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 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 :-)

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.