British Open Cruise

[GACRUISER456]

I believe Azamara did a British Open cruise back in 2012 and they are doing it again in 2015. I'm curious how they handled the transportation and tickets for the British Open Tournament. Did they have shuttles going all day between the golf course and the ship or was it treated like a shore excursion where you had to buy your tickets through them and they shuttled everyone there in the morning and back at the end of the day?

 

I know it is still a long way off, but I'm wondering if it is better to buy my own tickets through the British Open website when they become available or wait until the ship releases them as a shore excursion.

 

Thanks!

[uktog]

As an Azamara lover and local from Edinburgh can I give you some thoughts on the 2015 open.

1. The ship docks in Edinburgh, the Open in 2015 is not in Muirfield near Edinburgh but St Andrews which is about an hours drive away

 

2. You are about 20 minutes from the train station where the ship docks and I would expect as in previous years, if you wish to go independent, they will have "Open Specials" running to Leuchars which is the station for St Andrews. Given the traffic jams that might arise, the train is the best bet and you will get to go over the iconic Forth Rail Bridge en route.

 

3. However you travel to St Andrews no vehicles are going to get near the Golf course. I would expect the nearest you will get is near Leuchars which will be about a 15 minute drive from the course using special park and ride vehicles. (Us locals used them for Muirfield last year and to be fair they do have the logistics working well

 

I say this, not to put you off but to make sure everyone who looks at this thread in months to come realises the challenges (certainly NOT insurmountable) of getting from the ship to St Andrews and The Open. For me if I was DIY I would think seriously about my logistics on the day the boat sails away - I doubt they can get a tender up the River Eden or the Jigger Burn to pick you up

 

Also bear in mind 2013 advice will give a possible but not certain indicator of how it will be in 2015 but in 2013 it was a fixed time there and back transport that was arranged

 

Undoubtedly you will be able to do it cheaper on your own and there were no problems getting tickets (with or without hospitality) through the official Open website in 2013.

 

It is a great way to see some of the British Isles and enjoy some of the Open. I know we met Azamara guests as we sat watching hole 5 last year, all men, the women were maxing the credit cards on other excursions of the ship and everyone had the best of both worlds

Edited February 25, 2014 by uktog

[GACRUISER456]

Thank you so much for the local information. We are definitely more in the "DIY" crowd on all our trips and love taking trains whenever possible, so this sounds like it is very doable on our own and will give us more flexibility. We got our own tickets and transport a few years ago for the Military Tattoo instead of going through the ship and that worked well. Can't wait to be back in Edinburgh!

 

I'll be sure to check back with you once we get closer and start making solid plans. Going to St. Andrews is my big wish for this cruise (the wife)! :D

Edited February 25, 2014 by GACRUISER456

[Granny DI]

We did the British Open cruise in July 2012...LOVED IT!!!!!!!! Perry Golf will handle all the golf and the British Open. It will be a separate package like an excursion. Perry Golf will only sell 80 "tickets" so you must book early. The tickets were VERY expensive but don't even remember now as we had so much fun. MY DH played golf and I went sightseeing. DH never had to worry about lunch, tee times, his golf clubs or transportation. We went to the British Open on Sunday afternoon and saw all our favorites....Phil, Ernie, Tiger, etc...

We used Choice Air and flew into Dublin and home from Hamburg...WONDERFUL CRUISE!!!!!!!

[kathy9]

We also did the 2013 British Open cruise and had a great time. We did out own thing, bought Open tickets and hospitality tickets on line. At the last minute AZ had a bus for a fee to and from the course. We went on Saturday and saw all the players.It was not super crowded and it was 82 and sunny!

Look at the 2015 dates carefully......they seem to be having two British Open cruises. The first one ends on Saturday, so it would be hard to attend play on Saturday or Sunday. I am sure it would be difficult get a hotel room in that area prior to the cruise also.

[uktog]

We also did the 2013 British Open cruise and had a great time. We did out own thing, bought Open tickets and hospitality tickets on line. At the last minute AZ had a bus for a fee to and from the course. We went on Saturday and saw all the players.It was not super crowded and it was 82 and sunny!

Look at the 2015 dates carefully......they seem to be having two British Open cruises. The first one ends on Saturday, so it would be hard to attend play on Saturday or Sunday. I am sure it would be difficult get a hotel room in that area prior to the cruise also.

 

Good advice - it certainly will be very difficult (and expensive) to get a hotel in St Andrews. However, Edinburgh should be no worse than usual summer rates now that there is a lot of capacity.

Funny Kathy we went on the Saturday as well and got very warm indeed. We did not have hospitality tickets- we just had good old Scottish food in the tented village and were pleasantly surprised how reasonable the prices were especially for the drinks.

We had a great time at the Grandstand on the 5th in the morning and an even better time in the Grandstand on the 7th in the afternoon (if you recall that was the short hole where Tiger had a disaster and he certainly was not a happy bunny)

[Granny DI]

We did the British Open cruise in July 2012...LOVED IT!!!!!!!! Perry Golf will handle all the golf and the British Open. It will be a separate package like an excursion. Perry Golf will only sell 80 "tickets" so you must book early. The tickets were VERY expensive but don't even remember now as we had so much fun. MY DH played golf and I went sightseeing. DH never had to worry about lunch, tee times, his golf clubs or transportation. We went to the British Open on Sunday afternoon and saw all our favorites....Phil, Ernie, Tiger, etc...

We used Choice Air and flew into Dublin and home from Hamburg...WONDERFUL CRUISE!!!!!!!

 

 

OOPS!!! All my info correct except for date...July 2013...thanks Kathy!!! If we were to do this cruise again which we might...we'd go to the Open on Thursday or Friday so you could see all the golfers and not just those who make it to the weekend!

Edited February 25, 2014 by Granny DI

[kathy9]

Per my DH if you want to watch golf then Thursday and Friday are the best days to go! Plus would be great at St Andrew's ! Dress warm if you go.....

[Holly Girl]

We were on the 2013 cruise and had a great time. We went to St. Andrews on a shore excursion but had tickets to the open for Saturday and Sunday. We purchased the tickets as well as tent tickets through The Open website, took the local specially designated train and coach to the golf course. We had a great time and would do it again. Azamara had a shore excursion to the tournament if I recall but you had to go and leave at specified times. Doing it on your own you have more control. We love taking local trains and meeting new people so for us it was perfect. St. Andrews is beautiful...actually the whole trip was!

[GACRUISER456]

Great feedback! We are doing the cruise that arrives in Edinburgh on Wednesday afternoon and stays docked until we disembark on Saturday. We will go to the tournament on Thursday or Friday and pray for the fantastic weather you all had last year.

 

What does the Hospitality ticket get you? Do the tickets go on sale as soon as this years tournament ends?

 

 

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[Granny DI]

Great feedback! We are doing the cruise that arrives in Edinburgh on Wednesday afternoon and stays docked until we disembark on Saturday. We will go to the tournament on Thursday or Friday and pray for the fantastic weather you all had last year.

 

What does the Hospitality ticket get you? Do the tickets go on sale as soon as this years tournament ends?

 

 

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Perry Golf provided a general admission ticket and transportation. They gave us the list of starting times so we were able to find the 20 or so players we wanted to see. Amazing experience for golfers!

Edited February 26, 2014 by Granny DI

[uktog]

Great feedback! We are doing the cruise that arrives in Edinburgh on Wednesday afternoon and stays docked until we disembark on Saturday. We will go to the tournament on Thursday or Friday and pray for the fantastic weather you all had last year.

 

What does the Hospitality ticket get you? Do the tickets go on sale as soon as this years tournament ends?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

 

You can get an idea of hospitality here based on the 2014 Open which is very similar to what we had at Muirfield (2013). Tickets went on sale in October, you do not, unlike the Ryder Cup have to ballot for tickets, you will get them no problem.

Details of public transport will be available about March/April 2015 but it will be the same train arrangements though this time to Leuchars. Funnily enough it was the trains that were trickier to get the exact times you wanted (slightly longer waits) last year.

 

 

http://www.theopen.com/en/News/LatestNews/2013/10/Tickets-go-on-sale-for-the-2014-Open-Championship.aspx

[kathy9]

What does the Hospitality ticket get you

We got the " lowest level hospitality".....a place to sit with free coffee, tea and food for purchase, with waitress service. Of course restrooms, many TV's. We had gotten that planning on typical weather you see at The Open. As it turns out the weather was amazing but it was still nice to have a place to go sit down for a while. It might have been 60.00 or 70.00 us dollars each...can't really remember. The hospitality was sold out pretty early. The AZ excursion to The Open was really over priced, did not sell well and the Perry Golf is a whole trip onto it self.

Edited February 26, 2014 by kathy9