Ashokkumar Amratlal Patel
I have to say I'm glad I didn't read Shawn's review before I went last week. With that said, some of what he said is true but I think there must have been a series of misfortunate events during his stay for his awful experience. Overall, we enjoyed our trip. We did have a few hiccups with our room key card but nothing major. Our goal was to do a quick getaway for my daughter's birthday to get some sun and enjoy the water park. It's not St. Regis luxury but decent and a little dated. Think of it as going to Disney where you see all sorts of people. We booked our flights with AA points and used our 3 free nights with my Caesars Diamond status that I matched in Atlantic City.
Airport Transfer:
We booked Sandra's taxi for our airport transfers online before we arrived. Highly recommend them. They were prompt and very friendly. The cost for 2 adults/1 child with booster seat (including all tolls) was $95 roundtrip. www.sandrastaxibahamas.com
Check in/Room:
There was no acknowledgement of my Bonvoy Ambassador status. I asked if there was any suites available for an upgrade; The front desk agent said no because they have a big convention group arriving. The agent was not friendly but not rude either. Very mechanical. I like to describe it as "island mentality"; they are not going to go out of their way and a "I'll get to it when I can" attitude. We got our key cards and went to our room in the Royal West Towers 11th floor. It was a little hike to the room from the front desk (7-10min walk).
The Good: Bed was comfortable. They gave us a complementary roll away for my daughter. We got 4 coupons for water (2 bottles/coupon). Close to the Adventure water park activities and the Dolphin Caye.
The Bad: Room was dated; reminded me of the old Dolphin/Swan rooms (before recent renovations) at Disney. The key cards suck. On arrival when we got to our room, our keys did not work. I called from the house phone by the elevators and they said security would be up in 30min, so I just walked (10min) back down to the front desk for new keys. Then several times when we tried to use our keys at the pool/resturants,etc, it would fail. You NEED a room key for towels, water park wristbands or charging food back to your room. This was one thing that was very annoying for us but most of the staff were apologetic and dealt with it by talking to a supervisor in their area. They are aware of this issue and said that the hotel is planning on updating the key card system by next year.
Water parks:
We had a blast and visited the multiple pools the resort has. The lazy river and the water slides were so much fun.
The Good: Hang out by the pool near the Breakwater Grill by Coral Beach; less traffic from the cruise ship folks or people staying at the neighboring hotels that come to use the AquaVenture water park. We did not see any algae in the lazy river/slides during our stay.
The Bad: It's tricky to find places where you can get your wristband/towels but every section has one. Related to Shawn's comment about people leaving piles of towels, there were a lot of towel return bins near the pools, but it was inconsistent if they placed any by the entrance or walkways near your hotel tower. The towel bins near our tower entrance there 2 of the 3 days. I don't think they are replacing them right away if one gets full, etc. Our first day was cold so we kept our pool towels wrap around us; there was no place to drop them off near the entrance of our tower so we took them to our room. We did see some towels left by the front desk near the elevators in our tower; I blame this tourists with no etiquette.
Dolphin Caye:
We did kayaking with the dolphin's. It was fun for our daughter. If you or your kids are up for a more closer encounter with them, then I would recommend the sunrise with the dolphins or snorkeling with them. If you sign up for any activity at the Caye, then you can hang out at their "beach" for the rest of that day to see the dolphins' swim around (can't get back into the water with them).
Food:
We did the breakfast buffet at the Royal Tower ($30/adult and $15/child) and also the Cove ($31/adult and $16/child). The Royal buffet had a few more selections than the Cove. Staff was very nice and friendly. We ate at Olives, Chopstix, and Nobu. All of them were good but pricey. We did Chopstix for Chinese new year and if you have a birthday, you get a full blown Junkanoo band playing for you! Pro Tip: say its someone's birthday from your group to get a free show! All restaurants/food services add 15% gratuity automatically to your bill; again this is due to a lot of outside people coming to the resort establishments and not paying their bills per my conversation with our waiter. Make sure to get some delish ice cream at the Sun and Ice in the Coral Tower lobby.
Aquariums:
The fish wild life was impressive. Our daughter loved it. The predator tunnel was cool to walk through and see all the sharks up close, but the glass was a dirty on the waterside. The hammer heads were best seen from the path to the rope bridge near the Coral Tower pool. In the Dig area, we got to touch a starfish and conch. The first day we went there, the touch exhibit was closed, but when we asked one of the staff, he was nice enough to open it for my daughter. We did see scuba divers chalking the glass wall in the lobby aquarium.
Casino:
Small and a little smoky for my taste. I didn't like that we had to walk through it with my 7yr daughter to get to some of the restaurants. My key card didn't work when I tried to play a little video porker so I got an Atlantis Players card that came preloaded with $100 free play. (Note: I don't know if you have to do any casino time if you are using your Caesars 3 free night deal. I've seen mixed data points. I only gambled the free play on the first night and once again on my last night using my $100. I did not play anything on the second night.)
Recommendation:
Besides that key card issues, we enjoyed our quick getaway. Would I go there again? Sure, using the free nights from Caesars but with the mindset that you are going to a Disney like water park with the kids. Would I go there alone with my wife? Probably not to Atlantis but maybe to the Baha Mar. If you really want to stay (using cash/Bonvoy points) at the Atlantis, then I would recommend staying at Cove. It seems very modern/chic and staff properly trained in customer service. I believe the quality of the service at the Atlantis will not change due to high number of cruise ships that patron the Atlantis facilities. On Friday and Saturday, we saw at least 9 ships docked from my room. With most of the staff having an "island mentality", if you go with very high expectations, you WILL be disappointed. It is not the Ritz or St. Regis level luxury. The property is due for renovations so hopefully that will happen in the next year or so. If you have kids or act like a kid, then it is definitely worth it.
