Atlantis, Bahamas

My dad wants to take a family trip here next year. Would be 7 adults 3 kids (10/11/12). I see there are different towers. Which is better? Food plan?

Re: Atlantis, Bahamas

Sorry no one answered. I’ve been there about 4 years ago with little kids. I think going with preteen and teen kids is much better (we won’t be going again until then). The water slides are really fun and scary!

We stayed at Royal Towers. I think it was well positioned (being pretty central to everything). Rooms were nice. We had an ocean view room... but it rained a lot so I don’t think our view was as great as it could have been. Service at that hotel is really lackadaisical... but no problems with housekeeping. At the time, when we walked through the other rooms and peeked in, they looked old (but may have been/should have been redone by now).

There is a more upscale area than Royal (Cove... I think), but it had a lot of 21 and over areas, so didn’t fit our needs.

The food was really, reallly delicious but VERY expensive. We did the meal plan and only ate breakfast (they have a buffet) and dinner at sit down restaurants. Our kids were young and ate free with us... but this may be super expensive with older kids... not sure how much their meal plans would have cost. The meal plan was expensive per person... but “worth it” by $50 at least per day if you eat on site. The kids choices were good everywhere and a lot of food (mine shared a meal even though they didn’t have to). Restaurant waiters were really nice. There was a pizza place on site that was semi-reasonable that I think closed and Virgil’s BBQ that was also reasonable. I just remember buying a teeny box of teddy grahams for kid snacks for $15. Prices were poorly marked and I wonder if they change with demand. I remember trying to buy a book (that did have a price on it) and was told it cost double. There was only so much you can argue. You could go out of the resort and I think this would have been the smart thing to do if we weren’t with 2 young children.

I hope you get better input from someone who stayed more recently. We found that the trip, with airfare, ended up costing $1000 a day for 2 adults, a child and an infant (no separate seat on airplane). It was May (off season).

Atlantis, Bahamas

We just went in February and had the time of our lives. Kids are 2 and 5. We stayed at the Reef. We had a suite with a large bed and a living room area with a pull out couch. Our kids are beach bums so we spent 99% of our time on the beach. We did venture over to the water slides and water park once and enjoyed it.
We didn’t get a food plan because it seemed very expensive for what you get (drinks, not even water were not included). Yes food was expensive but we knew that going in. You can also leave Atlantis and go into town. We didn’t do that because our kids are young and wanted to stay on premises in case they get tired or cranky while we were out.
Any other Qs let me know!

Message edited 5/6/2018 5:52:17 PM.

Atlantis, Bahamas

We have been there twice, but only for the day from our cruises. It was a BLAST in the waterpark! I think your kids are the perfect age for it. We loved the crazy lazy river (it's super wild). The beach is nice, and we liked their little lagoon where we rented boats. We booked a room in the beach tower for both trips, but honestly never set foot in the room once, so I can't tell you about that. I can tell you it was the cheapest and the furthest away from the waterpark and "action".

Re: Atlantis, Bahamas

We did an overnight from a cruise ship. We docked a day early so actually spent the night. We stayed in the Beach Tower which wasn't great to be honest. I was expecting rooms to be nicer.

We had one dinner and ate at a burger place in the Marina. It was expensive but not more than I would expect.

The waterpark was fun and my DH and DD (9) enjoyed all of the waterslides.

We ended up with about 1 full day and I felt like that was enough. It had been on my list to visit but I feel like we experienced enough with one overnight and wouldn't need to spend more time there.

Re: Atlantis, Bahamas

Atlantis, Bahamas

Haha, so many people do this! It cost us nearly $500 for 3 people to do the cruise shore excursion for a day trip to Atlantis. But if you book a cheap room there, especially off-season, you get free passes to the water park, so you save money booking a room and not using it just to get the water park passes.

PS the water park is SO MUCH FUN!

Message edited 5/7/2018 12:15:48 PM.

Re: Atlantis, Bahamas

Atlantis, Bahamas

Thanks all!! My dad wants to be central in the hotel, so any feedback on the coral or royal tower?

Re: Atlantis, Bahamas

Re: Atlantis, Bahamas

Posted by BargainMama

Posted by NervousNell

Posted by BargainMama

We have been there twice, but only for the day from our cruises. It was a BLAST in the waterpark! I think your kids are the perfect age for it. We loved the crazy lazy river (it's super wild). The beach is nice, and we liked their little lagoon where we rented boats. We booked a room in the beach tower for both trips, but honestly never set foot in the room once, so I can't tell you about that. I can tell you it was the cheapest and the furthest away from the waterpark and "action".

So wait, when you go there as a cruise excursion you book a room? Why?
Don't you go back to the ship to sleep?
This is confusing me. LOL

We book it free with Marriott points (Atlantis is a Marriott property). So for the price of the resort fee (around $75), four of us can use the entire resort all day vs. paying $600 through the ship! Plus we can use their wi-fi free, get bottled water, and a welcome cookie or fruit basket gift

Message edited 5/7/2018 3:38:56 PM.

Re: Atlantis, Bahamas

Posted by NervousNell

Posted by BargainMama

Posted by NervousNell

Posted by BargainMama

We have been there twice, but only for the day from our cruises. It was a BLAST in the waterpark! I think your kids are the perfect age for it. We loved the crazy lazy river (it's super wild). The beach is nice, and we liked their little lagoon where we rented boats. We booked a room in the beach tower for both trips, but honestly never set foot in the room once, so I can't tell you about that. I can tell you it was the cheapest and the furthest away from the waterpark and "action".

So wait, when you go there as a cruise excursion you book a room? Why?
Don't you go back to the ship to sleep?
This is confusing me. LOL

We book it free with Marriott points (Atlantis is a Marriott property). So for the price of the resort fee (around $75), four of us can use the entire resort all day vs. paying $600 through the ship! Plus we can use their wi-fi free, get bottled water, and a welcome cookie or fruit basket gift

This is genius!

But damn that's a high resort fee!
Imagine staying a week? The resort fees alone would kill you!

Atlantis, Bahamas

I’ve been there several times for the day on cruises and stayed there once many years ago (I feel like it was 2006). Stayed in the Royal Tower, I don’t think the reef/cove were there yet. It was beautiful but very expensive. I don’t recall the option of a meal plan and the food was a fortune.

It’s gorgeous but I don’t know that I’d ever go back because it was so unnecessarily expensive.