ACI Marinas Croatia - excessive fees

[Captain Sparrowlegs]

Have you stayed in an ACI Marina in Croatia this summer and do you feel the extra fees they charge per day are somewhat excessive?

Recently we stopped off in Korcula and Dubrovnik and were stunned by the website reservations system trying to charge us €17 per night booking fee. It works out as a 23% charge per night at Korcula! Needless to say we didn't book online but called up to make the reservation. We were still charged the reservation fee but at least it was a single charge not per night. On top of that you get a daily charge of €8 for electricity and €4 for water at Korcula, €8 for electricity, €11 for water and a €10 per day Ecological fee at Dubrovnik (all fees based on a 40ft yacht and we didn't wash the boat or fill tanks!).

As the ACI increases its fees by 20% during the high season (not a problem as everywhere does that) these extra fees make the ACI some of, if not the most expensive marinas in Croatia. Personally I feel these charges and especially the water charge at Dubrovnik to be extortionate and the website trying to charge you a reservation fee for each night (which you have to pay in advance by the way) is tantamount to daylight robbery. Especially when Marina Frapa, Rogoznica (Cat 1 private marina) does not charge daily visitors for electricity and water, has no booking fee and is only €8 a day more than the basic fee for Dubrovnik (Cat 2) for example.

Now the ACI is having a Summer Survey on its website http:\\www.aci-club.hr and I for one have completed it and commented that these fees are excessive. If you feel the same way then I would encourage people to fill the survey in and let the management at ACI know that while we like the marinas, their facilities and locations these excessive daily fees are not likely to encourage visitors, especially independant sailors who will chose an anchorage or an independant marina. I will also be emailing the management at ACI to express my feelings about these fees.

 

[Tranona]

That is what happens when you have a near monopoly and demand exceeds supply - jack the prices up until people stop buying. If they can still fill their marinas at those prices there is no incentive to reduce them.

 

[mjcoon]

That is what happens when you have a near monopoly and demand exceeds supply - jack the prices up until people stop buying. If they can still fill their marinas at those prices there is no incentive to reduce them.

But see the discussion in another thread about the probable impact of Croatia joining the EU...

MIke.

 

[BrianH]

But see the discussion in another thread about the probable impact of Croatia joining the EU...

I'd like to ... link please.

Edit: I think I may have found the thread to which you referred - one I myself had contributed to, viz. Novigrad? What's up? Not a subject easily associated with your post.

 

[Golf Charley]

Croatia is not cheap! Monopolies are exploited to the hilt.

UK sailors, who mainly charter as a couple or family feel the pinch more than those from other european countries, particularly from the former eastern bloc, who tend to sail as all male groups, so a 6 berth yacht will have 6 wage earners sharing the costs.

The scenery and sailing are beautiful however

 

[Sailfree]

I chartered for 2 wks in Croatia once - it will be just the once!!

They could teach the Solent Marinas how to really rip people off!!

 

[mjcoon]

I'd like to ... link please.

Edit: I think I may have found the thread to which you referred - one I myself had contributed to, viz. Novigrad? What's up? Not a subject easily associated with your post.

Yes, that is the thread-drift topic that I had in mind. It may well get [have got] discussed in other threads too. Croatia's EU accession might have other knock-on impacts, I suppose.

Mike.

 

[BrianH]

Croatia's EU accession might have other knock-on impacts, I suppose.

For visiting EU-flagged yachts the most significant impact will be that no longer can the Maritime Mafia there charge for the extortionate one-year sailing permit. However, no doubt alternatives will be dreamed up, similar to the so-called "Sejour Tax" introduced last year.

"Sejour Tax" is a new incarnation of the risibly-named Kurtaxe, or Cure Tax, copied from the German and Austrian local tax levied on visitors to resorts, aimed to improve small and otherwise cash-strapped communities' amenities. Before, in Croatia, it was added to marina fees but noting that many foreign yachts, such as my own, avoided marinas like the plague and therefore the tax, it is now added to all the other fees and costs impressed when declaring in at the first port of entry.

Invoked at a rate of per person per night for the period of the "Sejour" (one must now state the maximum intended stay), it effectively doubled my entry costs. I was also charged on my boat's number of berths for the number of persons, despite being single-handed with a crew list stating so.

 

[Tranona]

For visiting EU-flagged yachts the most significant impact will be that no longer can the Maritime Mafia there charge for the extortionate one-year sailing permit. However, no doubt alternatives will be dreamed up, similar to the so-called "Sejour Tax" introduced last year.

They will if it applies to everybody including their own residents. Greece was banned from demanding its non resident cruising permit (except for non EU) but you still have to buy the DEKPA cruising log if over 10m. Not as onerous as the Croatia permit and not as rigorously enforced, but still there so most people comply (if the Port Police have not run out of forms!)

 

[Metabarca]

The sejour tax was the last straw, as far as I am concerned. I keep my boat in Trieste, and it's been 3 years since I last cruised in Croatian waters. I'm fed up with being ripped off. And I wrote to their minister for tourism about it. Got no reply.

 

[BrianH]

The sejour tax was the last straw, as far as I am concerned. I keep my boat in Trieste, and it's been 3 years since I last cruised in Croatian waters. I'm fed up with being ripped off. And I wrote to their minister for tourism about it. Got no reply.

I once tried discussing the flagrant rip-off practices with a Croatian tourist board manager at their Friedrichshafen boat show stand. Impossible, just not interested.

All they are interested in is revenue generation. While the punters come they won't change - and they do keep coming so it is just more of the same. I have just read of the plans to develop the Veruda Soline south bay, up to now a fine, protected and free anchorage just below Pula, into a fully-buoyed, pay-as-you-moor, even-if-you-anchor, milk cow. Up to now, northern Croatia was relatively free from the charter hoards - not any more, unfortunately.