Southern Star Dolphin Cruise — Attraction in Destin

We overall enjoyed this dolphin cruise and honestly I rather spend my money on something like this, where you can view dolphins in their natural habitat, rather than them being stuck in a tank that’s way too small for them. We ended up seeing some dolphins, sharks, and the water and scenery were just beautiful!

The captain was funny and entertaining! He handled the boat well and honestly you could tell that he made a lot of effort to find dolphins for us. I also learned a lot of great information, as we sailed along. The music was a bonus, too! A great selection of songs were being played the whole time.

With that being said, it was pretty expensive to book online. I made the mistake of checking the box for the trip protection (don’t make the same mistake as me, lol) on the day of our tour, around two hours before we boarded. We definitely didn’t need that. It overall was like $107 with early boarding (which is something I also felt like we didn’t need). I don’t know if it’s because it was the first cruise time for the day, but hardly anyone seemed to be in with the early boarding crowd, so it may be worth it to just skip that as well.

I’m sure as the summer goes on it will get more crowded, but there will be some changes we will make in the future with the booking process. I think this is an experience everyone should have at least once! We would definitely...

One of the best dolphin cruises I’ve been on! I really did my research between all of the different dolphin cruise options, read ALL of the reviews and even looked into the best time of day. The reason why I went with this place over others is the boat is bigger, has a bathroom AND coverage from the sun should you want it. I saw a lot of reviews about how great the captain was, very knowledgeable and fun! Everyone was right, he was amazing and even threw in some songs on occasion including baby shark doo doo doo!!!!!! Hands down the best! I would have given 5 stars had the check in been a little easier to find, the parking wasn’t on literal dirt/expensive and there had been shirts in all sizes in the merch area - they only had smalls and a medium. They tell you to get there 90 min early to get a parking spot but that seemed a little overkill especially since nothing in the boardwalk even opens until 11. The line to wait to get on the boat that they want you there 30 min prior to doesn’t have coverage from the sun so bring your hats, water and sunscreen which we did! It gets hot! They take your picture at the beginning and you can purchase it at the end. Watching the fella feed the herring was good...

We went on our Sunset Dolphin Cruise on May 13, 2025. [My husband & I were celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary & came downstairs from Michigan.] It was definately the highlight of our trip! It was a 90 minute long cruise & the Captain was very informative (be sure to listen to him to get the most out of your cruise experience) & he made every effort to find the best spots for us to see the dolphins. And, we did see them. The best spot for us was at the very front of the ship. You could see the breaching dolphins best from there. Plus we could enjoy the waves (but hold onto the railing), sea air, the wind in your face & hair, the incredible view of the ocean & the sunset. *Be ready with your cameras/videos for the breaching dolphins 🐬 as they happen fast & unexpectedly. *Also, the sunset lasted only 2 minutes. Luckily we were told this by a fellow passenger who had done this cruise before. I was in Heaven! The amount of time on this cruise & their prices were one of the best. My husband & I highly recommend...