Miami Seaquarium Reviews

Expensive tickets and run down. Needs renovation.
I think it's hilarious some of these reviewers think its okay a 20ft killer whale that was taken from her family nearly 50 years ago should be performing a show for them.
Go educate yourselves about lolita and what really happened to her.

Killer whale, dolphins, manatees and more. We loved it. Great to see those animals.

Great fun. Best for kids. Decent for adults. Few of the dolphin shows are just amazing.

PEOPLE STILL GO HERE?? Do you know this junkland has abused and neglected their main attraction for 40 years, Lolita? The idea of paying money to contribute to these scumbags is sickening. Miami Seaquarium is Home to the worlds smallest (and illegal) tank where a lonely orca performs day in and out for your $30 ticket. PLEASE DONT BUY A TICKET. Spend your money on an ocean boat tour and see marine life in the wild. Much better day spent with the family

It was a great experience. Kids really loved it. Lots of dolphins.

Got the offer that buying a day pass you get all 2017 (annual pass) so it's worth it ..good place to spend time with kids ..parking is $ 10.00 and food is overpriced ..but so far is OK

Miami seaquarium was an enjoyable experience. I came for the dolphin encounter. Got a chance to swim touch and interact with the dolphins. The park itself is a bit smaller than what I anticipated. One of the female dolphin trainers. The shortest one of them all wearing a greenish outfit was somewhat nasty and unfriendly at times. The other staff were superb and friendly. Also the photos of you and the dolphins they offer to sale you after the dolphin encounter are way to expensive. So its safe to say they price gouge. I only went along because a one time experience, but they should not charge so much for photos.

We visited for Easter Sunday. Try advertise egg hunts and bounce houses. There was a total of two bounce houses a few little kiddie rides. But the worse part was the egg hunt, the children will go and collect their eggs later to find out they had to give them all back and in exchange receive a little bag with four pieces of candy. The disappointment was real. Never visiting again, specially not for Easter Sunday. A lot of other free activities where your kids will be happier and you will save money.

Team Blue,

Wow we just wanted to share our wonderful Swim with the Dolphins tour experience with you that was led by team leader Savannah and member Michaela. My wife and I truly enjoyed their team professionalism, subject matter knowledge and personal manner in which they conducted themselves throughout the tour. Again, it was a delight and our pleasure to have had a super aquatic adventure with your staff; Savannah and Michaela keep up the great work!

Best Regards,

Ken and Aura A
Maryland

The tanks seem very small for the fish and they aren't properly decorated to represent the habitat.

Fun place to be.. loved the dolphin and killer whale show

Not worth the amount of money you have to spend to get in. It was terribly boring and small. Someone recommended this place to us, and I wish we wouldn't have listened, and saved our $100.

the whole thing was overall not bad. read a lot of bad reviews before we went. it is very outdated. the shows weren't bad at all! the exhibits were a bit small and hard to see.
we did the dolphin odessey. by far the best part and the best product of the seaquarium. aside from the attitude from one of the trainers, they were great and it was an awesome experience to meet the dolphins. check on Groupon to see any deals, possibly two for one price!

Get Lolita out of that enclosure. It's sad that her tank is the size of a small parking. Do the right thing

The animals and were wondeful but the maintenance could have been better. I thought the staff were immature and undermined the minds of the adorable dolphins. I don't think to tell them to jump really high out of the water just to wet the audience was amusing. It was childish and petty.

It was a pretty day but when they told us the orca was the oldest and seeing how small the tank was I felt so sorry for the whale. The sea lion show was wonderful and fun

Don't buy a ticket! Retire Lolita (Tokitae) and let her be returned to the Puget Sound where she was kidnapped from her mother, Ocean Sun and her L-pod family 47 long years ago and placed in that awful tiny bathtub doing stupid tricks for greedy shareholders! Orca Network has a retire-rehabilitate-release plan in place including transport but Palace Entertainment won't release her! She is an extremely intelligent, self-aware, sentient being and the largest of the dolphin family. Stop all cetacean captivity! Empty the tanks! Tell Palace Entertainment to stop all cetacean shows and retire Lolita. She has made them enough money!

The price for the value has not correspondence, I agree that the whale called Lolita has to retired the whalewhale show boring, they show how they feed her nothing to get excited parking overpriced total scam.

Amazing shows..but Disappointed..at dolphin show...no handicap seating or elevator

I noticed that the only responses this company has for people are empty of any substance and they don't address the important issues that they have going on in this scary park. First of all, the whale in captivity has been at this horrible so-called facility for over 44 years and does not have a proper sized pool or protection from the sun. Secondly, the park is run down and it appears to have no plans to fix its problems. There is evidence that back in 1995 the park was in bad condition and they did very little to nothing to fix the problem. Third, these people are beyond ignorant and cruel. The lies they give to the audience and visitors that the whale is happy, are just plain evil lies. If there is a hell for animals, this is it and you are keeping it running by buying tickets to see "the show". Please think of your own freedom and ask yourself if you deserve to be imprisoned for a crime you didn't commit. That's what the animals at this place are going through. Complete and total illegal imprisonment!
Please take the time to find information on how these parks got started and what they do to keep them running.

I was super excited to go... When I arrived the admission price was totally different from online. The place is in need of sanitation and structural improvement. The glass on the tanks were not clean, the food sucked and was pricey. They didn t have 75% of the things that was on the menu. The corrosion on equipment is so evident. Only people seems interested in working was the lady who took the money at the front and the trainers seem to love their jobs. Kids didn t seem to be bothered tho . So I suppose ......

Wish I could write a good review, but this sequarium is terrible, and poorly maintained. Not worth the money at all!! Poor animals.

Oh gosh. This place is full of health, code and sanitation issues. We went in for free on veterans day to conduct an investigation and we found 2 dead dolfins in the waste bin. found and took empty bottles of injectable Anastasia in a waste bin with the dolphins. And as for the whale. It was the saddest of all. She almost blind. Her teeth are grinded with holes and her skin literally has blisters. Zero shade for the Orca.

highly recommend for any Veterans and/or law enforcement, use your ID's! entrance is $9/person. It's worth it, however, I wouldn't be a repeat customer if I had to pay full entrance price. Place is clean, enjoy the beer, enjoy the show, more beer, it's really hot in those lines.

Underwhelming needs updating shows and performers great

Went here for the first time and was very impressed. Lots to see, overall very clean facility and friendly staff. We did the Reef Encounter of swimming with the stingrays and feeding the nurse sharks. Our guide, SHANNON, was absolutely amazing! Very knowledgeable, friendly and you could tell she loved her job.

The only minor hiccup was at the end when we were going to get our pictures. We were misinformed about the time frame for waiting to get them and ended up waiting about 40 minutes to get them. Now, I understand being backed up and busy but I don't understand over-promising and under-delivering. We were told we would have a 5-10 minute wait .. We got 2 copies of our Welcome picture, 2 prints of our stingray encounter and the rest was digital downloads. We watched about 15 people come in and get their pictures during our wait. I wouldn't of minded being quoted an accurate time and we would of walked around the seaquarium and returned back when they were ready. Other then that, great experience!!

A mind bogglingly pleasant experience - great for kids and adults, both. Plan at least half a day here (even if you hurry). Do not miss the two shows (arrive in time for that, conducted limited times a day) - one is with trained dolphins!

If the weather is not just right - don't come here. Bad place to visit during Miami summers or when it rains.
The facility boasts being the oldest aquarium in the US - it shows.
This place needs a lot of work to make it current and hospitable.
After all said and done, this place does provide a day of entertainment for the whole family.

Amazing experience overall. Good treatment of animals and the killer whale and dolphin shows were amazing and one of a kind. Would highly recommend.

Nothing like it used to be way over priced on everything we paid 20 for 2 sodas it was ridiculous the staff was really rude and the shows are only 20 minutes and only consits of them talking bearley any tricks compared to when i was a kid this place has gotten pretty bad they open at 10 and we saw all the shows by noon and we pretty much left due to how expensive food and drinks where

DO NOT SUPPORT ANIMAL TOURISM: A plan has been proposed by the Orca Network to retire Lolita to a transitional ocean sanctuary in her native waters in the Pacific Northwest (where, as of February 25, 2016 Lolita's mother - aged 80 years still frequents the waters from where Lolita was brutally captured 45 years ago. In an open letter to Sir George Buckley, Margaux Dodds, Director of Orca Network, explains that Orcas have very strong social and family bonds and that it has been proven that she still still recognizes the unique, signature call of her pod, and it has been proven that she has a fighting spirit to survive 4-1/2 decades in unsuitable conditions. Lolita's tank violates Department of Agriculture size regulations as well as an inhumane, lonely existence. There are plans in place to do the right thing, SUPPORT THOSE by NOT BUYING A TICKET!!!!!

Expensive, parking to be paid on top of entrance fee which is also expensive. Put it all together or lose custom. No cars, no customers. I won't be back, shame, the park is not bad.

Loved it. Don't sit too close to the killer whale or dolphins. You might get splashed!

Hada great time with the family. We spent a total of about 4 hours there and saw 3 shows. Unfortunately the orca exhibit was closed, but there was still more than enough to see. Would definitely recommend for a fun day trip.

This place is so fun and educational, my kids loved it. Highly recommend

Great shows and happy animals. Great for kids with all the feeding activities.

This place is ok, especially for smaller kids. Make sure to wear bug spray before you go.

Its time Miami Seaquarium let that poor orca rest and live our her days in the ocean, where she belongs!! The over 40 years in captivity in the hot florida sun and a tiny little pool is just disgusting and shows the absolute greed that runs thick throughout this company. DISGUSTING!!

It's a cute place to go. Wish it was bigger, but the shows are pretty amazing.

I visit aquariums almost everywhere I go and wasn t disappointed in Miami. Its made more as a zoo than aquarium so its a lot of walking but you can make a day out of it. They feature sealion shows, dolphin shows and several other entertainment options or you can just walk around and enjoy the exhibits. For extra charge you can do Dolphin or SeaLion encounter

You people are disgusting with that poor whale Lolita how y all abuse her and treat her like this. You left her there to die. If she did die you would lose all money. You are disgusting the turtles are deformed and are diseased. The turtles bully each other. I should have took pictures of the conditions of the turtles. The poor manetees had disgusting water and moldy cabbage in their tank. Their was poop from the manetees at the bottom. This place needs to have a warning sad memory s are made here do you remember Hugo the dolphin that suicide because of y all. This place is awful and disgusting. Please don t support these awful people

I honestly am not sure if I can rate this much higher... It's very expensive at $48 a head for adults... When going there they said "You can not get the Monday through Thursday special rate because you didn't purchase it a day in advance." ... The aquariums themselves are small with the major exhibits lasting about 20 minutes each. On top of that it's $10 to park... Two people for over $100 for about three hours of entertainment. I might advise going to Zoo Miami instead.

Run down. Orka show is lame with too much talking. Parking is 10 bucks and takes forever to pay parking and admission window. Totally inefficient. Everything else was ok. Will not return.

This place should close and have a mayor renovation.

One of Miami's Mandatory Attractions. There is something to be seen.

Wow with all the negative reviews on here I was sceptical about going but so glad we did!! This place is beautiful and the animals are well taken care of. The instructors are very informative and the shows were so entertaining!! Don't read the debbie downer reviews they musta been having a bad day cuz we enjoyed our self very much!! Food was very reasonably priced as well. ($2.99 water $4.99 lemonade 9.99 bacon burger & fries) Check out groupon as well you will save a ton!!

General staff seems to really not care. Food is terrible with grade D beef and soggy fries. Chicken tenders were crispy . It must cost a lot to run this facility and I understand the price to get in, but just a little polish and customer service training would go a long way as well as mire expensive food. If you are bored, go for it.

Didn't actually go in the aquarium but I will soon since I'm moving to Florida. They actually had Cars and Coffee out in the parking lot which was awesome right by the water. Very great experience the people just enjoy cars and can appreciate other people's cars just a smooth relaxing day by the water.

Old, rundown and super expensive $$$$$$$ - who in their right mind would pass up going to the beautiful beaches Miami has to offer for a rust bucket cess pool? Save your money $$$$ and time and hit the beach!

Kids Love it; get to have close contact and more about sea creatures...

Had a great time swimming with the dolphins. Bought the pictures and glad we did. Place seems a little worn down but still busy. Had to pay $10 to park though.

Staff was amazing! They were knowledgeable and friendly! I swam with the dolphin and it was 3 times as magical as you'd expect it to be! Big shout out to Kylie and Skyler and any other team blue member that Im leaving out! Haha and a special thanks to Cobalt for giving me a magnificent ride!

Great place with interaction with animals and the shows.

what a horrible place ...a prison for an intelligent family oriented animal that hasnt seen one of her kind since 1980 folks ...her family is alive and well living in the straits of juan de fuca... time to bring her home she has served her sentence imposed on her for long enough... she has the most inhumane conditions

Dolphin Show was nice, electricity was out. No accommodation was made to the customers because of the inconvenience.. Overall I was nice but definitely could you work. Numerous of the attractions were closed and couldn't grasp the feel of it. For $49/person.. They really could have done better

My three year old enjoyed it. But she didn't like getting wet. So sit high up.

We spend few hours there and it was amazing. The shows are amazing. Buy tickets one day after came to take discount online for 4 people.

Wonderful day! Education was key in the experience. Had a great time with the dolphin encounter, truly amazing.

Overrated place. The value of the ticket is very high for everything they offer. If prices went down it would be an excellent place to go with the family

The whale exhibit was closed. The aquarium was so green and algea filled that you couldn't see 10ft.

this place is close. why they not say on the phone ?

One of the best place in the world to see the animals I love it every time I go back to Miami to visit I definitely would go back there I definitely recommend it

I am glad I got Annual pass (platinum)
Can bring a friend free& covers parking,and visits are unlimited. Took my little girl on a rainy day less crowded and more smiles.

I took my son to Miami Seaquarium for the very first time and was extremely disappointed. Just to get in the door you must be ready to spend $50 ($1.50 for toll, $8 for parking, $40 for ticket per adult). We arrived at a time when the shows were already underway and so there was nothing to do other than just walk around the park. We literally walked the entire park in a matter of minutes-15 minutes tops. There was no form of entertainment offered at the park other than the shows. And quite frankly, once you've seen one show, you've seen them all. Two of the three shows we saw involved dolphins and the acts with the dolphins were all the same. I agree with a previous poster who indicated that the animals looked sad and unattended. I observed a tortoise with a missing appendage, a sealion with what appeared to be pink eye (the eye was bright red) and a manatee with what appeared to be a decaying tail. So disheartening. And speaking of the manatee "exhibit," I observed two employees come to feed the manatee and not once did they interact with the crowd standing around them. I would expect for the staff to interact with the visitors, ask if they have any questions, provide information. I was the one who had to approach them prior to them leaving to ask a couple of questions. We ate at the Manatee Bay Cafe and once again received poor customer service. Oh, in addition to the $50 already spent, get ready to spend an additional $10-15 for a mediocre sandwich, potato chips and a soda. Considering the amount of money this establishment received just yesterday alone (there was a decent crowd there), I am amazed at the current state of this place. Poorly kept up and oozes of "old."

The overall vibe here is sad. The animals and trainers look tired. Charging for parking is a scam.

This is not an aquarium. It is an outdoor marine park which is mostly shows. A lower end, very old park which was the filming site for the 1964 flipper show. The shows are not good, the viewing of the outdoor animals is nearly non existent. Only people who have never been to an aquarium or sea world would enjoy. Price is $47 to $32. Depending on when and where buy tickets. On website discount says "same day" purchase which means buying the daybefore as well as hopetober discount although neither worked as a discout price on website. Groupon must bebought day before. Place is a complete waste of time and money.

Been here multiple times in the past. Great experience every time!

So very sad. This attraction should be shut down. Exhibits and grounds are way past their prime.

Don't wait to go. This place is adding gemstone mining. Worth the trip and they are adding a new area for hands on activity