Captain Ivica, undisputed king of hospitality

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Behind the scenes, Reviews & Inspections/Captain Ivica, undisputed king of hospitality

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He grew up in Australia

When it comes to gulet Dolin, you can’t just start with a technical description of the vessel. You have to understand the story behind this gulet as well as the owner, Captain Ivica Benić known as John (Ivica in English means John).

John spent his childhood in Australia, which meant he could think a bit different than the other yacht owners in Croatia.

Because of this, his native language is English (with very strong and cool Australian accent, of course) and like most Ozzies…he is very open and easy going.

He fulfilled his life-long dream

It was Ivica’s dream to own a boat for past 30 years of his life. When boats were mostly available for mass tourism in Croatia for groups of 20 to 40 people in 15 plus cabins, Ivica wanted to own a gulet that flopped the popular consensus on its head. A gulet for just 10 people, and with 5 cabins. This way he could really concentrate on the guests individually and pay them special attention and this is exactly what he is doing now.

Dolin itself is a beautiful old timer – a Wooden Classic Cutter with cabins in the gulet design. During the rebuild of the vessel, they first took care in making comfortable accommodation achievable. With plenty of space in the cabins and providing lots of daylight and fresh air through large portholes.

10 Highlights of gulet Dolin – How Dolin is special:

Crew on gulet

Watersports

Food on Dolin

Beverages on Dolin

Special wine tour cruise

Flexibility on cruise routes

Knowledge of hidden bays

Small draft of gulet means it’s perfect for snorkeling

Large cabins and lot of deck space

What others are saying – testimonials

10 highlights

1. CREW – John, Danko, and Vesna make a dream team

The crew has 3 members:

Ivica is the main man on the deck and you can turn to him for anything concerning the cruise, such as planning the whole day, when you have meals, where would you like to anchor, when to use water sports and so on. He gives his total attention and no request is a challenge, he’s very easy to speak with.

Danko is the first mate on deck who will navigate the boat. You can have a laugh and chat while you drink coffee while the anchor is lowered, Danko’s favoured pastime is to fish in the sea! He would be more than happy to catch you calamari that can be cooked for dinner. Great food to have with wine.

Vesna is the chef on deck in other words, mother’s kitchen. She takes care of all the foods that will be prepared, making sure that you won’t go hungry during your stay. Vesna cook with her love as you’ll find that all meals are exquisite and to die for! As well as main meals, there will also be tasty pastries and 5’o clock tea time, where you must try Poderane gaće (use Google translate). There’s more information about on food on board the Dolin later, as it need a whole section on its own!

It is very important, to find out exactly what your group wants out of the cruise, including food preferences, allergies, and so on. We are more than happy to help you create a combination of meals to suit everyone in your group.

Captain Ivica

Preparing the lunch

2. WATERSPORTS – FREE OF CHARGE

As far as water sports are concerned. Ivica can barely wait for the first candidate to come forward and ask to give it a go on water skies or donut. Ivica will prepare everything you need to have the time of your life and explain all you need to know to stay safe and have fun.

Water sports on gulet Dolin are included in price. Beside water skiing and donut ride, you can use a canoe for a more relaxing experiement.

Kids love donut rides

Adults can also go for a ride

3. FOOD ON DOLIN

Vesna’s super tasty pastries will, no doubt, give you the energy you need for afternoon activities – or if you want to relax! Vesna cares a lot about making sure natural ingredients and everything is fresh and local.

One of the best way to experience Croatia is if you chooese half-board (breakfast and lunch) along with several dinners (two or three a week should be fine). Dolin is really organized yacht. Where mealtimes are coordinated in a way, you don’t have to be ”stuck” on the gulet all the time, but can go out and explore and eat at local restaurants ashore. This option gives you the chance to spend time on board anchored for a couple of nights where you can have peace and quiet and enjoy tranquil life in Croatia. If you’re not sure weather half-board or all-inclusive is for you, our ”concierge services” will gladly help you figure it out and ensure you get the most out of the cruise.

Seafood specialties

Food is prepared in a creative way, the children will like it the most

4. BRING YOUR OWN DRINKS

Most gulets don’t allow you to bring your own drinks on board, so you’d need to buy drinks from the yacht bar or pay an All Inclusive package, which can be expensive and limits your options if you like to explore every day.

Dolin is very different, you can bring your own drinks on board with corkage fee (400€).

You can bring a selection of drinks depending on your tastes – high-quality wines, domestic spirits, beer – whatever you wish and just store it in the refrigerator on board!

One of Ivica’s many great traits is that he also likes to take guests to the best wine cellars on the islands, so you can stock the bar with top quality wines (wines that sell for a good price!) and enjoy them as you take in the superb scenery in isolated bays on board Dolin.

Bring your own drinks

You can drink them whenever you want

5. SPECIAL WINE TOUR CRUISE – ONLY POSSIBLE ON DOLIN

There are two different Wine Cruise Routes in Croatia:

Normal Wine Route – popular among many different gulets

Special wine Route Tour, which is exclusive to Dolin

You can read a detailed explanation of this route here. Wine Cruise Route Croatia with gulet Dolin.

This wine cruise route is highly recommended for:

Active seniors

Passionate wine lovers

Middle-aged couples to relax and escape the stresses of life, while enjoying some of the most quality wines you can get

You must try Croatian wines

Stroll between the vineyards and visit the wine shop

6. FLEXIBILITY ON CRUISE ROUTES

Ivica is the most flexible and nicest person in the world! If you want to experience Croatia, its amazing bays and everything else that comes along with it – Ivica will do a top job. His dedication to customer service means you won’t experience Croatia in another way like it! For cruise routes, Ivica is great at coming up with activities and places to visit that will provide you with unforgettable memories.

ONE MORE THING TO NOTE: An extra day of cruise – is this free of charge?

Lots of gulets need to come to “home port” on Friday evening. This means on Friday during the day you stay in nice bays, have lunch and then slowly go back to the port. Lots of people use this time to get in some extra swimming in the beautiful waters of Croatia, but by late afternoon you are already in the port – and it is more or less the end of your cruise!

Some people dislike this, feeling that they have missed a day’s worth of exploring. It feels that Friday marks the end of your cruise before the day has already begun! Ivica is great at making this day worth it. He can take you to a really nice bay, away from everything and for the last night, you can stay on anchor and enjoy dinner on the gulet so the next morning you can still have a morning swim before breakfast. This truly feels like you’ve added a whole extra day to your cruise.

Ivica has a lot of knowledge about the Croatian sea

National park Kornati

Ivica makes sure that each cruise is unique

7. KNOWLEDGE OF HIDDEN BAYS

Ivica and Danko have a lot of knowledge about the bays between the islands – especially among the islands belonging to the Kornati National Park.

Bays that hide paradisiac beaches, while the greatest beauties are hidden underwater so you need snorkeling equipment to experience it, searching for shells and looking at amazing sea creatures.

We must not forget the islands themselves.It’s definitely worth, going for a walk and viewing the idyllic villages and small towns with their homelands. Many of the islands are also uninhabited, so it’s nature at its very best.

Dolin anchored in bay

Go for a walk on the island

Turquoise water

8. SMALL DRAFT IS PERFECT FOR SNORKELLING

Dolin measures 27 meters in length, 5.5 meters in width and 1.9 meters in draft. Its small draft allows navigation closer to the inside of the bay – to shallow waters; where the swimming and snorkling give you an amazing experience that’s ”out of this world”.

Dolin can go to a lot of places such as (bays), where other gulets can’t due to their larger size. Smaller bays means you get more chances to dive into the depths of the turquise sea to, search for sheelfish, and take underwater pictures.

Snorkel or Sunbath? This is the question

Ivica is expert in finding isolated bays, even in the high season…

9. LARGE CABINS AND A LOT OF DECK SPACE

Inside the yacht you will find five cabins (all double Queen-sized beds). The deck offers enormous space where you can relax and take in the sights as you sunbathe between ports. Dolin is a standard-sized gulet but the cabins and deck are spacious enough for 10 people, you’ll feel like you’re on a luxury yacht!

Ideal for sun tanning

10. WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING – TESTIMONIALS

From Vesna to Tony to Danko to the Capt the crew was FANTASTIC. Captain was top notch, explained everything really well, made us all fell like we were part of the family. I would book this again and have already begun telling my friends back here. Please add me to whatever mailing lists you might have. I’ve got a host of pictures and even better memories. The crew took great care of us. The entire trip was a blessing – I only wish I hadn’t needed to come home…
My modest suggestion would be regarding having on board water and sparkling water – we went through it in droves. May a bit more fish. All was pretty great. One minor suggestion: Is it possible to have side ”mesh” sheets (like the kind that provide shade) to pull out at a night to block some of the wind? I slept on top of the boat every night looking at the stars – beautiful, and would do so again. Some nights were very windy though – wondering if a sheet-like shield might have helped.

F. Golding (UK)

The crew we had on board Dolin were wonderful. We all got on so well and they couldn’t have done more for us. Going off the beaten track and seeing such beautiful scenery. We really loved going to the quieter places. Captain John was really good about giving us options of what we could do and where we could go. It was so relaxing. For us as a family we felt there was too much food! We don’t eat nearly as much at home but I’m sure lots of people do. We didn’t realise the cabins would be as hot so more air con would have been good. We had a great time though.

E. Fortescue (UK)

The crew overall was great. The captain was very friendly and knowledgeable, the cook was fantastic and fed us incredibly well. The young man who was helping with odds/ends cleaning/etc. was really nice and social, and while he was learning still, he was very eager and very helpful. We never felt pressured to go anywhere or do anything specific. The weather was great, and the trip was incredibly relaxing. On days that we wanted to do more activities, the Captain provided plenty of on-land suggestions.

N. Huth (USA)

Gulet Dolin in a bay

Would you like to be here right now?

Renovations for 2018

Ivica is always striving to make things better for his clients. In 2017, he added an extra generator on board, so that the air conditioning in the hall, could run all night if needed. Continuous air-conditioning like this isn’t even possible on deluxe gulets, where it’s limited to six or seven hours/night. Ivica also bought a new, larger and more powerful dinghy, which makes it better and easier to take part in water sports and to transfer clients from the gulet to land.

In the upcoming 2018 season, Ivica has decided to renovate Dolin even further. He will change the entire steel construction on the back side of the gulet and replace it with nicer wooden hard top, which will look much better to view and will be more practical for the clients. He will also refresh the look of the cabins while completely renovating two (and the bathrooms). These two cabins will have a ”movable wall”, which means you can basically transform two cabins into one large one, so it’s perfect for VIP clients or families.

GOOLETS MOMENTS ON DOLIN

Family cruise 2012

The summer of 2012 was marked by the Goolets CEO with his family on one week vacation. He booked the entire gulet for his family and their cruise took place between islands in the National Park Kornati. Captain Ivica took them along his favourite route and they had a fantastic time on the cruise. Take a quick look.

Goolets team-building 2014

Every year we organize team building session where we sum up the season, make plans for the new one and organize further work to keep everything in line with our goals. After the end of the successful season of 2014, Captain Ivica invited us to his gulet and we gladly accepted.

Team building took place in the middle of September 2014 and we had a great time in the National Park Kornati in Croatia. We spend a lot of time talking with Ivica about how we could become successful partners, what routes Dolin could offer, and much more. Take a look at our team-building holiday!

Company cruise + team-building 2015

We organized a Goolets company cruise with the combination of team-building at the end of August 2015. Our cruise started in Trogir, Croatia and continued to Primošten and then to islands Vis, Hvar, and Kornati islands.

DOLIN – WHAT TO EXPECT

You cannot expect nothing short of luxury on gulet Dolin, an amazing experience in beautiful bays, turquoise sea, excursions to the islands, friendly hospitality, homegrown food, local wines with your close ones, and being brought to tears with laughter with the Captain and his stories you’ll leave Dolin with unforgettable memories.