Is staying at the Atlantis Bahamas on Paradise Island really overrated?

I was told that staying at the Atlantis Bahamas was overrated at least a handful of times when I mentioned to people I was going to Nassau. But I remember dreaming about the Atlantis Bahamas since I first saw it in travel photos. I think the towering pink arched building is one of the most memorable places I’ve ever seen on Instagram. So for our 4 night stay in the Bahamas I was pretty determined we would stay at the Atlantis for at least part of our trip so I could see it up close and I was worried that we wouldn’t have enough time. We were also invited to stay at the British Colonial Nassau so I ended up booking two nights at the Coral at the Atlantis (the resort is made up of a few different properties including the Royal, The Coral and the Cove) using Expedia which gave us some food credit included in our rate. We were only in the Bahamas for a short trip, and in the end this combination of two nights in each spot actually made us feel like we took a way longer trip and we also felt like we got to know Nassau a lot more than if we just stayed in one place. And we thoroughly enjoyed our time at the Atlantis Bahamas too. I think it helped that we had expectations that it would be more of a Disneyland/destination resort type place and it ended up being really fun.

We visited Atlantis Bahamas over President’s Day weekend

We booked fairly last minute-maybe two weeks before we were going to visit-because these days we never get a lot of notice if our teens have school or sports events. We didn’t have a lot of choice of hotels in the area and I think it was because it was a holiday weekend. Everything seemed very booked up and the rates were much higher than days before and after the time when we were there. But the Coral Atlantis Bahamas was available through Expedia and had resort credit included that we could use for food and activities. So I think it helps to check both the resort’s actual website and other websites like Expedia or Booking to find the best rates. I wasn’t sure how the waterpark worked but I booked our room and hotel because it was the only one on the Expedia website at the time that said it included the water park but I think all of the Atlantis resorts ended up including the waterpark (I’m still not quite sure so make sure you phone or email to ask. It’s pretty spendy if it’s not included and if you aren’t staying at the resort you can also pay to spend the day at the waterpark too) And nowadays rooms aren’t as important for our travel, our teens can pretty much sleep anywhere but we ended up in a decent-sized room in a convenient location and we could see little turtles swimming from our balcony and the beautiful pink Royal Atlantis building from our window. On the Atlantis website the Coral also has some Barbie theme rooms now too (again not a big deal for my guys but I would love to see them in person). I wonder how long these will be around.

The waterpark was our favorite part of the Atlantis Bahamas

The beach where we would usually spend a lot of our time was a little windy with rough waves when we visited-there was some sort of storm in the area and the beach was even closed for a little bit. But we ended up making a lot more use of the waterpark than I thought we would and I think two days was enough time at the waterpark. The guys convinced me to try a few slides and the one that went slowly through a tunnel in a shark tank was the coolest waterslide ever. I didn’t really enjoy a fast slide we went on that ended in an area full of rapids. But I’m glad that I tried and our whole family went together so it made it really fun. It is really difficult sometimes to create good family time with teenagers so this kind of thing was perfect. We also liked exploring the resort, wandering through the giant free aquarium, swimming in the lagoon and we spotted some beautiful Chihuly glass art in the casino area of the hotel as well.

Was food expensive at the Atlantis Bahamas?

We live in Seattle, a place known to have expensive food prices right now, so nothing felt too out of the ordinary at the Atlantis Bahamas resort. Some of the restaurants feel like entertainment too. The Shake Shack at Atlantis Bahamas is almost a destination in itself. You can see for yourself in this video. We found really delicious pizza at Marina Pizzeria and we just ordered one big pizza and salad to share for our family. We also ate at Bimini Road and there was a parade in front of the restaurant the night we went and that was really fun too.

We had fancy drinks at the Dilly Club and sat outside and people watched. We also couldn’t get any reservations anywhere one night (reservations are really important if you want to go to specific restaurants, it’s kind of like Disney where some restaurants book out far in advance) and ended up at a burger place called Village Burger Shack last minute and the burgers there were good. We liked the coffee at the Dilly Club (in the morning it’s a coffee shop and at night it was a cocktail place) and we would have gone back to Shake Shack again for their local specialty items if we had more time. We got ice cream more than once at Sun and Ice because they had local flavors and they were fun to try.

Were two nights enough at the Atlantis Bahamas?

If we stayed longer than two nights at this resort we probably would have headed out for some snorkeling excursions or trips to neighboring islands. Because so much of the benefit of being at Atlantis Bahamas is the entertainment at the resort I might consider looking at alternate hotels that might be more of just sleeping places if I’m out on an excursion all day to help reduce cost. Sometimes though there are also discounts for multiple nights stays as well and I would look into this if I had a longer trip in this area too.

PS We spotted Starbucks a few times in Nassau and at the Atlantis Resort but found out this is one place in the world that you cannot use your Starbucks card. (always ask and check- these things change often. We also found we couldn’t use our Starbucks card in Germany.)

(PPS. we booked our trip because of the Seattle to Nassau non-stop flight and I have a list here of non-stop flights from Seattle that we’ve tried.)

Terumi

Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys.  She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live.  She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)