Golf-themed cruise itineraries marry exclusivity with convenience

20.07.2023 - 11:51 / travelweekly.com / Royal Caribbean

In August, Hilton Head, S.C., residents Tom and Molly Duffey will embark on a 22-night golf-themed cruise on the Azamara Journey, playing eight courses in Scotland and Ireland, including world-renowned tracks such as Scotland's Royal Dornoch and Northern Ireland's Royal County Down.

"We absolutely are very excited," Tom Duffey said. 

The itinerary, offered by the tour operator PerryGolf in partnership with Azamara, will be the sixth the Duffeys have taken via PerryGolf; they've been on three to the British Isles and two that traversed Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania. 

"What we like about going on these cruises is, first, you get to see some very interesting parts of the world," Tom Duffey said. "And second, you don't have to do anything: You don't see your golf clubs until you get to the place you're playing that day. They literally take care of everything.

"You're playing some of the best courses on the planet, and [PerryGolf is] absolutely flawless in terms of its execution."

Two prominent players are Amadeus River Cruises and AmaWaterways.

PerryGolf, which began organizing golf itineraries in conjunction with cruise lines in 1997, is one of the primary players in a niche that some operators say is hitting new highs since the pandemic. For next year, PerryGolf is offering golfing itineraries on 17 Azamara cruises touching Scandinavia, Japan, South America, the U.K., South Africa and elsewhere. The product caters largely to couples, even if only one member of the couple plays golf. Those who aren't golfers are able to partake in the excursions otherwise available through Azamara, said PerryGolf co-founder Gordon Dalgleish. 

"The golf portion serves as a terrific hook as a product differentiator for ourselves, for the travel agent and for Azamara," Dalgleish said. "It's very much a high-end type of experience."

Travel advisors who book a PerryGolf itinerary receive Azamara's commission plus $200 per golfer from PerryGolf.

As with PerryGolf and Azamara, other golf cruise itineraries are often arranged in conjunction with more generalized cruise sailings.

GolfAhoy, a longtime player in the niche, sells PerryGolf itineraries. But the company also arranges ocean and river cruise golf itineraries for independent travelers and groups of up to 40 on sailings by Princess, Carnival, Celebrity, MSC, Regent Seven Seas, Royal Caribbean, AmaWaterways and others.

In Hawaii, GolfAhoy sells itineraries for weeklong sailings of Norwegian Cruise Line's