With the completion of back-to-back Tauck Madrid to Lisbon (Douro River) and 6 nation Seabourn Lisbon to Dover golf cruises, Adrienne and I are spending time in Europe before attending the IAGTO golf tour operator conference in Michigan. However, following our two golf cruises we did have time with some Trendsetter guests to spend 5 nights in south-east England and played 4 great local courses, including Royal Cinque Ports and Princes (both venues for The Open Championship in the 1st half of the 1900s).
The following 4 images are of the stunningly attractive St Malo Golf Club (2), Conwy Golf Links (# 1 golf course in North Wales with Llandudno in the background) and Utah Beach Golf Links (with Utah Beach in the background where the 1st USA infantry division famously landed some 80 years ago on 6 June). All these 3 golf courses were played during our 6 nation Seabourn golf cruise.
Luxury Cruising & 5 Star Hotel Stays Generally
We know many of you book your ocean and rivers cruises independent of Trendsetter Travel. You may be unaware that most of the luxury and upmarket cruises, including Regent Seven Seas, Silversea, Seabourn, Oceania, Ritz Carlton, Viking, Ponant and several others, offer attractive benefits when booked via Trendsetter. These are usually not available for direct bookings and may include onboard credits of up to USD200 per person. For river cruises, from time to time, there is a free pre- or post-cruise stay at a luxury hotel.
Similarly, we have hundreds of hotels offering an early check in and late checkout subject to availability, breakfast daily, and a USD100 per room food and beverage or spa amenity, as well as an upgrade subject to availability. Adrienne VIPs every booking with the Sales Department a week prior to ensure you receive the best stay possible.
All of this is at no additional cost to you, simply by virtue of our Virtuoso membership.
Trendsetter is focused on delivering the best luxury cruise and stay experience. We take every opportunity available to meet with the cruise lines and hoteliers, and live the experience ourselves, so that we can deliver you the best cruise or stay possible.
This enables us to provide the best advice regarding stateroom/suite selection, the relative attraction of the various ports, where to stay pre- or post-cruise and whether to book the cruise line’s pre-cruise package (these do not always deliver on value or location). As an independent travel agent, we provide unbiased advice – highly valuable when booking cruise lines with complex offerings, such as Silversea.
Golf Tours in 2024 and 2025
Other than one room available on our Pahia/Kauri Cliffs December 2024 golf tour, all our remaining tours for calendar 2024 are wait list only. We provide some updated comments on upcoming tours were new information is available.
Kauri Cliffs – 3 to 10 December 2024 – Hosted Tour
As a result of obtaining either multiple tee or 2 tee starts at all the golf courses we play on this 7-night tour, we have increased our maximum tour number to 32 golfers. Two spots for golfers (1 room) remain and there will be no further increases. This will still see all our group tee off and finish their rounds within 30 minutes of one another.
For those who have not played/stayed at Kauri Clffs or Cape Kidnappers since Covid, there have been a number of significant and enhancing changes. The most recent of these is to allow in-house guests to play a 2nd round on any given day at no extra charge. As a result of this change, combined with our 9.30 am tee offs on all 3 days and daylight saving (sunset is not until after 9 pm) the enthusiasts should find ample time to complete an extra 18, or 9 holes. Lunches post golf are now included and there is an NZD160 (approx.) resort credit which can be used for any miscellaneous purchases at the resort. The NZD 160 credit is only available to guests booked through a Virtuoso agent and is not included if you book direct with either Kauri or Kidnappers. If you are interested in joining this tour and taking the final room, please click on the above heading.
Crystal – June 2025 Golf Cruise – Lisbon to Copenhagen
We have been advised that the current discount of up to 20% on this cruise will end on 30 June 2024. Further, the programme offering an additional 5% discount for new to Crystal guests (subject to being nominated by a past Crystal guest) is liable to end at any time. Past guests receive a 2.5% discount. We encourage you to consider joining us on our June 2025 Crystal Golf Cruise – full details can be found by clicking on the heading above.
Japan Land Tour – 12 to 28 October 2025
Please keep your diaries clear for our Japan Land Tour (12/28 October 2025) which we now expect to release in June 2024, as Adrienne and I finalise the remaining components. The many guests who have requested to join this tour will be accorded priority (in order of their registration date) as we expect the tour to open and close quickly once released. Please let us know if you are interested and wish to have a priority option to join the tour.
Above image of Niagara Falls – limited rooms remain available on our Great Lakes Golf Cruise – August 2025
Click to access the full tour itinerary for any tour in this summary list:
- Paris to Cannes – Tauck Saone/Rhone Rivers Golf Cruise – 27 September to 12 October 2024 – tour full – wait list only
- Egypt & Nile Golf Tour – 23 October to 9 November 2024 – tour full – wait list only
- Bay of Islands/Kauri Cliffs: – 3 to 10 December 2024 – One room available
- South America Land Golf Tour – 10 to 23 March 2025 – available
- Ireland Land Golf Tour – 25 May to 10 June 2025 – tour full – waitlist only
- Lisbon to Copenhagen – Golf Cruise (Crystal) – 12 to 30 June 2025 – with 8 and 10 night cruise alternatives – available
- Toronto to Chicago – Great Lakes Cruise – 17/30 August 2025 – availability
- St Lawrence River – Montreal to NY Golf Cruise – 2 to 14 September 2025 – tour full
- St Lawrence River – New York to Montreal – 14 to 26 September 2025 – tour recently released with good availability
- Japan Land Tour – 12 to 28 October 2025 – tour will shortly be released
All scheduled Trendsetter Travel Golf Tours can be found by clicking here.
For further information, please contact David Cooper on either david@trendsettertravel.com.au or + 61 (0) 413 010 638
We wish you good golfing.
Best Wishes
Adrienne Witteman and David Cooper