Need excursion help, Please! ~ Dolphin Swim or Encounter? (Nassau)

[mlj'smom]

Hi! I am so confused by the excursion choices! (3 day Wonder, end of August) Our daughters (8 & 11) really want to SWIM with the dolphins. Disney only offers an "encounter". Is the encounter just as great as swimming with dolphins, or should I consider one of the outside excursion companies. What are risks involved with booking outside DCL? Also, we would like to tour the Atlantis resort when in Nassau. Can we do whatever dolphin thing we decide, and then still have enought time to visit Atlantis, and are we allowed to just go there and tour it on our own, or do we have to book an excursion for that? Thank you for anyone who will offer input!

 

[Girls Only]

Go to www.dolphinencounters.com. We did the dolphin swim and absolutely loved it. At the time my little one was 6. It took her a few minutes to warm up to the dolphins, but once she got used to their size she loved them. You should have enough time to spend at Atlantis. It depends on what time you book the dolphins. The only down side was we had to wear wet suits. It was easier for me than my sister who is a plus size. It is a little costly but worth it, just for the memories. One note, if you want them to make a photo book, you need to ask before hand. I didn't know that, but my sister did & she asked. When she showed it to me I could have killed her. They did a really good job.

 

[JulieWent]

Girls Only,
Did the wet suits cost extra? We'll be going in March. I'm thinking the water may be a little nippy. (We'd like to do the Dolphin Swim.)

Julie

 

[Monstro]

You really can't beat the dolphin encounter. Our kids still talk about it.

 

[tawasdave]

This is actually a reply to another post on here...hope it helps...

We did the Dolphin Encounter on the 04/04/04 Wonder cruise. You said Dolphin Swim and first want to make sure you understand that there is a dolphin swim and a dolphin encounter and they are very different. The dophin encounter is what Disney offers. Here is a link to their website so you can see the difference http://www.dolphinswims.com/ You do not really swim with the dolphins on the encounter. You stand on a platform in the water and a trainer brings the dophins up to you to touch, hug and kiss. You do not swim with them. Also a couple of things I did not know about it. First, they do offer wet suits for everyone...the encounter is actually under a canopy and can be chilly so you may want to use those. Also, they do have very small lockers to use for free for those items that you do not want to get wet. Was it worth $100? Well if it was just me, probably not..it was fun don't get me wrong. However to see the expressions on my DD 13 and my DS 15 was worth every penny. They loved it and was definately one of the big highlight of the trip.

They have two encounters one at 11am and one at 2 pm. We did the 11 am encounter and took the 2pm ferry back to the Wonder. We got back about 3:00 to Nassau. So couple of things. One if you want to shop on Nassau, most of the stores close at 5 or 5:30..so you will not have much time to shop. Second, On the way back from the encounter they stop at Paradise Island first. So if you are planning on spending any time at Atlantis you could get off the boat there and save yourself half the taxi fare.

Another thing...the lunch they give you at the encounter is about the most disorganized set up I have ever seen. Expect to wait in line a long time...seems the servers like to chat more than serve. We made the mistake of waiting around for the video before we went to lunch.(Yes we bought the video, and trust me...you probably will too..I swore I was not going to...but once in a lifetime..ya know). By the time we got to lunch and waited in line about an hour we had to leave half the food to catch the boat back. So my suggestion is, if you buy the video, let them know you want it, then go get lunch, then go back and get the video. We waited about 45 minutes for the video to be readybefore going to lunch....big mistake.

One other thing....with a group of 13 you will all be under the same canopy...but they will divide your group in two for the actual encounter...only room for 7-8 people doing the actual encounter at a time...so you will watch part of your family do the encounter then the other part can do it. That means that you can do your own video if you like. Just handoff the cam...would save you big bucks.

Hope that all helps...if you have any other questions feel free to send me a personal question...

Have a great time...its a ball...

 

[mlj'smom]

Thanks! Anyone else?

 

[disneyholic family]

i would call dolphin encounters directly to make the reservation for the swim....
though we've never done it in nassau (and we're not planning on getting off the ship this time), we've swum with dolphins on many occassions and it's definitely an experience to remember..

as for atlantis....i would skip it if i were you...
it's just a big hotel.....what's the big deal about visiting a big hotel?...
last time we booked a room at the comfort suites so that we could use the pools and slides at atlantis....it was fun, but the slides were terribly crowded (and not nearly as good as the slides at blizzard beach).....
however, there is no way i would ever go to the atlantis just to see it.....as i said, it's just a giant hotel....what's the big deal?....

 

[Girls Only]

The wet suit was included. We went in December, so I guess it was a good thing we did have the wet suits on. The swim really is great. We even got to feed our dophin. They give each person a fish & the dolphin will swim up to you to be fed. I wasn't real keen on holding a dead fish, but it was a lot of fun. I have a couple of great pictures of my girls hugging a dolphin or being kissed by one. Have a great time!