Excursion savings.

Planning a trip in the Bahamas.

Excursion to Atlantis seems to be out of our price range through the cruise line.

I read that if we booked a hotel in Nassau that had full access to Atlantis, it might be cheaper than getting a day pass through the cruise lines.

My wife is worried that, as part of the cruise, we will have wristbands that are made to stay on while we are on land, and if so, if we try to check into the hotel they will notice that and, per their arrangement with the cruiselines, deny our reservation.

Anyone have experience with this?:confused:

You do NOT need those wristbands! Yikes...a big tan line, there! Take it off...you don't need them! You WILL have your seapass!

And, Comfort Inns (the sister property to Atlantis) doesn't care if you're from a ship...75% of the folks will be ship people! That said...do you really need Atlantis for a beach day? Whether you book directly or thru the ship, it's still pretty damn expensive!

Thanks cb at sea. It IS still expensive.

I also found that Atlantis will let you buy directly too. It turns out to be a little cheaper than Comfort Inn room (once you add VAT and local tax and then gratuity per person).

The option of buying through Atlantis direct seems to cost about $110 per person (I think it's $120/person over 12 and $90 under 12 . That adds a chunk of money to our vacation for a 5 +- hour excursion. It might be our only excursion though.

Will still have to get there and back, but reading this and other boards it seems like a taxi is not too bad.

You do NOT need those wristbands! Yikes...a big tan line, there! Take it off...you don't need them! You WILL have your seapass!

 

And, Comfort Inns (the sister property to Atlantis) doesn't care if you're from a ship...75% of the folks will be ship people! That said...do you really need Atlantis for a beach day? Whether you book directly or thru the ship, it's still pretty damn expensive!

Please keep in mind that some people (unlike you, who seemingly refuses to spend an extra nickel for anything on a cruise) are willing to spend some money for an experience they want to have even if it is "damn expensive". They are on vacation and want to make the most of it. Also, for some people, money is not a concern.

With all do respect, those folks probably do not post on this topic.

With all do respect, those folks probably do not post on this topic.

hahaha i was thinking the same thing that people who are not concerned with money are generally not worried about saving a few nickels

However, to agree with them some people find it worth paying extra for an excursion they really want to do

Anything that resembles a 'resort' costs and it matters little if it's a cruise ship, a beach, a hotel or whatever. Even the hi rollers pay attention to cost. You pay what you need to pay to get a certain product but it sure is easy to get tricked into paying more than you needed to. People often get branded as being cheap because they do some price researching. I certainly do my research and I'm not cheap. Bottom line is that no one wants to hear that someone else got exactly what you got but for considerably less money. If everyone got the same price for the exact same 'product' and under the exact same circumstances then that's what it costs. But until they do be 'thrifty' (better adjective than cheap) and ask questions.

We have been to Atlantis twice on cruises and both times we went on our own and saved quite a bit of money. The cruise excursion usually includes transportation and lunch, but the taxi is not too bad to do on your own (you'll be in a van with other people), and you can eat light while you're there.

The first time we got a room directly at Atlantis and that was a great deal. We have three kids, but one was under 4 so she didn't count towards the capacity limit of 4. The five of us got a whole day at Atlantis for what I think at the time was around $400 (not including taxi & lunch) versus the $750 the cruise line was charging.

The second time we got rooms at Comfort Inn since we were traveling with another family of five and all of the kids were over 4. We saved about $100 per family doing it this way and although we all agreed it was a huge splurge, it was well worth it. We all had a great time exploring the aquarium and of course having fun on the water slides and in the pools. This time we ended our day with some time at the beach in what I think is the warmest ocean water I've ever been in. Beautiful beach. Not sure if you can access it without some sort of pass -- I wouldn't go through all of that (getting rooms at Comfort Inn) just for the Atlantis beach, but if you would like to take advantage of the resort's other amenities, then it might be worth it.

Only you know what is worth the money to you, but like another poster said, there is certainly no shame in doing the research to save some money so you can either 1) spend it somewhere else, or 2) afford to do it at all.