Cozumel Dolphin Discovery -- which tour? Best rate? Timing?

[Cinderellie]

I am hearing raves about this excursion. My questions are:

 

- Which choice is the best? I see on Dolphin Discovery's site (www.dolphindiscovery.com) they offer more tours than what Carnival does. Which one was the most WOW? I also see they have a sea lion tour. Any good compared to the dolphins?

 

- I also see that going DIRECT (not via Carnival) can save you money. Who has the best rate?

 

- If you go direct and for some reason you can't get there, are you CHARGED?

 

- Finally, I see we're in port from 10:30 to 6:00 in Cozumel. At what time was your tour? I notice some tours only happen at certain times in a day. Did you have a chance to do something else while you were there? What could you do?

 

Thanks, wise ones!

 

Cinderellie

 

Honeymoon Dolphin 1982

Royal Caribbean 1985

NCL Norway 1989

Chandris 1990

Princess 1993

Big Red Boat 1998

Disney Magic 2002

[Kirasha]

What I can offer to your questions:

 

The Royal Swim is above and beyond the best experience you can get from all of the feedback I've seen on these boards. It offers the most time with the dolphins and is the most hands-on. This program is not available through the ship!

 

They do charge you right off the bat when you make your reservation. Look at their cancellation policy on the Reservations - "Refunds will be made to clients traveling on cruise ships and who are unable to keep their reservation due to the late arrival or diversion of their cruise ship.) All refunds are subject an administration charge of 2.15%."

[cruise freak]

I made my reservation for the same tour that is offered from Dolphin Discovery from Sherri at www.cozumelinsider.com. She secured the reservation for us and yes we did pay immediately on our charge cards. I do believe as best as I can remember that if the ship did not get there you get a refund. We loved the dolphin swim as only 8 peole get to participate at a time (2 groups of 4) and it lasted about 45 minutes. I was a time to remember. We bought pictures and the video. My husband and a friend did the sea lion swim and it took place in a shallow pool similar to what you would see at Sea World. They were the only ones to particiate. They really like it too but I believe the dolphin swim was better. We paid $119.00 each for the dolphin swim. We had to take a taxi to the park for approx $10.00 for the four of us and paid $10.00 each for admission to the park. I believe we were there from 8:00-3:00pm. We did the dolphin swim at 10:00 and the sea lion at 12:00. We would have had more time to swim or snorkel there if we would have wanted to. Any more questions I will do the best I can to answer. Go the Port of Call board and I believe you will find alot of info on this tour. Book early as it fill up early.

 

 Till the Big Z

 Till Infinity and Beyond

[bandtaxi]

We did the royal swim after booking with cozumelinsider.com.

 

$10 taxi, $12 admission.

 

Make sure you have plenty of time after arriving. Maybe we arrived when a lot of others did, but we stood in line to purchase admission, then stood in line to get our bracelets for the swim, then entered the park to stand in line again to confirm the charge for the swim.

 

The swim was great! We had a blast.

 

After the swim and video, we had time to swim and snorkle at the beach (equipment available to rent or bring your own.) Chairs and umbrellas are available to use on the beach.

 

There are beautiful gardens here to walk through also.

[trixiefan]

My daughter plans on doing the dolphin swim at Chankanaab. I was concerned about the timing since I believe we are only in Cozumel from 10:30 to 5:00? What would be the best time to reserve the swim and make sure that we're not late getting there or back to the ship?

 

until my first cruise!