Carnival Fantasy November 17-22, 2018 Review

[cruisewithwife]

We went into the lounge after that to watch the motown show.

We had made a pitstop at cherry on top so the girls enjoyed some candy during the show

We made a pitstop by our room after the show to find our towel animal

We decided to go up to the back which was becoming our favorite spot and have some pizza before heading off to bed

[cruisewithwife]

We woke up the next morning as it was our excursion day in Cozumel.  Today we were going to swim with the dolphins at Dolphinaris.  We got ready for our excursion our bags all packed and headed up to lido to get some food as we were not quite docked in port yet.  They had the towel animals all over by the pool area.

 

[cruisewithwife]

We found some breakfast at the buffet.  The omelets were very good on this cruise from the guy by Guy's Burger station

We were finally docked and got off the ship.  You have to walk through some shops and then they go through everyone's bag to make sure you are not bringing any food off the ship.  We met the Dolphinaris people at end of the pier by 3 Amigos.

 

[cruisewithwife]

It was very smooth we showed him our tickets and he put our wristbands on us and we waited a little bit for another family to arrive and off we went.  They walked us over to our shuttle and we were hoping we were riding in this

we kept walking by and went to a nice 15 passenger van haha.

It was about a 5 minute ride to Dolphinaris and when we got there they assigned us a number and put it on our wristbands.  Here was some views when you first get there.

[cruisewithwife]

They took us down to fit into life jackets then we sat to wait for our information before going into the dolphin area.  First note they make you wash off any sunscreen if you have it on which we had heard about before so did not apply any prior to going.  They also rent lockers if you want I would not recommend this as you can take your stuff with you and they put it in a tub right by the area you are interacting with the dolphins.  They give you basic information of where to touch the dolphins and what to do and not do.  Our group was us 6 and then one other family of 3 people.  We were with the youngest dolphin they had there which was 4 years old.  They did multiple different things with the dolphin and we rotated through not all doing the same thing in order so the dolphin doesn't get bored.  Here is some of the pics and I will explain some of what happened with each interaction.

For part of it we were just all out in the water and the dolphin would swim by so you could touch.

[cruisewithwife]

Next up Grandpa got to kiss the dolphin

DW shaking dolphins fins and getting her kiss in

[skrufy]

Great photos. Brought back many memories of our first cruise on the Fantasy. We will finally get back on her this December. Can’t wait.

[cruisewithwife]

7 minutes ago, skrufy said:

Great photos. Brought back many memories of our first cruise on the Fantasy. We will finally get back on her this December. Can’t wait.

Thanks....let the countdown begin for you

[cruisewithwife]

Grandma petting the dolphin

The little one and I with the dolphin

DW doing her dolphin swim

[cruisewithwife]

Me doing the dolphin dance and kiss

The oldest dancing with the dolphin

She wasn't too sure of the kiss at first and if you don't get close enough the dolphin will keep coming to you so there is no swimming away

[cruisewithwife]

Grandma dancing with the dolphin and a kiss

They also let us put on goggles and had the dolphin swim around so you could view underwater.  Our family is used to full face masks so this was not as fun with all the saltwater on your mouth

[cruisewithwife]

Grandpa's turn to dance with the dolphin

Me doing my ride...it is amazing how strong the dolphins are 

The oldest doing her dolphin ride....I had to swim out with her and help her get on the dolphin but she waited for her to get her arms just right and then took off.

DW petting the dolphin

[cruisewithwife]

The little one was up next to do her dolphin ride.....she had to hook onto my life jacket and ride on my back while I held onto the dolphin.   It was interesting as the dolphin would go different speeds depending on the type of rider

The little one getting her kisses in

Then she got to dance with the dolphin

Grandma's turn to ride the dolphin

[cruisewithwife]

Me petting the dolphin

Grandpa petting the dolphin

Grandpa says he sinks like a rock so he did not do the dolphin swim and instead got to do a belly rub

[cruisewithwife]

Sorry for not getting back to this sooner.  So after we finished our time in the water with the dolphins they brought us back up to the resort part in which you could go get food, drinks, or do water sport activities.  Before doing any of that they take you into the picture area.  I had done my research ahead of time and knew it was going to be crazy pricing so it was time to barter a deal.  First I was disappointed as we assumed there was video as that as what we had seen in the past however they stopped doing that.  So we start talking prices and they are like oh it will be $500 some dollars to get your pics digital.  I told them I spoke to someone online at their place and I could get all the pics and video for around $200.  They were like no way who did you talk to we would be losing money.  So we walk away to talk a bit and then he comes over and is like here is what I can do for you.  All of your pictures on a disc and we will also email you the digital copies for $220.  So we took this deal considering we had over 120 pictures.

[cruisewithwife]

After dealing with the pictures we decided to go check out how the waterworks stuff worked.  Grandma and Grandpa went up to the food area to find us a spot.  You have to sign  up for a time slot to do the snorkeling or paddle boarding.  There was no one there at the moment so we decided to get a drink.

The bartender down here mixed the drinks much stronger than the guys up top by the food.  They were delicious.  You could watch the dolphin swim stuff from this area as well

The little one came up to the bar with me to get a drink.  He made her a Mickey Mouse which she loved

I went with a Miami Vice

[cruisewithwife]

We got our name put down for snorkeling so now lets head upstairs to get some food.  This was the views from where we were sitting to eat.  They snorkeling area was right below us

You could also view the other people doing their dolphin interactions

 

[cruisewithwife]

After our food it was our time to go snorkeling so we headed down.  They walk you over to the area and give you life jackets and then allow you to go in.  You have about 25 minutes all together with getting life jackets on and swimming around.  It is a walk in area and then it goes to deeper water.  The whole thing is contained and the sting rays they have in this the stingers have been removed.  Below is some pictures and videos of our snorkeling experience.  This was the first time the girls had got to snorkel...they struggled at first but once they got going they had a blast.  We also bring our own masks which we use full face and I highly recommend.

We found a starfish which was cool to see

Baby sting rays

[cruisewithwife]

Here is many clips while snorkeling at Dolphinaris

 

 

 

 

[cruisewithwife]

More videos

 

 

 

[cruisewithwife]

After snorkeling we headed back up to the food and bar overlooking the water

I made a plate of nachos in which the girls decided to share

Of course it was time for more drinks as well.  The guy who took care of us made sure we were never empty

The water was very nice here

 

[cruisewithwife]

After a few more drinks we decided we were ready to head back to the port area.  You could go back whenever you would like you just told them at the front desk and there was a van to shuttle you back shortly.

We had considered doing this excursion outside of Carnival and walking ourselves but were not sure what the area would be like.  There was sidewalks the entire way

[cruisewithwife]

They dropped us off at the taxi area by port and the girls went to take a picture by the Puerta Maya sign

This is the waiting area for all the shuttles and taxis

We walked around to do some shopping on our way back to the ship.  They are not as pushy here as they are in Progreso.  They were setting up the Christmas tree and had it pretty well completed

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We came down towards the water to get some pictures with the ship.  

[cruisewithwife]

There is a bunch of shops all over in this area

We walked by the oxygen bar...which looked very interesting