slyther

On my recent FoS cruise the casino had a promotion where you get your room bill wiped out if they pick your name. The lady that won only had about a $130 bill and I shed a tear as I looked at my $900 bill. (Darn dolphin excursion!)

We were also on this cruise. To the poster asking about the kids club: Our 7-year old boy only went there once because we couldn't talk him into going more. He was apprehensive being around a bunch of kids he didn't know. The counselors all seemed really nice. They divide up the day into 3 sessions (morning, afternoon, evening) and you can get a kids-oriented Cruise Compass that shows what activities they will be doing in each session. It looked fun.

We just did Anguilla Dolphin Encounter thru RCCL on Freedom of the Seas St Maarten call 4/24. I think it's the same operator, as we had Carnival people with us. You have to take a 45 minute or so boat ride across the Anguilla Channel over to Anguilla (and fill out a customs form). Beer and soda are available for sale on the boat ride.

Then it's a very short bus ride to the beach. The dolphin program there was a lot of fun.

If you select the 'encounter' option, you get to stand in the water on a submerged dock in groups of around 10-12. The trainer will have the dolphin swim by a few times so you can 'pet' her as she goes by. Then each person will get to do 3 different interactions. a "kiss" (hold the dolphin's nose up to your cheek), a "dance" (hold the dolphin's fins like hands), and a "target" (hold your arm out high and make a fist and the dolphin will swim up and put her nose to your target).

Those that buy the 'swim' package get a couple extra maneuvers. One is the dolphin will flip over on her back and let you grab her fins and she will pull you thru the water for a bit. The other is the 'foot push' where she will put her nose under your feet and push you thru the water. There may have been a 3rd move that I didn't notice.

Before/after your group is in the water with the dolphins you can hang out on the beach, which has a shaded area with chairs.

After everyone is done you get back on the bus to the operator's headquarters where they will serve a burger/chips and punch. Liquor items available for sale. There is also a gift shop and this is where you can buy pictures (they do not allow you to take pictures of the encounter)

The pictures are $30/each (delivered on a CD) or there are packages to get all the pictures of all the interactions for everyone in your party (for 3 people it was $139).

We did the 'encounter' and were happy with it. The 'swim' looked very cool as well. The pix are spendy but what can you do.

Hope that helps!

Freedom made it's Coco Cay call on 4/21, but the tenders started late due to waves and were slow to return to the ship for the same reason (causing 1 Alpha Alpha Alpha at the gangway)

Love this.. we sail Freedom 4/20