Dolphin Explorer — Attraction in Higüey

Myself and my husband and our two friends paid $99 each through tui to go on this trip, which we thought was a great price, however when we got there we were herded as a group straight to have pictures with the parrots, then with Toby the seal lion, then we were taken to the lockers, told to remove all jewellery, sunglasses, hats and phones and put them all in our lockers, we were then taken to put life jackets on and taken to have photos with the rays, then taken to where the dolphins are and put snorkels on and got in the water to look for fish, which we finally found at the far corner of the pen, which I think were some kind of large cat fish, after that we were taken to swim with the dolphins, which was fantastic! After that we returned to where our lockers were and showered and changed, then went to see our pictures, and that is where it is a rip off, it cost us $260 dollars as a group of four to have the dvd with the photos on and the video, the photos that were taken with the parrots, seal lion and ray were $15 dollars each, but instead of taking the photos of the four of us in each photo, they done the picture with parrots as a couple, and the same with the rays, but the seal lion they done us all separately, so you ended up paying another $60 per couple for those photos, they know you have no photos of your own as you can’t use your cameras, so of course your going to want these photos as memories to look back on of your holiday, can you imagine if you went as a family with three or more children it is going to cost you a fortune because they don’t take photos as a group! They printed off the photos we had paid for separately, but the dvd you had to go on their site to download. After we paid for our photos and collected them, we were then taken to see the parrot show, feed the budgies and watch the seal show, we then made our way back to our coach, got on but we was still waiting for our husbands as my friends husband had a bad leg and couldn’t walk that fast, the coach driver then said we were late back and we should have been there at a certain time and that he couldn’t wait, we told him no one told us we had to be back at a certain time and that it was the guides fault for taking us off to the shows without telling us a return time, but he wouldn’t wait so we had to get off and get the next coach, even though our husbands turned up as he shut the doors! Since I returned home it has taken me hours to download the disc to my laptop, and then the disc we paid for has two other families in it as well as our group! The experience with the dolphins was fantastic, but charging what they do for their dvd and photos is a complete rip off, and they don’t even offer you a bottle of water! We done the horse riding and the buggies, and they gave you free bottles of water and only charged $50 for the dvd for the horses and $40 for the buggy dvd, and you were given the dvd before you left and were able to use your own cameras to take pictures too, perhaps the dolphin explorer should take note and not get greedy with...

Travel agent review: This excursion is a waste of money and time. We had 2 adults and 1 child aged 7 who is registered partially sighted. We purchased the explorer package. Your guide will bring you around- first into see the parrots- no cameras allowed to capture that memory however a photographer is there should you wish to purchase this picture for an additional $15. The next stop is another photo opportunity- you can get a kiss from the sea lion but again only the photographer is allowed to take pictures at another $15 per picture. Next stop was another photo opportunity for the photographers on the beach front- again not allowed to take your own. We booked this excursion so my daughter could swim with the dolphin. Sadly this was not a great experience. Any child will be very nervous on their first interaction with any animal. My daughter panicked and asked our guide if I could go with her, he said yes so we both swam out for the dolphin interaction. When we got out he told us to separate. I swam 1 feet away and my daughter became hysterical. She was indeed very frightened but the guide seemed more worried about getting photo opportunities and posing for the picture. For my family it was more about the memories. My daughter ended up just getting to stroke the dolphin one time- her arms were too short every time the dolphin came by. There was no time taken to make her feel comfortable. With this in mind I am gonna say this experience is not suitable for under 12 years old.

Whilst waiting at the side a man came around with syringes and injected the fish that were being fed to the dolphins during the interaction. So yes them dolphins are DRUGGED!!

After the 1 hour in the water with the dolphin we were taken to see all the pictures. If you wish to purchase your pictures they will cost you an additional $80 per person excluding the parrot and sea lion pictures. I was looking forward to these professional pictures however they were really bad pictures- half our heads were cut off and eyes closed in almost every picture. You also do not get this printed, it is emailed so you must download it digitally. I walked back down to get some pictures of the dolpins swimming in the water and a member of staff told me I was not allowed to take pictures, despite having paid the entrance fees and dolphin swim which my daughter didn't not experience. Waste of a day! We had saved a lot of money and had cost us £308 for the experience alone before we had even considered a picture which would have cost an additional $110usd each.

I can hand on my heart tell you I was really gutted we wasted our hard earned money and time here, felt it was just a money making opportunity for pictures - and not even professional pictures!!

I am a travel agent and sell this trip. I will not be recommending this trip to any of my clients going to Dominican Republic, highlight of our holiday was saona island.

For anyone from UK save your momey- you can swim with the dolphins in Tenerife for €40 and €10 per picture- and you actually get your...

If I could leave this place 0 stars, I would. PLEASE STAY AWAY!!!! This completely falsely advertised as it claims they are keeping dolphins in their natural habitat when actually multiple of these highly intelligent creatures are kept in minuscule pens which are filled with dirty water and mossy barbed wire. When you first arrive you are immediately met by salesmen trying to sell you a more “luxury experience” and then you are escorted to a small pen housing 5-6 parrots and demanded to take a picture with them (not on your own cameras/mobile phones which are also which are banned throughout the whole experience) , removing any intimacy you could experience with the birds. After a short video and the fitting of a life jacket you are taken to a beach where there is a hut to take pictures. In this sweltering hut was a clearly exhausted and unkempt sea lion which was obviously not in the state to take photos as its snout was forced upon the cheeks of tens of hundreds of tourists to take yet more photos and again you cannot connect with this poor creature due of the monotony of the whole thing. The sight of this was honestly horrific and this itself is enough to deserve the place being shut down. Following this you are taken to the dolphin “enclosure” which is visibly tiny and the central pen holding the 4 dolphins you interact with is circled by 4 smaller yet enclosures holding multiple dolphins. The dolphins showed behaviour that indicates utter boredom and stress as they complete repetitive movements as when the dolphins in the central pen did tricks such as jumps the dolphins surrounding copied, clearly in hope for food. The actual interaction with the dolphins was totally destructive as viewers stood on a mossy platform in the water as the dolphins performed acts in exchange for fish as after each stunt performed they swam back to their trainer obviously hoping for food. Meanwhile tourists were screamed at by photographers to “look at the camera!” whilst touching the dolphin removing any personal experience with the animal . These mammals were clearly mistreated as the whole thing felt like a circus performance. Finally if all this is not traumatic enough after the incident you are taken to another hut to buy photographs from the day at extortionate prices which increase with group size. For a group of just 1 it is $80 for their photos. Ridiculous! In conclusion dolphin explorer is clearly an animal oppression masked by the fact these animals are in their “natural habitat” which is solely built on the selling of unnatural photos. Please steer clear and aid in the shuttering down of this...