Harborside - 1st Call Advice

[ian]

Hi, we're getting ready to call next week for our 12 month reservation. I've been reading all of the Harborside threads, but still have a couple of questions:

1. Apparently, Building 1 (phase 1) has great views of the Atlantis hotel. Building 5 (phase 2) is near the pool, but seems to look across at Nassau. Anyone have any opinions on which they like better? Is it a long walk between Bldg 1 and the pool (seems like you cross a major highway)? Is building 5 in better shape than Building 1? Should I request a different building?

2. What's cell phone coverage like on the island? Will ATT/Verizon/TMobile/Sprint work? (yes, I realize there will be roaming charges)

3. Any other advice on what to request? I don't want to end up in a stinky smoke smelling room like the one Westin5star was put into!

Thanks a lot!

 

[Transit]

I was in Bld 3 and has a water veiw of Nassau and the Paradise bridge.It was very nice.Even the building farthest from the Pool isn't really far at all in my opinion.

 

[Ken555]

Assuming you're lucky enough to get a view of any kind, Building 5 does look toward Nassau. My view on the first floor was of the road in the resort and the tree just outside, which was fine for me since the time in the unit was limited.

I suggest searching (Google and here) for info on cell use. I remember researching it a bit before my trip and wasn't happy with the options. I elected instead to simply get a Skype account with an inbound number and routed my office line to that number (no one knew where I was... ) and made calls at minimal expense using it. It was a great feeling to leave the cell phone off for an entire week!

 

[arlene22]

Bulding 7 in phase 1 has the best view of the marina and the Royal Towers. If you own in phase one and you book a Saturday checkin at 12 months out, then you will *most likely* be in building 7.

(I say most likely b/c that is where they should put you, but I have heard people having arguments at the front desk over this. If you book during the home resort preference period, and you note a preference for phase one in your reservation, I believe they will honor it.)

 

[arlene22]

BTW, at 12 months, you can only book into the phase and villa type that you own.

 

[califgal]

Regarding the cell phone use. We have Verizon. As of last year,( went to Harborside in June), Verizon had no coverage in the Bahamas, but they could " set it up". So we had good luck with one of our phones and not so good with the other, weird, but at least one worked.

 

[Loriannf]

Verizon should work

We're heading down the 19th and I asked Verizon about calling. They told us that as long as our phone was enabled for international calling, we should be ok. They did say we need to dial 011 then 1 then the area code when calling.

Hope it works.

Lori

 

[gravitar]

International Roaming

We're heading down the 19th and I asked Verizon about calling. They told us that as long as our phone was enabled for international calling, we should be ok. They did say we need to dial 011 then 1 then the area code when calling.

Hope it works.

Lori

The Bahamas is part of the North American Numbering Plan. You should only have to dial +1 to call back to the "States"

 

[Ken555]

Expect calls on your Verizon phone to be quite expensive from the Bahamas.

 

[mariawolf]

We have ATT cell phone and found if your phone is on and you get a call and don't answer it you were still charged $2.29 per minute and if you simply turn it on and have a voice mail you get charged also. We had lots of charges and only made one outgoing call. If you set up for international use the charge drops fo $1.99--still awful==texting was also out of hand.

 

[gravitar]

International Roaming

If you have a GSM phone, bring it with you and buy a prepaid SIM card when you arrive. You can find some outlets that sell international prepaid sim cards online so you know what you have before you go.

 

[jarta]

International Calls

Regarding international charges: I have Cingular and a phone that has international capability, but I think every service provider works in a similar way. I am charged $2.50 +/- for each minute of a call I pick up or make. I am not charged for calls I miss when the phone is turned off. So, turn it off unless you are calling someone and check voice mail only every once in a while.

I don't know about text messages. But, why not realize you are out of the US, it will cost money to use the phone when you are out of the US and use it only for quite important calls.

Of course, if they are business calls, rather than personal calls, your business should be picking up the tab and writing off the expense anyway.

 

[Ken555]

FWIW, if you've got an iPhone don't even bother turning on the phone outside the US or you will get charged ridiculous sums, as it automatically connects to the network for data on a regular basis. There are ways to prevent it from doing this but you must be exact. I've found it much easier and significantly less expensive (for the business and me) to simply get a Skype account and use my computer to make/receive calls. I think I spent a total of $15 when I was at Harborside on calls, and I must have had (unfortunately) a total of about 10 hours worth to the States during the week I was there. If you are bringing a computer with you, then just get a good USB mic headset and a Skype account and you're done. This of course assumes you don't need the phone with you while you're in the lazy river...

 

[ian]

Thanks for all the info!

One more quick question:

Next year Easter is on the 12th of April. Do you think it will be more MOBBED with people the 3rd-10th or 10th-17th?

If we want to try to avoid the crowds, would it be better to go at the end of April? 17th-24th or 24th-1st?

We've never been, but I know lots of people here have, so any crowd assessment is appreciated! Thanks again tuggers!

 

[clsmit]

Ian Wrote:
Next year Easter is on the 12th of April. Do you think it will be more MOBBED with people the 3rd-10th or 10th-17th?

If we want to try to avoid the crowds, would it be better to go at the end of April? 17th-24th or 24th-1st?


Probably equally mobbed both weeks. Some schools are off the week before; some the week after. And with Easter being later, people won't be skiing that week and will choose to go somewhere warm (this Easter week was early, so lots of our friends went skiing while we went south).

Go later in the month.

 

[nodge]

I've found it much easier and significantly less expensive (for the business and me) to simply get a Skype account and use my computer to make/receive calls. I think I spent a total of $15 when I was at Harborside on calls, and I must have had (unfortunately) a total of about 10 hours worth to the States during the week I was there. If you are bringing a computer with you, then just get a good USB mic headset and a Skype account and you're done. This of course assumes you don't need the phone with you while you're in the lazy river...

Thanks Ken555!

Our travel plans for the summer are starting to firm up, and I’m starting to iron out some of the day-to-day details. One of those details involves figuring out how not to get screwed when calling home and the office while “roaming” overseas.

I looked up the overseas roaming charges for Verizon Wireless (our cell phone carrier). Here are the rates (effective June 30, 2008) for countries in which we plan to travel:

The Bahamas: $1.99/minute
France: $0.99/minute
United Kingdom: $0.99/minute

Now everyplace we are going has WiFi/High speed internet access, and we will probably check-in at home & work from our WiFi/Internet equipped room. So, I walked over to the local Office Depot yesterday and picked up a $15 headset, and per your suggestion, opened a SKYPE account online and I’m currently experimenting with it.

So far, I’m impressed.

As I currently understand it, for about $6 for three months, we can use our Internet connected laptop (which will be in our room in these foreign countries) to call home/USA as much as we want. Moreover, “local” calls within a foreign country to other places within that country are charged at the following rates:

The Bahamas: $0.09/minute
France/Paris: $0.02/minute
United Kingdom/London: $0.02/minute

So we can also use SKYPE to make local calls within the country we are visiting for cheap.

If you don’t sign up for the fixed fee calling USA/CANADA plan, calls to the US & Canada are charged at a flat rate of $0.02/minute for continental US & Hawaii and $0.06/mnutes to Alaska. You just load your account with some funds via credit card, and burn away.

No long term commitments. No hook-up or disconnection charges. You can quit at any time.

I understand that this system is at the mercy of the local Internet providers at each location, but I’m willing to take that risk.

Thanks again for the tip.

-nodge

 

[Ken555]

Thanks again for the tip.

-nodge

Glad to hear it's working for you! You will find that clarity of call is directly impacted by the quality of the mic/headset you bought. You may want to purchase a more expensive one, test it prior to your trip, and then return whichever you decide not to keep. Of course, if your testing so far with the $15 headset is excellent then there's no need for this extra step. Many people I called from The Bahamas thought I was on a land line from the office.

Now that Harborside (finally) has Internet in all phases there's no worry about access, either. When I went there I was worried I wouldn't get into Phase 2 (as Phase 1 didn't have net acces at the time).

Enjoy your trip!