Atlantis Excursion

[din2play2]

Just booked Gem in April 2015. Can't Wait!!! Was wondering if anyone had done the excursion to Atlantis and if we should book it also or if we should go there on our own. I like to plan ahead - way ahead...lol

[GrabMyWrist]

We did the Dolphin Excursion and it was a blast! Prepare yourself for total chaos at the port though. Nobody seems to be able to figure out how to move 5,000 people through a small gate.

[victoriasmommy]

Is it at a school break time in April?

 

basically if its not off season I would book - Atlantis can can full pretty quick

esp the Dolphin options.

[tumblew467]

Hi, on the bahamas board a while ago i found this review and kept it to refer back to. he did a good job summoning it all up.

The members name is Rsato and it was titled My Experience at Atlantis.

here is the link but just in case it doesn't work i gave you the title.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2025967

 

liz

[chrisaf]

Not sure what specific excursion you are interested in doing but if you are talking about the water park, here is my opinion. We have been several times and have always done it on our own. We get off the ship - take a taxi over and go to the desk in Atlantis and buy day passes to the water park. By doing it as a ships excursion, you have to get off, wait for everyone to show up, walk and then load onto a bus - drive to Atlantis and unload from the bus and then that busload goes into the park. By doing it on your own, you are already over at the park well before the busses of excursions start arriving. We just did it again a couple of weeks ago and had already gotten our locker, picked out our beach chairs, ridden the rapid river (a long ride) and one of the slides before our friends on the excursion showed up. Also, by the time they showed up, the lines for lockers was a 30 minute wait. We actually paid less in price doing it ourselves this way than they did on the ship excursion.

[BullyLvr]

Besides beating the bus, another reason to do on your own is in case the weather is crappy. After we got there by taxi, my friend and I decided not to do the water park day pass as it was rainy, cloudy and gloomy with storms in the area. We were so disappointed but at least we didn't spend the money for a crappy day. Just enjoyed the aquarium and resort then hit the shops along the alleyways for knock off bags!!

[Lilystar]

Not sure what specific excursion you are interested in doing but if you are talking about the water park, here is my opinion. We have been several times and have always done it on our own. We get off the ship - take a taxi over and go to the desk in Atlantis and buy day passes to the water park. By doing it as a ships excursion, you have to get off, wait for everyone to show up, walk and then load onto a bus - drive to Atlantis and unload from the bus and then that busload goes into the park. By doing it on your own, you are already over at the park well before the busses of excursions start arriving. We just did it again a couple of weeks ago and had already gotten our locker, picked out our beach chairs, ridden the rapid river (a long ride) and one of the slides before our friends on the excursion showed up. Also, by the time they showed up, the lines for lockers was a 30 minute wait. We actually paid less in price doing it ourselves this way than they did on the ship excursion.

 

Putting in my vote for doing it on your own as well. It's not scary in the Bahamas port to attempt stuff on your own. It's quite easy. As soon as you walk into the welcome building at the port of Nassau, simply tell the 4,000 cab drivers waiting that you'd like to go to Atlantis. They charged us $4 per person one way to Atlantis in a little van (they filled the rest with others from our ship on the spot.) Gave the driver $20 which included the tip and he dropped us at the entrance (coral towers) of Atlantis. I asked the bellman for the Majestic Tours desk and I proceeded in and bought us 4 day passes. They have a couple different packages available we opted only for the beaches, dig/aquarium and lunch package (about $75 per person). If you want to know what packages cost with Majestic tours, look up their website online and then email the directly. As an agreement with the cruiselines, they do not advertise their Atlantis packages online. But they will be happy to email you the info. I would highly recommend this route, it was soooo much cheaper and more on your own time. :)

[Siora7777]

We did the Adventure one where you get to use the park and water slides with the cruise line. We all had a great time. We chose to just book it with NCL because we knew we wanted to do and didn't want to risk it selling out. I heard it can. It was not crowded when we went so we would have been fine. We could leave when ever we wanted, they told us where the return shuttles were.

[din2play2]

They you all for your reply's all have been very helpful in my decision - Will do it on my own and will look up the packages Majestic tours have to offer.

THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!!:p

[mjkacmom]

They you all for your reply's all have been very helpful in my decision - Will do it on my own and will look up the packages Majestic tours have to offer.

THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!!:p

 

Just a FYI, Atlantis isn't listed on their website, but you can book it with them with a phone call.

[Lilystar]

Just a FYI, Atlantis isn't listed on their website, but you can book it with them with a phone call.

 

Or you can book it at the Majestic Tours desk inside Atlantis. We did it that way in case the weather was abominable that day. We didn't want to take a chance that we would have paid and then it rained all day. So we just waited. It was no issue at all. And the people at the desk were very nice. If you email majestic tours directly, they will forward you all the info you need. Because we were interested in the beach day, they even included sample menus from each of the places where the counter service lunch was offered.

[LostCrayon]

Thank you for the information! I loved your plan of waiting until you got to Atlantis to see if the weather would hold up. I am heading to Nassau in late April with a 5 and 2 year old, who love fish, and I am trying to plan accordingly. Just wondering, what does it cost just to view the acquarium?