Dolphin swim for 7 yr old?

[dzneprincess]

My DD is a terrific swimmer and has it in her head that she is going to swim with the dolphins on our cruise. I looked at shoretrips.com and they say need to be 8. Does anyone know of a place that we can do the dolphin swim? She will have just turned 7 when we cruise.

 

[rae519]

I'm taking Michael (8) on the August 2 cruise that had the Dolphin Swim and he had to be 8. I asked them about other swims and was told that there wasn't anything available. Michael is a VERY beginning swimmer, but fantastic horseman - we can do riding with shoretrips but not with Disney -----go figure!

Rae

 

[dzneprincess]

well that stinks! she really wants to do a dolphin swim

 

[rae519]

We said that about the Disney horseback riding excursion too!
But where there's a will, there's a way.....a challenge is only insurmountable when you cease trying!

Rae

 

[DuncanLL]

We did the Western in Nov. 2002. We took our then 6yo and 10 yo on the Dolphin swim at Chankanaab. He's good in the water. We just went the "don't ask, don't tell" approach. He did great and we all loved it!

 

[dzneprincess]

This will be the Western sailing. Duncan did you do it through DCL or booked it on your own? If so, then who did you use?

 

[Farms]

Not sure where the Western goes, but you can check dolphinswim.com. they're out of Nassau and I believe you have to be 5 to do the swom. Worth a check.

 

[DuncanLL]

We booked the dolphin swim directly with Dolphin Discovery - no booking agent or anything. It was easy to get a cab to Chankanaab Park ($10 each way). Dolphin Discovery included our admission to Chankanaab and the sea lion show. It was a great day. None of the reservation forms asked the ages of the kids. Obviously, if your child is small for her age, they might have questions when you get there. We emailed back and forth with a woman named Marion Davies at Dolphin Discovery who was very helpful in setting everything up.

 

[pjacobi]

My wife and 4 year old DD booked a Dolphin swim tour through DCL at Chankanaab Park in February 2003. There was actually no swimming at all, just wading in waist deep water. There you get to pet, feed and kiss a dolphin as he swims by you. The DCL program has little or no age limit.

My wife was disappointed with the DCL dolphin program, but I was much relieved since I am not a strong swimmer.

Chankanaab park also offers programs where you *do* actually swim with a dolphin, but it cannot be booked through DCL. This program is similar to Discovery Cove program which has an age limit of 8 or 12.

If you have small children, do go to Chankanaab park and enjoy the beach, but skip the DCL dolphin program. If you want to pet a dolphin, stop by the dolphin pool at Seaworld, where Dolphin petting is included in your admission, and you don't even need to get into the water. It's also MUCH cheaper for almost the same experience!

If you have older children, then book the full dolphin swim at Chankanaab Park (not available through DCL) or spend a day a Discovery Cove.


-Paul

 

[Tigfanjeff]

We booked directly with dolphin discovery for our october cruise. Very painless. We got a confirmation e-mail back within 15 minutes of sending the fax.

I don't know about their age limits as I don't have any little ones (besides my two beagles and obviously they have no interest in swimming with dolphins)

 

[catjammies]

I'm sorry if I've missed something here,
but Disney is offering both a SWIM excursion & an ENCOUNTER excursion.
My 5 & 7 1/2 yr old will ENCOUNTER, not swim.
Just wanted to make sure you'd explored this option...... )

 

[DuncanLL]

Unless they've added it recently, DCL was only offering the ENCOUNTER in Cozumel. We wanted a more personal dolphin experience for our family and that's why we went with the SWIM. After the great experience we had, I think our kids would have been disappointed with the Encounter - only getting to pet and kiss the dolphin briefly in a large group. The Swim was in a group of only six. We got to do the petting, kiss, flipper shake, dorsal tow, dolphin push, jump and still had some free time to just swim with them. Booking directly was a breeze. It's the only non-DCL excursion we've taken in 6 cruises, but it was worth it.