Delphinus Xcaret — Attraction in Quintana Roo

One of the best experiences I’ve ever had and to share this with my fiancé and my 2 year old was incredible and one I will never forget! We got an amazing deal as they were offering 50% off this attraction on the day that we happened to be going and was wow’d throughout! We paid for this on entry and booked an allocated time slot of 1pm. On arrival we were given a key to lock our valuables in a locker and given a swim vest / float in our sizes. We were then asked to sit and wait for the previous group to finish. This was only about a 5 minute wait. One of the dolphin trainers then called us forward with another 4/5 individuals and we were shown into the water. There’s a ledge that you can stand on which must be about 3/4 feet deep. Our trainer was excellent. She called the dolphin forward and explained what she would like us to do in order to make the dolphin feel at ease. She told us to move our hands in certain ways which made the dolphin splash, swim on its back so we could stroke it’s belly and make it dive downwards and wave to us with its tail. The adults were given an opportunity to swim into the middle and have a 1 on 1 experience with the dolphin. I did see some of groups have the dolphin push the person forward by its nose on the persons feet which looked a lot of fun but we had the dolphin swim around us and jump over us. Throughout the whole experience (30 mins) the trainer would constantly explain the dolphins movements and facts about them in both Spanish and English as our party was mixed. There was a photographer too who took plenty of pictures giving people the option to buy them at the end if you wish. The pictures are expensive BUT do not pay the full price, I was adamant that I only wanted the basic package which was 10 pictures for $100 but once he knew that I wasn’t prepared to pay for more pictures he said ok well for $120 I’ll give you everything I’ve taken. This was a total of 50+ pictures of which they were adverting for over $200 USD. I still think what I paid was expensive but couldn’t have left without capturing this incredible experience. You get to see EVERY picture taken on a screen before you decide whether you want them or not. If you do you get given a card with the agreed price and this needs to be taken to the pay area. Once paid, you are sent a link via email which can be accessed approximately 24 hours after purchase and you then have up to 21 days (I think) to download your pictures via a secure login and password. Ours were ready the next morning and we made sure that they were saved to 3 different devises. We had the most wonderful time in Xcaret and in Mexico in general but this honestly made our holiday! The whole day cost me over $300 USD but even if this was the only thing I did, I would have been sooo happy. Xcaret is amazing... please see my review for the rest of the park under ‘Xcaret Park’. Please go and visit! You’ll...

My family (myself, 2 kids and a wife) and another family ( 3 kids and their parents visited Delphinus this week. We were staying at a nearby resort and the kids were very excited to interact with the Dolphins.

A word of advice if you are booking- please ensure you are clear what experiences you would like to partake in (Dolphin fin ride vs. Dolphin Push etc.) as each package has different inclusions and exclusions- it can be confusing. We ended up paying extra when we arrived at the park because even though we booked what we thought was the highest package, it did not include all the activities our kids wanted to do.

First the good- the park was clean, and very well organized. Staff were very nice. The day we went there were not any lineups and activities were timely.

The participants all receive life jackets and were made to feel very comfortable with the dolphins before interacting. I am not a Dolphin expert but it does seem they are well cared for.

The experience itself seemed amazing. Every last member of our party who participated in the experience said they enjoyed (a lot of use the word epic!).

Now the bad- Staff mentioned before the experience that we need not worry, photos would be available for purchase after the experience.

They, in retrospect purposely, put myself and the other Dad not participating in the experience, far away from the family so we could not take any good shots.

Afterwards the staff offered photos- they did the classic hard sell combined with gotcha sales tactics. I laughed out loud at their pricing- 12 photos for $350 USD, $450 USD for a USB drive containing all the photos or $471 USD for everything including a video.

I know we are very blessed to be able to go on vacation to another country and be able to enjoy activities such as swimming with the Dolphins. My intention is not to be an online "Karen". We even went into the experience with the expectation that we would be paying inflated pricing for the memories. We were not, however, prepared to spend our monthly grocery budget on my daughter getting a photo kissed by Flipper.

Its a bit of emotional blackmail- they are counting on parents caving into their absurd pricing tactics because their children would like their Dolphin memories. As we were getting back in the car, our driver knowingly smiled and said "the photos are very expensive right?"

I fully expect to receive a standard reply from a brand rep from Delphinus proclaiming how they will take my feedback very seriously. Please. Although foreign tourists are in a blessed position to be able to go on vacation, it does not mean they are an endless stream of money with no bills to pay at home.

If they are truly interested on improving the experience, post their photo package pricing online for all to see, and offer alternatives. An otherwise lovely experience left me with a bad taste...

I, like many others, feel very cheated. We had a chance to do a similar experience with dolphins at our resort, and I regret greatly we didn't do that there. We would have paid $80 for the same thing + swimming with more than one dolphin, 1:1 in a big pool. Here, you pay $200+ a person and you have 15 min with one dolphin in a large group of strangers!! It's a total rip off. I only did it because it was our last day and I promised my daughter the experience. I really wish we did it at our resort instead, it would have been much cheaper and way more enjoyable and exclusive.

I also feel ripped off because although they claim kids under 5 get in for free, you still have to pay $200 for them to get into the dolphin experience with you. My resort would have charged me only for my daughter because they were understanding that it was for her but she couldn't go by herself. It's unfair to make the parent pay when I honestly couldn't care less about being part of this, I only did it for my kid.

I'm not even gonna mention the photos, because everyone already said how they rip you off on that. But besides that, it is so rude to make the guests stand there for close to 45 min drenched in water in an air conditioned space waiting for them to put the "offer" together. Especially when there are kids. It's simply not polite. Just sell the dolphin package with all photos for $350 to everyone and stop forcing them to waste time and possibly get sick. 👎👎

If you have a chance to do something similar at your resort or elsewhere, do it elsewhere! We trusted that we would have THE BEST experience at this park given its reputation, and we left "the best for last" and ended up extremely disappointed. Even my 4 year old was disappointed with this experience and she was so excited for it. Because she didn't get any one on one time with the dolphin, there were strangers all around in the group, it wasn't an "intimate" experience with a dolphin at all. It was a rip off. She asked me the moment we left after spending $400, when were we going to swim with dolphins "for...