Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro advice

[ted burke]

• •  4
• February 22, 2018
• Maine

• #1  

Posted 8 hours ago

Hope to do a 7 day cruise to Slovenia, Croatia, and Montenegro next year.  Small to mid ship. 

 

Of the many served ports in Croatia, which 3 or 4 would be essential to visit?  We are in our 70's and active.

 

Per Split & Dubrovnik weather sites:  Average high temps of low 80's with 50% humidity for July and August don't seem too oppressive.  Looks like late May and before late September would be pleasant enough at 73.  Rain: September has the highest rain figures at 3". Does this information seem representative? Some reviews say August temps are killer with oppressive temps.  Am I missing something? 

 

Crowd timing:  Any advice to avoid the worst shore crowds. Are the towns overcrowded due to cruise ships or land tourists and families with school kids?

 

Many thanks, Ted

[PurpleTraveller]

July and August are very hot in Europe and there are huge crowds everywhere as it is school holidays. September and May have slightly less crowds and cooler temperatures.

 

I went in early June 2022 and in Croatia and Montenegro there were crowds and the temperatures were in the high 20'sC/low 80'sF. In Dubrovnik on June 7 it was 28°C/82°F. I don't know what the humidity was but it certainly felt very warm when walking the walls of Dubrovnik in the sun.

 

Dubrovnik and Split would be my essentials for Croatia and Kotor for Montenegro.

 

[edinburgher]

13 hours ago, ted burke said:

Per Split & Dubrovnik weather sites:  Average high temps of low 80's with 50% humidity for July and August don't seem too oppressive. 

I would not count on these being the maximum you might encounter.  Are you aware that Summer 2023 was one of the hottest on record in Europe with temps well in excess of 100F reported in several countries. 

If planning to walk the walls in Dubrovnik, visitors are usually advised to do that first before the worst of the  heat sets in.  The earlier the better, so check opening hours. 

We visited Dubrovnik 7 times and it has always been crowded, on occasion uncomfortably so, and we ventured out of the city on 4 occasions to avoid it.  One time our ship had a late sailing due to it being a turnaround day and we ventured into Dubrovnik in the early evening as the other ships had either already left or were soon to do so and their pax were boarding.  Thinking we would find a quiet city centre, we were actually quite shocked to find the city still crowded, apparently with tour groups on land holidays.

 

You might find it useful to read past threads for all your ports once you have decided on an itinerary.  Using the SEARCH tool, here are some to help you get started, but you can search all of the Adriatic ports using the same method.

 

Dubrovnik

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/search/?q=dubrovnik&quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=149

 

Split

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/search/?q=split&quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=149

 

Kotor

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/search/?q=kotor&quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=149

 

Edited January 27 by edinburgher

[cruisemom42]

I've answered your questions in your earlier post (on the "Ask a Cruise Question" forum.

 

[ted burke]

Thanks all.

 

When are most families travelling in the area with children in summer?

[edinburgher]

38 minutes ago, ted burke said:

When are most families travelling in the area with children in summer?

Main school holidays for most of Europe are the month of August, but some countries are July.

 

OP, " Europe" has been getting more and more busy for a number of years now, and there really isn't a quiet time to visit unless you chose maybe mid-January as an example..  And if you don't want many  kids onboard,  probably best to book an adult only ship, or  maybe a smaller one which offers few if any onboard family/kid activities.

[cruisemom42]

7 hours ago, ted burke said:

Thanks all.

 

When are most families travelling in the area with children in summer?

 

Many European travelers are from the US, where schools are out from June through August for the most part -- I'd avoid those months if possible and in fact would suggest not cruising until around mid-September (which will still be hot and crowded, but less so. 😉)

[John Bull]

On 1/27/2024 at 1:12 AM, ted burke said:

• •  

 

Crowd timing:  Any advice to avoid the worst shore crowds. Are the towns overcrowded due to cruise ships or land tourists and families with school kids?

 

 

 

Hi again, Ted,

 

Some Cruise Critic members get a bit paranoid about how many ships in this port on that day.

That's based on places like Caribbean islands, where cruise ship passengers can be a massive proportion of the visitors.

 

That's true of only the smaller Adriatic ports like Kotor or Koper or Rovinj or Sibenik- but we've not experienced big crowds in those places.

It's not true of larger places like Venice or Split or Dubrovnik, which are busy busy busy with many other visitors.

 

Which makes  for very easy research into how many cruise ships in port - because it'd be pointless to bother. Other cruise ships make not a bit of difference in any of them except for whether you might berth or tender and in a few places (like Dubrovnik) possibly any crowding for transportation from the port 

 

JB 🙂