Where to Swim with Rays (Cozumel or CC) and Which Dolphin Excursion

[hogsfan3351]

Hello everyone. I have a 6 year old who loves Stingrays. I am going on a Disney Cruise with ports of Cozumel and Castaway Cay. My question is, "Should we do the Rays excursion in Cozumel or do it in Castaway Cay?"

Also, does anyone have any advice on Dolphin Discovery Versus Dolphinarius? We want to swim with the Dolphins, not just pet them...

Any information would be greatly appreciated....

 

[sdjen]

I would highly recommend the castaway one. My 6 yo lived it and it is very reasonably priced IMO. I am not aware of a stingray excursion in Cozumel. We did a dolphin swim at dolphinaris which we also loved.

Have a great time

 

[sayhello]

I did the Dolphin Swim at Dolphinaris last December, and it was a huge disappointment. They ran it like a rushed photo-op. You weren't really given time to enjoy the experience, there was *no* educational aspect, and the photos themselves were awful!

Sayhello

 

[ShelsGoingToDisney]

We did a dolphin swim/manatee swim combo through the Dolphin Discovery company in the Riveria Maya in 2007 (not part of a cruise ship vacation) and we did the Dolphin swim excursion in Cozumel through the DCL excursion at Dolphinaris last year and both were fantastic and very similar as far as making sure they were able to get your picture and what you did in your interaction with the dolphins.

As far as stingrays go are you stopping in Grand Cayman at all? If you are that would be where you want to see them. Stingray City! We did DCL's Stingray City/Island tour combo excursion and it was great. The swim with the wild stingrays was one of the coolest experiences of my life! My then 9 yr old DD loved every minute of it too!

 

[emsmomma]

I want to do the stingrays on CC, but my daughter will only be 4 1/2 and the website says 5. Do you think they will let her participate?

 

[my3lilonkeyz]

We did the stingrays in Cozumel and loved it. It was reasonably priced, lots of pics were taken by them (and the package was only $70 and included a wooden Stingray Beach frame that had our family photo in it and a disc with All the pics), there was also snorkeling included and a water trampoline. They had exotic birds and reptiles that you could pet, hold, and take photos of. My kids enjoyed laying in the hammocks and eating salsa and chips. We were not rushed and could stay as long as we liked and they covered the taxi back to the pier.

 

[sayhello]

I want to do the stingrays on CC, but my daughter will only be 4 1/2 and the website says 5. Do you think they will let her participate?

From what I've heard, DCL is very strict about enforcing age limits on the excursions.

Sayhello

 

[my3lilonkeyz]

They are strict on ages, and not just the CC excursions. We wanted to do a dolphin swim and not just the basic encounter in Grand Cayman but my son was 4 1/2 so it was a no go so we did the encounter. But I did ask if we could possibly get through because he was 4 1/2 and was told they will and an't ever let an age slide due to safety & liability issues. And I understand that completely it is definately a little harder to find things for smaller kids to do on excursions.

 

[Cruiser Cam]

I have done the stingrays at CC it was great never done it at Cozumel but I was there last week and went to paradise beach and it was great so if you are looking for something to do there theirs a thought