Sail Croatia on the best small ship cruises
Ship Info – Ship categories, deck and cabin categories
All of the small cruise ships used in Croatia have a maximum capacity of around 40 passengers.
Just a quick reminder that cruises aren’t automatically covered under all travel insurance, so please check with your travel insurer if you need special cruise insurance before you book.
See our ‘Croatia Cruise FAQ’ info page for Cruise FAQs and advice about what to bring, meals onboard, laundry, tipping etc.
The majority of ships have Passenger Cabins on 2 decks:
1. Main Deck Cabins – with opening windows and/or an external door for fresh airflow in most cabins
2. Lower Deck ‘Porthole’ Cabins – with small porthole windows only that do not open, but do let in natural light; with an internally opening door
A few ships have ‘balcony cabins’ on the upper deck instead of main deck cabins, but the majority of ships have just main deck and lower deck (porthole) cabins and no balcony cabins.
See photo examples of cabin types further down the page.
There are 4 main types of Cruise ships:
1. Luxury Ships with Balcony Deck – see our LUX cruises here
a) Balcony Deck Cabins (instead of ‘Main Deck’ cabins)
c) Lower Deck ‘Porthole’ Cabins
2. Deluxe & Deluxe Superior Ships (no balcony cabins on any of these ships)
b) Main Deck Cabins
c) Lower Deck ‘Porthole’ Cabins
3. Premium & Premium Superior Ships (no balcony cabins on any of these ships)
b) Main Deck Cabins
c) Lower Deck ‘Porthole’ Cabins
4. Vintage Ships (no balcony cabins on any of these ships)
b) Main Deck Cabins
c) Lower Deck ‘Porthole’ Cabins
Luxury and Deluxe Category Ships
1. Luxury Balcony Ship (LUX) cruises are always on specific ships and you will be given the name of the ship. Only ‘Balcony Deck’ cabins on LUX ships have a private balcony. The ‘Lower Deck’ cabins on these ships are porthole cabins (‘under deck’). You still get the same ship facilities and inclusions, and Lower Deck cabins are much more economical. All Balcony Deck cabins are ‘on request’ only as there is very limited availability on all dates on all departures. If you would like a balcony cabin, please let us know as soon as you’re ready to book. June and September are the most popular departures and always book out first, often over a year in advance.
2. Deluxe Superior Ship (DLX SUP) and Deluxe Ship (DLX) cruises are always on specific ships and you will be given the name of the exact ship before you book. These ships do not have any balcony cabins, but are otherwise very similar in size of ship and ship features to the Luxury ships.
Non-Deluxe Category Ships (Premium and Vintage)
3. Premium Superior Ship (PRM SUP) “Named ship cruises” will be on specific ships and you will be given the name of the ship before you book. These Premium ships do not have any balcony cabins.
4. Vintage Premium Ship (PREM) and Vintage Ensuite Ships (ENS) “No named ship” cruises could be on any ship in the listed category. We cannot tell you the ship name for those cruises and you will not know until the day you arrive to join the cruise. These Vintage ships do not have any balcony cabins.
What do the different Cabin types and Deck levels mean?
There are maximum 4 decks on any ship:
4. Sun Deck: The top-most deck on all ships is the ‘sun deck’ and is a public area sunbeds etc.
3. Upper Deck: Restaurant/salon is located on this deck on almost all ships (except Luxury Balcony ships, which have balcony cabins on this deck instead).
2. Main Deck: Passengers cabins on most ship, and some ships have the restaurant/salon on this deck.
1. Lower Deck: Porthole cabins, crew cabins and engine. Crew cabins are located in between passenger cabins and the engine room, so there is usually a buffer zone. The ships do NOT sail at night, so you are not sleeping when the engine is being used anyway. Same on all ships, none of them are using the engine at night.
‘Balcony Deck’ cabins – only a few of our LUX ships have a Balcony Deck
(Very limited; only a few ships have balcony cabins; can get booked out up to a year in advance):
A few of our Luxury Ships now have BALCONY cabins available. Most of the Balcony cabins will be on the Upper Deck instead of the Main Deck. Only a few ships have Balcony cabins and there are only a few on each of those ships. First come, first served as they are quite popular and fairly limited. Please book early (up to a year in advance) if you want a Balcony cabin, especially for June and September.
Please see our Luxury Balcony Cabin Ships page for more info.
‘Main Deck’ / ‘Upper Deck’ cabins – these are not balcony cabins
These cabins are ‘above deck’, meaning externally opening windows and/or doors. Some ships have the doors to Main Deck cabins on the inside, so only windows are on the ‘outside’ wall of the cabin, and some ships have the doors as well as windows on the ‘outside’ wall of the cabin. All walk-ways past the outside wall of the cabins with external doors are public walk-ways around the ship.
‘Porthole’ / Lower Deck’ cabins – these are all porthole (small window) cabins, with internally opening doors
These cabins are all in the hull of the ship, and must be reached by an inside stairwell. These cabins have portholes only and the portholes are just above the water line. There are no opening windows in lower deck cabins. Some of the smaller, older boats only have lower deck cabins as the main deck is used for the public areas such as the restaurant and salon areas. These cabins have the most privacy and are the quietest, especially in the busy ports like Hvar where occasional parties can be going until late at night on adjacent ships.
If you are in doubt, please ask for the Deck Plan or look in the Ship Descriptions as the deck plan is usually in with the ship photos.
*If you have limited mobility we suggest you check this photo example below of the steep stairs between decks and the minimum gap between ships in port. The ships are all lined up next to each other and have bolsters in between to stop the hulls from bumping into each other. Sometimes this gap can be larger due to waves from ships moving around in harbour or from the weather. You will need to be able to navigate these sections on your own to be able to enjoy your cruise.
Bed-types and passenger numbers?
NOTE: ‘Double’ beds on Luxury, Deluxe and Premium might be ‘flex-beds’ with 2 single mattresses next to each other on a combined base. Many ‘double’ beds in Europe have separate duvets for each half of the bed, meaning that you have separate bedding even if there is one large bed or combined twin beds.
The maximum number of passenger cabins on any ship is 21. Therefore the maximum number of passengers is usually only 40 per ship (not including the crew and cruise staff).
The crew have their own separate quarters which are not shown on the deck plans.
All our Croatian Small Cruise Ship fleet photos are here:
Please >>> click here <<< or on the photo above to see our entire Ship Photos Database
If you have been quoted a cruise with a particular ship name, then that is the ship that you will be on (bar any unforeseen emergencies). If you are booked on a ‘no named ship’ departure (PREM) or (ENS) ship, then you will not know the ship name until the day of the cruise. All of these standard ships are in the photos database under their correct category, but we cannot tell you the exact ship name due to operational requirements as they are often interchangeable depending on the size of the group on that departure date.
DISCLAIMER
Please take photos or videos of the cabins, crew or ship and send them to us if you have any issues on the boat. Without this evidence, there is little we can do to support you with any claims.
All ship descriptions on our website are sent to us by the end suppliers and we are not liable for any discrepancy in the listed features or services. We are not the producers of the marketing materials. We don’t take the photos of ships used on our website, nor do we produce any brochures and our ship descriptions are those provided to us by the operator. We rely on the information provided to us by the end suppliers. Your contract is between you and the end supplier (the cruise company or owner/operator). By making payment to us, you are deemed to have read and understood and terms and conditions on our website and agree that the contract is between you and the owner/operator and you acknowledge that we are acting as an agent only (on your behalf), and that we are not the end supplier. We cannot visit every cabin on every ship (there are literally thousands of ships in Croatia) to check every single feature before every departure, so you must make your own decision based on the operator’s marketing materials that they provide to us. Any claims you make will be against the operator, as Discover Croatia is not responsible for any advertising discrepancies. Please see our full Terms and Conditions here.
All departures on specific ships are subject to any unforeseen incidences occurring before your departure. If that ship cannot be provided due to accident, emergency repair or similar, then a similar ship will be provided if at all possible, but please understand that there are few spare ships as they are all also being used for other cruises. We cannot guarantee any departure as the cruise companies themselves do not guarantee every single ship on every single departure as very, very occasionally there are issues that require repair or there’s been some ‘force majeure’ beyond their control. This is why we recommend you have proper travel insurance to cover you for all events.
If you are enquiring about private yacht or gulet charter, please see our Charter a Yacht or Gulet in Croatia page.
