Blue Lagoon Dolphin Encounter - Ship or on your own ??

[DKNE]

So torn what to do. Book this excursion through the ship or try to go about it on our own.

There will be 6 of us, 2kids 6 & 8.

 

Is it just best to go about it through the ship and know that you are in a group and going to be there when you should be or go about it on your own, it will be cheaper, but then you have to worry about getting to the ferry, on it and to the encounter.

Help :)

 

Also one more question...... whoever has done the Dolphin encounter, it says 4-5 hours. Will this leave you some time in Bahamas to go to the market or trendy gift shop areas ??

We are on the Disney Dream in October, and I think we are in the Bahamas from 8 - 4pm.

 

Your help is greatly appreciated. :D

[scubagirrl]

So torn what to do. Book this excursion through the ship or try to go about it on our own.

There will be 6 of us, 2kids 6 & 8.

 

Is it just best to go about it through the ship and know that you are in a group and going to be there when you should be or go about it on your own, it will be cheaper, but then you have to worry about getting to the ferry, on it and to the encounter.

Help :)

 

Also one more question...... whoever has done the Dolphin encounter, it says 4-5 hours. Will this leave you some time in Bahamas to go to the market or trendy gift shop areas ??

We are on the Disney Dream in October, and I think we are in the Bahamas from 8 - 4pm.

 

Your help is greatly appreciated. :D

 

 

It's easy to get to and from (a quick cab), Check the ferry times.. with your port times, the only independent times that you can make would be 10:30 ferry leaving the island at 2pm to return.. That's 3.5 hours. 3 hours of beach time.

 

You're ship tour may have a different itinerary that can't be booked independently.

 

www.dolphinencounters.com

[Alimo711]

We tried to book on our own and Blue Lagoon wouldn't do it; they have an agreement with NCL, so we had to book thru the ship (at a much higher cost!). So now only two of us will do the encounter and the other two will watch :(

[scubagirrl]

We tried to book on our own and Blue Lagoon wouldn't do it; they have an agreement with NCL, so we had to book thru the ship (at a much higher cost!). So now only two of us will do the encounter and the other two will watch :(

 

If you are interested in doing the encounter as well, ask when you arrive on the island.. There are sometimes "no show" spots that you can fill. (at the lower rate).

 

Dont' count on it.. but it does happen.

[Alimo711]

Thanks for the tip; we'll definitely check that out!

[MHCaldwell]

After much consideration I decided to do it through RCCL (Oasis in June). We are there from 7-2. Blue Lagoon wouldn't do it because of the agreement with RCCL but, I'm sure you can act as if you were a hotel guest. To do this you would have to get to the ferry terminal by taxi and then back to the ship by taxi. I figured for 3 of us by the time we did that it really wouldn't be that much more expensive to do it through RCCL and I wouldn't have to stress about the departure time issue.

 

Swimming with the dolphins is the only thing my 7 yo DD said she wanted to do from the beginning stages of planning this cruise. I'm so excited and can't wait to see her face!

[girlscruise2011]

I looked into this for my group in October since 4 of us want a beach and 1 of us wants Dolphins and we can't do it indepently since we dock at 10am and the ferry out is at 10:30am. Blue Lagoon said we would have to wait for the 12:30pm ferry so it wouldn't give us much time there since the last boat goes out at 4:30pm. The problem is Carnival charges double for the day pass ($90 vs $45) but at least it does include transport over and leaves at 10:30am right at the pier. Something I guess we'll have to consider. Not sure if this would be better then just going to the Sheraton or Wyndham for a beach day. Scubagirl...your opinion would be appreciated

[Crusin Karen]

I can't help you because I have 2 questions of my own that I have asked and haven't had answered! :confused::( lst, I **thought** you get a taxi to the ferry, ferry to the island, then the ferry brings you BACK to the ship. This is what I have read on the boards. :confused: #2, we will be in Nassau from 7-6pm. We want to book independently also. If we come back on the last ferry, 4pm, will we still have time to do a bit of shopping or will we have to get right back to the ship? Or take the 2pm ferry back...:confused: TIA and good luck to all the other visitors to the island! :)

[scubagirrl]

I looked into this for my group in October since 4 of us want a beach and 1 of us wants Dolphins and we can't do it indepently since we dock at 10am and the ferry out is at 10:30am. Blue Lagoon said we would have to wait for the 12:30pm ferry so it wouldn't give us much time there since the last boat goes out at 4:30pm. The problem is Carnival charges double for the day pass ($90 vs $45) but at least it does include transport over and leaves at 10:30am right at the pier. Something I guess we'll have to consider. Not sure if this would be better then just going to the Sheraton or Wyndham for a beach day. Scubagirl...your opinion would be appreciated

 

Not sure the Beach day is worth $90.. that's highway robbery..

I love BL.. but I don't think it's worth $90pp. That's pure profit for Carnival.

Better to just head to the Sheraton, for $25.. and enjoy the day.

[aisahunterrider]

I don't know what time you are scheduled but it seemed like it took forever to go from ship to taxi to boat to island back to boat back to pier.

We had a great time but this was before the cruise line contracts so we are skipping it this time sadly. We had the best time, my son was two and loved the dolphins. the beach was amazing.

You are not missing much as far as shopping, you might ask if Disney has shopping on their island. I know Royal carribean did and the vendors had the same stuff.(this was 2 years ago)

[girlscruise2011]

Not sure the Beach day is worth $90.. that's highway robbery..

I love BL.. but I don't think it's worth $90pp. That's pure profit for Carnival.

Better to just head to the Sheraton, for $25.. and enjoy the day.

 

Scuba, thank you..that was my thoughts too. I don't mind spending a little extra and if you even add in the cost pp for the taxi its still $35 pp more then doing it on our own. Its just that my niece wants to do the Dolphin thing so that means she has to do it at the Carnival price so she won't be alone since she is the only one who wants to do it. Us other 4 "older" ladies want to just relax on the beach. I was hoping this would work out so we could all be at the same place and keep it affordable for everyone. Its just sad that Carnival has to be so expensive. To me more people would book through them if they kept the prices down. I understand they have to make a profit but even $20 pp per excusion over the course of a year is still alot of money. Looks like its the Sheraton for us...