Balmoral Stingray or Blue Lagoon?

[llarsen]

Hello,

 

We are taking our grandsons age 7 and 8 (and their parents) on their first cruise end of this coming April. 

Booked a Cabana for Half Moon Cay,  will go to the Margaritaville pool and beach on Grand Turk.

Nassau is the port I need help on. Originally I thought we would just see a Fort, Queens staircase and walk around and go back to the ship, but now I'm thinking of Balmoral or Blue Lagoon.

Carnival has the Balmoral Stingray excursion for $59.99pp, which seems reasonable. 

 

Has anyone done this? I think the boys would love it!

We would like to enjoy the beach afterward...how is their beach?

 

Blue Lagoon looks beautiful but is more expensive....

 

Would appreciate any thoughts or suggestions.

[klfrodo]

I wouldn't do either since the animals are in pens,,,

However, with the choices you are giving, I'd do Blue Lagoon.

I'd also go private rather than through Carnival

http://www.bahamasbluelagoon.com/

[llarsen]

Thank you! Pens...yes I see your point. Errrrrr

We have done years ago in Grand Cayman and in French Polynesia, no pens :-)

[Tapi]

We did Balmoral. It was an enjoyable day (except for one issue which I will explain). The island is located off the coast of Cable Beach. In fact, the island is shared with Sandals, but you don’t have access to their side and vice versa. Upon arrival, dolphins are queued to jump out of the water as your boat docks. Needless to say, this is is done to get people who hadn’t booked the dolphin swim excited about “upgrading” their experience. Attendants were at the pier to facilitate the upgrades. We just kept walking since we had the stingray experience. 

 

The first thing that we did upon arrival was to go to the meeting point for the stingray experience. Yes, the stingrays are contained, but not in an artificial pool. They are in the ocean, but there’s a net beyond the rocks which prevents them from swimming away. The encounter is fairly quick. Personal photos are not allowed, but their photographer will take photos of each participant holding a stingray which they will gladly sell you (at ridiculously inflated prices) at the end of the experience. 

 

After swimming with the stingrays, we proceeded to the beach area. Overall, it’s a very nice beach with crystal clear and shallow water. Facilities, including loungers and umbrellas, looked new and in great shape. There’s also a smallish pool next to a snack bar which nobody was using. There’s also a small souvenir shop. Overall, Balmoral was fairly uncrowded, and we had plenty of space to enjoy a relaxing day. 

 

The only drawback back about this excursion was that one of our family members started feeling ill so we returned to the pier early and asked about taking an early boat back. They said that there would only be one boat back at the end of the excursion, 3 hours later, and that we were stuck there until then. I asked about talking one of the frequent boats going back and forth to the Sandals resort, departing from a pier a few feet away, and they once again said that it wasn’t possible. I then asked “what if it’s an emergency” to which they replied “Is it an emergency??”. And while my family member wasn’t feeling well, it wasn’t truly an emergency, so we just returned to our loungers and waited it out. It was obvious that they would only help us out if it was truly an emergency.

 

So this was the only negative thing about this excursion, and it did make me feel a bit trapped, not being able to return to the ship when I wanted. If you choose to take this excursion, be aware of this. 

[llarsen]

Thank you Tapi for your reply.

 

I'm sorry to hear they wouldn't allow you to leave earlier, when your family member felt ill. That seems unreasonable and would have really upset me in that situation. 

 

I did go ahead and book the stingray excursion, hopefully we won't need to go back earlier....but who knows with kids?

I appreciate your detailed reply, that was helpful!

 

 

[L&J]

We did the Balmoral Island Dolphin and Stingray encounter in 2015.  It was a nice day.  It starts with a 15 minute boat ride to the island and the water is so turquoise!  The dolphin part was much more involved than the time with the stingrays, which you could feed, pet and kiss.  We were a group of 10 and we purchased the CD of pictures for $70 at the end.  In fairness there were at least 60 pictures on the CD of our group.  The kids played in the sand and we sat in free loungers until it was time to return to the ship. The cost was far better than other dolphin encounters out there. 

[llarsen]

Great photos! 

Thank you for the reply, I appreciate it. 

I think the boys will love it!

:-)

[heidiatmn]

We did Balmoral and it was a nice day. Only downfall was food was OUTRAGEOUS/drinks were as well-be sure to eat before. Picture package was $80 for all in your group-no individual prices. This was a yr ago so things could have changed.  It really was a nice relaxing day tho. 

[llarsen]

It's a bummer they make you purchase their photos. $80 is high, especially when we are photographers. 

 

Do they allow you to take GoPro Video? We like making movies of our adventures.

 

Thanks again!