Dolphinaris--help!!

[brzymom]

Hello fellow Cruise Critics---

Well sadly for me I just discovered cruisecritic.com a week ago and we set sail this Sunday on the Carnival Valor. After searching based on the excursions offered on our ship I found I could book dolphinaris independently for $50 less per person, so all 20 of us booked it.

Now it seems everyone is talking about a Chankanub Park (sp?) Has anyone been to dolphinaris? Is it nice? I am getting nervous. Since I found this we booked other excursions recommended on the board.

Does anyone know if we go to Dolphinaris for an early morning swim, can we take a taxi to either Paradise Beach or Chankanub (sp?) Park for the rest of the day?

By the way--cruisecritic.com rocks and I am never booking another cruise without coming here first and repeatedly until I set sail!!Thanks for any help offered!:)

[ChBoxers800]

I too booked Dolphanaris through my ship (NCL). Then I found this website...so you are not alone! :D

 

I went to both of the websites, Dolphinaris and Dolphin Discovery; talked to people here; and decided I wanted to do Dolphin Discovery instead. The price directly through Dolphin Discovery was the same price we paid for the ship excursion to Dolphinaris. And Discovery was an hour, (Dolphinaris 40 minutes) plus they do the cool foot push thing at Discovery. Also when I called Discovery, they told me that they are the only place that has 2 Dolphins, not just one so it's more one on one time with the Dolphins. Discovery also provides free transportation to and from the ship dock.

 

Before I booked them, I called NCL and asked if I could cancel a shore excursion that I had booked (we sail March 15th). They said it was no problem and easily cancelled our reservations for Dolphinaris. I then booked Discovery on their website.

 

I'm sure that Dolpinaris is a great program too and you will enjoy it. But, if you really want to do the Discovery, I'd contact your cruise line and ask about their cancellation policy on booked excursions. NCL doesn't charge you right away when you book, it is added to your shipboard account so that may make a difference if your line has already charged your card.

 

Hope this info helps a little....enjoy your cruise!

[brzymom]

Thanks so much for the info! I did book directly with dolphinaris and would have to make partial payment to cancel, so I guess we will stick with the plans made. By the way--Dolphinaris has been very nice--they are providing us with transportation to and from the ship for free (maybe because we are a group of 20??).

 

My cruise line also has a somewhat liberal cancellation policy for excursions will full refund up to five days prior to sailing and a sliding scale thereafter. But--here in cruisecritic I have shore excursions where you just make a reservation and pay when you arrive--which is great in case plans change!!

 

The things I never thought to ask until I found cruisecritic!! I never would have thought to ask how many dolphins!!

 

My group has already re-named me Julie McCoy (cruise director from 70's show-Love Boat) and they cannot believe the things I have found through this website!

 

I hope you have a wonderful cruise!! I am way too excited about this--sooo embarassing for my 16 yr old daughter!! Bon Voyage!!

[cmmarch]

Thanks so much for the info! I did book directly with dolphinaris and would have to make partial payment to cancel, so I guess we will stick with the plans made. By the way--Dolphinaris has been very nice--they are providing us with transportation to and from the ship for free (maybe because we are a group of 20??).

 

My cruise line also has a somewhat liberal cancellation policy for excursions will full refund up to five days prior to sailing and a sliding scale thereafter. But--here in cruisecritic I have shore excursions where you just make a reservation and pay when you arrive--which is great in case plans change!!

 

The things I never thought to ask until I found cruisecritic!! I never would have thought to ask how many dolphins!!

 

My group has already re-named me Julie McCoy (cruise director from 70's show-Love Boat) and they cannot believe the things I have found through this website!

 

I hope you have a wonderful cruise!! I am way too excited about this--sooo embarassing for my 16 yr old daughter!! Bon Voyage!!

 

Enjoy your cruise! Please come back to CC and review Dolphinaris as I could not find much info. on it when I searched.........would love to hear your review! Thanks.

[Mandy W]

Just got back from Cozumel - and we the dolphin swim through Dolphinaris - I know there aren't a lot of reviews out there so here are my two cents:

 

We booked directly through the Dolphinaris website and paid $119 a person. There are several times to choose from, but the 10:20 tour worked out great since we got into port at 9:00. We took a taxi to the Dolphinaris site (Our ship was at the International Pier and the resort was about 1.5 miles towards the downtown area, cost was $2 per person for ride.) (If you are parked downtown, you could walk - its about 4-5 blocks.) Once we got there, the resort is beautiful! Very nice facilities including outdoor showers, nice bathrooms and a locker area (lockers were very big - cost was $4.00 to rent.) We were instructed to put everything in a lockers except ourselves in our suits of course and were given a key to hang around neck. Once done we joined a group of people - were given a number and waited our turn to be called up to get life vests and snorkel (all included.) The wait wasn't long and soon our group of about 12 were off to our dolphin area. We had two dolphin trainers who were both very nice and informative, they enouraged us to ask as many questions as we wanted. We ended up in a smaller pool area with 3 dolphins, 2 girls and a boy. The entire experience was wonderful - we started out by all swimming freely with the dolphins while they swam by us over and over to be petted - sometimes rolling on their backs so we could get to their bellies. They seemed to really enjoy themselves. After about 15 minutes of just swimming with them - we made our way back to the platform and in between our guides pointing out various facts and letting us touch their teeth, tongues, skin.. etc. we took turns doing 3 things: 1. The dolphin flipped on it's back and we went belly to belly and held onto their fins - while they swam us around the entire pool. 2. We swam out into the middle and waited while the dolphin swam up and gave us a good long kiss on the cheek. 3. We floated in middle and stuck our arms out straight and splashed the water and the dolphins swam up in between arms and "shook hands" with us with their flippers for a few seconds, face to face. After that we sat on the platfrom in the water while we watched the dolphins do some tricks including showing us how fast they could swim and jump among other stuff. Tour ended with us being able to swim freely again for about another 15 minutes while the trainers threw fish out to the dolphins and just plain had fun. They did one trick where they threw a fish to dolphin and made a gesture so the dolphin played fetch and brought the fish back to my husband to be grabbed out of his mouth.

 

All in all it was a fantastic tour and I feel like we got a lot of exposure for the money. The resort was beautiful and there is a restaurant and bar. My one and only complaint was that they did not allow cameras down near the dolphins - however they did take lots of pics for us including a DVD. We didn't really price the pics, but between the 5 in our group we did all chip in $10 each for the DVD ($50) and burned copies for everyone. DVD captured the entire day so it was worth it.

 

I have been to Chakanuub many times and experienced the park, but only watched the dolphin swim from afar. I really liked Dolphinaris because it is conveniently located and much closer (We only had to walk about 4 blocks to make it downtown to Carlos N Charlies when we were done.)

 

Hope this helps - if you have any questions, feel free to ask! mandie800@aol.com

Mandy

[ChBoxers800]

I know a lot of people will appreciate your review Mandy. Dolphinaris must be relatively new and hardly anyone here had ever heard of it before. And although I'm sure there have been others, I've never found anyone before you that had actually been there.

 

Glad it was a great program. I'm sure it will put the OP's mind at ease.

[ChBoxers800]

duplicate. sorry

[kornerkick2]

I'm visiting Cozumel in August and I really want to try and swim with the dolphins. I can book through the ship...but apparently I can find much bigger discounts elsewhere. Does anyone know of a website to get cheaper shore excursions?

[jkmmah]

To the OP, I have a question...

 

What else is there to do at Dolphinaris after your swim is over?

 

We are wanting to book the dolphin trainer excursion for dh and dd10 (trainer is not offered at Dolphin Discovery which is why we're looking at Dolphinaris). Dd6 and I need to find something else to occupy our time while dh is with dd10 doing the trainer thing.

 

Are there other options for us as far as a beach or pool to use for recreational swimming?

[ChBoxers800]

I'm visiting Cozumel in August and I really want to try and swim with the dolphins. I can book through the ship...but apparently I can find much bigger discounts elsewhere. Does anyone know of a website to get cheaper shore excursions?

 

 

Here's both of them:

 

www.dolphindiscovery.com

 

www.dolphinaris.com