If you booked a Bosphorus cruise for an autumn evening and the forecast turned grey, this page is for you. We get the same questions every week from October onward — “will the boat sail?” “do I get my money back if I cancel?” “what if it is just drizzling?” Here is the policy in plain language, exactly how we apply it, with no small print and no “contact support” dead ends.

The short version

  • Light rain, drizzle, overcast — we sail.
  • Storm-force wind, lightning, or dangerous visibility — we cancel and you choose a rebook or a full refund.
  • You cancel because of rain but we are still sailing — we move your booking to another date free of charge if you tell us 4 hours ahead.
  • No-show on a day we are sailing — standard terms apply.

What counts as “weather cancellation” from our side

Three conditions, no fourth:

  1. Winds above about 35 knots on the Bosphorus. The strait funnels wind and above this level the water is not safe. The call is the captain’s. This happens a handful of times per autumn, more often from late November on.
  2. Active electrical storm forecast in your window. Lightning on open water is not a risk we take; if the forecast shows an electrical storm overlapping your departure, we cancel and rebook.
  3. Visibility below our safety line. Dense fog, usually in the early morning in late autumn, can shift the morning cruise to a later slot or cancel it entirely.

Steady rain alone — including the kind that soaks you walking from the taxi — is not on this list. The cruise still runs.

Bosphorus cruise sailing through soft autumn rain at dusk

If we cancel: how the refund works

You get a direct notification by phone or WhatsApp (whichever you booked with) as soon as the call is made, usually 2–4 hours before departure. You pick one of two options on the spot:

  1. Rebook — move to the next available slot at no extra charge. Rate is locked at what you paid, even if the slot is on a different day with a higher published price.
  2. Full refund — to your original payment method within 3 business days. Card refunds show up as 5–10 business days on your statement, that is the bank, not us.

If you cancel but we are still sailing

This is the question we get most. The honest answer: tell us at least 4 hours before departure and we will move your booking to any date in the next 90 days, free of charge. Inside 4 hours it becomes a judgment call — we usually still move the booking if the pier confirms you did not board, but we are not obligated to. The best move is to decide early.

Covered aft deck of a Bosphorus cruise on a wet autumn evening

What happens if the weather turns during the cruise

If a cruise is in progress and the weather crosses into unsafe, the captain returns to the nearest safe pier. We offer two things: a full rebook on your next free evening, or a 50% refund if the cruise was more than half completed. The intent is you get the experience you booked, not a wet half of it.

What you should pack for a rainy departure

  • A proper light jacket, water-resistant, with sleeves.
  • Closed shoes with a grippy sole.
  • A scarf or small hat for the open deck.
  • Lens cloth if you are shooting photos.
  • Trust that we have thought about this more than you have — if we say we are sailing, we are sailing.

Istanbul city lights reflected on wet Bosphorus water

Why we have this policy

Cancelling because of a 60% chance of light rain means our regulars lose a sunset they came to Istanbul for. Sailing in a thunderstorm means someone gets hurt. The policy above is where we draw the line between those two. It is set by the captain and the operations team, not by booking agents, and we do not override it for either direction — if the captain says sail, we sail; if the captain says cancel, we cancel and refund.

Autumn departures run every morning, afternoon and evening on the Bosphorus. Check the schedule →