Atlantis Hotel

[Scuba]

Leaving on 2-19-05 Carnival Glory. ship is in port(Nassau) from 8:30AM to 2:00PM. Do I have enough time to see the Hotel Atlantis, just to walk through it with my kids to see the Fish, and Hotel ? Can you use the Hotel Pool? Also, can I do this myself, or a Ships Excursion?

[coachk34]

You will have plenty of time and will have no problem doing it on your own. The cheapest way to get over there is to ride a boat, when you get to the end of the pier go to your right and you will see boats lined up. Very easy and cheap.

 

However you will not be able to use the pools at Atlantis without paying a fee. Which I think is around $20 pp. Hope that helps.

[Host CJSKIDS]

You won't be able to walk around outside of the hotel. You can walk inside and through the casino. It's $25 to walk through the dig and this is only for the dig. The only way to use the pool and slides is to be a guest at either The ATlantis or the Comfort Suites or by booking a day room at the Atlantis and this costs a lot more than $20. They're very strict about checking for the wrist bands to even walk around and see the pool area let alone use it.

[shirleygr]

We were just at the Atlantis on our Majesty of the Seas cruise (1/7). We took a taxi, it was $4 pp plus tip, and they dropped us off at the front door. We walked around the inside, looked at the shops and casino, and could see quite a bit of the aquarium that is open to the public. To get into the aquarium and "Dig" is now $29 for adults and $21 for children. There was a guard at the entrance, so we didn't even try to get in. We also walked around a little bit outside, but you can't get near the pools, etc. There were security people everywhere. I think we only spent about an hour there and then we walked back to the bridge and took a water taxi back to the ship.

[coachk34]

you can walk around and see plenty inside and outside of the hotel, but you can't get close to the pools. I would still suggest you go and see it all, it is ver beautiful. If you are able to get over there real early you may be able to get into "the dig" befor the security guards go on duty.

[Amanda Holden]

Can you see the Atlantis Hotel from the Ship?

[coachk34]

Yes you can see the hotel in the distance from the ship.

[gonzo123]

I don't know about your cruise line, but Royal Caribbean has a shore excursion to the Atlantis which includes a 30 minute harbor cruise to the Paradise Island Ferry Terminal. From there you go to a reserved area of the beach at the Atlantis where you get a chair and towel and a meal coupon for lunch at the Dive In snack bar. You also get to walk around their waterscape. The Dig and all pool slides and water attractions ARE NOT included. Royal Caribbean's shore excursion costs $76 per adult.

 

The only way to get FULL access to their unbelievably awesome property is to rent a room. I did that a few years ago and rented the cheapest room I could in the Beach Towers section just to (a) get the wrist bands for total access, and (b) to have a place to shower and change before getting back on my cruise ship. This idea works well for people whose cruise ship docks early in the morning and departs very late that night. You can check-in at the Atlantis early and get your wristbands ASAP even if you can't gain access to your room until noon (or whenever check-in is). As of today's date, the Comfort Suites on Atlantis offers its guests full access to all the attractions at Atlantis. Rooms here with tax run about $270. I believe you can have 4 adults in each room which means you get your 4 wristbands for Atlantis. This solution is cheaper than RCCL's excursion plus you get more.

 

I am quite sure the Atlantis doesn't want to annoy its paying guests by allowing hoards of cruise ship passengers to descend upon their property creating crowds and long lines at the pools. I can't blame them.

 

Even if you don't have time to book a room and swim, be sure to see if your cruise line offers some kind of an excursion to the Atlantis. It's worth seeing.

 

Happy cruising!

[jskcak]

2 questions (1) is it quicker to take a cab or a ferry to Atlantis (actually Comfort Suites, I have booked for the day) from the ship and (2) is there time to do this if only docked 8am-2pm? thanks!

[queen_kathy1]

Leaving on 2-19-05 Carnival Glory. ship is in port(Nassau) from 8:30AM to 2:00PM. Do I have enough time to see the Hotel Atlantis, just to walk through it with my kids to see the Fish, and Hotel ? Can you use the Hotel Pool? Also, can I do this myself, or a Ships Excursion?

 

We were in port in Nassau from 7am-12pm. You can read about our experience at Atlantis here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=108416

 

We managed to get in for free - we were lucky. It never hurts to try what we did, and if you get stopped - then choose either to pay the admission to the Dig if you want to see the aquarium, otherwise just stay within the hotel or leave. It costs little to make your way over to Atlantis to check out at least part of the hotel. Atlantis is also a short walk away from many nice shops & restaurants there on Paradise Island - so your visit to the area of Atlantis would not be for nothing.

 

If you actually want to swim and use the waterslides at Atlantis, you need to read on these boards about getting a day room at either Atlantis or the Comfort Suites.

[shirleygr]

2 questions (1) is it quicker to take a cab or a ferry to Atlantis (actually Comfort Suites, I have booked for the day) from the ship and (2) is there time to do this if only docked 8am-2pm? thanks!

 

 

It is definitely quicker to take a cab. The water taxi will wait until it is full to leave. I'm not sure it will be worth it to use comfort stes if you are only in port for 6 hours. You probably won't be able to get off the ship until about 8:30 and you need to be back on the ship by 1:30. When you add in the travel time back and forth, and the check in time at the CS, you might end up with about 4 hours total, probably more like 3.5 hours.

If I were in your position, I would save a stay at CS until I had a full day in Nassau and just go walk around Atlantis on this short stay. Have fun whatever you decide!

[fozziscooter]

We will be in Nassau off of the Glory on March 28th from 7am to 2pm. I really really really have always wanted to go to the Atlantis not just for the tour and stuff, but to actually use all of the pool facilites and beach. I tried booking a room online through both the Atlantis and Comfort Suites for either the 27th or 28th and I believe it is booked. I have seen that someone posted something about a day room?? which I have seen referenced in different posts. Does anyone know if you can get a day pass to either of these hotels and how I go about doing that? I Need help!!! We really want to do this! Also what kind of excursions do they have at the Atlantis, like water type things. Do they have parasailing?

[lmkoz]

To answer the last poster's questions. The Comfort Suites absolutely does NOT have day rooms. We booked a room for the night and they told me in no uncertain terms when we checked in that they do not offer day rooms. I cannot comment on Atlantis. We found that booking the room through Comfort Suites was well worth it (however we had the entire day to take advantage). This was definitely the highlight of our trip. We used the waterslides, swam in the pool, went on the wave runners, sunned ourselves by the lagoon, walked through the dig and hotel and contemplated having dinner there but realized we were crazy to spend the money when a "free" meal was awaiting us on the cruise :) As far as other activities, other than the wave runners (which were a blast by the way and cost 60USD for half an hour), they had parasailing -45USD pp for 10 minutes. They also had kayaks but you could only use them in a restricted area in the lagoon - seemed kind of boring. We didn't check the price on that. You could also snorkel in the lagoon and they had some other water toys that I didn't get a great look at - something that looked like a trampoline and another thing that looked like a kayak with pedals. Hope that helps. Let me know if you'd like more information.

[peteypie]

Thanks for all the great info!! Any idea what the cab fare is to the Comfort Suites? Is the Atlantis Resort a short walk from the Comfort Suites hotel? Also, do the Atlantis bars and restaurants take cash -- or will I need to use my credit card?

[fozziscooter]

Since it seems that both the Atlantis and Comfort Suites are booked, how would we be able to gain access to all the fun stuff? I guess our only choice is to see if the Atlantis does the day room thing.

[scubagirrl]

Since it seems that both the Atlantis and Comfort Suites are booked, how would we be able to gain access to all the fun stuff? I guess our only choice is to see if the Atlantis does the day room thing.

 

I wouldn't get my hopes up that a dayroom would be available. They are not normally available when the hotel is near capacity. If both Atlantis and Comfort Suites are booked, then they ARE at capacity.

Of course, it doesn't hurt to ask.

[fozziscooter]

So basically it is a no go, if no day room or no booked hotel then no fun at the Atlantis:(

[lmkoz]

You could still do the ship's excursion if your cruise offers one - I saw people from our ship wandering around in "protected" areas. They just came in from the beach area into the pool area and didn't seem to have a problem. We saw security but mostly inside the building and at the entrances. I saw no security at all at the water slides - now I don't know if the "lifeguards" at the water slides play any sort of security role but I suppose you could always play dumb. And the pools didn't seem to be guarded in any way. It's risky and I think it would be much safer to book a room if you can but if you have no options and really want to go..... The other thing you may want to do is try to find other people on your ship that have a room booked and split the cost - comfort suites will give you 4 bracelets per room. We would have been happy to do this since we only used the room to store our bags anyway.

 

As far as the cab ride - $4pp plus $1 "bridge tax" to cross the bridge (you don't have to pay the bridge tax to come back) Comfort Suites is about a 2-3 minute walk from Atlantis' entrance but the Atlantis property is quite big so end to end would probably take 5 or 6 minutes.

[lmkoz]

One other thing - did you look for rooms at CS and Atlantis through the various websites i.e. expedia, hotels.com??? Sometimes they will have rooms available even if a hotel tells you they're sold out

[fozziscooter]

I did check on Expedia for both March 27th and March 28th, and didn't find anything:( Thanks for the sugguestion though.

[lmkoz]

I would keep checking if I were you - often people cancel within whatever cancellation time frame is applicable. If that fails, go to the hotel the day you arrive and see what they have available. If you can't get a room, you can still see a lot of neat things at Atlantis, have lunch etc. Good luck! Keep us posted on how it goes

[GaMomBB]

Be sure to call Comfort Suites directly... NOT reservations. I was told from reservations they were sold out for my day but I called the front desk and there were still rooms.:) This is for Spring Break too! Good luck.