Galataport Goes Year-Round with Aroya’s Winter Sailings
If you're booking a Mediterranean cruise, Aroya's new winter season runs October 10, 2026 through April 24, 2027, sailing from Galataport in Istanbul to Bodrum, Marmaris, Kuşadası and Alexandria. Aroya's current season, its second homeporting stint at Galataport, continues through September 12, 2026, with seven-night cruises to Turkey, Greece and Egypt. Check Aroya's booking channels for availability across either season depending on your travel window.
The numbers here do the talking: Galataport is projecting a 143 percent jump in sailings and 188 percent in passengers, chasing 150,000 total, after starting winter service in 2024 with just 25 voyages and 55,000 passengers. That's an aggressive ramp for a port that only went year-round two winters ago. My read is Aroya is betting on Istanbul's Bosphorus location and connectivity to lock in a home-port advantage before competitors do the same, and Galataport's own statement about "holistic route planning" reads like a pitch to other cruise lines as much as to travelers. Turkey's cruise industry is the clear winner if the passenger targets hold. If I were booking, I'd watch fares on the October 2026-April 2027 window closely, since capacity is scaling faster than the port's own history suggests it's been tested.