The Dolphin Excursion

Hi All,

This is my first cruise and I was planning on going on the dolphin excursion in Nassau. The excursion says that i get to learn about the dolphins and stand in the water while feeding them, then i get kissed on the nose (that sounds fun!) Anyway I was wondering if anyone had ever done this and if it is worth the money or should i save it.. Any feedback would be great. Thanks

We recently did the dolphin encounter in Freeport and loved it! Did not get to feed the dolphin but stood in the water got to feel its skin(?) and got the kiss on the cheek. It was great and something I would definitely do again.

5/2 Miracle cruise

Lynnie23,

My sister and I did this on SOS in Feb of this 2004 and just loved the whole thing. You are in the water in a goupe of maybe 8-10 people and the trainer is behind you, you are standing on a platform so the water is only 3 feet or so on you. The dolphin comes up in front of you away from the platform, so he doesn't hurt himself, and he is in deep water and you are only in 3 feet of water kneeing or standing on the platform. The dophin goes up and down doing the kiss, dancing, hugging, or you feed him a fish. They were very gentle and a wonderful experience. The boat ride is 1/2 hour over and 1/2 hour back and the island is very pretty. Take some cash because the video is $45 and the pictures is $10 or so and believe me you will probably want them. They have a nice gift shop with shirts and all that kind of things also. It was $92 but it worked very nice and you walk as a group and get on a ferry boat right at the dock where the cruise ship dock and they bring you back about 3 1/2 hours you are gone. I loved every minute and my sister,who is a teacher, was harlarous! She was a little nervous so her facial expressions says it all.

Cruiser4Life

RC Majesty 10/1999

Pride 2002 "Kirbi and the Cruiser"

RC Grandeur of Seas 12/02

Destiny 01/25/04

RC SOS 02/23/04 Bahama Mama Sister Cruise

RC Majesty 04/20 - 23/04

my daughter just did the dolphin swim. $145.00 online. Absolutely loved every minute of it. They were in the water with the dolphins, the dolphins jumped over them, pushed them through the water, kissed them etc. She said that was the highlight of the vacation

Hi. I was wondering where you booked the dolphin swim online. I'm thinking about doing it in October while on my Centruy cruise. Any details would be appreciated. Tahnk you and have a blessed day, Martin. <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by fletchers5:

my daughter just did the dolphin swim. $145.00 online. Absolutely loved every minute of it. They were in the water with the dolphins, the dolphins jumped over them, pushed them through the water, kissed them etc. She said that was the highlight of the vacation<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I did the dolphin excurion with my girlfriend on the SOS.

I will say this, I am glad we went, experience of a lifetime. But we wouldn't do it again.

The first problem was that it was right in the middle of the day so we really couldn't ecplore Nassau as much as we wanted too.

The second was that we didn't get to relax any at Blue Lagoon, which is fine since we were there for the dolphins, but there was so much standing around.

It also took them more than an hour after everyone was out of the water to process the pictures and video which weren't that good for the price.

Also, since the video took so long to make and sell we barely made it back for the captain's dinner.

All in all it was enjoyable, but next time we wll be doing something else.

Given the expense, the better value and experience is to book the dolphin swim online. You can hop water taxi or cab for $3 to the Paradise Island pier where the Blue Lagoon Dolpin operation then picks you up and takes you to their facilities. It is very professional and getting into the water to swim and be pushed through the water by these well trained, well cared for marine mammals is a thrill!

Bye the way, when you book the swim online (not done by the cruise lines) you can usually pick from a selection of times that will allow you to do a surry ride or other townside activity before hand. I'd recommend a 1-2 PM swim

I would actually recommend an earlier time, if there is one.

Ours was at 12:30 and it was too early to do something before and too late to do something after. Unless there is absolutely nothing you want to do in Nassau then it is a good time.

Check the times: Going 1-2pm had us leaving Nassau downtown 11:30 or so to get Paradise I. marina and the Blue Lagoon shuttle (20 Min.) and we pretty much rushed (not critically) to get back to the ship. We ate junk lunch in the Marina building. I don't think you can schedule a swim later than 1-2pm with the 1-2 hr. cushions needed for "photo/video op, t-shirt buy" and transport return. We did it in the swim PM and saw Nassau AM. (albeit a town waking up).

I don't think(?) the swim is available before 11-12 which with the out island transport time -I didn't we think could've made on our port arr time.

But the prior poster is correct, a LOT of stuff (including the straw market) in Nassau opens "Island Time", late AM. So you might, miss those. But the Dolphins too have limited hours - check it out.

For us, the straw market was perceived as another island tourist trap so we let the dolphin scheduling control the schedule and we did a nice surry tour. (Love those Barristers in Wigs and Petty Coats walking to the Courts).

Scheduling on this DOES require a close look.

Thank you for the great info on the Dolphin Swim, but does anyone have a website for the venue.

Thanks.

Smoke Free One More Time

Go to www.dolphinswims.com

Prepayment and confirmation by credit card by fax form as I remember.

Enjoy.

Thanks Woodofpine, its greatly appreciated.

Smoke Free One More Time Paradise 8/15/2004

My daughter and I are scheduled for the dolphin swim on 7/14/04. We were originally told the date was sold out but later received an e-mail saying they had two slots for 3:30 so we took them. The Miracle will be in port until 10:00 that night so I am not too worried about the late start time. Joan

I have never been on a cruise before. The dolphin swim sounds wonderful. I thought I read that some people said the the Captain's reception is on the night they were in port. I will be on RCCI Sovereign of the Seas July 16-19. Can anyone tell me if the Captain's reception is on the same night as being in port? We leave the port at 3 am.

Thanks a million.

Lauralei