Croatia holiday

Hi Andrew, I live and work in Croatia and have dealt in the past with Concorde, they were a disaster and so so unreliable when it comes to flights, on site support and ultimately service. Croatia Tours are far better, and one word of advice, forget Dubrovnik initially and book a flight into Split. You will then be able to pickup cheap and good accomodatin, not be stuck at the far end of the country and save a bunch of cash.

I've been to Dubrovnik more times than I remember and I get cabin fever after the first hour, but maybe that's only me!
 
almo said:
I live and work in Croatia and have dealt in the past with Concorde, they were a disaster and so so unreliable when it comes to flights, on site support and ultimately service.
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Interesting. Did you have problems with them yourself or hear about these second hand? Did you or others pursue them over such problems? Just curious about what happened given my own problems with them.
I've been to Dubrovnik more times than I remember and I get cabin fever after the first hour, but maybe that's only me!
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It's a beautiful place alright but I would agree with you to some extent. You only really need a couple of days in the old town itself. If you are planning to explore the islands and surrounding coastline etc. then that's a different matter.
 
Hey Club man, no, it was all personal and professional experience. The worst was last year I was travelling to Ireland with two players and the day before we were due to fly I gave a quick call to their office to ask where we would pick up the tickets on the ground (in Croatia) and was told they'd forgotten to book us in (despite taking 3 fares from my credit card). Eventually they "found" 3 spare seats and wanted me to pay again and I'd be reimbursed, they relented and told me to pick up the tickets at the airport. It then turned out we were never booked and only after calling the manager we went on the flight. That was not the worst experience, this past summer was far worse (like not booking one of our colleagues and then putting them onto a flight into Dubrovnik and telling out and out lies about having them brought to Split by car). The worst was they kept palming it off on others when they were completely at fault.

As for Dubrovnik, it has such an attrocious repeat business rate, less than 18% of returnees (bad word to use of course) and over half of these own properties there. But as for the islands and inland, unbelievable (and I must admit to being in love with Bosnia!



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I've been to Dubrovnik more times than I remember and I get cabin fever after the first hour, but maybe that's only me!
It's a beautiful place alright but I would agree with you to some extent. You only really need a couple of days in the old town itself. If you are planning to explore the islands and surrounding coastline etc. then that's a different matter.
 
Old Jim said:
You should price the flights and accommodation seperately and compare prices. Booking the flights with Aer Lingus seperately should eliminate their profit on the flights and therefore you should get a better deal.
Let us know how you get on as I'm trying to book my hols to Slovenia and Dubrovnik at the moment. Flights are cheap, but hotels are pushing the price up. Any suggestions for cheap 5 star hotels in Dubrovnik?!
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Jim - I wused this site for booking Slovenia (3 locations in total). Generally not cheap but hopefully they will be worth it.

Roy
 
almo said:
Hey Club man, no, it was all personal and professional experience. The worst was last year I was travelling to Ireland with two players and the day before we were due to fly I gave a quick call to their office to ask where we would pick up the tickets on the ground (in Croatia) and was told they'd forgotten to book us in (despite taking 3 fares from my credit card). Eventually they "found" 3 spare seats and wanted me to pay again and I'd be reimbursed, they relented and told me to pick up the tickets at the airport. It then turned out we were never booked and only after calling the manager we went on the flight. That was not the worst experience, this past summer was far worse (like not booking one of our colleagues and then putting them onto a flight into Dubrovnik and telling out and out lies about having them brought to Split by car). The worst was they kept palming it off on others when they were completely at fault.
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Sounds fairly typical of them alright based on our experiences. When you mentioned the car drive to Split it reminded me of our transfer from Korcula to Dubrovnik which involved nearly missing the boat because we were given misleding descriptions of the people and the boat picking us up and then being dropped off from the minibus on the fancy bridge outside the town to be picked up by some bloke in a car who was to take us to our hotel. It all worked out OK but it was all a bit hit and miss. However this was far from the worst of our experiences with them which I won't go into again here since I have detailed them elsewhere.
 
I feel the pain club man! They were a right shower of chancers and really gave us endless grief. They have been losing business to other companies and if they're not careful ([potentially libellous comments removed by ClubMan - please note the .]) they'll lose a really lucrative piece of the market!
 
Have to say I agree with earlier post..much cheaper if you book accommodation & flights seperately..check out laterooms.com to get an idea of the choice and price..some lovely 4 **** appartments for 500 euro with access to beach and private pool etc.. though you will not be able to book through this site for another month or so as "late" is with 3 months notice so it would be March before you could book. Just a note on this site, I thought I was being clever calling the hotel direct and looking for an even cheaper rate but the hotel could not match the one on laterooms!
 
Stayed in the Kompas hotel almost 2 years ago.
Great hotel and location.Pool a bit on the small side but not a problem.
Funny hotel that the reception is on the top floor 9th I think and pool on the 1st floor(dont ask me to explain).Food good ,lots of cafe bars in the area and you can get the bus just up the road to take you to the old town.
Over all I have to say I loved the place and found the people very nice to deal with in general.We plan to go back.

D
 
For what it's worth ... We stayed in the Hotel Neptun outside Dubrovnik on the Lapad Peninsula. Staff were helpful and friendly and the rooms were grand although "compact". Well served by public transport into Dubrovnik itself. The hotel has a great pool/deck area (large pool and kiddies pool) and you can also swim in the sea off the rocks. We were on B&B board and the buffet breakfast was OK. Didn't really eat in the hotel other than some snacks from bar. Plenty of choice elsewhere in the area and in town. There are plenty of other hotels and accommodation in the Lapad area.
 
Has anybody been there end May/early June? Friends went July/Aug and found it very very hot, although they loved it. Hubby doesn't like intense heat, although nice sunshine is acceptable as long as there are other things to do as well (which, I hear, there are in Croatia). Would early June be OK for hubby in that case? According to what I see on the internet, in terms of climate there in June, it seems ok, but there's nothing like previous experience - so if anybody has any please let me know.
 
Depending on where you are, it can be lovely or odd. Down south it's very crowded early in the summer (esp. downtown) but if you're travelling around you'll love it. An ideal time is mid-end of May or late September, even this year we had a series of clients over in October (all month) and they were amazed at how warm (in the high teens low 20's) all the time. If your husband is not au fait with heat, then May is a best bet (the temperatures published don't include June's happy habit of being oppressively hot and sunny on the coast!).

Regardless you'll enjoy and take in lots of the national parks (the trees and rivers make it so much more appealing!).
 
Have narrowed hotels down a bit. Anybody ever stayed in The Montenegro Hotel? It's a 4-Star, yet seems pretty good value (€889 each for 14 days). Most 3-stars are around that price, and 4-stars are over 1k.
 
Andrew, prepare yourself, 3 stars in Croatia are just above B+B's, 3 stars are 2 star or unrated in Ireland, or anywhere else. There are a couple of good hotels, Art up in Split is clean, new and good service. But it is a massive problem in Croatia that most of teh hotels are not so great, and if they look good the service lets them down. Montenegro Hotel is plain, but that does sound like decent money for that time of year. Any of the big chain hotels represent better value (however).
 
Unfortunately in many countries the star ratings are often meaningless. As far as I remember the Hotel Neptun is officially a 3* but seemed better than that to me. However the hotel that Concorde put us in on the island of Korcula () when they failed to reserve the hotel that we had booked with them 6 months in advance () was also a 3* but was not very good (terrible food, very dated Communist era decor, broken furniture and fixtures/fittings in rooms etc.) and actually around a 2* in my opinion.
 
OK, so I'm guessing you would all say (those of you who've been to Croatia) that I should pay for the best available (at least 4 Star)? YOu say Hotel Montenegro is plain - fair enough. Is it also (as some people have told me) a bit out of way (ie Lapad Peninsula or Dubrovnik itself seem to be favoured)?
 
Diddles, Brochure cautions that there are a lot of steps up to Kompas hotel - is it all that bad, or bearable?
Diddles said:
Go to the Kompas if you have any doubts

D
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It is almost as well to rent an apartment for your stay, they work out cheaper and you have space and freedom. And even in Dubrovnik it's relatively cheap to eat and drink out (I think the areas around it are even cheaper).
 
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