Dolphins - D.C. Or Blue Lagoon in Nassau

[Melcatfish]

Ok after my previous thread on Dis UK Trip Planning about whether or not to cruise it has boiled down to this:

If we cruise we don't do Discovery Cove and do the cheaper Nassau Blue Lagoon Dolphin Encounter instead.

Any thoughts? Particularly from those who have done one or both.

Basically by saving £80 each (£150 DC price less the £70 it costs in Nassau) and taking in to account the £120 each we would have spent going on the Bahamas 2 day tour and taking into account the food and entertainment money we would have spent if we weren't cruising I can just about justify the cost of the cruise.

What would you do?

HELP! DC or DCL 3 days on the Wonder???????????????

Regards
Mel
xx

 

[Melcatfish]

Please help me out on this one - no one on the UK board seems to have been on the Blue Lagoon Dolphin Encounter.

Am especially interested in the quality of encounter and checking that the animals are well treated etc...

Regards
Mel

 

[lovethatdisney]

I have been on the dolphin encounter in Nassau and the facilities are very nice! The dolphins are in big lagoon areas and seem to be quite well taken care of. I am taking my son and husband back there on our Disney Cruise in August. It is fun, quite impressive and an opportuinty of a lifetime from my perspective. I am an animal lover and would not be going back if I had any reason to believe the animals were not treated well.

I have not been to Discovery Cove to give you a comparison, but I would definitely recommend the dolphin encounter especially the one you book on your own and get all the way in the water with the dolphins.

Good Luck and have fun with whatever you decide. Im sure either will be great!

 

[piglet33]

I have never been on the dolphin encounter in Nassau, but have been to Discovery Cove.

I think DC is definitely worth the money. We stayed there all day, used all the facilities and had a wonderful 4 course hot lunch. The only extra money we spent was on pictures and water shoes that I just had to have We did the dolphin swim first thing in the morning when we arrived and then spent the rest of the day swimming with the rays and then just swimming around and checking out the bird aviary. We also hung out on the "beach" and watched the trainers for a day with the dolphins. Then it was off to the showers to get cleaned up.

Good luck trying to choose which one to do.

 

[Melcatfish]

I would love to do both but the budget just doesn't stretch to that. I think we are going to go for the cruise because for some of my party certainly this is a trip in a lifetime and the idea of a cruise to the Bahamas really appeals to those members of our party. I have no doubt that DH and I will return to Florida so if we want to do DC then we can. I just didn't want to skip DC and find that the dolphin encounter in Nassau was badly organised or not particularly successful at looking after the animals.

Cruise it is then! YAY Only a whole year and a bit to go!!!

Cheers
Mel
x

 

[married@wdw]

I haven't been to Discovery Cove (though I'd love to go sometime), but if you decide to do the cruise, I always recommend that people book the Dolphin Encounter on their own (http://www.dolphinencounters.com). It's easy to get to by a cheap taxi ride to their boat dock on Paradise Island (boat transporation to Blue Lagoon Island is included with your encounter purchase) and you can actually swim with the dolphins for only slightly more than you pay to just have the waist-deep "encounter" with Disney.

We actually split a cab with another couple to the Atlantis, walked around a bit and shopped, then walked to the boat dock (it's across the street from the Atlantis). It was definitely the most memorable day of our honeymoon!