January 04, 2008, Travel News You Can Use, By Judy Newell

Headed up north and can’t resist taking your clubs alone? Even the most passionate golfers don’t savor the prospect of chasing day-glo orange Top-Flites through snow drifts.

But take heart—somewhere in the vicinity of the 35th longitudinal parallel, you can rest fairly assured that you’ll be spared frozen precipitation and some of America’s finest golf resorts are south of that golf border.

Pinehurst (in the Sandhills region of North Carolina) is a favored aficionados destination whatever the season. Part of the allure is the resort’s rich history. Dating back to 1895, you can make the case that Pinehurst is the original home of golf in America. It’s now the site of eight courses—including Pinehurst #2, Scottish-born architect Donald Ross’s master work—and has played host to many championships, most recently the 2006 US Open.

Another resort that rates highly is Sea Island, on St. Simon’s Island off the coast of Georgia. St. Simons is also home to the Cloister, a favorite gathering place for elites—golfers and non-golfers alike. But Sea Island’s not for buddy trips where the guys want to smoke cigars and drink beer. It’s for country club couples who want to relax. The accommodations are phenomenal, there’s great golf, exceptional service and deluxe amenities at the highest level. There are two 18-hole courses and a 9-holer and Sea Island is consistently ranked in the “top 100” lists.

In the Southwest, the desert offers more than just a cloak of warmth for Northerners fleeing the January freeze. There’s also some first-rate golf.

La Quinta, in Palm Desert, CA, is an unbelievably beautiful five-star resort and has an incredible assemblage of great and difficult courses. The five courses include the La Quinta Resort Mountain Course and the PGA WEST Stadium Course, both occasional stops on the PGA Tour. There’s also The Boulders, near Scottsdale and two classic desert courses. Look for accommodations in well-appointed casitas.

For golfers and non-golfers like, few destinations say “winter escape” more profoundly than Hawaii. Linksters eagerly flock to Kapalua Resort on Maui to play the site’s Bay and Plantation courses. The Plantation Course at Kapalua is an epic layout, with huge elevation changes and a fabulous setting. The PGA Tour agrees—its season-opening event, the Mercedes-Benz Championship, tees off at the Plantation Course in January.

It’s unheard of, right? You agree to a price and pay, and that’s it. Not in the cruise industry. Pretty much every North American cruise line has added a fuel surcharge (of US$5 to $8.50 per passenger per day; some cap it US$70 per person per voyage).

While many cruise lines are applying the surcharge only to passengers who have yet to fully pay the fare, or for bookings made after the surcharge was announced, others are behaving less reasonably. Carnival, Costa, Holland America, Cunard, Princess, and Seabourn are all adding the US$5 per passenger per day surcharge to the bill of anyone cruising after February 1—even those passengers who had paid in full months ago.

I can’t think of any other industry that operates this way. (Even the airlines haven’t tried such a thing.) Magazines always have the cost of paper and postage going up, but they don’t start billing subscribers more in the middle of their subscription.

Source: Budget Travel, Travel Agent, The European, TRO

Judy Newell, a writer and travel industry executive, heads the custom tour company Perfect Journeys that specializes in luxury and adventure travel. Contact her with comments or suggestions at JudyNewell_03@msn.com or go to her website www.PerfectJourneys.net.