Unexso Dolphin Close Encounter Questions

[lotusbogardi]

Hubby and I will be cruising in late May, and are scheduled to be in Freeport from 7am to 2pm. I would like to do the Unexso Dolphin Close Encounter without booking through Carnival, but is getting to Unexso from the port easy? Would it be easier to just book through the Carnival?

 

Has anyone done this excursion? Was it worth it?

[l1222]

This may be more info than you want, did a review for another board:

 

This month my husband and I did the Dolphin Encounter, booked through Carnival at the Unexso Resort in Freeport. We were met at the cruise terminal at the expected time by a van/bus type of common transport in Freeport. It was comfortable, air conditioned and roomy enough for all of us to have a seat. There were about 50 people, including 6-8 children, on our excursion. Unhappy with the driver's 'patter' on the way, but that's another story. We arrived at the Unexso resort, which was lovely. We left the bus and went into the very nice 2-level gift shop area where we showed our wrist bands and got our complimentary T-shirts - this was a surprise. There are few Carribean excursions where T-shirts are included. They gave us the size requested (another surprise!), the staff at the gift shop were professional and very nice. They were handling excursions of all kinds, dolphin swims, dolphin encounters, scuba diving. They were prepared for each group or individual well.

 

Our group gathered outside beside a beautiful eternity pool for about 15 minutes. We boarded a nice (for the Carribean) boat. There was plenty of room for everyone, no one had to sit on the floor of the boat, there were sturdy tarp shades. Our boat captain was goofy, as usual, the same jokes about drinking, naughty behavior, mixed in with safety rules, etc. We then enjoyed a beautiful trip to Sanctuary Bay Dolphin facility. The trip lasted about 15-20 minutes. This was gorgeous. We saw dolphins in the water as we traveled - this was the Bahamas at its best. We arrived at the facility, climbed quite a bit up but it was all on ramps so it was easy for me to maneuver (I am mobility impaired somewhat).

 

Everything was very nice here at what they call, The Hamptons for Dolphins. The facility for the dolphins seemed very humane, very respectful of the animals. There were restrooms, a modest snack bar, some shade. We were given instructions on being in the water with the dolphins, then we trooped down to one of the enclosures where the dolphins swim in and out. We lined 3 sides of the enclosure with our feet in the very cold water. We were not allowed to bring waterproof cameras down into the area and warned that everything would get wet (in other words, 'your expensive cameras will get wet, so let us take the pictures and sell them to you').

 

We were brought into the water 4 people at a time along with 2 trainers and the stars of the show, two 15-year old male dolphin brothers. Our actual time in the water, touching the dolphins, letting them 'kiss' you (i.e. letting the photog take the prized pictures), petting them, letting them do small and amazing tricks right in front of you, was about...3-4 minutes apiece. Each person takes their turn while the other guests sit on the side and enjoy being close to the dolphins, they do extra tricks and jumps every so often. The trainers are good. They handled the dolphins well and were inclusive of everyone. The water on the submerged platforms came up to our waist where we were standing and it was very cold.

 

Eventually, after about an hour, we trucked back up the hill, on ramps, took pictures with a local parrot (our own cameras), boat ride back (luckily the wave sounds blocked out the patter of the driver), everyone was cheerful and pleased with our excursion. Back to the Unexso resort, through the gift shop where our pictures were waiting conveniently and were priced two for $19.95 (we bought them, good quality, nice shots). Bus ride back to the ship's dock.

 

If you are interested in a dolphin encounter, if you are willing to spend $115 each, you do get a nice meet and greet with a dolphin, a T-shirt, and a reasonably priced souvenir photo. The boat, the van/bus were above average. Sanctuary Bay, the home of the dolphins, is a nice facility, very humane and accomodating. In another part of the facility, we observed an excursion that was 'swim with the dolphins' - the whole group, smaller in number, were in the water the entire time with the dolphins. That looked like fun, but it is also much more expensive.

 

I don't know the cost of the 'walk up' guests - we booked our excursion through Carnival, but I am positive that they did take some walk-ups. When I booked this excursion, 3 months ahead?, the info said, 'only 5 spots left', etc., and that may be true for those spots reserved for cruise ship customers, but if you know the times of the buses leaving, if you show up about 45 minutes early and approach the 'gatherer' (maybe has logo on his shirt), you might indeed get a very good deal. We have sometimes booked excursions right off the ship, but this was our first time in Freeport and I wanted to be sure we had our spots. Go for it!