kendall
live, love, learn
- Joined
- Aug 18, 2000
As this is a new excursion, I promised under a different thread about a month or so ago to post a review of our experience during the 4/5/03 cruise. The following is from my trip report, to be posted soon...
Participants: DH (40), myself (38), DS (12), DD (10)
We did one excursion this trip, the Anguilla Dolphin and Stingray Experience, which is an excursion offered from St. Maarten. This excursion was pricey at about $180 per person. I priced it separately as well, and between taxis, ferry, experience (www.dolphinfantaseas.com ) and lunch, the Disney price was better. Word of advice - if you do try to do this excursion separate from Disney, I understand that Dophin Fantaseas completely books their time with DCL on the day DCL is in port, so there will not be any time available. Another consideration - the ferries to/from Anguilla may not run on the posted times - we noticed a ferry loading in Anguilla going to St. Maarten that was over an hour late departing..
That said, while this was an interesting experience and Im glad we did it, I wouldnt book it a second time. The price is high for a family of 4, and the amount of time spent with the dolphins is actually only about 20 minutes. The pools or lagoons that hold the dolphins are small, and the ecosystem in the pools produces murky water. There are numerous small fish and plants in the dolphin pools as well. The excursion ran with about 60 people. The chartered ferry to Anguilla is adjacent to the ship, so we walked from the ship to the dock (1 minute). The ferry ride was about 45 minutes, with complementary pop and bottled water offered. At Anguilla, we were met by two buses to take us to Dolphin Fantaseas one larger bus and a smaller 20 passenger van. The ride to Dolphin Fantaseas was 10-15 minutes. The group was divided into two groups of 30. One group spent the remaining part of the morning on the beach, the other group had the experiences. The groups combined for lunch, then switched. My family was in the group that started on the beach. The time on the beach was wonderful, we had about 1.5 hours the sand and water are beautiful. The kids enjoyed playing in the waves, and the Dolphin Fantaseas folks brought over snorkel gear for us to use free of charge. There were chairs and umbrellas available free of charge as well. Lunch was at the covered dining area at Dolphin Fantaseas, served buffet style: lettuce salad, cole slaw, pasta salad, baked fish, baked chicken legs and thighs, hamburgers, French fries, beans and rice, delicious tropical fruit punch, and I think I am forgetting a vegetable. Lunch was tasty and satisfying. After lunch, our group of 30 was divided into 3 groups of 10, and we rotated through 3 different areas. One area was with the wildlife hermit crabs (we had races the first crab to the edge of the kiddie pool was the winner- multiple heats, of course), parrots, turtles we handled all the critters and learned a bit about them. Second area was the stingrays. This was a very small area, where we entered the water and fed the stingrays (stingers are removed). We were given fresh fish, and after laying our hands flat on the bottom of the pool area, the stingrays would pass over your hand and lightly suck the fish off your hand. It was a really weird, neat feeling and of course they covered up most of your arm while doing so, as their mouth is at the center of their body. We then had some time to swim with the stingrays in the small pool using provided snorkeling equipment. There was also a nurse shark in the sting ray tank, with its cave off to the side. We watched the nurse shark being fed dont worry, the shark doesnt come out during the day, although they didnt tell us about that shark until after we all had swam in the tank and fed the stingrays . The third area is the dolphin area, where we were split to two groups of 5. Here we swam with dolphins in their tank, raced the dolphins across the tank, petted, kissed and each of us hand fed the dolphins a couple times. They had a baby dolphin there too born this past December we couldnt pet the baby, but we did the mama. By the way, nursing mom dolphin eats 30 pounds of fish each day, the other adults 15 pounds and the fish is restaurant quality fish. Again, the tanks were small, but the experience was intimate with the dolphins. . Of course, there was a photographer getting our photos when we kissed and fed the dolphins. Photos available in print or CD format (CD format was $20 for first image, $10 each additional image resolution is excellent). 8x10 print was $25, and there were various packages available too (such as 1 5x7 and 2 2x3 of the same print on one sheet). We returned back to the magic via the same chartered ferry, again offered complementary beverages, and arrived back on the magic at about 4:30 pm it was a long day! Do know that shopping in St. Maarten is limited stores close at 6 so we had very little time to shop! Overall impression of the excursion positive and a wonderful memory we all enjoyed it! I recommend it with the caveat that you must realize you will only be with the dolphins a short time! DD and DS loved it and would do it again in a minute.
I would be glad to answer any questions!
Participants: DH (40), myself (38), DS (12), DD (10)
We did one excursion this trip, the Anguilla Dolphin and Stingray Experience, which is an excursion offered from St. Maarten. This excursion was pricey at about $180 per person. I priced it separately as well, and between taxis, ferry, experience (www.dolphinfantaseas.com ) and lunch, the Disney price was better. Word of advice - if you do try to do this excursion separate from Disney, I understand that Dophin Fantaseas completely books their time with DCL on the day DCL is in port, so there will not be any time available. Another consideration - the ferries to/from Anguilla may not run on the posted times - we noticed a ferry loading in Anguilla going to St. Maarten that was over an hour late departing..
That said, while this was an interesting experience and Im glad we did it, I wouldnt book it a second time. The price is high for a family of 4, and the amount of time spent with the dolphins is actually only about 20 minutes. The pools or lagoons that hold the dolphins are small, and the ecosystem in the pools produces murky water. There are numerous small fish and plants in the dolphin pools as well. The excursion ran with about 60 people. The chartered ferry to Anguilla is adjacent to the ship, so we walked from the ship to the dock (1 minute). The ferry ride was about 45 minutes, with complementary pop and bottled water offered. At Anguilla, we were met by two buses to take us to Dolphin Fantaseas one larger bus and a smaller 20 passenger van. The ride to Dolphin Fantaseas was 10-15 minutes. The group was divided into two groups of 30. One group spent the remaining part of the morning on the beach, the other group had the experiences. The groups combined for lunch, then switched. My family was in the group that started on the beach. The time on the beach was wonderful, we had about 1.5 hours the sand and water are beautiful. The kids enjoyed playing in the waves, and the Dolphin Fantaseas folks brought over snorkel gear for us to use free of charge. There were chairs and umbrellas available free of charge as well. Lunch was at the covered dining area at Dolphin Fantaseas, served buffet style: lettuce salad, cole slaw, pasta salad, baked fish, baked chicken legs and thighs, hamburgers, French fries, beans and rice, delicious tropical fruit punch, and I think I am forgetting a vegetable. Lunch was tasty and satisfying. After lunch, our group of 30 was divided into 3 groups of 10, and we rotated through 3 different areas. One area was with the wildlife hermit crabs (we had races the first crab to the edge of the kiddie pool was the winner- multiple heats, of course), parrots, turtles we handled all the critters and learned a bit about them. Second area was the stingrays. This was a very small area, where we entered the water and fed the stingrays (stingers are removed). We were given fresh fish, and after laying our hands flat on the bottom of the pool area, the stingrays would pass over your hand and lightly suck the fish off your hand. It was a really weird, neat feeling and of course they covered up most of your arm while doing so, as their mouth is at the center of their body. We then had some time to swim with the stingrays in the small pool using provided snorkeling equipment. There was also a nurse shark in the sting ray tank, with its cave off to the side. We watched the nurse shark being fed dont worry, the shark doesnt come out during the day, although they didnt tell us about that shark until after we all had swam in the tank and fed the stingrays . The third area is the dolphin area, where we were split to two groups of 5. Here we swam with dolphins in their tank, raced the dolphins across the tank, petted, kissed and each of us hand fed the dolphins a couple times. They had a baby dolphin there too born this past December we couldnt pet the baby, but we did the mama. By the way, nursing mom dolphin eats 30 pounds of fish each day, the other adults 15 pounds and the fish is restaurant quality fish. Again, the tanks were small, but the experience was intimate with the dolphins. . Of course, there was a photographer getting our photos when we kissed and fed the dolphins. Photos available in print or CD format (CD format was $20 for first image, $10 each additional image resolution is excellent). 8x10 print was $25, and there were various packages available too (such as 1 5x7 and 2 2x3 of the same print on one sheet). We returned back to the magic via the same chartered ferry, again offered complementary beverages, and arrived back on the magic at about 4:30 pm it was a long day! Do know that shopping in St. Maarten is limited stores close at 6 so we had very little time to shop! Overall impression of the excursion positive and a wonderful memory we all enjoyed it! I recommend it with the caveat that you must realize you will only be with the dolphins a short time! DD and DS loved it and would do it again in a minute.
I would be glad to answer any questions!
