Sealanya Dolphinpark Seapark — Attraction in Alanya

This will be a lengthy review, so for those not patient here is the jist. Avoid this place at all cost. It is not worth time and money and COVID rules are not observed by visitors at all, and even by some staff.

Here is the detail account of our visit yesterday. First when we asked what is available we were told that there is a show 1h long and option to swim with dolphins for half hour. When we bought tickets, we asked again and received the same info. At the gate there was a sign that masks are mandatory. After paying $35 per person for the show and $125 per person for the swim we entered the premises. We were shocked to see that we were the only ones with face masks and the staff was doing nothing to enforce their own rule. Even some staff were mask less and there were a lot of people on this small area. Since we are vaccinated I said to ignore that and continue to our seats.

The show started at 3:05pm.it was ok, but nothing earth shattering. Two sea lions and two dolphins did around 10 tricks. In the middle of the show organizers took around 20 spectators to the pool, not to see the dolphins but to dance for the rest of us. That lasted for around 5 to 10 minutes. The show ended at 3:45. So it was not one hour it was at the most 35 minutes. Why the lie?

Ok we said lest go swim with the dolphins. When we entered the park, after we bought the tickets we were given the rules for the swim. There it was written that we cannot take a camera to the pool. We said ok, we have GoPro that was attached to my wrist, surely that would be ok. It was not. When I asked staff to take one picture of three of us, they said it was forbidden. I suspected that was because the park wanted to sell us their pictures, so while swimming we tried to have one picture of three of us, it was not allowed.

The swim included only three positions out of 8 possible ones that were on their prospect. It lasted around 20minutes, but since this was a unique opportunity for us to see the dolphins we were fine with all of this. The drop that was the end was when we were told what was the price of the picture, $25 per each and $125 for all. So I had to pay additional. $75 for three pictures. I lost it. The pictures were even not good. I tried to haggle since we only had $25 with us, to give us 3 for that price, but the owner said no and though them in the trash. For comparison, we went to rafting trip and pictures were $5 each and you could haggle for a bundle.

We started coming to Turkey some 25 years ago, and we have never seen this level of obsession for money. Rich tourist from Russia and Germany did this, but still, there has to be a line. I understand the will to make money, but to actively prohibit us to use our own equipment is borderline criminal.

If we knew all this in advanced, we would still choose to swim since that was our big wish and we do not have option to do it elsewhere, but we would avoid everything else here. And for small money you can ask your tour guide to take as many pictures behind the fence as you like, since that was ok, but we did not know that and he did not tell us.

So in conclusion, if you have other options spend your money elsewhere. These are not the people that we fell in love with, when we fist started...

The whole experience was ruined at the gate when we arrived and found that the credit card machine wasn't working. However, it wasn't the main problem, as we understand that the technical issues happen and it's not the staff's fault. The problem was how the staff handled the situation. They were unhelpful to the point of rudeness. One girl after I asked her a question just turned around and left, like I wasn’t there! After almost an hour of not getting clear answers from not very friendly staff, a trip to the ATM and 15% in fees and commissions, we finally got it. 
There were few more problems, that I might have not noticed if the tickets weren’t so expensive. I’m used to a much better service for the price. First of all, there aren’t any changing rooms. You have to change in showers that weren’t very clean - wet and sandy. Not very pleasant when you come in and would like to change into a clean and dry swimming suit. Then it smelled like someone died there. Terrible fishy smell. 
Also, the toilets weren’t clean, even though it was a midday. It felt like no-one cleaned there throughout the day. I’ve seen cleaner bathrooms at the gas stations… just a disgrace for a place where people with small children go. Once a teenage girl was puking into a sink when I came in. Next were the sunbeds. Every paid beach in Turkey that we went to offered soft cushions with the beds. I wasn’t expecting to get a hard plastic sunbed for the price I paid at the door. You absolutely can’t relax and enjoy the surroundings laying on those uncomfortable sunbeds. Then, the pools with the fish. They advertise it like you will get such a variety of activities and see so much there. In reality, there are 3 pools. One is very small with stingrays, which was actually very cool. No problems there. Just be careful, if you let a stingray hang over your hand or foot it might bite off a little piece of you (it happened to my husband and he got a little mark even now), and there is absolutely no warning about it! 
The second pool with artificial coral reefs was huge, but the tropical fish was present only in a tiny separated part of the pool! Why make such a huge pool then? So people swim and dive looking for not existing fish and spend time like that? 
The third pool had a flock of the same big silver fish that didn’t look any interesting. That’s it! We spent like 5 minutes there, because there were nothing else to see really… The cherry on the cake was when we came home our 8 years old came down with terrible vomiting. I suspect the Lazy River at the park. It smelled of bleach so strong that after one round, I decided to stay away, but of course for a child it was fun, so I think he accidentally swallowed some water and got poised by too much chemicals in the pool (now remember the puking girl in the bathroom). 
Taking all of the above into account, I would not come back to this place. Yes, it was a great experience to see stingrays and tropical fish so close, but giving the level of service and the number of activities, the tickets are...

I highly recommend vising the park if you are in the area, escpecially if you want to see fish and know how to swim. We paid 80 euros for the ticket which included: access to the dolphin show (there's 2 every day at 10:30 and 14:30), access to the park from 10 AM to 5 PM, lunch at 12:30 with 1 drink included (non-alcoholic). The price was from the Karpaten agency guide and we paid directly to him, although I think you can buy the tickets from the entrance.

There are 6 pools:

One very shallow kids pool with slides One 1 meter pool full eith stingrays and manta rays which you can touch One 1.2 m pool with a large school of gold fish, the big kind One 1.2 m long lazy river that goes around the main pool One 3 to 6 m main pool which has different sections with fish and underwater decor like coral and statues. There are fish like Nemo and Dory in on side of the pool among lots of colorful fish One 6 m large pool with underwater columns and a castle, the fish here are less colorful but you can stand in the middle of the pool on top of a bridge and watch the fish 1 shark pool, you can see the sharks from the top but if you want to dive in a cage with them it's 10 euro. The sharks are pretty small, 1 to 1.5m so we didn't think it was worth diving for as we watched them from above. But it's pretty cheap if you want to do it.

Food was alright, they have a small buffet for lunch and you can choose between a few dishes and sides. They have fries, fish, chicken, peas, watermelon from what I remember.

The dolphin and sealion shows are very cool and well worth the money. The show takes about 1 hr, you should get it early if you want to sit in the front, although it is not very crowded and you can get a good spot anyway towards the center. If you do sit in the front, know that during the show the dolphins will splash you so keep that in mind if you don't want to get your clothes wet! You can attend both shows if you want, though it's...