Croatia Yacht Cruise

[Sunshinecrew]

Having just returned from Dubrovnik, and loving it, we would like to go back and charter a crewed yacht for a week to travel the islands and ports.

 

Has anyone done this and have any suggestions? Googling brings up zillions of web sites but I honestly don't know where to start.

[kimiata]

Some friends of ours just did this! The company they went through was www.yacht-base.com.

[croatian travelady]

Having just returned from Dubrovnik, and loving it, we would like to go back and charter a crewed yacht for a week to travel the islands and ports.

 

Has anyone done this and have any suggestions? Googling brings up zillions of web sites but I honestly don't know where to start.

Yes I have done this and you must be very careful when you're looking at these private sailing vessels. Many of them claim to be 4 & 5 stars and they are not anything near a 1 or 2 star vessel. Many of the brokerage house which book them are located in England and have no idea how badly many of these boats look these days.

If I were to do this trip again, there is NO way that I would charter a boat without inspecting them before I give a 50% deposit to hold any charter.

I see many of the boats in the Dubrovnik port every Saturday and notice how many don't even leave the port since they don't have any bookings.

This trip must be done with someone who is in Croatia to inspect and negotiate with the boat owner. Do not entrust your holiday to some brokerage firm located in another country.

 

Dobrodosli

Carol

Am American Living in Dubrovnik

[texancruzer]

My BIL/SIL chartered a crewed yacht out of Split last year. They loved it. However, for a nice one it is very expensive. I can ask them who they used ...... They had spent the previous week at Lake Como in Italy.... then flew to Split.

[Sunshinecrew]

Yes I have done this and you must be very careful when you're looking at these private sailing vessels. Many of them claim to be 4 & 5 stars and they are not anything near a 1 or 2 star vessel. Many of the brokerage house which book them are located in England and have no idea how badly many of these boats look these days.

If I were to do this trip again, there is NO way that I would charter a boat without inspecting them before I give a 50% deposit to hold any charter.

I see many of the boats in the Dubrovnik port every Saturday and notice how many don't even leave the port since they don't have any bookings.

This trip must be done with someone who is in Croatia to inspect and negotiate with the boat owner. Do not entrust your holiday to some brokerage firm located in another country.

 

Dobrodosli

Carol

Am American Living in Dubrovnik

 

That's what I'm finding on the internet. Expensive brokerages out of the UK. We have talked of spending two weeks...one in hotels and the other cruising. I wonder if we could find and book one more reasonably by just going to the marina once we get there.

[Sunshinecrew]

Some friends of ours just did this! The company they went through was www.yacht-base.com.

 

Thanks. It's always good to have a starting point!

[Sunshinecrew]

My BIL/SIL chartered a crewed yacht out of Split last year. They loved it. However, for a nice one it is very expensive. I can ask them who they used ...... They had spent the previous week at Lake Como in Italy.... then flew to Split.

 

Please do ask. I'd like to know who they used. Thanks.

[croatian travelady]

That's what I'm finding on the internet. Expensive brokerages out of the UK. We have talked of spending two weeks...one in hotels and the other cruising. I wonder if we could find and book one more reasonably by just going to the marina once we get there.

Sunshinecrew:

Last year we had a group of 10 and we chartered a 90' wooden motorized sailing vessel which is called a "Gulet" here. They are the nicest way of cruising the islands and most of them only do 3 different itineraries. The north, central and southern Dalmatian coast. Ours began in Trogir and we spent 7 days sailing down the coast, only moving 4 daylight hours each day. We usually were at anchor in some small cover or inlet and we docked in the port of Korcula. We chartered the entire boat and did this trip during the end of September. We were the last trip of the season and the crew wanted to get back to their home port, Zadar. They tried to dump us off one day early on the island of Mljet and it would have cost about $1,000 for us to get to Dubrovnik. Ferry, bus and then taxi for 10 people. So we had a mutiny and forced him to take us down to Dubrovnik.

It isn't so much the brokerage firms which are very expensive, but the owners of the boats which can be the biggest problem. Time of year is important, as our weather has changed and it has become coolish and really cold at night.

If you would like details of our trip, do contact me directly as I could probably write a book about our adventures.

 

Dobrodoli

Carol

casosa54@gmail.com

[Sunshinecrew]

Sunshinecrew:

Last year we had a group of 10 and we chartered a 90' wooden motorized sailing vessel which is called a "Gulet" here. They are the nicest way of cruising the islands and most of them only do 3 different itineraries. The north, central and southern Dalmatian coast. Ours began in Trogir and we spent 7 days sailing down the coast, only moving 4 daylight hours each day. We usually were at anchor in some small cover or inlet and we docked in the port of Korcula. We chartered the entire boat and did this trip during the end of September. We were the last trip of the season and the crew wanted to get back to their home port, Zadar. They tried to dump us off one day early on the island of Mljet and it would have cost about $1,000 for us to get to Dubrovnik. Ferry, bus and then taxi for 10 people. So we had a mutiny and forced him to take us down to Dubrovnik.

It isn't so much the brokerage firms which are very expensive, but the owners of the boats which can be the biggest problem. Time of year is important, as our weather has changed and it has become coolish and really cold at night.

If you would like details of our trip, do contact me directly as I could probably write a book about our adventures.

 

Dobrodoli

Carol

casosa54@gmail.com

 

I'd like to hear about it. There would just be four of us. We were thinking May or June.

 

Do you know of a particular yacht or owner that could be contacted apart from the brokerages?