Dolphin Tour in Curacao

[scrapycruiser]

Has anyone done this? Is it an encounter or a swim ?? Does the $109

include the aquarium fee ? If I wanted to do this by myself , do you think I would be able to share a ride with other passengers ?

[JimVrhovac]

They have both the encounter and the swim there.

 

Think only the encounter is offered through the ship.

 

We did the swim in the Lagoon and it is awesome and well worth the expense. They now offer swimming in open ocean with the DOlphins and will be doing that next year when we go there.

 

Their website is: http://www.dolphin-academy.com/index.htm

 

Have put some pictures on webshots from the DOlphin swim.

Link is :http://community.webshots.com/user/jimvrhovac

 

Have a great trip.

 

JIm & Ruth

[scrapycruiser]

Thanks ! I loved the pictures ! Looked like you were really enjoying yourselves ! My question now is, if the ship ( Zaandam ) only offers the encounter, can I make a reservation directly with the academy for the "swim" ?

[herb]

We were in Curacao this past January at an all inclusive and the Seaquarium was up the road from our hotel. Our daughter did the sealion swim. She loved it. ( we all did the dolphin swim in the Bahamas a few years ago, it was worth every cent) :)

[gizmo]

Thanks ! I loved the pictures ! Looked like you were really enjoying yourselves ! My question now is, if the ship ( Zaandam ) only offers the encounter, can I make a reservation directly with the academy for the "swim" ?

 

Yes, but WED are reserved for RCL only. Apparently RCL has all the dolphin swims and encounters reserved.

[gizmo]

We were in Curacao this past January at an all inclusive and the Seaquarium was up the road from our hotel. Our daughter did the sealion swim. She loved it. ( we all did the dolphin swim in the Bahamas a few years ago, it was worth every cent) :)

 

Can you tell me more about the sea lion swim?

[herb]

First off, we checked the cruiseship schedules for the time we were in Curacao. We knew that when there were no ships in port the Seaquarium would not be that busy, and we were so right. If I'm not mistaken cruiselines do not offer the sealion swim, only the dolphin swim.

 

Only my daughter took part in the swim, since I had fractured my shoulder a month earlier there was no way I wanted a sea lion frolicing near my shoulder :eek: and my DW decided as well not to take part.

 

Stephanie was the only participant in the sea lion swim, so she was given VIP treatment :D ( I suppose it's still fairly new and/ or people don't have the courage yet to give that a try as opposed to the dolphin swim which is so widely "accepted")

.

She said the sea lion swim was handled the same way as the dolphin swim as far as being in the water with them and playing with them. You do have to go underwater more often than a dophin swim in order for the sea lions to want to "play". She was very happy that she did it. Although it was similar in many respects to the dolphin swim , it was still a unique experience to have done this type of activity with sea lions.

 

Hope this helps a bit.

[gizmo]

Thanks Herb. I think it would be very cool to swim with sea lions.

[smoosh21]

When I was in Curacao over Thanksgiving I did the encounter dive at the Seaquarium. I am not sure what ship was in port the day that I did it, but I made my reservations directly through their webiste.

It was diving for non-certified divers, but handled very well. We got to feed the rays, the turtles and the nurse sharks.

You will also get to swim with herbie, the big grouper.

 

I didn't see anything about certain days being reserved just for certain ship people, so you can probably double check with the aquarium people themselves. And for the encounters, your admission is included in the encounter fee.

[herb]

You will also get to swim with herbie, the big grouper.

 

Good thing I didn't do that encounter! I'd never hear the end of it... herbie the grouper :eek:

 

I didn't see anything about certain days being reserved just for certain ship people, so you can probably double check with the aquarium people themselves.

I don't think there are any days when "non-cruisers" can't use the facilities, it's just that most dive times and swim times may be fully booked because of cruise ships being in port.

[gizmo]

The Wed information is on their site.

 

http://www.dolphin-academy.com/reserve-other.htm

 

On Wednesday we only accept reservations of the tour operator on board of the Adventure of the Seas cruiseship.