If you book them now, you may be able to change the day/excursion once you are onboard if you do it early enough in the cruise. No guarantee though, but they should be accommodating if you are only changing it and not cancelling it.

luci

cheers for that
i may email them and ask them. although my 3 previous emails to OV over the last year have received a total response of 0 replies.

tuppence- not sure which resort your dolphin experience is at but I have done the Royal Swim with dolphins at Cozumel and it was thrilling. I booked independently with http://www.dolphindiscovery.com but I know that if you're planning on booking with the cruiseline these are the most popular excursions and even though it's an expensive day they sell out early. Read some reviews of the locations you're going to as not all of them are good- the one at Anguilla (from St Maarten) is currently closed down

we were looking at tortola.
it costs £95 for the trip with OV and i was wondering if it is worth the extra? how near to the cruise ports do the dolphin places tend to be? i.e. if we did it independently, would it be far to travel?

also what are the rules on taking photos? or is it a "buy ours only" kind of rule and how much do these tend to cost?

cheers

ian

tuppence- the dolphindiscovery.com people run the same program in Tortola that I did at Cozumel- have a look at their website- they state that the dolphin lagoon is a 5 minute taxi ride from the pier. You should be able to look it up on Google Earth too by addresses. Their policy is also that if your ship doesn't come into port (weather) then they give a full refund.
Before I booked with them I emailed a couple of times with questions and they answered promptly.
I paid $149 each plus taxi plus admission to Chankanaab Park to do the Royal Swim at Cozumel- it was expensive day, but booking it via dolphindiscovery independently still saved over RCCL price. The Royal Swim involves playing/caressing/having your photo taken with the dolphins kissing you, holding them like babies, then you go out into the lagoon and swim into position, (they instruct you well with a pre- video and trainers at the site) then the dolphins circle under you,come up under you and lift you into the air and propel you along by your feet, until you fall back into the water. Then you swim out again, they circle, come up on either side of you and you hang onto their fins while they pull you along. It was absolutely wonderful. Of course each member of the group does this,but they restrict the Royal Swim to 8-10 people- even so allow for 2 to 3 hours all told,so you can get back to the ship in time.
They make a DVD of you then sell you tons of photos and a DVD. $$$
It was the highlight of our cruise. You can also do Dolphin Encounters which are less expensive - around $100 - you don't get to do the swimming part- still fantastic though. As I said, the ship's excursions always sell out fast. If you're not comfortable traveling independently go ahead and book with the ship.
Tortola is a small place.
Hope you get to do it.

We too did the Dolphin encounter whilst in Cancun and can only echo what has been said before.

It was an excellent opportunity to interact with the dolphins.

You can't take you own camera, but instead will need to purchase either the video or pictures (or both of course) they take. You get a chance first to see the video yourself.

We bought the DVD and if you're interested, send me a PM and I can post a link or email a copy of ours so you can see for yourselve what the day is about.

Mark

Well we took our own cameras in Cozumel -I believe DolphinDiscovery may let you do that at all their facilities as I have seen it commented on.
We took basically the same photos, one of our party came out on the pier and watched,then took as many as he wanted.

Hi Emdia43,

We too went with DolphinDiscovery at Isla Mujeres and cameras were strictly prohibited to be used whilst with the dolphins.

Pictures could be taken whilst at the complex though.

Mark

Oh what a shame..... we took oodles and it was just as well as after purchasing the DVD and photos for $$$ that they took, we managed to leave them in the back of the taxi going back to town. arrgh!
Never got them back of course.

cheers guys.

this is the link to the OV trip.

is this the same as the one you guys have done or is it a notch down?

how much did you have to pay for the dvd and photos?

cheers
ian

What link?

http://www.oceanvillageholidays.co.uk/actionashore.aspx

The one they describe sounds more like the Dolphin Encounter- not the Royal Swim - they say you "see a pectoral tow"- doesn't say that you're the one that goes out to be towed.... a bit vague there. The Royal Swim lets each person swim with a dolphin,and have the foot push and the pectoral tow.
With the encounter you are in the lagoon,but you just stand on a submerged metal grille at the edge, all in a line (about 20 people are allowed in) and the animals come up with the trainer and let you stroke them,tickle their bellies,have photo taken,kiss you and generally entertain you but you don't move from the grille- I was on Majesty of the Seas 25th Sept and in Nassau they had the Encounter excursion on the ship priced at $120 which included transportation,so for 95 pounds I bet that is what OV is selling.
It sounds way overpriced,but you will find that most ships excursions are....... the security you have is that the ship will wait for you if you are delayed for some reason, whereas if you're late while out independently you can miss the ship. Chances of that happening in Tortola would be slim as the dolphinarium is stated as being 5 minutes taxi from the pier.
Have a look at the dolphindiscovery website and you can also email them for clarification if/before you purchase. Today the price for the 'Encounter' is $79 pp- I see they now call it the Dolphin Discovery Swim and for the Royal Swim $139 each.
For myself I would (and did) book direct and just get a taxi over- if you go early in the day just allow 2-3 hrs on the premises and you'll get back in plenty of time. DD also guarantees that if your ship doesn't come into port they will give you a complete refund.
Hope this helps.

Re the DVD- we purchased it (?$50)and photos-if I remember right I spent $160 total on them- and they want you to buy well over $200 worth...... then we left them in a taxi on the way back to Cozumel.
We had our own photos which saved the day but they were nowhere as good as the professional ones of course.