Dolphin Discovery Cozumel — Attraction in Isla Cozumel

Amazing!! Loved the experience of flying out of the water like Superman being pushed under my feet by 2 dolphins at Dolphin Encounter Cozumel, Mexico!! Also was pulled by the same 2 dolphins while holding their dorsal fins, and got in another enclosure with a manatee, plus could have watched a Sea Lion show from bleachers if we had heard the show times correctly. We booked the VIP Dolphin Encounter thru Royal Caribbean, because they guarantee to NOT LEAVE YOU BEHIND and sail the ship away. You could probably book cheaper with the on-shore excursion company they used called Tours R' Us, just go back to the ship port a couple hours early so you don't get left. Their guy Diego was really nice and informative at Tours R' Us, but with such a large group, it was hard to hear him, especially after getting to Chankanaab Parque Natural where the dolphins, manatee and sea lions were. We missed out on the sea lions because they finished the last show which started at 2:00 p.m. as we were walking up at 2:13 p.m. and thought we were going to see a 2:30 p.m. show, but no . . . there was no show for us. I do not believe Diego even had a Megaphone to talk into, and certainly didn't use the nice earbuds that some excursions use to broadcast into your ear so that EVERYONE HEARS, and it was windy plus some RUDE passengers around us just wouldn't shut up and let people hear the guide!! The dolphin experience was BEYOND AMAZING, but we were SHOCKED they wouldn't allow water shoes in the enclosure, and you had to walk down a metal set of stairs which was only a flat metal piece the first 5 or so stairs, then the rest was a painful metal grate on the stairs and under-water-walkway, and the ocean was ebbing and flowing so hard that you had to grip the chainlink fence which had metal-barbed ends where they wrapped ends of the fence around the pier post (wooden/lumber), the fence's metal barbs were picking at my swim suit trying to tear the fabric, and was probably what sliced my husband's side of his foot open on the outside edge of his arch to toes. We had to put triple antibiotic and band-aids on his foot in 2 places for 2 days, one of which looked like a knife injury (serious slice), but the fact we were in the ocean which is salt water probably helped. Otherwise was very enjoyable and would definitely do it again, but other islands let you keep your water shoes on according to other passengers who had done similar dolphin encounters. And I would have understood not having shoes on the dolphin noses, and could have removed the shoes and handed them to my husband "WHEN IT WAS MY TURN," BUT having to walk on a metal grate and be injured by the fence having barbs on it was not appreciated. HOWEVER, as I said, I would definitely do it again, just make sure to stay away from the ends of the chainlink where the barbs stick out!! DEFINITELY BUY TICKETS AT LEAST 1 MONTH AHEAD / BEFORE YOUR CRUISE STARTS, BECAUSE THE DOLPHINS SELL OUT FIRST. You can buy from the cruiseline to guarantee they won't LEAVE YOU on shore when they sail away, or book thru a reputable local vendor like Tours R' Us, which the cruiselines book thru on your behalf. The nice thing besides not being left are: you don't have to get a taxi yourself (although the Tours R' Us did put us in separate taxis with 8 people to each taxi shuttle bus when we got to the meeting place, we just didn't have to have extra cash for cab fare, because it was included, we did have money for tips), our VIP package had an included lunch (but the chips were so hard that we couldn't eat them . . . My husband said, "You'd think you could get a decent Mexican buffet in Mexico!! But no!" There was another earlier tour and we believe all the food was left out for 5 hours on the buffet, so it was all very stale and lukewarm-to-cold, hard chips, but the soft tortillas were ok, and the pulled pork made in a crockpot was awesome! The other area which was probably pay extra had burgers and fries available, which my husband thinks they said were $10, would have been much better and worth...

2 stars only because the interaction with the dolphins is very amazing. The rest of the production is far less than par. The cost for me and my girlfriend and her two kids (Ages 6 and 10) was $400. We paid for the smallest package ($99/person) and received a free upgrade to the next highest package (I forget the name) because we booked through an agent at the Melia Hotel. It seemed that everyone that was going at our scheduled time that day, got the same show. Which again, was amazing. But before we even got passed the desk, we were asked if we wanted to get a photo CD, a coffee cup, and some prints for something like $70/person. We declined because that would have cost us $280 just for the DVDs.

After the show, we went inside to the gift shop (exit through the gift shop, right?) where we were approached by a man asking us if we wanted to just look at her photos. We did, and we liked them. They are nice photos. Then he said "how many people?" and referenced a chart that priced the photos per person. The total? Something over $600 for some DVDs with our pictures on them. Nope, that's not a typo. SIX-HUNDRED DOLLARS.

We knew about the whole "bargain and negotiate" thing for Mexico business but we told him flat-out "no way". I said "I'll give you $5 a picture on disk" and he punched numbers into his calculator and told us some equally outrageous price. Something like $480. For pictures... No.

We walked away and then he stopped us and asked "What would you pay?" and my girlfriend said "$30 for two pictures" and he literally punched "1-4-0" into his calculator and showed us and said "I can give you package for this much." We said "No, that's insane" and walked away. He gave up.

First off, Dolphin Discovery Cozumel. Please explain to me why I can't buy ONE dvd with my pictures on it for $70? Even if that's an absurd price, why does it have to be $70 per person? How does a 6 year old little girl who was scared out of her mind, and ended up enjoying herself, somehow cost you another $70? What about the 10 year old who was really interested in learning about dolphins, somehow warrant an additional $70 to be paid? No one in their right mind, not a regular-ass American, or a wealthy Indonesian prince is going to spend over $600 for photos with a damn dolphin. I have news for your senor. The United States has 12 Seaworld locations where we can get the same show, and pay far less for the photos. They also have water parks and better food. None of which I actually criticized of yours in this review. The food was basic and not that fantastic but it's to be expected when it's free with admission. No big deal. I can understand that. But again, there is no way in hell I'm going to spend more on ~100 pictures than I would on a car note or a mortgage payment.

Lower your prices or you will just waste your photographers time and piss people off. A word of advise? Charge $5/photo and put it on a disc or small flash drive for people. Selling one photo pays for the disc and the flash drive. You don't need to price-gouge people to death. That's why you have reviews saying it's a scam. No one is going to pay that much for simple photos.

You have a great thing here, a wonderful aquatic adventure and people don't mind spending hundreds of dollars to attend it. But relax the photo prices by 90% and you'll have more income. Because $5 a photo is better than no...

I will start with the positive, Miguel our guide was very kind, personable, and professional. The ride was nice and air conditioned. The positive experience ended there.

Once we arrived at the park we were guided to the lockers and restrooms. I was immediately approached by someone trying to sell me a package of photos for the great deal of $265. I had already wrapped my mind around paying $100 for one photo of just my son so he has a momento of the experience. While in the (ladies) restroom I was very displeased to learn that there was a male employee working in the restroom. He was replacing toilet seats. Not a pressing matter that could be done after or before business hours. There was no sign, there was no notice and it was completely unacceptable. Immediately after leaving the restroom I was once again approached by a photo sales person. From there we were ushered to get a life jacket, and walked onto a pier that had more than one weak board. We were asked to remove our water shoes and moved onto the next slightly less secure pier. I was very aware of my footing because I was holding my one year old son. We finally all got in the water to see the dolphin and we were lined up on an underwater pier with a flimsy fence to hold for security. Trust me, you need it. I am 5’3 and the life jacket was lifting me off my feet when any boat would pass by. It was very scary because I was holding my son. Finally the group closest to the-dolphin trainer and and steps into the water were interacting with the dolphin. Once they were done, they were instructed to move to the back of the line wich was a very difficult thing to do as the current was knocking us all around. Finally my son and I were up where the WORST part of the whole experience started. I was asked to take pictures before my son and had to move him to the other side of me. I reached out to touch the dolphin as insructed and I pet her on the cheek and was snapped at by the trainer to stop “petting “ the dolphin. So I just followed the directions to get the photos out of the way so my son could see the dolphin. Once he was done taking photos we were asked to get to the back of the line. I was so upset. I understood that we would have photos of our interaction with the dolphin but the photos was the complete experience. I just paid money to have a photo taken that I had to pay money for!!!! It is a complete scam! After everyone had finished having forced photos taken with a dolphin we were dazzled as she zoomed bu a couple of times and splashed salt water into our eyes. Finally, we were done, safe on land when we learned that we had all missed the beginning of the sea lion show which really ipset my son. We decided to have lunch and hopefully reset and make the best of the time left on the excursion. The food was so so but my hopes are never high at a buffet. After lunch we set out to see the photos. This is where the final blow took place. We saw the pics, they looked nice. Very bright and edited nicely so that was good, but I was informed that because a group of us went I had to pay a group price even though I only wanted one picture of my son and that would cost $265.00!! That is for a disk and one printed photo. I felt so taken advantage of that we just completely left the park and went back to the ship. Please do not waste your...