Bosphorus Dinner Cruise Menu Explained

The Bosphorus dinner cruise is more than a boat ride — it is a full Turkish dining experience on the water. The MerrySails dinner cruise features a professionally prepared multi-course meal that showcases the best of Turkish cuisine, served while you sail past Istanbul's illuminated palaces, mosques, and waterfront mansions. Dinner service begins after guests have settled in and enjoyed the opening part of the route.

Each course is served by professional waitstaff, with timing coordinated to the cruise flow so you are not forced to choose between eating and watching the Bosphorus. The shared dinner product has two packages: Soft drinks package (€30) and alcoholic package (€35). The menu is the same in both; only the drinks change.

The dinner cruise serves one fixed menu: cold starters, a seasonal salad, a hot starter, a main course of your choice, and a dessert of baklava with fruit. The main course comes in four options: grilled fish, grilled chicken with rice and potatoes, grilled meatballs (köfte), or a vegetarian dish. You choose when you are seated.

The menu is identical in both packages. Please tell MerrySails about vegetarian, halal or allergy needs when you book via WhatsApp or email, so the kitchen can plan for you.

The shared dinner cruise has two drink options: Soft drinks package (€30) and alcoholic package (€35). Soft drinks package includes unlimited soft and hot drinks. Alcoholic package adds 2 glasses of local wine, beer or raki, plus unlimited soft drinks.

The meal is the same in both: cold starters, seasonal salad, hot starter, a main course of your choice, and baklava with fruit. If you are on the alcoholic package, rakı is the classic pairing with the starters. Imported drinks are not included; ask onboard for separately priced options.

MerrySails accommodates most dietary requirements with advance notice. Vegetarian options are available on every cruise — the meze platter is naturally vegetarian-friendly, and the main course can be substituted with grilled vegetables, mushroom kebab, and extra rice or a cheese-filled pastry (börek). Vegan guests receive a customized menu: mezes without dairy (hummus, vine leaves, ezme), salad, grilled vegetable platter with rice, and fresh fruit for dessert.

Gluten-free guests can enjoy most dishes — Turkish cuisine relies less on wheat than Western cooking, and the kitchen prepares gluten-free alternatives for bread and any flour-based items. Halal dietary requirements are met by default, as all meat served on MerrySails cruises is halal-certified and sourced from local Turkish suppliers. For guests with specific allergies (nuts, shellfish, dairy, etc.), the kitchen modifies dishes accordingly when notified at booking time. Kosher requirements can be accommodated with at least 72 hours notice.

To arrange any dietary requirement, simply mention it when booking via WhatsApp, email, or the website — the chef prepares your customized meal before the cruise departs.

The two packages are soft drinks package (€30) and alcoholic package (€35). The food, the show and the route are the same. Choose soft drinks package if nobody in your group wants alcohol, and alcoholic package if you would like 2 glasses of local wine, beer or raki with dinner.

From hosting guests on Bosphorus dinner cruises night after night, here are our insider tips. Do not eat a heavy lunch — the dinner is generous and you want to enjoy every dish. Be ready in the lobby on time if you use the hotel service (19:00–20:00 from the listed zones), as the vehicle collects from several hotels. Boarding at Kabataş starts at 19:45.

Dress smart casual — no formal wear required, but avoid shorts and flip-flops as the atmosphere is elegant. Bring a light jacket for stepping on deck between courses — the Bosphorus breeze is cool even in summer. Tell the crew if you are celebrating a birthday or anniversary — they will arrange a complimentary cake and announcement during the entertainment.

The show includes a whirling dervish (sema) performance, Turkish gypsy and Caucasian dances, a belly dancer group and a solo belly dancer, folk dances, a rhythm show, and a professional DJ. The best photos happen during the dessert course when the vessel passes illuminated landmarks. Finally, book directly with TURSAB-licensed MerrySails rather than through a hotel or street agent — you pay the same price or less, and booking direct means your dietary requests and seating preferences are handled personally.

A Turkish dinner is not assembled arbitrarily. The sequence of a properly structured Turkish meal — the procession from cold mezze through warm dishes to a protein main and then something sweet — reflects centuries of refined table culture, and a good dinner cruise replicates that logic on the water. Cold mezze arrive first because they serve a deliberate purpose: they occupy, satisfy a little, and open the appetite rather than closing it.

Haydari (yoghurt with herbs and garlic), ezme (spiced tomato and pepper paste), white bean piyaz, and stuffed vine leaves are not starters in the Western sense — they are a continuous presence that frames everything that follows. We keep them on the table. Warm mezze — borek, fried calamari, midye tava (pan-fried mussels) — mark the transition from arrival grazing to deliberate eating.

The timing aligns, on a MerrySails cruise, with the boat clearing the Galata Bridge and beginning the open-strait passage. There is something appropriate about the meal accelerating as the view expands. The main course is almost always a fresh fish or grilled meat option, and the choice matters. Istanbul s fish calendar is real and followed by serious kitchens: lakerda (salt-cured bonito) in autumn, sea bass and sea bream year-round, sardines in summer.

A dinner cruise that serves the same fish in January and July regardless of market availability is buying frozen product. Ask — the answer reveals the quality of the kitchen. Dessert is Turkish delight in the original sense: baklava, kunefe, or sutlac (rice pudding) with the weight of a proper meal behind them. The Turkish coffee that follows is not decorative — caffeine and cardamom are how you transition from the table to the dance floor.

The drinks question generates more pre-booking confusion than almost any other aspect of a dinner cruise, largely because inclusion policies vary significantly between companies and are not always clearly communicated. Here is a transparent breakdown of how MerrySails handles it, and what to look for elsewhere. Soft drinks package includes unlimited soft and hot drinks throughout the evening.

Alcohol is not included in soft drinks package. Alcoholic package includes 2 glasses of local wine, beer or raki; imported drinks are extra. Raki is the native companion to a Turkish fish dinner and deserves more than a passing mention.

It is an anise-spirit distilled from grape pomace, served in tall glasses with water added (which turns it the characteristic milky white) and ice on the side. The dilution ratio is personal — Turks tend toward 1:1 spirit to water; newcomers often prefer more water. It is sipped across the meal rather than drunk quickly. Ordering a bottle for the table is more economical than individual glasses if your group of four or more intends to drink it.

Wine selection on dinner cruises is deliberately unfussy: a house white (typically a Turkish Emir or Narince varietal) and a house red (usually Okuzgozu or Bogazkere). Both are good, honest table wines from quality Anatolian producers. Non-drinkers are exceptionally well-served by Turkish table culture. Ayran (salted yoghurt drink), salgam (fermented turnip juice), and fresh-squeezed pomegranate juice are more interesting than a soft drink and more local than anything imported.