Dolphin Encounter at Atlantis

[pcruz4ever]

I recently sailed on the NCL Epic. Had a great time, but the one big disappointment was the one excursion I booked through NCL - the Dolphin Encounter at the Atlantis. The dolphin time was fabulous, and something to be remembered - and I think actually longer than the 15 minutes in the water with these remarkable animals than the description stated. However, when they give you an activity level - pay attention. I got more of a workout than I expected, even taking into consideration the physical activity rating. The bus dropped us at one end of the resort, and we had to walk to the other end, including a routing through the casino, at a very brisk pace - I have knee problems, and ended up losing the tour group! Fortunately, they gave us a map at the start so I followed that and eventually caught up. We were given an assigned time for the encounter - ours was 3:10pm, so we had about 40 minutes of time on the beach in the cove itself, with four of us sharing one beach lounge because there were no others available. Despite the promise that you get the freedom to "explore the ruins" there's no time to do so. The free beverages ended up being a bottle of water offered at the end of the excursion itself. At approximately 3:20 we were hustled into the center to put on our wetsuits and then into a room for our "orientation." Unfortunately this was hampered by a malfunctioning video system, a guide who was easily distracted - and cut short before we learned anything at all (including what areas of the dolphin not to touch!). We were then arbitrarily broken up into groups of ten and taken out to the water to spend time with the dolphins. This part was great! However, after the encounter itself, during which the Atlantis photographers took multiple photos, we were summarily dismissed and left on our own. Needless to say, with time ticking away (last bus back to the ship was at 5:30) we hustled to get out of the wetsuits, gather our belongings and head to the photo shop to view the pictures. Never got a chance. There were four people trying to assist close to 80 people with photos. When we said something to one of them, we were simply told - you should have booked for an earlier time! (Needless to say, we had no control over "when" our dolphin time was scheduled.) We ended up having to leave without seeing any of the photos, much less having an opportunity to purchase any, walked all the way back to the shuttle and headed back to the ship. We were hoping that once back at the ship we might be able to purchase the photos (or at least see them) online, but that was a no-go, and they purge all the photos within 24 hours, so we never got any. Now don't get me wrong, I understand these issues are more with the Atlantis than with NCL - but I did send in a complaint so that the cruise line could possibly follow up with the Atlantis regarding future NCL passengers booking this excursion. My disappointment with NCL comes from not even receiving so much as an acknowlegment that my complaint had been received. I've come to expect better from them, since they are usually a very responsive cruise line, and I've certainly enjoyed all of my NCL cruises. However, when it comes to the shore excursions, caveat emptor (buyer beware!).