A centuries-old, multigenerational family business is a rare find, anywhere in the world. Come to Brac, one of the thousand islands of the nation of Croatia, and nearly every household has been involved in shipbuilding and seafaring since time immemorial.
Take Blazenka Markusic Rakuljic, affectionately known as Betty, native of the capital city of Zagreb and owner of the MS Bellissima. The 19-cabin, 38-passenger, 174-foot luxury yacht sails the scenic Adriatic coastal route from Dubrovnik to Split and back under exclusive contract to Unforgettable Travel Company, a tour operator based in London and New York City.
Betty says her family built its first recorded boat in 1642. Two centuries were spent fishing the waters near the island of Korcula, and nearly another two as merchant mariners plying the waters between Croatia, Italy and points north and south.
After college, Betty first worked in the tourism industry and then returned to Brac, landing a job with the harbormaster. There she met Domagoj “Gojo” Rakuljic, whose family business involved harvesting sea sand and gravel from a 30-meter dredge boat. It was a match made in heaven, joining two seafaring families driven by vision and ambition. The pair married in 1995, and soon daughter Bella and son Leko rounded out the clan.
Before 1970, Betty says, there was no real tourism in Croatia, but change was coming. In 1974, Betty's future father-in-law bought a small, well-used hospital ship and outfitted it for short excursions. Soon, the Rakuljic family had reconfigured the boat for day trips. The next step, building cabins for weeklong voyages, soon followed.
The family parted ways with its “army ship” in 2012 and commissioned a purpose-built, 121-foot cruiser dubbed Princess Aloha. Betty has a chuckle about the name; seems the Rakuljics had just seen “a Hollywood movie set in Hawaii.” Princess Aloha was sold in 2019, and the pair took out a mortgage to build the Bellissima, named after their daughter.
“We lost two seasons to COVID and the war in Ukraine,” Betty says. One upside of the disruption was a chance to sign up the new boat with Unforgettable Travel.
As a female shipowner, Betty is a bit unusual in an industry marked primarily by rigid father-to-son hierarchies. Betty and Gojo's son, Leko, is autistic and is unable to become a ship captain. But the Rakuljics are surrounded by family on board, with Betty noting that family members make up 70% of the ship's staff.
Gojo is the chief engineer. Captain Luka Stanik is the couple's godson, and his brother Nikola is the first officer. Betty's aunt Katica Butina-Keti is the pastry chef. Head server Paula Zorancic is the daughter of Gojo's first cousin. Her best friends, Lana and Petra, round out the hospitality staff, with Ivana on housekeeping. Everyone is on board every day for the entire sailing season. “You can't be happy on a ship unless you have your family on the ship,” Betty declares.
That sentiment extends to the guest itinerary as well. Betty's team offers excursions to other family businesses, including Tomic Winery on Hvar island, a family-run oyster farm in Ston, and various restaurants where the ship berths.
The future looks bright for the Rakuljics and their extended seafaring family.
“We're in negotiations with Graham Carter and Julia Shikina, the owners of Unforgettable Travel, to create a joint partnership to build a new boat in time for the 2027-2028 seasons.”
The new vessel will be about the same size as Bellissima — under Croatian law, it can't be any larger — but it will incorporate client-driven innovations. “We have to keep pace with our guests,” Betty explains. “Thirty years ago, it was enough to offer a bed. Then each cabin had to have a bathroom, and after that, we needed to install balconies.” The new boat, she adds, will have a fitness center.
“It's all about family,” says Betty, “If you don't have your family, you don't have your traditions and your values. I get my fulfillment from our guests. If you give your guests more of your heart, you may have less money, but you will have happier guests.”
And, the record shows, those guests just keep coming back to the warmth and ambience of Croatia, the good ship Bellissima and family Rakuljic.