Nassaua - Dolphin encounters

[lovebugsmom]

MY daughter has been asking to kiss a dolphin since she was 3, so we have decided to do a dolphin encounter when we are in Nassau.(I know some people don't like to see animals in captivity, we live in a land locked state and have very little opportunities to see them in the wild. Please don't respond negatively.) I know we want to do shallow water. But not sure if we should go with Atlantis or Blue Lagoon. We have looked up both on the DCL site. Atlantis costs a bit more but we would get more time in the water and its 6 people per group. Blue Lagoon is 15 minutes in the water and doesn't say how many people are in the group. Wondering about others experiences, likes/dislikes, issues. Also wondering if its organized getting to and from Atlantis, are directions clear? TIA

 

[DISNEYFAN3260]

MY daughter has been asking to kiss a dolphin since she was 3, so we have decided to do a dolphin encounter when we are in Nassau.(I know some people don't like to see animals in captivity, we live in a land locked state and have very little opportunities to see them in the wild. Please don't respond negatively.) I know we want to do shallow water. But not sure if we should go with Atlantis or Blue Lagoon. We have looked up both on the DCL site. Atlantis costs a bit more but we would get more time in the water and its 6 people per group. Blue Lagoon is 15 minutes in the water and doesn't say how many people are in the group. Wondering about others experiences, likes/dislikes, issues. Also wondering if its organized getting to and from Atlantis, are directions clear? TIA

My husband and I did the Blue Lagoon dolphin encounter a few years ago. I thought it was fantastic, but I admit I can only compare it to one we did on Grand Cayman, which was terrible.

We were not in the shallow water so maybe that experience is different, but I believe we had 8 "couples" in our group. I know we were in the water for far longer than 15 minutes, though each group of two probably got less than 10 minutes to interact personally with the dolphin.

I thought the staff at Blue Lagoon was great, the education provided was really good, and the facility seemed clean and maintained. The process of getting groups ready and into the water was well organized. I loved the boat ride to the facility - it was maybe 15 minutes or so and added to the experience, IMO. Sorry that I can't speak to the Atlantis version, but I'm sure others will.

 

[Control4Hermosa]

Don't know where you got the "6 people per group" stat but that is not always correct. I did Atlantis and it was fine. Spent about 30 mins in shallow water. Our dolphin behaved fairly well only going off once. But, we gained a dolphin from another group for a while so we had more than one to watch. The photos they take are better quality than you would think but expensive as any other outfit would charge. For the money, you can wind-up with access to the water park, the resort pools and a free lunch. The beach at Atlantis is nice too.

I was dead against spending money for this excursion and wound-up taking 50% of that feeling back. Had I personally done the waterpark, maybe that would have changed for the better.

 

[kateandy08096]

I personally cant chime in on atlantis or blue lagoon however we did discovery cove once and it was absolutely amazing. I dont know if you will have time before or after the cruise.
I read a blog last night where a family did atlantis and they mentioned it was a unorganized mess and almost missed the ship going back. If I can find a link in my history I will post it.

 

[Control4Hermosa]

LOL, almost missed boarding?? They schedule Atlantis at early in the AM so that you can spend time at the resort. In my experience, the actual dolphin portion was organized and after that you are free to roam about.