11 June, 2021 - The very first large Dubrovnik cruise ship with passengers on board since the start of the pandemic arrrived today. This is a pieces of news many people in Dubrovnik have been waiting for for quite some time.

MSC Orchestra arrived to Dubrovnik this morning. It is the first big Dubrovnik cruise ship to bring passengers into the city after a long and costly silent period caused by the pandemic. This 294m long behemoth can house 2550 passengers in its 1275 cabins. It is not new to Dubrovnik as MSC ships are some of the most commonly seen cruise ships in the city's port. With the city’s tourism sector feeding so many local Dubrovnik families, the long awaited arrival of a thousand or so guests at one time is seen as nothing short of a blessing. This is exactly why Dubrovnik’s mayor Mato Frankovic was quick to point out the arrival of the ship and its significance on his social media.

Source: Mato Frankovic / Facebook

Dubrovnik’s love/hate relationship with modern day cruise ships has been an ongoing state of being for the last couple of decades or so. The cruise ship industry brought to the city a quick way of recuperating large numbers of guests after the Croatian Homeland war of the 1990’s, which left the city’s economy in a total shambles. Soon after the first ships started arriving back to Dubrovnik, it became clear that Croatia's southernmost city is a perfect short stop port for many. Cruise ships brought with them large number of guests and did wonders in prolonging the tourist season.

Of course, it’s not all good news. A large amount of people coming to the city for a short time means crowded streets and traffic jams once again, an old Dubrovnik problem. For many, the experience of Dubrovnik became lessened by the fact the movement along the main areas was at times very difficult. Overcrowding and the strain placed on the infrastructure became a real issue. Dubrovnik’s image of a pleasant destination perfect for longer stays is now under threat.

What’s Next?

With all this being said, it will be very interesting to see how cruise ships are going to fit into Dubrovnik’s tourism picture this year. There will be a few of them, most probably with reduced capacity and sales. This might be a unique opportunity to see whether cruise ships and Dubrovnik can finally settle their differences.

For more on travel in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

May 2, 2021 - In a press release, the candidate for the mayor of Dubrovnik, Andro Vlahušić, asked for experienced people and professionals to save the cruising season.

As Dulist.hr reports, Andro Vlahušić has requested a staff solution regarding the Dubrovnik Port Authority director, Blaž Pezo, through an open statement from his platform, Dubrovnik our city:

‘‘Dubrovnik is, among other things, a city of sailors. In history, they created a network of trade and connected the city with the whole world. Even today, Dubrovnik naval officers have impressive captaincy and managerial careers at the world's largest companies. That is why in 2017, it was easy to find someone professional and experienced to come to the head of the Dubrovnik Port Authority. However, HDZ decided on the completely opposite approach and appointed a person who has neither a day of work experience nor an hour of education in maritime affairs. Although he did not meet the conditions of the tender, HDZ party operative (which was once called the party commissioner) Blaž Pezo was appointed director of the Dubrovnik Port Authority. The Dubrovnik public protested then, but the commissioner rubbed his hands together. For obedience and loyalty, he was awarded a respectable position upon which hundreds of jobs depend in Dubrovnik. Aware of the way in which he was appointed, he continued to deal exclusively with the party, not professional tasks. That is why cruisers bypass Dubrovnik today. There was no one in the Port Authority to prepare and develop the epidemiological protocols that are a prerequisite for receiving ships on cruises’’, Vlahušić said in a statement and continued:

‘‘Unfortunately, Mayor Franković did not do anything in the preparation of the protocol of visiting the City, entering museums, the walls or movement in organised groups in an epidemiologically safe way. And hundreds of jobs have become compromised. Buses, taxi drivers, guides, souvenir shops and restaurants will remain without income for the second year in a row. They will not be able to survive it. The responsibility of the irresponsible director Pezo, but also of those who appointed him even though he is not qualified, is simply such that the minimum of decency is to admit a mistake, dismiss him, and appoint someone who has knowledge of ships and seafaring in his place.

The Dubrovnik our City platform calls on Minister Butković to find a staffing solution for this catastrophic situation without delay because Dubrovnik cannot afford that the income that once remained in Dubrovnik today goes to Greece and Cyprus just because someone does not know that his job is to negotiate with directors of shipping companies, not pay for beer to party cadets. And with every cruiser that will not sail into Dubrovnik, a million kuna is lost.

The people of Dubrovnik still remember how the Dubrovnik hospital became a central place for examinations and medical treatments of the world's largest cruising company at the time when it was headed by Dr. Vlahušić.

The Dubrovnik our City platform and candidate for mayor, Andro Vlahušić, have been proposing and appealing for months that epidemiological protocols for receiving ships and visiting the historic core be developed, defined and implemented, and this will be our first task as soon as we come to power and thus create preconditions for the return of cruisers and job preservation.

In the year in which the Olympic Games are being organised, this is very possible. We just need to appoint serious people, experienced professionals and work with all our strength to make that happen’’, Vlahušić and his platform Dubrovnik our City point out.

For more about politics in Croatia, be sure to bookmark our dedicated section.

For more about ''the Pearl of the Adriatic'', visit Total Croatia's Dubrovnik in a Page 2021 guide HERE.

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And so it begins...

Two enormous cruise ships enter the port of Dubrovnik (Gruz) as 2017's cruise season begins...