April 2025 by Graeme Turner
we had the shark feeding experience booked for my son's birthday, it was absolutely amazing Lukas was brilliant with him and explained everything which he was doing.
April 2025 by Francis
It's OK. .quite small and not much animals to look at. .but fun to do whilst your down
April 2025 by T-Dawg
Really sad, the enclosures were too small and animals were displaying signs of distress. I am a marine biologist so should have known better than to go here, I was hoping it would be educational but it it was nothing short of a cruel display using animals. ?
I found out afterwards about the protests about this place and I'm absolutely disgusted by the death rate reported in the freedom of information requests ? We need to do better than this...
March 2025 by Constantin Ababei
Bournemouth is a good place to visit and enjoy for the beach and relaxing.
March 2025 by Alina & ?ukasz
We came with visiting family to show their child the animals. Wasn't impressed to be honest. No signs or map inside where to go, just one lift so if you are with buggy just two people can get in, glasses from tanks were blur so couldn't see the fish very well. We also stop to see feeding the penguins but too crowd, not enough space so small child couldn't see through the glass.
Not very big for this money. Not so good as one in London near London Eye (recommend)! Only positive because close to the beach and you can spent the rest time outdoor.
March 2025 by Katie Wearn
We visited saturday 8th march 2025, waited around 3 or 4mins to get in. Lovely couple of hours, lots to see and read about. Abit smaller than similar venues like the sealife centre, but all the animals are well looked after. Staff are polite and friendly, There is a chance of a family photo, but we didn't do that. We did however managed to get in for 97p as 3 adults using Tesco club card vouchers. There is a cafe attached to the oceanarium, so you can treat yourself to a cuppa after. They also have a gift shop, with all the usual gifts, cuddly toys, named items, toys etc.
March 2025 by Alina Kovacs
Was somewhat nice , the sharks and eels where interesting! The big turtle from the shark tank looked distressed and made me feel sad. She was swimming back and forth in the same place non stop , banging her head on the wall! I am not an expert but i supposed she would like a bit of dry land , not just water ! The penguins looked sad and smelled very bad in there ! The tanks with other fishes where dirty ! I wont go again because i am an empath and would ruin my day ! I gave 2 starts because the staff was very nice and price was ok. Ohh and please dont copy paste the same response that you put to all the reviews about the wellbeing and stuff! Thanks
March 2025 by Jessica Fox
We had a nice time. There were lots of different animals, including penguins, crocodiles, a turtle, jellyfish, stingrays, otters, and, of course, different fish. There was a lift and a buggy park, though it was a little cramped to walk around even without the buggy. There was also a nice indoor play area. There was a cafe but we didn't eat there. It took about an hour and a half to see everything, so I think tickets would have been a bit pricey. However, we used our Tesco points to get in cheaper. I was a little bit worried about the behaviour of the turtle; it was swimming up and down and bumping into the wall, but I don't know enough about turtles to tell if this is normal? I probably won't go again, but it might be a nice place to look around in bad weather.
March 2025 by James Wilson
Quite small compared to others we've been to. General cleaning and maintenance needs to be improved.
January 2025 by Mimì harden
Was a nice walk around
January 2025 by Haroon
Worst poorly maintained. Sea Life much better
October 2024 by Mary Berry
Friendly, welcoming staff. Great variety of fish, sharks, sting rays, eels, reptiles, turtles, jellyfish and penguins. Penguin area was very unclean due to pigeons who had got in and were perched overhead. Walk through tunnel was great. Good accessibility with lift, wide doors and ramps. One area was ( needed to be) extremely dark. Lovely gift shop on way out with variety of items, fairly priced. Also had cafe and areas of seating/play areas. Quiet when we visited which made it very pleasant to take time to look.
October 2024 by Glynnis Stirton
Staff were very helpful.
Enjoyed seeing the feeding of penguins & the turtles & sharks.
Loved the fact you could go out for a meal & return later in the day.
We should have used a printed map as I think I missed a lot.
Signs & info of fish in the tank should also be on still placards.
September 2024 by John Fitzsimmonds
Good staff they are friendly good service they should keep up the work and keep going
September 2024 by H
This is definitely worth a visit if you're in Bournemouth.
It's in a beautiful area located right next to the pier at the seaside.
There are plenty of other enjoyable amenities around to enjoy like the Ferris wheel, gift shops, the beautiful gardens, cafes, the upside down house and of course the amazing beach.
I think the prices are very fair as it must be ridiculously expensive to keep this place going in this day and age.
Staff were friendly.
After buying my ticket (I was alone) I noticed on a sign above the entrance that for a small extra charge I could have purchased a yearly membership!
I would highly suggest that all serving staff are trained to mention or (sell) the offer before any sales are taken.
I was around the whole place within 40 minutes but, decided to go back around again to listen to the narrated videos sharing super interesting facts about marine life.
Even though it was a week day and not school holidays there were a lot of very loud toddlers running around screaming excitedly, sweet but just over and hour and my nerves were frayed, not with the kids but the ignorant parents.
Probably better to go a few hours before they close, I think it would be quietest then.
I absolutely loved seeing the sharks.
I went into the cafe after to see what was on offer but there wasn't any free seats and it was noisy with families so I opted out.
The gift shop was well stocked with a large range of goodies from a few pounds upwards.
All in all a well kept, enjoyable, unusual place to visit.
Well done team Oceanarium.
