Atlantis in Nassau, Bahamas

We wanted to spend time with my sister and her boyfriend, they had a trip planned to the Bahamas so we tagged along. The initial intent was to visit Pig Island / Pig Beach and although the weather didn’t allow for that to happen, we still had a fabulous time at the coveted Cove in Atlantis!

Atlantis Score Card: 6.9/10

• Transportation: 5/10 (There are roads but parking is tough, public transit is limited, so you’re somewhat forced to take taxis, boats, or walk around)
• Price: 6/10 (It’s a tourist town that services the southern US — prices weren’t cheap.)
• Safety: 8/10 (we felt safe just about everywhere along the way and didn’t see anything that would cause worry but we did hear of the locals that hustle selling experiential excursions on the beach being a little too friendly with the women)
• Food: 7/10 (The restaurants in Atlantis were nice and had a vast array of food but the prices were high).
• Culture: 6/10 (It’s a tourist town and little of the remaining culture still exists in Atlantis)
• History: 6/10 (We didn’t get a chance to learn about the history as Atlantis is mostly a tourist town)
• Excitement: 8/10 (There were a lot of excursion options available to feed your needs including snorkeling, diving, jet skis, boating, island hopping, and more)
• Awe Inspiring: 6/10 (We didn’t feel it was the most breathtaking experience as it’s a resort town)
• Technology Equipped: 7/10 (We had service most of the time if we paid for it.)
• Female Friendly: 6/10 (We didn’t see or hear anything but we were told by the hotel and taxi drive to avoid the men selling excursions at the beach, which was worrisome.)
• Solo Travel Recommended: 8/10 (If you stay in the resort you’ll be good to go. If you’re a guy you should be fine. I wouldn’t recommend women walking at night and/or drinking by themselves off the resort property)
• Language Barrier: 10/10 (Everyone spoke English)

BASICS

Official Name: Paradise Island, Bahamas
Timezone: UTC/GMT -4 hours (EST)
Currency: USD / Bahamian Dollars
Size: 1.1 mi²
Flag:

Where to go in Atlantis:

If you click on the four corner icon to the right you can open it up in a new window and click on the icons to read the information for each location (pricing, hours, important details) as well as download it or save it to your My Maps for Google to reference during your trip. But, this is a resort trip. Most of what you’ll do is at the resort 🙂

Where to Stay

We stayed at the Cove in Atlantis, wanted to see if it lived up to the hype. Luckily Brittni and Jason hooked it up with their member status and points (woo-hoo) so the cost was lower than it should have been.

There is a lazy river, epic water slide, adult and family friendly pools, beach, and it lives on an aquatic animal sanctuary (sharks, turtles, etc. that they are rehabilitating) all on the resort property along with a casino, a few restaurants, and spas. It’s important to note that you must have a resort bracelet to enter the outdoor areas but it’s easy to get a day pass if you’re not a resort guest for a small fee. A lot of cruise guests will do this for the day when they’re in port so although you’re staying there, not everyone else is, and you should watch your belongings.

The water isn’t safe to drink, stick to bottled water (they give you coupons to redeem everyday).

Overall the hotel cost didn’t seem worth the value. When we went the rooms at The Cove were going for $600 per night, other hotels on the other end of Atlantis were all-inclusive for $300 a night, and off of Atlantis (just in Nassau) they had hotels for $150-$200 a night. Seeing as the Cove isn’t all-inclusive, I would rather go Island hopping in the area on a nice boat than stay at the hotel because at the end of the day we each spent an extra $100 on food/drinks/activities.

Transportation

We flew then had to take a taxi over to the island. Since everything for the tourists is in one area and the island is small to begin with, a car would not have done us much good.

Restaurants

The locations in the resort and those along the tourist areas were both nice. I would say they were a little over priced for the quality but that’s what you get for dining on a popular small island!

Packing List for 3 nights in the Bahamas:

• DJI Mavik, accessories and charger
• DSLR, charger and lenses
• Travel Tripod
• GoPro, batteries, accessories and charger
• 2 laptops
• 2 backpacks, 1 duffel bag
• Toiletries: travel toothpaste, toothbrushes, contact solution, deodorant, comb, brush, hair tie (Jenni), shampoo & conditioner (Jenni), small makeup (Jenni)
• Sunglasses
• External battery, cellphone cords/cables
• Waterbottle
• Swimsuits
• Snorkel gear
• Wet suit (for Jen)
• casual dress (Jen), shorts, tanks, button down shirt (Rodney), flip flops, casual shoes, hat (Rodney), light coat

Atlantis Costs: $1770 for 4 days / 3 nights

• Flight: $300 each ($600 total)
• 1 Night in a hotel on Nassau $150
• Uber to/from SFO: $20 each way ($40 total)
• Taxi to/from Atlantis: $40 each way ($80 total)
• Dinner on Atlantis (in exchange for sharing the hotel with Brit/Jason): $300
• Other meals: $400
• Jet Skiing: $100 each ($200 total)

Itinerary

• THURSDAY (June 15)
  • Catch a Red Eye flight to Austin
• FRIDAY
  • Early morning flight from Austin to Houston
  • Flights from Houston to Nassau
  • Land in Nassau around 1pm
  • Catch a cab to our hotel
  • 2p Grab lunch
  • 3p Check into hotel then take a nap
  • 6p Freshen up
  • 7p Meet Brit & Jason nearby for dinner
  • 10p Go back and grab some sleep
•  SATURDAY
  • 11am Meet Brit & Jason at Atlantis
  • Noon Walk the sea animal sanctuary
    
  • 1p Move their belongings from the Tower to The Cove
  • 3p go hang by the pool and order lunch
  • 5pm go Jet skiing
    
  • 7pm Grab dinner on site
  • 9pm walk around the marina and grab ice cream at Ben & Jerry’s
• SUNDAY
  • 8am cry because the boats going to Pig Beach can’t go out because it’s too windy, try to figure out flights but those are all booked :'(
  • 10am hang by the pool, go on the lazy river, boys go on the water slides
    
  • 1pm grab lunch
  • 5pm walk around
  • 7pm dinner
  • 9pm gambling
• MONDAY (June 19)
  • 8am get some last minute snorkeling in on the beach, see a few turtles!
  • Afternoon flight from Nassau to Houston then Houston to SFO
  • Land in SFO that evening

If We Had to Do It Again

• Pre-booked a flight to Pig Beach (boats are so unpredictable due to the weather)
• Used our players card for gambling more (try to score a free room next time)
• Stay a night in Nassau then go island hopping (forego Atlantis all together as it’s hard to get to/from the airport and boating ports and not worth the extra cost)

Atlantis Hack

• If you visit Atlantis and you gamble be sure to use your players card, you’ll get discounted / free rooms for your next stay
• If you want to visit for free, if you have a large chuck of cash you can have them hold prior to your arrival for ‘the intent of gambling’, they’ll significantly reduce / comp your room.
  • We didn’t do this but met a few people there that do