Dolphin Racer — Attraction in South Pasadena

Ok, after my horrible experience with this company, I had to write this review. I was lured into buying the Groupon thinking its a great deal. After I purchased the groupons, I called StarLite on July 17th to make reservations for July 19th, Father's day. The lady on the phone took my name, phone number and the number of people and told me we were all set for July 19th.

I wanted to give my daughters a surprise so got them all ready in the morning and after and hour and half of drive we reached the boarding place 45 mins before departure. There were 4 of us, myself, my wife and our 2 daughters. The lady at the counter said there was no reservation in my name and asked us to come back at a later time. I told her I made the reservation 2 days ago but she would not listen and kept repeating that it was not their fault if my name is not in their system and that I must be lying about the reservation. Really?

I told her it was not my fault and they need to either put us on the boat or refund the money. She threatened to have us removed from their property and also refused to honor the Groupons saying we should have purchased the tickets directly from them at the full price. She was rude, unprofessional and had zero education in customer service. My daughter was so upset and kept asking me if she will get to go on the boat.

Finally after waiting for an hour, we were told that another family did not show up and we could go on the boat.

Most reviews about this company seem to be good and I cannot discount them. Perhaps trying to save money using Groupon was a bad idea. I would never go back and would never recommend them.

They need to stop these malpractices and have more educated people who are going to deal with the customers. Definitely going to report them to BBB.

As for the boat ride, nothing much to talk about. We got to see 1 baby dolphin for 3 seconds in 1.5 hours and the captain kept talking about how expensive the property is in that...

I'm a St. Pete native & can't believe I never did this before! Took out of town guests on this to do all the touristy FL things and wow! So fun to see the dolphins in the wakes. They even spin around to get a closer look at all the people! Cheer when they pop out of the water because that makes them more curious & engaging!

You don't see dolphins the entire ride, but when you do it's pretty cool! They will play in the wakes right behind the boat and even the wakes a little farther away.

Don't worry you can walk all around the boat during the ride so people usually walk from front to back & vice versa throughout it all to see the dolphins... or sit and hang out. I thought we might be stuck in our seats for the whole time thinking it was crazy fast for the entire ride! The captain and staff were so nice! We forgot to bring sunscreen and they shared theirs (we gave them $ too)!

Bring sunscreen, hats, etc... at one part of the ride, we were all standing on the side of the captain and got drenched from the water splashing all around. Loved it! Wish I wore a swim suit! ...

BEST part of our trip! We were actually trying to decide between two boats to take our dolphin tour, we chose this boat because speedboats are better for people who have motion sickness. Sitting in the back of this boat felt like driving in a car. Dolphin sightings are guaranteed and for good reason, the waters are brimming with dolphins. The dolphin racer is especially magical because it creates a HUGE wake, which the dolphins love to play in! I still can't believe they were so close to us, they are so wonderful. The guide and boat captain were wonderful, boat captain is extremely friendly and happy and clearly loves what he does. He did us a favor taking us out on the boat with less people than he should have because some of us drove from far away. The guide also works at Clearwater aquatic center and is very knowledgeable about the wildlife. I know this is the longest review ever but I could rave all day about how wonderful this experience is. DEFINITELY recommend to EVERYONE staying in FL to visit...