Nassau Dolphin Experience - help please

[nrunnion]

We are going to be on the Mariner of the Seas in October and will be in Nassau for the 8-2 stop. Has anyone been on this trip and had enough time (through RCCL) to schedule the dolphin experience?

NR

[LVGlenn]

I'm going on the same itinerary in November and had the same question. I also want to book through the company directly rather then RCCL because the company offers a tour with more in water time with the dolphins that apparently is not offered through the cruise line. I'm going to contact the company direct and ask their advice regarding the schedule since they must have dealt with this issue before. I don't recall their website address, but if you search under Nassau dolphin encounters it'll come up. If I fidn out anything more I'll let you know.

[nrunnion]

thanks for answering me. Have you been able to book any excursions? I have not. They keep giving me the run around about schedules.

[Lyncruiser]

We did it on that port stop schedule and it worked out fine. We booked the first dolphin swim of the day as I recall. I had to buy tickets through RCI for the boat ride over to Blue Lagoon. Just contact the company directly and they'll tell you all you need to know. It's a neat experience.

[LVGlenn]

I just got off the phone with Nassau Dolphin Encounter, and the girl I talked to said she did not believe that itinerary would accomodate either the 8:30 or 10:30 swim. Lyncruiser, was your first swim also at 8:30? Where do you get teh tickets for the boat ride to Blue Lagoon? Is there a difference between ship time and port time in Nassau? I really want to do this, but I'm definitely too chicken to book the later swim that won't return until 30 mins before sailing, and I'm getting pessimistic about getting off the Mariner in time to make the early swim.

[LVGlenn]

Oh yeah, the person I talked to at Dolphin Encounters also said that they have no listing for people coming in for excursions booked through Mariner and RCCL's shore excursion website is also not listing even the encounter as an available excursion on that intinerary. More discouraging news.

[LVGlenn]

I was able to book the America's Cup excursion in St. Martin online. That's the only one I tried to book.

[maritimemare]

LVGlenn --

 

Very sorry not to respond sooner. I had a computer meltdown and just got my internet connection hooked up again yesterday. Rather than try to re-register as Lyncruiser, I'm now known as "MaritimeMare", DH's rather humorous suggestion.

 

Anyway, I went back to an old itinerary to doublecheck that we left Nassau at 2:00 p.m. so had no more time than you do. And, indeed we did. We were on the Explorer.

 

The Dolphin Encounter was offered on our ship, although the Swim was not. I think it is odd that the Encounter is not being offered on your sailing. I might try to give RCI a call to ask them why.

 

Like you, I wondered whether there is a difference in Nassau between local and ship time, but I don't think there is. The ship, I believe, stays on Miami time, regardless, so a time change does happen at some point going east. But I just checked and Bahamas looks to be on the same time as Miami.

 

I think the swim times may have changed somewhat since we did it. However, we had time to do the swim and then watch while my brother and sister-in-law did the encounter (my SIL doesn't swim). So, if we had time to do both, I should think you could fit in one. If the 10:30 a.m. swim happens on time, you'll be done I think by 11:30 a.m. - noon at the latest (doublecheck that). They like to sit you down afterward to watch the video so they can sell it to you, but you don't have to do that if you don't have time.

 

Don't tarry too long, get the ferry back and you ought to be okay. I think the ferry to Blue Lagoon runs regularly for all passengers, not just cruise ship excursion passengers. I think it was just more convenient for us to buy the ferry tickets on the ship first, but you'll need to confirm this.

 

Also, because all swim times weren't booked, cruise ship passengers on the encounter were given the opportunity to switch to the swim and a few people with us did.

 

I think I'd call back and speak with a different person at Nassau Dolphin Encounter. The 10:30 a.m. seems doable to me if you get off the ship ASAP and get the ferry. The ferry ride is about 1/2 hour if I recall correctly.

 

One thing you take the risk on is that you eat the cost if the ship doesn't end up stopping in Nassau for some reason. But, you're no doubt aware of that.

 

By the way, we've done the swim in Nassau and Cozumel, and we liked Nassau better. They did more things with the dolphins in Nassau and we ended up doing more things with the dolphins as well, so it was more entertaining. It's really a fun experience and I hope you can work it out.

[maritimemare]

LV Glenn,

 

I just focussed on the fact that you said the 10:30 a.m. swim means you won't be back until 1/2 hour before sailing. Sorry, I missed reading that the first time, so went on about 10:30 a.m. being doable. In our experience it was. Perhaps, the ferry times have changed, however, and the ferry doesn't run as often. I'm just not sure.

 

If you can't leave the ship until 8 a.m. I do think you'd be hard-pressed to do the 8:30 a.m. swim. If, however, you can leave the ship at 7:00 a.m. the 8:30 a.m. would work.

 

In any event, call Nassau Dolphin Encounter again, speak with someone else and get more facts likely exactly what times the ferry runs, exactly how long the swim takes (minus sitting and watching the video), etc. Hope you can work it out.

[maritimemare]

Sorry, LVGlenn to do this piecemeal. I keep thinking of things. One other thing to doublecheck is daylight savings time versus standard time. Not sure if Bahamas goes on daylight savings time so depending on when you're sailing this could be an issue on ship time versus Bahamas time.

[LVGlenn]

Well Lyn/Mar, obviously, I understand about doing things piecemeal. (see above)

 

I think we're just going to go a different way on the whole thing. We're flying in Friday and spending Saturday in Orlando. We hadn't decided what to do on Saturday yet, so yesterday I searched to see if they have any dolphin experiences in Orlando. Turns out SeaWorld has a sister park called Discovery Cove that offers swimming with both Dolphins and Rays as part of their admission. Also, they limit attendance to only 1000/day so it's not so crowded. It's a bit pricey, but when you factor in the extras, plus the fact that it's for all day, I think it compares favorably to the Nassau excursion. So we may end up just sitting on a beach in Nassau. :)