Foreign cruise ships made 101 round trips along the Croatian Adriatic in June 2025, one more than in the same month last year, according to the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (DZS). However, despite the increase in voyages, the number of passengers fell by 4.1 percent, with around 137,000 travellers arriving by cruise ship.
June remains the busiest month so far this year for cruises, following May’s 83 trips. Interestingly, cruise ships stayed longer in Croatian waters compared to last year — a total of 31 extra days, or 16.1 percent more time, even as passenger numbers slipped.
In the first six months of 2025, Croatia welcomed 344,300 cruise passengers, about 5,600 fewer than last year, marking a 1.8 percent drop. Yet, the number of ships increased: 62 vessels docked in Croatian ports between January and June, five more than in the same period of 2024. These ships carried out 252 cruises, up 3.3 percent from last year, spending a total of 580 days in Adriatic waters.
Cruise liners under the Maltese flag dominated traffic with 70 voyages, followed by ships sailing under the flags of the Bahamas (53) and Panama (38). Norway-flagged vessels accounted for 29 trips, while ships registered in Belgium, Portugal, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines each made just one call.
When broken down by region, Dubrovnik-Neretva County led with nearly 47 percent of all cruise arrivals, followed by Split-Dalmatia County (21 percent), Zadar County (16.3 percent), Istria (7.1 percent), Šibenik-Knin (5.6 percent), and Primorje-Gorski Kotar (3.2 percent).
The ports tell a similar story: Dubrovnik remained the most visited port with 188 ship calls in the first half of the year, followed by Split (108), Zadar (72), Korčula (35), Rovinj (31), and Šibenik (30).