OHANA Review: Croatia’s Most Booked Big-Group Yacht, 22 Charters in One Season

Why 22 groups booked OHANA in one season

Walk her after the record and the reasons are not mysterious. There are four, and they stack.

The price per head. A high-season week is €140,000 for 28 people, which is around €5,000 each before VAT and APA. Very few 49-metre yachts with a twelve-strong crew get anywhere near that figure, and for a family paying for grandparents, children and cousins, it is the number that makes the trip possible.

A layout drawn for 28, not stretched to it. Fourteen en suite cabins including two triples, so a family of five is in one room and a group of 28 is not sleeping on sofas. The aft deck seats everyone at one table. The sun deck is 160 square metres.

A crew that has done this before. Twelve crew, a chef with a competition title, and a captain who built the boat and has run every one of those 22 weeks on her.

Croatia itself. Short hops between islands, sheltered water, and four hours of cruising fuel a day included in the price, which is exactly a Dalmatian day: one island to the next, a long lunch at anchor, a swim stop on the way.

The captain who built OHANA

Most charter captains inherit their boat. Josip Šerka built his. His published bio describes him as the owner-operator who built the 49-metre OHANA at a shipyard on the Adriatic, and adds that he restores old boats and runs a woodworking shop in his spare time. On a yacht with 28 guests and 14 cabins, a captain who knows every pipe and panel because he fitted it is not a charming detail. It is why a 22-charter season went off without the boat falling behind.

Alongside him, chef Marin Vukman has a signature dish of red pepper cannelloni with cheese and pistachio and a competition title for his sea bass roll, and chief stewardess Antonija Krešo runs the interior and, by her own description, the cocktails. Crew change between seasons, so check who is aboard for your dates, but this is the team that set the record.

The aft deck and the lounge: where 28 people eat together

The aft deck is where everyone eats, in a half circle along the rail, so a group of 28 sits as one table rather than four. Step straight inside from there and you are in the lounge and bar, with curved green velvet sofas and a back bar that is properly stocked, and that is where the evening happens. The main saloon beyond has marble floors, a grey lounge and separate dining tables for the days when the weather sends lunch inside.

Themed nights are a thing here. Prison night, a white party, whatever a group asks for; the crew have done them and have the kit. She is a family yacht first and a large-group party yacht second, and she is good at both, which is a rarer combination than it sounds.

The cabins: 14 en suites, including two triples

The master and two convertible VIPs are on the upper deck, forward of the lounge. The main and lower decks hold six doubles, three twins and the two triple cabins, each with a double and a single bed, which is how she gets to 28 and why families with three children do not have to split across two rooms. Every cabin has its own bathroom with a shower and a proper toilet, and air conditioning runs all night.

They are clean, simple cabins with carpet underfoot and a porthole or a window, sized from 13 to 26 square metres. They are not superyacht cabins, and she does not pretend otherwise. On a boat priced at under €5,000 a head for a high-season week, the cabins are where the money was not spent, and the crew, the decks and the layout are where it was.

The sun deck: 160 square metres for 28 people

The sun deck is the size of a small villa terrace, under shade sails, with hanging rattan chairs forward, a shaded lounge of white sofas midships, exercise gear, and a big sunpad lounge wrapped around the jacuzzi at the stern. With 28 people aboard the question is always whether there is somewhere to sit; up here there is somewhere to sit for everyone at once, which is the thing a brochure length figure never tells you.

There is a massage table on this deck too. There is no masseuse on the crew, so treat it as a table you can book a therapist onto in port, not a spa.

For the children: a playroom and a cinema on the lower deck

Down on the lower deck there is a dedicated playroom with a climbing wall, monkey bars, a slide and a play kitchen, and a cinema room next door. Neither is a showpiece; they are useful rooms. On a 28-guest boat, a space that keeps the children busy for an hour while the adults have the decks, with the stewardesses a corridor away, is worth more than it photographs, and the cinema doubles as a movie night for the whole group when the weather turns.

The toys, and the four hours of fuel that come with the week

A water slide off the deck, a jet ski, two Seabobs, an e-foil, water skis, a towable tube, two paddleboards, two kayaks, an inflatable swimming platform, snorkelling and fishing gear, and a 6.8-metre tender on 150 horsepower to run it all. Diving is by rendezvous with a local operator.

The charter price includes four hours of cruising fuel a day, which on an 8-knot boat is about 30 miles. Push past four hours and the extra comes out of the APA, so plan the route around short hops rather than a dash to Dubrovnik and back.

Who OHANA is for

Big family reunions. Three generations, cousins included, with triples for the families of five. This is the charter she runs most, and it is why she is booked. Our guide to multigenerational charters in Croatia covers the planning side.

Celebrations with a guest list. A fiftieth or a wedding week with 28 people who all want to be at one table. The aft deck seats them as one. For the rest of the big-group fleet, see our Top 10 Croatia yacht charters for 13 to 30 guests.

Groups watching the per-head figure. At €3,900 to €5,000 a person for the week, she is one of the few ways to put 28 people on a 49-metre yacht with a 12-strong crew at that price.

Anyone bringing the dog. Pets are welcome, which on a boat this size is unusual.

Who OHANA is not for

Anyone expecting superyacht finishes. She is a fun boat, clean and well run, but she is not a new build and the cabins and joinery show it. If the finish matters more than the group, look at ARGO, which carries 26 guests at a much higher service level and price, or the rest of the 50-metre class in Croatia.

Anyone who wants to leave Croatia. Her registration keeps her in Croatian waters, so Montenegro is not on the table.

Anyone in a hurry. Eight knots and no stabilisers. She is a boat for short hops in sheltered water, which is what the Dalmatian islands are.

Groups smaller than about sixteen. You would be paying for a boat built around 28. There are better answers for twelve.

Before you book OHANA

• Book early. A boat that ran 22 weeks has few left, and the family weeks in July and August go first.
• Count the children and ask for the triples and the twins by name; the layout is the whole point of her.
• Plan the route around four cruising hours a day. The fuel is included up to that; beyond it is APA.
• If you want a party night, say which one. The crew would rather plan prison night than improvise it.
• Set the group’s expectations on finish. She wins on space, crew and price, not on marble.

DMA Yachting has OHANA booked for a large family group in summer 2027. For current availability and a quote for your dates, see OHANA on My Croatian Charter or contact us.

Klara Braga Jakobsen is a Yacht Reviewer at DMA Yachting. She walks the charter fleet at the Mediterranean and Caribbean shows every year and reviews only yachts she has been aboard. Photos by the author.