June the 27th, 2022 - One company is making a comeback following a two year coronavirus pandemic-induced break with Danube river cruises, providing a chance for people to see part of Croatia and of Europe that few pay much attention to - a river known as the main artery of this part of the continent.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Mladen Miletic writes, the Danube is known by many as the main artery of Europe, it's the mighty river that both connects and separates. It used to be the border of worlds, and for some it is still to this very day. The Danube is sung about in the Croatian national anthem (Croatian: himna), it's in the title of the most famous Strauss composition and in countless verses sung by the Pannonian sailor Djordje Balasevic, born in Novi Sad, Serbia, on the Danube.

The eternal inspiration of poets, painters and novelists, Italian writer Claudio Magris dedicated a famous novel to this river, following the flow of the Danube to the mouth of the Black Sea, revealing that there are still disputes among towns in southwestern Germany about exactly where the Danube originates.

All of the above is only a small part of the reason why at least once in a lifetime, it's worth embarking on a voyage along the great river that flows through the far east of Croatia, in an area very few people from abroad ever visit or think of. The starting or ending point of the cruise, depending on the choice, is in the port of the Croatian hero city of Vukovar.

The Arriva travel agency has been organising river cruises for years, and following a pandemic-induced break, they're now offering Danube river cruises - the Vukovar-Vienna route, as well as the even more eastern variant of Vukovar-Vidin (an ancient city in northwestern Bulgaria).

''We also offer cruises along the Rhine, but we don't have any realisations for that yet this year. However, the Danube river cruises are more attractive to people precisely because of the departures being from Croatia, where we organise group departures,'' explained Tamara Cerneka, the director of Arriva Travel.

''The specificity of the Danube river cruises and indeed most others is that passengers board at one port and disembark at another, which requires a transfer in one direction. That's why group departures are more attractive. The first group of Danube river cruises organised by Arriva travel started this year on May the 27th, and by mid-June, we'd realised four departures,'' Cerneka added.

Cruises, both those at sea and those along rivers, are still a segment making a more slow and cautious return following the global coronavirus pandemic. Travellers are still unsure and have their eyes fixed on autumn, afraid to book a cruise in advance for fear of new epidemiological measures being introduced as has been the case over the past two years.

Danube river cruises will certainly be a way for visitors to Croatia to spend time in a part of the country which is the bipolar opposite of the likes of Dalmatia with its rugged mountains, intense dry heat and crystal clear waters. It's also wildly different to Kvarner and Istria, known for similar traits. Eastern Croatia, once the breadbasket of the country, heavily wounded during the Homeland War and now shamefully neglected and suffering from a severe demographic crisis, has a lot to boast about when it comes to its natural and cultural charms - this might just be the perfect way to see that.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated travel section.

ZAGREB, 10 June 2021 - SV Golden Horizon, a steel-hulled five-masted rigged tall ship, which is intended to be used as a cruise ship, left the Brodosplit shipyard on Wednesday, the Split-based dock reported on Wednesday afternoon.

The  Brodosplit company that built the vessel reported on its website that "this luxurious vessel can accommodate up to 272 passengers and will provide the service under the Tradewind Voyages from the UK."

"As far as itineraries are concerned, it is designed for voyages according to 'where the wind and sea currents take it."

The clipper is 162 meters long and 18.5 meters wide. It has five masts with 36 cross sails with a total area of ​​6,347 square meters. The vessel's carrying capacity is  2,000 tons.

On Wednesday also, the unfinished "Onega Gulf" oil/chemical tanker was towed to the Split dock for finalization.

For the latest news from Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

Dubrovnik is still swamped with cruise ships, and it seems that Croatia's southernmost city is still doing better, or perhaps better to say much worse, than all Croatian ports across the country combined when it comes to the arrival of these harmful floating cities.

As Morski writes on the 10th of October, 2019, the cruise season is not over yet, and in the Port of Dubrovnik, when looking at the number of cruise ships and the number of passengers brought in by them, remains the ''top'' cruise port in the entire Croatian Adriatic.

Specifically, in the first eight months of 2019, 466 cruises made by foreign vessels on the Croatian Adriatic were realised, which is fifteen more than in the same period back in 2018. By early September, foreign cruisers had brought 733,000 passengers to the Croatian coast, up by seven percent when compared to the first eight months of last year.

The City of Dubrovnik remains the most visited cruise destination in the Croatian Adriatic, with 339 cruise ship arrivals in the first eight months of this year. Split, on the other hand, is only half as interesting as Dubrovnik when it comes to cruise ships.

In the first eight months of 2019, Split was visited by 175 cruisers, while Zadar, whose newly constructed Gaženica passenger terminal gave a concession to the consortium that was supposed to build a passenger terminal in the Port of Dubrovnik, was only visited by 77 cruisers. Hvar was visited by 71, Korčula by 66, and Šibenik by 46 cruisers, Dubrovnikpress reports.

Although it is already October, the cruise season in Dubrovnik isn't waning, so looking right to the end of this month, there are almost no days when there will not be a few cruisers arriving in the popular southern Croatian city's port.

In somewhat smaller numbers, cruise ships will continue to sail during November and December, and the last major cruise ship - Costa Deliziosa, will sail on December the 28th. When it comes to the situation with cruisers in 2020, their interest in Dubrovnik is expected to equal that of this year.

From next season onward, a shuttle will transport cruise ship passengers from the cruiser from which they've disembarked to the city's UNESCO historic core, more specifically to Pile by Libertas city buses, which have received a green light from the City Council for operational leasing for shuttle transportation. More buses will also be procured for this purpose.

As we recently reported, from January the 1st, 2021, cruisers sailing to Dubrovnik will pay a tourist tax depending on their respective passenger capacities. Based on a City Council decision, this fee ranges from 2,000 kuna for ships with a capacity of up to 200 passengers, while the maximum fee of 40,000 kuna will need to be paid by cruisers with a capacity of 3,001 passengers or more.

Make sure to follow our dedicated travel page for much more. If it's just Dubrovnik and the extreme south of Dalmatia you're interested in, give Total Dubrovnik a follow or check out Dubrovnik in a Page for all you need to know about the Pearl of the Adriatic.

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