Cabo Dolphin swim questions ??

[tytan]

We will be in Cabo in March and the kids ( 3 x DD, 15, 14 and 12 ) really want to do the Dolphin swim.

 

Is it worth it for my wife and I to join them ?

 

How far away is the observation area from the swim area ?

 

I want to feel like the whole family can enjoy this without the kids feeling like they were sent off by themselves.

 

We would all love to do the swim but a family of five is $800, to just trying to keep the costs down a little.

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

You will love it. Tell them in advance when you check in that you want them to be close to the observer area. Me & DH observed from the area and the kids were right in front of us. BUY THE PICTURES. I skimped & only bought 3 pictures cuz they were so expensive for me & DH and I regret not getting a lot of them. At least buy the cd so you can make reprints of the pics.

 

Click this picture to take you to my webshots album. Stock photos are at the beginning of the album and kids pics are at the end. These pictures were the professional photos they took (they won't let you take your own pictures) and our seats were probably about 15-20 ft away from where the kids were.

[tytan]

You will love it. Tell them in advance when you check in that you want them to be close to the observer area. Me & DH observed from the area and the kids were right in front of us. BUY THE PICTURES. I skimped & only bought 3 pictures cuz they were so expensive for me & DH and I regret not getting a lot of them. At least buy the cd so you can make reprints of the pics.

 

Click this picture to take you to my webshots album. Stock photos are at the beginning of the album and kids pics are at the end. These pictures were the professional photos they took (they won't let you take your own pictures) and our seats were probably about 15-20 ft away from where the kids were.

 

Great pics, Thanks for sharing. We will probably end up buying the picture package.

 

Did you or your husband feel like you missed out and should have joined your kids in the water ?

 

Did you book this yourself or through Carnival ?

 

TIA

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

Actually we swam with the dolphins there the previous year and our kids saw the pictures & insisted on going with us the next cruise.:D So they got their turn. See my avatar. So to answer your question, I would have been really upset that I didn't do it myself if I had not already done it once. It is truly a once in a lifetime memory that I will never forget. It was awesome. Worth every dime.

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

Our swim was slightly different than the kids because of different trainers. My daughter did a dance with the dolphin to la cucaracha (sp) but with ours DH & I swam out to toward the center of the pool and we held a pole on each end so the dolphin could jump over it between us. All of us got a kiss on the cheek, fed a fish to it, posed picture as you see, the dolphin swims around each of us in the water so you can pet it when swims by and boy can you feel the power in their fins. We all got to swim across the pool by either holding on to the pectoral or dorsal fins.

 

 

The facility is a quick 5 minute walk from the pier so when you are done you can walk along the marina & go to a restaurant or shops etc.

[hmtsai]

The facility is a quick 5 minute walk from the pier so when you are done you can walk along the marina & go to a restaurant or shops etc.

 

Hi, I'm wondering if the water is cold in Cabo during February? I plan to do the swim with dolphin in Cabo b/c it's near the pier. But I I'm also considering to do it in PV if it's too cold in Cabo... TIA

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

Cabo temps won't be colder than PV and Cabo offered our kids the wetsuits for free to use for their February swim and the kids didn't complain about it being cold. It is a pool instead of the ocean so temp shouldn't be a consideration to worry about.

 

[4myboyz]

Did this with my oldest son 3 yrs ago, when he was 12. my hubby sat with the other two boys and watched. They weren't that far away able to see everything we did. But I will say The money I spent to be in that pool with him, was worth every cent!!! It really was a moment that we shared together!! I can't explain it! Just a powerful magical experience to be apart of. My hubby didn't really get the same joy watching from the stands!We went in Dec the water was chilly at first but it was fine when u got used to it.

[hmtsai]

Cabo temps won't be colder than PV and Cabo offered our kids the wetsuits for free to use for their February swim and the kids didn't complain about it being cold. It is a pool instead of the ocean so temp shouldn't be a consideration to worry about.

Thanks for the quick response. I really appreciate it. I think I'll just keep the Cabo excursion. :)

 

Also thank you for 4myboyz's input.

[luv2cruz62]

Thanks for all the info! My 17 year old daughter has wanted to swim with the dolphons since she was 7!:eek: After reading all your comments, I think I might join her!! :D How much was the CD to purchase and how many photos were on it? Good to know that it is in walking distance. Not one for taking transportation for shore excursions, hence don't partake in that many!

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

I am pretty sure the CD was $99 us dollars and we picked 8 or 10 photos and they had several stock photo's included on the cd. I will say that I had a real hard time getting them printed back home.

 

1. Walmart & Walgreens required the release because they were professional photos' so I emailed them to get the release sent to me.

 

2. Once they agreed to print them, they couldn't get the color/print to look nearly as amazing as the pictures. They looked pretty bad actually. My friend works at Walgreens so they played with the equipment best they could to get it to print decent.

 

Individual photo's are about $20 each but they know how to print them to make the colors very brilliant. If you see a photo that you love and want to mount, pay the $20 for it. Trust me on this one. I might suggest paying the $99 for the cd so you have electronic versions of all the pictures but pick out 2 or 3 favorites & pay extra to have them print them for you. Worth it in the long run cuz you can't go back and ask for it later.

[scuddles]

I took both my teen daughters last spring and as everyone else has mentioned it is worth every dime. I had to really scrimp for the pictures and the girl selling them gave me two printed ones with the cd for $99. I have heard the facility is nicer than PV but we didn't check them out so not sure about that. We will be back this spring but I have already told them to start saving if they want to go again. Go for it you won't regret it!

[hlb76]

Can this be booked privately or is this just a ship excursion?

[justice8000]

We went and booked by ourselves, we saved a bit of money, it was fantastic, it's nicer than the one in PV

[hlb76]

I googled Cabo dolphins and found a web site. The site says you can not book if your a cruise ship pax. Of course I could lie and say I was not but if we can't make port I don't want to be out my $$$. I think it was $167 a person for a hour w/ the dolphins. :eek: But I know this kinda thing is very spendy!

 

Wonder if we could just walk there and book when we get to town?

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

The hour is not a full hour with the dolphins. Didn't want you to be mislead. They trainer spends a few minutes with you teaching you what to do and what not to do and then takes you over to get your lifevest and a shower and all of that counts in the time. You are actually with the dolphin for about 30 minutes.

 

I emailed cabodolphins.com and asked if I could book thru them and they said not if I was a cruiseship passenger. Their online price was actually only about $5/pp less than the ship charged me. The regular posted rate was higher than the ship but they offered a 10% discount for pre-booking on the internet which brought the price down slightly but there really wasn't much difference so I suggest paying thru the ship just to be safe. I would hate for you to book independently and then somehow be denied at the door or worse yet the ship not make it to port. Just go to their website and see for yourself.

[dolphinn65]

Do they have a spectator fee to watch?I was looking to have our family do it in puerto vallarta and they charge 88.00 to watch if you are not going to participate.Was wondering if they charged the same thing?

[downsized]

We will be in Cabo in March and the kids ( 3 x DD, 15, 14 and 12 ) really want to do the Dolphin swim.

 

Is it worth it for my wife and I to join them ?

 

How far away is the observation area from the swim area ?

 

I want to feel like the whole family can enjoy this without the kids feeling like they were sent off by themselves.

 

We would all love to do the swim but a family of five is $800, to just trying to keep the costs down a little.

 

We were on the Star last March and our daughter and grandaughter did the swim with the Dolphins, and they had a great time.

We were a party of 9, and the other seven were given wrist bands so that we could watch from the observation area, which is right on the pool.

The observation area is shaded and comfortable chairs are provided, with refreshments availible. Also, the view of Cabo from the observaton deck is great!

After the swim was completed, those of us in the observation area were provided the opportunity to wade out in ankle deep water. and "pet" the dolphins (pictures were taken, "just in case" you wanted one of you petting a dolphin!) Those pictures were included on the disc that we purchased. (You are allowed to pick and choose just those pictures that you want.)

We all had a lot of fun!

The facility is clean, well maintained, and is extremely "family friendly".

There is a really nice shaded cantina that serves food and beverages while you wait for your family to swim.

While the pictures (and CD) are expensive, they are (IMHO) most certainly worth the $100US.

Someone commented that they had trouble having the pictures printed after returning....on the disc that we received there was a pdf file giving us full rights to any and all of the pictures on the CD. We just printed that out, and had no problems.

As for booking through the ship, or locally, that is up to you. I found that when trying to book through the internet, they would not book for me because I admitted up front that we would be on a cruise ship. The ship booking was a bit more, but one thing we did gain is that everyone in our party was given VIP tender passes, so that we were the first ones in line for the tenders! (Keep in mind, NCL was only in Port in Cabo for 7 hours, and when 2500 passengers are lining up to get on the tenders, it might take 2 hours to disembark!)

Also, when we arrived at the park, there were at least 75 people standing in line trying to buy tickets. If you book through the cruise line, you will not have that problem.

 

The Dolphin Swim in Cabo? I would rate it a solid 9.5 on a scale of 10, and would most certainly recommend it.

[Cavners5]

If I book with the ship I get charged for all five of us. My DH and DS do not want to do this, they would like to just watch (they are extremely afraid) Myself, DD, DS only want to do this. Do you think if I booked for the 3 of us Carnival will let them tender with us?

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

In Cabo, there is no special tender for the dolphin swim. Everyone just gets on a tender together and you check in for the excursion when you get off the tender on the dock. There is a person standing there with a clipboard of all the people going. You have the option of meeting back at that spot when your appt is scheduled or going directly to the facility (thats what we did). When you check in for the excursion at Cabodolphins tell them they want to be spectators and they will give them a wristband (free) so they can be admitted into the spectator area.

[Cavners5]

Cool, thank you. Now when I book directly with them, should I not say I am from the ship?

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

They ask what hotel you are staying in. I asked on their website if I could book directly instead of thru the ship & they said no. We had to go thru the ship. But in all honestly, their price was a couple dollars higher than Carnival excursion but they did offer a web prepay price which would have saved us a few dollars. Not worth it to risk not being able to do it and booking thru the ship would give me money back if the ship didn't make it for whatever reason. Just book the excursion for the 3 of you thru the ship is my recommendation & when you check in tell them you have 2 spectators.

[nelso283]

I'm hoping this isn't too off topic but I was wondering if anyone knew what the difference between the signature swim and the swim experience were (besides the pricing)??? :confused:

 

We have been to Cabo many times on cruises and just for vacation, this time we are staying in Cabo for a week so I plan on booking directly through cabo adventures website. After reading most of the posts it seems like most cruise lines are charging for the signature swim. Any insight would be appreciated.

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

Their website lists details about each swim. http://www.cabodolphins.com

 

I did the signature swim.

[wmac]

Did you do the dolphin swim or the signature swim?