In the dark days of last October, the advertisement in The Sunday Times for 11 days in Croatia and Montenegro, showing blue skies and sparkling water, looked very tempting. We thought, ‘let’s give it a go’ and duly booked for late May. (See PCs 390 and 391Tales of Croatia)
Neither of us are drawn to the cruise ships that pack 2000 – 6000 souls into a floating small town, disgorge them to clog the streets of a port, then suck them back on board at 1800 like a powerful vacuum cleaner rids the floor of crumbs and ……
For time out, on holiday, fortunately everyone has different ideas of what they want to do. For some ‘lying and frying’ (with suitable Factor of course) on a beach is the epitome of a holiday, for others it’s an anathema, to be avoided at all costs. Camping appeals to some, and I did enough ‘living in the field’ in all weathers in the military to know it no longer has that draw, while for others a coach trip linking some of Europe’s great cities – ‘It’s Tuesday; this must be Berlin.’ – ticks a bucket list box.
MS Roko
MS Roko was launched in 2021; she’s 50 metres long with a beam of 8.8m and a normal speed 15.7 km/hr – which equates to just under 8.5 knots. The Captain, Ivica Rakuljić, named his ship after his son. (Note 1)
It has 18 cabins so, when full, a compliment of 36 passengers and 9 crew. You could hire her for about €10,000 a day! MS Roko has a draft of 3 metres. I spent a few minutes on Ivica’s bridge when we slid between two islands – with the depth meter showing a healthy 3 metres under her keel.
For Celina and me, this cruise would be a new experience, being in the confines of a small boat with lots of strangers! On MS Roko, coming together at breakfast and lunch was a good time to chat and get to know the others, whilst outside of those times most people did their own thing, relaxed on a sun lounger, curled up with a book, went ashore in search of an evening meal or listened to one of the very informative tour guides at our various ports-of-call. The atmosphere on board was very informal – except that lunch was 1300 – on the dot! This allowed the galley staff led by Marianna to prepare three-course lunches every day.
A third of the guests were vegetarian, had some food intolerance and others were allergic to something, like Celina and seafood. In the confines of the ship’s galley it was understandably difficult to cater well for everyone. The on-board bar that dispensed coffees and drinks was run by Sneža, assisted by Natalia. Given that the ship had been chartered for the six ‘tourist’ months, there was a new group coming every Sunday, week in, week out. Sneža was permanently on board, with no free days, except when the ship was in Split where her fiancé lives.
In the evenings we were alongside. Such is the popularity of some of these little Croatian towns that space on the quayside is often very limited. Visiting ships end up forming what, in nautical parlance, is called a trot, a boat tied up to another ….. and another …. and another. None of the outer boats used a bow or stern line to the shore, but I imagine they would if a storm was forecast.
MS Roko alongside in Korčula, on the inside of the trot
From the passengers’ point of view, the ship was effectively run by Viktor, an extremely personable 40 something, married with two sons, engaged by Imagine Cruising to ensure the passengers got what they wanted, knew what was happening and felt cared for. He ticked all those boxes!
Viktor
I asked an ex-RN Submariner Medic, who plays in goal for Scotland’s Under 75s Hockey team, whether he had made any long-term chums through cruising. “Large ships aren’t like this! So no!” There was an eclectic mix of backgrounds in our fellow passengers, and I couldn’t resist asking those questions that uncork the back-stories. Our group included a delightful woman who’d been the bursar of a Special Needs’ school, a couple of men whose careers had involved surveying, either quantitative, chartered or commercial, a female General Practitioner, a recruiter specialising in the Marine and Shipping industries, nurses, artists, property developers, a product developer for B&Q, a South African financial advisor, an ex-Army specialist in packaging, two individuals who’d made a career in the Wines & Spirits Industry, an IT Consultant, a talented designer of books and a woman ten years older than me! Invariably one gravitates towards some people more readily than others.
Alongside in Hvar
I have always thought one of the benefits of a Kindle is that you can load books before a trip and not have to carry them, although acknowledge that if there are maps to which you want to refer, it’s a pain in the butt to find them. I was surprised how so few of us had Kindles, the majority gripping a paperback.
Tales of polytunnel plastic around the propeller shaft, the conga line around the deck after the Captain’s Dinner, a missing nightie, the skipper thinking leaving the quayside five minutes before he had agreed to was OK (not!) et al …. are best left for another time.
We left on a Sunday morning at 0900. At 1500 another group would arrive; repeat!
The American poet Longfellow (1807 – 1882) had this to say in his ‘Ocean of Life’ poem:
“Ships that pass in the night, and speak
To each other in passing.
Only a signal shown and a distant
Voice in the darkness;
So on the ocean of life we pass and
Speak one another,
Only a look and a voice, then darkness
Again and a silence.”
Having sailed over 4000 miles I have passed, or been passed by, hundreds of other vessels at night. First the recognition, then the identification – it’s a yacht/ferry/container ship/trawler/oil tanker …. , the fading stern light and then the darkness. And so I suspect with our delightful fellow passengers on MS Roko; together for 11 days, then we continue our life’s journey, enriched by our experience, like ships in the night!
Richard 28th June 2024
Estoril
PS We bumped into a chum from hot yoga in Brighton – on the street in Dubrovnik!
Note 1 Ships/boats are normally referred to as feminine. Naming a ship after a male fits with the gender fluidity of 2024!
postcards 