I know this review is super long but please read if you're planning or thinking about this attraction. Save your money or at least don't book this tour without witnessing another group on this tour first. Had I really paid attention to other yelp reviews I would have picked up the negative reviews came from adults going without small children. They too felt cheated and deceived. The positive reviews appeared to come from families with small children, where they don't have a lot of interactive marine life safe alternatives. You ain't taking a 5 year old snorkeling with wild dolphins or night diving with Manta Rays. So we booked this "Deluxe Encounter" tour solely based on their various advertising. I had envisioned actually swimming with live dolphins, for 45 minutes, based on the price and their website. Were we wrong. You'd think swimming with dolphins actually involved some swimming. Nope. Check out this misleading deceitful half truth BS directly from their web page "Feel the thrill of a lifetime as you touch, swim with and even kiss a dolphin! Let loose, laugh and have loads of fun swimming with dolphins in our tropical paradise settings in Hawaii, Oahu and Bermuda. " Let me give you the run down so you can use your $184.00 more wisely. They tell you to get there 30 minutes early but that time is consumed with sitting in an open office adjacent to the dolphin lagoon. Just a legal form to fill out then a long wait. I guess the clock starts ticking as they fit you with a life vest and mask. There goes 10 minutes of "swim time". Then you stand on shore, get a mostly useless lecture on the wonderful life of the dolphins in captivity, there goes another 10 minutes of "swim time". Then from the shore again you get to watch the dolphins swim real fast, jump up and do a flip, that anyone at the resort walking by can witness for free, there goes another 5 minutes of your 45 minute swim. Then comes the approximate 20 minutes of "actual swim time". What a bunch crap. You're in a group of 6 in waist deep water the whole time, you got to wonder why the life vests, maybe an insurance company requirement? Back to the "swim" which is more of they call your name and it's your turn to pet a dolphin for about 5 to 10 seconds so they can snap pictures and take video of you petting the dolphin so they can sell them back to you at $20 a pop. Don't count on having your buddies taking these pictures themselves from shore because they, the cameramen, will position themselves between you with the dolphin and your friend that you asked to "take your camera and get a couple shots of you with your camera". Then they drag out the picture taking of the other people in your group getting their 10 seconds. There are lengthy gaps and lots of small talk by the trainer between each petting so their photographers can set up and angle the shots. Then comes the big climax, they call your name again to get your picture by their photographers, now hugging and or kissing the dolphin. Enjoy this time because this is the "swim", you just don't know it yet. You may get 15 seconds with the dolphin you may get a solid minute. That time is determined by the photographers trying to get the "money shot". Again as a means to sell the pictures and video of you with the dolphin that your friend was too obstructed from getting on shore. This process of taking pictures burns another 10 minutes, feel privileged if you actually made contact with the dolphin for more than 45 seconds total over the course of your petting and hugging/kissing time. So what to do with the last 10 minutes of your $184.00 "Deluxe Encounter" tour? Remember that mask that you wasted valuable "swim time" getting fitted for. Still in waist deep water you squat down and attempt to get your face below the waterline which by the way is a complete struggle because of the meaningless life vest you are wearing is forcing you above the water line. They have the dolphin swim by real fast a dozen or so times and you get to see it swim under the water through the prospective of a mask. YIPPY! Your tour is now over just shy of 45 minutes and for $184.00 a person and they will remind you to check out your pictures of yourself petting and hugging a dolphin, for sale in the gift shop. Buyer beware this is one expensive photo op to pet, hug and kiss dolphins. THERE IS NO SWIMMING WITH THE DOLPINS. That is a flat out lie. Look at the pictures posted by other Yelp reviewers, they are all petting and hugging,of dolphins. I know this is how capitalism works but Dolphin Quest be aware this is how Yelp works. We expose the misleading advertising and tell about our actual experiences and empower other consumers to make educated decisions. I'm going to end this review with this. I felt more upset for the caged dolphins doing what they had to do to do get a fish then the 45 minutes of my life, I'll never get back and the $184.00 wasted. read more

Dolphin Quest - Tours Near Me - Waikoloa, Hawaii

My daughter participated in the Kid's Quest which included classroom time and time with dolphins. To my surprise she LOVED the classroom portion and it got her even more excited to swim with dolphins. It was nice to have ample viewing area for the parents to watch. And everyone we interacted with was warm and welcoming, patient, and clearly passionate about their work. The photo packages they offer online were outrageously priced in my opinion, so we were happy to find single photos available for purchase for $20. The rest of the family wants to participate next time after getting to see what an incredible experience it was for my daughter. read more

Awesome experience. Here's a quick Friday review. Pro's Swim with the dolphins and hang out with them. Learn about them and who each one is you interact with Trainers/ Staff are all awesome and professionals in marine care. Cons Reso's as can't just always walk up Pricey but yet look at the spend your doing staying here Flat: Front desk staff is ok. Lockers provided but staff handed it wrong key a few times The call out other things to do but aquarium inside is ok nothing special. read more

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Very cool and my daughter loved it. That said it's too expensive and tones of up/cross sale pressure. Drop the price and focus on donations rather than sales! Thanks read more

Dolphin Quest - Dolphins - Tours Near Me - Waikoloa, Hawaii

So this is worth it. The kids loved it and it's a great experience. Staff was amazingly nice to.my kids. I am.only rating 4 stars because a) it shouldn't cost almost $300/ a kid for a 30.minute dolphin experience. Im.lucky I can afford it...but that is too.much and cost prohibitive to other families and kids whomwould.love.it! Hilton is.doing fine....I suggest rethinking the price and b) that lagoon enclosure had 14 dolphins in it. I saw.all the lagoons. Those are not.large areas and rather shallow with minimum.deep.places. the lagoons should be larger with that number of dolphins in my opinion. Otherwise, everything was nice and I'm glad i.could.give my kids this.memory. read more

We did the wee tots program with 3 adults and 3 kids (4,4,2). We didn't stay at the hotel so we got there really early to check-in. This was great because the kids had a chance to watch the dolphins and others in the after. There is also a great clubhouse with couches and toys and books to hang out in while you wait. Bathroom/changing rooms are fine and there are outdoor showers to rinse off. For Wee Tots you stand/kneel in the shallow area of the water and the dolphins swim to you and do tricks. You can pet the dolphin, hear the sounds and learn some key facts. We also fed them fish and everyone loved that! It was pouring rain while we were there and cold but we still did it and it was great! My husband didn't go so he took pictures for us so we didn't have to buy the pictures they took or an expensive photo package. I would do this again! The dolphin we met was 34 years old and in the wild dolphins only live about 25 years. A lot of people are worried about the dolphins in captivity but I think it is important to be able to learn about animals hands on. No worse than a zoo. read more

We did the tot package; two adults, a 4yr old and a 2yr old this past summer. Although the actual dolphin encounter itself was maybe only 20 minutes, the whole experience was probably well worth it. The kids were able to pet the dolphins tail, rub his belly, feed the dolphins some fish a few times, hear the dolphin 'sing', make the dophins splash/wave, and stand on their tail. The pictures they try to sell to you are of course a rip off, but since we didn't have anyone else on vacation with us, those were the only pictures we had. We also bought the DVD (another pricey souvenir) of the dolphin encounter, which got mailed to us within a week. My kids watched it at least 10 times the first day we got it in the mail. They still ask to see the DVD of when they "swam with the dolphins" and it's been 4 months since we did it. read more

The dolphins and interaction with them is wonderful . My grandkids and whole family loved it. Like other posters have stated the total time with them is very short and extremely expensive . I'm glad we did it however due to the price and of course photos are extra, probably won't do again . Due to having to donate a kidney to pay for this ( I'm kidding) I have to keep my other kidney. The first thing my grandson said of course was I want to do this again . I didn't know until I read these reviews after the fact you get an discount if you have triple A, would have been nice if that had been mentioned by the staff. I appreciate all the do for the dolphins and they are well cared for but....super pricy!!! I know I have mentioned the price multiple times. I haven't been to Hawaii in about 10 years, it's really gone up. Everything . read more

I had the best time swimming with the dolphins. we got up close well to touch them and rub them. They were very gentle as we were able to rub their back and their belly! They are treated with the upmost love and care. I recommend this activity for all adults and children alike. Went back in Hawaii I will definitely do it again! read more

This was one of the most epic experiences with the kayaking and dolphin experience! It was very special. Thank you so much and for providing amazing care for the dolphins and conservation! read more

My 8 year old had the most amazing time if her life! The staff were wonderful! Laura helped us sign up the day before and was so pleasant (what a small world that we have friends in common). None the less we lucked out with a group of 2 (total) and the education instructor (I'm bummed that I didn't get her name) she was so good with the kids and kept their attention. She even had me learning things! Carla the trainer in the water was enthusiastic and fun! My daughter had an amazing time! Definitely will do this again if the kids want to!! read more

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Hubby and I were not expecting much, but given the opportunity to do so, we had to jump at it. We booked the 30 minute experience and we can gladly say that we truly did spend 30 minutes interacting with them and the perfect amount of time. We fed them, held them, swam with them and watched them do tricks. The trainer was very friendly and never once asked us to tip, which was very rare for the experiences we had in Hawaii. This is worth doing if you have the money to spend. You will not regret it. Ps. We booked for a Monday morning and there were only 6 of us. :) read more

Dolphin Quest - Happy times! - Tours Near Me - Waikoloa, Hawaii

best place to go all the employees are nice and friendly it was very good experience and i highly recommended and i will bavk next year

overall decent experience which could be an exceptional if they separated 9 years old child from the 70s and 80s who could barely go up and down the steps. Therefore, the attendant was mostly busy helping the elderly, which I have no problem with, but you expect your child to enjoy every single minute of the time if you pay over $360 with tax. My daughter literally got maybe 6-7 minutes attention due to them being busy with 4 elderly lady who could barely walk. They should group the session based on age so that every PAID customer gets their money worth of fun. I felt I was cheated by being charged that much and put my 9-year-old who were basically sitting idle with these elderly ladies who needed help the whole time. read more

It was a nice treat to do this activity. For a party of 4 it was over $1K but if you have AAA, you get a 10% discount so at least you saved some money. However that money went to pictures...... So there is no winning here but we still enjoyed the activity. My 7 year old son was excited to learn about dolphins and he was even more excited to pet them. My 5 year old daughter was a little scared and I thank the trainer to keep her as ease with the gentle animal. I would totally recommend this activity to people visiting the island. The proceeds of this program goes to dolphin research. read more

Dolphin Quest - This might be our next Christmas card - Tours Near Me - Waikoloa, Hawaii

Cruel to jail these creatures away from their pods (families) in a tiny space for the amusement of people too ignorant to know better. Even walking by is so upsetting that I never want to stay at this Hilton again. read more

This is one of those experiences that you need to cross off a bucket list. Like swimming with the stingrays and sharks in Tahiti. Personally I think this is great for the very young and the very old. No doubt others with disagree. Great trainers and of course those intelligent mammals. I think for the price they should throw in at least one photo. #ResearchAndTravelServices #facxual_events read more

Dolphin Quest - Tours Near Me - Waikoloa, Hawaii

Dolphin Quest is amazing! My six year old daughter and I did the Deluxe Encounter and it was one of the best 45 minutes of our lives! We had an awesome trainer (Stephanie) and we're lucky to get just two other people in our group and at any given time we had two to three dolphins hanging with us The price is steep but we were able to get a 10% discount with AAA Highly recommend if you are on the Big Island-definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity read more

Dolphin Quest - Photo op with a sweet dolphin - Tours Near Me - Waikoloa, Hawaii

Had a great time, staff was great. We arrived a bit late but they were able to fully accommodate us in the next tour. My kids who are younger loved it. The dolphins were very playful and relaxing with the group. Highly recommend it. read more

Dolphin quest is probably one of the must things to do while Hawaii on the big island. The staff and program were excellent with my wife and I and very helpful and full of information. The dolphins are very friendly and playful! Highly recommended! read more

Dolphin Quest - Tours Near Me - Waikoloa, Hawaii

Our family did the Deluxe Encounter experience with Dolphin Quest. It was very organized and our trainer was delightful and full of energy. There were several groups in the lagoon at once, but our encounter was just us and we met 2 of their dolphins. We were able to feel/touch, swim with and watch them both do tricks. It was an experience our kids will not forget. read more

I really enjoyed the interaction we received with my 3 year old daughter. She hasn't stopped talking about Nimbus and looks at her picture with him all the time. She loved it! Greg and staff were wonderful and very knowledgeable about the Dolphins as well as the black tip sharks they have. I read several reviews, many negative, but I couldn't have been more pleased. Thank you Dolphin Quest for giving my daughter a lifetime memory. read more

Dolphin Quest - My daughter and I with Nimbus! - Tours Near Me - Waikoloa, Hawaii

Overall, loved the experience at Dolphin Quest! Such a fun time that I will never forget. Only thing is that it is wayyyy to short a time for $320. There are 5 other strangers in your group that are getting individual time with the dolphin when your just sitting there after your individual time. Very nit picky, but super fun if you into these types of things. Plus the instructors are super nice and knowledgeable. read more

What a great time we had with Nimbus and Halea, the two dolphins we got paired with, and our guide Brie. Amazingly smart animals, glad we got to know them a little better up close and personal. Awesome, except for the tourists who stole our towels from atop the lockers! read more

Absolutely amazing experience! We were a family group of 6 - 3 generations and we all loved it! From my 82 year old mom and my 20 something year old kids it was a must do experience! One of the highlights of our trip! We were able to interact with several different dolphins and we each felt like we had personal connections with the dolphins! so much fun and so magical! I will definitely add this to my list to do again! Add extra time to your visit and go and see all the fun pools and other experiences around the resort! An experience of a lifetime! Can't believe I didn't do this earlier!! read more

Swimming with the dolphins had always been a bucket list item of mine, so my husband was excited to treat the both of us to this experience. When it was all said and done I felt disappointed (the actual time and experience with the dolphins was soooo short) and realized that this whole thing is just wrong. The animals are suffering no matter what they try to tell you. They should be in the wild. Now I know better and will not ever support something like this again. Please think twice before you do. read more

This ranks very high if not the top of my list for things to experience in ones lifetime! This was an absolutely amazing experience and I can't say enough about Katie our trainer, she was the best at walking us through everything and making our encounter with these beautiful creatures AMAZING! Katie was so full of knowledge about the Dolphins and was so wonderful to watch her bond with these Dolphins. I recommend anyone to do this in there lifetime, it is something I will always remember and cherish! read more

Our visit to DOLPHIN QUEST was amazing! It was an amazing and unforgettable experience for adults and our 2 year old grandson. We love the staff. Everyone was great and very accommodating! We love the way they treat the dolphins they keep them in a very nice and wonderful place. read more

Brittany checked us in and thoroughly explained what our experience would be like. Amelia did a wonderful job sitting with the keiki and taking them thru the do's and dont's of the experience, answering any questions the kids had while making it fun and engaging. She even walked the kids over to see the honu in the tank. Our dolphin trainer in the water engaged the parents and kids when the dolphins came over, making it fun for all of us during this amazing experience. Afterwards, we were able to spend time with Amelia (our daughter's name is also Amelia), and she spent valuable time sharing with us about her instructional classes, her dry erase board of the staff's individual conservation efforts and her drawing of dolphin anatomy, and her beautiful artwork of a tiger shark, dolphin, and monk seal. Amelia even took a picture with our little mini Amelia, making the overall activity personable and fun. Mahalo to everyone for a wonderful time with dolphins. We highly recommend this activity if you have a three year old that loves ocean animals. read more

TL;DR - Awesome experience, mediocre photos and purchasing experience. We took our 2 year old son, the trainers were very communicative and helped gear us all up for what to expect. My son had a great time, they took lots of photos. Being in the water with the dolphins, other kiddos and trainers was a very easy, comfortable and an overall fun experience! The photos- they aren't great. I understand that due to the nature of having live animals, and three or more people in each photo, it can be tricky to capture flattering angles/faces. Most of our photos were so unflattering, I don't ever really want to hang them anywhere. We paid full price to get all of the digital downloads. When I first got home and went to download, all of the photos in the online portal were locked, and asked me to re-pay the full price for the digital photos. I contacted support, and they unlocked all but one of the photos. I am now waiting to hear back about the one locked photo. I assume they will get it unlocked for me and I'll be able to download it. read more

We had a wonderful experience learning about the Veterinarian owned outfit , habitat made for the bottle nose species where they are free to choose where they go and if they want to see us!they are rewarded with belly rubs, clapping, whistles and lots of fish ! Each dolphin has their own personality and noise it makes.we learned to identify the dolphins by their thumb print; marks on flukes and dorsal fin. Fun for all ages. Trainer for a day Would he Amazing read more

Dolphin Quest - Tours Near Me - Waikoloa, Hawaii

my kids had a nice time with the dolphins but with so many people in the group didn't get enough time to spend with the dolphins. the photos that were taken was very disappointing. it was offset and not professional at all. 3/4 of the photos taken was group photos. why would I want strangers in a picture with my kids? seems about the money instead of the experience. years ago I had a great time but it seems to have gone commercialized. read more

This was a magical experience for sure. But for the amount paid... felt so short.... like a 45 minute experience. Would def do it again though. The Dolphins were amazing and it was neat to learn about them and interact with them. Staff really nice too read more

Dolphin Quest - My son loved getting up close and personal. He is 6 - Tours Near Me - Waikoloa, Hawaii

Me & my daughter did the deluxe encounter and I would very much encourage others to pay the little extra money to get that 15 minutes... it makes all the difference in the world! I would also give the tip to pick a later day appointment. The one in the afternoon had 16 people yet the 4:00 one had just me & my daughter. They said that people don't usually want to book later so remember this to get even more time with the dolphins! We had an amazing trainer Chelsea. She was so much fun. It felt like we all just laughed for 45 minutes. SO great. Lots of information given and since it was just us we got the opportunity to do some training that they are just learning...even though they made mistakes it felt like we were true trainers seeing what their response would be. I loved every single thing about it however I was pretty sad that for all of our staged pictures with the dolphin none had his eye above the water. I was expecting the pictures that everyone shows and I was so looking forward to having the same thing. However it doesn't look the same when it's just the top of their head. It's just a grey lump. :( :( So bummed about that. For $24 a picture I was sad it wasn't the same quality as shown. Also, my other request would be for them to provide towels. It was a strange request for them to say we needed to bring towels for an activity that costs so much it seems like they could do that. For me, not staying at the Hilton I had no towel to bring so afterwards, shivering, trying to look at heavily watermarked photos....not really the best. Too cold so we decided to just take the card to look at them later. Provide towels!! read more

This was kinda pricey for a short amount of time, but it was absolutely worth every penny. The staff and trainers are great and friendly. But for the short amount of time, the trainers really try to make the best of time. We feed, swam, played, touched and kissed the dolphins. And the best part, the dolphins loved it! My mother and I were so happy we did this, it was an amazing experience. They take great pictures as well. We bought as much as we could because they were amazing. read more

Dolphin Quest - Dolphin coming up for a kiss - Tours Near Me - Waikoloa, Hawaii

Great experience! First time "swimming with dolphins". Our entire family (2 adults and 3 kids ages 11, 9, and 7) participated in the dolphin encounter. Our trainer was Denise. We advised Denise early on that our youngest isn't a swimmer. She said it was fine since the shallow waters allow for standing and we could see if he would be comfortable floating in the deeper waters after the brief intro. Everyone is fitted with life vests and a snorkel mask. We had a great time interacting with 3 dolphins (Nahele, a baby dolphin, and Kona, their mom). We all got to feed the dolphins several times and swim with them. Each of us also had a personal moment where we could hug or kiss the dolphin, as well as a family moment. We enjoyed giving the dolphins various commands where he/she would spin, wave, blow bubbles, etc. With the dynamics of our family, I think this was the perfect way to experience getting up close and personal with the dolphins. Yes, it was pricy but I think it was worth it - at least 2 of our kids (who've never snorkeled before) would have had a difficult if not impossible time swimming with dolphins in the open waters. We also learned quite a bit about the dolphins from Denise and the kids are already asking to go back. In the waiting area, we also got to touch sea urchins, sea stars, sea cucand anemone in their small tide pool. If you're going with young kids or not strong swimmers and want to experience "swimming with dolphins" I definitely think this is the way to go. read more

Very little value for the cost. $210.00 for 20 minutes of which only 3-5 minutes you are personally interacting with the Dolphin. Tourist trap. read more

Just returned from staying at this "resort" and watched this and felt sick. These animals are captives enslaved for our entertainment. Their enclosure is small and I can't imagine how bored they must be. I also can't imagine anything I could read that would make it all seem ok but I'm all ears. Feeling sad. read more

I can't remember the last time I had such a terrible customer service experience. I literally could not book this experience despite numerous attempts. I left messages, called numerous times only to be forwarded to no where, and finally just had to tell my 4 year old that we couldn't do it. The folks who staff the front desk at Dolphin Quest at the hotel seem nice and eager, but it turns out when you call the main number you're actually calling an office somewhere and they could not have cared less. I've never tried so hard to spend $500 and failed! We'll just watch the dolphins from the restaurant next door because I've given up. read more

This was a lot of fun. However I paid extra to do the underwater scooters but don't recommend it. The dolphins don't care about you at all and only go back and forth between trainers. I would say just do the regular encounter which is more fun because you get to do photos and make them do tricks. They don't swim with you unless commanded by the trainer. read more