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Atlantis - Bahamas

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CarlSpackler88

The Pumpfaker
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Looking to take the family there in March. Any tips, suggestions? Is it worth it to stay at Atlantis or should we stay off-site? Kids are 6-8-9.
 
I weighed myself this morning. 193 pounds at 6'3". These tags are giving me a complex.
 
We have a timeshare that allows us to go there, so we go every year or two because it is a quick flight form Charlotte. The biggest tip with kids is to try to stay in the condos so that you have a kitchen, and they have a shuttle to the grocery store. If you are in the hotel rooms then you are absolutely fucked on meal costs. The prices are completely absurd. It is tolerable if it is just you and the wife, but with kids you end up paying out the yingyang. If you are in the hotel rooms then definitely do the meal plan for 2 meals a day if you don't need to eat 3 (we will usually do a late breakfast and then dinner). If not, smuggle in a lot of Nutrigrain bars and similar breakfast items if you can, or take a cab to the store once you first get there.

Other than the food cost it is awesome. The water parks are really cool, as is the aquarium. The casino isn't like Vegas, but it is a decent size and good to spend a few nights in, and they have a Sportsbook with a decent amount of TVs. Tons of bars and restaurants throughout.

If you can get away from the kids for a night, take the shuttle for dinner (or just drinks) at the One & Only Club. It has been featured in several Bond movies, and is perhaps the best setting for a restaurant that I have ever seen, with some of the best service. Plus, they don't allow kids, which is nice after being surrounded by them for several days.
 
2&2 Slider To Leyritz said:
We have a timeshare that allows us to go there, so we go every year or two because it is a quick flight form Charlotte. The biggest tip with kids is to try to stay in the condos so that you have a kitchen, and they have a shuttle to the grocery store. If you are in the hotel rooms then you are absolutely fucked on meal costs. The prices are completely absurd. It is tolerable if it is just you and the wife, but with kids you end up paying out the yingyang. If you are in the hotel rooms then definitely do the meal plan for 2 meals a day if you don't need to eat 3 (we will usually do a late breakfast and then dinner). If not, smuggle in a lot of Nutrigrain bars and similar breakfast items if you can, or take a cab to the store once you first get there.

Other than the food cost it is awesome. The water parks are really cool, as is the aquarium. The casino isn't like Vegas, but it is a decent size and good to spend a few nights in, and they have a Sportsbook with a decent amount of TVs. Tons of bars and restaurants throughout.

If you can get away from the kids for a night, take the shuttle for dinner (or just drinks) at the One & Only Club. It has been featured in several Bond movies, and is perhaps the best setting for a restaurant that I have ever seen, with some of the best service. Plus, they don't allow kids, which is nice after being surrounded by them for several days.
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Definitely going to stay at the Harborside Villas which have full kitchens. Thanks for this advice.
 
Yeah, the Cove is pretty strong, even during daylight hours. They've got an adults-only topless pool with stationary lounge couches built out in the pool. The last time we were there, TO was out there with like 6 girls around him.

Our timeshare is in the Harborside Villas. It is definitely the way to go with kids. When in March are you going? We'll be there from the 3rd through the 9th.
 
I almost need to defriend that guy on facebook. He always seems to post of his fishing adventures at like 2PM at the worst time of the workday.
 
Not sure if they still have the same set up; but there's a Comfort Suites that's literally at the end of the resort's driveway... Its a shorter walk to the main attractions (casino, water park, etc) than most of the rooms the actual resort offers. Also, important to note (at least it was like this a couple of years ago)... all CS guests were given full access privileges to Atlantis.

We made quite a few trips down there (it was a nice escape for the 18-20 year old NASCAR drivers back in the day for obvious reasons).

I'll offer these opinions:

-Comfort Suites is the way to go. Cheaper and the rooms aren't anything nice; but that motivates you to get out and actually use the resort. I wasted a lot of time laying around the room when we actually stayed in the towers.

-Now that I'm well past 21; I don't see myself going back unless its to the Cove or the OC. Its very disney world-esque, but for a family trip... I reckon that's not a bad thing. If you do have some alone time while you're there, sneak into the Cove's pool area... you won't regret it...

-The restaurants down at the docks are quite a bit cheaper than trying to eat in the resort. If you're trying to cut costs, appetizers down there & Jamba Juice will do the trick.
 
Holy hell... just googled the comfort suites to make sure i wasn't losing my mind on the name of the hotel... $279/night regular rate. Seems as if some other people have learned my trick.
 
It's about $1,000 more to stay inside the resort vs the comfort suites. Hmmmmm....
 
CarlSpackler88 said:
It's about $1,000 more to stay inside the resort vs the comfort suites. Hmmmmm....
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Oh, if I had to go (and the access privileges are still the same); I'd recommend Comfort Suites even if it was the same price.

Again, just to be clear, its the fact that its not as nice that makes the overall experience better (for someone weird like me. I know it wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea). You'll want to be out of the room & enjoying the resort aspect of the vacation, which I assume is why you're incurring the cost to make it down there, more. We did this trip 6 times in a 3 year span. We flew our mothers in for part of one trip and did the full family thing once. We got the hang of it after a while.

Another reason we dug the CS was the free breakfast. Atlantis ain't giving you crap for free & that $25 omelet could have bought you 1 more hand of blackjack at the table minimum.
 
palmab03 said:
I almost need to defriend that guy on facebook. He always seems to post of his fishing adventures at like 2PM at the worst time of the workday.
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Would love to go fishing but down want to plunk down $2Gs to rent a boat for the day. Does your bud have any recs?
 
CarlSpackler88 said:
Would love to go fishing but down want to plunk down $2Gs to rent a boat for the day. Does your bud have any recs?
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We did just that & it was fantastic. Work paid for it, so I'm not trying to sound big baller.

If you are really excited about that part of the trip & you've got the family with you... I would certainly recommend doing it that way if you can swing the dough.

The group excursion type deals are not nearly the experience. Everyone I've been on has decent bait for the first fraction of the trip & then you're stuck using what you've caught (and they've gutted) the rest of the time. Plus, with the kids around... having the extra attention of the crew would be valuable, I assume.

For whatever its worth, this is the boat we took out back in '08 (so nothing too extravagant, but the crew was fantastic):

zsCRMQm.jpg



My friend (bonus points for anybody that recognizes him) reeled this in & we took it straight to one of the restaurants on the ocean in Nassau where they served it to us... It was a really cool experience and something I hope I can afford to do again someday.

GjRDcn9.jpg
 
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