My husband and I had a wonderful stay in Damir's property (June/July). The location is perfect; 2 minutes from the buzz of the town centre, but very quiet too. The kitchen is well equipped and the bed comfortable. There is very efficient air-con, Sky TV and WiFi and amazing views. We had been a little worried about getting our luggage (for a two week stay) up the well-documented steps, but Damir, having met us as arranged, showed us the best route and carried my suitcase! Thank you for that, Damir. He then spent around 40 minutes explaining the property and answering all our questions regarding places to visit, best deals, bus routes etc., which was invaluable.
There are many steps, but we never found them a challenge.
Some observations: if you are staying long enough for lazy beach days, the nearest beach (Banje) is very crowded with loud music. We walked to San Jacov beach (a pleasant 40 minute stroll) which was far less crowded and with a very good, reasonably priced restaurant. There are 150 steps down to this beach but there is a taxi boat back to town if you don't fancy the climb back up.
There are lots of boat trip deals on offer, but we found it cheaper to visit the islands independently. We particularly enjoyed Lopud. The number 8 bus takes you to the port where you can get a ferry to Lopud. Food and drink is cheaper there.
If you are reading this in 2019, we would recommend the Shakespeare production in the fort. We thoroughly enjoyed Midsummer Nights Dream.
Regarding restaurants, we'd recommend Aquarius. I am a coeliac and they had a very good knowledge of the gluten free diet. The food and atmosphere were great and we were sorry that we didn't go there earlier in our stay! Also good for gluten free is Domino, where they served good gluten free bread, and Moby Dick (up the steps from the main street). We found four small supermarkets around town, all with a small amount of Schar GF.
Avoid the bar/restaurant nearest the cathedral; their prices are ridiculous!
Regarding cruise ships, they do make a difference in town crowd-wise, but we downloaded a list of Cruise Ship Arrivals on 'Croatia Traveller' and went out of town on busy days. Cruisers tend to go back to the ship in the late afternoon.
We had a wonderful stay in beautiful Dubrovnik. We were there a while, but we found something to enjoy and new places every day.
Thank you so much Damir.