Questions about Dolphin Discovery (Chankanaab) in Cozumel

[hungrygreenhippo]

I found an old thread on this from 2009, but wondering if anyone has more recent information. Is the "Dolphin Push Pull and Swim" port adventure offered through DCL the same as the "Dolphin Swim Adventure" offered directly through Dolphin Discovery? The DCL description doesn't mention the handshake, hand target or kiss and hug, or if the lunch buffet is included.

DCL
Dolphin Discovery

As you can probably guess, I'm looking debating on whether to book direct with Dolphin Discovery or through DCL. Booking through Dolphin Discovery, I'm estimating it will be about $110 (taxes included) per person, taking into account that we have to get our own taxi. Booking through DCL is $132 per person. (Is there tax on top of the prices that Disney lists on the website?)

The one advantage that Disney seems to have is that they have earlier times available. I can book the excursion for 7:45, 8:45, 9:45, or 10:45. On the Dolphin Discovery site the times available are 10, 1 and 3:30.

Right now I'm kind of leaning towards booking with Disney for peace of mind since this is my first cruise, and I'd also like to do the 8:45 time so that we still have to afternoon to do something else in Cozumel. I feel like 10 is maybe a bit too late.

My only hesitation, aside from the cheaper price, is whether we would get more dolphin interaction by booking directly with Dolphin Discovery. We want to spend as much time with the dolphins as we can as it's a bucket list item and not something we're likely to repeat.

Thanks for any tips or info you can provide!

 

[Bear3412]

You are correct that DCL has the early slots. Book privately and get a noon slot for the Royal swim. Trust me. Just did this two weeks ago.

Can't help with details regarding your first paragraph.

Book with Cozumel Insider, IMO We did.
We booked the Royal Swim. Highly recommended.
Plan for more time than posted/planned.
The earliest we could get was 11:30 for the RS.

They bunch folks together depending on the #'s, excursion, so it's difficult to predict the exact times in advance, IMO.

We took a taxi, Some of DCL excursions actually do take taxi's. In fact IIRC all DCL excursions here had coupons for taxi's back to port. ? ? ?

If you book the DCL 8:45am time slot you will be lucky to be on site by 10am.
That time DCL gives you is the time to meet in a lounge aboard, not the time you will arrive. Add an hour or an hour and a half to arrive at said locale.

That's another reason to book privately. You get off when you want, get a cab when you want, avoid the other 70 pax, etc.

Regarding the last paragraph; booking with DCL will not allow most of that. Book the RS with CI at 11am or noon, you won't regret it.

Booking with DCL will be a cattle call, with a met time 1.5 hours prior to the event.

Trust me.

Cabs are easy, a fixed price, but a touch scary in Cozumel for the typical American. It's an unforgettable experience. It's part of the excursion and experience. lol.

Still worth it.

http://www.cozumelinsider.com/DDSWIM

It was $402 for 4 (1 child), 25% off for early booking, with manatee bonus, lunch buffet, 2 drinks. Don't see that now but keep an eye out.

The trainers rock.

DCL's little encounters happened in small pens 30 X 70.
Our RS occurred in the big pen 500 X 300, so ......

HTH

ETA; http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=30683350&postcount=59

 

[pierresgirl]

You are correct that DCL has the early slots. Book privately and get a noon slot for the Royal swim. Trust me. Just did this two weeks ago.

Can't help with details regarding your first paragraph.


We took a taxi, Some of DCL excursions actually do take taxi's. In fact IIRC all DCL excursions here had coupons for taxi's back to port. ? ? ?

If you book the DCL 8:45am time slot you will be lucky to be on site by 10am.
That time DCL gives you is the time to meet in a lounge aboard, not the time you will arrive. Add an hour or an hour and a half to arrive at said locale.

That's another reason to book privately. You get off when you want, get a cab when you want, avoid the other 70 pax, etc.

Regarding the last paragraph; booking with DCL will not allow most of that. Book the RS with CI at 11am or noon, you won't regret it.

Booking with DCL will be a cattle call, with a met time 1.5 hours prior to the event.

Trust me.

Cabs are easy, a fixed price, but a touch scary in Cozumel for the typical American. It's an unforgettable experience. It's part of the excursion and experience. lol.

Still worth it.

http://www.cozumelinsider.com/DDSWIM

It was $402 for 4 (1 child), 25% off for early booking, with manatee bonus, lunch buffet, 2 drinks. Don't see that now but keep an eye out.

The trainers rock.

DCL's little encounters happened in small pens 30 X 70.
Our RS occurred in the big pen 500 X 300, so ......

HTH

ETA; http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=30683350&postcount=59

How much was your taxi and are they all in the boat dock area? I've been trying to decide between DCL and on our own so I'm glad this was asked!

 

[Keyser]

I'll follow up with my experience. We booked two of the Dolphin tours through Disney - the push/pull/swim for my wife and older daughter, and some more basic one for my younger daughter and I. On the day we arrived, the seas were classified as too rough, and they cancelled the one for the littler kids, but not the other one. So, my wife and older daughter waited in the excursion area. My younger daughter and I went to our room, watched a movie, then decided we would go out to see the dolphins anyway, so we went off the ship, took a cab out to Chankanaab thinking we would just look around, and when we got there discovered that they were perfectly happy to have us do the same thing we had booked at Disney, for significantly less! We ended up with another family that was in the exact same situation as us. So, we ended up doing the dolphin thing (not the push/pull part, just the interaction in the water - my daughter couldn't swim). Even better, they didn't charge for me, just for my daughter, who was very cheap. I'm not sure if that's a "usual" thing or if we got some special deal for the day, but it ended up making it much cheaper than the Disney excursion would've been.

It seemed like the actual excursion was identical between Disney and what we could arrange on our own.

I'll second everything about the timing being much better if you do it on your own. We were starting about the same time my wife and other daughter were finishing., and this was after spending over an hour on the ship watching a movie while my wife was sitting and waiting. There was indeed a huge wait to do the Disney excursion. You go early to the waiting area, wait, eventually get on a bus, travel, wait your turn, and then finally get to go. They had a bus back, so had to leave at a particular time (though they ended up just leaving the Disney tour and taking a cab back with us). By going on our own, we were MUCH more efficient in terms of time - it was very easy to do on our own. Getting a cab at the dock was easy, and for us it was easy to get one back (though there was not a big line of them or anything).

I don't remember the cab price, but it wasn't too much. If I had to guess, I'd say $20 each way, but that is just a guess.

 

[Divslp]

DCL's push/pull does not include the buffet lunch. They did have us do the kiss, not sure what a "hand target" is, but they had us keep our arms out so the Dolphins can touch our hands with their fins.
I was really tempted to do the royal swim independently, but they only had a 1:00 time slot available, and with an all aboard of 3:45, I thought it was going to be risky. Also, my husband was not comfortable with the idea of using our own taxi in Mexico. But, the royal swim looks like more fun.

 

[miksilver]

The cab to the park was $12 for 3 of us to the park and the same $12 back. I've never felt uncomfortable in a cab on Cozumel. We were just there last week and swam with the manatees (great experience). I booked it on before on their website.

 

[Bear3412]

I don't remember the cab price, but it wasn't too much. If I had to guess, I'd say $20 each way, but that is just a guess.

I too don't recall the exact price of the taxi. There is a board with fixed prices posted. I agree with the above. It was less than $20, like 14-16, but I'm sure I would have handed the driver $20 . This was for 4 pax.

 

[pierresgirl]

The cab to the park was $12 for 3 of us to the park and the same $12 back. I've never felt uncomfortable in a cab on Cozumel. We were just there last week and swam with the manatees (great experience). I booked it on before on their website.

I too don't recall the exact price of the taxi. There is a board with fixed prices posted. I agree with the above. It was less than $20, like 14-16, but I'm sure I would have handed the driver $20 . This was for 4 pax.

Thanks for the reply! Definitely going to do this on my own!

 

[hungrygreenhippo]

Thanks for the info. I'm strongly leaning toward booking on my own as well. I read online somewhere else that there may be black Friday deals for the dolphin encounters so I'm thinking about holding off for that.

Does anyone know if I do book through Disney, are they actually charging me right away or can I still cancel. If I can still cancel, then I'd like to hedge my bets and have something booked with Disney in case I wait until black Friday and then everything's sold out.

 

[Bear3412]

Thanks for the info. I'm strongly leaning toward booking on my own as well. I read online somewhere else that there may be black Friday deals for the dolphin encounters so I'm thinking about holding off for that.

Does anyone know if I do book through Disney, are they actually charging me right away or can I still cancel. If I can still cancel, then I'd like to hedge my bets and have something booked with Disney in case I wait until black Friday and then everything's sold out.

You can cancel DCL excursions 3 days prior to sail IRRC. You won't be charged till you get aboard. Sounds like a good plan to me.

Others are correct though IMO. DCL and other lines take the early slots for the Royal Swim, or the RS is only offered starting at the earliest at 11am, at least on our visit. So time has to be a consideration. We still had an hour after our swim which was due to start at noon, but was 30 minutes late, to negotiate photo purchase, taxi, and passport stamp, we still had 20 minutes left to walk the pier.

Also the website says the park doesn't open till 9am. Wrong. It opens at least at 8 am. We got there at around 8:30 expecting to wait. Unnecessary.
I was told by our driver the park opens at 7am. ? ? ?

We were also surprised how empty the park was all day with 5 or 6 ships in port. Nice.

Palapas are way down on the south end past the dolphin pens. Good snorkeling right down the steps. Fish right by the rocky shore.
Clean bathrooms right behind the little set back bar hut by the palapas.

 

[Divslp]

DCL Doesn't offer the royal swim.. I think you do more in the royal swim than the push, pull, swim that's offered by DCL. I don't recall being raised up to the water surface by my feet or swimming while holding on to their dorsal fins (according to the royal swim description).. Sounds fun though!

Bear, just curious, how much did you pay for pictures?

 

[Bear3412]

Bear, just curious, how much did you pay for pictures?

I read all the reports of successful bartering, however we were running late and wife was getting nervous with the clock. So, .... I just paid up.
$200 for 144 pics. Retail price. 4 participants. No video offered unfortunately.

Others have been successful bartering, walk away, then they lower the price. Not us unfortunately. It's OK. They did a great job with the pics. You need to pose for the pics, and look at the camera. Our family did a great job posing and looking at the camera. The photographer and trainer were very patient with everyone capturing the pics. I wish I brought cash to tip the trainer. What an amazing dude. We had three small kids in our group.

Did I mention my DD8 wanted to use the boogie board for the foot push and was allowed. The other younger little boy chose the board too. Prior to our RS we saw them using the board for the other swims in the small pens.

DD13 spent 10 -15 minutes reviewing the pics on a computer and selecting "our" pics. We have skipped pic purchase opportunities in the past and regretted it. So, I knew I was going to buy them regardless of price.

I look at it like the park, employees, bartenders, waiters, lifeguards, trainers, facilities, photographer were awesome, so ... they deserve to make some $$$$, lol. At least that's my justification.

If we had more time I would have tried to walk away to get a better price. I asked if paying with cash or CC would make a difference, because I read elsewhere someone got a price reduction with an Amex CC. Not for us.
Guess I look like a sucker.

You can buy up to 200 IRRC for retail $200, a touch more for over that, obviously less for only a few. We choose a CD format with all the pics. IRRC they had flash drive format too.

We were in the water with three other families. Including us 4, 11 -12 total. Perfect size.

We (2A) have done this kind of swim prior and never seen, nor experienced, being lifted out of the water sooo high. I, at 220 lbs, was lifted up so only my feet were in the water for a few seconds. Amazing. Some of the smaller participants were completely out of the water including their feet.

I need to download my pics.

Also, I had read they block or prevent photography from a distance. They were not blocking cameras during our visit. You will need a good telephoto lens though, and the angle is wrong for the best facials shoots.

Did I mention the waves were 1 foot with tight frequency in the big pen. Spooked my little one a bit, but.... worked out fine and really didn't affect the encounters.

HTH

ETA; Can you tell I enjoy sharing this excursion. What a wonderful experience. Wish we had more time there.

 

[hungrygreenhippo]

Thanks, this is getting me excited! My traveling partner really wants to do the belly ride so that's why we're not looking at the royal swim. Either way it sounds like we should have a good time.

 

[hungrygreenhippo]

I have a couple more questions about doing the dolphin excursion:

If we want to spend time on the beach do we need to bring towels or do they have them there at the park?

What do we do with our stuff while interacting with the dolphins? Is there someplace to store important items like passports and cash?

 

[Bear3412]

Bring towels. Lockers available for free, key on lanyard. Lockers at north end. Showers and changing rooms available too at locker location. Use shoes/flip flops for walk down dock, then place in baskets just before water entry. We were told to put our sunglasses in the lockers too.

What's the "belly ride?" Is it not the "dorsal tow" seen here in the photos on the right?
http://www.cozumelinsider.com/DDSWIM
ETA; the photos keep changing.

I see the "belly ride" now. Looks like dorsal tow uses two dolphins, belly ride uses one. Still the same IMO. Oh, ... maybe the dolphin is upside down, ie; "belly." Duh.
http://www.cozumelinsider.com/Ddsadv?From=Dolphin

Either one will be awesome. I do know only the royal is in the big pen though, so ....

HTH & Enjoy

 

[havaneselover]

I booked the royal swim on BF 2012 for Spring Break 2013. I don't think DCL would allow me to book because it was me with two children and they wanted 1 adult per child. I don't recall the details. It was wonderful. We also got to get in with a manatee. Neither of my kids would do this and I admit I was scared--those things are huge.

 

[Bear3412]

.... with a manatee. Neither of my kids would do this and I admit I was scared--those things are huge.

My kids were more scared of the dolphins, though my kids swam with manatees in the wild before. Huge, but very gentle.

 

[hungrygreenhippo]

Bring towels. Lockers available for free, key on lanyard. Lockers at north end. Showers and changing rooms available too at locker location. Use shoes/flip flops for walk down dock, then place in baskets just before water entry. We were told to put our sunglasses in the lockers too.

What's the "belly ride?" Is it not the "dorsal tow" seen here in the photos on the right?
http://www.cozumelinsider.com/DDSWIM
ETA; the photos keep changing.

I see the "belly ride" now. Looks like dorsal tow uses two dolphins, belly ride uses one. Still the same IMO. Oh, ... maybe the dolphin is upside down, ie; "belly." Duh.
http://www.cozumelinsider.com/Ddsadv?From=Dolphin

Either one will be awesome. I do know only the royal is in the big pen though, so ....

HTH & Enjoy

Can we bring towels from the ship or should we pack beach towels from home?

I've read so many great reviews of the Royal Swim that if it were up to me I'd go for it. But for whatever reason my traveling partner wants to do the other one and I don't want to make a big deal out of it so I'm just going with it. Like you said either one will be awesome. Only one more week until my first cruise!

 

[Bear3412]

Towels from the ship work fine although not as large as a typical beach towel. Take as many from the ship as you like.

Have fun.

 

[Adelle Dazeem]

I wanted to do this, but I researched and wasn't happy with what I found out about these places. *shudders*