Manatee encounter - Chankanaab Park

[fredgirls]

No, port times are ship time not local. Always stay on ship time. I keep my phone on plane mode as soon as the ship leaves. I have been on cruises where the ship changes time. One hour this way then one hour back. Just always be on ship time.

OK. So.. Cozumel is central, but ship will stay eastern. Cozumel adheres to daylight savings, so when we arrive at 8.30am, it will actually be 7.30am Cozumel time.

Is that right?
That would mean we'd definitely have time to make the 10am encounter. If of course there are taxis out at that time!

 

[owensamo]

OK. So.. Cozumel is central, but ship will stay eastern. Cozumel adheres to daylight savings, so when we arrive at 8.30am, it will actually be 7.30am Cozumel time.

Is that right?
That would mean we'd definitely have time to make the 10am encounter. If of course there are taxis out at that time!

I have not sailed a DCL Western itinerary, but the eastern cruises I've sailed on DCL all had time changes so ship time matched local time. This included the EBTA. I'm pretty sure we always changed time on a sea day between ports so the time change didn't mess up excursion times, as well.

 

[fredgirls]

I have not sailed a DCL Western itinerary, but the eastern cruises I've sailed on DCL all had time changes so ship time matched local time. This included the EBTA. I'm pretty sure we always changed time on a sea day between ports so the time change didn't mess up excursion times, as well.

Thanks for the clarification.

 

[Golden Rose]

I just wanted to add that we didn't do the official swim with the manatees when we were there in February, but we did the Dolphin Push, Pull, and Swim, and they gave us a free short interaction with the manatees. We didn't feed them, but we got into the water with them and pet them.

What really surprised us was that they were covered in algae. This is apparently completely normal because they are slow moving, but it was more than a little disconcerting when we first touched them.

We are doing a 2pm dolphin interaction with a 3:45 ship return time, and I am definitely a little worried about the time. I don't usually like to push it time wise, and this does worry me a little. I'm pretty sure we'll have time to complete the interaction, but we may not have time to buy the photos. It would save us money, at least ;-)

 

[eeyoremommy]

We swam with the manatees at Chankanaab in June. The ship changes its time to match Cozumel time. There are no troubles there. I believe we did the 2:00 time slot. It is a 30 minute swim. For some reason, we were the only ones scheduled for that time, so it was just DH, DS, and myself. We had an incredible time. We got there a little early, and DS swam in the pool there. We have done the sea lion swim there as well on a different cruise. We booked through the website and told them we were staying locally as you cannot book through them directly if you tell them you are cruising with DCL. I highly recommend the experience. They do take a lot of pictures. The cost of the CD depends on the number of people in your group. The CD will be charged to your credit card in pesos if you do not pay cash (FYI - Your credit card company may hit you with a fee for converting the currency). Our DS was 8 at the time, and it was the highlight of his cruise. Getting a taxi is easy both there and back. The suggestion is to arrive 30 minutes prior, but we have had people get there later and still participate. We returned back to the ship in plenty of time. We chose the later swim because DH and I wanted to go a few places before we headed over.

 

[fredgirls]

We swam with the manatees at Chankanaab in June. The ship changes its time to match Cozumel time. There are no troubles there. I believe we did the 2:00 time slot. It is a 30 minute swim. For some reason, we were the only ones scheduled for that time, so it was just DH, DS, and myself. We had an incredible time. We got there a little early, and DS swam in the pool there. We have done the sea lion swim there as well on a different cruise. We booked through the website and told them we were staying locally as you cannot book through them directly if you tell them you are cruising with DCL. I highly recommend the experience. They do take a lot of pictures. The cost of the CD depends on the number of people in your group. The CD will be charged to your credit card in pesos if you do not pay cash (FYI - Your credit card company may hit you with a fee for converting the currency). Our DS was 8 at the time, and it was the highlight of his cruise. Getting a taxi is easy both there and back. The suggestion is to arrive 30 minutes prior, but we have had people get there later and still participate. We returned back to the ship in plenty of time. We chose the later swim because DH and I wanted to go a few places before we headed over.

Thank you so much. This is very helpful.