Dolphin Swim Excursion Recommendation

[m2theax]

My girlfriend and I will be sailing on Carnival Miracle on Jan. 7, 2007. She wants to swim with the dolphins, we are visiting 5 ports:

 

Cayman Islands

Cozumel

Belize

Routtan Islands

Costa Maya.

 

Which port would you suggest booking the dolphin swim at? I viewed some of the packages and some of them seem as if they boat you off to another island to swim with them, long story short, I just want her to be able to swim with the dolphins while I can stand there not participate and take picture of her, so she is happy and not off at some other location. What do you recommend? and where?

[Grits53]

I will be going to Costa Maya and Cozumel in March and had to make this same decision. Based on reports from others, including my daughter, who was there in Oct., I am going to do the Cozumel dolphin swim excursion. My daughter had done a dophin touch encounter before, but she said there's nothing like the swim encounter in Cozumel. So I think that's what I'll do. I haven't heard much about the one in Costa Maya. Check out the boards for the individual ports to read what others have to say about the excursions.

[m2theax]

Thank You for the info, I most likely will be booking it there as well,

One more question for the excursion extraordinaires, Which Mayan Ruins and from which of the ports above would you recommend going/leaving from. Thank You for your input and sugggestions they are greatly appreciated.

[river_sand_bar2]

Was on the Miracle last month... did the Mayan Ruins in Costa Maya and they were AWESOME...Not much else to do there, except for laying on the beach. So thats why we picked that place.

 

As Far as the dolphin encounter goes... may I make a suggestion to not do it... I know, its a wonderful thing to do, however, its extremely harmful to the animals as there is a HIGH rate of mortality from diseases brought in by humans. These are wild animals that are used solely for monetary value. IF you truly love these animals, check them out in the wild.

 

Go snorkeling and see the fishes swimming free.:D

[serene56]

for dolphin stuff--visit www.cozumelinsider.com and read the difference between encounters and swims. The royal swim is the best you can book.

 

mayan ruins-- visit http://belizecruiseexcursions.com/BelizeExcursions.htm

and see Altun Ha ruins. THe guides with this excursion are great. Using the carnival excursion youwill be off on your own for a short period.

[emdia43]

:) Have a look at dolphindiscovery.com- that's who we booked through in Cozumel, at Chankanaab Park. It is cheaper to book direct. If you can,go for the Royal Swim,it is thrilling. It involves being towed along by the dolphins and also being propelled along by a foot push with time for caressing and playing with them. They looked healthy and seem to love what they were doing. The lagoon was clean and the trainers seemed caring and knowledgeable.

[Grits53]

Was on the Miracle last month... did the Mayan Ruins in Costa Maya and they were AWESOME...

 

I want to go to Chacchoben ruins in March when I'm there. Did you book your excursion through Carnival or David & Ivan? I've been trying to find out if the Carnival excursion is any good.

[Grits53]

Which Mayan Ruins and from which of the ports above would you recommend going/leaving from.

 

We have done the Tulum ruins out of Cozumel. It is a long tour that involves about a 45 minute ride on a large tender boat to Playa Del Carmen, and then about an hour on a Greyhound type bus to Tulum. There is a LOT of walking to be done at Tulum, and very little shade or places to sit and rest. And it's hot and humid. My husband couldn't keep up, because he has bad knees. But I loved it. I would recommend seeing the Tulum ruins, if you are physically able to do a lot of walking and some hill climbing. The down side is that you probably will not get to spend any time in Cozumel, as the ruins are on the mainland. I plan to go to the Chacchoben ruins out of Costa Maya in March, but I think you would be more impressed with Tulum.

[sharecruises]

Good thread..

 

I have similar concerns about the Glory

 

I know I want to do ruins...just not sure which one, am leaning towards the Altun Ha in Belize, as Belize seems to be a place where one "must" do an excursion, and the cave tubing simply does NOT appeal to me at all

 

 

I am also thinking about a dolphin encounter...yes, I know the swim is "better" but I am not athletic and not sure I want the swim...

 

my dophin choices are cozumel...costa maya *don't think I want to do it there tho....and also bahamas as Glory goes to Bahamas also, tho not a "long" day there

 

which one??

 

I know to post on the "ports" boards...but sometimes it is more bout planning which port to do which thing as some of the activities "overlap", ie they are in both ports

 

I am pretty sure I only want to do "one" of each, and want variety

 

suggestions appreciated, thanks

[river_sand_bar2]

Grits53... Lots of information on the Costa Maya forum about David and Ivan. check it out but, Yes, we did do that tour and it was wonderful...

[hstrybuf]

Definitely Cozumel! Chankanaab Park had a great dolphin swim!

[emdia43]

Sharecruises- you don't really need to do any swimming to do the Royal Swim- you have a lifevest on and just swim about 20 yds out into the lagoon and float there for the dolphins to come up to you. You do that a couple of times for the maneuvers and then the rest of the time you are on a metal grille (wear beach shoes) playing/caressing/having photos taken.

[hilltopfamily]

just did the dolphin swim and snorkel through Discovery Dolphin at Chankanaab in Cozumel 2 months ago. tremendous experience....would have done the royal swim but my daughter has physical disabilities and we chose according to what she could manage. don't want to enter debate on whether or not this is ethical but I will say the atmosphere there and the trainers were all about safety and care for the dolphins.....we left with a greater understanding of and care for sea life.

 

have done both the Tulum ruins and Altun Ha ruins. Both are wonderful but different. best time to do tulum is if your ship goes to Playa del Carmen or Calica because then you're already on the mainland and you don't "waste" valuable port time getting to/from the mainland. But otherwise, if you're in Coz and not doing the dolphins, then the Tulum ruins are VERY beautiful and breathtaking, perched on the seaside. (oh, yes, and hot too because there is no shade!). Altun Ha ruins were also VERY hot and were quite interesting to see but are no where near water so not as breathtaking and scenic. Recommend doing this through the ship as it was a lengthy tour. While we were there you could climb the pyramid (not sure if you still can) and it was one of the few places where you could....so that was something we were very glad we got to do.

[bol4taz]

what is the difference btwn the royal swim for $139.00 & the swim for $99.00.... and is paying the $16.00 park entrance fee worth it for others in our group not doing the dolphin swim. I really want to do the swim, but I may have waited to late to book, since we leave on the VALOR on the 4th of Jan.

Thanks

[emdia43]

The Royal Swim- you first watch a video about dolphin behavior then go to the lagoon. They limit the size of the group to 8 or 10 to allow lots of interaction with the animals. You are standing on a submerged metal grille (wear beach shoes or it really hurts) and one at a time the dolphins come to you and you can pet them,hold them like a baby,kiss and play and have lots of photos taken. (If you are just doing the $99 dolphin encounter that 's all you would do,in a separate area)- but if you sign up for the Royal Swim the fun just starts.... you swim out into the lagoon (with lifevest on so don't need to be a good swimmer) get into position as they told you on the video with arms outstretched,then two dolphins swim towards you underwater at great

speed,they circle under you and come up alongside you and and then you get hold of their fins and they pull you along. WHEE!

Then you go back out into the lagoon and they approach you again but this time they come up under your feet and lift you up out of the water and propel you along for about 30ft until you fall back into the water. It is thrilling..... It's an expensive excursion,but the thrill of a lifetime.

Each person that enters the park has to pay $16 to do so,so not sure if all your party will want to do that if they're not into the program,but they can come out to watch and take photos for you. You can go to the beach there but I didn't do that so not sure how good it is.

The whole program takes a couple of hours for all of you to do,then you go back and wait while they develop the DVD and photos they took.

Take a look at dolphindiscovery.com that's the company I booked with. :)

[hilltopfamily]

We just did the swim and snorkel for $99 and it included quite a bit more than described above. I think the "encounter" described above is like $79 on the Dolphin Discovery site? I had to thoroughly check out all 3 different offerings at Dolphin Discovery since my DD16 has physical disabilities. This is briefly what we found:

 

Royal Swim: as described above, interaction is with 2 dolphins so you get the dolphin "encounter" where you learn about them, touch them while on the platform, get the "dolphin kiss", then swim out a small ways into the lagoon for the "hug", the "pectoral swim", PLUS you get the 2-dolphin "push off" which looks very fun (samantha brown is seen doing this at this very place in Cozumel while on the Freedom of the Seas on the travel channel cruise show).

 

Swim & Snorkel: (this is the one we did): interaction is with 1 dolphin rather than 2, you get the "encounter" where you learn about them, touch them while on the platform, do the "kiss", then swim out a ways into the lagoon and do the "hug" and then the "pectoral swim". This one does not include the "push off" because it is not a 2 dolphin interaction. Then the trainer has the dolphin do a few more movements while you are all in the lagoon watching as a group with your snorkel gear on. Our group was 10 people in all. I believe the Royal swim also gets this last part as well but I'm not certain about that.

 

Encounter: least expensive option, and one that I know the least about. I believe you stay on the platform, get to first go through the educational part as described above, then you stay on the platform and get to touch and kiss the dolphin, watch the dolphin do the things the trainer calls on him/her to do. No pectoral swim or push off or such.

 

Definitely recommend doing the Royal swim if physical ability and $$ allow for it. In our case, I didn't let my kids know of the differences between what we did and the Royal swim and they were absolutely THRILLED with the Swim & Snorkel....said it was the very best thing we have done on any of our 4 cruises. That dolphin hug, kiss, and especially the pectoral swim is AMAZING!!!

 

Yes, you pay $16 per person entrance to Chankanaab in addition to dolphin prices, so it is a pricey day (think my younger kids got a lower "kid" price). My DH came with the 4 of us and didn't do the dolphin thing, as he was going to watch us and take many pics. Well, they don't let them (non-participants) stand very close as they have their OWN photographer and videographer there and plan to make $$ so my DH pics from quite a ways away weren't that great. You watch the DVD and see the pics at the end and the DVD was GREAT so we bought it for $40 and our kids love watching it to see themselves swimming with "Musa" the dolphin. Beware that they don't accept Discover card at Chankanaab....this caused us to run very close on cash that day since I had planned on using it and didn't have a Visa or MC with me.

 

BTW: The 4 of us didn't find the platform painful and were all barefoot but it was challenging for my kids to stay standing at platform edge due to the water not being very still that day, they had to cling on to me a bit. And I had an underwater camera with me that I was snapping off when I had the chance. Gotta have pics to scrapbook, you know! :D

[pjfnme]

Can anyone tell me if they require proof of age for children???? My daughter will be 7 1/2 when we take our cruise. She is already 72lbs and 4'5 tall. She most definitely passes for at least a 9 year old. She also swims very well. If they do not require proof of age, I am sure that she would go through without question for the Royal Swim but, I don't want to take the chance if they will ask for some sort of identification. Help...!!!!

[hilltopfamily]

we were not asked for proof of childrens ages. don't know whether it ever happens but it did not in our particular case.