Gulet Dolin. Interview With Owner, Best Croatia Routes and More.

When it comes to the presentation of gulet Dolin, you can not start with a technical description of the vessel. You have to start with the description of the owner of the gulet, Capt. Ivica Benić or how he is also saying Capt. John (Ivica in English means JOHN). John spent his childhood in Australia, which enabled him to think a bit different than the others. Because of that, he is also almost native in the English language (with very strong and cool Australian accent of course) and like most of the ozzies…he is super opened and easy going.

The CEO of Goolets, Mitja, cruised with this gulet a couple of years ago with his family and here is what he had to say about it:

“I cruised with several amazing super luxury gulets before, and DOLIN was actually not the gulet standard, which would amaze my wife, however, I must say I (we) all had the absolutely amazing time on board.”

Here is the reason why:

the communication with Ivica and the rest of the crew is perfect. Ivica will inform every day where you are cruising and why and how long and the personal chef is also a funny guy who will do wonders for you in the kitchen;
you will visit such amazing bays and places, which you never visited before because Ivica is very experienced;
the friendly atmosphere on board of the gulet is superb.

Please find the short interview with Ivica below

Can you describe what are the best things about your gulet?

The Gulet itself is a beautiful old-timer – a Wooden Classic Cutter with cabins in Gulet design. During the rebuild, we were taking care first of all in comfortable accommodation : plenty of space in the cabins with a lot of daylight & fresh air through large slide windows, space deck corridor 90 cm./ 2 people passing easy/, sundeck over 30 m2, home-style toilette & water system / high pressure/, 200l. central heating boiler for hot water, 8 tons of freshwater, & a pro. large stove & oven for the chef, so he can make whatever he wants.

Why and how did you start gulet cruise business?

It was my life dream for over 30 years when boats were mostly for mass – tourism so instead of 20 persons in 10 cabins we have only 5 cabins.

What did you learn is the most important thing for clients while on the cruise? What do you have to do to get 100% satisfaction from clients?

In some way we are planning the cruise together, looking at the weather conditions, & so they have a feeling like every bay & place was just for them.

Does your gulet have something, which other gulets normally do not have? Do you have some special thing where you are different from the others?

Well, as it is not really an original Gulet, but a Wooden Classic Cutter, what I like to say: a boat that has its sole & history: as it was a passenger ship, the history is written among all of the passenger ships in the world: Simple

For what kind of groups your gulet is most suitable and why?

Young couples (up to 40 years of age), we mostly had honeymoons,
Party groups, we were working as a base boat for The Yacht Week ( over 450 people around us on sailing boats ). We had all sorts of groups on board except older than 70 years.

What are your plans for the future?

With some good luck: full sails & 2 masts, looking like a 19th cent. yacht

Which info do you believe is super important for clients, and agencies forget to tell it?

Well hard to say, but I like to say as the boat is a 19th. cent type & there are so many legends stories all around the Adriatic:Sail back to the 19th. cent. & welcome yourself to the spirit of the Med. , the Adriatic sea.

Which itinerary do you believe is the most beautiful one, where clients see the best what Croatia has to offer? For the clients that have never been on Croatia before.

Tough question, there’s so much to show, so I’ll try to introduce the coast in 4 main routes :

ZADAR – TROGIR : Zadar – only 2 hours to the NP – Kornati – 2 days, – Kaprije, – Krka waterfalls, Primošten, Šolta, Stari Grad island Hvar, Bol – wine tasting in the first. Dalmatian wine association, – Milna – Napoleon’s promenade, – Trogir or instead ofthe waterfalls visiting island Vis – Vis & Komiža, the blue cave & the green cave.
TROGIR – TROGIR : Trogir – Šolta – Vis – Komiža – Hvar – Stari Grad – Bol – Milna – Trogir
TROGIR – DUBROVNIK : Trogir – Milna – Bol – Stari Grad – Hvar – Korčula – NP Mljet – Šipan – Dubrovnik
ZADAR – ZADAR : This is for people who like peace & quiet with only bays & villages. Also, there are so many beautiful islands like Pag, Rab, Lošinj, Cres & Krk