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4.8 from 2135 reviews
Clean but noisy boat with an experience for oldies not professional couples

The boat has everything from under 18 to 65 year Olds plus. Given we spend most of the time on the boat it's frustrating that you put people who have limited interest groups or different stages of life. We were told this was suited to 30 to 40 year Olds. The experiences and tours were all for old people and the boat has very limited toys or experiences so all you can do is eat bad food, sunbake and drink to put up with the small talk - give more information to people prior to joining as Croatia is lovely but this isn't a great way to do it

- Jeremy , 13/08/2024 02:58, Travelled in a Couple

Dizare, Sales Rep at Sail Croatia replied 2024-08-30:

Dear Jeremy, Thank you for your review. We are pleased to hear you found Croatia lovely and we hope you enjoyed visiting the various islands. We're sorry to hear the cruise didn't meet your expectations. We couldn't find any correspondence regarding the age range advised to you, however this cruise type is open to all ages over 18, but typically appeals to a more mature traveler. We aim to offer a variety of meals using fresh local produce, so we regret any disappointment in this area and water toys aren't included, but can be brought on board. We provide detailed pre-departure information via email and on your Online Account, which includes everything you need to prepare for the cruise. We appreciate your input and thank you for your review!

Boat needs maintenance

The bedrooms need a major upgrade they’re a sauna and the boat is in need of maintenance as water leaked through the roof in the dining whilst eating lunch

- Jack, 23/07/2024 11:22, Travelled in a Couple

Dizare, Sales Rep at Sail Croatia replied 2024-08-30:

Dear Jack, Thank you for leaving us with your review. Our Standard Ships are popular with budget conscious, independent travellers on extended travels throughout Europe. Our Premier and Ensuite ships offer the added benefit of air-condtioned cabins compared to our Standard ships which you chose to travel on. We regret any issues experienced during your cruise. It is common for the more traditional, wooden ships, which are full of charm and history, to face occasional leaks during severe weather conditions, which was unfortunately experienced in the small part of the dining room during your week. Your comments help us in our ongoing efforts to maintain and enhance our vessels. Thank you.

Disappointed

Tour guides were really great. Rides were awesome. Food was mediocre, but the rooms could be GREATLY improved for little cost. A thicker mattress, better sheets and a nicer comforter goes a long way. Also, we believe the pictures on your website were misleading for the accommodations.

- Anonymous, 27/05/2024 08:20, Travelled in a Couple

Marijana, Sales Rep at Sail Croatia replied 2024-05-28:

Hi there, thank you for your review. We are pleased to hear that the Tour guides were really great and that the rides were awesome. We are disappointed to hear that your view of the cabins did not match those of your fellow travellers onboard. I have checked the feedback collected for this departure and the cabins received an average score of 4.73 out of 5, however we appreciate your suggestion for improvements which we have shared with our Operations team. Once again thank you for joining us this spring.

Sail cycle

Was a fun trip and weather was fantastic. Only down side was the quality of the boat and the quality of the food. Food was bland, stodgy and without any vegetables or salad. Boat had many issues including no hot water, door handle fell off and air conditioning didn’t work. However the crew was genuine and friendly.

- Phillip, 13/05/2024 06:49, Travelled in a Couple

Cayley, Sales Rep at Sail Croatia replied 2024-05-15:

Hello Phillip, we wish to thank you for taking the time to review your Cycle cruise with us this season. We are very happy to read you had a fun trip and the weather was on your side, this is great! We are also pleased that you found the crew to be genuine and friendly. We are sorry to hear that you found the food bland and we will make sure that this feedback is passed onto our Operations team for improvement. Thank you for a wonderful week on board exploring Croatia with us.

So much potential.

I enjoyed the Sail Croatia experience, however, do feel that it can be very much luck of the draw when it comes to other boat personnel, which is such a crucial aspect of the week. When there are multiple large groups on each vessel, it can be hard to really get groups interacting all together, especially for solos. The other issue can be around age disparity. Perhaps more transparency over the booking arrangements of each boat could help this.

- Edward, 11/07/2023 14:52, Travelled Solo

Cayley, Sales Rep at Sail Croatia replied 2023-07-12:

Hi Edward, thank you for taking the time to review your Navigator cruise with us this season - it was a pleasure to have you on board. We're very happy reading that you enjoyed your Sail Croatia experience, this is great. With regards to your feedback on fellow travellers, I will be sure to pass this onto the relevant teams. All of our Navigator cruises are open to guests aged between 18 and 39 years old, so the age range is quite wide and our Reps work hard to create a good group dynamic that everyone on board can enjoy. I can see you had other solo guests on your cruise, which is always nice to see. We hope to see you join us again! Thank you.

So Many Issues

We still had fun on this trip because of the people we met and places we went, but there were a lot of let downs. We sailed on a premier ship and paid extra for the accommodations. In Sail Croatia's mind, this meant we should pay more for everything. Our drinks were 75% more expensive then the other sail croatia boat and the crew squeezed us for money. Designated dinners were to expensive, poor quality restaurants with commish going to the guide. Guide said there was no way to get food in Mljet for under $25 and pushed everyone to pay $25 to eat on the boat (Food in Mljet was $10). Crew was not aware of the upcoming excursion details and refused to provide any day plans until 10am the day of so everyone would be on the ship longer. Guide left me on the side of a road to wait for an excursion van for 20 min because the ship was leaving early. Cruise was for 7 nights, but the last day had no activities or places planned and guide/crew just docked and left us. Rooms were constantly wet.

- Conor, 14/06/2023 17:33, Travelled in a Couple

Ceira, Sales Rep at Sail Croatia replied 2023-06-15:

Hi Conor, Thank you for taking the time to provide feedback on your recent trip with us. We are glad to hear that you were still able to enjoy your trip, thanks to the people you met and the places you visited. However, we understand some aspects didn't meet your expectations. Regarding the pricing of drinks, we would like to clarify that the prices may vary between ships and information about this can be found on our website under our 'Travel Resources'. We want to assure you that our crew and representative on board work diligently to facilitate a great week for all our guests and that our crew's intention is to enhance your experience. Furthermore, the feedback we received from your departure week was predominantly positive. However, we take all feedback seriously and are committed to addressing any concerns raised. We appreciate your feedback and if there is anything else you would like to discuss, please feel free to reach out to our customer support team directly.

hike and cruise

-1st view of boat was filthy cabins and carpets -no welcome on-board - left to wonder around -1st 2nights no air conditioning -3rd night no hot water -couldn't lock cabin door -no key for internal locker -hostess very rude & didn't know how to work equipment to provide hot water or couldn't be bothered. -Staff underwear hanging outside out cabin door. -bedding not changed until after 5th night even though we were sweating like mad with no air con. -would have been good to have sea toys/paddleboard/laylo type etc. to enjoy. -couldn't buy single glass of wine, had to buy whole bottle. Also fridge was broken so couldn't be kept for next day. -on return from hikes, no staff available to serve drinks. Thankfully our tour guide Mate dealt with these issues as without him it could have been a whole lot worse. Mate deserves full credit for making this an enjoyable trip regardless of the issues we continually faced.

- Anthony, 27/06/2022 12:27, Travelled in a Couple

Ceira, Sales Rep at Sail Croatia replied 2022-10-03:

Hi there Anthony, thank you for your review. We are really pleased to hear that your rep Mate was helpful and professional and made your trip enjoyable. We have a rigorous process in place for handling any issues that may arise whilst you are on the sail, which is included in the Pre-departure information emailed to you before the tour. Following this process gives us the opportunity to try to resolve an issue during the trip, and work with you in finding a suitable solution to ensure all parties are happy, if given this opportunity. Guests are encouraged to report incidents themselves to their Onboard Representative, and if they feel no action is taken by their Onboard Representative, you are then welcome to escalate this to our Operations Manager and/or Managing Director. This ensures that no incident is left unreported, especially if we are made aware of the issue, and gives us the best chance to resolve this during the cruise for you. Upon checking our internal records, I could not find any reports raised to your representative regarding the air-conditioning, cabin door lock, broken fridge and key for internal locker. I understand that on the 2nd day the Captain was made aware there was no hot water, and this was rectified within 20 minutes. We operate a mid-week cabin service which includes changing of bedding. I'm afraid paddle boards are not included on our cruises however, at times past guest may leave their water toys onboard for others to enjoy. Upon checking the feedback for the week, guests have provided 4-5 star ratings from the meals onboard to the cabins and Tour Guide. We really do hope that your time in Croatia was enjoyable and that the issues experienced didn't detract from your overall enjoyment.

Food review

We had a great time, exceeding our expectations. The guides were excellent, knowledgeable and friendly. The only negative was the food. Breakfast was fine but better quality coffee and juice is needed. Unfortunately the other meals can only be described as brutal. There were so many meals not eaten it was a waste of money for the ship. Too much salt and not enough salads. Prior to exercising and just following exercise it is difficult for the body to process such food. We would happily pay double the current food allowance to improve this situation. The cook needs to look at the guest profile and judge the style of food accordingly ( nationality, sex and age ). Is it a case of all ships cook the same meals on the same days , if so maybe this is part of the problem.? Also a daily menu should be displayed on the notice board to enable guests to choose what/how much they eat. I am aware that space is a factor but it would be very easy to improve the quality and reduce the waste. Good luck

- Hilary, 04/10/2021 13:42, Travelled in a Couple

Ceira, Sales Rep at Sail Croatia replied 2021-10-07:

Hi Hilary, Thank you for your review. I'm pleased you had a great time on our cruise and to hear that it exceeded your expectations is just wonderful! We know that your guide Ivana would have provided you with a wealth of knowledge, and detailed history about each destination. It's lovely to hear you had a nice time Hilary and after reading your feedback for breakfasts, you rated this 5- stars, and would highly recommend our cruise to others, thank you. However, we are disappointed to read of your dissatisfaction with the lunches onboard, mainly being too salty or not enough salad. Our chefs generally create a meal plan for the week, and aim to provide meals using fresh local produce, catering to a wide range of palettes and tastes, however we understand that this is not always possible. If our chef is made aware, they will look to make immediate improvements for the overall satisfaction of guests onboard. All your comments have been passed on to the chef via our Operations Manager and we will look to improve our services wherever possible. Thank you.

Functionally proficient?

It took visiting another sail croatia ship to learn what we were missing. We were made acutely aware our voyage was the last of the season by the staff and how much they looked forward to commencing their vacation. We found the excursions to be underwhelming, poorly (even ineptly) lead and over valued. The kitchen staff and Maria are great friendly workers. The captain aloof. Boris and his two helpers, the shipboard lovers, should be marooned. Guest alcohol supplies were low or non-existant and the coffee machine is a bad joke. Being tied up to other vessels, where we were warmly welcomed to tour, made us aware the competition offers an elevated experience and of essentially the same cost as SC. BTW, there is signficiant bruisng on my right buttock and lower back from where I slipped on the wet interior stairs and fell. Boris never thought to follow up on if I needed any help (other then giving me a towel to dry the stairs so I could try and help others avoid a similar fate). Hmmmmm!!?

- Steven, 14/10/2019 07:18, Travelled in a Couple

Ceira, Sales Rep at Sail Croatia replied 2019-10-16:

Hi Steven, Thank you for taking the time to submit your review. We are pleased to hear you enjoyed some aspects of your cruise and we thank you for your comments on the kitchen staff and Maria, however we are sorry to hear of your disappointment in some areas. Our extensive range of excursions are our most popular and have received raving reviews so we are disappointed to hear this. Our ships are equipped with both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages , if there is a particular beverage you wish to enjoy then the staff can try to source this for you. We have a vigorous process in place for any issues that may arise on our cruises, upon checking, I am unable to locate any reports for the incident which took place. I have also spoken with your representative Boris, and he has advised that a towel was requested at one of your swim stops, as there was water on the floor but there were no incidences of anyone falling on your cruise. We hope that you enjoyed your time in Croatia overall, and that the issues onboard didn't detract from this.

Could use more genuine care about passengers

Let me start by saying this was my 3rd trip with Sail Croatia so they do know what they’re doing to keep bringing me back. However, this time was disastrous and much lower quality than I expected: at one of the swim stops the boat left us, the jacuzzi was non-operational for half the trip and cold water for the second half. It was one of the things I was looking forward to is enjoying the jacuzzi on the top deck. The guide and crew only apologized for leaving us in the water and sailing away after an email was sent to the company. They made a good effort by comping the entire bar bill for the week and a bottle of great red wine which was a nice gesture. But not even a hint of apology prior to written communication still left a bad taste in my mouth. This should never have happened. The crew needs to watch their guests in the water very attentively and the guide take responsibility instead of deflecting blame on the passengers themselves.

- Mark, 13/08/2019 22:24, Travelled in a Couple

Ceira, Sales Rep at Sail Croatia replied 2019-08-16:

Hi there and thank you for your review. We value your comments, especially as this is your 3rd cruise experience with Sail Croatia. We're sorry to hear there were issues with the jacuzzi, at times it may not be available due to conditions such as electricity consumption, fresh water usage onboard and weather conditions. Upon checking our internal reports, I can see that your Representative was in constant communication with you regarding the swim stop rules. We advise all our guests that everyone must stay close to the boat, for health and safety reasons, this is also reiterated in our Pre-departure information, our Sail Croatia App and advised during your welcome speech. We are sorry to hear this had happened - upon checking our records, once the swim stop concluded, the sailor called out to all guests to advise the swim stop was over. As you were further away and behind another boat, our sailor didn't see you, nor did you hear the call out, so the boat had departed. After speaking with your representative, Kate was immediately apologetic and offered to reduce your bar tab and provide a free bottle of wine as a gesture. We will pass your comments on to our Operations Manager to ensure that our sailors reiterate the importance of the swim stop rules. Thank you again for all your comments here and we do hope that the issues onboard didn't detract from your overall experience.

Cristal

Food on board was average at best,some days great some days terrible. Breakfast needs a rethink and an upgrade to the coffee machine is required. Maybe brunch rather than breakfast and lunch given we all go for dinner in the evening. Staff were great and the boat was brilliant. Menu card and restaurant recommendations at the start of the trip would be helpful rather than when we arrive in port. Overall a great experience and one we would recommend to friends and family.

- Ian , 05/08/2019 18:59, Travelled in a Couple

Ceira, Sales Rep at Sail Croatia replied 2019-08-09:

Thank you for your review - we appreciate all your comments. We are pleased to know that you would recommend us to family and friends and that you enjoyed your accommodation and the inclusion of the lovely staff onboard. Our chefs aim to cater to all tastes and at times, we understand that this may not be possible. However, upon request the chef may be able to provide you with more of the foods you enjoy. We appreciate your comments on the coffee machine and this will be passed on to the captain. We find that having breakfasts and lunches included on our cruises, gives our guests just the one meal to budget for and gives guests the opportunity to go out and try the delicious local cuisine for dinner. Our representatives provide guests with all the information for each port daily as we feel our guests enjoy receiving this information just as you are arriving into port. Thank you for choosing to sail with us!

Sail Croatia review

Before booking my tour I asked to be put in a boat with solo travellers, as I myself was travelling solo and they said it would not be a problem. To my surprise I got put in a boat with couples and and people who knew each other. Careful going on the smaller boat because you might be stuck with people who are close and will be hard to make friends.

- Fatah, 02/08/2019 09:11, Travelled Solo

Cayley, Sales Rep at Sail Croatia replied 2019-08-05:

Hi there. Many thanks for your review. I'm sorry to hear of your disappointment of the tour. I have looked through previous correspondence and can see you were advised we only had availability on our Under 35s Yacht Tours for your requested departure date, so we did not have any other options available for you at the time, I'm afraid. Our Under 35s Yacht Tours consist of a group of usually 6 to 8 yachts sleeping 8 passengers on each sailing together in a flotilla, so it usually a very social experience. I checked and can see your departure had 47 guests across 6 yachts to enjoy the social experience on board. Thank you for joining us this season :)

Premium Price without the Premium Service

- Navigator cruise was advertised for Young Professionals, yet our boat had a vast majority being over 50. Thankfully we (24y/o's) had two other amazing couples to experience it with. I heard the week prior only had 1 couple under 50 (I would of requested a refund if I was them). They need to ensure the weight of ages is reasonable so each generation can experience it their way. - Staff were atrocious. Incredibly rude, dismissive, literally rolled their eyes at all of us when we would enter the salon to get a drink. Had the audacity to leave a tip envelope on our last day (of which we gave nothing). Sail Croatia MUST have involvement in the selection of crew as it knocked 2 stars of our review, easily. - Recommendations for restaurants, bars and the tours offered were way below expectations. Again, this is a cruise for a "Young Professionals", so we want beautiful food, amazing cocktails and awesome experiences. Need to have different recommendations for each cruise type.

- Anonymous, 16/07/2019 22:53, Travelled in a Couple

Cayley, Sales Rep at Sail Croatia replied 2019-08-05:

Hi there, thank you for your review. I've looked further into the ages of the passengers that were on board Cristal with you and around a third of your fellow travellers were in their thirties or under. The rest of the passengers on board were in their forties, fifties and 4 were in their sixties. Our Explorer cruises are designed for young professional and ‘young at heart’ travellers looking to blend socialising, sightseeing and relaxation with an average age on-board from 25-60. In your review you mentioned Navigator cruises which is a different type of cruise to the one you booked which was an Explorer cruise. Our Navigator cruises are for passengers aged 18 to 35 years old looking to party, socialise and explore Croatia. I have passed your comments onto our Operations Manager with regards to the crew on board Cristal. Thank you for brining this to our attention and for joining us this season :)

Decent at best

Awesome people but terribly planned. If someone took maybe 15 mins to use common sense to plan this it would have gone so much smoother. The lack of communication was laughable. Excursions that were offered were decent but nothing I would go out of my way to do. The swim stops were a joke. We would stop the boat in the middle of nowhere overlooking a construction site. Also, pretty lame that once the boat was in port you couldn't go in the water unless you went to beach.

- Anonymous, 01/07/2019 14:04, Travelled in a Couple

Ceira, Sales Rep at Sail Croatia replied 2019-07-10:

Thank you for your review - we appreciate your comments. The excursions offered are optional and we're sorry to hear that none of the excursions appealed to you. Our swim stops generally take place in secluded bays in the middle of the Adriatic Ocean overlooking the coast and the sites are spectacular. Upon speaking with the representative, she confirms that the construction site was near the town centre during the time of sail. In regards to swimming in the port, we mention in our Ship Rules (emailed to you prior to the cruise and available onboard) that swimming at the port is prohibited as a safety precaution as there are generally many ships docking and departing so is not a safe swimming zone. We do hope that you enjoyed other aspects of the cruise and that these issues didn't detract from your overall experience.

Navigator North

Went on the Navigator North trip with the Tarin boat. We had no overnight power for 2-3 days when docked in port, therefore our fans in the room did not work in the intense heat, People resorted to sleeping on the roof as the cabins were unbearably hot. We also couldn't charge our mobile phones in order to take pictures the next day, set alarms, etc. Our water dispenser was taken off the boat a day before the cruise ended because the boat was going to be used by another company the following day. The whole boat vibrated when moving, making sleep in the morning extremely difficult. Eggs were not provided for breakfast every day. In fact the were on a random scheduled according to how the chef felt. One day I woke up for breakfast only to be told the eggs had already finished.. The next day I woke up earlier and was told eggs were only made every second day and not daily. On the plus side we did visit some pretty cool places and met some amazing people. Tarin and Ivanna were great!

- Anonymous, 18/09/2018 01:55, Travelled Solo

Marijana, Sales Rep at Sail Croatia replied 2018-09-25:

Thank you for taking the time to provide us with your review! It is great to hear you that you enjoyed the destinations visited on your Navigator Cruise, and that your Tour Manager and the crew onboard Tarin ensured you had a great week onboard. Cooked breakfast isn’t provided on our Navigator cruises as an inclusion and we are very pleased to hear you had enjoyed a hot breakfast on certain days throughout the week. I have checked our internal reporting system and unfortunately I was unable to find any reports of feedback referencing the fans and water dispenser onboard. Had your onboard Tour Manager been made aware of your concerns, we would have been more than happy to resolve these issues whilst you were on the cruise. Thank you again for your feedback, as only through this feedback, can we improve our products and services.

No air conditioner

No air conditioner working half the trip No fitted sheets Heads very basic, door does not close Boat should stop off for a swim every day during transit Cycles were in great condition

- Michael , 21/09/2016 07:22, Travelled in a Couple

Beth, Sales Rep at Sail Croatia replied 2017-03-22:

Hi there and thank you for your feedback on our Cycle cruise. We are pleased to hear you found our bicycles to be in great condition. We see that you were booked on our Ensuite boat - we provide a fan in each of our Ensuite cabins as air-conditioning is not included on this boat type. We recommend booking a room on our Premier boats if you prefer air-conditioned cabins. I'm sorry to hear you had an issue with your door - we have rigorous processes in place and upon searching our records, I couldn't see that you had raised the door issue with a crew member or representative. Had they been made aware of these issues, they would have rectified this as soon as possible for you. Swim stops generally take place daily however, at times it may not be possible due to the weather conditions or guests on the boats requesting to get to the next destination earlier. If it isn't possible, your captain/crew would advise the reasoning behind this. We hope you had a great time overall.

Disappointed

Unfortunately myself and my partner didn't enjoy our cruise. As we made friends for a few couples and others on board our opinions all had been of the same. The premier plus ship was not as appeared on the inside as it did on the outside. The room we had was for a couple. We found two single small beds pushed together, we actually fell through the mattresses. On the first day our port window blew open, we advised one of the ship hands who came to take a look at the problem, he played around with it as he had not know about the issues and said he would fix it before dinner time. At dinner I told the bartender, she said that she had been telling him for over a month now about the window in cabin 6. Unfortunately it didn't get fixed and throughout the rest of the journey nothing seemed to work to lodge the window closed. The food on the boat "3 course meals" was absolutely disgraceful. I would barely call frozen meat and fish and canned fruit and VEGETABLES 3 course. Utterly disappointed!

- Warren , 16/08/2016 17:22, Travelled in a Couple

Ceira, Sales Rep at Sail Croatia replied 2017-03-22:

Hi there, thank you for your review. I am sorry to hear that you didn't enjoy your time on your Sail Croatia Cruise. We are very proud of the ships in our Premier Plus fleet and work hard to ensure they are all maintained to the same high standard. Our cabins are either fitted with double beds or twin beds which are fixed or can be pushed together to create a double. We try and accommodate everyone’s bedding preferences when doing our allocation, due to the high number of couples we have on-board, sometimes we can only accommodate them in a double bedded cabin if 2 beds are pushed together. We are sorry to hear about the porthole in your cabin. We have rigorous procedures in place for any issues that arise on-board our cruises, which is included in the pre-departure information emailed to you before the cruise and is outlined at the welcome speech. The first step is to communicate with the crew. If this does not resolve the issue, the second step is to contact our representative in which case we log this in our central reporting and manage the issue onboard until it is fully resolved and customers are happy. We also supply the contact details for our Operations Manager and Managing Director in the unlikely event you are disatisfied with any response from our team members. This procedure does then give us the opportunity to resolve an issue during the trip and follow up or check historical issues. We are always looking at ways to improve our services and understand that food plays an important part of your holiday so we appreciate your comments here, and will look into this. Thank you again for your review.

Explorer cruise

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- Russell, 02/06/2016 05:29, Travelled in a Couple