Budgeting: How much for Carnival-sponsored dolphin swim pictures?

[NOLAbebe]

If anyone has purchased photos or a photo CD from a dolphin swim before (we are doing this in Cozumel, but I assumed the cost might be similar everywhere- i.e., HIGH), if we wanted to buy the photos, approximately how much should we budget for this?

 

I have read people say it's very expensive, cost more than they thought it would, etc., but I am looking for a realistic figure. There are two of us doing the swim, and in all likelihood, we will want to buy the whole CD. Assuming we CAN'T haggle down, is $200 enough? $150? $250? I don't want to go in blind!

 

Also, do we need to bring cash for this, or does Chankanaab take credit cards?

 

And finally, are we able to print pictures off of the CD ourselves once we get home? How important is it to have them print some for us? If we can definitely do it ourselves, I certainly won't pay extra for prints on-site.

 

Any help is welcomed! I've got 20 days to figure this out!

 

Thank you!!! :)

[D4]

I don't know if you're also going to Honduras. I've done the dolphin encounter and snorkel tour in Roatan, Honduras several times (Anthony's Key Resort.) I chose that location for two reasons: it takes place in the ocean instead of a man made lagoon and their picture prices are reasonable. You take a bus to the resort and then a boat to the dolphin area. (The ocean area has fencing in the water so you don't have to worry about sharks, etc.) My last visit was one year ago. The picture prices start at about $50 for one person and there was a reasonable additional fee (maybe $10-$20) for each extra member in the group. For that price, you get all the pictures they took of you. I paid cash, but I think they accept credit cards. At this place, the picture package is a set price depending on the number of people in your group.

 

When I did it in 2013, they sold you a cd with your high quality images. Last year they switched to an online system. They email a link to your high quality images and you need to download them within a few weeks.

 

I've loved their dolphin program so much that I keep going back there instead of trying other places. Here is a link to their site http://www.anthonyskey.com/photos.htm#66024_21

 

Have fun!

Edited August 11, 2015 by D4

[LMaxwell]

About 150 for the disc in cozumel. Yes you can haggle.

[moongal]

We bought the entire CD, there were 3 of us. We were in Grand Cayman, and originally they quoted us close to $200 for all of our pics on the CD, but we just kept saying "no, too expensive" and eventually the price went down to $140 which we split between my mother and I. I felt like that was reasonable and we now have all the pics on CD which we can print off of at home.

 

I think probably haggling would be the norm.

[NOLAbebe]

Thanks, you guys! That is actually below what I was expecting.

 

Not that there's anything I can do about this, but I'm worried that the disc they give us will be blank, or locked somehow so we can't print the photos. This is seriously a once-ever kind of thing for me, so I'd really like the photo memories.

 

Is it usually only payable by cash? I've never been out of the country before.

[singbluesilver1]

We went on a dolphin swim in Cozumel but we booked directly with the place not carnival

 

We were able to prepay for our pics and the video(which was def worth it) and you saved money that way

[RaiderFaninNM]

We went on a dolphin swim in Cozumel but we booked directly with the place not carnival

 

We were able to prepay for our pics and the video(which was def worth it) and you saved money that way

 

Agreed book directly and ask for what kind of discounts they have currently, we did that and saved a pretty penny, BTW that park is wonderful, you are going to have a blast!

Edited August 11, 2015 by RaiderFaninNM

[moongal]

We booked our excursion with carnival, but the photos were done by the vendor, some dolphin place in Grand Cayman, so there was no prepaying. We paid by credit card, and we split our payment. I paid half, my mother paid half. There wasn't any problem paying with a cc. We felt more comfortable toting 1 cc rather than big wads of cash. Although we did bring a small amt of cash.

 

If you are going to pay with a CC out of the country, it is recommended that you call whichever cc you will be using and advise them that you will be using said card out of the country and where you intend to visit. This way your purchases won't have a chance to be declined as being possibly fraudulent.

 

Also I would not pay for your CD until you have viewed/verified that all your pics are on the CD. We were given the opportunity to view what was on our disc before we made payment. I would definitely ask just to make sure. Even if no bad intent, there could be an error so always a good idea to check. Hope you have a great time. We thoroughly enjoyed our dolphin visit! I am so glad we bought the pics. Very much worth it.

[bobsfamily]

Way to much!

[dmdiver]

Be sure you have a way to contact the vendor after you get home. We had no problems with our dolphin cd from Grand Cayman (don't remember the cost anymore). However, when we went zip lining several years ago, we got home to find our cd blank. I e-mailed the vendor and they uploaded all our pics once I was able to tell them the date & what we were all wearing so they could find them.

 

Back to the dolphin thing, I do remember thinking that the pics were expensive, but they wouldn't allow cameras to be taken in with you. This was a once in a lifetime thing to us, so we bought them. Seems like it was a package with all pics on cd and we chose a few that they printed there. The pics were better quality than what we would have taken ourselves anyway. Their photographers know just the right moment to snap.

[NOLAbebe]

Thanks, y'all! I appreciate it! I didn't realize you could book directly. I will check into that immediately.

 

Thank you for the tips! I am SO stoked!!! Hubby dislikes cruising AND anywhere with a beach, it took me decades to be able to do this with a friend, and my health isn't stellar, so all of that combined with budget issues means this is likely my only chance to do such a thing, and I absolutely cannot wait!!!

[Leasmanjr]

We took the dolphin swim through carnival to dolphinarus and for us it was pay by picture or a CD with the whole group in the pool and the video was everyone in the pool at time you were.. As we didn't know anyone other than our selves it wasn't worth the price to have to edited to the size of just us after purchasing it! They attempt to get the pictures with each individual and not with family members together to sell more pictures but they some times slip us as was in our case. We selected 3 pictures for $75.00 one of reach of riding/swimming with the dolphin and one of both of us petting the dolphin at the same time (their slip up lol). We were happy with what Howe got as it is a memory you will cherish for a life time! And they are good quality pictures developed onsite that you can take back to ship immediately. A few others bought the CD which was a burned copy for $150/200 only to find out the disk was blank a quick call to the dolphin sanctuary and all thermir pictures where mailed to them in hard copy! I hope this helps!!!

[Rudyard]

We bought the disk with all the pics after our excursion at Chankanaab. For two of us it was $109. That was three years ago so I don't know if the price has gone up. It would have been $89 for one person or $30 per individual pic. Once we realized that there were at least four or five pics that we had to have it became a no brainer to get the disk. We never regretted it. Luckily we did the swim first thing in the morning so I had time to go back to the ship and get more cash for shopping and lunch as that's what the disk money was originally for :D

[hopeful2]

We booked Dolphin discovery by ourselves online before we left for mexico. It was cheaper and also got the cd of pics cheap. Call and talk to representative and they will give a deal.

[D4]

Thanks, y'all! I appreciate it! I didn't realize you could book directly. I will check into that immediately.

 

Thank you for the tips! I am SO stoked!!! Hubby dislikes cruising AND anywhere with a beach, it took me decades to be able to do this with a friend, and my health isn't stellar, so all of that combined with budget issues means this is likely my only chance to do such a thing, and I absolutely cannot wait!!!

 

I'm sure you'll love it. Be sure to read the rules for the place you choose. Some of them don't allow you to wear sunscreen or any jewelry.

[NOLAbebe]

Some of them don't allow you to wear sunscreen or any jewelry.

 

Ooh! Good tip! Thank you. I am pale as a ghost. Sunscreen for me is never optional! We have a Whole Foods nearby. Surely they must have something gentle. I'll check there tomorrow. :)

[NOLAbebe]

Hey, just updating for future readers!

 

We did the dolphin swim (push/pull/etc.) at Chankanaab, through Carnival. Since it was our first time, we chose not to book directly.

 

We had about 90 pictures altogether of the two of us, and we paid a total of $140 ($70 each) for what we got. We very easily got them to give us each a printed copy of our favorite picture (which they charge $40 apiece for) and we got them to give us two copies of the disc. All in all, we were satisfied with that price and the fact that we weren't having to fight over it.

 

Good luck! We love our pics. The experience was AMAZING.