DESTINATIONS CROATIA | CRUISE
ABOVE AND INSET: Queen Jelena drops anchor for a swimming stop PICTURES: Sail Croatia TRIED & TESTED Elegance fleet
Sail Croatia’s Elegance fleet consists of five sleek, modern
vessels – Esperanza, Katarina, Olimp, Queen Jelena and
Romantic Star – that can carry either 36 or 38 passengers. The vessels have many design
features in common, with a sun deck and hot tub on top, a dining room, bar and shaded alfresco seating on the main deck, and cabins on the upper and lower decks (the latter with small fixed windows). Accommodation is clean and functional, as
befits the outdoorsy lifestyle on these cruises. Romantic Star is unusual in featuring a
sizeable indoor lounge, suited to shoulder-season sailings, while
Queen Jelena stands out as it is adorned with two masts.
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she pours us a white vugava with a hefty 15.2% alcohol content.
It comes on the heels of a 13% rosé and is the
prelude to a two-year-old 16.9% red called plavac mali crni, which refers to the small blue grapes used to create this tipple. It’s heady stuff – and not just because of the subterranean setting.
AGENT OPPORTUNITY We’re here with Sail Croatia, a Surrey-based company with a portfolio of locally owned motorboats that can accommodate anything from 24 to 40 passengers. They sail one-week cruises, mostly from Dubrovnik to Split or vice-versa. A handful of departures are round-trip from either city or head north from Split. Vessels are sold under three brands. Navigator and Explorer boats are for partygoers and young adventurers, and are sold direct; Elegance boats, like the one we’re on, are for an older crowd. They are more comfortable – although not luxurious – more expensive and are sold through the trade. “Our Elegance cruises are aimed at more-affluent guests interested in combining a relaxing holiday with learning about Croatian culture and history,” says co-founder and director Helle Seuren. “A large percentage [of guests] have never cruised, but love the intimate, relaxed style of our product and see it as a great way to explore this region of Croatia in style.” That neatly sums up the 33 passengers on our cruise, comprising a mix of Brits, Americans, Australians and New Zealanders, mostly aged 50-plus. There are also
a few young professionals who have never cruised but liked the idea of an easy way to see Croatia – with the added bonus of tasting wine along the way. Although the higher value of the Elegance cruises makes them well suited to selling through the trade, Seuren says UK agents account for only a “small proportion” of bookings. But with the booming popularity of Croatia cruising, and the 36-passenger Romantic Star and Katarina joining Sail Croatia’s Elegance range this summer to facilitate a 60% rise in the number of departures this year, there’s clearly appetite for more. “This style of holiday is very different from traditional big-ship cruising,” adds Seuren. “Little specialist knowledge is needed and there are also only two types of cabin, making it an easier sales process for agents.”
SALES SURGE Ours is one of five wine-themed cruises Sail Croatia tested in 2024. They sold out so quickly that the company has scheduled 16 this year – and 10 are already on sale for 2026. “They have proved a great hit, so we will review these on an ongoing basis to determine whether more departures are needed,” says Seuren. We’re sailing from Split to Dubrovnik on 38-passenger
Esperanza, by way of Milna, Hvar, Vis, Vela Luka, Korčula town and Mljet. It’s the same route as taken by Sail Croatia’s regular voyages and, like those sailings, we have daily swimming stops, when the vessel anchors and guests descend a ladder to cool off in the Adriatic.
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