Dolphinaris Cozumel — Attraction in San Miguel de Cozumel

I go back and forth with 3 and 4 stars with our experience! We did this as an excursion: “Dolphin swim with unlimited food and drink.”

The Experience: The dolphin swim is an amazing, AMAZING experience! We have life long memories and this was a top bucket list item for my husband - he was very pleased with the swim experience. I do suggest to do the swim and not the encounter. They separate you into small groups and bring everyone into the water. They teach you how to signal to the dolphins and then give everyone the opportunity to swim out to the middle of the pool, signal the dolphin, and then grab on to the dolphin to do a belly ride. They also bring the dolphins up close and teach you how to signal the dolphins to do a kiss, hugs, and some other things. Amazing experience.

Photos: This is where the company loses stars! They do not let you bring your phones with you during the swim - this part I actually liked. It took away the pressure of me trying to get photos of my family and let me enjoy the experience. They have photographers walking around to capture the experience. I love this! Where they lose stars is the cost afterwards to get those photos. The more people in your party the more you’re going to pay! The first package they offered was for all of the photos they took of us (20+ photos) including the family photo (everyone in your party posing with the dolphin) and it was about $300 for 3 of us. I said no way and then they started to give us other options and deals. They eventually offered us 2 photos of each person (not including the family photo) for $150. When I inquired about only purchasing the family photo they wanted $105 for the one photo because it had 3 people in it. No way was I paying that. I finally got them to do the 2 photos per person AND the family photo for $150. That was a total of 7 photos. Another family I talked to was able to get all of their photos for $150. So it’s just the way you haggle them. They don’t tell you or show you these prices before you do your swim so you’re not really sure how much to expect - and I was definitely not expecting that crazy amount. The photos are able to be printed or sent digitally and they really are great quality. I do suggest to not use the iPads they give you to order. It seems that there was no haggling with this process…Ask to see the photos on the big screens in the souvenir shop. Someone will be there to show you the photos and offer you the packages. This is where you could haggle and get that price down. The 7 photos you see on my review are the ones we chose.

Tips: Bring money for lockers as they do not let you bring stuff down with you to the dolphin areas. Bring towels from the ship or your own towels as this costs money to get, too! They also do not allow sunglasses unless they are prescription and no sunscreen on as this can harm the dolphins’ skin. There is also a souvenir shop that was quite pricey so bring money for that if you’d like. I bought a small magnet (I collect magnets, otherwise I wouldn’t have bought it…) for $15.

Food and Drinks: If you get the unlimited package it truly is unlimited. Our 16yo son put this to the test lol The food was decent and good, but not amazing. Same with the drinks.

Other activities: They do offer snorkeling, paddle boards, and kayaks to do after your swim. There’s no pool or swimming area if you aren’t wanting to do those other things. We ended up going to the restaurant to eat and relax before heading back to the ship.

Everyone was super friendly and nice!

Overall, this was an amazing experience! I do suggest to do the swim, but just be prepared for the crazy photo prices. I was almost in tears because I couldn’t take any photos on my phone and then was told I had to pay $300 to get any sort of photo memory from this experience. I’m still not happy about having to pay the $150 for only 7 photos but this allowed me to just pay for the good photos (none with our eyes closed or making weird faces) and the good...

We booked this excursion through our cruise line because it was advertised as one of the VIP ones. The excursion included swimming with the dolphins, snorkeling, and a food package. We were very disappointed with our experience. Please be aware, this is a tourist trap! They don't allow you to bring any items with you, such as your phone to take photos, and instead, offer you their lockers for $15 dollars! Huge rip off! The package is already very expensive and the lockers should already be included! Towards the end of the excursion you'll be prompted to eat at their restaurant. I was very disappointed in the food. We did not like it at all and some of the food items had a questionable taste. Out of precaution, we ended up not eating their food. Towards the end of our experience, we were guided to view all the photos they took of our family and we were told that the package for all the photos is approximately $250 dollars!! We were not prepared to pay such a ridiculous amount for photos. If you want one picture per each family member, it's approximately $40 for only 1 photo! Sadly, the majority of people who are doing this excursion want to have photos for memories and they have no choice but to pay their ridiculous fees! If you try to negotiate with these people, don't expect that they will drop the price a whole lot, you'll still end up paying a high amount for the photos! If you accidentally break something in their store, be prepared to pay a high amount for it because they will for sure make you pay for it!!! It's not like in America where you walk into their stores and if you accidentally break something, the store clerks tell you it's ok and you can continue with your shopping experience because they will not make you pay for it. We will not be recommending this place and we will definitely be providing this feedback to our cruise line. It's unfortunate that most of these places take advantage of tourists, who in good faith, visit their country and provide them with business. The photos should be part of the package! Don't rip people off! Lastly, if you don't speak Spanish, good luck. You'll be surprised how some of the workers express themselves about the tourists. Luckily, I spoke Spanish and was able to understand everything they were saying as they were helping some of the tourists, and at one point, I told one of the workers in Spanish that I understood what he was saying. Definitely will not be...

It started off with us waiting for a couple to get off. The cruise ship to join us to go on the bus. So i'm gonna guess we waited about ten to fifteen minutes. Which it says on there, if you're late. That's your problem , so we lost about ten or fifteen minutes waiting to board the bus. Then, when we got there. It took another hour and a half just just to start out encounters with the dolphins. When we arrived, there was a bar serving drinks. The bartender never smiled he seemed like he didn't wanna be there. The encounter with the dolphins was excellent. The trainer we had was excellent. She was a female I can't remember her name and she was awesome. Then they said unlimited food and unlimited drinks. After we got down there, we could go do a little Snokel I did it for about five minutes. Then proceeded to the dining room to get like. They advertise unlimited food when we got there we were treated very rudely. Our tour guide said we had 40 minutes to eat. When we got up there they told us they were closed. That they close at four thirty how can you close at four thirty. So we felt like we were putting them out. They were not friendly and the attitudes were bad. It was a waiter with the attitude. Also when I proceeded to go look at my pictures that lady wasn't friendly either. The pictures didn't come out that good. I felt like I was putting them out. So I walked away from buying the pictures. There was also 3 other staff standing there. And when I asked them questions they weren't answering. So that's why you're only getting a two star because of the trainer. She was awesome. She was a five star , but the rest of the trip has to be a two. And I am being generous with those two stars. You should not announce that you're given unlimited free food and unlimited drinks. One that isn't true. And why is the restaurant closing at four thirty. So rude late staff late getting on the bus. Waiting for people on the cruise ship. With it was a couple we shouldn't have to wait. That took some of our time and the wait time to go swim with the dolphins that was about over an hour and a half wasted time there. So that's why you're...