Teeing off on Caribbean cruises
By Jim Lyman/for The Tampa Tribune

Tips for The Trip
Other cruise lines offering golf packages

The idyllic setting on the cover of the travel brochure whetted my wife's appetite as well as my own. Actually, the picture on the pamphlet stimulated our craving for cruise cuisine and scenic Caribbean golf.

The photo shows a charming couple putting off on a velvety golf green nestled among the hills of a lush tropical island. A sheltered lagoon can be seen in the distance, and steaming grandly along in the open sea beyond the inlet is the mother of all golf carts - a magnificent cruise ship.

My wife and I had cruised a few times in the past and we'd certainly golfed a lot together, but we'd never combined the two until recently when we flew from Tampa to San Juan, Puerto Rico. Shortly after we arrived, we boarded the Royal Caribbean's Song of America to begin a seven-day voyage around the Southern Caribbean.

We selected the golf-cruise combination to celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary. And although we weren't as isolated as the couple on the brochure, golfers were a distinct minority among the more than 1,200 passengers on the Song of America as she steamed out of San Juan late on a Saturday evening.

About 20 people had signed up for the Royal Caribbean's ``Golf Ahoy!'' program. We'd earlier learned the Miami-based company is the ``official'' cruise line of the PGA of America.

My wife and I were in a second group of 11 golfers. We had all booked a golf package with the same independent travel agency. Both our groups played the same courses during the trip and, for the most part, shared ground transportation to and from the courses.

Our 11 included two California couples who were traveling together and five men from Canada.

One of the five coordinated all our golf-related activities, took care of our golf and transportation vouchers and served as our contact with the ship's shore excursion personnel.

Our leader was a playing and paying passenger, just like the rest of us. But he'd been asked by the travel agency to shepherd our group for a fee. Instead of a fee, he and his wife opted for an upgraded cabin.

The Royal Caribbean Golf Ahoy! group also had its own leader. He was an accomplished golfer who doubled as the conductor of the ship's show band. His familiarity with the golf courses, transportation and other logistics were most helpful and he shared his knowledge with our group as well as his own.

We played four courses during the seven-day cruise. We teed it up on the Carambola Golf Course in St. Croix, the Royal St. Kitts Golf Course on that island, the Mullet Bay course on St. Maarten and Mahogany Run on St. Thomas.

ONE WET GROUND
Our ship departed San Juan during a driving rainstorm. A week later, we got drenched when we disembarked in the midst of a similar storm. Fortunately, we only had one soggy round of golf.

That was in St. Croix, our first port of call. It was not an auspicious introduction to cruise ship golf.

Carambola has been described by noted golf course architect Robert Trent Jones as ``the loveliest course I ever designed.'' It's been likened to a botanical garden and was the site of matches filmed during the old ``Shell Wonderful World of Golf'' television series.

Our day at Carambola probably would have been left on the cutting room floor if the Shell crew had still been filming.

Our group of 11 boarded a van and left for Carambola about 8:45 Monday morning. We'd been told our first tee time was at 9:30. However, when we arrived at the course at 9:15, we found a large number of golfers and about 24 golf carts already stacked up at the first tee.

Needless to say, we didn't tee off on time.

We eventually worked our way to the head of the line and began our round. My wife and I were paired with two of our new Canadian friends and were having an enjoyable game until it began misting about the time we reached the fourth hole.

It continued to rain lightly off and on until we arrived at the eighth green. That's when it really started to pour. Everything came to a stop for about 10 minutes while we unsuccessfully tried to stay dry. The storm finally tapered off, but the course was really soaked and playing conditions were less than ideal.

The two other couples playing ahead of us quit after nine holes, but the rest of our group persevered. However, we played most of the back nine in a light and intermittent drizzle. But the rain stopped being light and intermittent about the time we reached the 18th tee.

That's where a sharp crack of lighting badly disrupted my wife's tee shot and the heavy rains started up again.

Despite all the problems, we found Carambola an interesting and challenging course with many picturesque holes. And we were blessed with a safe, courteous and friendly bus driver who took us back to the ship. He even attempted to show us a locally famous beer drinking pig on the way back, but the animal apparently had already imbibed a bit too much and was unavailable when we drove by.

We were back on the ship with a bit of time to spare before we sailed for St. Kitts at 5 p.m. I even had time to clean and dry our golf clubs before they were put back in storage for the night.

BETTER DAYS AHEAD
Our other three rounds were marked by better weather and better golf. I nearly broke 80 at the Mullet Bay course on St. Maarten. I missed a short putt on the 18th hole there, which robbed me of a rare round in the 70s, but I was still feeling pretty cocky about my score. My bragging rights were short-lived, however, after I learned that one of our Canadian friends had toured the Mullet Bay course in 77 strokes. And he was 75 years old - 20 years my senior.

Our group agreed Mullet Bay was the best course we played during the cruise. The most scenic, however, was Mahogany Run on St. Thomas. A Tom and George Fazio design, it's considered one of the most beautiful in the Caribbean. But Mahogany Run also is the home of the ``Devil's Triangle'' - a wicked three-hole stretch carved out of the Island's rugged north coast. Penalty strokes along that stretch are the rule, not the exception.

We also played the Royal St. Kitts golf course on that small British West Indies island. It's bounded on the south by the Caribbean Sea and on the north by the Atlantic Ocean and features some great photo opportunities.

It also features a surprising number of young men who roam the course to retrieve errant golf balls and resell them to players.

Our lone golf-free island day was on Guadeloupe. When we arrived, however, we were disappointed to learn islanders were celebrating a carnival day and only a few shops were open for business. We did squeeze in a bit of shopping on St. Maarten following golf. And, of course, there was plenty of time to check out the duty-free shops on the Song of America.

We discussed the trip's positives and negatives during our flight back to Tampa. And although we love to play, we both agreed four rounds of golf was a bit much for a seven-day cruise.

So the next time we have an irresistible urge to tee off the tropics, we plan to spend a few days in Puerto Rico playing some of the splendid courses there. Then we'll board a ship for a leisurely spin about the Caribbean.

TIPS FOR THE TRIP

Although we took our own clubs and didn't have any problems, rental clubs are available at all four golf courses if you don't wish to trust your own gear to the tender mercies of the baggage handlers.

If you do take your clubs, ship personnel will store them throughout the trip for a modest one-time fee. It's well worth it, especially if you plan to be frugal when you book your cabin.

Pack plenty of sun screen and a wide-brimmed hat to protect yourself from the tropical sun. And since not all courses have ample water for drinking, it's wise to take bottled water from the ship.

For more information, contact a travel agent or Royal Caribbean at (800) 526-7225.

OTHER GOLF CRUISE OPTIONS

In addition to Royal Caribbean's ``Golf Ahoy!'' program, many other cruise lines will set up golf outings for passengers during stops throughout the Caribbean.

For more information, contact a travel agent or any of the following cruise companies. Shore excursion personnel aboard ships with these lines will arrange tee times for passengers during cruises.

  • Celebrity Cruises, 5200 Blue Lagoon Drive, Miami 33126; (800) 395-2300.

  • Cunard Line Ltd. (including Cunard Crown), 555 Fifth Ave., New York, N.Y.; 10017; (800) 528-6273.

  • Dolphin Cruise Line, 901 South American Way, Miami 33132; (305) 358-2111; (800) 222-1003.

  • Premier Cruise Lines, 400 Challenger Road, Cape Canaveral 32920; (800) 726-5678.

  • Princess Cruises, 10100 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 1899, Los Angeles 90067; (310) 533-1770; (800) 421-0522.

    This story was originally published in June 18, 1995