Dolphin Encounter vs Dolphin Swim

[travelingtwin]

I was thinking about doing the Dolphin swim vs the encounter. I looked at their web site " Blue Lagoon Dolphin Encounter" and the price was $145.00. Im willing to pay this, but was wondering if it would be a problem to book this myself though them, instead of Disney. Has anyone ever done this? Also has anyone ever done the Atlantis Submarine do they also have a web site? I don't see it listed as a Disney shore excusion.
Thanks

 

[Dave_from_Marietta]

Yes, a number of people have booked the Dolphin Swim themselves. In fact, that's the only way you <i>can</i> book the Dolphin Swim since Disney only offers the Dolphin <i>Encounter</i>. However, I'm not sure that you get to enjoy the Blue Lagoon Island facilities if you book yourself.

Yes, Atlantis Submarines has a web site (www.goatlantis.com), but they don't have a submarine in Nassau.

 

[barbeau]

I've done both the Encounter & the Swim, booking each one directly (it's actually a little cheaper to do this, even with the cab fare). Anyway, I had no problems.

In terms of using Blue Lagoon afterwards, I don't know. I know if you book directly, you can leave whenever you want, within the boat departure schedule. In each case when I went, we had afternoon times, so we didn't really have extra time to spend there.

 

[Iris]

We also booked directly for our Dolphin Swim. I don't think we could have done this through Disney. We did not have any problems although a group of 12 in front of us had some missing reservations even though they received confirmation and it was paid for. I think in the end everyone was able to do their excursion.

We had never done the Dolphin Swim before. While we were hoping to be in the water for at least 20 minutes, we ended up spending almost an hour with these beautiful creatures.

 

[cruisnfamily]

Is this dolphin swim in Nassau?

Who is it thru?

How do you make your own arrangements?

Can somebody compare/contrast this "swim" with the "encounter"?

Thanks!

 

[Iris]

Our Dolphin Swim was on Blue Lagoon Island at Nassau. We contacted Dolphin Encounters/Swim through the phone. I don't have the number here at work but I will post it this evening if no one else has the number by then. There is also a website you can go to as well.

We paid for the Swim in advance with a credit card. The only thing we had to do ourselves was the transportation from the ship to the Ferry Terminal, but there is so many taxis it was not a problem at all.

We loved the Swim. The Dolphin Foot Push was well worth everything. The trainers were excellent and we really had plenty of time to interact with the Dolphins. We received many "dolphin kisses."

We have not down the encounter but if my girls want to do it again next year, we will most likely do that since it is less expensive ($75 per person if booked directly). We saw that in the encounter, you do get a dolphin "hug". Looked really neat. And since we have already done the dolphin swim, this would be a cheaper alternative the second time around. Our entire family thought that the money we paid was worth every penny. It is something we will remember for the rest of our days.

 

[Dave_from_Marietta]

Originally posted by Sonya Francisco

Is this dolphin swim in Nassau? Who is it thru? How do you make your own arrangements?

The Blue Lagoon Dolphin stuff is in Nassau.

www.dolphinencounters.com

There is also a Dolphin program in Freeport, but Freeport is being discontinued as a destination this August.

www.dolphinexperience.com

Is this dolphin swim in Nassau? Who is it thru? How do you make your own arrangements?

For the "experience", you kneel on a platform in knee-deep water and the dolphins come up to you. For the "swim", you're in more open water, wearing a very buoyant life jacket so you're actually floating rather than swimming, and the dolphins swim all around you.

 

[Medina's]

Dave, or anyone ... What can you tell me about this place. DolphinSwim-St Martin
It is listed on www.shoretrips.com as being in Anguilla, under the St. Martin location. Is it accesable from where DCL docks? Do you know how I could book with the dolphin place directly?
Thanks!

 

[Dave_from_Marietta]

"Ginger" went to Anguilla. It involves taking a taxi to Marigot (the French Capital) and then taking a ferry to Anguilla.

As far as the dolphin encounter, I found this info...

www.news.ai/ref/dolphins.html

 

[Medina's]

Dave, what would we do without you.
Thank you.

 

[mousemanjoe]

7 of us did the Swim on 4/27 and like others have said, we did have to book it directly. YOu have to take a taxi over to the Ferry station on Paradise Island. Disney told us to figure on $4 to $5 a person, but after walking a block into town we were able to get a taxi (mini-van) for $22 total for us.

At the Ferry station, you check-in with your confimation letter (faxed to us a few weeks prior) and then board the same ferry with Disney "Encounter" people already aboard. The ferry picks up at the cruise dock first then at the Paradise Island station. All the Disney people had little Donald Duck stickers that I guess allowed them to board at the cruise dock.

Coming back, we just stayed aboard until we got to the Cruise dock without any problems.

The Swim was great, but be ready for the annoying continuous Nassua pressure to buy the video, buy the pictures, buy the T-shirt, etc.