Earlier this month, my family spent seven days at the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas. All in all, it was an amazing vacation. I found myself not wanting to leave. The pros definitely outweighed the cons on this trip and I can't wait to tell you all about it.
While we were away, I received a lot of questions about the resort, so I wanted to share our experience with you. Before that, I want to mention that Atlantis has always been on our radar but we didn't go for two reasons. My husband likes HOT weather when we travel. He wants it to be 85+. In our research we saw Bahamas hot season was similar to ours, the summer. Typically, I like to visit tropical locations when it's freezing cold at home and I my body needs to Vitamin D and Sea. Another reason we hesitated on an Atlantis vacation was because we often heard from friends and family who had gone before, that the resorts gets WAY overcrowded when cruise ships dock and the passengers get an Atlantis day pass. We have been working with a travel agent for over 5 years now and she knows us well. She knows what has held us back in the past and quickly made the Atlantis suggestion in the post covid world. Cruise ships weren't sailing until July, so she recommended a June trip, once the boys were done school but before the crowds. We took her up on that deal.
There are multiple towers at the resort including The Royal, Coral, Reef, Cove, and Harborside. The Royal Towers are the iconic towers you have probably seen before in advertising and social media. Our family stopped to capture this photo in front of the Royal Towers.
We decided to stay in the Reef because this tower offers suites that are perfect for families. We had two rooms and a full living room and kitchen. Although the Reef is the furthest from the action, in terms of pools, food, shopping and night life.....it was perfect for us.
Let's talk about some pros:
1. Less people were at the resort because of COVID capacity restrictions. The resort still felt a bit crowded in some areas including the kids splasher's pool, so I can only imagine if they were at full capacity that would be really tough. Also, less people because the cruise ships weren't docking.
2. The food. I really enjoyed the food. Atlantis is NOT all inclusive so you pay for each meal. There are meal plans but we decided to pay per meal and not do a plan. Lunches cost us on average $55 for a family of 4. Dinners cost between $150 and $350 for a family of four. We've been to many all inclusive resorts over the years and I have to say, Atlantis' food was WAY better. It didn't taste like that mass produced buffet food you get at all inclusive restaurants.
3. There were a lot of kids activities. We bounced between pools, slides and the beach every day. No shortage of fun for the kids.
4. We loved the marine life at the resort. Every day we got to see sharks, turtles, sting rays and dolphins just by walking through the resort.
5. The shuttle was a huge plus. All we had to do was walk out the front door of the Reef Tower and we could grab a shuttle to any other of the other towers. The ride was no more than 10 minutes and came in handy when we had tired legs at the end of the day.
6. Having a kitchen in the room was awesome. We were able to grab some breakfast staples from a local grocery store the first day we arrived and then each morning we cooked breakfast in the room. I loved the lazy mornings we had in our room before heading out for fun in the sun. It also helped us save some money by cooking one meal a day ourselves.
7. The beach was beautiful. Water was so clear we were able to see fish swimming along with us.
Some areas that need improvement:
1. I wouldn't give them 5 stars for customer service. If I were to compare the customer service to an all-inclusive type resort I would say Atlantis is really lacking in that area. Staff is not as welcoming and responsive as we have experience at other resorts in the past.
2. It took us all of our 7 days to find our way around. My husband will tell you he still doesn't know his way around the place. They did give us a map during check in but a tour by foot the first day would have saved us a lot of time and helped us understand the resort's layout.
3. Not all of the restaurants were open since capacity was down. Many of those that were open required reservations days in advance.
4. My husband wanted to do one excursion and one excursion only: swimming with the pigs. But reservations were required at least a week in advance and we did not know that. We will have to put that on the bucket list for next time.
5. I wish we could see each of the pool bar menus. After a couple days we realized each pool bar had different lunch options, some we liked better than others. Instead of walking 15-20 min to each location to see their menu, I would have liked to have somewhere to view the menus in one place and then decide which we wanted to go to that day.
Unfortunately, I can't speak much on the casino, which I know is a huge part of the resort. As you know, my husband and I are both in recovery so we don't drink and we VERY RARELY gamble. We did walk through the casino a hand full of times to get to the stores or restaurants and the casino was always jumping.
Another adventure worth mentioning is Johnny's Mermaid Experience. If you know Johnny, you know he was so excited to meet a real mermaid and swim with her. The kids club seemed a bit unorganized at drop off but he had a great experience and made memories that will last a life time.
Last but not least I want to tell you about the water slides. Matthew and I had so much fun. If we go back, I will wait till Johnny is a little older so he can join us on the slides too. Check out Matthew and I on the challenger.
I'm sure I've forgotten some things so please ask questions in the comments! I'll be happy to answer what I can. If you are considering going to Atlantis, I definitely recommend going!