Swimming with Dolphins in Cozumel

Going to be on Carnival Conquest next week and the only thing my girlfriend knows she wants to do on the trip is swim with dolphins. What is the best place to book a trip swimming with dolphins on Cozumel from the cruise ship. Carnival offers:

A dolphin swim and ride at Dolphinaris for $130

A dolphin push pull and swim at Chankanaaba for $130

A royal dolphin swim at Chankanaaba for $190

But I am sure there are better places to book these. Any suggestions? Is it better to book them directly with the park and take a cab? How much would the cab fare be and how safe is the area? and what about if the ship isn't able to dock?

Going to be on Carnival Conquest next week and the only thing my girlfriend knows she wants to do on the trip is swim with dolphins. What is the best place to book a trip swimming with dolphins on Cozumel from the cruise ship. Carnival offers:

A dolphin swim and ride at Dolphinaris for $130

A dolphin push pull and swim at Chankanaaba for $130

A royal dolphin swim at Chankanaaba for $190

 

But I am sure there are better places to book these. Any suggestions? Is it better to book them directly with the park and take a cab? How much would the cab fare be and how safe is the area? and what about if the ship isn't able to dock?

Book it your self, just Google dolphin swim in Cozumel and fill out the form.My daughter wanted to do the manatee so we booked direct saved about 40.00 per person.There will be cabs outside the pier that make runs there all day long. We were there in November.

I believe there are only 2 places in Cozumel to do the dolphin swims...Chankanaab and Dolphanaris.

Just know that you will save A LOT per person by booking it on your own.

Also know that Chankanaab has a contract with Carnival and they will not allow you to swim with the dolphins if you are on a carnival ship unless you actually book WITH Carnival.

People get around doing this all the time by saying a) they are staying in Cozumel and give them a hotel name or b) find out what other ship will be there that day and say they are coming in on that ship. Just make sure you don't bring your "Carnival" towels with you. :eek:

If you do a search on here, you will find tons of people suggesting this if you want to save $$.

I HIGHLY recommend Chankanaab. Not only for the dolphins/manatee swims but for the park itself. It is amazingly beautiful! If you are interested in pictures/reviews, I can show you mine.

Thanks for all of the suggestions! Should I bring my own beach towel from home, or do you think I would be ok once I am inside with a carnival towel, ie if I have it in a bag when I first go in? Or I guess I could use one of the bathroom towels from the room because I am assuming it is white?

I believe there are only 2 places in Cozumel to do the dolphin swims...Chankanaab and Dolphanaris.

 

Just know that you will save A LOT per person by booking it on your own.

 

Also know that Chankanaab has a contract with Carnival and they will not allow you to swim with the dolphins if you are on a carnival ship unless you actually book WITH Carnival.

 

People get around doing this all the time by saying a) they are staying in Cozumel and give them a hotel name or b) find out what other ship will be there that day and say they are coming in on that ship. Just make sure you don't bring your "Carnival" towels with you. :eek:

 

If you do a search on here, you will find tons of people suggesting this if you want to save $$.

 

I HIGHLY recommend Chankanaab. Not only for the dolphins/manatee swims but for the park itself. It is amazingly beautiful! If you are interested in pictures/reviews, I can show you mine.

We did Chankanaab also, I'm not saying that Mitsugirly is wrong at all,but when I called them and booked direct they told me that it didn't matter about being on a cruise ship or not.I thought the same as Mitsugirly did but they took us with out any problems.

We booked directly but are actually cruising with Carnival...I'm curious about the towels too....should we bring towels from home? Are the bath towels white - if so, could we bring those?

Also, how much are the dolphin swim pictures/CD?

Thanks!

Thanks for all of the suggestions! Should I bring my own beach towel from home, or do you think I would be ok once I am inside with a carnival towel, ie if I have it in a bag when I first go in? Or I guess I could use one of the bathroom towels from the room because I am assuming it is white?

I just did the dolphin swim at Chankanaab on Friday (3 days ago) . We had six people in our party. After viewing our pictures, we were told the cd was $229! :eek:

We booked directly but are actually cruising with Carnival...I'm curious about the towels too....should we bring towels from home? Are the bath towels white - if so, could we bring those?

 

Also, how much are the dolphin swim pictures/CD?

 

Thanks!

We booked the dolphin swim at Chankanaab back in 03/2011 on our own, that being our first cruise. They delayed us supposedly waiting for the photographer & with the confusion of the time difference, we almost missed our ship with RCI. We didn't get time to look at any pictures but when we got home, I e-mailed them & the photographer sent me a link on-line to download the pics myself for $99 for the 2 of us with about 64 pictures. I had to pay for getting them printed but Walgreen's printed them with no problem. I think the only times they have available is 1:30 & 3:30 or something like that. All other times are reserved for cruise ship passengers. I'm not saying it wasn't a good experience, just be aware of the time differences. We were riding scooters so we were doing about 60 MPH on the way back to the ship, had about 10 minutes to spare only. (We weren't the last ones who held up the ship either). :D It's funny now, but we were sweating bullets at the time as newbies to cruising.

I believe there are only 2 places in Cozumel to do the dolphin swims...Chankanaab and Dolphanaris.

 

Just know that you will save A LOT per person by booking it on your own.

 

Also know that Chankanaab has a contract with Carnival and they will not allow you to swim with the dolphins if you are on a carnival ship unless you actually book WITH Carnival.

 

People get around doing this all the time by saying a) they are staying in Cozumel and give them a hotel name or b) find out what other ship will be there that day and say they are coming in on that ship. Just make sure you don't bring your "Carnival" towels with you. :eek:

 

If you do a search on here, you will find tons of people suggesting this if you want to save $$.

 

I HIGHLY recommend Chankanaab. Not only for the dolphins/manatee swims but for the park itself. It is amazingly beautiful! If you are interested in pictures/reviews, I can show you mine.

I would be very interested in your photos. We are going on the Disney Fantasy in May and were told that we could ONLY book through the cruise line. It's cheaper to do the Dolpins in Costa Maya but we want a good tour. We will have 2 five year olds with us so we want what is best for them. Thanks. You can email me at amferguson@yhc.edu

I would be very interested in your photos. We are going on the Disney Fantasy in May and were told that we could ONLY book through the cruise line. It's cheaper to do the Dolpins in Costa Maya but we want a good tour. We will have 2 five year olds with us so we want what is best for them. Thanks. You can email me at amferguson@yhc.edu

I'm not sure where in Costa Maya that you are talking about doing the dolphin swim (or how many are located there), but they do have one right there at the port and let me tell you, it's REALLY small and I would be disappointed. I have heard a lot of negative things about them too and that people paid A LOT of money for the swim there and really didn't get much action if any. I can show you pictures of that place if you want as well and you can compare.

We absolutely loved going to Chankanaab (why else would we do it twice in a 6 month period :D).

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showp...0&postcount=59

Dolphin swim at Chankanaab if you are interested in doing that too: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showp...7&postcount=65

Other review: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showp...0&postcount=48

My friend, who cruises a lot, said that the Dolphin swim at Chakanaab is the best, and they take very good care of their dolphins. I loved it.

Just bring your white cabin towels.

I'm not sure where in Costa Maya that you are talking about doing the dolphin swim (or how many are located there), but they do have one right there at the port and let me tell you, it's REALLY small and I would be disappointed. I have heard a lot of negative things about them too and that people paid A LOT of money for the swim there and really didn't get much action if any. I can show you pictures of that place if you want as well and you can compare.

 

We absolutely loved going to Chankanaab (why else would we do it twice in a 6 month period :D).

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showp...0&postcount=59

 

Dolphin swim at Chankanaab if you are interested in doing that too: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showp...7&postcount=65

 

Other review: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showp...0&postcount=48

Thanks so much for this info. And yes... I was talking about the dolphin encounter which is right at the port. If you have info on that i would appreciate it. thanks so much!1

my daughter is taking me on my first cruise on Magic in April.

I know one of the things she wants to do is go to Chakanaab. So hearing good things is helpful.

I'm a little nerveous about doing it as I my swiming ablities are not what they used to be, and it been a long time since I've went swimming. LOL

but to think of swimming with the Sea Lions or the dolphins is exciting.

May I ask what kind of package did you get on your own. She wants to book everything thru the travel agent..

Does everyone get into the water at one time or what?

Someone mention about the 10 questions, some of those questions I didn't even think of but now I do.. so would you like to answer those questions that way I won't be askign them. LOL

Thanks so much for this info. And yes... I was talking about the dolphin encounter which is right at the port. If you have info on that i would appreciate it. thanks so much!1

You are very welcome. The dolphin swim at Costa Maya port is VERY small and VERY expensive from what I've heard. My daughter looked it up online not too long ago and their prices were outrageous. I have seen a few post complaining about the place that they got in the water and the dolphins would not cooperate and they got no interaction with them. The day we were there there were only 2 people in the water and the lady was trying to hold on to a fin of one of the dolphins and it would take off leaving her behind. We watched this go on for about 45 minutes. While we were watching, she never got her ride. :(

Here's a few pictures I was taking when we were standing there:

As you can see, the pen is very small. Chankanaab goes out REALLY REALLY far and has a lot of pens and they are pretty big. I think they are ran by Dolphin Discovery.

my daughter is taking me on my first cruise on Magic in April.

I know one of the things she wants to do is go to Chakanaab. So hearing good things is helpful.

I'm a little nerveous about doing it as I my swiming ablities are not what they used to be, and it been a long time since I've went swimming. LOL

but to think of swimming with the Sea Lions or the dolphins is exciting.

 

May I ask what kind of package did you get on your own. She wants to book everything thru the travel agent..

 

Does everyone get into the water at one time or what?

 

Someone mention about the 10 questions, some of those questions I didn't even think of but now I do.. so would you like to answer those questions that way I won't be askign them. LOL

As far as you swimming abilities, you do have a life vest on. So, no drowning or worries. ;) You pretty much just float on the water if you are doing the actual "swim". Or you could do the "encounter" and you are standing on a platform along the edge and the dolphins come up to you.

Everyone gets in the water along the edge at the platform together. Then they take turns interacting with the dolphin. The dolphin will give kisses and go down the line to everyone (while they take your picture), then the dolphin will go down the line again shaking your hands (while they take your picture) and so on.

I'm not sure if they are still doing it or not, but we also got to do the manatees for free when we were there. I don't know if that's normal or not or they were just being nice that day because they didn't have anyone doing the manatee swim.

Booking with a TA is probably going to be an outrageous amount. There's really no need to do that. You can book online right with them or call them. They run specials all the time (like buy one get one free).

I'm not sure what the 10 questions are. Is it in this thread? I'm not seeing anything unless I'm just missing it. Feel free to ask any other questions you might have. Someone here is bound to know the answers if I don't. :)

I'm trying to find pictures to compare just how big Chankanaab is.

This is the manatee part and this is "maybe" a 1/4th of the manatee water only:

As you can see in the water there is the white line...that is the platform you stand on. It's pretty wide and runs the entire length of the pen.

My oldest daughter doing the push-pull swim:

As you can see in the next "map" picture, it shows an overview of the dolphin area. Each little area there is a pen (and you can see from above they are a nice size)

This is a google earth arial view of the place, also as you can tell by the picture just how far out the dolphin/manatee area goes:

One last comparison for you. This is a picture of Costa Maya port. I pointed to the dolphin swim there...it looks like a puddle from google earth and I was zoomed in. :p

This is great information!! We will be in Cozumel on my birthday and I have been looking into booking a dolphin swim.

I agree with those who recommend Chankanaab. I did the dolphin swim there recently for my birthday, and it was great. The group size was 10, but we had plenty of individual interaction with the dolphins. The "push, pull, swim" includes time with the manatees, as well. We liked this option because it includes the park admission, which includes lots of things. There is a sea lion show, pool, kid friendly beach, great snorkeling, free lockers, free beach chairs and clean restrooms. We went further down the beach to the left and it was not crowded at all. The restaurant nearby (Bucaneros) delivers to the beach chairs. In addition, my husband got a great deal on a dive at one of the dive shacks (always negotiate price!) and went out right from there alone with a guide and said it was amazing, with lots to see, including an underwater statue, canon, and cave. When we booked our swim, the website direct price was slightly more and did not include transportation, so we went with the excursion through the cruise. However, I know they offer deals periodically and I would have been completely comfortable booking direct and taking a cab. If you are not doing the dolphin swim you can still go to the park (I think it is about $21 per adult). I highly recommend it!

If you are not doing the dolphin swim you can still go to the park (I think it is about $21 per adult). I highly recommend it!

Yes, it is $21 pp without the swim but you can print off a coupon online for $2 off as well pp. They also have another deal for (I think) $23 and it includes admission, a tee shirt and I think maybe 1 drink or something.

I'm not sure where in Costa Maya that you are talking about doing the dolphin swim (or how many are located there), but they do have one right there at the port and let me tell you, it's REALLY small and I would be disappointed. I have heard a lot of negative things about them too and that people paid A LOT of money for the swim there and really didn't get much action if any. I can show you pictures of that place if you want as well and you can compare.

 

We absolutely loved going to Chankanaab (why else would we do it twice in a 6 month period :D).

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showp...0&postcount=59

 

Dolphin swim at Chankanaab if you are interested in doing that too: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showp...7&postcount=65

 

Other review: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showp...0&postcount=48

What kind of water camera did you use for those pictures?! They're great!!!

What kind of water camera did you use for those pictures?! They're great!!!

Um, for those pictures...I have 2 Canon D10's that I love. This past cruise I forgot my battery charger at home and had to buy another camera (if I wanted pictures this cruise) and ended up buying an Olympus Tough TG-620 and love it just as much. :D

Um, for those pictures...I have 2 Canon D10's that I love. This past cruise I forgot my battery charger at home and had to buy another camera (if I wanted pictures this cruise) and ended up buying an Olympus Tough TG-620 and love it just as much. :D

My husband will be doing the dolphin swim, but not me. Will I be able to take pictures of him in the water with the dolphins? Is there an area where people can watch?

My husband will be doing the dolphin swim, but not me. Will I be able to take pictures of him in the water with the dolphins? Is there an area where people can watch?

The way that they have it set up, the dock where non-participants are, you most likely will not be able to see him doing the swim. They also no longer allow you to bring your camera with you if you are doing the swim yourself. They want you to buy their pictures so they can make money off of it. :(

I HIGHLY recommend Chankanaab. Not only for the dolphins/manatee swims but for the park itself. It is amazingly beautiful! If you are interested in pictures/reviews, I can show you mine.

I am very interested in seeing your photos. We are doing this in November with the kids ages 9 and 18 and can you give me prices of the photos they take? Everyone just say very exspensive but no price If you have already done this further in the thread I am sorry. And if you haven't thank you in advance. Brandi

The way that they have it set up, the dock where non-participants are, you most likely will not be able to see him doing the swim. They also no longer allow you to bring your camera with you if you are doing the swim yourself. They want you to buy their pictures so they can make money off of it. :(

Thanks for the quick reply. I guess that doesn't really surprise me. Do they let you get any closer if you don't have a camera, LOL? I really wanted to watch him!