Atlantis Paradise Island Nassau, Bahamas

By Lindsay | Trip to Nassau, Bahamas

“Great Vacation!” 

We had read some negative reviews prior to leaving for our 5 night, 6 day vacation at Atlantis, Paradise Island and weren't sure what to expect upon arrival. Luckily, we were pleasantly surprised. We stayed in a Harbourview Room in the Royal Towers, which was an upgrade from the Terrace view we had originally booked. (definitely ask for an upgrade no matter what room level you book as it seems like they give upgrades fairly regularly to anyone). The room was big, clean and updated with modern decor. TV was a good sized flat screen with great programming, including a CBS channel for Canadians. We had a coffee maker in the room and they provided Starbucks coffee (including decaf) daily, which we had every morning and was very good. There is a mini bar, which charges by weight, so if you move anything, it will charge it to your room. However, the top shelf was empty, so we were able to keep a 1.5 litre container of milk in it for our toddler's bottles at night, as well as some leftovers from dinners. We loved the location of being in the Royal Towers, nice and close to all of the main action, however, farther away from the Marina area, which has the cheaper restaurants. We did not have a meal plan, so we did not want to eat in the hotel restaurants every night as meals were at least $30-$50 each. (even breakfast seemed to be $25-$30/person at any of the hotel restaurants. At Plato's bar in the Royal Towers you can get continental style breakfast for a bit cheaper. We got a bagel with cream cheese/jam/peanut butter/etc. 2 mornings and they were $3.95 each and were really good. However, 1 piece of whole fruit (ie. 1 banana, 1 apple, etc.) was $3 USD! We asked for a big 1.5 litre bottle of Dasani water at this bar and it was going to be $9.75!! There is a small grocery store in a little plaza across the street from the Marina area where you can buy essentials like bottles of water for $3.95, fruit for $1/piece, jug of milk for $5.95, yogurt for $1.75 (compared to $4 at Plato's). There is also a pizza place in this same plaza called Anthony's where we ordered a large whole pizza for $17. However, we did find that the Sharkbites cafe in the Mayan Temple pool area of the Royal Towers had very reasonable small salads for $4 and decent lunch prices ($4 for onion rings). Frozen drinks are $10, a beer is $7 - very expensive overall. One tip is if you buy a soft drink, you can keep the cup and refill it all week at any pop machine, they are only $4. Beach is nice and close to everything, maybe a 5 minute walk from the hotel lobby and was beautiful!! It was a little bay area just beside the Cove hotel area and it was perfectly calm and clear so our toddler could play around very easily. Slides and pool amenities were amazing. Our toddler had so much fun at only 19 months! Most activities there require kids to be 3 though, so plan on doing other things with toddlers under 3. The Dig was great, we only went through it once, but it was definitely an interest for our toddler and for us. Casino is attached to the Royal Towers and you walk through it to get to the Marina area where there are restaurants like Quizno's (which had very reasonable breakfast sandwiches for $5.95) starbucks and a little pizza place which was delicious. It also has a Johnny Rockets, which was reasonable as well. There is a small variety type store in the Royal Towers where we would buy candy, $2.05 for a milkyway bar and $2.35 for a bag of sour gummy bears. They had diapers, drinks, magazines, sunscreen, beach toys, etc. but I don't know how much that stuff was. We had a great trip and would definitely go back again. You just have to be prepared to spend some money, or make some effort to find the cheaper places if you want to keep it cheaper. Our packages were $1045 which included a direct flight on Westjet from Toronto just under 3 hours (really enjoyed our westjet flight too!) and transportation to and from the airport to Atlantis and of course, our hotel stay. I don't think the meal plan option is necessary. If you want to eat at the hotel restaurants every day/night, then maybe the eating plan would be worth it, but there are plenty of cheaper options in the Marina area and then you could splurge a few nights for hotel restaurant dinners if you really wanted. (the Marina area was about a 10 minute walk through the hotel from our room though FYI) We took $500 USD and came home with $100. Had to charge $65 USD to our room because some of the cafes by the pool are cashless, but Sharkbites and 2 others accepted cash. So in total, we spent $1045 each (flight/hotel & our toddler was free) for 5 nights at Atlantis and $465 on food/drinks (including for our toddler as well) and never went without. (However, I should mention that I am pregnant, so I was not drinking any alcohol and my husband did not end up getting any alcohol either). You could probably find a liquor store to buy some alcohol to keep in your room and take down to the pool too if you wanted. Oh and internet is $21.95/day but Quizno's offers free 1-hour access, even if you don't buy anything, so we would connect whenever we went to eat there just to check email, etc. We heard that in the library in the hotel you can use the computers for free as well for 20 minutes. Great vacation & would definitely recommend it to families, especially with older children.

The strong points Great amenities and perfect for children of all ages. The weak points More suited to kids 3 and older, very expensive food, although there are some cheaper options, still very expensive compared to north american prices.