Best Place for Dolphin Encounter?

[CruisinCT]

We will be on the Carnival Dream in August, Eastern Caribbean. The three ports will be Nassau, St. Thomas and St. Maarten. Nassau is only until 2 pm, and I could be wrong but from what I can tell, St. Maarten does not offer a dolphin encounter.

 

My daughter, who will be 12 at the time, has her heart set on interacting with dolphins, and I am just wondering where you all recommend we do it? Nassau looks like the best offering, but we are only in port until 2 pm, so I am not sure if that is enough time?

 

Also, my 18 year old son will probably do the same activity with her, but us adults didn't want to HAVE to participate (and pay) if we didn't have to. Any thoughts? THANKS!

[serene56]

Please be aware of the differences between encounters and swims.

I'd hate for your daughter to be disappointed.

 

St Thomas-- you would need to ferry to Tortola

 

I think for your choices-- Nassau- check out BlueLagoon

They can participate (for a fee) and you can watch (for a fee) off to the side area.

 

 

http://www.dolphinencounters.com/

[QTPieRye]

I know it's not on your itinerary of choices...... but Cozumel is my favorite. I love the fact that the dolphins are in the ocean and not in a tank..... the swim adventure is awesome....

 

like Serene said, be sure to check on the different programs, as there is a huge difference between the encounter and the swim!

[arpie05]

You definitely don't have time to do in Nassau. Can you fly down to Orlando a few days before? I have heard that Discovery Cove is really nice. They appear to have a Trainer for the day option which if she is really into Dolphins that would be cool.

 

Might be worth the extra $ to offer the kids this option and maybe spend less on cruise tours. We did this itinerary in May 2010 and did island tours of St Maarten and St Thomas. For St Thomas if you like to snorkle, I would recommend taking the local ferry over to St. John. Several from our Meet & Greet did that. I would feel safer doing that nowadays.

 

I have done the Blue Lagoon Dolphin and Atlantis Dolphin. Atlantis is much nicer but given this 2 pm departure - it isn't worth it. Unless they have changed it, to get to Blue Lagoon there is a ferry that takes you there and then you ferry back and that is only during very set times. I would be fearful of being late or not having enough time to do anything else. WIth Atlantis, you would have access to Atlantis afterwards and they provide diving type suits. (If your kids are into celebs - there's always famous couples photographed wearing these Atlantis suits like Megan Fox and Brian Austin Green during their honeymoon)

[photojunkieEMT]

I did it in Nassau in 2006. I believe we also left at 2:00ish that day too. Book it through Carnival. They will wait for you then if there is a delay. My worst experience was when I did it Freeport on this last cruise. I was literally the LAST passenger back on the ship because it was delayed so badly. No wonder when we looked into it we could not book it on our own.

 

I did the encounter both times that I did it and enjoyed it greatly.

[CruisinCT]

Thank you, I didn't even know about Blue Lagoon, or especially the Discovery Cove options. I think that may be the way to go, you get a whole day of fun as opposed to a few hours, plus free food and drink for the day, for almost the same price as through the ship!