Dolphin Swim preferences

[primamama]

Going on a 3 day Dream Cruise/Orlando vacation in April. Trying to decide between 3 different dolphin choices: Discovery Cove (Orlando), Atlantis excursion (cruise) or Blue Lagoon excursion (cruise). Any thoughts on this? I really wanted to do it while on the cruise so that we didn't have to take up one of our Orlando days doing it. Thoughts/comments? Thanks!

 

[deanimal]

How many days do you have in Orlando? My first thought would be to not want to spend one of my cruise days doing something I could do in Orlando!
Do you have young kids? I'm not sure about the others, but Discovery Cove dolphin interaction is for age six and up.

My personal plan is to hold off on doing a dolphin interaction until my youngest is six, then do Discovery cove on one of our Orlando trips. With Seaworld and Aquatica admission included, as well as snorkling, tropical birds, breakfast, lunch and drinks, it's comparable to the cost of an excursion, and I just feel more comfortable with an American outfit; subject to North American standards of safety and animal welfare.

 

[CanuckTraveller]

We did the Blue Lagoon dolphin encounter when our boys were 5 and 3 yrs and enjoyed it tremendously. The area was very clean, the dolphins had quite a bit of space to swim around and they did a nice job of talking to the group about how to care for the dolphins, keep the oceans clean etc before the actual meeting of the dolphins. It was expensive, but an amazing experience.

 

[kcashner]

We thought Discovery Cove was better than any dolphin thing we've seen on any island. It is an all day, all inclusive activity and your ticket includes a pass to Sea World. I'd do it in Orlando rather than spend a day of my cruise on a much lesser activity.