Istanbul · Cibali Pier · for two

The Bosphorus, for two Romantic Dinner Cruise tonight

Three hours on the water with one person: a table in a salon with panoramic windows, ten small plates to share before the plate you each chose, the palaces lit along both shores, and a stage where a dervish turns in white. For €15 a table is dressed with candles and flowers and kept for the two of you before the doors open. The evening is €24.60 a person, paid on board, and nobody but the two of you needs to know why you booked it.

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Romantic table, +€15 Panoramic windows No prepayment 4.9 Google rating

The one extra on this cruise that exists for couples. It costs €15 for the table, not per person, and it is done before the doors open, so that when you are walked through the salon the table with the candles and the flowers on it is the one you are walked to.

What it is: Candles lit and fresh flowers on your table, arranged before you board. The rest of the table setting is the same as everyone's, which is the point: it is your table that is different, not your ticket.
What it costs: €15 per table, once, on top of the €24.60 per person. Paid on board with the rest, so nothing is charged before the evening.

How to add it: Tick it in the reservation form on this page, or say "romantic table" in your WhatsApp message. If you have already booked, send a message and we add it to the reservation.
What else is on the table: Ten cold mezes to share, warm börek, a main course each from four, the house semolina dessert, and unlimited soft drinks. Wine comes with a separate, optional drinks package, priced below; champagne is extra at the bar.

What it is not

It is not a private room and not a separate deck. This is a shared evening sailing on a boat for up to 400 guests, with other couples, families and groups at their own tables in its two salons, and that is why the whole night costs €24.60 a person rather than the several hundred a private boat runs to. The romantic table makes yours the table people glance at on their way to their own. If you want the boat to yourselves, this is not that; if you want an evening that feels like one, it is exactly that.

A proposal on a boat has one feature no restaurant has: for three hours, neither of you can leave. That is either the best thing about it or the reason to plan it properly, and the planning comes down to choosing the moment. There are three that work, and they are very different.

01Before departure: Doors open at 20:00 and the boat does not leave until 21:00. That hour is the quietest the open decks will be all night: the pier beside you, the Golden Horn ahead, the salons filling slowly behind the glass. In summer the light is still going down over the water. It is the moment to choose if you want it to be private and you want the rest of the evening to be the celebration.
02During the dervish: The whirling dervish ceremony is the stillest act of the show. The running order changes from night to night, so it cannot be given a time, only watched for. A table dressed with candles and the quietest minutes of the night. Choose this if you want it at the table, with the dinner around you, and you would rather nobody was looking.
03On deck, under the bridge: An open deck, at the bow or the stern, as the boat passes beneath the Bosphorus Bridge with the lights changing overhead, or later, on the return, as it comes past Maiden's Tower closer than anything else all night. Choose this if you want the photograph, because this is where the photograph is.

How we help: The reservation is in one name, and nothing about it is said at the gangway or the table. Tell us on WhatsApp what you have in mind and roughly when, and the table is dressed, the timing is understood, and the crew stay out of the frame. The candles and the flowers are already there, so nothing has to be smuggled aboard.
The photograph: The crew are used to being handed a phone. Ask any of them, at the table or on deck, and say beforehand if you would like it taken without being asked.

What we cannot do: Stop the boat, empty the deck, promise the weather, or name the minute an act begins, because the running order changes from night to night. When the open decks close for rain, the table and the dervish are still there, and both of them are indoors.
Afterwards: You are on the water until midnight with a stage, a DJ, a dance floor and the open decks, and a bar where champagne is an extra. Then a taxi, the T5 tram, or the transfer you booked at €5 a person, back to the hotel.

The sailing is the same every night of the year. What changes is why the two of you are on it.

Anniversary: Tell us the number of years when you book and we will know why the table is dressed. The evening runs from 20:00 to midnight, which leaves the rest of the night to yourselves.
Honeymoon: The first evening in Istanbul is the one to spend on the water: it shows you the whole city at once, both continents, before you have walked a street of it. Add the transfer and the hotel is handled in both directions.
Valentine's Day: The boat sails on 14 February as it does every night, at 21:00, at the same price. It is the busiest night of the winter for tables for two, so book early, and add the romantic table when you do.
A birthday for two: The dressed table, the main course each of you chose, and a dessert that arrives as the DJ takes over from the stage. Tell us on WhatsApp if there is something you would like to arrange and we will say what the boat can do.
A second honeymoon: The couples who book the romantic table most often are not the ones getting engaged. Twenty years in, the candles matter more.
No occasion: A Tuesday. The strait is lit on a Tuesday too, and the table costs the same.

The menu, the show and the times are on the dinner cruise page. This is the other version: what the evening is like for two people who came for each other rather than for the itinerary.

It starts slowly. The boat is alongside at Cibali from 20:00 and you choose your table while the salon is still half empty, or are shown to the one with the candles already lit if you asked for it. The meze comes while the boat is still tied up, so the first half hour is ten small plates, the Golden Horn outside the window going from blue to black, and nowhere to be. When the ropes come off at 21:00 you barely notice.

The Galata Bridge goes over first, with the Galata Tower lit above Karaköy, and then Dolmabahçe, six hundred metres of lit marble a stone's throw from the glass. Somewhere in the evening a man in white begins to turn: the dervish is the quietest part of the night, and the best. The Caucasian knife dance and the rhythm show are the opposite, and the two of you will disagree about which you liked more.

The main course comes with the first bridge overhead. Go out on deck for it if you can: the lights on the cables change colour as you pass beneath, and the deck rail is where couples end up, in every season, in a coat if they have to. The boat turns under the second bridge and the Asian shore comes home darker and quieter, Beylerbeyi Palace lit almost at the water line.

After the last act the DJ takes the dance floor. Dance if you dance, and if you do not, the open decks stay yours for the last stretch past Üsküdar and Maiden's Tower, which the boat passes closer than anything else all night, and for the slow run back into the Golden Horn. Alongside again at Cibali between 23:45 and midnight. The T5 tram stop is a short walk away, and the transfer, if you booked it, takes you back to the hotel.

One price per person, three optional extras, and nothing else. Here is the evening for two added up, in every combination, so the number on the night is the number you expected.

Two dinners: 2 × €24.60 = €49.20. The cruise, the four courses, the show and the soft drinks for both of you. This is the whole price if you add nothing.
With the romantic table: €49.20 + €15 = €64.20. Candles and flowers on the table before you arrive. The €15 is per table, so it is the same for two as it would be for four.
With drinks for two: €64.20 + 2 × €15 = €94.20. Unlimited all evening from the bar: beer, rakı, vodka, gin, red and white wine. One of you can take it without the other.
With the transfer: €94.20 + 2 × €5 = €104.20. From the hotel to the pier and from the pier back to the hotel at midnight, both ways in the one price. Same-day transfer can be added until 18:30.
Paid: Once, on board, at the end of the evening, in cash in euros, lira or dollars, or by card. Nothing in advance, no deposit, no booking fee. Cancel free until 19:00 on the day.

Romantic Bosphorus dinner cruise — frequently asked

Can you keep a proposal secret from my partner?

Yes. The reservation is in one name and nothing about the extras is mentioned at the gangway or at the table. The candles and flowers are simply there when you sit down. Tell us on WhatsApp what you are planning and when, and the crew will know to say nothing and stay out of the way.

Can we have a table by the window?

Both salons have panoramic windows, and tables are chosen on arrival, so the sooner you board after 20:00 the more choice you have. The romantic table is the exception: it is dressed and kept for the two of you before the doors open.

Is the romantic table private?

No. It is your own table, dressed with candles and flowers, in a shared salon. There is no private room and no private deck; the sailing is shared by everyone on board, which is why it costs €24.60 a person.

Is it quiet enough to talk?

During the meze and the dervish, yes, easily. The rhythm show and the dances are live and loud in the way a stage show is, and the DJ at the end is a party. The open decks at the bow and the stern are the quiet place all night: go out for the bridges, stay out for the conversation.

Is there a dress code?

There is none; smart casual is usual. Most couples dress up a little for it and nobody is turned away for not doing so. Bring a layer for the deck: it is cooler on the water than on the pier in every season.

Is Valentine's Day different?

The sailing and the price are the same as any other night: 21:00 from Cibali Pier, €24.60 per person. It is the busiest night of the winter for tables for two, so book as early as you can and add the romantic table when you book rather than on the day.

Can we add the romantic table after we have booked?

Yes. Send a message on WhatsApp with the name on the reservation and we will add it. It is €15 per table, paid on board with everything else.

Is wine or champagne included?

No. Soft drinks are unlimited and included. The drinks package at €15 per adult covers beer, rakı, vodka, gin, and red and white wine, unlimited all evening, and one of you can take it without the other. Champagne, whisky, tequila and cocktails are extra at the bar.

Can someone take our photograph?

Yes. Any member of the crew, at the table or on deck. If it is for a proposal and you would like it taken without being asked at the moment, tell us on WhatsApp beforehand.

How do we get back to the hotel at midnight?

The Cibali stop of the T5 tram is a short walk from the pier, and a taxi takes about 10 to 15 minutes to Sultanahmet and 15 to 25 to Taksim. Or add the transfer at €5 per person, both ways, and the ride back to your hotel is arranged before you board.

What do the two of us pay in total?

€49.20 for two dinners. €64.20 with the romantic table. €94.20 with the drinks package for both. €104.20 with the transfer as well. All of it paid on board, nothing in advance.

Can we book for tonight?

Yes, until the 21:00 departure, subject to space, and the romantic table can be added to a same-day booking. One message on WhatsApp or the form on this page confirms it. Cancellation is free until 19:00.

The Bosphorus, for two Romantic Dinner Cruise tonight

Set before you arrive

What it is not

The moment, and where to put it

An occasion, or none at all

What the evening feels like

What two people pay

Questions couples ask us

Take the table for two

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