Avoid Navicula Boat Charters in Croatia

A chartered boat cruise can be a great way to see Croatia, but be careful when making your plans. Early in 2008, eight of us chartered a yacht for a one-week sail along the Croatian coast in late April. We booked the boat charter through Navicula (www.navicula.hr) - a company we understood to be reputable.

The day of our departure from the U.S. - literally as we boarded our flight in Boston - we received an email from Navicula explaining that our boat had been damaged and they were canceling the charter. So, with 12 hours notice, and several travelers en route from all parts of the US, Navicula canceled our charter and refused to provide alternative accommodations.

Luckily, while on a layover in London, we found a boat and captain (www.lazywinch.com & Captain Paul Scowen) that were able to accommodate us at the last second. Paul saved our trip and we will never be able to thank him enough.

But the story doesn't end there. After returning to the States we discovered Navicula never refunded our money (US $12,500). We have called and emailed dozens of time to no avail. Not even the courtesy of a response. Therefore, we highly recommend that you avoid doing business with Navicula. As an aside – in our desperate attempts to get through to these people, we noticed that they operate numerous vacation rentals, "luxury estates", boat charters, real estate investment, and car rentals in Europe under the Navicula and Tisno Tour names (available via numerous online directory postings published by a person named Natko Prosenikliev).

That said, Croatia is a beautiful country and we cannot speak highly enough of Captain Paul and his First Mate, Tea - the folks from Lazy Winch who came to our rescue. They are completely accommodating, and will cook fabulous meals on board and/or point you in the direction of the best local dining spots ashore. We elected to pick the boat up in the town of Marina and then sail south along the shore, back to Dubrovnik - spending each afternoon and evening on a different island. It was a fantastic way to experience the country.