Mother's Day on a yacht

A Mother's Day yacht cruise: the whole family at one table

On Mother's Day the restaurants fill up, there are queues at the breakfast places, and a big family often ends up split across two tables. On a yacht the table belongs to your family alone and everyone fits around it: in a dining setup there is room for up to 12 on SU and up to 30 on SU Royal.

The grandchildren roam the deck while the grown-ups sit at one table, with the Bosphorus sliding past behind them. What your mother remembers from the day will most likely be this table rather than the gift wrapping.

You can seat just your mother and her children, or bring in grandmother and the aunts as well. However many of you there are, the table below shows the right yacht.

The next Mother's Day is 9 May 2027. With the whole city celebrating on a single Sunday, it pays to think about that day's times early.

Breakfast or dinner?

Breakfast in the morning

The earliest departure is 09:00. Breakfast is 1.750 TL per person: a selection of cheeses, olives, menemen, sigara böreği, jam, honey and unlimited soft and hot drinks. The table is laid before you board, and the hot dishes are brought aboard from the restaurant about 15 minutes into the tour.

For tables with small children and older relatives, the morning is the calmer choice, and the day finishes early too. For the full menu, see the Bosphorus breakfast cruise page.

Dinner at sunset

On the evening of Mother's Day the sun sets between 20:05 and 20:15. Leave at 19:00 and you sit down in daylight, with the yacht in the middle of the Bosphorus as the sun goes down. The meal menu is 2.750 TL per person: cold mezes, a hot starter, a main course chosen from meat, chicken, fish or vegetable güveç, a seasonal salad and a fruit platter. The details are on the Bosphorus dinner cruise page.

Dinner suits family tables made up mostly of adults. If children are coming too, factor in the return time: a three-hour tour leaving at 19:00 is back at Arnavutköy at 22:00.

As for length, the shortest tour of 2 hours is enough for breakfast. If you want to finish the meal without rushing and see the mansions of the Asian shore on the way back, we recommend three hours.

A Mother's Day morning: a sample timeline

Picture a three-hour breakfast tour. You can shift the times to suit your family's pace, and the order stays the same:

If you are giving this day as a gift from afar, you can make the booking yourself and pay the full amount online, so there is nothing left to pay on board on the day. Explain in the note who should know about the roses and the cake, and when.

Small surprises for your mother

• 25 red roses (4.950 TL): made up as a bouquet and waiting for your mother on board.
• Celebration cake (2.950 TL); you can bring your own cake free of charge.
• Violinist (9.750 TL): live violin at the table.
• Professional photographer (18.500 TL): for pictures with three generations together.

You set the order. The bouquet can wait on the table while you save the cake for the way back, and you decide when the violin should start; write your wishes in the booking note and the note is passed to your captain. If you add a photographer, that picture of the whole family in one frame, perhaps the first in years, gets taken that day.

Extras are chosen at least 24 hours before the tour. Breakfast can be chosen up to 1 h before the tour and the meal menu up to 1 h before.

On dinner tours the table is laid simply and elegantly; beyond that we have no decoration service, and you can bring your own accessories. A card the children have made or an old family photo finds the best spot on the table.

Grandparents, children and the pier

Children count towards the guest numbers, so include them when you enter the party size in the form. If you bring your own photographer, add them to the count too.

Our main departure pier is Arnavutköy, free of charge. If the family lives on the Asian side, you can board at Kuleli or Beylerbeyi, both free. At piers such as Üsküdar (3.750 TL) or Beşiktaş (3.750 TL) the fee is per docking, with boarding and leaving listed separately.

If getting older relatives from home to the pier will be difficult, a transfer to the yacht in an 8-seater Vito can be added for 9.500 TL. If the morning turns cool, breakfast is laid in the enclosed, heated area; the aft deck of SU and SU Prestige can be closed in.

How many of you, and which yacht?

For a family of parents and children, SU and SU Prestige are enough. For a table that grows with cousins and grandchildren, look at SU Orion or SU Royal.

For a big family, SU Orion seats up to 20 for dinner and SU Royal up to 30; Royal's air-conditioned panoramic glass saloon keeps the table indoors on a cool May morning as well.

The price is for the whole yacht. One more person at the table does not change the yacht price; the only thing priced per person is the breakfast or the meal menu.

One Sunday, a limited number of hours

Mother's Day is one of our celebration tours, so the card opens with other parties and celebrations selected. Choose 9 May 2027 as the date, enter the number of guests, set the yacht and the time and add breakfast or the meal menu.

Prices start at 12.500 TL (2 hours on SU), and the menu and surprises you choose appear item by item in the total. Secure your place with a 50% deposit or by paying in full; the balance is paid on board on the day.

Each of the 4 yachts goes out with one family at a time. To get the hour you want, move early.

That morning, the only thing you need to tell your mother is what time to meet at the pier.