# Dining Plan at Atlantis - Worth it?



## tahoeJoe (Feb 7, 2019)

I am planning a HOTEL (not timeshare) stay at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas in December. I noticed that they offer two dining plans, casual ($85/pp/pd) and fining dining ($135/pp/pd) - - yes, both are expensive.

https://www.atlantisbahamas.com/dining/diningplans/casualdiningplan

Since I won't have a kitchen is the dining plan worth it? Is it a fair deal? That is, what would the equivalent number of meals cost in the same restaurants without the dining plans? Any insight?


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## controller1 (Feb 7, 2019)

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## andysnovel (Feb 7, 2019)

I have been to Atlantis 4 times now and dining is very expensive, however I would not want to be limited by the choices given under the plans. Keep in mind, some of the restaurants listed are not open every day. Murray’s is very reasonably priced, you don’t need a plan to get value there. Margaritaville is also reasonably priced and not on any plan. If you have a fridge and a microwave, Carmine’s would be a good choice, family style portions, you could get another meal out of it lol. The burger shack and pizza place are places that should not be on a meal plan, you can go there on your own. If you are looking for expensive steak dinners and trendy high end places to eat, then the gourmet plan would be worth it, otherwise shop around.


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## controller1 (Feb 8, 2019)

Deleted


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## komosatp (Feb 8, 2019)

tahoeJoe said:


> Is it a fair deal?


Its priced for convenience, not for value.  If you ate the most expensive options on the respective plans each and every day,  you might come out slightly ahead. But if you want a light meal one day, just sacrificing one of your entitlements makes it less than break-even.


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## LisaRex (Feb 8, 2019)

Be sure to read the fine print and understand the rules.  Not only are you required to make reservations ahead of time for many of your meals, but it's very expensive and IMO defeats the purpose of staying in a timeshare with a kitchen.  In addition to being cost prohibitive, there were a few things that I didn't like about the meal plan: 

1) You had to purchase a meal plan for every person in your room, for every day, and every plan included breakfast.   

Um, thanks, but I don't eat a big breakfast every day, and I certainly don't want to pre-pay for it. Even when breakfast is included in the price of my room, I might go down and grab a bowl of fruit or a muffin or I might not. And when I'm staying in a timeshare, I'd much rather toast a bagel in my room than go out for breakfast.  I can certainly make breakfast for much cheaper than the ~$25pp the meal plans charge, even with tourist-trap grocery prices.   

2) Everyone on your plan has to eat together.  For my family with adult kids, that'd be a deal breaker right there because we are on completely different sleep schedules.  While on vacation, we often eat breakfast hours before the kids get up.  Stupid plan, IMO. 

3) I don't like being limited to on-site restaurants.  Part of the fun of vacation is to adventure out.  

4) I don't like having my day dictated by restaurant reservations.   One morning, you might want to sleep in instead of getting up for your 8am breakfast buffet.  Another day, you might be exhausted and find out that a 7pm reservation is way too late.  Who wants that kind of stress on your vacation? 

5) The campus is ENORMOUS and the restaurants are spread out over many miles.  I'd rather make home base where we find chairs together, in the least crowded part of the park, and have lunch in that section of the park, on my own schedule vs. having my restaurant choice dictate where we go within the park. 

6) Some plans charge $50 PER PERSON for no-show.  So let's day you're all exhausted and opt to skip dinner altogether, even though it's pre-paid.  Well, you'll also have to shell out $50 PER PERSON if you forget to cancel that reservation.

7) If the plan included LUNCH every day, we might have considered it.  Then we could have eaten breakfast mid-morning and lunch at 4pm and skipped dinner altogether.  But this isn't the case. 

FYI, we found that the water park is very lax in allowing you to bring your own food and drinks into the park.  Most days we packed our own drinks (including beer and vodka) and a few times we packed a picnic lunch.  No one ever bothered us.  Just eating two or three picnic lunches can save a family a few hundred bucks.


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## controller1 (Feb 8, 2019)

LisaRex said:


> Be sure to read the fine print and understand the rules.  Not only are you required to make reservations ahead of time for many of your meals, but it's very expensive and IMO defeats the purpose of staying in a timeshare with a kitchen.




In the first post, OP states




tahoeJoe said:


> I am planning a HOTEL (not timeshare) stay at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas in December.
> 
> Since I won't have a kitchen is the dining plan worth it?


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## Sea Six (Feb 8, 2019)

Did it once - never again.


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## blondietink (Feb 8, 2019)

Even though you are staying in the hotel portion, you could still being some goodies in your luggage from home for breakfast or light lunches that don't require refrigeration, or just buy them at the small market across the street.  We have eaten at Margaritaville and thought it was very reasonable for the Bahamas anyway and the food was pretty good. One day week took the ferry over to Nassau and ate at the Fish Shack and there is actually a Burger King in Nassau near the Straw Market.  Bottom line is that you can eat better for less money than the meal plan, even though it will still be expensive vs. eating here in the US.


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## Joshadelic (Feb 13, 2019)

Nope. Walk across the bridge and get street food. Much cheaper and more fresh. They may even offer delivery at this point. If not, go to Virgil's for lunch before the prices double and eat as much as possible. A trip to Carmines is always on our list. Huge portions and plenty of leftovers. Just be sure not to order too much. You'll have lunch for tomorrow, no problem! Enjoy!


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## rog2867 (Feb 13, 2019)

your better off taking a taxi to the town, prices at restaurants are a third of what it costs on island.  Just stay there for lunch.  everything is VERY expensive there as they import EVERYTHING>


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