M/V Monet Adriatic Cruise from Elegant Cruises and Tours
Written: Aug 04 '08 (Updated Aug 19 '08)
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Pros: All the sights, air-conditioned comfort and good food at a reasonable (but substantial) price
Cons: More expensive than independent travel, Early tour each day, Modest amount of free time
The Bottom Line: Great trip. Moderate luxury level, Everything done for you (except the walking), ship moored right in front of historic cities.
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| obsoperator's Full Review: Croatia |
While I first read about it in a flyer from Cross-Culture Journeys, we eventually booked our July 16-30, 2008 “Natural Wonders of the Adriatic” cruise directly with the company operating the M/V Monet, Elegant Cruises & Tours ( http://www.elegantcruises.com/ ). The entire crew and hotel staff are Croatian. Everyone we met spoke excellent English. We chose this cruise to see a variety of walled medieval cities, four countries we hadn’t been to, and to find out why Croatia is an up-and-coming tourist destination.
We made our own air arrangements, but the people we met on the ship were very happy with their flights booked by the cruise company. Without air, we paid $5090 per person for a 14-night cruise in cabin 201, a Category B room. That seems like a lot, but consider: On this cruise, ALL of the shore excursions are included in that cost, including 3 restaurant lunches. During the ship’s lunch and dinner, the house wine (Croatian, of course…) and beer are included, and poured frequently. In your cabin, and before each excursion, they provide unlimited free half-liter bottles of drinking water, which saves both shopping time and money. We paid for bar drinks ($3 cappuccinos, $4 beers, and $6-$8 cocktails), laundry, and tips. For cruise-end tipping, they recommend $10-$12 per person per night, but we also gave tips to a few individuals who were especially helpful. The ship’s accounting and final bills are in U.S. dollars.
The ship has one computer with medium-speed internet, but it’s nominally $1 a minute. However, when you only use it briefly, they don’t charge you for every moment you’re online. I was satisfied with what it cost me. Every town we went to had internet cafes, with much faster connections.
We arrived at Venice’s San Basilio cruise port just as the ship began to board, at 4PM. We got there on the #2 vaporetto (public water bus), but that might be too energetic for all customers! Their staff put our suitcases on a trolley outside the port building, to be delivered to our cabin. Inside the building, we were pleased to learn that we didn’t have to wait in the long lines for most of the hand-luggage screening machines; We had our own, with no one in line. After a glance at our passports, we walked to the gangway and were welcomed to the ship with a sparkling glass of Prosecco. Well, the Croatian equivalent, anyway! And Croatia is a big wine producer.
This ship is 223 long, with a beam of 33 feet. There are 31 cabins on three decks, no elevator. We had 59 passengers of a possible 61. But except during the “single-seating” dinners or in the lounge for port talks, the ship never felt crowded enough to be “full”. The only “gym” was a single stationary bicycle. There is no deck with a full circular “brisk walk around” the perimeter of the ship. Electricity on the ship is 220 volts, using two parallel, round prongs, sometimes called a “Shuco”. Each room includes a hair dryer. Our cruise director Monika has three years experience on the Monet. Most of our companions were American, with about two from Canada and six from Australia. One Croatian husband was showing his home country to his American wife.
Our cabin was moderate sized, something near 140 square feet, with two portholes. We didn’t want to risk being right under the lounge after dinner. (That’s a personal worry, not related to this cruise particularly. And you can easily argue that if you think a lot of cruise clients are “older”, how much noise are they going to make, anyway?) We turned out to be too near the reception desk and dining room, but the noise in the hall wasn’t that bad. Your choice of 1 Queen or 2 Twin-beds, and the size of your (sealed) window depends on the room number. The bathroom was entirely acceptable for a cruise ship, but you need to understand the shower arrangements:
Like river cruises we’ve been on, and like “Superior Tourist Class” Italian hotel rooms we’ve had on shore, the shower is really half of the bathroom. You pull a shower curtain to prevent splashing the toilet paper or the doorframe, and you shower “with” the toilet. That is, if you want to sit down in the shower, you sit on the toilet seat cover, and hold the European shower nozzle to wash your feet, or whatever. With the shower nozzle in the wall bracket, it’s just like a shower at home. I have to mention here that our 4 towels were replaced more often than in a Hyatt hotel! I suspect that’s because the cabin attendant wipes the walls dry with them as she removes the damp ones. But I never actually saw that. The room and the bathroom were immaculately cared for, at all times, with no interference with our touring schedule. Rarely, when everyone came back from a tour at the same time, the hot water got lukewarm. Most of the time, it was hot and high-pressure.
We took Bonine (over-the-counter motion sickness pills) only for the two long runs from Venice to Croatia and back, and barely needed them. The rest of the sailing time was sheltered by the over than 1000 islands near the coast. There weren’t any real storms, so I can’t tell you how much the ship rocks. But some other passengers mentioned discomfort. That surprised us, because we’re very sensitive and had no complaints about motion. Croatia is dry and hot during the summer, so you need the ship’s air conditioning after you finish an expedition.
Breakfast was from 7-9 (huge buffet, with the chef making omelets to order), with most tour departures either 8:45 or 9AM. Hot lunch buffet was usually at 1:30PM, and seated dinner at 7:30PM, following a “Port Talk” about the next day’s departure. When we returned to our rooms after dinner, the printed schedule for the next day was on our turned-down bed, and a Croatian chocolate on each pillow. The food was very good, and plentiful. The kitchen does not provide room service. There was lots of impeccably fresh fish, and often a vegetarian entrée. When 22 guests declined to go on the especially vigorous walk in the Piltvice Lakes, the chef went to the local fish market immediately-for lunch supplies! Bills could be settled the entire evening we sailed back to Venice, so there were no lines to pay up. The early airline flight customers left the ship at 6AM or 7AM, while independent travelers like us could leave anytime up to 9AM. Tips could be put in an envelope and slipped into a box, or given personally to individuals. The Captain, First Mate, Cruise Director, and Hotel Manager were the only ship workers excluded from the tip pool.
We're not that outgoing a couple, but we can say that we ate with (at tables for up to six) more than half of the guests on the ship. Even when you sit at a table for two, a larger table is only a few inches away, so you can participate in another conversation if you care to. The dining room experience was very pleasant. I'd put my birthday on my Passenger Information Form (that's where you give the cruise company your passport and personal information well before departure.) So a cake was brought out and the lounge keyboardist played a real accordion while the waiters sang both the American and Croatian birthday song. After we were served, the cake was offered all across the dining room. Because it was brought out after the menu desserts, there was enough for everyone who wanted it. The reason I tell this story is that I was also given a card signed by the ship's officers and the entire hotel staff, a charming small-ship touch.
Two of the three lunch restaurants were covered outdoor pavillions. The food in Mostar (Labrint, Coppersmith's Street) was only so-so, but we had a great view of the famous bridge as we ate. In Budva, Montenegro, the food (Restoran Jadran) was excellent, wine was included, and we were close to the bay, but the tourist group section did not have an ocean view. At Plitvice Lakes, we were indoors at unquestionably the best restaurant (Licka Kuca) among many in the huge park. They have a theatrical open-forge hearth, and even though we were very late, our (one for each patron) fresh trout were not put on the grill until we got there.
Here’s a list of our ports for 14 nights. Unless stated, they’re in Croatia. Reference marks: WHS=Unesco World Heritage Site, *=Docked within 5 minutes of downtown, **=Docked right in front of town, BT=Bus tour (otherwise, walking tour.)
4PM arrival/embarkation. Overnight in Venice (*)
Venice City walking tour, Sail past St. Marks in evening to
Kopar, Slovenia - Postojna Caves (BT) Sail overnight to
Opatija, Croatia(**). Sail overnight to
Sibenik(**,WHS), Krka Lakes(BT) & Split(Overnight)
Split (**, BT & on foot, WHS,), Solin & Trogir(BT, WHS)
Ploče for Počitelj & Mostar, Bosnia (BT, WHS)
Dubrovnik (port 12 minutes outside city) (WHS, Overnight)
Dubrovnik (Overnight) & Kotor, Montenegro (BT, WHS)
Dubrovnik to Korčula(**), Klapa concert on board.
Viz (the only tender-in stop) & Biševo Islands (Blue Grotto boat trip)
Zadar (**, overnight)
Zadar. Plitvice Lakes(BT, WHS). Sail overnight to
Pula(**) Overnight return to
Venice, Italy. Early disembarcation.
This list is as impressive as it seems at first glance. Many of the stops are medieval cities where we were docked right in front of the city walls. On the three long bus trips, they arranged and paid for our lunch in a restaurant. There were several chances to swim in exceptionally clean Adriatic waters, and at Krka Lakes. This list is too long to cover every stop, so I’ll just comment on a few of them: In Split, it happened to be Monday. But the cruise’s local agency, Gulliver, got the excellent Ivan Meštrović sculpture gallery opened especially for us. Solin is one of those sun-baked Roman city ruins, but you could touch and walk on everything. The day we were in Korčula, there happened to be a vocal/organ concert in the cathedral, after which we strolled through the city gate to the ship. You could argue that Plitvice Lakes is a huge version of Krka Lakes. But it’s not really true, and they are both world-famous natural parks. You might have read about Zadar in the NY Times Travel Section in 2008: “After 2,000 Years, a Croatian Port Town Still Seduces”. Although 65% of Zadar was leveled in World War II, there’s lots left to see, and it’s becoming almost a chic resort destination. Because it’s proverbially a place of tall people, they also have a statue for their one NBA star! And it’s the home of the Maraska company, which makes the liqueur we call “Maraschino” with local cherries.
Some people were unhappy about the long day trip to Montenegro, but because it (and Mostar) were our two main reasons for taking this particular cruise, we’re more forgiving. They planned so many activities that the last town tour had to be cancelled. And because our bus was in line for 2 ¼ hours at the returning Croatian border, many people missed their theater night at the Dubrovnik Summer Festival. But these things happen in travel. And one of the main points of this outing is the long drive around the (WHS) Bay of Kotor! Of course, they delayed dinner for us as the ship.
It’s a real treat to be able to step off the ship after dinner an join the local residents for an evening walk. We got to do that again and again on this cruise. Even the most “commercial” tourist destinations, Dubrovnik, Split, and Trogir, are charming and compact enough to walk every inch of during your visit. Even though they were also dedicated to tourism, Korčula and Zadar were my favorites because they were small enough to have a feeling that you were in a place with actual local residents. That may partly because we had dinner in restaurants (at our own expense). Perhaps because we went to the most historic cities,we saw few signs of the recent war. (The following is for information only-it has no implications whatever for your safety or ease of travel, which are as good as anywhere in Europe:) The outskirts of Mostar and Dubrovnik showed some damaged buildings, and vacant homes that some Serbs are afraid to return to. I think we saw some signs warning of possible mines in undeveloped areas, but the bus was going too fast to be sure. There’s no question they are ready for tourism, and have repaired all of the top towns – the ones we went to.
The larger ports (nonetheless, with beautiful intact medieval cities) have a light gloss of glamour, like famous places on the Mediterranean coast. We saw lots of very large yachts, and plenty of well-kept smaller pleasure boats. But there were far more low-cost cafes than there were jet-set nightspots. The only places you could chose to spend more than $10 for a cocktail ashore were probably Dubrovnik and Zadar, maybe Split.
You can travel on your own here for a lot less than we spent. Because unemployment is still high, the practice of renting rooms continues everywhere we went. Most of the medieval towns are too small to have hotels within the walls, but there are plenty of rooms in private apartments. Croatia is not yet on the Euro, but it’s no longer a lot cheaper than the rest of Europe. After all, over 30% of the G.D.P. comes from tourism. Most of the cities have a shortage of public bathrooms, but the United States can hardly claim it does better. We certainly found many people who like the United States, and who never mentioned Iraq.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Couples
Best Time to Travel Here: Anytime
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Epinions.com ID:
obsoperator
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Location: Bergen County, NJ, USA
Reviews written: 23
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