Why do excursions list that much time..what all is involved??

[shep]

I have been looking at time frames for some of the excursions at Nassau...
Catamaran Sail & Reef Snorkeling(3.5-4 hours)
Blue Lagoon Dolphin Encounter(5.5-7 hours)
Stingray City & Blue Lagoon Combination Tour(5.5-7 hours)
Blackbeards Cay Beach & Stingray Adventure(4.5-5 hours)

Sorry if it seems like a dumb question but we've never cruised before and was wondering why a brief encounter with the dolphins would be a 5 hour excursion.... ....

I know some include lunch, but help me out here...

 

[jacobatt1]

Hi--I've never been on the excursions you listed (we did Atlantis Beach Day), but the time includes travel time to your destination. You have a meet time of say 9:00, fill out your forms and check your room keys, the CMs check your IDs, that takes until 9:30. Debark the ship, meet up with your transportation, takes until 10:00. Many of the boat rides to these places are 30 to 45 minutes (or even an hour) so that's 11:00 or 11:30. Swim for an hour, have lunch for an hour, then the time for the trip back.

I don't mean to make it sound tedious, but it takes a while to get a group of people from one place to another!

HTH!

Amy

 

[shep]

Thanks....

BTW--how was Atlantis Beach Day?...Been thinking of doing the Discover Atlantis excursion....Was Atlantis Beach Day Nice???

 

[jacobatt1]

We loved it! You still can't use the pools, but you have the private beach to swim in. We had admission to the aquarium, and a coupon for lunch, and they give you towels and a beach chair. We chose it b/c our kids love to swim but we still wanted to go to the aquarium, so it was a great choice for us! You can wander around and even go to the casinos if you want; the buses go back every 1/2 hour so you can stay as long as you want. It's not a guided tour so you can go at your own pace and we liked that about it too.

It seems expensive, but it's not any more than paying for a day room, which a lot of people like to do b/c you can use the pools. The pools were cool but we had to be back to the ship by 4:30, so I don't think we would've had that much time anyway. We really enjoyed it and hope you have a great time no matter what you choose!

Amy

 

[UGAFan0829]

About the Dolphin Encounter...Like you I was a little worried about the time that was listed for the encounter. But what actually happens is that you travel over to Blue Lagoon which takes a few minutes. After that, you get off the boat and then go to an orentation for the actual Dolphin Encounter. This takes about 20 minutes or so. After that you're in the water with the dolphins. The thing is, there are 2 different platforms that they use for this. They divide the group up between the two. Then once you are divided up at the platforms, they then divide you into 2 or 3 more groups of 10 or so, I believe. The first group goes into the water and has their time with the dolphin while the other groups watch. Then when the first group is done they are free to go check out the videos, pictures, etc., and they then move on to the second group. If you are in the first group, of course it doesn't take that long, but as you can guess, if you're in the last group...
Also, Blue Lagoon has a beach and a little place to eat.(We were given a ticket for our lunch...it was included with the price of the excursion.) So after you do the encounter you can go over and have lunch and lounge around the island. There are hammocks there if you can find one that's open. Then the ferry starts running and you can go back to the main island and do whatever. I think the reason that they list the time frame for this as being so long is because of all this. Once you take all these things into factor it makes sense. Of course, the time all depends on how long you want to linger on the island.
Also, just so you know...the Dolphin Encounter is under a shaded area, so you're not exposed to the sun...just in case this was a matter for you ( I know it was for me.) Also, the rest of the island is shaded with lots of palm trees, so you really wouldn't be in the sun unless you wanted to be!
And just so you know...I would highly recommend this excursion!
HTH!!!