I have recently come home after this lovely cruise - a one-off for this year, I think, but others might be interested in case JY puts it on again in the future.
The ship (the MS Kapitan Bota), new this year, was very comfortable with 19 cabins and a crew of 6. Some people had double beds, some twin beds and one lucky person even had 3 beds in his cabin. I struck lucky with a king-sized one, albeit down below and in the bow. I think all the cabins had good-sized shower rooms (the shower cubicle in mine was as big as the one at home). There was a comfortable lounge area on the same deck as the restaurant and bar and a large sundeck above. The crew were very friendly and helpful. Breakfast was buffet-style and we had some lunches and dinners on board, when there was one sitting and a single menu. The food on board was good, although there were one or two grumbles from various members of our party who didn't like rice or missed their daily fix of potatoes.
The cruise began in Split, going on to Trogir, Sibenik (from where we went up the river to the Krka National Park with its lakes and waterfalls) and Zadar. The weather was very good and we saw much more of the Croatian coast and islands than passengers on larger ships. However, when we left Zadar and moored for the night in a tiny port on the small island of Zlarin, a lovely evening turned into gale force winds and seas in the middle of the night. Fortunately, being a new boat, everyone appeared for breakfast next day, tired but not noticeably green. The bad weather all that day meant that our schedule had to be interrupted since the boat needed to run for a bigger port and the only one which could take us was Trogir. Although we got very wet, we did have time to check out the shops there if any had been missed the first time and to try out different restaurants. The weather was back to normal on Friday so the programme was rescheduled to let us visit Hvar in the morning and then go on to the island of Brac in the afternoon (we should have had a day and night on each) before heading back to Split early next morning to fly home.
Our group was made up of 3 men and 16 women, ages ranging from the 50s to 85, and our very helpful tour manager, Jasna, was provided by the cruise company. We gelled quickly and at times the decibel levels in the evening were very high! For some folk it was their first JY holiday but it won't be their last.
One word of warning: a reasonable level of fitness is needed for this type of holiday since access to the ship is via a sometimes steep gangway and involves occasionally crossing gaps between other boats; all the towns we visited were very old and the alleys, steps and footpaths were of well-worn and shiny stones which could be slippery even in dry weather. Anyone who is unsteady on their feet would have problems unless helped along by other members of the group.
To sum up: a lovely holiday which I would have no hesitation in repeating.
Ann
