Wednesday 15 July 2009

Cruising Croatia For Families

Croatia Cruising Companion - Optimists

On Croatia Online today, we looked at child friendly hotels in Croatia, which inspired us to think about how suitable a sailing holiday in Croatia might be for families with children of varying ages.

Earlier in the year, we interviewed a few experts for an article on sailing in Croatia for Time Out. When we asked them about taking children along, the consensus seemed to be that parents would probably be too distracted worrying about the safety of kids of five and under, and teenagers might prove hard to entertain. However, on a family holiday, if the charter includes hiring a local skipper, the experts told us it was the skipper’s job to keep everyone happy - with adolescents that means making sure they were fully involved, and leaving plenty of time for swimming and other beach activities. If you don’t take a skipper then that’s down to you, the parents!

That view has been endorsed by a number of families we’ve met who’ve tried it. Better still, a family sailing trip seems to bring everyone together. Readers might be interested to read a very touching report on the website of legendary sailor and prolific author, Jimmy Cornell. Noonsite includes the story of an Australian family who lived the dream for five weeks, sailing around Croatia, and considered it the best experience they had ever had as a family.

If you’ve only got a couple of weeks then perhaps the answer is to make sure you provide a variety of destinations and activities that suits everyone, and that’s very easy to do in Croatia. If the kids show signs of getting bored, perhaps spend a day at Marina Kornati in Biograd, ACI's Marina in Vodice or Marina Borik, near Zadar, and let the children take advantage of the nearby child friendly beaches, hotels and facilities while the adults chill out over a cocktail or two.

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