Croatia cruising taxes - Rip off

[Eren]

For a trip of 5 days, I made my entry to Croatia from Cavtat. At my visit to harbourmaster's office, they put an eyewatering bill of EUR 890 in front of me with a smiling face. The impression at the nice and kind harbourmaster's face was “we know that it is way too high but, that's the way it is. Welcome to Croatia!”. Furthermore, the “yearly” vinjeta, which makes up most of this EUR 890, is only valid until end of the calendar year! So if you want to come between the dates of December 30th and January 2nd, you will need to buy vinjeta twice, totally for two years! It is a complete nonsense system.

Well, in the last three years, I have been to France, Italy, Albania, Montenegro Greece and Turkey with my own boat. I have never faced such a bill, nowhere. Yes, it is very beautiful here but, so are all the other places counted above as well. I like cruising in Croatia and this will not put me off from coming to here again. But for sure I feel a bit ripped off.

PS. The above mentioned fees were for a 22 meter boat with totally 3100 HP engines. Engine power is also a part of the fee calculation.

 

[BartW]

Hi Eren,

sad news about that tax, I heard about it here on the liveaboard forum.
some folks think that this tax will go back down again, but I'm afraid that there is not much voting from the croats on this (as residents are not hit by this tax).

there is a similar stupid tax for when one wants to dive privately, its somthing like 300 eur/year iirc for a vignet, even if you want to do just one private dive (don't asc me how i know )
the dive centers like that ofcause, divers are alway's obliged to pass through them...

anyway, it won't hold me back from visiting the country again, as its still one of my favourite destinations for boating, it will just be a bit more difficult to keep that big smile when passing the customs / harbourmaster ;-)

anything interesting to report from your short trip towards Ston ?

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

anything interesting to report from your short trip towards Ston ?

Yes I would like to see a report! Is this guy still around? Cant remember his name. Niko?

Yes the cost of the cruising vignette and the way it is managed is stupid. Must admit it seems to have gone up a lot. I think it was around €400 per year when I left in 2013. I never really begrudged paying it myself. Croatia is a relatively poor country by European standards that only a few years ago was under communist rule and of course it has also been through a bitter and bloody war recently. If the cost of my vignette helps to make the country a bit more prosperous then I'm happy to pay it especially for what is probably the finest cruising area in the Med.

What I did object to was paying an additional fee on top for cruising in the national park areas like Kornati. That is just taking the piss

 

[Eren]

Well, we had a very nice short holiday there. We arrived to Porto Montenegro on late Friday evening. Next morning, we were surprised with the number of empty spaces at the marina. Then we learned that there was a new marina at Luscica Bay, which was offering free berthing until May 2019. Luscica Bay is a new residential investment with a marina and I think they want to show the marina full and bring in some action to promote the property sales. Also there is another marina set to open up in 2019 at Herzeg Novi. Looks like competition is getting higher and soon we will pay less for marina.

We made our check out from Montenegro and moored to the fuel station to top up with tax free fuel. I conveyed Bart’s regards to Kosmas (the owner/administrator of the fuel bunker at Porto Montenegro) and he sent his regards as well. After getting 2.600 liters at the price of EUR 0,70 we slowly set our way to Cavtat. The sea was high with waves around 1.5 meters. It took around 1,5 hours to get to Cavtat. Cavtat was as beautiful as always, but with very few boats at this time of the season. First we berthed to the customs dock, arranged our entry very quick and easily (except for the eyewatering entry costs of EUR 890). Then we berthed to our place, where we would stay for 2 nights to let the period of high seas pass.

Next day we took the local shuttle boats to Dubrovnik, had some walk and coffee at the old city and returned to Cavtat. The next morning the weather and seas were very calm and we left Cavtat for going to Sipan island. After a pootling 2 hours cruise between the Elefiti islands we reached to Sipanski Luka. This was a place that we had visited before and very much loved. We had a long walk at the coast before we headed for dinner.

Next morning we went out with our electric bikes to see the other parts of the island. After 5 kms of drive we reached to Sudurad, another lovely village at the south side of the island. What a lovely place! We decided to return to the boat and take the boat to here. A couple of hours later our boat was berthed at the small harbour of Sudurad and our ladies were already on the way to the tiny beach for a late summer dip. There were many day trip boats boats mostly bringing elderly tourists from Dubrovnik at this time of late season. The surprising beauty of Sudurad had made a change at our plans and we left the plan of visiting Ston to another trip.

The next day was the return day to Montenegro. We cruised to Cavtat for check out from Croatia and continued to Tivat for entry to Montenegro. Just before entrance to Montenegran waters we were stopped by the Croatian Coast Guard in the middle of the sea. They boarded to our boat, asked where we are coming from, to where we are going and checked our papers. This happened first time in my boating life which includes thousands of miles and several country passages. I know that they are just trying to do their job but I expect them to understand weather a boat is a tourist boat or a smuggler boat. Even though they were all quite kind, it was not a nice experience. In general I saw the attitude in Croatia as people had got tired with tourists and it was like they do not understand that tourists are almost the sole income source of the country. In most cases they were really rude and not very welcoming. But we didn’t care much about it and the beauty of the places has always covered these minor issues.

After we made our check in to Montenegro at Tivat, we cruised to Kotor by watching the lovely island and UNESCO protected Perast town. Kotor was busy as always with 2 major cruise ships. We learned that there were 8.000 tourists from the cruises that day. And this is like that every day, no matter it is summer or winter. We also had a nice walk at the old city before we returned to our boat for a nice dinner, a couple of episodes of “La Casa de Papel” TV series and then to sleep.

The next morning we cruised back to Tivat/Porto Montenegro. I made a couple of preperations for the winter. However they are not major as I plan to come to the boat once every month. Here are some notes about the trip:

- Total trip: 120 nm
- Total diesel spent: 900 lts for the engines, 50 lts for the generator. I mostly pootled so I had an average of 7,5 lts per nm fuel consumption.
- Breakdowns: None except and not shuting off fresh water pump. We had to manage it by turning its switch on and off when we want to use water. The boat also performed quite good at F5-6 seas on the way to Cavtat. The rest of the trip was at seas of F1-2.
- Berthing fees paid:
o Cavtat: EUR 65
o Sipanski luka: EUR 100
o Sudurad: EUR 45
o Kotor: EUR 80
The fees were much higher than what were used to from our summer trip at Greece. There it was in a range of EUR 15-30 per night.
- Again we found Greeks to be much more welcoming and warm than Croats. In Croatia, I think they still have the attitudes from the Yugoslavian times. But still the country and cruising grounds are so good that these will not put us off coming there again.
- Montenegro is much more welcoming and also cheaper than Croatia (Pizza at Kotor: EUR 7, pizza at Dubrovnik: EUR 12)

So it was a lovely late season trip and we look forward to our next visit to the boat at early November.

Finally here is the route that we followed:



PS: ı tried to upload some more photos but somehow the forum site was not able to do it. I will try again later.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Thanks Eren. Some pics would have been good I remember we got boarded several times by official boats in Croatia. Mostly they just wanted to check that the vignette was in order and that the crew list was correct. No big deal

 

[Grubble]

We made our check out from Montenegro and moored to the fuel station to top up with tax free fuel. I conveyed Bart’s regards to Kosmas (the owner/administrator of the fuel bunker at Porto Montenegro) and he sent his regards as well. After getting 2.600 liters at the price of EUR 0,70 we slowly set our way to Cavtat.

So you are saving around 60c a litre on 2600 L of diesel = €1560 of savings compared to a permit for €890 - sounds like a good deal to me.

 

[jrudge]

I agree the fees are large, but i cant seem to square how you got a bill so large for a short visit

http://total-croatia-sailing.com/ne...ourn-tax-for-boat-owners-to-increase-in-2018/

 

[BartW]

thanks Eren for the report,
all very interesting, brings back many nice memory's !

re the new marina's,
Luscica Bay, there is a very nice anchorage (x2) nearby, but appart from that, the marina for me is not attractive compared to the marina's in Kotor bay
(alway's leaving via the open sea, and the new village is in the middle of nowhere)

Porto Novi near Herceg novi seams a bit more attractive, and is IN Kotor bay,
but also there , less interesting neighbourhood compared to Tivat.

I never moored in Sudurad, was discouraged by the locals, because not really special, and many local ferry boats going in and out,
perhaps pre / after season it is very much different, anyway, a good tip !
did you call them for booking a berth ?
sometimes its really hard to find a harbourmaster that is able and wants to communicate in English, in these smaller villages in HR, even more out of season

yes the coastguard is alway's active in that region, I was never stopped with Bleu Angel (just luck I guess) but years ago with the smaller boats, they stopped me nearly every season,
their attitude can be very anoiing.
I heard about a big sail yacht that anchored in Molunat,(HR) for short swim for lunch time, after leaving MNE, and before doing the customs in Cavtat,
and they had a big penalty for that.

the fee you paid in Cavtat 65e seems very low, is that the two bills together: Mooring and Electric,
if you have paid only one bill, you were lucky, they forgot, they are each more or less the same value...(iirc)
in summer, Cavtat is the most expensive marina from the region...

I agree with you about Perast and Kotor,
these places are a gem, as is the whole Kotor bay,

 

[dustywings]

Just thought I would add my experience to this. I have purchased a boat in Split which has today been loaded onto a ship to bring it back to the UK. The marina where it was located was a four mile trip to the ship. There was no current vignette in place so legally one was needed to be obtained for this small trip. I am in the UK and using an agent for the shipping process who deals with all aspects of paperwork. The agent went to the Harbour offices to purchase the vignette and was told the only option was one which was valid until the end of the year for 400 Euros. I had previously made enquiries and was told I could get an 8 day vignette for 248 but this was refuted and there was no option but to pay the money. To add insult to injury they added another 70 Euros for the fact that some of the documents we had to present were copies and not originals!! So 470 Euros for a four mile journey – 117 Euros per mile! You might be thinking, don’t bother and just risk making the journey without one, what are the chances of getting stopped over such a short distance, but they have that covered! Croatia customs would not clear the boat to leave without sight of the vignette!!

 

[Boat2016]

This all sounds like a good reason to stay away no matter how nice the place is, I’m sure they would soon learn how to charge more appropriately when the income dried up.

 

[Eren]

Just next door, Montenegro, manages it much better, with vignette periods ranging from 1 day to 1 year. For my boat, 1 day is EUR 70, 1 year is EUR 660. Plus 1 year means real 1 year, not like Croatia's 1 year which ends up on December 31st, even if you buy your yearly vignette on December 30th (there are no options of buying less than one year there).

 

[jrudge]

Just thought I would add my experience to this. I have purchased a boat in Split which has today been loaded onto a ship to bring it back to the UK. The marina where it was located was a four mile trip to the ship. There was no current vignette in place so legally one was needed to be obtained for this small trip. I am in the UK and using an agent for the shipping process who deals with all aspects of paperwork. The agent went to the Harbour offices to purchase the vignette and was told the only option was one which was valid until the end of the year for 400 Euros. I had previously made enquiries and was told I could get an 8 day vignette for 248 but this was refuted and there was no option but to pay the money. To add insult to injury they added another 70 Euros for the fact that some of the documents we had to present were copies and not originals!! So 470 Euros for a four mile journey – 117 Euros per mile! You might be thinking, don’t bother and just risk making the journey without one, what are the chances of getting stopped over such a short distance, but they have that covered! Croatia customs would not clear the boat to leave without sight of the vignette!!

Congrats. Glad it all worked out. Refurb thread coming soon ?

 

[dustywings]

Congrats. Glad it all worked out. Refurb thread coming soon ��

Of course!!