Atlantis – Paradise Island, Bahamas
So I just thought I’d share some of the review I just received from a terrific client family who just returned from a stay at Atlantis in the Bahamas. I will post more on a review page, but here were some of their overall thoughts:
(This family of 5 (2 parents, 3 kids ages 20, 17, and 15) stayed at the Atlantis resort from December 20 – 25, 2008.)
“Upon our arrival, we were upgraded (yeah!) to the Royal Tower West. Our rooms in the Royal Tower were quite spacious, with two queen sized beds in each. We had a table and two chairs and another stuffed chair. There was a large closet and a flat screen TV. There was a balcony, but one that only could be stood on by a single person. The view of the grounds was fantastic! We were on the sixth floor. We had a refrigerator, but it was stocked with their products. We had a coffeemaker, one that uses the pods and makes one cup. The bathroom was good sized with the toilet being on the right side and separated with a single door for privacy. That was nice. The hotel products were provided daily and the hair dryer on the wall worked very well. Our maid staff was also very friendly and helpful. The overall appearance of the room, however, was that it was older and had experienced some wear and tear. The carpeting, for instance was a little run down and we could tell that the room was not new. Is that a big deal? Not to us.
Our room was centrally located on the grounds, which was fabulous! Everything was a short walk away, even though things were very spread out. It was a five or six minute walk on lighted pathways to the different restaurants and water features. Everything was just beautiful, also. Every where we turned there was another statue, fountain or beautifully designed and decorated landscaping, etc. My children really loved the water slides and lazy rivers; hands down they were the best. I went on the mile long lazy river that had a couple of conveyor belts and pushed you up hill and dropped you down through a tunnel at the end. It was fun!
We ate in several nice restaurants, but the prices of food were exorbitant! Maybe we should have done the meal plan. We spent so much money on food it was ridiculous. The Marketplace served a buffet style breakfast for $25 per person (kids were $12, I think). It cost us $125 for breakfast to eat there. Now, I will say that they had everything and anything you could want to eat. My family enjoyed custom made omelets, roasted potatoes, quiche, blueberry/and or chocolate chip pancakes, waffles, hash, bacon, sausage, fruit, yogurt, cereal, scrambled eggs, toast…even oatmeal and grits! We ate lunch poolside; mainly a burger or chicken wrap, which if you got the meal with fries and a drink was about $8. Nachos were $6, wings were around $8 and drinks poolside were $8 or $10. They had a lot of alcohol in them, though. We ate dinner at Bimini’s twice, which was supposed to be kind of a middle of the road price range, but a chicken salad was $21. Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill and the Casa d’Angelo were very expensive although the food was wonderful. It cost us around $90 per person to eat at the Mesa Grill. By the way, a 15% gratuity is added on automatically to everything on site, even Starbuck’s and Ben & Jerry’s. There was a line available to add more tip, if you wanted. Really, we were over a barrel and had to pay quite a lot to eat and drink. A can of coke: $3. It was ridiculous.
By the way, swimming with the dolphins was expensive, but wonderful. I would do it again. I hope this helps you out when deciding whether to go to the Atlantis yourselves. I wish we had ventured more out of the Atlantis compound and toured Nassau. But, we know that for the next time.”
