Has anyone participated in the "Dolphin Encounter" in Cozumel?

[taliacamp]

Hello, looking at excursions for my Nov. 14th Glory cruise and would love to do the Dolphin Encounter in Cozumel. Carnival offers this excursion in "dolphinaris" it is 90.00pp..but I also found a very similar excursion in Chankanaab park which is 84.00pp. I have never booked an excursion before so I need some advice. I've read alot of you do not like to book through Carnival because it is more expensive, but is it safer? Have any of you been to either of these excursions? Thanks!!:confused:

[wesheltonj]

I would just get off the ship and head to the Tourist Desk, pick up the Chankanassb Park flier, get one per person, its good for a free t-shirt, grab a cab (pay in Dollars) and get ready for a nice very day at the beach. You can Snorkel, Swim both in the Ocean and a pool, Swim with the Dolphins, several nice places to eat and beach service for your drinks and way cheaper that going with the ship.

[MamaParrotHead]

We did the Dolphin Encouter, booked it ourselves, through Chankanaab. It was great. I particularly enjoyed Chankanaab itself. Definately a no-brainer to do it on your own...we booked ahead of time online, then just hopped in a cab at the pier and was whisked away (maybe 10 minutes) to Chankanaab. There really is no "safer" factor in booking it through the ship...the ship is just charging you that extra for THEIR cut and a ride in a charter bus to the park.

 

We checked in, explored a bit prior to our Encouter time, and a lot afterwards. Snorkeling was great, food was cheap and great. We all had an excellent time and would go back in a heartbeat.

 

You'll love the Glory- our favorite cruise to date!

[dbenlee]

We have done the Dolphin Encounter with Dolphin Discovery at Chankanaab and really enjoyed it. They have a great operation and do a really good job. We have not gone to Dolphinaris so I can't say anything about them. As far as "safer", yes its "safer" to do the excursions through Carnival because the ship will not leave without you if you run late. But doing an excursion on your own is cheaper and you can customize the tour to your specific desires. You just have to remain conscious of the time and prepared for issues like missed ports and weather.

[MamaParrotHead]

I think the chances of someone who is aware of the ship's departure time (who books an independant excursion) being unable to get back to the ship on time is miniscule. As long as one is aware of the time (and doesn't need a cruiseship employee herding you back to the ship), knows when the ship is leaving you should be perfectly "safe"...it's not like on other remote islands that transportation or "remote" areas could be an issue, on Coz you're practically TRIPPING over taxis, ESPECIALLY at Chankanaab. There are DOZENS of taxis waiting in the parking lot at Chank waiting for cruise ship passengers.

[SheriNtexas]

My grandson, who was almost 4 at the time, did the dolphin encounter a couple of years ago, and we had a blast! We did book through the ship, but i didn't have to pay for my grandson because he wasn't 4 at the time, so he got to do it for FREE! :D Cozumel is SO safe, and so easy to get around...i do admit i'm paranoid about being left behind somewhere, so i mostly book through Carnival...:o

 

The encounter was a great alternative to the dolphin swim, etc. and it was perfect for my grandson....he loved it!

[sassy5683]

We did the Dolphin Encounter through Chankanaab when we were on our Jan cruise this year. We booked independently from the ship it was a lot less expensive. It was really great to get to be IN the water with the dolphin.

 

We would never spend the money to do it again. I kind of think that the guy that was with us was already having a bad day because we were all in the water for about 10 minutes before he even came and someone else was going over stuff about the dolphin and kept apologizing that the guy was late.....I felt that he was more interested in getting the perfect picture pose with the dolphin than just letting us enjoy the experience of getting to interact with the dolphin. and if he didn't do it just right he would get aggitated then jump in the water and show again how to do it. Some of the reason of not doing the right thing was becuase the waves were pretty strong and we couldn't stand still and we were being pushed back....we weren't supposed to let the dolphin in our area on the platform. My suggestion is to have someone that is in your group that may not want to do the dolphins be on the pier or whatever it is taking pictures for you and don't bother with buying their pictures...I was really upset when they spent so much time making a big deal about posing just right for the pictures and they came out blurry and they didn't want to give any kind of discount for the blurry one....we took our own pictures enjoyed our time and are telling everyone that is on our upcoming Jan. Cruise that if they want to do it it is a great experience but let us take the pictures and don't worry about weather or not the picture from the camera guy is good or not.

[ladycaveat]

Hello, looking at excursions for my Nov. 14th Glory cruise and would love to do the Dolphin Encounter in Cozumel. Carnival offers this excursion in "dolphinaris" it is 90.00pp..but I also found a very similar excursion in Chankanaab park which is 84.00pp. I have never booked an excursion before so I need some advice. I've read alot of you do not like to book through Carnival because it is more expensive, but is it safer? Have any of you been to either of these excursions? Thanks!!:confused:

 

I've booked through the Park twice (one time for the Dolphin Encounter and once for the Dolphin Swim). Both were fantastic . . . much better than the Sea Lion swim they have there . . . didn't care for that at all. It's a lot less expensive booking through the Park, just as safe as the one through Carnival and it's only about a five or ten minute taxi ride from the ship.

[poptart]

Did the royal swim at Chakanaab....awesome! breathtaking! wonderful! 2 others in our group did the encounter and loved it too.

 

There were 8 in our group and they even let a few do the foot push twice. Our guide was awesome. There were two sisters in my group about 8 & 10. The older one was afraid. So they let her just pet the dolphin and they let her sister have her turn and do everything twice. I thought that was great.

 

We had lunch, swam in the pool, and took tour of the whole park. One of my very favorites port days.

 

There are lockers for your "stuff" and the bathrooms are very clean.

 

My husband watched and took pictures BUT he was not allowed to close enough to get any really good ones. We bought their package and DVD and it was totally worth it to me.

[Jeano222]

We didn't do Dolphin encounter at Chaukenaub Park but did the Sea Lion encounter and that was a hoot. You get into the pool and hold out your arms straight in front of you and they swim into your arms and turn their heads to the camera for picture. They were so tame, I touched their whiskers which are like wire. It was loads of fun.

[MamaParrotHead]

The photographers and incessant need to pose exactly right for pictures DID inhibit our enjoyment of the program. Some in our group had to do some of the interactions with the dolphins 5, 6, 7 times- not for the benefit of the customer, but so they could get a good shot to try to sell you after the program. Not only was that annoying, but the prices at the end were outrageous (coming from someone who happily pays the $20 per pictures for the shots taken onboard the ship).

[dadofgage]

My family just did this on our Dream cruise in June - there were 4 of us - me, my wife, DS (9) and DD (7).

 

We loved it - it was certainly memorable.

 

We booked independently of the ship - just grabbed a cab over - no problem at all.

 

Remember that you CAN barter with the people trying to sell you photos/DVDs of your experience at the end - we got ours down to under $100 for the DVD and 4 individual photos.

 

I think your experience will vary greatly on the person you get that is leading your 'tour'. Our guy was awesome and let us do just about every interaction twice. We also go to get in with 2 manatee's and interact with them which was great.

[MamaParrotHead]

I actually did try to barter. I had a group of 8 with me, and when I even asked about it, the attendant at the photo counter said, "we don't do that" and was rude and just started piling up the pictures, so we headed for the door.

[SheriNtexas]

If you DO do the encounter, be aware that the water does push at the back of your legs...making it kinda hard to keep your balance...i was trying to hold my 4 year old grandson up, trying to keep upright, and trying to pay attention...all at the same time, lol! Our group knew my grandson VERY well before we even GOT to the park....a very nice man standing next to us held him sometimes and gave me a break! Oh, Zachary DID get excited once and accidentally kicked our "dolphin break guide" in the...uh....privates....:o:o I left him a bigger tip than normal, lol!

[AmyinGA]

We did the Dolphin Swim at Chakanaab. It was great. You can see our pics here: http://travel.webshots.com/album/131913766UkfiPv After our excursion my DH got picked to help train one of the new dolphins too. Once we were done we walked around the park, spent some time on the beach and had lunch. We had plenty of time there and still had time left to go back to the ship to shower and head back out and shop in the afternoon.

[Russ Lomas]

We too did the dolphin swim at Chankanaab Park in Cozumel about 8 years ago. We booked it directly through them. It sounds like they now call the specific experience we did the "Royal Swim". It $90 each at the time (looks like it is now $149) we did it. Their website currently offers deals however for 15% off and includes transportation, which they did not do previously. Well worth it as a once in a lifetime experience. Would I pay to do it again...NO. Would I recommend others to try it once...DEFINITELY!

 

The pictures and video they sell at the end are very expensive, but the quality was so good we had to buy them. Now that I think about it, I need to get that VCR tape I bought from them converted onto a DVD?!?

 

You should really enjoy your day at the park as well as there is lots of other things to do as well.

[crazy 4 cruising]

I would just get off the ship and head to the Tourist Desk, pick up the Chankanassb Park flier, get one per person, its good for a free t-shirt, grab a cab (pay in Dollars) and get ready for a nice very day at the beach. You can Snorkel, Swim both in the Ocean and a pool, Swim with the Dolphins, several nice places to eat and beach service for your drinks and way cheaper that going with the ship.

 

WHERE is the pool? have been to Chank once & LOVED it, but we missed the pool & ar going back twice in the near future.

[Dream42]

Dolphin swim and ride through carnival booking is $17 more per adult than the rate at the park. It also includes transportation and lunch.

[taliacamp]

Thank you so much everyone. I will definately book the one at Chankanaab Park. It sounds like alot of fun. Have always wanted to interact with dolphins...can't wait!:D