Blue Cruise

Gulet Andrea is a gulet type ship but built in Croatia. This truly makes it a unique vessel with its pros and cons, but advantages always outcomer the dissadvantages o nthis gulet. Technical details fo not tell you much about this vessel as at 27 meters and 6 cabins does not look or sound over the top. But the caracterisitcs of this ship makes it the best ship in Croatia for Family type cruises.



In next 10 blogs, we will present you 10 gulets, which (by our humble opinion) deserve special attention. If you wish to go on a gulet cruise if you can afford it, this are the gulets you MUST CONSIDER! And if you are lucky, they are still available in your period...


Gulet Andrea is a mixture of Turkish gulet cruise concept and Croatian tradition. And this is indeed an interesting mixture. Croatia vessels have more then 100 years tradition and in last couple of year, this segment has truly grown. But most of the ships in Croatia are a bit bigger then standard Turkish gulets and they usualy have from 12 - 20 cabins. Their main charactersistic is very hard construction, quality type materials and the effort they are puting to ships. However most of the ships lack the superb Turkish concept, which is huge deck space and less cabins for private groups. Andrea was built Croatian style, with emphasis on quality materials and huge seafty, while the also included inside the Turkish concept. And in next couple of sentences, we will explain why this gulet is so perfect for families with children!



FAMILY CRUISES - EQUIPEMENT ON BOARD OF GULET:
Children get bored fast and they need more toys. And parents are usualy the ones, who can truly apreciate the time out, that this toys provides for them. Andra has it all:

            - play station
            - CD – MP3 player, caraoke possibility with microphone for singing
            - DVD player with very nice movie selection for kids
            - internet connection and computer on board
            - cards, monopoly all sorts of fun games

WATER SPORTS ON BOARD:
This is perfect for families, that have a bit older children (teenagers) with to much energy. 1 hour on canoe. nice donur ride and 2 hours of snorkeling will definatly make the kids busy and tired.
            - canoe, donut ride, dinghy 40 HP which alows you to make waterkiing, masks and snorkels

BABYSITER POSSIBIITY 
A week payment for babysiter on board of your gulet cruise holidays: 700 €/week
A tip for the babysiter doing a fine job: 10% at the end of the cruise
Watching an eye on children while they are sleeping in the cabins in the evening while parents go to town alone - PRICELESS! 
Daily animation for kids so you can relax in the sun - PRICELESS! 

SEAFTY ON BOARD - THE MOST IMPORTAN THING, WHICH MAKES ANDREA OUR FAVOURITE GULET FOR THIS:
            - one of biggest salons out of all gulets in Croatia, when children can play durng sailing
            - Bigger and heavier hence around the gulet with the net, which eliminates the children to fall in to the water during navigation
            - all neccessary seafty equipement for children
            - 2 cabins with TWIN /single beds) which are perfect for children
            - A lot of deck space for the children

FOOD CONCEPT
             - sperated menus for children and adults

Gulet Dolin is a special type of ship. It is gulet no.3 in our selection and it is the cheapest gulet out of 10 we will present in this blog. From gulet Mare Nostrum to gulet Anđeo and now........GULET DOLIN. We came from 45.000 €/week price down to 6.000 €/week price, but Dolin is here for a reason. And I will explain why.



When you check pictures of the boat, you will immediatly see this is not a standard gulet. Dolin is actualy Croatian built vessel, built more then 50 years ago to carry sand and other equipement around Croatian Islands. The type of ship is called Logger. In all this time, the ship was in hands of owners father who then convinced one of his sons to join him in his business. So in manny years when they were working together, capt. Ivica found out all about every small bay, island, cave and town. He and his father did many good things for local people living on islands from all around Croatia, from Istria and up to Dubrovnik. But in last 10 years this business dissapeared, father of Ivica retired and the family decided to renovate the ship into tourist vessel and provide private charters.



Till now this is actualy quite common story in Croatia, but this is when truly good things start to happen. Here are TOP 5 REASONS, WHY THE CRUISE WITH DOLIN IS SUCH A REMARKABLE EXPERIENCE::

1) Captain Ivica and his crew: quite honestly I have never seen a person which is so flexible and kind harted. You know the cheesy saying it is used so many times: "This owner would do everything which is possible for his clients"! Well in this case it is 100% true. If it is possible, if it is safe and if it is not forbidden by law, Ivica will do it. Everything to keep his guests happy. And his crew is the same. Cook and Waitter have very similar caracters then Ivica. Do not expect "white gloves" service and fake smile of waitter trying to keep you happy. Expect genuine, friendly, fun crew, who will make you will like you know them for years...and you will miss them like close friends whe nyou will leave the ship.



2) Best gulet cruise Croatia price: gulet has truly honest and very good price in the Croatian gulet cruise market. It is guaranteed the vessel that has lowest price in Croatia. Gulet Dolin has 5 cabins each with own shower and toilet (and in the next season also with air condition) and can very comfortably accomodate 10 persons. Gulet has 26 meters in lenght, which means huge deck space for everybody. If you are looking for best possible price and great time on board, this is it.



3) Itinerary possibiites: the gulet is statined in Zadar, but owner knows entire Croatia perfectly. And for the season 2011 the captain has decided to offer special itineraries, for special kind of groups. The best ossible itinerary you can get in Croatia is definatly from Zadar - Trogir. This is the best idea from Ivica and with this route, you can in 1 week check magnificent Kornati islands and then travel to Split Islands after that checking places such as Vis, Brač, Hvar and also Korčula. Other than that, we also suggest you to cruise with this gulet on Zadar - Zadar itinerary and check al lthe incredble nature this area has to offer. Owner know all the small private piers all over croatia and you will be amazed where you will find the spots.



4) Party & Party & Party: the gulet was one of the best ships ever that had a leading role in famous "The yacht week" organizations in Croatia. They can easily say we were "The yacht week" ship - and we survived. The crew, the ship and the concept of the ship are perfect for younger party groups, that like loud music. The bar will not close at 23:00 in the evening on Dolin. It can last entire night if the clients request! In season 2009, Dolin was the main ship and The yacht week, which is biggest party organization in Croatia for sailing yacts - AND CREW AND DOLIN SURVIVED WITH BEST POSSIBLE GRADE!



5) Drinks on ship & Incredible bar: gulet Dolin is one of very few ships, that alos the clients to bring their own drinks on board. Just tell to agency what kind of drinks you wish you have on board, crew will buy for you from supermarket and you will pay the supermarket price. This way you will save incredble amount of money if you like to party and drink a lot. Also ship has very nice open bar at the back of the ship, which makes serving truly a peace of cake and enables also the clients, to get any time whatewer they want.



Dolin is truly amazing ship and when it comes to Value for money. They say:" Price is what you pay and value is what you get"! On Dolin, Value is much higher then price you are paying. And this is the main reason why this gulet is so special!

Sometimes you come on board a gulet, and you know this is it. You know this gulet offers something amazing, something extra, something which is hard to describe with words. It does not mean gulet is best quality. It does not mean it is most expensive one. You just get chills down your spine and you say - Uf, well this is something special.
 
In next 10 blogs, we will present you 10 gulets, which (by our humble opinion) deserve special attention. If you wish to go on a gulet cruise if you can afford it, thia are the gulets you MUST CONSIDER! And if you are lucky, they are still available in your period...

This is however not the list of TOP 10 gulets from 1 to 10. This are 10 gulets, which are amazing for what they do.

We will start with gulet MARE NOSTRUM! I must say I have seen more then 600 gulets in my life for all budgets in all sizes and with all sort of crew. And I will start with a gulet, which kept me with my mouth and eyes wide opened. Mare Nostrum is truly one of the best VIP super luxury gulets in the world. And in next couple of sentences

WHEN I FIRST ARRIVED in front of Mare Nostrum I was stunned. The size of the gulet is amazing. 43 meters in lengt is truly a great size for a ship. And when you calculate gulet has only 6 cabins for guest? Well again. It is great size. And a great concept of the gulet.

WELCOME ON BOARD AND CREW: when I came on board of gulet I got a warm welcome from gulet owner, 25 years old professional in this business Galib. The man is truly amazing. He is puting incredble effort to every detail, design and organization on board and he truly makes you feel welcome. And what can I say about the crew on MARE NOSTRUM.  They use "white gloves" policy and quite honestly, if the Queen of England comes on board, I am sure she will be back next year! Waitter know everything about the protocol, everything about wines and everything about food and the passion and pride he puts into his work is amazing. Chef is from one of the best hotels in the world. Hostess and othger stuff will also amaze you with their hospitality. You wish to have a true relaxing massage on board? No problem, they have a girl from Bali, who is a professional.

CABINS AND DECK SPACE: I do nott hink any other gulet has more deck space then MARE NOSTRUM. Like I mentioned before, 43 meters in lenght and GULET TYPE ship, which gives it more space at stern ad well as at the bow of the gulet gives you so much room.  It is safe for kids and perfect for a bit older people, which need a lot of space. Cabin on MARE NOSTRUM ARE ALSO AMAZING. They have 6 master cabins (all the same) which is perfect, so the clients do not have to fight who will get a better cabin. Every cabin has its own plazma, huge beds (all double) and all the stuff you might thing you need. But you do not realy need it to be honest. In the passage from cabins to saloon, there are very interesting lights, which will feel your eyes very comfortable if you decide in the middle of the week to come on deck to watch the stars. You do not have to switch on linghths, but you see everything. And this is just one of details, which show you what kind of job they are doing on MARE NOSTRUM.

OVERAL IMPRESSION, PRICE AND WHY MARE NOSTRUM IS SO SPECIAL: gulet has the charter price around 45.000 €/week including ull board accomodation. For this kind of gulet, this is a real deal. And you know why it is worth it? Because most of clients that arrives to MARE NOSTRUM, comes back. Owner on this gulet old me very interesting story. On most of groups, where the husband made a reservation for this gulet, when they come on board and see the gulet, Wife makes the same thing!!!She always gives a kiss to her husband and thanks him very very nicely for bringing her on this kind of ship. And I think this is the best desription why this gulet is so special. I could also write 5 pages of food they serve on board, about hospitality and jakuzzi on deck and about all sort of technical things of this gulet, but I will not. Because MARE NOSTRUM is so much more then just this. It is the full package of incredble luxury, good price and best services....

So from this visit on this is one of my favourite gulets. THE SEA BECOME YOURS is their slogan. I think you will unerstand this 100% when you will come on board and you will feel like Queen or King....

Gulet Anđeo (english word is angel) is definatly one of my favorite 10 gulets. Why. I can tell you a story about how this gulet got mot of clients.

Gulet Anđeo came to Croatia late in season 2006 (late august) and the owner truly did not have time to make any searious marketing for it. But 1 agency had a great year and they sent them 4 groups to finish season 2006. What happened in season 2007? 3 groups came back, while the one group that could not make it, was a group of English lords. And this group had an annual meeting with other friends in same position. And when they explained them about gulet Anđeo, 3 more groups came back in 2007. So most of clients are repeated clients.

And this is not even the most interesting part of this gulet. Gulet Anđeo is around 26 meters long and it has 5 cabins. Gulet does not have box showers which makes it a bit uncomfortable to shower, and quite honestly, I have been on bigger gulets with migger cabins and a lot more deck space. There are several gulets in Croatia, that are a lot bigger (from 30 meters to 33 meters in lenght), that have bigger cabins, box showers and more deck space. But they are chartering for around 9.000 €/week and up to 12.000 €/week mostly. and a lot of them have problems with bookings. So why the hell then gulet Anđeo has the price around 15.000 €/week and it is mostly sold out? Read further and you will see why.

OWNERS OF GULET ANĐEO: family Glunčič is in cruising business for more then 100 years. The grandfather started with ships, that was carrying sand. Father renovated the ship and started doing tourism. And when the son Nikša grew odler, they bought a gulet and also the son got involved in gulet business. While the Glunčič senior has a B category ship (10 cabins 20 meters long ship with only a couple of toilets for entire group), his standards became world wide famous. I truly have to think, which restaurant is as clean as the engine room on that B category ship. It is amazing. The ship is truly not very comfortable, but the services, the condition of the ship, the food and how the father is takinc care of his clients......IT IS TRULY AMAZING!!!!! And this kind of awarnes runs in the family as the son is doing everything in a very similar way on gulet Anđeo. When you come to Croatia, all you have to do is ask around about gulet Anđeo and owners, and you will always get the same reply, that starts like this: "They are crazy"! And it is true, how they take care of their ship and their clients, is incredible.....

GULET ANĐEO - DETAILS: Mr. Donald Trump said one time:" God is in the details"! How right he way. Gulet Anđeo is all about details. Interior, exterior, technical equipement, bed sheets, plates, crew uniforms, services, towels, sun matresses, the way they clean the boat.....I could go on forwever. On gulet Anđeo, everything is prepared and organized to every single detail. Cabins are not big, but they are sparkling clean, painted and truly very nice. When you see the gulet, you truly get the filing this is super luxury gulet.

GULET ANĐEO - CREW: On board you only have 3 crew, but the job they are doing is amazing. Nikša is the young owner who has everything uner control and with the help of amazing chef and 1 sailor they are doing amazing job. They are one of truly few gulets with crew, who have same shirt, same trousers and waki-talki connection, where they can organize everything in time and without disturbing guests.

GULET ANĐEO - OVERAL IMPRESSION: there are bigger gulets in Croatia. Any maybe even a bit more quality type gulets. But if I was to choose the best super luxury gulet in Croatia, I woul go with Anđeo. And you know what. I am sure I would be back also for next season. The standards the owners have on this gulet and how they tace care of clients is amazing and the gulet charter price deserves every single penny. One of the clients came back the third streight year to gulet Anđeo. And because he was repeated client, owner wanted to give him 10% discount on charter rate. Client was offended and did not want to accept the discount! This is the best example of the gulet quality! Gulet Anđeo is a true Angel.

Gulet cruise holidays are a dream come true. For me. And for most of people that try it out. But to be honest every year some people go on cruise and come back tottaly dissapointed. They did not like the food, they did not like the cabins, they did not like the toilets on board, they did not like the crew.....more or less everything was wrong! And the most amazing thing is that this kind of things usualy happens on gulets, where the reports are the best.
 There were 10 groups from start of may till end of august on same gulet, with same crew, same food, same standards and the reports all always superb! And then you get a report, where everything is wrong for that same gulet. If this happens, then it is clear....
we have an expresion for this kind of group. It is called "GULET HATERS"!

So if you have never been on a gulet cruise, there are 5 things you have to know about cruises before making a reservation.
Read them carefully and if you do not like what you see, book yourself a hotel. You will be a lot happier at the end.

Here we go:
no.1: ACCOMODATION ON GULETS: if you book an accomodation for 750 €/person/week in a 5 stars hotel, you will get very nice room, with nice balcony, big toilet and huge room. Gulets that have prices around 750 €/person/week are considered as standard gulets. The rooms will be air condiitoned, but they will be small and not with a lot of space to move around. So if you like huge rooms as in hotels, go to hotel. Cabins on gulets are made for sleeping only and nothing else. And a lot of times also the experience of spending the night on deck uner milions of start is....well it is nice, if you are that kind of person.

no.2: FOOD ON GULETS: in hotel, you usualy have self service menus with huge choices what to eat. On Gulets this is not possible. So do not expect self service menu with 100 of different choices. But you can expect a food, totaly tailor made according to your group wishes. And food is most of the time one of the reason clients are coming back. It is quality made and prepared and always with a sea wiev. You can eat in your swiming suit all the time. If this is something you hate, do not book a gulet cruise.

no.3 CREW ON GULETS: in hotel, there will be a huge number of waitters and crew taking care of your holidays. On a gulet, for your group of 12 persons, the same crew of 3 or 4 people will take care of all your wishes. This means 1 person on 3 or 4 people. Why reason come back every year on a gulet cruise? Because of great food and because of great crew. On the other hand if you prefer your own privacy, crew will be very very carefull not bother you, but they can not dissapear. So if you hate this, do not book a gulet cruise.

no.4 TRAVELING AROUND: if you are the kind of person, to lay in front of the pool or on a beach 10 hours/day and you only move from room - restaurant - pool - restaurant - room, then gulet cruise is not for you. On a cruise, you will check different bays and beaches every day. You can be in a different town every evening. You can explore new places every day. And you do not even have to go and ride with a bas to get to new destination. Your hotel is moving around with you. So if you hate new experience every day, gulet cruise is just not for you.

 no.5 SEA WIEV: if you prefer a holidays in a mountains away from sea and sun, then gulets are not for you. Gulet cruise is all about sea, swiming, sunbathing, relaxation, good food and checking new destinations every day. Everything can be arranged according to your wishes. On gulets you can play cards all day, you can party every night in different disco, you can do a lot of watersports, make a lot of land trips, or just lay down and eat incredble food. If you find yourself in this desription, then you should proceede with sending us inquiry :-)

Last minute gulet cruises - pros and cons

Booking a gulet uner a last minute promotion is more and more popular every year. But is this way of making a reservation truly the best? Sometimes it is, of course. You can get truly amazing deals with huge discounts on realy great gulets, which are available just in your desired week. But a lot of times, last minute bookings can leave a bed taste in your mouth.

In this BLOG I will write all advantages and disadvantages of making LAST MINUTE GULET CRUISE BOOKING.

LAST MINUTE GULET CRUISES - Good things:
     - you can get huge discounts
     - if you book last minute gulet cruise, you can get truly big discount
     - last minute reservations are sometimes truly amazing

You probably think this are all the same thing....But when you look more closely....THEY REALY ARE! Last minute bokings are cheaper, but this is more or less only advantage you will get. If you do not care so much about the quaity of the gulet, if you do not mind the itinerary you will have during your cruise and if you are a bit flexible on your travel dates, then last minute reservations are okey for you. But sometimes paying 10% more for your booking is not such a bed idea. You will see it ob BED THINGS LIST

LAST MINUTE GULET CRUISES - Bed things:
     - on "normal" bookings, clients have to send 4 weeks before their departure preference list, which helsp the crew to prepare for the clients arrival. This is not done for a reason so early. Behind 1 group gulet cruise there is a lot of organization, so if a reservation is made from today till tomorow, crew will not be able to prepare for your group perfectly
     - there is always a connection between price and quality. In a perfect world, even if you paid 10.000 € for the gulet that has price 20.000 € the level of services should be the same. Unfortunatly this is only in the perfect world. It is impossible to offer same services for half of the money.
     - there are more then 500 gulets to choose from in the market. This means there will always be some last minute deals available. But on last minute market, you can choose between 3 to 5 different gulets, if you search for gulets early, you can choose between more then 100 gulets in your price range. So you can truly find a gulet that can 100% match your expectations
     - Earlier you book, more details you can decide about your trip. You can choose special route totaly tailor made according to your wishes. You can choose which activites you wish to do. You can even make your own menu on board. With last minute bookings this is almost immpossible or it is very very hard
     - In this days, you can actualy get higher early booking disconts on some gulets then as last minute.
     - Best gulets, with best services, with best food and best crew get booked very fast. So if you want the best experience, you should hurry and book a gulet with best name, tradition and experience. This kind of gulets will never be available as last minute.

A lot of times it truly pays off to make a boking early, to secure your period in time and get the best gulet in the market, even if you paid a bit more then you might LAST MINUTE.

Today's Super Luxury gulets offer high speed Internet connections, Plasma Screen TVs with satellite and a massive library of films, superb chefs that cook to your exact specifications. Crew members offer unending hospitality. They are floating palaces, most with no expense spared. World's best gulets in the world can very easily compare to BEST 7 stars hotels, only thing is they move around and can offer a lot more satisfaction and experience.

So in this section you can read what the most super luxury gulets are all about!

LUXURY CRUISES - SERVICES PROVIDED
You should know that one of the most important aspects when it comes to luxury of the gulet is the ratio between length and cabins: bigger the gulet is and less cabins it has more luxurious and comfortable it usualy is. Gulet builders kept this in their mind when they were building the best DELUX - VIP gulets. So now most of the gulets in this DELUX CATEGORY have from 4 and up to max 6 or maybe 7 cabins, not more. Usualy this gulets accomodate from 8 and up to 12 persons, and the best news is you have 5 and up to 9 very experienced crew that takes care of VIP groups. A lot of time it can happen, there will be more crew on board then guests. But do not worry, it will not give you uncomfortable feeling, as most of the time you will only see your waitter or a hostess around.
This super luxury gulets have from 35 and up to 50 meters in lenght.

We could describe technical stuff on 10 more pages, but instead of this it is better to write a couple of special services you will see on this type of delux gulets.



LUXURY CRUISES - 8 CREW FOR 10 PEOPLE
You will ask why 9 crew is needed on a boat that can accomodate 10 PAX. It goes like this. CAPTAIN NO.1: he will make sure you arrive to any place you wish for. CAPTAIN NO.2: if the nigh navigation is needed, he will be able to provide this. This enables the clients to see more in less time. WAITTER: he will not only serve your food, but will be able to give you al lthe info of best vines, what goes with some food and provide superb service for the guests. HOSTESS NO.1: she will help the waiter, clean your rooms, serve you some nice drinks and give woman touch to the boat. HOSTESS NO.2 -MAID: she will take care of your children and provide animation if needed. DECK HAND 1: experienced guide for all the places, sailor and technical help to captain. DECK HAND 2: massuer, maid, waitter, diving instructor and more, available 24/hours/day for all guests. TECHNICAL SUPPORT: a person that takes care engine, sails and everything else on board works all the time perfectly.

Of course it is possible to operate gulet also with less help and manpower, but this is an example of BEST FROM THE BEST.



PLASMA TELEVISION IN KITCHEN? WHY THE HECK YOU NEED THIS?
As guests do not use the kitchen and chef is always to busy to watch TV, you will probably ask yourself why this is needed? The reason is quite amazing. If you are spending a cruise with your 4 friends on a gulet, that has 7 crew, it can give you a bit of bed feeling. So on this gulets you will almost never see a lot of crew around you. But whenewer you will need them, they will be there. You will probably ask yourself how this is possible? On this gulet it has something to do with a small camera on the masts and a plazma TV in the kitchen. When you wave to camera, in kitchen they will notice this and somebody will be on deck to assist you immediatly. Amazing or what?

WHY THERE IS NO MINI BAR IN CABINS?
If it is super luxury gulet, it should have mini bar. Right? WRONG!
On best delux gulets, you should not stey up from your bed if you are thirsty. You just push a buttom next to your bed, and one of crew members will immediatly come to you and serve you whaterwer you need at that point. So you do not have to stand up and bother with mini bar.

NIGHT ANIMATION IN MASTER CABINS
Do you wish to spend the night uner stars, but you do not feel comfortable. Not a problem anymore. You just go to your cabin durin gthe night and spend an animation button. Over your head, the start will start to show up, and you will have a feeling you are sleeping under the sky.

AMAZING DEZIGN, WATERSPORTS, INCREDIBLE EXPERIENCE
Imagine sailing under realy niceweather  conditions without the sound of engine disturbing you, while your waitter is serving your favourite drink. Then you make a nice stop in some isolated  bay with turquise water and you jump into jakuzzi, where you drink your champagne. After that, you go to shade where a genuine massuse from BALI comes and give you a massage of your life. After having your favourite lunch, you jump into the water and make some jet ski or waterskiing.....And after that your imagination will take you away......

What is the first thing when POPS out to your mind, when you think about yachting? If you close your eyes and imagine you are in the middle of Mediterranean sea Yachting, what is the first thing that you will imagine? My wild guess wold be something like this:
    - the wind is blowing nicely over your face and you hear nothing but the sound of your yacht cutting the waves 
    - the sun is strong, but you do not feel it while jumping around managing all the ropes and trying to achieve 10 knots on sails
    - while yachitng, you jump to your fridge and bring yourself a cold beer. the beer has really incredible taste while you are yachting on full sails. 
    - you feel like you are on a real adventure, full of adrenaline and wiling to make some more sports
    
 

However there are also a couple of other toughts, which come to your mind when it comes to yachting:
    - who is next to clean dishes and prepare a lunch
    - the size of the cabins is ultra small
    - I sure hope our skiper is capable to take us to next destination in this bed weather
    - The size of deck space is not realy comfortable. 
    - my wife and children are not very enthusiastic to sail and work during their holidays

Yachting is definatly a type of holidays which is unique. The feeling of freedom is non replacaple. And now you will probably think why we are explaining what yaching is all about on a gulet cruises concept web page. On this blog, I will try to give my personal opinion, why gulet cruises and yachting have some similarities.

As this is easiest to be done with testimonials of some passionate yaching people, that went on a gulet cruise because their wife told them they have to go, I will write their comments here:

John from the States
"When I came to a gulet sailing vessel, I thought this will be the most boring holidays ever. How wrong I was. Several times we did more then 9 knots on sails, I had tons of time for waterskiing, windsurfing and snorkling, which I usualy do not have and I did not have to clean dishes, cook food and sleep in saloon, because the cabin would be to small. We are coming back next year."

Patrick from Holland
"I love yachting and sailing. That is why every year I go to holidays to Turkey as some of the gulet cruises there are organized as 100% sailing all of the time. So I get my share of adventure and I also get papmpered by crew. "

James from UK
"Every year me and my 9 male friends go yachting to relax, drink, eat and have fun. Why my wife lets me go? Because I take her every year on a nice gulet cruise where she can relax, drink, eat and has a lot of fun, without moving with their finger." 

If you still think yachting and gulet cruises do not go hand in hand, I invite you to check a couple of pictures below. I am sure you will change your mind.

     

 

You can not sum up the description of gulets with the technical description of the ships. Gulet sailing is a total sum of relaxing atmosphere, wonderful scenery, excellent crew and great services all mixed together. Anyway I will try to give you inside look in a technical way of gulet cruises.This will give you best idea, what you can expect on your blue cruise.

Gulets are hand build by handy craftsmen. They are an ancient design type of vessels but totaly equipped with the modern interiors which enables a really comfortable voyage.

GULET SHIPS: these ships vary in size greatly. First gulets, built 30 or 40 years had an avarage size from 10 and up to max 15 meters. Then evolution took part, and gulets were getting bigger and bigger. With the popularity growth of blue cruise in the world, the demand started to raise with incredible speed. So only 25 years later, you can now find gulets with incredble luxury with over 50 meters in lenght. Nobody knows exact number of gulet type ships, but the number is close to 2.000. Out of these, more then 500 or 600 are making charter services on very high standards. Most of gulets in these days are from 20 and up to 30 meters in lenght, with 5 to 8 cabins, but you can find any varriety from 2 and up to 16 cabins, from low budget ships and up to super luxury,


CABINS ON GULETS: all gulets that are given for charter, have showers and toilets in every cabin. Cabins are meant for sleeping only, so a bed, a toilet and a shower is all you need. But with the evolution of gulets, also cabins are more and more luxorious.

So now some cabin really look like the most luxorious penthouses with jakuzzis, plasma TV´s DVDs and huge space.

However, remember that most important thing on your blue cruise is a deck space and the crew, that will be providing your services.


DECK:  Out on deck, there's plenty of space for sunbathing, and to the rear of the boat, a covered dining and cushioned seating area. Most also have a spacious indoor saloon/dining area. The foredeck makes a large sun bathing area and the huge aft deck provides a shady cushioned area for relaxing and eating al fresco.



SALOON: The saloon is usually fitted with a bar, and has also a dining facilities, even tought guests usually eat outside on deck. In most of saloons you can find a TV with DVD, and air condition.

CREW : crew is not realy a technical part of the gulet, but it is the most important factor. Captain will take you nicely to your next destination, cook will prepare tasty food, while waitter will serve it to you like in best hotels. But the crew is not only about coking, serving and cooking. Great captain can tell you incredble stories and take you to bays you can only dream off and some of the best waitters will not only serve your food, but can also provide very nice animation for your kids or your group. Most of the groups that return on a gulet cruise, do it because of the fabolous crew they had during their charter holidays.

 Blue cruiseis the expression that was discovered in Turkey aproximatly 30 or 35 years ago, when first woodden type ships were transformed from fishing and cargo vessels to tourist vessels. This vessels which were a Mediterranean design motor sailors with acient name "Guleta" or "Gouletta" were in the start around 12 - 15 meters long yachts, with 4 or 6 cabins, without showers and toilets ment for a relaxing cruise along the Turkish coats for economy type relaxing trips in connection with nature and turquiuse waters of Turkey. And that was also the time, when the names Blue cruise or gulet cruises, started to appear.

And the rest was history! People immediatly took gulet cruises type of holidays as a great idea to spend holidays.As it is really hard to explain what kind of experience you can get during your cruise in words we will use a couple of pictures below, to show you why gulet cruises or blue cruise holidays are really unique type of holidays.

Enjoy!