite a while to pass through to the Black Sea. Not sure I would want to pay for a RT full transit. It was moderately interesting. If you do it, buy the Eyewitness Travel guide book for Istanbul,

Thank you for every one responding in this topic.

I am most likely interested in having a private cruise on a moto yacht, while searching on google, first company I came accross is Bosphorus Tours Istanbul, their web page, www.bosphorustour.com

is there any one who booked a private yacht with this company? If so, are their prices fair and service quality high?

The only Bosphrorus Cruise I can recommend is the official one. They have the Half cruise and Full cruise. I personally recommend the full cruise at it allows you to have a 2 hours stop at Anadulu Kavagi which I really love, especially a restaurant with a fantastic view near the old castle.
Here is their official page
http://en.sehirhatlari.istanbul/en/seferler/long-bosphorus-tour-362.html