Problem Booking Dolphin Encounter

[BamaTraveler]

I was thrilled to learn of the opportunity for a dolphin encounter in Curacao, because our 7 year old daughter is completely obsessed with them. After doing research here on the CC boards, I decided to book the encounter directly with the Academy and plan to grab a taxi there. Well, almost four months out they were completely booked for the day...I have a feeling they are holding all of the spots for the ships in port. So, we had to scrap Plan A. Plan B is to go ahead and pay the jacked-up rate that Royal Caribbean is charging and book the encounter through them (like I said, this would mean the world to my daughter). Well, it turns out that Royal Caribbean has put an age minimum of 8 for their excursion....despite the fact that the Aquarium says that ANY AGE is okay for the encounter, as long as a parent is with them. Grrrrrr!! :mad: The representative at RCI said to talk to someone at the Excursions desk when we board and maybe they can somehow help me.

So, here is my question...has anyone been able to get a child younger than 8 on the RCI dolphin excursion? Has anyone gone to the Aquarium and been able to get a walk-in reservation for an encounter later that day? I'm trying to figure out how to make this happen....

[Host Caroline]

I would check with the people at RCI to see if the age restriction is firm. If the Encounter is booked for your day in port, the chances that a spot will open up are minimal. I'd have a plan B.

[4774Papa]

I was thrilled to learn of the opportunity for a dolphin encounter in Curacao, because our 7 year old daughter is completely obsessed with them. After doing research here on the CC boards, I decided to book the encounter directly with the Academy and plan to grab a taxi there. Well, almost four months out they were completely booked for the day...I have a feeling they are holding all of the spots for the ships in port. So, we had to scrap Plan A. Plan B is to go ahead and pay the jacked-up rate that Royal Caribbean is charging and book the encounter through them (like I said, this would mean the world to my daughter). Well, it turns out that Royal Caribbean has put an age minimum of 8 for their excursion....despite the fact that the Aquarium says that ANY AGE is okay for the encounter, as long as a parent is with them. Grrrrrr!! :mad: The representative at RCI said to talk to someone at the Excursions desk when we board and maybe they can somehow help me.

So, here is my question...has anyone been able to get a child younger than 8 on the RCI dolphin excursion? Has anyone gone to the Aquarium and been able to get a walk-in reservation for an encounter later that day? I'm trying to figure out how to make this happen....

Celebrity charges $139.00 for the dolphin encounter. From the Internet, I see that the cost is $89, with paying a taxi to get there, the savings many not be huge?

[BamaTraveler]

4774Papa, the price difference is no longer a concern....my problem is that RCI has reserved all the Dolphin Academy's slots for the day, yet won't let me book the excursion because they say my child does not meet the age requirement (which is untrue). I spoke with 2 folks at RCI (including an Excursions specialist) and they said its the age that their insurance has set, and they cannot override that set age. Keeping my fingers crossed that all the slots don't get booked and maybe we can do it directly thru the academy when we visit the aquarium. But, for sure, Caroline, we will work on an alternate plan!

[Host Caroline]

If it's an insurance thing that they are basing minimum age on, that won't change then. They'd lose their insurance if they let someone under age go and "anything" happened. I would try and call them or email them from ship day or so before. A lot of vendors/tour ops reserve all their spaces for the ship when a large enough ship is in port and if that's the case you are "SOL":(

[BamaTraveler]

Well after WEEKS of back and forth emails/ phone calls with both RCI and the Curacao Dolphin Academy, we finally got our famlily booked! It took the Dolphin Academy (who, more than likely had been losing $ because of the age restriction RCI imposed) calling Royal Caribbean and telling them they were wrong. We are so excited!

[Paula B]

Our Princess ship doesn't have the dophin encounter listed. So I was wondering if our ship gets in port at 1pm and their last dophin encounter is at 2 would we have enough time to get a taxi and be there on time.

thanks in advance,

Paula