Hi,
First, a big THANK YOU to everyone who answered my questions before we went. This was by far the best family vacation we've ever taken. We will definitely go back to Harborside/Atlantis.
In the spirit of giving back, I'd like to post some observations/thoughts:
1) Use a porter at the airport to help get you thru Customs. (It was a breeze)
2) Before you get in a cab at the airport, always ask the price. Should be $27 for first 2 adults, and $3 or $4 (can't remember) per extra person. Also, an extra $1 for the bridge toll.
3) It's roughly a 30 minute cab ride to Harborside from the airport.
4) If walking is a problem, request Building 1 or 7, however, if it's not, then I'd request something closer to the Harborside pool.
5) 3 ways to get to a grocery store:
a) Harborside runs a shuttle for $7 pp (round trip) once a day (AM) that goes over the bridge to a grocery store.
b) you can go at your convenience by hiring a cab $8 for 2 people, each way
c) you can take the ferry to Nassau for $3 each way, and there's a good market on the street that parallels the wharf. (The ferry is just behind the toll booths, tucked under the bridge.)
6) The markets aren't "american superstores". However, they're well stocked and fun to check out products in. Produce is expensive, and meats are "different". (We brought a cooler with frozen meats, cold cuts) so we didn't try anything new.
7) Fresh fish can be purchased at the base of the bridge that heads back to the big island. (each bridge is one way) We did this, it was great!
8) The shuttle buses from Harborside to Atlantis are great. Quick service, 3 different buses:
a) one that just goes to the Cove and Royal Towers (via the tunnel)
b) one that goes to Coral towers/marina village (if you ask the driver to let you off)
c) one that goes to Beach towers?? (we never took this one, so, I'm not 100% sure if there were other stops)
9) The new aquaventure rides are great. There are 3 different tube rides and one new slide. I did the 3 tube rides. All are fun. Nit: the tube rides are very slow when you're not in the "exciting parts". Towards the end of the day, you have to get up and move some of the empty tubes out of the way in order to get to the bottom of the conveyor belt that takes you to the top.
10) The Cove beach and pools are very nice. There is a different wrist band for Cove guests. We walked through the lobby and out towards aquaventure and the cove beach. They wouldn't let us walk through one of the pool areas, but... it looked nice and quiet. They had some infinity pools there. There were some very nice cabanas - my wife even commented on the "TV's" in them. (Why would anyone watch TV while in paradise?)
11) The climbing wall is small, I'd say it's basically a kids wall.
12) Dolphin encounter looked OK. We didn't do it, but, several folks who got on the shuttle bus with us had, and they were not impressed. They said the Dolphins swam up to them, and the kids could pet them a little, but, it was nothing like other encounters they'd done where they actually swam with the Dolphins.
13) The Casino. It's in the Coral Towers area and is large. For my tastes, there were far too many slot machines. I prefer to play the tables, typically craps or roulette. Trying to get on a $10 roulette or craps table was almost impossible. I had to wait almost an hour a couple times to get on the table. And... when I finally did get on, I wound up having to leave after playing for 45 minutes due to either a terrible dealer, or, a drunk player next to me whom I thought was going to lose her dinner on me. I don't play very much so.. this may be typical, but, there were plenty of empty $100 tables, while there were waiting lines for people to get on the $10-$25 tables. (You'd think the casino's would want as much action as possible at all of it's tables, regardless of the minimum bet!)
14) We had lunch at the pools at atlantis a couple days. For $26 you got 4 huge burgers, 2 large fry's and 4 soft drinks. More than enough to feed 4 adults. (BTW, at the snack shack at the Cove, this same deal was $50...)
15) Frozen drinks are good, but, overly sweet, and almost no fresh/frozen fruit. Just about everything was made with syrups. I think most of the frozen drinks were around $8 or, $6 without alcohol. Never ordered a beer, so... I can't tell you how much those were.
16) We walked to the liquor stores at Hurricane hole. Beers were ~$2 each, and we found some "very drinkable" Chilean reds for $10-$15. The wine selections were very limited...
17) Rum is quite inexpensive. However, mixers, like juices were well over $5- for a half gallon.
18) The marina village was nice, live music outside of Bimini road each night, and starbucks/haggen daz were welcome sites. Starbux prices were about $1 more expensive than in the states, the ice cream was ~$4 a scoop. (Pretty good size) Had lunch at Murray's Deli one day, most of the sandwiches were about $15 - and very large.
19)Straw market, nassau shopping: Straw market is basically a large tent with 6 or seven aisles, each with a "booth" every 5 or 10 feet. Just about every booth had the same contents: Cheap jewelry (beads, coral, etc), a large selection of knockoff designer handbags, and shot glasses. There were plenty of T-shirts, some wood carvings, and one or two booths with local "straw" art. Overall, unless you're looking for one of the above, it's not worth the half day away from Atlantis. The rest of Nassau is about the same as any other touristy area - lot's of t-shirt shops and jewelry stores.
-svntug
First, a big THANK YOU to everyone who answered my questions before we went. This was by far the best family vacation we've ever taken. We will definitely go back to Harborside/Atlantis.
In the spirit of giving back, I'd like to post some observations/thoughts:
1) Use a porter at the airport to help get you thru Customs. (It was a breeze)
2) Before you get in a cab at the airport, always ask the price. Should be $27 for first 2 adults, and $3 or $4 (can't remember) per extra person. Also, an extra $1 for the bridge toll.
3) It's roughly a 30 minute cab ride to Harborside from the airport.
4) If walking is a problem, request Building 1 or 7, however, if it's not, then I'd request something closer to the Harborside pool.
5) 3 ways to get to a grocery store:
a) Harborside runs a shuttle for $7 pp (round trip) once a day (AM) that goes over the bridge to a grocery store.
b) you can go at your convenience by hiring a cab $8 for 2 people, each way
c) you can take the ferry to Nassau for $3 each way, and there's a good market on the street that parallels the wharf. (The ferry is just behind the toll booths, tucked under the bridge.)
6) The markets aren't "american superstores". However, they're well stocked and fun to check out products in. Produce is expensive, and meats are "different". (We brought a cooler with frozen meats, cold cuts) so we didn't try anything new.
7) Fresh fish can be purchased at the base of the bridge that heads back to the big island. (each bridge is one way) We did this, it was great!
8) The shuttle buses from Harborside to Atlantis are great. Quick service, 3 different buses:
a) one that just goes to the Cove and Royal Towers (via the tunnel)
b) one that goes to Coral towers/marina village (if you ask the driver to let you off)
c) one that goes to Beach towers?? (we never took this one, so, I'm not 100% sure if there were other stops)
9) The new aquaventure rides are great. There are 3 different tube rides and one new slide. I did the 3 tube rides. All are fun. Nit: the tube rides are very slow when you're not in the "exciting parts". Towards the end of the day, you have to get up and move some of the empty tubes out of the way in order to get to the bottom of the conveyor belt that takes you to the top.
10) The Cove beach and pools are very nice. There is a different wrist band for Cove guests. We walked through the lobby and out towards aquaventure and the cove beach. They wouldn't let us walk through one of the pool areas, but... it looked nice and quiet. They had some infinity pools there. There were some very nice cabanas - my wife even commented on the "TV's" in them. (Why would anyone watch TV while in paradise?)
11) The climbing wall is small, I'd say it's basically a kids wall.
12) Dolphin encounter looked OK. We didn't do it, but, several folks who got on the shuttle bus with us had, and they were not impressed. They said the Dolphins swam up to them, and the kids could pet them a little, but, it was nothing like other encounters they'd done where they actually swam with the Dolphins.
13) The Casino. It's in the Coral Towers area and is large. For my tastes, there were far too many slot machines. I prefer to play the tables, typically craps or roulette. Trying to get on a $10 roulette or craps table was almost impossible. I had to wait almost an hour a couple times to get on the table. And... when I finally did get on, I wound up having to leave after playing for 45 minutes due to either a terrible dealer, or, a drunk player next to me whom I thought was going to lose her dinner on me. I don't play very much so.. this may be typical, but, there were plenty of empty $100 tables, while there were waiting lines for people to get on the $10-$25 tables. (You'd think the casino's would want as much action as possible at all of it's tables, regardless of the minimum bet!)
14) We had lunch at the pools at atlantis a couple days. For $26 you got 4 huge burgers, 2 large fry's and 4 soft drinks. More than enough to feed 4 adults. (BTW, at the snack shack at the Cove, this same deal was $50...)
15) Frozen drinks are good, but, overly sweet, and almost no fresh/frozen fruit. Just about everything was made with syrups. I think most of the frozen drinks were around $8 or, $6 without alcohol. Never ordered a beer, so... I can't tell you how much those were.
16) We walked to the liquor stores at Hurricane hole. Beers were ~$2 each, and we found some "very drinkable" Chilean reds for $10-$15. The wine selections were very limited...
17) Rum is quite inexpensive. However, mixers, like juices were well over $5- for a half gallon.
18) The marina village was nice, live music outside of Bimini road each night, and starbucks/haggen daz were welcome sites. Starbux prices were about $1 more expensive than in the states, the ice cream was ~$4 a scoop. (Pretty good size) Had lunch at Murray's Deli one day, most of the sandwiches were about $15 - and very large.
19)Straw market, nassau shopping: Straw market is basically a large tent with 6 or seven aisles, each with a "booth" every 5 or 10 feet. Just about every booth had the same contents: Cheap jewelry (beads, coral, etc), a large selection of knockoff designer handbags, and shot glasses. There were plenty of T-shirts, some wood carvings, and one or two booths with local "straw" art. Overall, unless you're looking for one of the above, it's not worth the half day away from Atlantis. The rest of Nassau is about the same as any other touristy area - lot's of t-shirt shops and jewelry stores.
-svntug
