Swimming with Dolphins in Cozumel

[stein123]

I HIGHLY recommend Chankanaab. Not only for the dolphins/manatee swims but for the park itself. It is amazingly beautiful! If you are interested in pictures/reviews, I can show you mine.

I am very interested in seeing your photos. We are doing this in November with the kids ages 9 and 18 and can you give me prices of the photos they take? Everyone just say very exspensive but no price If you have already done this further in the thread I am sorry. And if you haven't thank you in advance. Brandi

 

Thank you I found your photos and videos this looks amazing!! Thank you.

 

My 1 other question is can you get a Massage on the beach there.

[mitsugirly]

I HIGHLY recommend Chankanaab. Not only for the dolphins/manatee swims but for the park itself. It is amazingly beautiful! If you are interested in pictures/reviews, I can show you mine.

I am very interested in seeing your photos. We are doing this in November with the kids ages 9 and 18 and can you give me prices of the photos they take? Everyone just say very exspensive but no price If you have already done this further in the thread I am sorry. And if you haven't thank you in advance. Brandi

 

The pricing on photos depend on how many in your party. Most have quoted around $130 and up. Some have said that you can talk them down, others have said they won't budge. I'm not sure if it depends on their sales for that day or what. However, now that you are no longer able to take your own camera with you on the swim, I haven't heard anyone mention that they can talk them down. Maybe that's why. :o

[mitsugirly]

Thanks for the quick reply. I guess that doesn't really surprise me. Do they let you get any closer if you don't have a camera, LOL? I really wanted to watch him!

 

Nope, they don't allow anyone down the dock unless you are a paid participant. In March my oldest daughter and her boyfriend did the Royal swim and he is scared to death of the sea and the "creatures" in it. But in order for him to go down there with her and take pictures (at that time they still allowed you to have your camera with you during the swim), he had to pay the admission. However, she got lucky because at the time she booked they were having a special...buy one swim, get one for $1. So basically he paid $1 to go. :D I believe they run these specials every so often. Keep your eyes open for them and you may be able to snatch the deal up and go down there with him. :)

[stein123]

oooo- Right now it is buy 1 get 50% of the next.

[Beachgirl0924]

We did the Royal Swim Programme one week ago and it was great. My friend and I decided to buy the pictures because they were really good. It was 35 $ (!!!!) for one picture or 109 $ for a CD with all pictures of us two. Of course we decided to take the CD and got 79 pictures of our great experience with the dolphins.

[PurrSusan]

A friend & I want to do the Royal Swim and my husband and another friend want to do the Encounter (they don't swim). Should we all book the same time slot? Will we be able to see each other any? I guess there will be 2 separate photo cd's since we'll be in different groups (?) What should we do?

[mitsugirly]

A friend & I want to do the Royal Swim and my husband and another friend want to do the Encounter (they don't swim). Should we all book the same time slot? Will we be able to see each other any? I guess there will be 2 separate photo cd's since we'll be in different groups (?) What should we do?

 

I would probably book them at the same time if it was me. It's hard to see each other because you are down far and in the water while the deck is up high. I would do the bookings together just because you would both get done and have the extra time together to explore Chankanaab...the ruins, lagoon, snorkeling, swimming, pool, eating. It's a great place with so much to do and if you booked at separate times, you probably wouldn't get to do it all.

 

Yes, you will have 2 separate CD's to buy since you will not be in the same group or in the same swimming area.

 

As you can see in this photo...the smaller pens are the dolphin encounters. The larger in the middle is where they do the dolphin swims. :)

 

[PurrSusan]

Thanks so much for your quick reply! We aren't going until Sept so I'm waiting to see if they run the BOGO special again soon (just missed it last time!) Maybe that will help offset the cost of the photos :eek:!!!! I have a really good camera but, from what I have been reading, there isn't anywhere to go where I could see DH & friend well enough to even get a decent shot. If that's the case, I guess we'll all go together if we decide to do this :)

[mitsugirly]

Thanks so much for your quick reply! We aren't going until Sept so I'm waiting to see if they run the BOGO special again soon (just missed it last time!) Maybe that will help offset the cost of the photos :eek:!!!! I have a really good camera but, from what I have been reading, there isn't anywhere to go where I could see DH & friend well enough to even get a decent shot. If that's the case, I guess we'll all go together if we decide to do this :)

 

I would definitely wait for the sale. They have them all the time. You will have a blast either way. It's a lot of fun. :)

[Greeneyelady]

Who would you buy the tickets from-- travel agent or some where else. My dd hasn't is also looking at the dolphin swim n the turtle farm combination. But unsure which stop this might be.

[herpoppy]

Mitsugirly who did you book the dolphin swims through? Were was it you found the bogo?

[mitsugirly]

Mitsugirly who did you book the dolphin swims through? Were was it you found the bogo?

 

You go to the Dolphin Discovery website to book. You can type in google: chankanaab national park and it's like the 2nd one down I think and it says dolphin discovery on it.

[so_excited_to_cruise]

You go to the Dolphin Discovery website to book. You can type in google: chankanaab national park and it's like the 2nd one down I think and it says dolphin discovery on it.

 

I have very much enjoyed all of your posts concerning swimming with the dolphins. We are cruising in June. We have 11 people.. ages 11-65. Some want to ride the dolphins and a couple only want a beach chair. With that being said... it seems that Chankanaab may be the place for us. We are also going to Belize, Mahogany Bay, and Grand Cayman. Is Cozumel our best bet for swimming and riding the dolphins?

btw: Loved your pictures

[mitsugirly]

I have very much enjoyed all of your posts concerning swimming with the dolphins. We are cruising in June. We have 11 people.. ages 11-65. Some want to ride the dolphins and a couple only want a beach chair. With that being said... it seems that Chankanaab may be the place for us. We are also going to Belize, Mahogany Bay, and Grand Cayman. Is Cozumel our best bet for swimming and riding the dolphins?

btw: Loved your pictures

 

I have only swam with the dolphins here at Chankanaab, so I can't offer any advice on the swims at the other places. However, I have seen some of the other places they do the swims and they are nothing compared to Chankanaab (in my opinion and several others on here). So just my advice, I would pick Chank to do the dolphin swims.

 

Oh, and you are very welcome for the pictures. :)

[PurrSusan]

I would definitely wait for the sale. They have them all the time. You will have a blast either way. It's a lot of fun. :)

 

Mitsugirly: Did you watch for the sales before you booked? Last month they offered a free upgrade (our friends doing the Encounter don't want to upgrade so that doesn't help). I eagerly pulled up their special for April and yep, there it is again--free upgrade :eek: I "chatted" with their guy online and he said if I waited much longer to book they might be full (this is for Sept). Was this just a scare tactic? I'm trying to decide if I should wait & see what happens in May or just go ahead & book. There will be 3 ships in port, including ours. I really would like to do the royal swim (2 of us) but I'm looking for a discount we all can use (one member is on a very limited budget). Any way, I guess my question to you is if you noticed how often they offered the "BOGO" deal?

Thanks!

[Greeneyelady]

We tried to book the hobo special and it showed this was not for those who was on the

Cruise.

Anyone doing the dolphin excision?

[Human Speedbump]

My daughter and I were on the Carnival Magic last week (march 24-31) and we scheduled the Royal Swim directly through Chakanaabs website. I used Holiday Inn as my hotel so as to be able to get around the Carnival trap.

 

We took a cab to Chakanaab ($11 each way) and arrived around 11:10am for a Noon Swim. I went to the desk to check in and was informed that Cozumel time is one hour earlier and that I would have to wait till my appointed time. That was my mistake, not theirs, so we made the best of it and went swimming in the pool and in the sea for the majority of my wait time.

 

At Noon (Cozumel time), we went to the area as instucted and there was alraedy a large group there and we waited for instruction. The group ahead of us was the 11:15am group and they were just getting breifed at 12:15pm. Once they went in, we were corralled in with an encounter group and briefed. We then got our life jackets and headed to the peir. They were short on Dolphin trainers, so they let us play in the Manatee pen for about 45 minutes. They then separated our group in two groups and we went for the Dorsal fin ride with 2 dolphins, as well as the foot push with 2 dolphins.

 

Aside from the fact that it took up almost our entire day in port, I was happy with the experience.

 

FYI:

 

they have lockers that are complimentary with dolphin programs, they also have showers and changing stalls.

 

They never asked if I was from a Carnival Ship, but my daughter clearly had the muster station bracelet on her arm that clearly said Carnival. No questions were asked and no problems were encountered. We saved bout $70 over Carnival's price, even after adding in the cab fare.

 

Pictures were $79 for one swimmer and $109 for both of us. I elected to just get my daughters pictures and there were 26 pictures on the disc.

[Greeneyelady]

Wouldn't. The pictures have you both in it? OR is the pictures uncover per person in each one

[PurrSusan]

We are on RCCL so there is no problem booking on our own---just concerned about them selling out.

 

Human Speedbump---did you see anybody using a camera?

[mitsugirly]

Wouldn't. The pictures have you both in it? OR is the pictures uncover per person in each one

 

I'm not understanding this either. They take the pictures of everyone together so you should be in all of the pictures and just pay the 2 person price. I know when the 3 of us did it, the photographer was standing on the deck with the camera pointing down at us and everyone was in the pictures. They ended up taking 89 pictures (although we didn't buy them because we took our own pictures at the time). But they will put every picture that had you in it on the disk plus added pictures of just the dolphin doing tricks as well. I'm not understanding how they separated them out? :confused:

[Human Speedbump]

Wouldn't. The pictures have you both in it? OR is the pictures uncover per person in each one

 

 

The pictures were taken individually unless you request that they take them in groups.

 

I saw no one with a camera in the Dolphin or Manatee area except the photographers from the park. There is a person checking bracelets at the entrance to the pier to make sure no one goes out there but actual participants.

 

No one in our group had a camera with them at the time of the swim. They did say at the orientation talk that cameras were not allowed.

[mitsugirly]

 

No one in our group had a camera with them at the time of the swim. They did say at the orientation talk that cameras were not allowed.

 

Right, they stopped allowing cameras during the swims around June or so last year.

[Fifi Larue]

My husband just did the Royal Dolphin Swim last Thursday. We were on RCCL and I booked it directly with the park. While I wasn't allowed on the piers that they use, I did get some pretty decent pictures using my 200mm lens while standing on the walkway (we were lucky that he was in the group that was at the end enclosure). Also, there is a pier just to the left of the pier they use on the left side, and no one gave us any problems about standing there and taking pictures. While the pictures they took were definitely better, mine weren't that bad!

[Greeneyelady]

then if they do pictures individually there sometihing I just don't understand which would be easy since I've not done this yet. It seems that there as to be more than one person taking pictures, or they are waiting till it your turn and then do the photos.

I also wonder since my dd and I are going to be doing this together if we both could be in the pictures together. It would be nice to have some pics of the two of us and some of just her and then of just myself.

Then we could share the price of the pictures.

 

thanks

[lilikat80]

My husband and I did the Royal Swim in March. We had a great time. We were in a group of 8. Based on advice I got here I booked through Cozumel Insider and just gave them a name of a hotel when they asked if I was on a cruise ship.

I booked us for 11:00 am, and we took a taxi there as soon as we got off the ship. We snorkeled and walked around until time for our swim.

Our group ended up being all couples, and the photographer started by taking each couples picture together. We took turns interacting with the dolphins. When they did the shake hands, and kiss they just went down the line. They also let us in with the Manatees.

They took us to a computer and had us select the pictures we wanted and then they quoted us a price. I was prepared for the crazy amount, again thanks to this forum.

We had an amazing time, and I would do it again.