37 independent reviews for Luxury small ship cruise in Croatia

Hello Marty - Thank you for your review, I am very pleased to see how much you enjoyed the vacation. Our cruises are run on small ships that are 100% owned and staffed by local Croatian families. By leaving you plenty of time to explore ashore and eat ashore in the evenings you will be supporting many local restaurants and the nearby farms and fishermen that supply most of their food. Additionally all of the food that you will have eaten on board will have been bought locally, and the very large majority of it will have been grown locally. These activities help to support the traditional farming and fishing methods on the islands you visit. The use of small ships on these cruises enables the smaller ports and islands to receive a boost from tourism without the need for building lots of new hotels and other infrastructure that would be needed to support the visitors that arrive from May to October, this preserving the more traditional look and heritage of the islands. The fact that the crews rely 100% on tourism for their livelihood means that they are more aware than anyone of the need to conserve their beautiful country as if it was spoilt they would be out of work. We do let you know in advance the recommended amount for tipping, though this is by no means compulsory and is left to your discretion (these funds do help boost the local economy). I am surprised to hear that restaurants are charging extra for paying by card as Croatia is now in the EU and in theory they are not allowed for card usage. PE MD

Hello Rosalie. Thank you for your feedback which I will go through in stages. I am very sorry to hear that you didn't enjoy your recent cruise in Croatia. There are some issues you raise with which I am concerned and I am waiting to hear back from the vessel in Croatia - However they are very busy at this time of year and are on another cruise so this can take a little time. I will take your points 1 by 1. The accommodations are very basic. The bed is small, up against the wall so one person has to crawl over the other. We have three levels of vessels, and comfort, premium and luxury. You booked a comfort vessel which are the smaller vessels. The AC in the cabins does not work very well and rarely works when in port as the engines aren't running. Consequently it's very hot at night and sleep was very difficult and uncomfortable. We were all exhausted in the morning. - The AC should work and I have raised this point with the ship, we will get back to you on this point. The food is below average and tasteless. We made sure to tell them before we booked that we have special diets. We spoke to the trip leader on board before we departed about our diet. You could buy gluten free food 50 ft from the ship along the quaiside. The first dinner they said they didn't have any gluten free food and would get it the next day. Very poor management. We are also vegan and were given tinned fruit on 2 occasions, until I complained and asked for fresh fruit. The crew were good but the chef lacked creativity. - We did inform the vessel about your diets. This should not have been an issue, and we have raised this with the vessel. Croatia has great food and it is usually one of the highlights of these cruises. The food in the restaurants ashore is great and the vessels usually do a great job. I am disappointed with your reports that the food was poor and we have followed this up with the ship. It is a key part of enjoying these cruises and shouldn't disappoint. The trip advertised that we would be visiting islands every day and led us to believe that we would be moored on the islands at night. In fact we spent the first and last night in Split where the trip started and another 2 nights on the mainland, so only 3 on islands. The final day we were brought back to Split at 1pm where we spent the last night. This was so that the crew could get the boat ready for the next lot of guests. So we spent 2 days in Split. We had already spent 4 days in Split prior to the cruise. We were very disappointed in the cruise. It was not as advertised and I would not recommend using this company or boat. - I am afraid I have to take issue with you on this. When you first inquired with us we pointed out that the trip as advertised on Responsible Travel wasn't available but that we had another similar cruise that was. We sent you a link to the trip and the itinerary before you booked, and we sent you a copy of the itinerary as part of your confirmation package. Most passengers don't spend 4 days in Split prior to the cruise and as Split is such a fantastic place the vessel returns on the Friday afternoon to allow passengers on a 1 week vacation to spend some time in Split. The vessel also spends the first and last night in Split to allow passengers with flights that arrive late on day 1 to join the vessel, and those with early flights on day 8 to be able to disembark at any time on that day. At night we were tied up to between 10 and 20 other boats. Sometimes they were party boats and the noise went on until midnight despite an 11pm curfew. The first night in Split, the noise continued until 2am. - There are a range of vessels which cruise the coast of Croatia, some of which are aimed at a party crowd. We don't promote the party vessels at all and they are usually moored in a different spot to the other vessels. Split is a lively city and like many Mediterranean cities, especially in summer when it is so warm in the evenings, the nightlife rarely stops early. Some of the small harbours are busy and have limited places for vessels to moor up so it is common to get some vessels mooring up together. I have been on many of these cruises myself, and it is true that the curfew isn’t always strictly observed on all vessels, though I have never been kept awake. As I mentioned in my email to you last week if it does happen it can be difficult if the noise is emanating from another vessel with less responsible passengers. I thought the idea of benefiting local people was admirable and imagined that the islands would have small villages and very few people on them. Hvar is a metropolis , only there for the tourism. Everything there is based on tourism. The owners of the businesses are there to make money. We are not supporting the local people who live there year round. And that is the case throughout most of the islands. - Hvar is hardly a metropolis – it has a population of around 12000. And I refer you to the wording in out itinerary about Hvar – “Apart from its unique cultural heritage, Hvar is celebrated destination for singles and families, sailboats and super-yachts. With its sunny climate, natural beauty, excellent food, wine and sports on offer, Hvar has it all and that’s why it became so popular”. Restaurants, cafes etc are trying to make money, and in doing so they support the local population with employment and also buy buying their produce locally. To an extent that is an important part of Responsible Tourism. Most of the people on Hvar and many of the other smaller islands do live there all year round, as do the farmers and fishermen who are supported by the restaurants and cafes. 4. Finally, how would you rate your vacation overall? Below average and overpriced. We did not get our money's worth. The trip was not as advertised and in fact was mostly misrepresented. The idea of a small boat and going to the islands is to get away from the large boats and the crowds. This trip followed the crowds. Every night we were rafted together with other boats. It would have been nice if we had been anchored off a small cove at night. We are there to relax not party. I will get back to you about the food and the air-conditioning when I have heard back from the vessel as I mentioned above. I am sorry you felt that the trip wasn’t suitable for you. The trip was run exactly as per the itinerary we sent you before you booked so I don’t think we misrepresented anything at all. The trip does visit places where large vessels don’t, and can’t visit. Croatia is very popular, and rightly so, but I guess it isn’t for everyone. Powell Ettinger. MD

There is an ongoing review in Croatia about how water is provided. Water-coolers have been tried but proved problematic as they can be unstable when the vessel is in motion, especially if the sea isn’t flat. Additionally there is little water available on some islands so there it isn’t possible to collect water locally from the system.

Waste water is not pumped directly into the sea. The waters around Croatia are amongst the cleanest in the Mediterranean, there is barely any rubbish in the sea at all. The ships we use in Croatia are usually owned by the captains of the vessels, and they understand very well that their livelihood depends on the coast of Croatia remaining as pristine as possible. All rubbish and waste from the ships is taken back to port and disposed of according to very strict regulations.

Carrying water in bottles was an answer to another problem, that of lack of water on the islands of Croatia's Adriatic coast. Everyone is aware it is not an ideal solution and alternatives are being looked at - In fact I am traveling to Croatia this weekend and the use of water bottles will certainly be part of the discussions for next year. The bottles are carefully and properly disposed of but it would be better if they weren't used in the first place. The economic benefit to the islands of these cruises is considerable but they don't have the resources on the islands serve all of the visitors that they would like. The vessels themselves provide a solution to the lack of accommodation (only prevalent from May - September) and they are trying to avoid exacerbating the lack of water.

There is an ongoing review in Croatia about how water is provided. Water-coolers have been tried but proved problematic as they can be unstable when the vessel is in motion, especially if the sea isn’t flat. Additionally there is little water available on some islands so there it isn’t possible to collect water locally from the system.