Cruise or Croatia
 

We will be in Italy in September and are debating if we should take a 7 day cruise from Venice to the Greek Isles and 1 day in Dubrovnik or just rent a car for a week and drive to Croatia. What would you do?
P.S.
The cruise costs $950 per person.Not bad!

First vote cast for renting a car and driving to Croatia.

How long will you be in Italy before the proposed trip? Where will you be, and what type of trip--e.g. laid back car travel, frenzied tour schedule, overambitious sightseeing, etc.

If your schedule is really hectic in Italy, I'd go with a nice, relaxing cruise. But if the Italian portion of the trip is fairly easygoing, a car trip to Croatia might not be a bad idea.

I have had such a heck of a time planning a trip to Croatia -- a cruise sounds good where all is "taken care of."

I went on a Meditteranean cruise in 1998. I loved it! I was 40 years old then. First and only cruise prior was in 1982 as a college student (A cruise of the Agean Sea including many fine islands of Greece as well as ports in Turkey, and yes, Cairo, the Pyramids... etc.) All of it was worth every penny my parents paid....)

I love a cruise. I enjoy the 'forced leisure" when you are in between ports.Time for journaling, sketching, reflecting.

My recommendation is "Cruise for Reconnaissance" to discover places you want to visit in more depth.

OR

FOCUS on one region of Croatia. (i have not been there yet , going in July 2006, but I do know so far that it , the country or coastline, can not be "done" in 7 days) Look at the posts of travel reports....suggested or experienced itineraries... Split to Dubrovnik might be a nice sampling, but of course, you and I will hear of all that we will miss in other areas, especially Istria, and another country - Slovenia.

As I type this, i am considering a rental car from Venice to Rovin(istria)j to Rajeka with Overnite Ferry to Dubrovnik. This, all in a 3 day period of Venice to Rajeka, where we would boad a 20 hour plus overnite ferry to Dubrovnik. Day 1 Drive from Venice, Motovun, Rovinj; Daye 2 Drive to and Explor Pula ruins: Day 3: drive to and Explore Opatije and head to Rijeke to return car, and board overnite ferry, armed wiith romantic picnic of wine, etc.. enjoy scenery till day fades to night...No one speaks of scenerey on the ferries....

Check out all ferry and bus routes, and drive yourself nuts. In Dubrovnik, we're staying at Apartment Rhapsodie offered through dubrovnik-holiday.com 278 Euros a night - this is an apartment for 5 people. There are extraordinary places at much much less the money, simply not available at our time of visit. If you want a couple of web sites, email me [email protected].

I returned from 3 nights in Dubrovnik a couple of weeks ago. In doing my research on this site many people recommended NOT driving. You might want to check the ferry schedule to split or dubrovnik - but note that in september that might already be considered off season and the routing might be more limited - only certain days. Then once in croatia you could do some island trips. Lots of good information on this site. Or, the cruise.

I vote for Croatia! Spent 1 afternoon in Dubrovnik last June on a cruise. Actually we also spent a morning and afternoon in Santorini and a whole day (whoopee!) in Mykonos. That was fun, but doesn't even come close to exploring a country on your own, be it by car or yacht or train. You just need to be on your own schedule, not a cruise lines and have more then a day, so you can get the feel for a place. Sometimes a day is enough, but when you're under the cruise lines timed gun, you're always afraid they may leave without you, or on a tour, you see what they want you to see. Skip the greek islands, until you can go on your own.

Hi jj,

That's simiar to asking, "should I go to a ballet or a concert"?

It's an entirely subjective decision.

((I))

Take a cruise of the Dalmatian coast.