Golf & Travel....

CRUISING TO GREAT GOLF

In the early-90s, cruise and golf travel didn't really mix. Most lines and ships didn't offer specific packages, forcing golfers who wanted to combine a cruise and golf vacation to make their own plans. Time, language, and cultural differences often led to bad course choices, missed tee times, and worse.

But that's all changed. Cruising and golf have grown into an ideal vacation. Today, many cruise lines and specialty travel companies offer a wide range of cruises with golf options. Whether you want to play or just watch, it's now easy to cruise to some great golf anywhere in the world.

A cruise and golf vacation are a perfect combination. Some of the advantages include: unpacking just once, visiting many destinations (often featuring great golf), experiencing many cultures, an essentially all-inclusive price, and expert arrangements of all details.

"Cruises make ideal vacations for golfers," says James G. Godsman, president of Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA). "They have the opportunity to play some of the world's most beautiful courses and enjoy all the amenities cruising offers, from outstanding cuisine to great entertainment to being pampered."

CRYSTAL CRUISES

If you want a luxurious vacation on a ship and on the links, Crystal Cruises offers both with Par Excellence, their new shoreside golf program. With guaranteed tee times at 21 of the world's most famous and challenging courses, eight 1999 cruises offer and excellent combination of golf and cruising.

"Many of our Crystal guests have a keen interest in the game of golf and are members of prominent clubs throughout the world," says Crystal Cruises' president, Joseph A. Watters. "With Par Excellence, our guests will have access to top international courses to play by day and then return to 'The 19th Hole' aboard their Crystal ship."

These eight special voyages aboard Crystal Harmony and Crystal Symphony offer the rare opportunity to play historic courses only dreamed about by many golf travelers. From a British Isles itinerary boasting St. Andrews' Duke's Course, Royal Dornoch, Royal Birkdale, and Portmarnock Links Golf Clubs, to a South Pacific route featuring Royal Melbourne Golf Club, the site of last year's President's Cup, each Par Excellence program includes a two-, three-, or four-course tournament, a wealth of golf amenities, and related on-board programming.

For the rest of 1999, Par Excellence is available on two 11-day Panama Canal/Caribbean cruises aboard Crystal Harmony (September 16 and December 3). Crystal Symphony will offer the new program on a 13-day British Isles itinerary on August 10; three 12-day Mediterranean cruises on September 4, 16, and 28; and two South Pacific journeys, a 16-day cruise on December 1 and an 11-day cruise on December 17.

Featured destinations with world-class courses include: Costa Rica, Aruba, St. Thomas, and St. Martin/St. Maarten on the Panama Canal/Caribbean itinerary; Scotland, England, Ireland, Italy, Malta, France, Spain, and Greece on the Baltic/Mediterranean trip; and Indonesia, Australia, and New Zealand on the Asia/South Pacific cruise.

This new series of golf tournaments includes green fees for scheduled rounds of golf, roundtrip transfers between the ship and course, bottled water and refreshments, power-driven carts, caddies, and pull-carts, golf bag travel cover, and tournament prizes. On-board the six-star Crystal Harmony and Crystal Symphony, guests receive complimentary club storage, as well as enjoying putting and chipping contests and private cocktail parties. Golf escorts will join the pampered golfers for all activities. Prices for Par Excellence start at just $850 per person.

Crystal Cruises has long catered to golfers with golf clinics, instruction by PGA pros, and on-board putting greens and driving ranges. Last year, Callaway Golf became the official golf club of Crystal Cruises and the luxury vessels now boat their top-performing stainless steel irons, titanium drivers, steelhead fairway and utility woods, and putters.

With the new cruises and relationship with Callaway Golf, Crystal Cruises has become very popular with discerning golfers. "Crystal Cruises has emerged as the leading large-ship luxury cruise line be consistently offering innovative on-board programming, supported by an array of active opportunities ashore," says Watters. "The new golf program is in keeping with our penchant for choices."

At 50,000 tons and carrying only 940 guests each, Crystal Harmony and Crystal Symphony are two of the most spacious ships afloat. The luxury vessels are owned by Crystal Cruises, winner of the travel industry's most distinguished hospitality awards and guidebook rankings. Last year, the line's honors included "World's Best Large Cruise Line" and "Best Large-Ship Cruise Line" by the readers of Travel & Leisure and Conde' Nast Traveler magazines, respectively.

For more information, call 1-800-820-6663.

PERRYGOLF

PerryGolf, the Golf Tour Operator of the Year in the 1999 Hertz International Travel Awards, is leading the way with luxury golf cruise travel into the next millennium. With a wide range of options, PerryGolf and sister company InterGolf make arranging a golf cruise easy.

"As it is our goal to provide the very best in international golf travel experiences, we are constantly looking to work with the world's most renowned travel vendors who share our dedication to providing the highest quality golf programs to the discriminating traveler," say Gordon and Colin Dalgleish, principals at PerryGolf. "In conjunction with working with the world's finest resorts and golf courses, we also look for unique or exclusive transportation opportunities for our clients, such as the QE2, the M/S Clipper Adventurer, and the Belle, an historic refurbished 79-foot motor yacht."

The 122-passenger M/S. Clipper Adventurer is the exclusive floating deluxe hotel for playing outstanding golf and attending the 2000 British Open at St. Andrews, the 2001 British Open at Royal Lytham and St. Annes, and a "Best of Ireland" cruise, also in 2001. Their 1999 British Open trip aboard the Adventurer sold out well in advance.

In the grand tradition of luxury cruising and golf, PerryGolf is also offering a 2000 British Open package aboard the famed QE2--the world's most famous ocean liner. This tour also includes play at two St. Andrews area courses and a one-night cruise to Southampton, England.

Closer to home, PerryGolf offers exclusive golf charters aboard the Belle, a lovingly restored 77-foot motor yacht. Lucky golf groups cruise along the southeastern U.S. Intracoastal Waterway from Jacksonville, Florida to Charleston, South Carolina. Golfing opportunities include: Sea Island, Hilton Head Island, Kiawah Island, Wild Dunes, and much more.

Of course, PerryGolf and InterGolf both offer a wide range of other trips, including VIP golf coaches, train trips, helicopter and private jet tours, and many more unique options. The 32-page PerryGolf and 39-page InterGolf brochures provide a colorful overview of trips around the world. The PerryGolf brochure features stunning Ray Ellis watercolors, while the InterGolf brochure features colorful golf and travel photography from their various trips. Whether you want a package around the corner or around the world, the probably have a perfect offering.

PerryGolf and InterGolf both work with a large number of Hertz International Travel Awards winners. The American Golf Course of the Year--Kiawah Island Ocean Course--is on PerryGolf's exclusive southeastern golf cruises on the Belle, while the Worldwide Golf Destination of the Year (Ireland), the Worldwide Golf Resort of the Year (Gleneagles); European Golf Course of the Year (San Lorenzo, Portugal); and the Emerging Golf Destination of the Year (Morocco) are all on their cruise or land-based itineraries.

For more information, call PerryGolf at 1-800-344-5257 or InterGolf at 1-800-468-0051.

PGA TRAVEL

Seeing this year's Ryder Cup has never been easier and more elegant, thanks to PGA Travel. As the official travel company of the PGA of America for more than 12 years, PGA Travel offers a wide range of golf-oriented travel. Their Ryder Cup cruise later this year is certainly indicative of the quality of their trips.

Golfers interested in combining the Ryder Cup with an elegant cruise can join host Billy Casper aboard the Seabourn Pride for the golf experience of a lifetime September 19-27. Participants will be treated with a world of elegance as they cruise with only 200 other guests on a fall foliage cruise to the charming ports of Bar Harbor, Portland and Kennebunkport, Maine, and Halifax, Nova Scotia. Then, the ship heads to Boston, where passengers will use her as the base for attending the 1999 Ryder Cup at The Country Club in Brookline.

Cruisers will enjoy this golf and cruise combination in an elegant world of their own. They'll be pampered in a suite with a stunning five-foot picture window and a host of elegantly appointed furnishings and gracious touches, including personally engraved stationary. Of course, on-board host Billy Casper will be the perfect companion on and off the ship.

While in Boston, passengers will be transported daily to The Country Club to witness one of the most exciting events in golf. Scheduled every two years, the twelve best American players and the twelve best European players gather at one of the world's great venues for three days of the most pressure-packed competition of their lives.

For more information, call 800-283-4653.

WIDE WORLD OF GOLF

Imagine playing some of the world's best courses during the day and enjoying one of the world's best cruise lines at night. That's what the combination of Seabourn Cruise Line and Wide World of Golf offer.

"We have carefully selected the finest courses in the world for our Seabourn guests," says Wide World of Golf president Bill Hogan. "If they have chosen the most lauded cruise line, then they deserve the most famous courses."

Wide World of Golf's lineup includes many unique golf cruises to destinations like the eastern seaboard of the U.S., Canada, the Caribbean, Mexico, the British Isles, the Mediterranean, and Southeast Asia. Half of these luxury cruises have been designated a School at Sea, which is a custom Wide World of Golf program where guests enjoy private lessons and clinics with PGA Professionals.

Wide World of Golf and Seabourn have worked together for more than ten years to bring discerning golfers the best courses and luxury cruises around the world. Cruising guests of all skill levels have enjoyed legendary "Royal" courses like Royal Dornoch, Royal Melbourne, and Royal Portrush, as well as astonishing newcomers like Old Head of Kinsale, Kiaway Island, and Blue Canyon.

On each cruise, there is a professional Golf Escort on board to handle all golf details and assure the utmost in comfort and service for Wide World of Golf guests. Days of golf are confirmed in about half of the ports of call for a maximum of 20 players on any given day. Everything is pre-arranged, including transportation, green fees, rental clubs (if needed), and carts or caddies.

Each Wide World of Golf cruise with Seabourn includes: green fees; cart, caddie, or pull cart (caddie gratuities included); the full-time services of an experienced Golf Escort; School at Sea conducted by PGA Professionals (designated voyages); all transfers to and from courses; golf bag travel cover and tag; official Seabourn golf apparel; various prizes and awards; all gratuities for golf personnel (no tipping expected or accepted); refreshments at the golf courses; special golfer and spouse parties; on-board club storage and porterage (not stored in your cabin); an on-board golf video library; and many interesting optional extras, like pre- or post-cruise golf tour extensions arranged by Wide World of Golf.

For more information, call 1-800-214-4653.

SIDEBAR

PERFECTLY PACKED

For a golf cruise or any golf travel, you're not perfectly packed unless you have The Club Glove. Quite simply, it's the best travel bag in the world. Just ask most PGA Tour players.

More than 300 PGA Tour players currently hit the road, air, and sea with The Club Glove, making it by far the most popular golf travel bag on Tour. But other sophisticated golf travelers have discovered The Club Glove as well, making it the most popular bag in cars, planes, and ships.

Their "Last Bag" and "Last Bag XXL" are ideal for cruises, as well as all other golf travel. If you travel with your clubs, you need The Club Glove. For more information, call 1-800-736-4568.