Scotland Group of Couples Vacation Review, Bagpipe Lessons, Ceilidh Dance & Music, Culloden Battlefield, Clava Cairn, Lochs

We had an ambitious itinerary and fit a lot into a week. The large size of the group, the desire to stay in two castles, and play on 2 different golf courses on both coasts--and the limited flexibility on avails for golf and castles-- meant a lot of travel. One thing many cited they would have ideally changed was tweaking the route to reduce bus time.  It was noted that our guide made the best of this and kept us well entertained, but a few would have liked more free time. We also visited Loch Lomond twice, and some were disappointed we could not fit Loch Fyne in.   Either adding 1-2 more days to slightly reduce pace of travel, or staying one less night in Fort William which really didn't have much going for it.  Although we went to the best two restaurants in Fort William (according to tripadvisor), the food just wasn't up to the standard established in our private accommodations. However, the accommodations chosen in FW were lovely. Though a small number liked it, a majority including me would not do the boat trip on Loch Lomond.  One said it felt more like a Navy Seal operation as it was cold and windy in the speedboats, we were not together, and you couldn't hear the tour guides....not that there was anything to see anyways on the loch.  Apparently there is an island with wallabies out there that might have been interesting to visit but unfortunately we didn't know this.  Most people really wanted to see Skye, which we of course did not have time to do, and a few stated they would have liked to visit more Outlander and Mary Queen of Scots locations.  We did quickly pass Doune Castle; it would have been nice to at least have a photo stop.  If we'd cut out Loch Lomond and added more time to the trip, perhaps we could have done these things.
We planned this trip a year ahead, which was essential.  I would also have booked specific added tours and dinner reservations sooner than we did.  When I called a couple months ahead, we could not get reservations for 16 to eat together in Fort William, and we also had to have a distillery tour/whiskey tasting at 9:30 am which was less than ideal.