After settling into our cabin, we set out to explore the 2,379-passenger Norwegian Jewel. What a difference from the Prinsendam, which had 793 guests. The Jewel is 93,000 tons, is 965 feet long, and has 1,111 crew members. It took us several hours to explore the ship and to find the area to make dinner reservations for our first night.
After unpacking, we set out walking near the cruise terminal to see more of Istanbul. Close by, we found ourselves in an area known as “Istanbul Modern” – with a series of outdoor cafes where a mostly 20-30ish crowd sat on sofas or beanbags while surfing the internet, drinking tea, playing backgammon and smoking hookahs – a water pipe device for smoking. While we did not join in, everyone was friendly and invited us into several of the cafes.
Back toward the ship, we stopped in an internet café to the left of the port area. Internet access is inexpensive, but the best deal was Ozzy’s calling card. For 5 euros, the card was good for 89 minutes of calls to the US from Turkey. There is a large bank of phones all around to use, and several small stores selling water, sodas and other supplies. Since today was my father’s birthday, I was thrilled to have a nice long chat. Jeff also enjoyed calling his mother and brother. (and we still have lots of minutes left on the card.)
Back on board, we changed and headed to our 9:15 reservation in Tangos, the Spanish Tex/Mex restaurant. The shrimp fajitas were terrific, and it was nice change from the more formal dinners on the Prinsendam.
The ship docked in Istanbul for the night, not leaving until 2 pm tomorrow. After dinner, we head up to an upper deck to view the Borporus by night. What a beautiful, exotic site!