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Nassau Dolphin Excursion, Blue Lagoon or Atlantis?


129hutch

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Heading out on the Dream in January. Trying to decide which Dolphin Excursion at Nassau will be better for us- Blue Lagoon or Atlantis. My DD and DS will be 10 and 6 at the time. Just want to do the Dolphin Interaction not the Swim. Any advice will be much appreciated! Thx!

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I have been to Atlantis twice (didn't do anything with the dolphins), and did blue lagoon dolphin encounter twice, that being said if this is your first time to the Bahamas I would head to Atlantis it is amazing in

Itself. Im sure they will deliver with their dolphin experiences. When your finished you can walk around the hotel it's gorgous (not sure if encounter comes with waterpark access). If you choose blue lagoon you take a 10 mins boat ride to blue lagoon they tell you all the celebrity homes on the way once you arrive you'll watch a video and learn how to treat dolphins then you'll get in waste deep water about 10 people we took turns kissing hugging dancing with dolphin, then pose for pictures you can also get a DVD of your group. The island has a beach hammocks place with basic food items

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I did some research and asked a lot of questions before booking too. I have found that the Blue Laoggon got MUCH better reviews than the Atlantis one. So we went with Blue Lagoon.

I am writing about my Dream trip here

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1398603

 

On page 11 I talk about the dolphin Encounter and I have pictures and video as well.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1398603&page=11

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Jen:

 

YES! I have been reading your trip review as well as your food review. I have to say you have caused me to neglect a bunch of housework this past weekend while reading your blogs instead. LOL :) And your daughter, is too dang cute- esp. in that Mary Poppins costume :) She's a sport for putting up with all those pictures- my kids usually run when I get the camera out.

Anyway- did you book the Dolphin Encounter through Disney or on your own? I can see I could save some money bookin it on my own- but having my kids with us on this cruise I feel like I'd be more at ease doing it through this ship as far as timing, transportation, etc.

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Jen:

 

YES! I have been reading your trip review as well as your food review. I have to say you have caused me to neglect a bunch of housework this past weekend while reading your blogs instead. LOL :) And your daughter, is too dang cute- esp. in that Mary Poppins costume :) She's a sport for putting up with all those pictures- my kids usually run when I get the camera out.

Anyway- did you book the Dolphin Encounter through Disney or on your own? I can see I could save some money bookin it on my own- but having my kids with us on this cruise I feel like I'd be more at ease doing it through this ship as far as timing, transportation, etc.

 

 

Thanks for reading....I have had weekends of neglect too at times! LOL!

 

I booked through Disney...and thats the only way you can do it. I looked inot doing it on my own, but they have a contract with Disney, so you are not allowed to book on your own with them. You could lie, I guess, but to me, I was worried that if something happened and I would get stuck there. It was a difference, but not a lot and I had piece of mind then that we would make it back to the ship. If you do want to look at Atlantis too, book the early dolphin Encounter and then get off at the 1st stop on the way back. That stop lets you off near Atlantis, and you can look around and then get a taxi back. 8 years ago my DH and I took a taxi over to Atlantis for an hour or 2 and enjoyed it, but everything costs there. We did the Aquarium tour (on our own) and then just walked the gorunds a bit, but it is a big place and we didn't stray too far for fear of getting lost.

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Hi, i have done both encounter/swim locations, you can book encounter directly with atlantis, just call them and get off the ship, walk thru the nassau terminal and get a taxi for 8.00 to the atlantis royal tower. we just did a sea lion adventure there, really, really cute, great location and tour of the habitat. then you can use pools. look at atlantis online for more info.

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  • 1 month later...

I have a question....I tried to book through Dolphin Encounters and was not able to get the time I wanted, but I saw a couple of excursion websites had the time available - not sure why that is - any help on this subject is appreciated! I want to make sure I book the right program. Thanks, Judi

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I have a question....I tried to book through Dolphin Encounters and was not able to get the time I wanted, but I saw a couple of excursion websites had the time available - not sure why that is - any help on this subject is appreciated! I want to make sure I book the right program. Thanks, Judi

 

If you are doing Blue Lagoon, you can only book through DCL, not Blue Lagoon directly. They have a contract with Disney and will not take you because of it. Also, I looked at times and some are too early, (you won't be off the ship on time) or too late and you won't make it back in time, so it is better to go through Disney on that one. I did email them directly and ask, and thats when I found out that they won't take anyone from a DCL cruise because of the contract. But also that those time slots are completely booked up by DCL. I think the morning one for DCL was like 9:30 and Blue Lagonn shows 10:30, but it's the same slot. You meet on the ship at 9:30 and by the time you get to the island its 10:30.

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Jenseib-

Do you remeber how long your total Dolphin Encounter took at Blue Lagoon? If we get the 9:30 will there be time whne we get back to do a little sightseeing and shopping in Nassau. Thanks for all your insight so far :)

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Jenseib-

Do you remeber how long your total Dolphin Encounter took at Blue Lagoon? If we get the 9:30 will there be time whne we get back to do a little sightseeing and shopping in Nassau. Thanks for all your insight so far :)

 

9:30 is your meeting time. You won't be to the island for at least another hour. But that being said, yes you can still do some. We had planned to ourselves, but we ended up just staying on the ship after, since DD wanted to do the detective agency with my Mom. If you take the first boat back after you encounter you should be back by or before 2. I think we took the 1 PM boat back, though it was late, we still got back fairly fast and were in line to see the princesses on the ship by 2:15. And we had stopped for a potty break and went back to the room before getting in line.

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