Cozumel Chankanaab National Park Advice- with Dolphin Discovery

[Minnie368]

We Cruise April 2018 and are narrowing down our excursions choices. We’ve decided that Dolphin Discovery at Chankanaab is a definite. We want to do the experience where we get to do the push, pull, etc. We want to book on our own.
1. Any recommendations on companies to book through based on personal experience? On Dolphin Discovery’s website it looks like you can book straight through them?
2. Also wondering if we bring our own snorkel gear is there an extra charge to snorkel? And will there be a place to stow it during our dolphin swim?
3. The itinerary shows 8:30am at Cozumel. Is that when we get off? How early is it safe to schedule our excursion? I’d like to start out as early in the day as possible.

 

[lklgoodman]

We went there on an excursion booked with Disney, we did the same excursion, it's a lot of fun. They have a changing area with lockers, big enough for a large backpack. We had two adults and one child, we were able to get all our stuff, 2 bags plus 5-6 towels in 2 lockers. Make sure you take Disney towels with you, you can get them from pool area if you book the excursion yourself. We didn't pay extra for an of the additional stuff there. We were able to walk around and do whatever we wanted. Never had anyone ask us for extra payment to do any of it. We had about 3 hours after the dolphin swim to see the rest of the area. We ran out of time to see it all. There's a restaurant with indoor seating next to the pool. If you go past it, there's another one with seating by the beach. We ate at it, good food, and if you have a picky kid like my daughter, they have chicken fingers and fries. We went to the tequila hut and were give several free samples, really good. I know sometimes places like this get a bad rap about being really pushy about trying to get you to buy stuff. We didn't experience this at all. Not sure what time would be good to book as far as getting off the ship, but if you get around 9:30 or 10, that should give you plenty of time to do everything there. It was probably 15-20 mins taxi ride
.

 

[Minnie368]

We went there on an excursion booked with Disney, we did the same excursion, it's a lot of fun. They have a changing area with lockers, big enough for a large backpack. We had two adults and one child, we were able to get all our stuff, 2 bags plus 5-6 towels in 2 lockers. Make sure you take Disney towels with you, you can get them from pool area if you book the excursion yourself. We didn't pay extra for an of the additional stuff there. We were able to walk around and do whatever we wanted. Never had anyone ask us for extra payment to do any of it. We had about 3 hours after the dolphin swim to see the rest of the area. We ran out of time to see it all. There's a restaurant with indoor seating next to the pool. If you go past it, there's another one with seating by the beach. We ate at it, good food, and if you have a picky kid like my daughter, they have chicken fingers and fries. We went to the tequila hut and were give several free samples, really good. I know sometimes places like this get a bad rap about being really pushy about trying to get you to buy stuff. We didn't experience this at all. Not sure what time would be good to book as far as getting off the ship, but if you get around 9:30 or 10, that should give you plenty of time to do everything there. It was probably 15-20 mins taxi ride
.

Thanks for that info! Did you purchase any of the pictures? Just curious what the costs were?

 

[wanderlust7]

We Cruise April 2018 and are narrowing down our excursions choices. We’ve decided that Dolphin Discovery at Chankanaab is a definite. We want to do the experience where we get to do the push, pull, etc. We want to book on our own.
1. Any recommendations on companies to book through based on personal experience? On Dolphin Discovery’s website it looks like you can book straight through them?
2. Also wondering if we bring our own snorkel gear is there an extra charge to snorkel? And will there be a place to stow it during our dolphin swim?
3. The itinerary shows 8:30am at Cozumel. Is that when we get off? How early is it safe to schedule our excursion? I’d like to start out as early in the day as possible.

I brought a Groupon and then afterwards I realized that the price on Dolphin Discovery's website had gone down and the price was now the same. The advantage with booking direct would be I think they give 90% refund if the ship misses the port. I'm not sure what would have happened with the Groupon. I had travel insurance that would have covered it, so wasn't worried about it. I've also read on Cruise Critic the people did the chat on their website and got a better deal.

There's no charge for snorkeling. There are lockers that are included for free with the dolphin swim. You can ask at the dolphin check-in desk if you end up snorkeling before your dolphin encounter.

The buffet was also included with our dolphin swim, which I didn't realize (found out when I checked in for the dolphin encounter). We already had lunch poolside. Fish tacos were really good though!

Thanks for that info! Did you purchase any of the pictures? Just curious what the costs were?

It depends on how many people are included in the pictures. They'll start out with the most expensive package which is digital plus all printed photos - it was over $200 for 2 people. The digital only was $160 for 2 people, which eventually went down to $110. I think what they do is just charge for 1 person instead of 2 to make the sale. Individual photos are $30 each (digital plus print). Don't believe them if they say the photos might not be there if you need to think about it and come back. I can still see the photos on their website today and we went over a month ago. Except for individual photos (which are still $30), it would be more expensive to buy now though.

There's a cute sea lion show with a sea lion kiss photo op at the end. Those photos are $17 each with the coupon they give out.