BridalTips.com Trip Report On Atlantis Resort Paradise Island Bahamas

Jeff Ostroff

Our trip report on Atlantis Resort Paradise Island, in Nassau, Bahamas with photos! Includes planning tips, sights to see in Nassau, and how to get the most out of your time and money. For more tips on honeymoon planning, read our other article, Honeymoon Tips, and review of Sandals St. Lucia. We also have a trip report on the other all inclusive Sandals in Nassau, Bahamas. Click Here To Read Our Review of Sandals Royal Bahamian Resort & Spa.

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Brief Geography Lesson Of The Bahamas
The Bahamas consist of 700 islands and very few of them are inhabited. If you have never flown to the Caribbean before, make sure you're sitting in a window seat, you're going to see the most beautiful islands and water on earth. You'll love your Caribbean vacation to Atlantis Resort before you even land. The ocean water around the Bahamas is completely different than any other ocean water. It's incredibly clear due to the lack of any sediment sources, such as mountains or industrialized factories. Bahamas has the most beautiful swirl blue, teal and green colors you'll ever see. The ocean currents from Africa prevent any sediment from accumulating, so the water is crystal clear. The finer grain sand in the Bahamas is not the same as the quartz sand we have here in the U.S., it's whiter. Shellfish life forms die and leave calcium carbonate shells behind. They are then eaten by parrot fish and others, who excrete out the white sand particles. All that white sand you walk on passed through the digestive track of a fish. At Governor's Harbor on the island of Eleuthra east of Nassau they have pink sand beaches. Nassau is relatively flat compared to the volcanic St. Lucia.

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Forget about "package deals" and the Jedi mind tricks that hotels and airlines pawn off on you. The word "package" does not mean you save money, so don't fall for that scam. "Package" just means rip off air fare piled on top of an already expensive room rate. To save the most money you must do your homework. You can't always trust that the fares quoted by commissioned travel agents or reservation agents will be the best price. The best way to get the lowest air fares and save yourself time and agony is for you to get it yourself using online sites. Everyone should use them as a gauge against all air fare quotes from travel agents. Without these quotes as a reference, you're in big trouble.

View of the Atlantis hotel from the top of the toll bridge that spans from Nassau to Paradise Island, over the harbor. You can see they were still building more of the property.

This is a view of the Royal Towers, the newest part of Atlantis Resort that opened in 1999. You can see the bridge suite that spans the 2 towers and sleeps 15 people. It's not for general public use. I heard that Michael Jordan stayed in this suite, valued at $25000 a night.

This is a view of the Cafe at the Great Hall Of Waters, which is the long lobby that connects the Atlantis Casino to the East & West wings of the Royal Towers. the cafe tables face the aquarium windows that form the bottom wall of the Ruins Lagoon and The Dig.

In June, 2000 we decided on a trip to Nassau, Bahamas, and narrowed our choices to Sandals Royal Bahamian and the Atlantis Resort Hotel, both within 15 minutes of each other. Unfortunately, Atlantis Resorts was sold out, so we chose the Sandals Resorts, which was a great place to stay, and is mostly used for honeymoon destinations for newlyweds. Sandals is an all inclusive resort, but Atlantis Paradise Island is pay as you go. Sandals does a lot of weddings at their resorts, too. There are much more affordable resorts in the Bahamas. We took a day trip to the Atlantis hotel to look around and take some photos, dodging thunder showers. After seeing the breath taking Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island, I can assure you next time we visit the Bahamas we'll stay there.

This is a nice view of Paradise Lagoon behind Atlantis Resort, looking toward the Coral Towers and the Atlantis Resort Casino in the center of the picture. The building that looks like a merry go round on the left is the Lagoon Bar & Grill. note the beautiful water of the Bahamas.

This shot was taken from near the real beach, looking back at the Royal Towers of Atlantis Resort. That's part of the man made Paradise Beach in the foreground. Note the useful canopy tops on the lounge chairs.

Atlantis Resort is located on 34 acres in the best spot of all, on Paradise Island, 1/2 mile offshore from Nassau, just across the harbor from where all the big cruise ships dock. Atlantis Resort is the biggest hotel in Nassau. The cruises usually originate in Miami and Fort Lauderdale and take overnight to reach Nassau. Nassau is one of the biggest travel destinations in the Bahamas. Paradise Island was formerly known as Hog Island, but the name was changed in 1962 to attract more visitors. Rumor has it that at the eastern tip of Paradise Island where the new mansions are being built in 2000, homes have been bought by Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Sean Connery, Sharon Stone, and others.

To get to Atlantis Resort Paradise Island you can either pay a taxi a few dollars to get you there from the cruise ship area, or take the better scenic route by paying a ferry right on the dock $3 for the 10 minute ride across that offers a great ride around the cruise ships, and a narrated view of some of the nice houses along the southern banks of Paradise Island. Atlantis Resort Hotel and Casino is located in the most convenient spot, just across the street from where most of the water based attractions depart like the Dolphin Adventures, hover crafts, Ferries, Robinson Carusoe, and others. It's also a 3 minute taxi ride from downtown Nassau shopping and all the ocean side eateries. Flights to The Bahamas are about 45 minutes from Miami, to travel to the Caribbean is pretty quick.

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Atlantis Resort Hotel is mega huge, bigger than many hotels in Las Vegas. Atlantis Resort & Casino consists of the round Beach Tower Building, the 2 Coral Tower Buildings, and the massive $600 million Royal Towers, which was completed in 1999. The Atlantis Casino is also housed in the Royal Towers along with a mall that has some top name ritzy stores. It's one of the 2 biggest Casinos in Nassau, the other being Crystal Palace Casino at the Marriot. The Atlantis Casino has hundreds of slot machines and about 100 game tables, just like most Las Vegas casinos. We took a walk through the Great Hall Of Waters inside Atlantis Resort, with a great view of the Cafe down below, with gigantic arched windows towering overhead. The back of the Cafe is a wall of windows that looks out into the Ruins Lagoon behind Atlantis. This is also part of The Dig, a labyrinth of rooms, chambers, mazes, twisting streets, corridors, artifacts, and archeological ruins designed to simulate what the lost city of Atlantis might have looked like. Atlantis boasts it to be the world's largest "aquarium", with 100,000 fish from 150 species. Here's some photos we took from the glass wall windows at the Cafe:

Here's a cool shot of some of the underwater "ruins", of The Dig inside Atlantis Resort with large sharks swimming around.

This is beautiful. They designed it like the undersea remains of the Lost City of Atlantis. This water is at least 20 feet deep, but it's so clear that on a bright sunny day you're guaranteed a perfect shot.

One of the most photographed spots inside the hotel. Everyone wants photos at the aquarium, next to the Cafe in the Great Hall Of Waters. A regular daylight camera will work here, because the water is so clear, but use a flash if you want your face to show up.

We sat down for lunch in Atlantis at the Cafe and were shocked to see the cheapest item on the menu was a $15 hamburger! They sure do price gouge you here for food, there's no doubt about that. You would be better off at a local restaurant 5 minutes away. People in Atlantis justify the high cost of food by saying that everything must be shipped to the islands daily by boat so it's expensive. Ok, so the local restaurants can sell a hamburger for $7, and they get it from that same boat, right? Atlantis Resort makes plenty of profit on the food, and it's no better than the local restaurants. I guess they have a huge bill to pay for creating the Atlantis Resort. One warning: many of the shops in the Atlantis Resort are independently owned, and you CANNOT charge purchases to your room. I thought that was one of the stupidest things I've ever seen in this age of interoperability and B2B exchanges. In one shop, we saw a mother get irate when she had no cash, and just her room card, and she needed medicine for her sick kid. She was sent away empty handed. I highly suggest you anticipate all the toiletries, sunburn cream, medicine, batteries, cameras, and film that you'll need, and buy them at home because the shops in the Atlantis Resort really add new dimensions to the term "price gouging" in paradise.

After lunch we headed out back to see the pools and lagoons of Atlantis Resort. If you're not a guest in the Atlantis Hotel, you cannot use the Atlantis facilities. You have to show your guest key to get anything. The lagoons out back seem to stretch on forever, and I guarantee you've never seen anything like it before. You can see part of the 11-million gallon marine habitat with 11 lagoons: The Ruins Lagoon, Shark Lagoon, Stingray Lagoon, Turtle Lagoon, Predator Lagoon, Seagrapes Lagoon, Water's Edge Lagoon, Beach Falls Lagoon and who knows what else. There are 11 different pools at Atlantis, and A 7-acre snorkeling lagoon with tropical fish, and more than 40 waterfalls and fountains. There's just so much there, it's mind boggling. It will take you days to absorb it all, it really is a feast for the eyes.

Atlantis Resort has a mix of family oriented visitors with kids enjoying vacations, conventioneers, and honeymooners. It's not the quiet tranquil setting that Sandals is for honeymooners, but some people don't mind. Either resort will do good for brides and grooms planning a honeymoon. I'm sure there are lots of honeymoon packages, but you know my opinion of honeymoon packages. Hate them.

Here's a beautiful view of the Royal Towers at Atlantis Resort Paradise Island amid the lagoons out back. You can see the $25,000 a night, 5,000 square ft Bridge Suite spanning the 2 towers. The Bridge Suite has a 50x25 living room, 12 foot ceilings, and a grand piano. Notice the Royal Stingray Lagoon in the foreground, you'll see tons of stingrays swimming around and being fed. What a view!

This is the Mayan Temple water slide at Atlantis Resort. The slide takes you through a tunnel that goes underneath the Predator Lagoon with stingrays and sharks. The kids there told us it looks like you're going to splash right into the sharks in the pool, then at the last minute, you go through the tunnel and pop out at a second pool below it.

There are so many pools, lagoons and water slides at Atlantis Resort, that it will take you all week to experience all of them. Their pool chairs have a giant "Atlantis canvas canopy" attached to the chair back that swivels up and shades your upper body from the sun. That was a real nice touch. Atlantis has a giant man made lagoon called Paradise Lagoon, which is isolated from the real beach over the back hill, but still gets it's water form the ocean by way of a canal. The Paradise lagoon also has it's own Paradise Beach around the perimeter, which offers a great view of the Coral Towers and The Beach Tower. You can also cross a small bridge that takes you over to the real beach right on the Atlantic Ocean. A trip to Atlantis Resort paradise Island would not be complete without walking through the underwater viewing tunnel behind the Lagoon Bar & Grill. This was really cool, you walk through a glass tunnel under the Predator Lagoon & Reef, while sharks swim right over the top of you. This is a birds eye view of the lagoons at Atlantis Resort, from a lobby window below the Bridge Suite. Now you know what view you'll get if you have $25,000 a night to spend. This is a breathtaking view, and the designers deserve the highest accolades. That's the Atlantis Coral towers in the background. Atlantis Resort Paradise Island has over 30 restaurants, and a few nightclubs at Atlantis, so it's unlikely you'll ever get bored looking for a place to eat. There's also plenty of great restaurants outside the Atlantis hotel. just ask the bus drivers and taxi drivers for recommendations of local restaurants.

Taxi Warnings!
No Caribbean vacation resort ever warns you of the things to watch out for, so I'll tell you here. One suggestion if you take a taxi anywhere from Atlantis Resort, ask the taxi driver before you get into the cab, how much your fair will be. To go to downtown Nassau it should not cost more than $5, it's only 1 mile away, and a 3 minute ride. Make sure they don't try to charge you $5 for each person, it should be $5 for the entire vehicle, and make darn sure you and the taxi driver are crystal clear on that point. There's no laws, no meters, nothing to protect you. You almost have to be a lawyer to take a taxi in Nassau. There are quite a few tricks the taxi drivers pull so you must be ready to outsmart them. Don't rely on the Atlantis Hotel valets to quote you a price, each taxi is different and the valets really don't know the price, or they lie. The valet could tell you it's $5, so 6 of you pile into a taxi, then at your destination 1 mile away the driver wants $30 for the whole car load, so watch out. Always ask if the quoted fare is for one person only, or if each person in the group has to pay that amount. Very sneaky.

There is also a marina at Atlantis Resort where the wealthy can dock their mega yachts. The marina is actually closer to the hotel than the parking garages across the street. The complex is so big that walking to the hotel from the garage will take you 5-10 minutes. I would not recommend renting a car anyway, because the traffic is really thick in Nassau, and you don't want to spend all day trying to find a parking spot. You just won't be driving enough to justify a rental, and they drive on the left side of the road just like Britain. Take a cab or bus and enjoy the ride.

Sightseeing: What to do in Nassau
Many people are unfamiliar with all that Caribbean travel has to offer. If you plan to travel to Atlantis Resort, or any other resort in the Bahamas, we got you covered because we've done many of the best excursions in Nassau. We highly recommend the Dolphin Encounters, or the more expensive "Swim With The Dolphins". You can take a 5 minute walk from the Atlantis Resort and Casino to the dock where some of these water adventure boats are docked. Make sure you buy your excursion tickets before you go there, many require reservations, and they fill up rapidly. Rather than retype it all here, I already wrote about what to do in Nassau in our other trip report: Our Trip Report Of Sandals Royal Bahamian Resort & Spa. There, you'll find much more details on the Dolphin excursion, with photos, what to do in Nassau, and the best way to enjoy your stay.

Unfortunately we were unable to stay at the Atlantis Resort because they were sold out for the week that chose to go to the Bahamas. But maybe we'll be able to stay at Atlantis Resort soon, and add more to our trip report here on the accommodations. If you decide to go to Atlantis, be sure to book your reservations several months in advance, as they are sold out quite a bit. After all, Atlantis is on Paradise Island.

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