Should I book Bahamas Sea Lion Encounter online or through Disney website?

[wwforever11]

The Blue Lagoon Sea Lion Encounter is $90 pp if booked online through Dolphin Encounters versus $115 pp if booked through Disney website. It appears it is exactly the same except for the price. Can I book it online for cheaper or what would you suggest?:confused:

[CC Help Jenn]

is transport included in Disney?

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

I tried this. Have you actually GOTTEn anyone to give you a reservation? Because I had a credit card number and reservation with a tour company. She was going to secure 3 spots and call me back. Guess what. No spots were available that day. You call Dolphin Encounters? They will say "If Disney ship is in, we have no openings." This is because Disney buys them all (or other cruise lines) but they will not sell it to you, especially if they know you are on a Disney cruise. I was in a panic! We were going to be devastated if we couldn't play with the sea lions and we only had 2 weeks. No one else could get me reservations.

 

Guess who could? Yep. I popped on to my Disney reservation, selected 3 guests and WALA, I got a confirmation. I was ECSTATIC. Is there a markup? Clearly there is some. HOWEVER, we couldn't find ANYONE who could even sell us one that day, (I guess resort guests have other days, but with a cruise, you only get one day), and they pick you right up at the port. (I heard a rumor that you have to pick up the ferry at Paradise Point instead if you don't go through Disney, and I don't even know how far away that is.)

 

I heard a second hand story on the other forum that a family bought their dolphin encounter swim from a tour group. When they got to the Blue Lagoon ticket stand, they had bogus reservations that didn't exist. BL worked them in and got them in an encounter (petting vs swimming) but they didn't get their swim. This thought terrifies me!

 

Other advantages to Disney are that they got us pretty much the first ferry on to the island. Our ticket time said 9:30, we met in the theater, we were on the island by 10:30, and we were the first animal encounter of the day, and the sea lions were perky and happy and we got to enjoy the island all the rest of the day.

 

One other advantage to Disney, they do not charge your credit card up front. They are the only cruise line I have been with that doesn't take all your money to reserve it. If you don't cancel within 3 days of your cruise, it comes off of your on board credit.

 

We LOVED this excursion. It is quite possibly one of our favorites for our family, and we have cruised quite a bit. We liked BL so much, when discussing next year's itinerary, we all decided to go to Nassau again so we could go back!

 

Sometimes it doesn't pay off to book through the cruise line. I can honestly say, all the times that we HAVEN'T, about half of them have gone ok (like taking a taxi to Chankanaab park or something) and half of them have been a disappointment (Didn't get what we were promised, or paying the rest of the tour took over an hour for the bus, and we were shorted an hour due to local time etc.) However, EVERY SINGLE cruise tour I have ever booked through the cruise line was top notch and have been the highlight of our cruises. 100% of them.

 

So here are some of our highlights:

 

Great island and hammocks:

https://scontent-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/599435_124340774434848_2006606723_n.jpg

 

YEP! Right on the kisser!

https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/601877_110171732518419_137065311_n.jpg

 

Shady and covered encounter:

https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/923021_110171672518425_1992459332_n.jpg

 

Hugs!

https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/401272_110171799185079_1268000090_n.jpg

 

Bye bye Bonnie!

https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/923029_110172249185034_522862991_n.jpg

[Host Mick]

 

Sometimes it doesn't pay off to book through the cruise line. I can honestly say, all the times that we HAVEN'T, about half of them have gone ok (like taking a taxi to Chankanaab park or something) and half of them have been a disappointment (Didn't get what we were promised, or paying the rest of the tour took over an hour for the bus, and we were shorted an hour due to local time etc.) However, EVERY SINGLE cruise tour I have ever booked through the cruise line was top notch and have been the highlight of our cruises. 100% of them.

 

 

We sailed on a Royal Caribbean cruise and were in Puerto Vallarta on the same day as the Disney Magic. We had booked a 4x4 adventure and were waiting next to a bunch of DCL guests when they opened the gates to the tour busses. We were walked past a row of shiny new motorcoaches to find that hidden behind them was a beat up old bus that probably served her better days as a school bus. I asked about the new motorcoaches and the driver told us that those were for the Disney People.

Roll down the windows (no A/C) and with a grind of the gears and a cloud of smoke, off we go.

Remember that when someone asks you why Disney costs more.

 

P.S. The old girl made it there and back just fine.

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

Well I can't comment to that. I don't believe DCL goes to Vallarta at the moment. But the OP did ask about trying to book BL's Sea Lion. It either is very difficult if it can be done, or it is a scam. I would have bought it independently if I could have. I have had good success with companies like shoreexcursionsgroup.com through price line, and I did my research. Maybe it was because I only had 2 weeks to plan (it was short planned cruise), but I had no options other than through Disney, and I was 100% happy with it, even for $115. (Btw, I heard observers only have to pay $40 to ferry and go to the island. I didn't know this! And I don't know how many can go at the $40 rate along with how many are signed up for the encounter. I should find that out for next year....)

 

We also didn't have to ride a bus because Dolphin Encounter's own ferry came and got us at the pier. That is the only DCL excursion I have bought. The others were all on the other cruise lines we had, and they were all great too.

[moki'smommy]

This is one of the excursions that DCL totally buys out. They guarantee the vendor that there will be a full load, and in return, the vendor agrees to not sell the excursion independently on those days.

 

We've done lots of excursions privately--some at a slight discount, some at a huge discount from DCL. In many cases, we had a better time/deal than the DCL people had. For example, the butterfly farm is much better when there are two families there than when the DCL group is there because the butterflies are more active. Also, private excursions generally don't put you in a position of having 45 people standing around and waiting for the two that didn't return to the meeting point on time.

 

However, there is safety and security in a DCL sponsored excursion. No matter what happens, the ship won't pull out till the bus gets the people back!.

 

To answer a follow up post above, I've never seen a DCL excursion that doesn't include transportation.

[wwforever11]

Thank you all for replying! You made my decision easy...fork out the bit extra for confidence, reliability and a stress free excursion. It sounds like everyone enjoys the sea lions :) :)

[Host Mick]

Thank you all for replying! You made my decision easy...fork out the bit extra for confidence, reliability and a stress free excursion. It sounds like everyone enjoys the sea lions :) :)

 

That pretty much sums it up. You pay more for convenience and peace of mind.

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

I bet my photos didn't make your decision harder either. :D

 

(DC oughta put me on their payroll! :D)

 

Give Maggic & Bonnie hugs and kisses if you see them before I do!!!!

 

(ps, in this case, the only peace of mind IS thru Disney...as you can see it is extremely difficult to book it without using them, if possible at all. Which makes Disney like a great tour company, procuring one of the cool excursions strictly for their own guests.)

 

You are going to love it!!!

[wwforever11]

YES!! Thank you SOOOO much for your photos! I appreciate that. I guess we will just bite the bullet and book then. I hope there still is openings!!! :) Oh!! Outside of the 30 minutes with the sealions what else do you do?

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

After our encounter, we watched the sea lions all play for a bit, then watched the dolphins play and some of the dolphins swims (they were clearly having the time of their life too.) Then we shopped and bought t shirts that said "I Kissed A Sea Lion" in the gift shop and reviewed and bought our pro photo package (great shots, the hugging one is theirs but you can still take your own from the observation deck). If you wait to the end of the day, its hectic to buy your photos, but we bought them and they kept them at their desk so we could enjoy the beach. By that time, it was noon and we were ready for lunch. Mom m dad got the lunch package that came with admission but us 3 girls put in an order for conch fritters , fish tenders and beans n rice along with some gorgeous fruity drinks. The mud slide was a literal work of art. Took about 20 min cuz lunch was fresh made to order. Enjoyed the lunch while Tyler Perry's band rehearsed their concert on the big stage! That was a neat bonus. Then off to snorkel which was alright but a bit treacherous over painful rocks. There are trying to figure out how to preserve nature and have it be more accessible. Then I went swimming on the other lagoon side for a bit in my mermaid tail. Eventually I showered up around 3 and finally got to sit in a hammock until we lined up to leave on a the last 4 pm ferries. After that nice ride, we still had time to shop at Tortuga and straw market because our all aboard was at 5:45.

 

Great day!

 

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