2025 Sep. 19, Opatija; Croatia.

Our overnight route from Venice/Fusina to Opatija in Croatia.

Opatija in Croatia is our first port of call during this very port intensive cruise of one port each day, in the 9 day cruise. I always like some sea days in between but this was the only cruise out there that called at all these small ports in Croatia without having to go on five separate cruises to have one each cruise. Not that I mind 5 extra cruises (and my wife is taking care of that with great alacrity) but those cruises can go then to different parts of the world.

Breakfast on the balcony with a nice view. Life ain’t that bad.

We had Breakfast in the cabin and this is very nice with Azamara. There is a very extensive Room service menu, setup with various “menu breakfast options” and then you can also add extra things to it at the bottom. So get a bagel with the standard salmon and cream cheese and capers, and then add (I am Dutch after all) extra cheese to it.  Etc. Etc,  Options so elaborate which were missing when on board Silver Seas and they claim that they are the best. Very nice also: Room service calls a few minutes before they knock on the door so you can get out of bed or get decent or both. Then 2 stewards come in and set the table. As it was nice weather they set the table on the balcony which was even nicer. So that was a good way to start the day.

Opatija from the ship. The coast of the whole bay is full of hotels and other holiday venues.

Then before going ashore came the hard work. We had downloaded all the relevant information from the Azamara website of what was included in the cruise and our cabin. When arriving on board it turned out that Azamara had stopped quite a bit of the amenities but we booked our Verandah Plus cabin based on what was listed on the Azamara website. So in principle we paid too much as the amenities on board were not that comprehensive. Fresh Flowers gone, slippers “upon request”, fresh fruit “upon request”, daily newspaper gone (It is still on the letter that you get when boarding and still on the website) Wrong name on the welcome letter which listed all these “upon request things”.  The website lists “plural” for the free bottle of booze given but this is only one per cabin. (so if there is one person  in the cabin, or two, or four, still only one bottle).  And then there was yesterday the priority boarding issue. Plus an international newspaper should be delivered to the cabin each day but we have not seen anything yet, as it is also “gone” according to those on board.

Tender dock in Opatija. From here it is a bit of a steep walk up the hill for about 5 minutes to the main street.

The cabin is a Verandah + (plus) but the settee /couch is a 1.5 size and not a full 2, as in some of the regular cabins (there is the space for it, so something happened in the past) and no light above the desk / make up table. The other cabins have 2 spotlights in the ceiling but nothing here. It looks like  that somebody decided that only the larger suites on this deck where entitled to a desk lamp and ours was taken away as the plug & switch are still there.

So we requested a meeting with the Guest Relation Manager, which turned out to be a very lovely lady, but of course she could not do anything but promised to look into the website issue and hopefully she will come back to us.  The Hotel Manager said during his welcome speech that he and his team were there to ” deal with any issues that the guests might have” so we will see.  The Housekeeping supervisor was called out and re-instructed the cabin steward about making sure we had the right welcome letter, that he explained everything and yes that with the free drinks (more about that tomorrow) this also included beer etc. (He claimed yesterday it did not) So suddenly the slippers popped up and the fresh fruit and the free beer.   All this stuff sort of make you start the cruise off on the wrong foot.

Then it was time to go ashore, which worked very well. The cruise Director had advised that the first hour would be tender tickets as the tours had to get off, but with 4 tenders for 624 guests it was “open tenders” after only 50 minutes. The distance to the shore was a “3 tender” distance and for most of the day there were three in operation.

The ms Azamara Onward at anchor off the coast.

Opatija was already a tourist place around 1900 and many large villa’s allude to it. Some have been converted to hotels and some to apartments. One or two might still be privately owned. The whole coastal area is holiday hotel area and we saw Croatian cars but also cars from Germany, Poland, Italy and of course a Dutch one. The Dutch will drive all over Europe so they pop up everywhere. (we once saw 5 at the North Cape at the same time).  Looking at the shops in the main street, a lot of them were upscale, so Opatiija it is not a Beer & Chips resort.

The main street in Opatija. No pedestrian area as it is a sort of main route, but plenty of shops and restaurants at each side.

Thus after a walk along the beach and then into town, through the main street, we were back at the tender dock  1.5 hours later. Once the tender left , it suddenly was called back because the captain was on the dock. It looked like he had gone for run and did not want to wait for the next tender. Calling a tender back with a Far Eastern tender driver is always fraught with challenges, as a break in routine seems to startle them. In this case it was no different and instead of sliding back along the dock, the driver managed to maneuver himself 2 feet off the dock. Thus the next plan was going astern and bring the bow along the dock and then the captain jumped on and dived into the tender via the front window that is used by the tender sailor to secure the forward mooring rope.   And it is a situation like this that makes me angry, very angry…. WHY?   Safety and Leadership.

1. The captain should set the example for everybody to follow the rules, and thus wait for the tender to be safely docked and once the tender sailor says it is safe, to step on board.
2. Now he jumped on the bow, where only the tender sailor is allowed to be because he wears a lifejacket. Apart from not having a lifejacket, the captain jumped. Jumping is never allowed.
3. By doing so, he breached at least 2 regulations of the safety protocols (as listed in the SMS (safety Management System) of the company.

Basically this show that the captain thinks he is above everybody else by calling a tender back full of guests who had already been sitting in a warm tender for 10 minutes, as “Master of the Vessel” he did not set the correct example for the rest of the crew by following the rules and regulations and he endangered himself as he could have slipped on the forward deck and have fallen in the water. (One of the reasons that the tender sailor has to wear a lifejacket when handling the mooring ropes). I made Captain Jonas a compliment yesterday because of showing up for the afternoon presentation but in my eyes this behavior is not acceptable.  So today he really disappointed me.

Back on board we scrutinized the daily program to see how it went with the food. The Windows Cafe (Lido) is open to 14.30. For those who missed lunch, the Patio (that is the outside part of the Windows Cafe over the stern) stays open to 16.30 Same goes for the Hamburger and Ice cream restaurant (Swirl & Top) also to 16.30. Then on most ships there is a sort of gap until dinner. Not here, as from 14.30 to 19.00 there are Tapas and Sandwiches in the Living room (Crows nest ), so there is a food all the time. Then (also free of charge) is the Mosaic Cafe  from 07.00 to 22.00. Then at 22.00 there is a late night snack in the Living Room. So food, in various quantities, rolls on all day long. (And then of   course there is room service)

The show, made up of well known crooner and dance songs.

We went for cocktails in the Living Room and then for dinner in the Main Dining room called “Discoveries” on this ship.  We came in at 18.30 (moderate traffic) but the whole place was nearly empty. By 20.00 it was full but with still some empty spaces. So no waiting lines at any time. When coming in, they ask you if you want to share a table which we did and we had a wonderful conversation with a Canadian Couple from Toronto who were very busy with spending their children’s inheritance as they had booked 17 cruises in the next 3 years. After this one, their next cruise was on the Amazon with the Volendam of Holland America.

By 20.45 the doors to the show lounge opened with a the ships staff lined up for meet and great. Then the Captains introductions,  followed by a full show by the same people as last night. And they were very good again. There are no guest entertainers on board. So the whole cruise we will get a mixture of this cast and cruise staff talents. Something to look forward to.

Tomorrow we are in Zadar, also Croatia, some 100 miles to the south. Weather is expected to be the same, no clouds, sun all day, no wind, temperatures around 27oC / 81oF.   Who needs the Caribbean with this sort of weather………………..