Day 6 - Nassau & Dolphins
We awoke to day 6 of our vacation and day 3 of the cruise a little tired. Our youngest DD got seasick during the night so our sleep was not uninterrupted. I was glad though that was the extent of any real illness or sea sickness during our trip. I think the speed of the ship led to different feeling movement than what we had already gotten used to and it got to her. The other realization that hit me was that we were now on morning 3 of the cruise meaning we were getting close to the end and that was sad.
Fortunately we had super exciting plans to energize us today. We were going to interact with Dolphins today. I will say I didn't find a lot of trip reports that covered Nassau shore excursions so I'll try and cover my thoughts on what we did. We chose to do the Blue Lagoon Island Dolphin Encounter. I would have preferred the swim but our 4 year old was too young for that. This was one of the few excursions he could do that sounded fun. I know Nassau has a bit of a bad name for safety and many people stay on the ship. I've travelled enough internationally that I wasn't too worried for myself but bringing my kids added a whole new dimension. So we decided sticking with a Disney port adventure was our best bet in Nassau.
The con with many of these Disney adventures is there can be a lot of waiting up front. We had to meet in the theater for a bit before they took us in groups off the ship. That wasn't horrible but then we had to stand in a line on the pier for a long time. They had to have us sign a waiver sheet which I found odd because there were waivers delivered to our stateroom with our tickets that we signed but they never collected. Instead we had to wait for them to collect our signature on their sheet and give us wristbands. That whole part on the pier felt like it could have been improved with the use of a little technology. Not sure why the couldn't have collected the waivers online in advance and given us a simple QR code or something to scan as we got off the ship to get our wristband. Oh well it all worked out.
They did start walking the group before we had a chance to sign so we had to catch up and it wasn't entirely clear where we were going. As it turned out one advantage of this excursion was that we got to board the boat for our ride to the island from within the secured cruise port area. We didn't have to walk out and pass vendors to board the boat which I appreciated. There was a mass of people though boarding and it did take time and patience for all of us to get onboard. The boat was a decent size with two levels but loading that many people across a gangway just takes time.
Speaking of time, the ride to Blue Lagoon Island was much longer than I expected. The boat wasn't super fast and it was a ways away. There were interesting sights to look at including some really nice homes. They also played music and had drinks/snacks for purchases onboard. It was still a longer ride than I was planning on. Once we got to the island though we thought it was pretty cool.
The island is clearly setup to be a tourist destination and while not Castaway Cay (keep in mind we haven't visited yet at this point in our cruise) we thought it was awesome. Nice sandy beaches, chairs to sit in, crystal clear water. It was everything I imagined for a tropical island. It was definitely busy, there were people from 3 cruise ships plus anyone else who came over from Nassau, but didn't feel crowded.
We got there about 11:45 and were assigned to a 12:30 program with the dolphins so we took advantage of some beach/water time.
They had blow up play things you can see in the background for an extra charge. I'm showing them here in case anyone is considering doing them in the future. They looked cool and if you were coming just for the beach might be fun. Since we were here for dolphins and had limited time we were happy with just the water and beach.
I'll mention these photos were all taken with our Fujifilm XPS 130 waterproof camera we got a couple years ago for a trip to Costa Rica. We didn't want to bring our phones since we didn't want anything to happen to them and we knew we couldn't use them during the dolphin encounter. So we brought this waterproof camera which we also used when snorkeling at Castaway Cay. It takes pretty decent pictures and we love that we don't have to worry about it getting wet.
I had wondered what the water temperatures would be in Jan. It did feel cold getting in but you quickly got used to it. Most of my beach experience is from southern California and the water there is generally colder than this especially in the winter time. I love the ocean and have had plenty of make your body numb because it is such cold water experiences. This was far warmer than that. Per a site I found online water temps were 75-77 when we were there and I thought they were quite pleasant. The air itself was mid to upper 70s so all around great weather. I would have been okay with a bit warmer but compared to the cold and snow we left behind it was paradise. There aren't many places I've been able to just swim in the ocean and not feel cold the whole time. I suppose those used to warmer water might not have enjoyed it as much as we did.
We only had a few minutes though before it was time for our dolphin encounter. We headed over to that area and they had lockers we could put our stuff in. They were pretty small though and my backpack wouldn't fit so I just put it under a bench. They had us put on lifejackets and divided us into two large groups. They had two encounters going on at once. They way it worked though is once you were in a group they'd subdivide smaller to have groups of roughly 10 in the water at a time with a dolphin. They keep families together and the way it worked out we were super blessed to be very last and it was just our family in the water together with the dolphin. I think this really helped make the experience for us.
One other thing I will say is this is a case where you really need to know your kids. Two of the families we watched go before us had kids who refused to get in the water and interact with the dolphin. It was okay for them to miss out but it was not an inexpensive thing to do. It was really sad to see that happen. We hadn't considered it that much with our kids. Fortunately they are pretty adventurous, like the water, and like animals. I mention it though because it is worth considering if your kids will actually do it before you book something like a dolphin encounter.
So as you can tell from their expressions my kids all loved this experience. It really was incredible to have a chance to interact with these marvelous animals. The dolphin seemed to be having a good time too and the surroundings really did seem nice. We got to touch the dolphin, feed it, dance together, and get hugs and kisses.
The dolphin encounter was incredible and a memory of a lifetime. I'll summarize by saying we are so glad we did it. It was one of those special things we likely won't repeat due to cost but I'm really glad we did it. It was a highlight of the trip for my kids.
One thing I will call out is we did buy their photo package, probably obvious from the pictures. There really isn't a good way to get pictures otherwise. They do have an observer area if you had a family member or friend who didn't participate but it would be hard to get really great photos. We had read about that in advance and just budgeted in we'd have to pay some crazy price for photos. I couldn't find anything online in advance and just planned worse case. Because we were last and the only family in the water at the time we decided to buy both the photos and the video. Had there been others in it the video might not have been as attractive. It cost us $153.44 for the complete photo and video package. We just couldn't pass on capturing the priceless memories and we had planned for a crazy photo cost. It would have been less for just the photos or you could also buy smaller packages rather than all of them but none were inexpensive. The photos/video were delivered electronically, we got a link emailed to us. It was waiting for us in my inbox when we got off the cruise.
In this end this is an expensive shore excursion even before the photos so I'll address the question of was it worth it? My wife and I thought so. We had budgeted and planned for it. It was the only excursion we did since we did Key West on our own and just enjoyed Castaway Cay. It was a chance to give our kids an experience they had never had before and couldn't have anywhere near home. I really believe connecting with animals in situations like this help us have a desire to protect them and the environment in a way that is much harder to gain without a personal experience like this. I know I gained a much greater appreciation for dolphins. It isn't something we are likely to do again, at least for a while. I'd love to do a full dolphin swim when the kids are old enough. They do some additional things in those encounters but this was great because the whole family could participate.
I have seen that other locations besides Nassau offer dolphin experiences and some of them may be less expensive. I can't speak to the quality of those experiences but if you really want to do one there may be less expensive options out there.
After our encounter we had a bit more time on the beach and checked out some of the gift shops. They have multiple boats leaving back for the cruise docks. We wanted to catch the 2pm one because we had made the first Pirate's League appointment for 3:30 thinking we'd be back in time based on the listed shore excursion duration. That ended up being a bit of a mistake as we were really rushed to make it on time. As it turned out the 2pm boat was the last one for the group from the Carnival ship docked by us. Once we realized that we decided we better line up a bit early which was a wise decision. Anyone could take the boat but they did give Carnival passengers priority at first. In the end they sent a second boat because there were so many people but we didn't know that would happen and fortunately got a seat on the first boat. That may have been less advantageous though as the first boat was slow and we saw the second one was newer and sped right by us on the way back. We also had to stop at the paradise island dock before heading to the cruise terminal.
We didn't get back until just before 3pm. Unfortunately we also discovered they don't dock at the same place you leave from. They take you to a dock outside the cruise terminal. It is just around the corner from the security gate but you do have to walk past some vendors and through what was a bit of a dirty street. It wouldn't have been too big of a deal but we were all in sandals and I had to make sure my kids watched where they were stepping a bit. We were really rushed to get back and have a chance for people to shower before their Pirates League appointments. It ended up advantageous we couldn't book everyone at the same time so we had two at 3:30 and then a 4pm and 4:45 time. I'll talk more about Pirates League in a bit.
I did want to mention we noticed the difference DCL makes as we walked up to the ship. They had cool towels, fruit infused water dispensers and really a nice setup as you boarded. We didn't have time to enjoy and had to just rush onboard but it was clear compared the ship next to us DCL was a step up with their amenities as you boarded.
I know there are other options at Blue Lagoon Island from just a beach day to some other animal encounters or activities. I did want to mention for a Nassau shore excursion I would consider returning to Blue Lagoon. We did enjoy our beach time and while we didn't have much time to explore the island it did seem nice. The only real con is the time the boat takes to get you there. I'm not in a hurry to return to Nassau again because I'd prefer to visit new ports. However if you are looking for something to do with kids I think any of the Blue Lagoon options could be fun.
After our dolphin adventure it was time for pirate night and we were really excited for it. I'll have to cover Pirate's League and Pirate Night in my next post though.