Dolphin Encounters

[SarafinaSarafina]

I'll be in Willemstad on May31st onbaord the Adventure of the Seas. On the RCI excursions they have a dolphin encounter and swin, which was the number one thing our family wanted to do on our cruise, but it's a bit expensive. Does anyone know of an independent company that does the same for a bit less money?

[MercedMike]

I'll be in Willemstad on May31st onbaord the Adventure of the Seas. On the RCI excursions they have a dolphin encounter and swin, which was the number one thing our family wanted to do on our cruise, but it's a bit expensive. Does anyone know of an independent company that does the same for a bit less money?

 

I checked into the Sea Lion encounter in Curacao and was told the cruise ships take up all the space on the encounters and you can only book independently that morning if the cruise lines don't use it all.

 

Dolphin encounters are not inexpensive, but they are very worthwhile. I think you would be wise to book the ship's excursion. You will love it!

 

Have a GREAT cruise!

[SarafinaSarafina]

thanks for the quick reply. I guess I'll book through the cruise, although I don't know if I'll be able to afford the dolphin swim (209 per person, and we are a group of three), just the dolphin encounter.

[gizmo]

I am not sure what they are currently doing but at one time they had a contract with RCL that only those booked throughy RCL could do the dolphin encounters.

 

I had a friend on Hal and her ship was in port the same day as the RCL and she could not book this either through Hal or Seaquarium. Seaquarium told her that RCL had exclusive rights to the bookings on certain days and no one including someone staying on the island could book the dolphin encounters.

[SarafinaSarafina]

yeah, I read something about that, which kinda stinks. I could get it so much cheaper through the seaquarium.

[JenAMR]

we had the same issue when we went on the AOS - we really wanted to do the Dolphin Swim but it was so expensive through the cruiseline. Well we had done a Dolphin Encounter the year before in the bahamas and while it was a fun experience it just wasn't what we were looking for and were mad that we hadn't spent the extra $ to just do the swim in the first place so we sucked it up in Curacao and went ahead and booked the swim. We booked it pre-cruise and paid it off before we even cruised so we didn't feel the cost too much. I must say this was the most amazing experience of my life. I am biased because all the dolphins seemed to love me and they kept coming up to my side to swim. the only time I wasn't swimming with a dolphin was when they had me go to the side so another group of people could get alone time. honestly, i will do this type of excursion again but i will wait a few years so it will feel new again. There is no other feeling than swimming alongside a dolphin or getting a dorsal fin ride...at least for me. they took a bunch of pictures of you doing it too and we bought like $100 worth of pictures because they were just so great and the happiness in our eyes and smiles have never been captured like that before.

 

If you can book it now and pay your credit card off in the next few months I say do it...you won't regret it. The swim is definitely worth the extra money. For the encounter you spend most of the time sitting on the edge of a lagoon while the instructor tells you about the dolphin and shows you tricks. then two at a time you come into the water to get a kiss from the dolphin and rub it. you are maybe in the water with the dolphin for 2 minutes a person. With the swim you are in the water with the dolphin during the whole excursion (i think it was like 30 or 45 minutes). and there were like 2 or 3 dolphins with us as well. there was one family where the two kids and the father went in and the mother (who was just happy seeing her family with the dolphins) just stayed on shore taking pictures. she said she only paid the cab fare to come watch and to me she got a better deal than we did when we did the encounter. not sure if all three of you want to do the swim but that would be a cost saving option.

 

Also - at the seaquariaum don't miss the dolphin show they have there - that was a blast as well.