Princess Golf - Mexican Riviera

[love2cruise221]

Has anyone done the a ship's golf tours in Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, or Cabo San Lucas? Which courses? If more than one, how would you compare two or more of the courses?

[OnlineMom]

We'll be on the Diamond next spring for the Mexican Riviera and plan on golfing at 2 of the 3 ports. Maybe the port board for Mexico would have some answers...

[bardgal]

My ex went to Estrella Del Mar in Mazatlan and really loved it. Said it was a gorgeous course.

[sueandkent]

We were recently on a land vacation to Mazatlan and had the opportunity to see the El Cid course and it looked great. We heard many great things in Mazatlan about both El Cid and Estrella Del Mar. Estrella is alot further away from the ships port than the El Cid. Estrella is out by the airport.

[love2cruise221]

Thank you!

[love2cruise221]

Thank you!

[spongerob]

The company that does the golf tours and provides the equipment and staff on board is called Elite Golf (if my memory is working). You might want to see if you can google them and find out more. I took a tour with their guy on the Grand Princess in January and it was first class all the way. They had top-line Nike equipment for rent, which is nice because it's a huge hassle to bring your own sticks. Rental rates were quite reasonable, they even had shoes. I'd suggest taking your own shoes and plenty of ammo - they charged something like $10 a sleeve for MoJo's.

[cdfev]

I am just back from the Sapphire Princess to the Mexican Riviera in late March 2006.

 

There is a golf pro, Cory, on the Sapphire who organizes the golf outings and also provides lessons on board for a very reasonable price ($125 for 3 half hour lessons) with video. He was a very good pro and I enjoyed working with him.

 

I did not play but there were probably 20 people who went to the courses in the three ports. The cost varied depended on the course (about $180 in Mazatlan and about $220 in PV and Cabo) but Cory took care of transportation (included in the above price) and equipment ($35 for the day with top line Nike clubs) if you did not bring your own. Cory also played along with the groups and offered help. The courses were the best available in each port and received rave reviews from the players that I talked to.

 

Having said that, I stopped at the El Cid in Mazatlan and was offered a round of golf there for $42. This course has been changed since I played it in the early 90s.

[steve2001]

I took lessons and played Mahogany Run in St. Thomas last November on Caribbean Princess. I agree with Rob, first class all the way and $10 for mojo's is crazy so I second bring your own ammo (however, the pro did say if we bought a sleeve and returned it with the same balls, he would refund the $$; for those who have played MR it was a safe bet for Princess). Anyway, I am really happy Princess went this route for the golf excursions and lessons; it made the experience a lot more enjoyable.

[OnlineMom]

My husband usually prefers to play with his own clubs. (We lug those things everywhere!) I'm curious - what happens to them if you bring them on a cruise? Are they stored on the ship somewhere and taken out when you disembark for your golf excursion? Or would we be stuck with them in our room :eek: for a week?

[steve2001]

My clubs were stored in a locked closet in the golf simulator. They were available to me the entire cruise for use in the simulator. They were also taken to the gangway for me the day of the excursion to Mahogany Run. Upon return, I left them with security and they were taken back to the closet. This was very convenient since lugging them up to the simulator and storing them in our cabin used to be a hassel (prior to Princess Golf).

 

If he prefers, they can be stored in your cabin, however it is much more convenient to store them in the simulator. The pro maintains the security of the closet so nobody will 'try' the clubs when he is not using them. I felt very comfortable leaving mine there.

[love2cruise221]

I took lessons and played Mahogany Run in St. Thomas last November on Caribbean Princess. I agree with Rob, first class all the way and $10 for mojo's is crazy so I second bring your own ammo (however, the pro did say if we bought a sleeve and returned it with the same balls, he would refund the $$; for those who have played MR it was a safe bet for Princess). Anyway, I am really happy Princess went this route for the golf excursions and lessons; it made the experience a lot more enjoyable.

 

We have been previously familiar with Princess golf...we were on Caribbean Princess last April and really enjoyed golfing/lessons with Sandy. I'd be interested in hearing back from you on whether Sandy was still the ship's golf pro when you went in November. Mahogany Run was a treat as well. We've never done the Mexican Riviera. Golf looks great in all three ports, and there's a choice of two different courses on Princess tours in one of the ports. We want to golf in two ports so we're trying to figure out which of the three ports/4 course choices to play.

 

Thanks to everyone for the comments...anyone else familiar with the Mexican courses?

[steve2001]

In November we had a gentleman named Paul (I think), he was from Ireland and had been on since June. He left Caribbean Princess after our curise for a land-based club pro position somewhere in Atlanta.