The Dubrovnik ferry debacle
Having purchased and confirmed our ferry tickets online we read trip advisor and other forums and all said that you need to be checked in at the terminal at least two hours before the ferry is scheduled to leave. Easy for us - ferry leaves at 22:00, train arrives in Bari at 6:30 so plenty of time to get from train station to ferry terminal, check in then head into Bari for a meal and meander before boarding the ferry.
Taxi dropped us at the terminal with a minor detour due to the festival of Saint Nicholas which had closed many of the roads of Bari. All good.
Signs are clearly labelled 'Dubrovnik Ferry Check-in first floor" - OK thats a bit weird, a well marked sign. All good.
So upstairs we go. The lift is big and it works. All good.
Get upstairs - no lights on, all quiet. Sign for our ferry company (and all other companies) are present but nobody is at home. Less good.
Back downstairs to line up at the Jandrolina Ferry Company counter which has one guy at the window pretty much shouting at some 30ish German girl with a backpack. In front of us are two Australian couples coming off a cruise and onto the same ferry as us. We have all booked online and followed the instructions as to where to go and at what time.
After a while and much gesticulating it turns out we all should have known to read the piece of paper sticky taped to the window of the Jandrolina office.
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| Can't check in here! |
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| Clear? |
Not good.
With lots of confusion happening I call the information line listed on the sign and the lady tells me she is due to close soon and that we all have to come to their office to check in and not check in at the terminal as we had been told to do. We all have to come now, and all need to bring all of our luggage. Once checked in, we will then return to where we are currently. No place to leave bags so everyone has to bring them with.
We have to be at the other office very soon because she is closing but "not to worry" because there is a free shuttle bus that comes every ten minutes to the front of the terminal to take you to their office and then bring you back and its free. She kept on mentioning that the bus was free.
So in summary, even though
- The ferry leaves from where we and our bags all are now
- We all have written instructions to be where we are now
- The check in counter is marked as in that building
We now get to take a (did i mention it was) free shuttle with all our baggage to somewhere else to check in and then come back to where we are now. This process, whilst free, does not seem as efficient as it could be.
It sounds crazy so I decide to verify the info and go to ask the girl at the information booth inside the terminal where we currently are. There are only two people in the terminal - the info girl and the narky guy at the Jandrolina counter who isn't interested in anyone checking in.
The information girl is a cracker. She is maybe 25, and is using her information computer to look at facebook, while smoking and also reading "50 Shades of Grey". She is very nice but unfortunately she had no........ummm.......information as such.
Cant help wondering what she actually did all day - the only action in the terminal would be for that liner and that route.
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| Our lil group waiting for the bus that comes every 10 minutes. Its FREE. It also doesn't come every 10 minutes. |
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| Waiting for the FREE bus |
So after about a 25 minute wait with the other perplexed, disgruntled hordes (in which time I called back the info line but this time they didnt answer), a FREE bus arrived to take us to the office so we could check in. Think a normal local bus that is very, very full.
At the office we line up to get to one of the two counters where you can check in. The good news is that the place is still open. The bad news is their computers have just crashed and the two groups at the front of the line both have problems that now require maybe 30-45 minutes to sort out.
The previously shouted at German girl has some problem that seems to require the lady helping her to talk on her mobile phone for 30 minutes (maybe in the hope that the problem would go away). It doesnt, and she doesn't, but the phonecall continues as the line builds.
The two couples (traveling together) at the front of the other counter are being told that their hire car from Rome cannot come on the ferry because the registration papers are not the originals. They are saying that it is a Hertz car and that Hertz Rome gave them that paperwork. The lady behind the counter calls Hertz Riome who tell them it is their problem and they should just bring the car back to Rome - seriously (recall Rome is about 5 hours by high speed train and that the ferry leaves in ever sooner increments of time).
Eventually they are rudely shown the sign below - pretty sure it's a "tad Gibberish". Then they are sent on their way. No trip for you.
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| Again, carefully attached to the office window interior |
We are now one from the front of the queue and thinking we may even get on the boat. The kids are playing with some other kids, phrasebook, ipads and a bit of chasey - the Esparanto like universal children's language.
Maybe we will make the boat? We are chatting to a lovely Canadian couple behind us and thinking its all a bit of a joke, when a Korean linebacker tour guide (60 yr old and 5 feet 3) pushes / shoves to the front of the line knocking with significant force. She reaches the front, and without a blink hands the lady at the counter 95 passports! . Now I am prone to a tad of exaggeration, but in this case, none is necessary - it was 95.
Of course, the proper response from the counter lady should be "Piss off to the back of the line". It is, instead, a smile followed by the active ignoring of all others in the line as she begins to process the usurpers 95 passports.
Now bear in mind that in the last hour, the counter ladies have processed 4 passports so the addition of a further 95 passports to the process portends a poor likelihood of anyone in the line actually getting checked in and getting on the boat (all thoughts of dinner now evaporated). The other lady at the counter continues to deal with the poor German Girl by continuing her mobile phone conversation while the German girl looks on perplexed.
Carter and Lacy are a Canadian couple waiting in the line behind us. Funny, interesting and on a mega trip at speed our old bones couldnt contemplate. Lacy in particular is now seething at the pushing in and even worse, that it worked. Remember, Canadians are nice and do not push in.
Time ticks by - its now well after 9 with the ferry scheduled to leave at 10. "Will we get on" we ask the counter lady, "Probably", she says. Great.
Ok - we are checked in and waiting for the FREE bus that comes every 10 minutes. The other Australians we met at the first counter who were in front of us in the queue have been waiting for the FREE bus that comes every 10 minutes for about 20 minutes so far.
Did I mention it started raining?
Finally we make it to the ferry and board. We are hungry, a bit wet and happy to have made it.
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| Being lead to our cabin |
We settle in to our cabin which was small and not a patch on the Greek Ferry we took from Crete to Athens. This one is smaller, older and rudimentary / spartan, but it all worked, was practical and after a quite nice meal with excellent Canadian company, we were asleep pretty quickly to be awoken just before 6 for breakfast.
OK so breakfast was a bit like the ship. Like being in the army I imagine. I guess there aren't too many famous Croatian restaurants for a reason. You got your tray, put on a plastic cup with OJ, maybe some cereal with milk, a bit of coldish scrambled egg or a hardboiled egg and tea or coffee.
The kids were brilliant through the whole trip but by the time we got to Dubrovnik I was a tired fella. After all, I went to bed at the same time we normally would at home and probably got woken an hour later than most mornings in Perth and I was exhausted. Needed a good few hours afternoon nap to recover. This does not auger well for the return to work in a few months.
Enough
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