Golf in British Isles during a cruise

[arichman]

trying to figure out playing golf during a Caribbean Princess cruise in May. No ship excursions. Anyone ever done this. Hard to pass up a chance to play a links course during the cruise. Thanks

[cantwaitfornextcruise]

what is your itinerary, maybe some of us UK golfers can help you if we know your itinerary and dates

[sunnyflorida]

Princess Cruises

Caribbean Princess

12-Night British Isles (With Kirkwall) (Southampton Roundtrip)

Day Date Port Arv Dep

Mon 05/01/17 Southampton (London), England - Embark - Time subject to change 05:00 PM

Tue 05/02/17 St. Peter Port, Guernsey, UK 06:00 AM 02:00 PM

Wed 05/03/17 Cork, Ireland 07:30 AM 06:00 PM

Thu 05/04/17 Dublin, Ireland 07:30 AM 05:45 PM

Fri 05/05/17 B.N.I. 08:00 AM 09:00 PM

Sat 05/06/17 Glasgow (Greenock), Scotland 07:00 AM 06:00 PM

Sun 05/07/17 At Sea

Mon 05/08/17 Kirkwall, Orkney Islands 07:00 AM 05:00 PM

Tue 05/09/17 Inverness/Loch Ness, Scotland 07:00 AM 06:00 PM

Wed 05/10/17 Edinburgh, Scotland - South Queensferry 07:00 AM 07:00 PM

Thu 05/11/17 At Sea

Fri 05/12/17 Le Havre, France - Paris/Normandy 07:00 AM 08:00 PM

Sat 05/13/17 Southampton (London), England - Disembark - Time subject to change 05:00 AM

[Colo Cruiser]

OP try asking your question on the British Isles board. ;)

[indyrocks]

We just visited Greenock a few months ago. You are already close to three great courses on the West Coast. Royal Troon and Turnberry will be most familiar, having hosted The Open Championship (aka British Open) several times. Many people overlook Prestwick, which hosted the first 11 Opens, and 25 overall until it was removed from the rotation in 1925. It is still one of my favorite courses. There are 2 other courses in the area, Glasgow Gailes and Western Gailes. I don't know anything about them. Any or all of these courses may offer shuttle service to/from the pier in Greenock, otherwise you can reach them by taxi or by train.

 

If you're interested in going through to the East Coast to play Gleaneagles or the holiest golf shrine, St. Andrews, it will take more of an effort although the ScotRail train service is fast and frequent. You can take a shuttle into Glasgow and then take a train from Queen St. Station to Edinburgh. Or you can do as we did and take the train from Greenock to Glasgow Central Station and then walk a few easy blocks to Queen St. Station for the train to Edinburgh. I would imagine it would take 1 1/2 to 2 hours to travel from the ship to Edinburgh and another 1 1/2 to 2 hours to return. Having 11 hours in port will definitely work to your advantage.

 

Another option is to pick a course and then contact them directly. Some offer shuttle services to/from either central Glasgow or Edinburgh, or they might be able to put you in contact with a tour company that does. Take it from someone who has lived in Scotland and who still visits frequently, golf is a huge tourist industry in Scotland and they generally go out of their way to be helpful.

 

I hope you get to experience the farewell that we did when we sailed from Greenock. A pipe and drum corps from a nearby school played the bagpipes as we sailed away. To a Scot (or even a half-Scot like me) there is nothing to equal the sound of bagpipes.

[cantwaitfornextcruise]

Wow this itinerary should be renamed Scotland & Republic of Ireland, they have dropped England, Wales and anyway I digress sorry.

 

I think Indy Rocks has given you some great advice for Scotland, hubby and I played Cork Golf Club last year not from a cruise, we have an RV and spend our summer playing golf last year we spent some time in Eire and played Cork, the course is close to the port and I would imagine a taxi would be reasonably inexpensive. I don't know how much time to you have in the UK before or after your cruise, but there are some great courses around Southampton

[majortom10]

Of course if you manage to be able to do a round of golf at Turnberry while you are docked at Greenock you will have the pleasure, or not, of having played golf at a course owned by the POTUS.