Scarlet Lady Dolphin Adventures — Local services in Port Aransas

DO NOT BOOK WITH THEM AHEAD OF TIME!!

I booked 3/29 for a tour on 5/10. I get a call a little less than 2 weeks before my trip that the boat will be pulled for maintenance, ok no problem. I understand that. But my money they are saying they will not process my refund until after May 10th (the day I was supposed to go on this dolphin tour). I'm a single mom of 3 I prepaid to ensure I had the funds at the time. I can not afford another dolphin tour without my refund. This is ridiculous! I am not sure how someone can hold your money when they know they do not plan to service you! I understand a 3-5 business day turn around on refund but the fact that they are not even going to process my refund until May 10th yet I was informed 4/27 that I would not be able to go out on this tour....

I am waiting for supervisor to get back to the office from a meeting. I really hope they see the unfairness in this and make this right.

Future... I will not be using them! Maybe if you don't prebook like I did. I'm not sure. But not going to waste my time in the future if they are going to screw over other people.

Btw if you don't prebook there is no guarantee you will get a tour for your days. So kinda have to prebook.

Update- after I posted this review I went and sent an email explaining the issue. Probably should have sent the email then posted the review (not that the review would have changed). Anyway, I ask that someone get back to me via phone or email and provided both. A bit later I receive an email stating the money was being refunded, this was a generated email. I have received the funds back as of 5/3/23. No one contacted me until today 5/3/23, the email stated "Its already been refunded." That was all, no name, nothing.

I would be carefully using them. Customer service seems to not be priority. And if you have to do all this to get your money back, when you did not cancel (they canceled)....

I just dawned on me that we’ve taken the sunset cruise several times, and I have yet to write a Google Map review, so here goes.

Yes, summer’s are hot on the Texas Coast. Yes, there’s a chance it may rain anytime. Yes, the prices have increased slightly over the years. Yes, the dolphins are wild and swim when and where they want to, but the captain does his very best to sail where they normally have dolphin activity. There is a very good chance you will see some dolphins.

The operation is very punctual and usually sails and returns within two to three minutes of the scheduled time.

Check the forecast when you book your cruise because you cannot cancel inside of 48 hours, and canceling before that incurs a hefty fee. If an illness or something up pops up, they may offer you a gift certificate to use later, good for one year.

You cannot take outside food and drink on board, but the company will gladly sell you some. Alcoholic drinks are also available for purchase. I’d like to think they would at least allow passengers to take a water bottle on board. Even when I purchased the bottle of water in their store ($1.50) I couldn’t take it onboard but they’d sell me a bottle ($2.00) once onboard.

In addition to dolphin spotting, the first mate provides educational information about the dolphins and historical information about the surrounding area.

They added a new fun twist to the cruise recently. You just may have to defend the Scarlet Lady, her crew, and passengers from the evil pirates aboard any passing pirate ships. Stay alert.

Obviously we enjoy this activity or we wouldn’t have gone so many times.

I give them 4 stars for a relaxing and enjoyable boat ride. If it’s hot, at least you’ll still feel the breeze when underway.

For those who carry, be forewarned they are posted signs on the dock right...

The Scarlett Lady Dolphin Cruise has become on of our “must do” traditions when we visit and stay in Port Aransas. Yes, the prices have gone up over the years.

We’ve taken the sunset cruise several times, before I finally wrote a review. This will be the second review on Google (I think).

It was after Labor Day, so the post-season crowds were reasonably light. Of all the times we’ve been on the sunset cruise, it seems this one was the “best.” Now that’s hard to quantify since you’re just cruising about the channel looking for Dolphins and we’ve seen groups of dolphins every single time, but this captain managed to find multiple pods/families of dolphins and still provide a “grand tour” of the channel.

The narrator was not too intrusive, but still provided lots of interesting information. Drinks were available, but it was not a HARD SELL approach.

We had a left over ticket from two years ago, and they honored that ticket. Nice touch.

One more thing. Although I’m usually very careful, I booked the wrong Wednesday. Fortunately, they were not sold-out and easily adjusted my booking. I just wish the lady on the phone would have caught that when I called the day before.

My biggest complaint: The “report-in” time is very early, although it only takes a couple minutes to get checked in (if you’ve completed all your paperwork online).

If you do it, do the sunset cruise. Sit anywhere as dolphins will show up on all sides, and front and back. (Or as the crew would say, Port, Starboard,...