Thirty-nine metres, the smallest hull in the catalogue
The MS Equator is thirty-nine metres long and dates from 2017. Eighteen
cabins, thirty-six travellers, in the Kvarner gulf and northern Dalmatia, from
May to October.
She is the smallest of the twenty ships this operator sells, and she carries
only one itinerary. That double peculiarity says what you need: the ship is an
exception in a catalogue dominated by one-hundred-and-thirty-five-metre river
hulls, and her commercial offer stays narrow. Thirty-six travellers over
thirty-nine metres is a high density for a vessel this size; public spaces come
down to a dining room, a sun deck and a bathing platform.
The Kvarner rather than southern Dalmatia
The Kvarner gulf is the northern part of the Croatian coast: Rijeka,
Opatija, the islands of Krk, Cres and Losinj. The sea is cooler there than in
southern Dalmatia and the crowds are thinner, which counts in July and August.
The bora, the north-easterly that comes down off the mountains, blows harder
there and can change an anchorage.
No lift, no wheelchair-accessible cabin, minimum age twelve. No departure
appears in our online inventory.
River ships from the same house
The MS Douro Elegance and the MS Douro Splendour hold the Douro. The MS Thomas Hardy covers the Rhone and the MS Riviera Radiance the
Danube.
The hull and the brand, two different things
Let us name things. This hull does not belong to the brand selling you the
trip. Across the twenty ships in the catalogue, the number of hulls the
operator owns is zero. It is a British tour operator, not a shipowner, and it
charters its entire fleet.
Practical consequence: when the operator's sheet and the owner's diverge on
capacity, build year or cabin count, two sources are describing the same ship
without coordinating. We keep the operator's version, which is the one in the
contract, and we flag the gap when it is notable.
Second consequence: the same ship may sail under another banner in another
season, with different inclusions. Compare line by line rather than by the
ship's name.
The fare, item by item
Included: the cabin, full board, tea and coffee throughout, wine and beer at
dinner on the river ships, the excursions written into the itinerary, port
taxes and the work of a cruise director.
Not included from North America: air travel, airport transfers, pre- and
post-cruise hotel nights, travel insurance, drinks outside meals and optional
excursions. Note this: in the United Kingdom the same operator sells the
flight and transfers within the package. The two markets do not sell the same
thing, and the British site redirects to the North American one when consulted
from here.
Gratuities are included nowhere in this fleet. They stay on your account and
at your discretion, for the ship's crew as for the guides ashore.
A small Dalmatian ship, not a cruise ship
Forty travellers at most, a local crew, a season running May to October and
nothing at all the rest of the year. You sail in the morning, anchor in the
afternoon, sleep in port. The rhythm is a family yacht's, not a liner's.
No lift, no wheelchair-accessible cabin, steep stairs between decks and a
narrow gangway at boarding. The operator explicitly advises travellers with
reduced mobility against this kind of ship, and we repeat it here rather than
leave the surprise for the quayside. The minimum age aboard is twelve.
A point that concerns us: no departure appears in our online inventory for
this ship. The product sells as a full package rather than a cruise-only fare,
and it does not travel through the same data feeds. An advisor will give you
the real calendar.
Leaving from Quebec
The flight is not included in the North American fare, nor are transfers,
nor pre-cruise hotel nights. Arrive at least a day before embarkation; two if
you are crossing the Atlantic and the time change weighs on you. That margin is
used exactly once, and on that day it saves the trip.
On consumer protection, a useful clarification. The British operator has no
established Quebec travel agent's licence; its North American entity is a
Florida corporation and the contract points to the courts of Fort Lauderdale.
What protects you here is the licensed agency you book through.
Voyages AquaTerra holds that licence. Trust account, Compensation Fund for
Customers of Travel Agents, and a single file bringing together flight, cruise,
hotel, transfers and insurance. One call is enough to check what the season
really allows.
