C
Chris S
Guest
Buyer beware with this excursion.
The Dolphin experience in Antigua was no more than an exercise is trying to get the passenger to spend more money. With a charge of $160.00 per peson for this trip it was very apparent to me that the entire experience of swimming with the dolphins is no more than that.
We arrived at the location of the excursion at approximately 9:45am. We were then given a normal overview of the entire opeation, shown a place where our carry-ables were to be stored and then ushered out into a back area that contained several other activities that were not part of the advertised experience. I have had experience as an Operations Manager with Space Camp in California, built it from scratch and know how a fee-based program is to be presented in order to maximixe time and keep customers interacting with expectations that are based solely on advertising.
There were several of these diversionary activities that include wading in a stingray pool, meeting a macaw parrot, and a tree-sloth. Please don't get me wrong, I did not expect to have the entire time "swimming with the dolphins", advertised words not mine. But I do have an issue of how these other activities were presented....I've never met a tree-sloth, or pet a nurse shark so 'm glad I got to do that. These diversionary activities were set up as photo/video opps. so that they could have another opp. to charge you for photos and video. The presentation of these activities were NOT educational and consisted of staff making sure that each person had been photographed with the various animals with most of the time spent positioning each person(s) to "capture the experience" again advertised words, not mine. When your photo had been taken you were left to stand and wait until the other participants photos were taken, so alot of standing around and no presentation about how, why, what. I even asked a question regarding what a tree sloth eats, I said they must be herbivores, and the woman did not know what that meant, remarking that she "thought" they ate meat but did not know what type. Sorry, but you take care of it and you don't know what it eats??? I could not have been the first person to query that question......
After the activities with the other animals we were brought into the main house and shown a video about basic dolphin information, mostly just a liabitlity video sprinkled with just enough basic info. to keep you from going to sleep. Then we were shown the lifejackets and how to put them on, told that we were NOT allowed to take any form of camera with us in or around the water. This is one reason why I bought an underwater camera, but I understand why they say it because I'm sure someone has dropped one in the lagoon and has not had a positive effect on the animals. After the initial reaction to the let down of not being able to take my own pictures I decided that while my wife was in the water what would stop me from standing outside, on shore, and snapping a few pics of my wife? .......The fact that you had to walk clear around the lagoon to get to the area where your "experience" would take place, about 100-200 yards total, kind of hard to use a fix-focused lens to get any worth-while pictures. Once we walked the distance over it became VERY apparent why they did not want any camera's around, as we were broken up into groups of ten, a small armada of camera and video personnel had arrived and began the tedious positioning, yet again, of each person(s) to capture the "experience". Each process of interacting with the dolphins was designed SOLELY to take a picture or video of the event, since once the picture/video was snapped/taken you were left to yourself in the water with no other information on what you were seeing or why it was being done. We were also lined up in a way that only aided the process of video/photography and not maximizing any time you had in the water with the animals. There was one person who had a video camera and was not taking part in the actual swim itself, so he was able to video his wife from the shore and hopefully got a good shot. This only happened after several loud arguements with the staff since they realized that they were losing an oppourtunity to sell a video to that one customer. I spoke with him afterwards and he shared the same feeling s on how this was "presented" and more importantly advertised.
The total time we spent in the water with the animals amounted to about 20 minutes or so. Most of which was spent positioning the individuals of the group to "get the shot". I have been an ocean person for all of my 34 years and have a great respect for the ocean and it's inhabitants, I was a litttle apprehensive about this excursion to begin with since I really do not agree with exploitation of animals for fun and profit. I was assured MANY times that this was not the case with this operation. I surf regularly and have had a more intimate encounter with dolphins on my own surfboard then this experience....plus I did not have to pay $320 for two people to do it. I did it because my wife, who is not an ocean person, REALLY wanted this one thing out of all of the trips offered.
I have never felt more taken advantage of from a standpoint of what was advertised and what was presented. I trade stocks for a living and I see blatant manipulation every minute of every day.....suffice to say that this "experience" is a great example of capitalism for the unaware, and beleive me I am aware, I make my living on the premise of it.
Dealing with Princess has also been an act of utter frustration. I immediatley went to the excursion office to register a complaint. Of course I was given the obigatory form to fill out which is when I realized the game that is played here. The "Purser" tried several times to divert attention from the issues I was raising and even tried to suggest that I did not know how to run a business since obviously they had to (Dolphin Experience) make a profit. It was a smoke and mirrors approach to dealing with any complaints, the form does not even use the word complaint....they are issues, LOL! I was given a form letter that stated they would get back to me on the last day of the cruise, again making sure that the issue was dealt with AFTER I was off the ship and the next customers were being tended to. Prior Princess cruisers will understand it when I say I did not have an "excellent" experience......
I run a successful business that makes a serious profit...but I do not do it at the expense of ripping off my clients. IF I practiced the same principles of business that the Dolphin Experience did then I would have no customers and I would be well on my way to the poor house. They are a captive audience business, if you don't want to do it you don't have to. I do not have that luxury in my business.......
This is, of course, my opinion and I am sharing MY "experience". It is but one opinion and can be taken for what it's worth. It all depends on expectations and I pride myself in not setting mine too high with anything I do, you are less likely to be let down when you do. Mine were really not that high to begin with but I feel completely ripped-off and I am now the problem, from Princess' standpoint , than the actual tour operator and the concerns that I have raised with them. I cannot be the only one......
Someone is making a serious profit with this business, $160.00 pp and over 100 per day= $16K A DAY. Those who have been to this place will understand it when I say there is little or no overhead to this operation. The animals (dolphins) at least the one we were with, had multiple open sores and really looked as if he was not having the "experience of a lifetime", again advertised words...not mine.
I spoke to one of the staff and found that they plan to run over 300 people a day through this one location, he remarked about the overall work load and I could only sympathize since they, the local workers-not the trainers, were not paid too much. 300 people a day......X $160.00 pp, utter greed at it's finest.
I would really appreciate comments from those who have been and those who plan. Please do not use my experience to make your decision, I do not know you and you do not know me, so please get several opinions on this.
CS
The Dolphin experience in Antigua was no more than an exercise is trying to get the passenger to spend more money. With a charge of $160.00 per peson for this trip it was very apparent to me that the entire experience of swimming with the dolphins is no more than that.
We arrived at the location of the excursion at approximately 9:45am. We were then given a normal overview of the entire opeation, shown a place where our carry-ables were to be stored and then ushered out into a back area that contained several other activities that were not part of the advertised experience. I have had experience as an Operations Manager with Space Camp in California, built it from scratch and know how a fee-based program is to be presented in order to maximixe time and keep customers interacting with expectations that are based solely on advertising.
There were several of these diversionary activities that include wading in a stingray pool, meeting a macaw parrot, and a tree-sloth. Please don't get me wrong, I did not expect to have the entire time "swimming with the dolphins", advertised words not mine. But I do have an issue of how these other activities were presented....I've never met a tree-sloth, or pet a nurse shark so 'm glad I got to do that. These diversionary activities were set up as photo/video opps. so that they could have another opp. to charge you for photos and video. The presentation of these activities were NOT educational and consisted of staff making sure that each person had been photographed with the various animals with most of the time spent positioning each person(s) to "capture the experience" again advertised words, not mine. When your photo had been taken you were left to stand and wait until the other participants photos were taken, so alot of standing around and no presentation about how, why, what. I even asked a question regarding what a tree sloth eats, I said they must be herbivores, and the woman did not know what that meant, remarking that she "thought" they ate meat but did not know what type. Sorry, but you take care of it and you don't know what it eats??? I could not have been the first person to query that question......
After the activities with the other animals we were brought into the main house and shown a video about basic dolphin information, mostly just a liabitlity video sprinkled with just enough basic info. to keep you from going to sleep. Then we were shown the lifejackets and how to put them on, told that we were NOT allowed to take any form of camera with us in or around the water. This is one reason why I bought an underwater camera, but I understand why they say it because I'm sure someone has dropped one in the lagoon and has not had a positive effect on the animals. After the initial reaction to the let down of not being able to take my own pictures I decided that while my wife was in the water what would stop me from standing outside, on shore, and snapping a few pics of my wife? .......The fact that you had to walk clear around the lagoon to get to the area where your "experience" would take place, about 100-200 yards total, kind of hard to use a fix-focused lens to get any worth-while pictures. Once we walked the distance over it became VERY apparent why they did not want any camera's around, as we were broken up into groups of ten, a small armada of camera and video personnel had arrived and began the tedious positioning, yet again, of each person(s) to capture the "experience". Each process of interacting with the dolphins was designed SOLELY to take a picture or video of the event, since once the picture/video was snapped/taken you were left to yourself in the water with no other information on what you were seeing or why it was being done. We were also lined up in a way that only aided the process of video/photography and not maximizing any time you had in the water with the animals. There was one person who had a video camera and was not taking part in the actual swim itself, so he was able to video his wife from the shore and hopefully got a good shot. This only happened after several loud arguements with the staff since they realized that they were losing an oppourtunity to sell a video to that one customer. I spoke with him afterwards and he shared the same feeling s on how this was "presented" and more importantly advertised.
The total time we spent in the water with the animals amounted to about 20 minutes or so. Most of which was spent positioning the individuals of the group to "get the shot". I have been an ocean person for all of my 34 years and have a great respect for the ocean and it's inhabitants, I was a litttle apprehensive about this excursion to begin with since I really do not agree with exploitation of animals for fun and profit. I was assured MANY times that this was not the case with this operation. I surf regularly and have had a more intimate encounter with dolphins on my own surfboard then this experience....plus I did not have to pay $320 for two people to do it. I did it because my wife, who is not an ocean person, REALLY wanted this one thing out of all of the trips offered.
I have never felt more taken advantage of from a standpoint of what was advertised and what was presented. I trade stocks for a living and I see blatant manipulation every minute of every day.....suffice to say that this "experience" is a great example of capitalism for the unaware, and beleive me I am aware, I make my living on the premise of it.
Dealing with Princess has also been an act of utter frustration. I immediatley went to the excursion office to register a complaint. Of course I was given the obigatory form to fill out which is when I realized the game that is played here. The "Purser" tried several times to divert attention from the issues I was raising and even tried to suggest that I did not know how to run a business since obviously they had to (Dolphin Experience) make a profit. It was a smoke and mirrors approach to dealing with any complaints, the form does not even use the word complaint....they are issues, LOL! I was given a form letter that stated they would get back to me on the last day of the cruise, again making sure that the issue was dealt with AFTER I was off the ship and the next customers were being tended to. Prior Princess cruisers will understand it when I say I did not have an "excellent" experience......
I run a successful business that makes a serious profit...but I do not do it at the expense of ripping off my clients. IF I practiced the same principles of business that the Dolphin Experience did then I would have no customers and I would be well on my way to the poor house. They are a captive audience business, if you don't want to do it you don't have to. I do not have that luxury in my business.......
This is, of course, my opinion and I am sharing MY "experience". It is but one opinion and can be taken for what it's worth. It all depends on expectations and I pride myself in not setting mine too high with anything I do, you are less likely to be let down when you do. Mine were really not that high to begin with but I feel completely ripped-off and I am now the problem, from Princess' standpoint , than the actual tour operator and the concerns that I have raised with them. I cannot be the only one......
Someone is making a serious profit with this business, $160.00 pp and over 100 per day= $16K A DAY. Those who have been to this place will understand it when I say there is little or no overhead to this operation. The animals (dolphins) at least the one we were with, had multiple open sores and really looked as if he was not having the "experience of a lifetime", again advertised words...not mine.
I spoke to one of the staff and found that they plan to run over 300 people a day through this one location, he remarked about the overall work load and I could only sympathize since they, the local workers-not the trainers, were not paid too much. 300 people a day......X $160.00 pp, utter greed at it's finest.
I would really appreciate comments from those who have been and those who plan. Please do not use my experience to make your decision, I do not know you and you do not know me, so please get several opinions on this.
CS
