Blue Lagoon Dolphin Encounter or a day at the Atlantis??

[vbarry]

Booking a last minute cruise for February. Which excursion should we do? If we book the Dolphin Encounter we will do this through DCL but if we book the Atlantis we will go the Comfort Suites route. I have two girls ages 5 and 9. They love waterparks but I think they would also enjoy the dolphin encounter. I am a little worried about getting a taxi on our own etc with the recent reports on Nassau not being very safe. My other worry is the weather. If we book with DCL, can we cancel and do something else if the weather is not warm etc. Thanks for any ideas.

 

[Anal Annie]

Wow that's a tough one. We did back-to-backs so we did both on our Nassau stops and we LOVED the Dolphin swim. We booked the CS for Atlantis which is a hoooge money saver. We booked the Dolphin Swim directly with Dolphin Encounters but I hear now they ask if you're with DCL and then they won't book you. Both have some age limits and / or height limits. The Atlantis Aquaventure Park has a nice childrens play area for your younger one. For the money, and with your kids ages I'd probably book the CS and go to Atlantis. They won't be tall enough to do everything but the pools are really nice & you can walk thru the aquarium too.

(PS) IMHO taking a taxi from right there at the port to either place is safe. You are basically going door to door and are not out walking around somewhere alone.

 

[ShellyLynn3630]

Wow that's a tough one. We did back-to-backs so we did both on our Nassau stops and we LOVED the Dolphin swim. We booked the CS for Atlantis which is a hoooge money saver. We booked the Dolphin Swim directly with Dolphin Encounters but I hear now they ask if you're with DCL and then they won't book you. Both have some age limits and / or height limits. The Atlantis Aquaventure Park has a nice childrens play area for your younger one. For the money, and with your kids ages I'd probably book the CS and go to Atlantis. They won't be tall enough to do everything but the pools are really nice & you can walk thru the aquarium too.

(PS) IMHO taking a taxi from right there at the port to either place is safe. You are basically going door to door and are not out walking around somewhere alone.

Why would'nt they book you if you are from DCL? What if you told them no, would they ask for proof?

 

[Anal Annie]

Why would'nt they book you if you are from DCL? What if you told them no, would they ask for proof?

Back when we did it (summer 2008) they used to allow it. Apparently though DCL figured out that people were booking directly so they were losing customers. WE did it directly because we wanted to do the SWIM and DCL only offered the Encounter at the time so it was a non-issue. Now maybe that's changed & DCL offers both the encounter and the swim?? I don't know for sure. But I think I heard that DCL made a deal with Dolphin Encounters so that they wouldn't book DCL guests for something that DCL also now offers. Most of these tour operators ask where you are staying or if you're on a cruise ship in lieu of an address so they know where you're coming from in case you're a no show. It's also important for them to know if you're coming from a cruise ship in case the ship cannot dock for some reason. Then they can verify that with the port authority and you can get a refund. If you book directly you have no other recourse for a refund unless the ship cannot dock. They don't cancel because of weather and they make you pay for it up front when you book it. If you book thru DCL and they have to cancel the excursion for some reason then it's autmatically not charged to your account 'cuz all of your excursions booked thru DCL go onto your onboard account.

Does that make sense? But so I guess you could lie...but you'd have to make up some other answer to give them when they ask where you're staying and then if something goes bust you might be SOL.

 

[mommy2paris]

We had the same problem... our youngest was under the DCL age limit for the dolphin encounter and they wouldn't take our reservation directly. We ended up giong through shore trips.com and we able to easily make the reservation, cheaper than DCL and only about $4 more than the encounter directly.