Atlantis Bahamas -My Review (Atlantis Resort and Casino)

Member Name: dipity407

Product:	Atlantis Resort and Casino
Date:	29/07/09 (50 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: something for everyone!

Disadvantages: rather expensive

I really cannot believe the negative reviews about the Atlantis!did you people actually stay here?ok i joke but seriously what more can anyone possibly want from a hotel!My husband and I spent two weeks here and had an incredible time, and believe me im a difficult one to please!

Ok it is a BIG resort but it is part of the Kerzner group, and it is 'themed' on the lost city of Atlntis in case you hadn't guessed! and yes it attracts a lot of Americans with it being only a short trip over from Florida but anyone doing their research would know this before they arrived.
It is a family orientated resort too, if you want a quiet romantic trip, peace and quiet and culture and arichtecture then erm dont go to the Bahamas?! or stay at the 'One and Only' resort down the road (feature in the recent casino royale) where its catered towards adults only.

We were hit with bad weather when we arrived, but i'll be honest the hotel is so big we barely noticed! There is........
so many bars and restaurants we didnt get around them in in 2 weeks! There is a shopping mall, with designer stores such as gucci, versace, jewellry shops such a bulgari, one selling tiffany and co far cheaper than in the uk, a cigar shop, lalique, the obligitory souviner shop too of course! There is the casino which serves free cocktails if your playing, a nightclub called 'Hurricanes' is situated in the casino too for after hours and Nobu and a great sports bar/ restaurant called Atlas which was great and showed all the major sporting events (including those from the uk boys and they sold guiness hubby was rather pleased)
There was the Aquariam with the underwater viewing tunnel, one of the largest in the world i believe? you could get a proper tour with a guide which was interesting and you got to feed to manta rays, turtles (which was a highlight for me) and watch them feed the sharks. there is a cinema, a comedy club, pottery making! (yup seriously) and a fantastic lazy river ride, which we both enjoyed. Several fantastic pools and slides including the Mayan temple slide, based on yup the mayan temple...if you would rather see the real mayan temple, then ummm maybe dont come to bahamas to see it!Theres a gym, a health spa, a library (yes a library) which you join for your duration and also has computers for those of you who want to facebook (or work yawn). They have a club called 'Discovery' for kids, and an evening disco for them too which includes computer games, movies etc and they even have a babysitting service...phew i think ive covered it al!
They have a private beach and also a manmade beach where you learn several watersports, ok that is expensive but at least you know your being taught by professionals, there is also swimming with dolphins which wasnt ready when we left but i'd loved to of done, but I believe that was rather expensive too.

We found we had best of both worlds really we could chill by the pool, you can get a massage while your there too, or we went out to Nassau, took boat rides , you can play a game of tennis if you want to (not for me in that heat thanks) a great choice of bars like i said outdoors and indoors and such a fabulous choice of restaurants there is definitly something to suit everyone. Our particular favourite was the Seafire steakhouse and 'The Cafe at the great hall of Waters' you sat and had a meal next to a huge glass wall which you looked throught to the aqauriam that was stunning, it did put me off my tuna steak though.....Try the Bahma Mama cocktail too..delicious!

Ok so as it is a big resort it attracts families! we were alone though and we didnt mind in slightest, and we didnt have our little one then.
Yes it is also really expensive! we went prepared though, it isnt somewhere to go to scrimp im afraid i paid $12 for a large glass of wine but if you went off the resort to the little bars and restaurants it is far cheaper, but we were on honeymoon and were prepared but id imagine itd be very expensive for a family of four!
There is a Harbourside which is just lovely in the evening, its where the privtae apartments are, and has several lively bars and restaurant and its nice to have a cocktail and look at some of the amazing yachts that dock there. There is also a starbucks and a hagan daz as well as more stores.

Basically Atlantis is split into several 'levels' the royal tower is the pic you see in all the brochures...and its the most expensive, then there is the Beach tower (the cheapest) and the Coral tower they look NOTHING like the Royal towers but again you'll know this if you look into before you go, they look fine from the outside a 'coral' coloured version of the RIU right next door actually...we stayed in the Coral tower a middling price.
The rooms were pretty standard, large double bed, tv table and chairs reasonable sized bathroom but the view was incredible (in the first room more of that later) we overlooked the ocean and below our room was pool, with sharks.

The staff do not exactly have a great deal of urgency i will agree with anyone who says that. We had a flood in our room and complained, they said they'd send up the 'super' half an hr later we rang again, he's on his way...ok, he didnt show! so we rang back as we had dinner reservations (TIP: as the hotel is so big you must reserve your table for dinner the day before preferably earlier if your a big family, if you dont show your charged $50!!) and the reception said they would sort it..when we arrived back they still hadnt fixed it and the smell was awful!
We complained and got moved to a bigger suite, but the view wasnt a s good it still overlooked the Royal towers and pools i guess, but even so we complained and we had $400 added onto our room account so i thought that was a nice gesture.
I didnt have a problem with any of the waiting staff or the bar staff though, they were great especially considering how busy they got, but reception staff definitly needs work!

Atlantis is also fab for celeb spotting, my husband met a rapper whose name i wont pretend to know, footballers oh and yes the one and only Arnie!!yes Arnie!! his family checked out of the Royal Towers which has one of the most expensive hotel rooms in the world,(which im guessing he stayed in) on the day we arrived, some of the tourists we're saying he was really lovely too! and people if its good enough for Arnie......

Summary: If your a family and have the money to splash out go here!something for you and your little ones!