Dolphin encounter & stingray city?

[RosiesCruising]

Me and my boyfriend are thinking about booking the Dolphin encounter and stingray city and I was wondering if it is any good? Ive heard that there can be overcrowding when taking a Carnival excursion..Is it that bad? Also whats the difference between "Dolphin encounter and Dolphin Swim" through Carnival? I can only see a $$$ diff....Thanks!!

[ANGEL MOM]

Me and my boyfriend are thinking about booking the Dolphin encounter and stingray city and I was wondering if it is any good? Ive heard that there can be overcrowding when taking a Carnival excursion..Is it that bad? Also whats the difference between "Dolphin encounter and Dolphin Swim" through Carnival? I can only see a $$$ diff....Thanks!!

I was wondering the same thing... we cruise March 28th and have booked the excursion! I wanted to see the dolphin's but not "swim" with them.... Is anyone out there that has done this excursion?????

[RosiesCruising]

NO ONE?? REALLYYY?? :confused:

[bookbabe]

Maybe try the Carnival board, since it's an excursion specific to them? Or, if you know which of the two dolphin places they go to, you could check the company's website for more details? Or, I'm sure I've seen reviews on here before, so if you do a search in this forum for "dolphin" I'm sure you'll find lots of threads.

 

I haven't been on either, but usually the "swims" involve actually swimming in the water with the dolphins, while the "encounters" mean that you're standing in water while the dolphins are swimming. From reviews I remember seeing, I think the swims are much more involved than the encounters...but again, I haven't done either, so I'm just going from memory... :D

[pacarolinagirl]

I booked my dophin swim directly with Dolphin Discovery & my hubby was able to watch & take pictures for me. I'm not sure if they'll let you just go in & watch if nobody in your party is participating. It was a once in a lifetime experience for me. We just caught a bus to Dolphin Discovery...it was either $2 or $2.50 each way.

 

We also did the stingray city tour with Fat Fish Adventures via waverunners. We spent 3 -4 hrs out on them...such a blast. They have a website you can look up the info. Not sure if I'm allowed to post it on here. That was also another fantastic adventure! We had top notch personal service from them.

 

Not sure if you could do them both in 1 day though. We were there 2 days due to the swine flu outbreak. Hope this helps! :)

[Nanatravel]

Friends of ours recently took the CCL tour as the OP described. He said it was rather lame and not worth the money for the Dolphin Discovery but they all loved the Swim with the Sting Rays. Discovery would not book the Dolphin Swim independently of the ship's tours the week we were there.

 

Keep in mind, that if Carnival cancels it Swim with the Sting Ray tours due to rough seas, you might not get to go. A private vendor often still sails to the sand bar.

[RosiesCruising]

Thanks all, havent decided yet but I doubt Im going with the CCL tour.:rolleyes:

[JeremyK]

Does anyone know if you can do Dolphin Swim & Stingray City with a 3rd-party company to save some bucks and possibly have less people around you?

 

Carnival wants $150