Help! Has Anyone Done The Dolphin Excursion On St. Maarten?

[DIS NURSE]

Lots of questions here.....sorry....
Has anyone been on this excursion booked through DCL? Is it fun and worth the $$$?
Is the transfer from the ship to the site okay? Can you get back in time for dinner....sounds like a long time away from the ship!

Is there enough to do at the beach site and it is okay for kids ages 6 and 9?
Tell me more, tell me more....

I want to have our kids experience a dolphin excursion and this seems like one of the only ones that accepts kid-os under 8 y.o.?

Any of your thoughts are appreciated!

 

[maminnie]

Hi DisNurse:

My family did this excursion in April of '04. I have responded to a few posts on this subject. If you do a search for Anquilla dolphin excursion you should find my posts and a number of other posts which will help you.

This exc. has gotten mixed reviews. We personally had a great day. If you can't find my posts and other info, I would be happy to post again. I believe one of my posts had the web-site for the company that does the dolphin part of it.

maminnie

 

[DIS NURSE]

Thank you, maminnie! I did a search and found your trip report.....Did all the transfers and waiting seem like a drag, or did the visiting Meads Bay Beach make up for it and break it up? When I book this, is it obvious that I get to hang out at this beach beforehand? Is there a time choice to book this?

It IS expensive.....but I really think this is an opportunity!

Thank you, DIS NURSE

 

[maminnie]

Dis Nurse:

The basic flow of the day was:

Get off ship, board small ferry boat right at the dock, 45 minute boat ride (I think it was around 45), off ferry, board small buses (they were crowded), 10-15 minute bus ride, arrive at Dolphin Fantaseas. Group is divided in half; half go to the beach first, the other half do the sting rays and dolphins. Group meets for lunch and then switch.

We personally liked the encounter because it was a man-made facility overlooking the Caribbean Sea. The facility was very island like. The bathrooms were not very nice. The beach was beautiful; the surf was quite rough though that day.

Keep in mind that we love Anquilla as we had been there on our honeymoon and were thrilled to be back even if it was only for the day.

The day was a very long day. I believe we got back to the Disney ship about 3:45. Call the excursion desk and ask for the timeline for the day; maybe it has changed as we went in April of '04. As I said Dolphin Fantaseas has a website. I think it is www.Dolphin Fantaseas.com.

We did St. John the next day and I have to say that two excursion days that involved rather long ferry rides was a bit much for our family. Our kids were 6 and 10.

This excursion fills up very fast. You should call or go on-line the minute you can to try and get this.

Hope this helps.

maminnie

 

[UMTerp]

Here are some additional details -
Your time with the animals is split up into four sections/four groups. The groups rotate between the sting ray tank, dolphin tank, hermit crab races, and holding the parrots. Each group has an equal amount of time in each section. The water is VERY salty. It takes a while to get used to it and the masks that you use.

The bathrooms by the restaurant are nicer than the ones near the animals.
Lunch was OK but they ran out of food before everyone could get through the line. Quite a long wait for refills.

They charge $$$ for their pictures on a CD. If I remember correctly, it was $30 per person in your group. When I balked at the price for my family ($120, they reduced the price some).

The beach is nice, they have shade and chairs readily available. You can rent floats for $5 each.

We enjoyed it but would only spend the money once. We won't be doing it again.

Hope this helps! Be ready to book this one as soon as you can!

UMTerp

 

[maminnie]

I agree with UMTerp. I am glad that I did this excursion but would not spend the money to do it again. It was a lot of money for four people but my kids still talk about their experience with Coby the dolphin. In the future, I'd be tempted to go as an observer and only go to the beach; we love Anquilla and find the beaches/water beautiful. I wish they simply had an excursion that just went to the beach on Anquilla. There are so many beautiful beaches to pick from.

Do be prepared for a rather long day. You meet early in the morning on the ship and as I said don't get back until around 3:30 to 4:30. I can't remember exactly. Again I'd ask DCL for the specific timeline for this excursion just to make sure it has not changed a bit. When I asked about it they gave me all the details for each segment of the excursion.

As UMTerp and I said, this excursion must be booked the first day it is offered as I have heard it sells out quickly.

Good luck and have fun.

maminnie

 

[DIS NURSE]

Your guys are great for all the input! Thank you for your time! It sounds like a one time thing....now not sure if I should just wait until my DS is 8 y.o since we could benefit from this excursion the most when he is "of age".
I know we are going to be repeat offenders fo DCL ( I already have 2 cruises booked!) so.......maybe I'll just wait. Captain Nautica is another one I REALLY want to do but the 8y.o factor keeps coming up!

I will bookmark threse posts/threads for the future and, agian, thank you!
DIS NURSE

 

[crystaldri]

We just did this excursion with my 8 and 9 year old in April 05. The beach was beautiful and my kids still talk about the experience but what I really want to do is the Royal swim on the Western. SO....we booked a Western cruise for next year. It's alot of money but I would wait till the kids are old enough to remember and enjoy it. If it won't hurt to spend the money then I say its worth it ,the beach alone was soooo beautiful!! The lunch was better than I thought it would be too. It was better than an dolphin experience I had at Seaworld once. Life is not measured by how many breaths you take but by how many moments take your breath away!! Thats how I look at it.

 

[PearlandPaige]

My DH really wants to do this excursion when we are in St. Martin in October, but DS is only 18 months old and so he's not old enough for the DCL one. I noticed, though, that if we booked straight through Dolphin Fantaseas DS could participate free of charge. Would those of you who have done this recommend that? Would you have any concerns about booking on your own with Dolphin Fantaseas? Or about an 18 month old participating in this?

TIA!