March 10, 2020 - A closer look at how the coronavirus outbreak is effecting Croatian football.

Following the announced measures of the Croatian Civil Protection Staff from March 9, the relevant bodies of the Croatian Football Federation (HNS) issued instructions for playing football matches in the following period.

The following instructions have been determined by the leadership of the Croatian Football Federation, headed by President Davor Šuker and Executive Director Marijan Kustić, HNS Executive Board, HNS Medical Commission with President prof. Dr Dragan Primorac, HNS Competition Commission led by President Ante Vučemilović-Šimunović, Commission of Football Referees with President Anto Kulušić, HT First League Competition Commissioner Josip Brezni and HNS Security Commissioner Miroslav Marković:

1. It is obligatory to adhere to all decisions, measures and recommendations which he has prescribed and which will be prescribed by the Civil Protection Staff of the Republic of Croatia or other competent state institutions.

2. Considering the HNS competition calendar, all competitions under the HNS's jurisdiction shall continue with or without spectators.

3. Match organizers are obliged to fully respect and implement the measures of the Civil Protection Staff of the Republic of Croatia.

4. We emphasize the obligation of the organizers to obtain the consent of the County Civil Protection Headquarters and the competent Institute of Public Health regarding the fulfillment of the prescribed conditions for the organization of the match before the matches.

The Croatian Football Federation will continue to closely monitor the situation with the epidemic of the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and will, if necessary, determine new measures and issue new instructions, which will be notified to the football family and the public promptly.

In accordance with the recommendation of the Civil Protection Staff, the opinion of the County Institute of Public Health of Istria County and the decision of the Croatian Football Federation to continue the competition, Istra 1961 announced that its 27th and 28th round HNL games, scheduled on March 14 and 21, will be played without spectators.

On Saturday, March 14, Rijeka will visit Pula to play Istra, while a week later, Hajduk will visit Aldo Drosina Stadium.

"Both games will be played without the presence of spectators and there will be no ticket sales," the first-league team from Pula said.

The Istrian Institute of Public Health on Tuesday issued special recommendations to prevent the coronavirus epidemic, which, among other things, delays all outdoor and indoor gatherings, from children's events and birthdays, to sports, cultural, business and other events.

The Istra decision was only the first since Rijeka and Varazdin later came forward. Both have suspended ticket sales for their next home games.

Varazdin will host Dinamo on Sunday, March 15, and three days later, Rijeka will host Osijek in the Croatian Cup semi-finals. Both Varazdin and Rijeka have stopped selling tickets for those duels.

Lokomotiva will host Osijek at Kranjceviceva stadium on Friday from 6 pm.

'According to the published measures of the Civil Protection Headquarters of the Republic of Croatia, NK Lokomotiva, as the host of the match, will adhere to the maximum extent and implement all instructions, measures and recommendations regarding the organization of the match by the County Civil Protection Headquarters and the Institute of Public Health.

The maximum number of viewers will be 1,000.

NK Lokomotiva will provide checkpoints with disinfectants and urges viewers to refrain from the usual non-verbal communication that involves shaking hands and avoiding closer social contact.'

The club also urges fans with respiratory illness and/or fever (greater than 37.5 C) not to attend the match.

Tickets are purchased exclusively at the stadium ticket office on the day of the match, two hours before the start of the meeting (from 4:00 pm). 

Hajduk will play against Inter Zapresic at Poljud on Sunday at 3 pm as part of the 27th round. It is the first of two championship matches to be played in front of the empty stands because of the penalty that HNK Hajduk received for violations committed during the Hajduk - Dinamo match played on March 4.

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page.

As Glas Istre/Milan Pavlovic writes on the 8th of March, 2020, there are plans afoot for the Pula fortification system and the Kastel Atrium, which houses the Historical and Maritime Museum of Istria, to be connected by elevator to the Austro-Hungarian Zerostrasse tunnel at the foot of the hill, and then to a station on the intermediate level consisting of underground rooms of the fortress.

With the recent signing of a grant agreement from European Union funds in the 2014-2020 financial period between the City of Pula and the Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds, the implementation of the strategic project entitled: "The Pula Fortification System as a New Cultural and Tourist Product" has now begun.

It is a project that included the revitalisation of existing infrastructure and the renovation of the Kastel fortress, which includes specific plans for the Kastel Atrium and the aforementioned information.

Thanks to this intervention, the whole area of ​​Kastel will be further opened up for both tourists and locals, especially to persons with reduced mobility, for whom the plans will greatly facilitate access. The implementation of the project will revitalise the existing infrastructure, which will be put into the function of tourism in a way to enrich new facilities, and a new visitor centre will be opened. Among other activities involved in this project, the plan is to set up a historical exhibition with a complete view of the Pula fortification system in one place.

At the same time, with the help of modern multimedia technology, the rich military history of the Kastel Atrium will be revived and visibly presented in the authentic ambience of the premises and in the underground tunnels of Zerostrasse, which themselves formed part of the former defense system of the City of Pula. Namely, the project aims to increase the supply of educational and other facilities for the benefit of all residents of ​​Pula, but also of the wider surrounding area.

''With this contract, the City of Pula has been awarded co-financing of nine million kuna in grants from the European Regional Development Fund, while the total value of the project stands at just over 23.3 million kuna,'' said Mayor Boris Miletic, adding that this was a significant project thanks to which the further valorisation of the the rich history of the Pula fortification system can be properly undertaken.

Miletic points out that this is a positive example of the sustainable management of material cultural heritage that Pula abounds with. For this reason, he adds, the valorisation and revitalisation of the heritage in the area, as well as leaning more towards tourism, are absolutely crucial when it comes to the ITU mechanism, as the instrument through which the funds for the realisation of this project have been secured.

The plan is for the project which involves the Kastel Atrium and much more to be completed by November 2022 and it is being implemented under the "Competitiveness and Cohesion 2014-2020" operational programme.

For the City of Pula, as the centre of a very urban area, the integrated territorial investment mechanism, which is in reality a new EU instrument, represents a strong development perspective and is an outstanding tool in the system of using EU funds. The powers that be within the EU have clearly recognised the importance of urban centres, and in this way, they're enabling a more efficient and proactive way to withdraw EU funds/grants and strengthen the role of cities in general.

The ITU mechanism responds to the economic, environmental and social challenges affecting entire urban areas and seeks to address them through an integrated territory-based approach.

From an urban point of view, this is a good example of implementing European projects at the local level. In addition to the project related to the Kastel Atrium and the entire Pula fortification system, several other significant projects will be implemented through the ITU mechanism in the Pula area.

Make sure to follow our dedicated lifestyle page for much more.

ZAGREB, March 2, 2020 - A 150 million kuna loan guarantee agreement was signed on Monday to help the Pula General Hospital, the largest health institution in Istria, to settle its long-term obligations.

The signing ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Andrej Plenković during a day-long visit to Istria County.

At its session held last November, the government pledged an additional HRK 150 million to support the construction and equipping of the new hospital in Pula. The state guarantee secured a loan for that purpose from Erste & Steiermärkische Bank.

HRK 600 million was previously secured through two loans for the new construction of the new hospital in Pula. A co-funding loan agreement was signed in July 2011 by the government, Istria County and the Pula General Hospital, under which the central government was to cover 75% of annuities and the county government the remaining 25% throughout the repayment period.

Because of the changes that had occurred during the construction, notably to improve project solutions by applying state-of-the-art technologies in medicine, it was necessary to ensure an additional HRK 150 million.

"The additional funding does not mean the investment has increased in relation to the plan. Under the 2011 agreement, the planned cost of the entire project with construction and equipment was HRK 800 million, and we will reach HRK 750 million," Pula General Hospital director Irena Hrstić told Hina.

More Pula news can he found in the Lifestyle section.

Croatia is full of tradition as well as it is full of life, and the sixth Pula Carnival which kicked off this Saturday is no exception to that.

As Glas Istre/Danijela Basic Palkovic writes on the 8th of February, 2020, Pula's citizens and visitors were delighted with the Pula Carnival procession that marched into the City of Pula on Saturday. Vibrant colours, thousands of masked faces, clowns, bells, trolls, superheroes, princesses and more dominated the popular Istrian city's streets - all of them were part of the sixth Pula Carnival, which is getting better and more interesting each and every year.

The Pula Carnival is also heavily supported by numerous residents of the city who came out to watch the procession led by the Pula Majorettes and the Pula City Wind Orchestra. The procession was attended by 27 groups and almost a thousand people in masques who, owing to their apparently endless originality and creativity, evoked cheers and laughter from all those gathered.

"It's good when the masques take over the city," said some of the comments in reference to the Pula Carnival, and it was quite difficult to decide on whose mask was better this year. Those in masks gathered at Veli Vrh and were led by carnival master Damir Pletikos Koroman. The children were most delighted with the colourful trolls, and the already famous bell-ringers, with their distinctive dancing and ringing, justifiably received a standing ovation.

The masquerade groups included groups from Istria, Kvarner, and even neighbouring Slovenia and Italy, all of whom attracted attention with their crazy, creative and above all original costumes. Saturday was perfect for being outdoors thanks to the favourable weather conditions, so the audience was far from lacking. Many people from Pula, from the youngest to the oldest, put on masks and came to the carnival for a dose of fun.

Watch the video of the amazing Pula Carnival below:

Make sure to follow our dedicated lifestyle page for much more on events across Croatia.

Unexploded bombs and other ordnance that have been found will soon go through the proper methods of safe destruction in the popular coastal Istrian city of Pula.

Whether they're from the Second World War or from the much more recent Homeland War, unexploded mines and other types of ordnance are still discovered all over the country, with many places, particularly in Lika, issuing public warnings about potential mines in forests, around mountains and in other more remote locations.

As Morski writes on the 2nd of February, 2020, the working group for demining activities of the Vallelunga Warehouse in Pula agreed on the need for, and the concrete steps that need to be taken to discover any unexploded ordnance from the Seond World War and safely remove them as soon as possible, and the action itself will begin on Tuesday, February the 4th this year.

This is a port area that was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Croatia, and due to the complexity and the sheer extent of the procedure at hand, the rehabilitation of the aforementioned area will take place in stages.

During the first phase, the preparation of the area, which will be taken care of by a company called Viktor from the Istrian city Rovinj, will be carried out under the strict supervision of the Ministry of Interior's anti-explosion team. Upon completion of all of the necessary preparation of the area, it will be thoroughly inspected by MUP personnel using specialised machinery.

The removal of unexploded ordnance from the Second World War, which will be coordinated by the Port Authority of Pula and the Ministry of the Interior, will be carried out by professional and licensed personnel under very strict supervision and under maximum security conditions.

Make sure to follow our dedicated lifestyle page for more.

February 1, 2020 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for new flights to Croatia with updates from Zagreb, Split and Pula. 

Ex Yu Aviation and Avio Radar report that Ukrainian Windrose Airlines has announced that it would launch a new service between the capitals of Ukraine and Croatia.

Namely, Windrose will launch the first nonstop service between Kyiv and Zagreb since the 1980s. Recall, Aeroflot was the last to connect the two cities with a nonstop flight before the break-up of Yugoslavia.

The new route between the two capital cities will run three times per week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, beginning June 2. The new service will be seasonal and run until the end of October, though the airline could reevaluate its frequency given the performance. 

The Embraer E145 jet, which has a capacity of 50 seats, will be used on both routes. Windrose has six aircraft of this type in its fleet and all were taken from the flat of the regional Ukrainian carrier Dniproavia, which officially ceased operations. However, all six aircraft continue to wear Dniproavia’s coloring. Dniproavia flew to Croatia on regular charter flights from Lviv to Pula and Split. 

Ex Yu Aviation adds that Croatia Airlines thought about connecting the two capitals back in 2009, though it never came to fruition. Furthermore, Ukraine International Airlines announced they were looking to connect Kyiv and Zagreb back in 2018, though nothing has come of it yet. 

There are, however, various seasonal connections from Kyiv to the Croatian coast. Namely, like in previous years, Windrose will also fly on seasonal scheduled flights from Kyiv to Pula and Split. Both lines will run twice a week, which is the same as last year. Windrose will fly to Pula on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and to Split on Thursdays and Sundays. The Airbus A321 aircraft will fly to the Adriatic destinations. 

Ex Yu Aviation adds that based on traffic flow, Zagreb Airport has named Kyiv, Basel, Geneva, Riga and Sofia unserved European destinations with the potential to sustain direct flights. 

To read more about travel in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page.

January 28, 2020 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for new flights to Croatia with updates from Pula and Osijek.

Ex Yu Aviation reports that Croatia Airlines has ended its seasonal service between Pula and Amsterdam, which ran once per week in the summer. The nonstop flight between Pula and Amsterdam originated in Dubrovnik.

The airline announced that it would no longer work on this route this year, though that it would instead boost operations between Zagreb and Amsterdam.  Namely, frequencies on this route will be increased from seven to eight flights per week. 

The added flight will operate on Tuesdays from April 28 to September 29, 2020. 

This move could be due to competition, as last year, easyJet launched a service between Amsterdam and Pula. 

Furthermore, Ex Yu Aviation reports that Eurowings announced that it is ending its seasonal service between Cologne and Osijek this year. However, that it would keep its service between Stuttgart to Osijek.

This news comes after Eurowings announced it would discontinue flights from Berlin and Dusseldorf to Zagreb just before the summer season, in March. The final flight from Berlin and Dusseldorf to Zagreb is scheduled for March 28, 2020.

Eurowings announced back in November that it would maintain six flights per week from Cologne and five from Stuttgart to Zagreb this summer. The low-cost airline will also operate eight return flights from Hamburg this summer, running once per week between July 8 and August 26, 2020.

Recall, last week, Avio Radar reported that the new Danish carrier Great Dane Airlines would fly on a charter line from Denmark to Rijeka. The line will operate this offseason between Copenhagen and Rijeka, on Tuesdays and Thursdays from September 10 to October 15. 

This service is operated by Best Travel tourist agency, and is also the airline's first charter flight to Croatia. The Embraer ERJ-195 will fly on this route. It is also currently the only direct route from Denmark to Rijeka. 

Avio Radar also reported last week that Tunisia’s national carrier Tunisair would again fly on the Zagreb-Monastir charter service, which will operate once a week, on Wednesdays, from May. 27 to October 7, 2020. The line was last in service in 2014, and will currently be the only direct line from Croatia to any destination in Tunisia. An Airbus A320 aircraft will operate on this line.

And finally, beginning May 4, 2020, Air France will offer another direct flight from Zagreb to Paris.

In addition to the existing two direct flights, one of which is in cooperation with Croatia Airlines, a total of three flights to Paris are on offer on daily. The new flight allows passengers to depart and return to Paris in one day, but also to board a flight to North America.

To read more about travel in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page.

January 18, 2020 - The latest news from around Croatia’s airports for new flights to Croatia with updates from Zagreb, Zadar, Pula, and Split. 

HRTurizam reports that the Vakantiebeurs Tourism Fair is held in the Dutch city of Utrecht from January 15 to 19, 2020. It is the largest tourism fair for business and general audiences in the Benelux area, with more than 1000 exhibitors attending the jubilee 50th edition of the fair this year, as well as the Croatian Tourist Board with 18 local co-exhibitors.

It is at the Vakantiebeurs Fair that new lines from the Netherlands and Belgium to Croatia have been announced.

"We are very pleased with the growing interest of airlines in Croatia, as is evidenced by the announcement of three new flights from the Netherlands and Belgium to Croatia this year, namely Easyjet from Amsterdam to Zadar, Ryanair from Maastricht to Zadar and TUIfly airlines from Brussels to Pula,”  said Ivan Novak, Director of the HTZ Representation for Benelux.

During 2019, nearly 500,000 arrivals and approximately 3 million overnight stays were made from the Dutch market.

In other news, Ex Yu Aviation News reports that Croatia Airlines is planning to launch a service between Zagreb and Tirana this summer. Recall, while the Croatian national carrier used to operate on the Zagreb-Tirana route, the two cities haven’t been connected by the airline in years. 

Namely, the airline's CEO Jasmin Bajić and Director of its Commercial Division, Slaven Žabo, discussed the potential new line with Albania’s Ambassador to Croatia, Riza Poda.

“Both parties agreed for talks between Croatia Airlines and relevant authorities in Albania to commence immediately in order for this important project to be realized as soon as possible,” the Albanian Embassy in Zagreb said. 

Ex Yu Aviation adds that the Croatian carrier hoped to establish a base in Tirana back in 2016, though the project never came to fruition. Albanian national carrier Air Albania said it would launch flights to Croatia back in 2017, though they have yet to do so. The aviation portal added that an average of 24,000 Albanian passport holders visited Croatia annually over the last few years. 

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and a large delegation of Croatian investors will visit Tirana in May. The Croatian national carrier also plans to service Sofia and Podgorica this summer. 

To end this week of flight news, Avio Radar reports that FlygBRA-Braathens Regional Airlines announced the first regular flight from Sweden to Croatia this summer. The new Malmo-Split route will run once a week, on Saturdays, from May 30 to September 26, 2020.

To read more about travel in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page.

It's amazing to think that after all of the fuss, excitement and preparations that come with the festive period, Christmas, Advent and Croatia's winter tourism - that it's all over in a matter of days. The popular city of Pula in beautiful Istria placed an ice skating rink in the centre of town, and it seems that it was a real hit with both locals and visitors alike.

As Glas Istre/Borka Petrovic writes on the 14th of January, 2020, now the events of Advent are behind us and the traffic in the heart of the City of Pula has returned to normal levels, local portal Glas Istre (the Voice of Istria) asked Pula's local authorities to evaluate the results of the decision to close the city center for two months - whether they thought it was a good idea and whether Pula's festive ice skating rink would be placed in the same location this year?

The portal also asked them to provide a look into the financial parametres of the whole story, that is, how much individual communal utilities lost and indeed how much they earned through this plan.

In the City of Pula, the ice skating rink's location is said to have been a hit, stating that it has become a traditional gathering place for many Pula residents who are more than happy to have another festive facility available to them during the winter months where they can have a good time in the city and enjoy healthy, sporting activities alongside sausages, mulled wine and fritule.

The location was also a huge hit as far as the figures are concerned, too. More than 16,000 visitors passed through the Pula ice skating rink, which is a massive fifty percent more than the year before when the rink was installed on Veruda.

The Pula skating rink's total revenue amounts to 520,000 kuna, while the cost of installing, renting equipment (wooden-metal stand, lighting, bins and containers, transportation and transport costs, manpower, electricity etc) amounted to 518,000 kuna.

''Although the rink was financially self-sustaining, the purpose of the rink was not economic, the rink was set up so that our fellow citizens could be offered additional facilities and a place for entertainment,'' the City of Pula notes.

Make sure to follow our dedicated lifestyle page for more.

January 15, 2020 - More under-reported Croatian excellence on the global stage, as Croatian shipbuilders produce the world's best new luxury cruise ship of 2019, as Scenic Eclipse enjoys the patronage of Helen Mirren. 

One thing I have come to learn after many years of living in Croatia is that things are rarely as they seem on the surface, and that few scratch beneath that surface to see what lies below. The perceived picture of the Croatian economy is one of doom and gloom - lots of unemployment, lack of skilled workers, few opportunities, lack of competitiveness. 

And while all this is certainly true on one level, taking a closer look at the realities on the ground show that there are many young seeds being sown in various industries which are already bearing fruit, and with the potential to bear a lot more. And one of the things that these seeds have in common is excellence. And not just five-star excellence but something higher, competing with the very best in the world. 

The best example of this, of course, is Mate Rimac and his phenomenal Rimac Automobili. In a country with no car industry whatsoever, a young man in his 20s started a business to realise his dream of building an electric supercar. So successful has Rimac been that not only has he now produced the world's fastest electric supercar, but he has also built a cutting edge technology business employing more than 600 people, with A-lister investors such as Porsche and Hyundai. 

But away from the bright lights and column inches that the Rimac success demands these days, there are other many other Croatian success stories occurring under the radar. I had absolutely no idea, for example, that the German Minister of Economy had visited a warehouse in eastern Zagreb to learn about innovation in the workplace. Or that that same warehouse, operated by a small family business, Tokic car parts, had been listed in the top 50 most innovative companies in Europe by the London Stock Exchange. Read their incredible story here. Similarly, it was a pleasure to be in Berlin recently to see Bagatin Clinic collect the award for best international cosmetic surgery clinic at the International Medical Travel Journal 2019 awards, the latest endorsement of Croatia's emerging medical tourism industry.

But the last place I expected to find Croatian global excellence, having read recent news reports, was from the troubled Uljanik shipyard in Pula. 

Don't get me wrong, Croatia has a fantastic shipbuilding heritage, and one which has provided much employment and built world-class vessels over the years. But the glory days seem to be over due to new economic realities, and the plight of the Uljanik shipyard was one of the main economic stories of 2019, a shipyard where orders had dried up and debts accrued. 

But if you look a little deeper, you will find one of the most fantastic stories of Croatian success of last year, and one which has been little reported. 

Not having paid more than cursory attention to the situation in the shipyard, I was somewhat surprised last July to see TCN reporting on a luxury 200-million-euro yacht called Scenic Eclipse being launched from Pula, destination Rejkavik, where it would pick up its first passengers for a new life of luxury Arctic and Antarctic cruises. Check out the gracious departure of Scenic Eclipse in the video below. 

And there the story might have ended, except that I recently came across a list of awards for the cruise ship industry by leading industry website, Cruise Critic, in which Scenic Eclipse featured rather well - Best New Luxury Ship 2019.

Cruisers might book Scenic Eclipse because it offers two state-of-the-art helicopters and a six-person sub, but they'll come back because of the 200-passenger ship's chic, modern design, generously-sized suites and incredible dining offerings. Scenic pulled out all the stops with its first ocean ship, which seamlessly combines luxury and soft-adventure travel to exotic destinations, including the Arctic and Antarctica.

And the more I looked into this wondrous little ship, the more surprises I found along the way. The ship was christened in New York by none other than Dame Helen Mirren in New York in September.

So enthralled was Dame Helen that she has agreed to be the Godmother of the Scenic Eclipse, expressing her admiration both for the luxury on board and the attention paid to the environment in its construction, "a ship that has minimal environmental impact on sensitive marine areas and the eco-systems it sails."

And then when I decided to take a closer look at the ship itself, I made a rather interesting discovery. It seemed like the Scenic owners and the Pula shipyard had managed to produce the first of an entirely new category of ship - the discovery yacht, a polar cruiser that could explore parts of the planet no competition could visit. A little like Rimac, was Croatia contributing something unique and world-class yet again?

The ship is owned by the phenomenally successful cruise ship company, Scenic, whose company profile is summarised as:

Scenic Luxury Cruises and Tours has more than three decades of experience creating unforgettable handcrafted journeys for our guests with itineraries to more than 60 countries around the world. Scenic and its sister company, Evergreen Cruises and Tours are recognised as leaders in the industry.

Having seen a luxury private yacht in Sydney harbour one day, Scenic's Australian owners Glen and Karen Moroney apparently came up with the idea of offering all the luxury of a private yacht for cruise-paying passengers. A discovery yacht, smaller and more flexible than the normal cruise ship, allowing more personal guest attention and better flexibility and agility in routes and reaching destinations that the bigger ships simply could not go. And not just a discovery yacht, but a polar discovery yacht, capable of taking guests to parts of the Arctic and Antarctic that other ships simply cannot. 

And toys. Lots of toys. 

Where else would you find a cruise ship with its very own submarine, available to guests for excursions? A sophisticated sub with all the latest features that can take guests down to depths of 330 metres, including in some of the remotest parts of the planet during the Scenic Eclipse signature tours of the Arctic and Antarctic. As you can see in the US media story in the video below, the submarine skipper talks of some of the magical things he has seen, including jellyfish in the Arctic with tentacles about 15 metres long. 

You can also check out an extended video interview with the submarine skipper, including some great footage.

Toys in the air - two helicopters available for sightseeing tours. Toys on the water - zodiac boats and kayaks, allowing guests to get up close. Rare sightings of leopard seals, and the chance to kayak in the Antarctic. How else would you get to experience a penguin flying out of the water and landing on your boat, observing the situation for a few minutes and then flipping back into the water? Experiences explained by the expert Scenic Eclipse guide in the video below.

One of the ironies I have always found with the cruise ship industry is that people travel to get away from it all to go and explore faraway places, then find themselves on a boat with several thousand people for at least a week. The Scenic Eclipse discovery yacht is an altogether different experience. As one would expect, the number of guests on board is considerably less (maximum 228) and the number of staff ratio much higher. 

(Glen and Karen Moroney together with Dame Helen Mirren at the christening of Scenic Eclipse)

Glen and Karen Moroney were very much involved in the Scenic Eclipse project, having had that initial vision in Sydney Harbour. Glen was in charge of the overall design of the ship, while Karen - working with just two assistants - took care of the spectacular interior design.

Each suite comes with its own butler, and their spacious feel (the Owner's Suite is an impressive 195 m2) and luxury design gives a feel more of a presidential 5-star hotel suite than that of a yacht. There are ten venues on board, ranging from French to Japanese, with flavours and ingredients from all four corners of the planet, with an undoubted highlight being an invitation to Chef's Table, an exquisite dinner for a maximum of ten diners. No menu, diners are at the mercy of the creativity of the chef's kitchen. Early feedback suggests that the Chef's Table experience is not only the culinary highlight of the cruise, but among the top things on the entire cruise. An example of the range of quality on the wine, Champagne and spirits on offer can be gauged by the whiskey selection - sample one, or all, of the world's top 100 whiskeys while on your voyage. 

A variety of beauty and health services are available to guests, such as the 600-square-foot Senses Spa Center featuring Scandinavian-style baths, a gym and Pilates studio and a hair salon.

Construction of Scenic Eclipse was far from straightforward. What was already a groundbreaking project was complicated by the bankruptcy problems at the Uljanik factory, which went bankrupt halfway through the ship's construction. Despite this, the Moroneys decided to continue to invest and - together with willing and skilled Croatian engineers and shipbuilders - Scenic Eclipse was completed in 2019. So happy are the owners with the ship that they have announced plans to build five more, all of them in Croatia. 

A great opportunity, perhaps, for Croatia to develop a new sector of excellence serving the global market, in the same way that Rimac Automobili does. Rimac has only actually built a handful of cars, but they are the very best on the market, with an appropriate price tag attached. Why can Croatia not repeat that success in the luxury discovery cruiser market, a market which was born in its shipyards?

“Despite the long tradition and the well-known skill of quality shipbuilding in Croatia, building this type of ship has been an incredible challenge for all of us involved in the construction. Scenic Eclipse proudly bears the label of a unique Croatian product in the world and offers its guests a special and cinematic "bonding" adventure experience. My wife and I are really proud that we had the opportunity to participate in the construction process ourselves, because for us this ship is much more than a business project. Scenic Eclipse is really a family project that we are very passionate about and we really care about, "said Scenic Group owner Glen Moroney.

Built for both Arctic and tropical waters, and with a flexibility due to its size that other cruise ships cannot offer, the Scenic Eclipse itinerary offers voyages like no other ship. Choose from Antarctica, South Georgia & the Falkland Islands; Europe & the Mediterranean; Norwegian Fjords & Baltic States; the Caribbean; the Arctic; and the Americas. Scenic Eclipse even visits the country of its birth, with Croatian stops in Rovinj, Hvar, Split and Dubrovnik. 

The most popular tour on the Scenic Eclipse is the one from the Norwegian Svalbard Archipelago along the Greenland iceberg to Reykjavik. It is a 14-day trip that costs about $ 23,945 or HRK 160,000. The price includes plane tickets for arrival and return and nine meals on board, and 16 polar research experts who lead the tours and hold educational programmes with the guests. Longer Antarctic tours are much more expensive, so for example, a 19-day trip from Buenos Aires, around the Falkland Islands and the South Georgia Islands to the Antarctic Peninsula, where guests can enjoy views of whales and penguins, costs around $ 30,695 (HRK 200,000) for ordinary accommodation and almost half a million kuna for the Owner's Suite ($ 77,000).

A Mediterranean tour with Scenic Eclipse, from Barcelona, ​​via Monte Carlo, sailing along the Italian coast to Santorini and all the way to Athens, guests will pay a minimum of $ 8,695 per person, or about HRK 57,000 for nine days. But it is actually the lowest price for off-season sailing with accommodation in the 32 m2 Verandah Suite cabin. Only the wealthiest who choose the Owner's Suite cabin, located on the sixth deck, will experience true exclusive accommodation. For a Mediterranean 9-day trip, the price of this cabin is $ 30,695 per person (HRK 200 thousand or HRK 22 thousand per day).

A luxury experience out of the budget of this correspondent, but how refreshing to once again scratch under the surface of Croatia and discover yet one example where it leads the world. And with the potential to deliver so much more to the Croatian economy, as well as luxury tourism worldwide. 

Learn more about Scenic Eclipse on the official website.