The Atlantis in the Bahams...

Has anyone been there? If so, please tell me what you thought! Which 'type' of room do you suggest? Which meal plan, do you even suggest a meal plan?

I am planning my one year anniversary trip (admittedly, way in advance, for a variety of reasons). We want to take this trip the second week in October. Is October a good time to go to the Bahamas?

How long does it take to fly there?

Also, if you have any other suggestions for a week long vacation in October, let me know please! There are no price concerns, only plane concerns...I don't want to take more than a 4 hour flight! I hate flying

THanks so much

Re: The Atlantis in the Bahams...

janatlanticabride went there for her honeymoon. You can send her a FM if you like.

Re: The Atlantis in the Bahams...

Just remember October is part of hurricane season

Re: The Atlantis in the Bahams...

I went on a cruise three weeks ago that went to the Bahamas and we went to Atlantis to check out the hotel. It definately is a beautiful hotel and my hubby and I are planning on going there for vacation some day. I am sure you already know but Atlantis is extremely expensive. NOt only to sleep there but all of the restaurants and bars are pretty pricey. I was not aware of an all inclusive price or meal plan with then but I am definately not the expert on this. The other thing I wanted to mention was that although the hotel was beautful, Nassau, Bahamas is not that great. You probably would not want to leave your resort. Therefore, I think a week might be too long. I would say staying for a long weekend (3 or 4 nights) is all you really need there.
But this is just my opinion.
I hope you have a great time no matter where you go.

Re: The Atlantis in the Bahams...

I am curious to hear feedback too. I have used www.eopinions.com for other trips and Atlantis has gotten very bad reviews by travelers. Mostly complaints that the resort itself is overrated and the everything is way too expensive. But it seems really nice in the commercials and I know a lot of celebrities go there as well.

Definitely check out that site to get some ideas.

Re: The Atlantis in the Bahams...

My SIL got married there in 2000. It was a beautiful wedding and a beautiful resort, although definitely the epitome of capitalism! It's SUPER commercial. I tend to enjoy more of the 'quiet' island experience, but even still, we loved it. Back then it was still expensive (I think for 2 of us it was around $3000 for 4 or 5 nights) but I definitely recommend getting the meal plan. We paid $75 a day for it, I think, which included breakfast and dinner. Since the restaurants were so pricey, it was well worth it (especially for dinner!). It was a great place, but if you are a big beach person, I wouldn't recommend it. It doesn't have much of a beach at all. It has tons of pools and SOO much stuff to do without ever having to leave the resort, but if you need a big stretch of sand you won't find it there.

We stayed in the 'middle of the road' tower... I forget what it was called. We originally booked the least expensive one, but it was closed for repair so we were upgraded. My SIL stayed in the Royal Towers and said her room wasn't too much better than ours.

All in all it was a great trip and I'd love to go back someday.

Re: The Atlantis in the Bahams...

I just got back from there last night - we went for an extended weekend and enjoyed every minute of it. I plan on posting my review with pictures later on today (possibly on the parenting board).

My hubby won the trip through work, so I can't say how expensive it would be to book a week there, but I will say it's got to be big bucks. We stayed in the Royal Towers (the newest of the towers which opened in 1998), in a standard room with a King bed. Great view, nothing to brag about for the room.

We were on the Grand meal plan, which comes to about $80 per person, per day. It includes breakfast and dinner and is well worth it, in my opinion, after you see the prices of food there We were on our own for lunch. As part of everything there, a 15% gratuity is added in to every bill, so even with the meal plan, we had to pay the gratuity on every meal, another $20-$30 each time.

The hot summer months there are June through October. Our stay this past week was beautiful - about 75-80 each day and cool ocean breezes. There are tons of pools, slides, water activities, and a beach area. I though the beach was adequate, but we spent most of our time by the pools.

We did not leave the Atlantis at all - since we were on the meal plan, we ate there every night and had a huge breakfast in the morning. My DH treated me to a massage at the Spa and it was awesome - highly recommended!

We flew out of LaGuardia on Delta and the flight was direct and about 2.5 hours. No biggie at all. Our package included transportation from airport to the Atlantis.

The casinos and shops and aquarium walks are all there to see. What I will warn you about is that this place is very family friendly - we were surrounded by families with lots of small children at all times, even in the fanciest and most romantic restaurants. We are expecting our first child in less than 90 days, so we took it all with a grain of salt, but it may not be quite as romantic as you might envision it.

Please let me know if you decide to book, I can give you the scoop on the restaurants and such we ate at. All were excellent! The food there is awesome!