When planning a trip to Atlantis, there are definitely some things you should know before you go to help manage expectations. Going to Atlantis is an investment so have your wallet ready and don’t expect to stay in the lap of luxury. The property, especially the hotel rooms, are showing their age and may leave you disappointed. However, there are some room renovations in progress. The biggest draw is the waterpark and definitely makes a visit worth it, especially if you have kids.
I’ve put together a list of Pros & Cons and Tips & Tricks based on my experiences to help you decide if Atlantis is the right vacation for you!
PROS
- Property is vast and gorgeous with marine life throughout. Atlantis has an aquarium on site called the Dig, which is a must do. They also have different exhibits for sea turtles, sting rays, and sharks. They have all kinds of options to swim with the dolphins, but at a hefty price tag. We didn’t do any of the dolphin excursions, but heard good things.
- We stayed at the Royal Tower, which is centrally located and made it easier to get to the beaches, waterpark, and casino. The Royal is definitely showing signs of aging, but our room was totally fine. We stayed in a room with 2 Queen Beds and a terrace view on the second floor in the West Tower.
- Great waterpark with thrilling slides for all age groups and several pools and beaches with plenty of lounge chairs and shade options. The rapids river is a ton of fun. (Not your typical lazy river). Younger kids (under 48”) can enjoy the mini-waterpark at Splashers pool.
- Resort provides 2 free bottles of water daily that you can pick up from any of the restaurants. There are also water bottle filling stations throughout the resort, but be aware this water isn’t filtered, so it taste like the tap water.
- Beaches are beautiful with lots of lounge chairs and most have shade canopies. The pools are equally as nice with plenty of seating. There are 6 beaches and 9 pools to choose from so you can enjoy a change of scenery each day.
- Atlantis has a plethora of food options from quick serve to fine dining throughout the resort with good variety, although they are quite expensive.
CONS
- Expensive! 12% VAT tax plus 15% gratuity added to all bills and the high price tag doesn’t necessarily equate to good food and service. For what they charge, food is mediocre at all the quick serve places and some of the fine dining options are hit or miss. Note: All restaurants are not open everyday.
- Waterpark doesn’t open until 10am and closes at 5pm including all the pools (stays open until 7pm in the summer months). Don’t expect to do any night swimming.
- The resort had water pressure issues one day and part of the waterpark was closed the entire day.
- If swim-up bars are your thing, there is only one located at the Coral pool, so not conveniently located.
- The resort is huge and spread out so it will take you about 10 minutes or more to get where you want to go each day. For this reason, don’t forget to pack your cooler and beach bag with everything you need for the day to avoid wasting your time heading back and forth from your room.
- Lack of nighttime activities for families. They do have a kids club, arcade room, and a “nightclub” but charge for these activities and they can be steep.
- Property is showing signs of aging and is in need of repairs and upgrades.
- No refrigerators in the rooms. You can pay $15 a day and they’ll provide one. The fridge that’s there is a mini-bar and it does have a small shelf where you can maybe store about 4 cans.
- They allow day passes to Atlantis so I think during more popular weeks you’ll encounter longer lines for the waterpark and towel/wristband huts. I read on TripAdvisor about people waiting up to 1 hour to ride a slide. Guests aren’t provided any privileges like early access to the waterpark or a separate priority line. We didn’t have any issues with wait times. Zero wait time for towels/wristbands and the most we ever waited to ride a slide was about 10 minutes, but the week we went seemed to be a slow week (January 25th-30th).
Tips & Tricks
- To keep cost down. Pack a cooler, Yeti cups to keep drinks cold, and snacks in your luggage.
- Have your taxi take you to a grocery store and liquor store before heading to the hotel to stock up on drinks and snacks. This helped us save a lot of money during our stay. Bring your own reusable bags to transport your groceries. Non-perishable items are best as there is only a mini-bar fridge in the room with very limited space.
- There are no bottle openers or wine openers in the room so pack your own. Also, keep in mind only cans are allowed around the pool areas. Bottles are fine on the beach.
- Book reservations in advance for the fine dining restaurants. I booked mine through OpenTable. Better than booking through the resort, because you aren’t subject to the same cancellation policy with exorbitant cancellation fees.
- Refer to the Daily Activities Sheet the resort supplies for a listing of restaurants that are open on a given day.
- The Marina Village is a great place to check out at night. On Saturday they had local vendors selling merchandise, had a Junkanoo parade and live music, but sadly, it is much sleepier during the week. They do have live music at Frankie Goes Bananas every night though.
- If you want to head into town, there is a free water taxi that takes you to things like Fish Fry that runs from 9am – 6pm.
- If you want a cheaper place to eat breakfast, there is a Dunkin Donuts just off the property. I also heard Anthony’s is another nearby option for cheaper food and drinks although we did not go to it.
- Don’t waste your time staying at the Cove. It is the newest of the buildings, but all you really get with your booking is a heftier price tag. If you want an adults only vacation try Sandals because children are everywhere around the resort. The “adults only” pool is just ok. It has tons of shade and hardly any sun. The beach by the Cove (Paradise Beach) is crowded with all the lounge chairs right on top of each other. That is because everyone is trying to enjoy the one patch of sun since the buildings shade most sections of the beach throughout the day.
- If you just want to check out the waterpark, you can always stay elsewhere and buy a day pass. You can look into the Grand Hyatt at Baha Mar.