Just got back from a 5 day vacation staying at the Royal Towers. We had two rooms for my family. Myself, husband, 3 children ages 12,10 ,7 and my parents. I had read so many negative reviews and was hoping we made the right decision for our family. We all LOVED it!! From the 7yr. old to the grandparents everyone enjoyed themself. The staff was so friendly and helpful. The water rides, pools and beaches were beautiful. Yes, the food was a little on the pricey side but we expected it .As far as food prices go, it was very much like our trips to Disney or New York City. The best part is, everthing is right there. From swimming with the dolphins,to water rides, a movie theater, interactive marine shows, shopping or just relaxing by the many pools or beaches. I would suggest getting your towels early and placing them on your chairs just to have a place to call home base. We would do this every day so we would have a place to put our beach bag, shoes etc. while going on the rides or walking around. The only negative is I wish we stayed longer!

After reading all the negative reviews I was skeptical about our vacation. But once we got there we had no issues as reported by some of the reviewers. Our check-in took 5 mins, we had a terrace room booked and we requested complimentary upgrade to the ocean view if avaialble. This was given to us w/o any extra $$. Staff was very friendly and more than willing to help. We never had any issues finding a chair by the pool, we used to get to the pool by 10am and still find a good spot to sit. We never tipped anyone extra neither did we see anyone asking for an additional tip. Our room was always cleaned before we got back and there was never any issue with the toilet. We had to call service twice (once for the safe and once for the coffee maker) and they were there within 10 mins. West towers are closer to the pools and rides. So overall we had a fabulous time and will certainly go back. yes, the food is VERY expensive but just about every reviewer has said that and you just have to deal with it. Here are some of the tips that helped us:


1> The grounds are huge and you will do a lot of walking. If you have kids take a stroller with you. My 4 yr old refused to walk in the evenings because he was exhausted after playing all day in the pool

2> Take lots of snacks from home.

3> The grocery stores close at 5 so get to the market before that. There is a liquor store outside the Beach Tower (10 mins walk from Royal) where you can get cheaper beer ($5 for 3 cans as opposed to somthing like $8 a beer by the pool) and water

4> Take a collapsable cooler from home

5> Carmine is expensive but affordable for bigger groups and if you order sensibily. A pasta dish (pasta with broc and sausage) will cost 44 bucks but we could not finish it (2 adults and 1 child).

6> Get your pool towels in the AM, sometimes they run out of towels by the afternoon

7> Take your own snorkeling gear, they will give you the life vest for free

8> Nothing great about the straw market and the food in the surrounding restaurants wasn't cheap so it was a waste of $30 on cab money

9> Shark Bites Express (pool side) has good lunch selections and it was not expensive ($30 for lunch for 3 ppl).

10> Remember Tips are included for everything, make sure you check the bill

11> For Breakfast, Platos (sp?) at the resort has same prices (or even cheaper) as Murray's Deli. Better eat there than take a long walk to the marina.

Just returned from 4 nights at Atlantis Royal Towers. April 15 - 19. This is my 4th trip to Atlantis and first since the expansion of The Cove & Reef area. We arrived before noon and was very surprised that they had a room available. I had assumed that arriving so close to check-out time that nothing would be available yet. Maybe arriving on Tuesday helped. We were staying with 3 other couples and all but 1 got a room at that time. One couple was upgraded to the Imperial Club which boasts a separate elevator and guest lounge area with complimentary continental breakfast, tea and sweets in the evening. The room was the same as ours, but it was on a higher floor and had a really pretty night time view of the lights across the harbor. After checking in we headed down to The Lagoon Bar and Grill for lunch. No wait and we were a bit on the early side for lunch. We had a variety of items from the menu. The cheesesteak (went over 50-50), the turkey sandwich (good) and the veggie sandwich (not great) All the sandwiches came with a really tasty salad and were nice sized portions, none of us were interested in dessert. We also enjoyed a variety of mixed drinks and the Junkanoo seemed to be the most popular. Half pina colada/half strawberry daquiri. The frozen drink mix is really good, better than a lot of mixes I've had. It tastes fresh, fruity and not artificial. The frozen mixes are non-alcoholic so the can be made into a variety of drinks or smoothies. The alcohol is just poured over the top depending on what you order. After that we headed to the pool area outside the Royal Towers to hang out. It was a bit chilly and very breezy on our arrival day so we bundled up a bit with towels and crossed our fingers for warmer weather the rest of our days. We did not make reservations for dinner the first night and ended up splitting up. Some headed in town to The Poop Deck which they enjoyed and the rest stayed at the hotel and and went to Murray's Deli. About a 45 minute wait. Some restaurants don't take reservations, some do. If you don't have a reservation I think 45 minutes to an hour is the starting point for a table. Dinner there... o.k. not great. I have enjoyed my meal there more on previous trips. The next day the weather was great, we had breakfast at The Marketplace buffet. Expensive but very good and they've got everything from, oatmeal to omelets to salmon and fresh fruit, plus waffles, french toast and pastries. Eat a big breakfast and go smaller or shared for lunch. We claimed a spot on the lagoon beach, my favorite place to sit. It's not as crowded as the area surrounding the pool. Enjoyed the day there and then had reservations at Mesa Grill for the evening. The restaurant was running on Bahama time and it took about 20 minutes to seat us even though they were completely empty. We had a pretty early seating time 5:30. This left enough time for 1 round of drinks from the bar, very steeply priced. We did not look at a menu first. $120 for a round of drinks for 7 people. Beware! It was a good drink (grapefruit margarita) but WOW ! Dinner was excellent, the best during our stay, well worth the price. $390 for 7 people, about $55 each, not including the bar tab. The pork seemed to be the most popular dish at the table. The desserts looked and sounded great but no one had any room. That night we went to the comedy club. 3 comedians, so-so on the humor. We were done with dinner fairly early so we were looking for something to do. Not bad, not great. The following day was another great day around the lagoon. We also did the new waterslides and lazy river. It takes about 45 minutes to make one round on the river, lots of fun, but watch out for the sun. It's a potential bake fest. The slides were fun but the river was more popular. No waiting. That evening we had reservations at Chop Stix. The service was a little lacking that night and no one seemed wowed by their meal. We all actually seemed to enjoy the Dim Sum items that we chose for appetizers more than our meals. So I suggest that. 2 items from those selections plus a fried rice and you'd be happy. Most of us chose to check out Aura, the nightclub, that evening. It seemed like a typical higher end nightclub to me, but that's not really my thing. Loud, smokey, good for people watching. Another day on on the beach same as usual. My husband and I did lunch at the Lagoon bar & grill again (pizza & caesar salad) Best lunch of the week. No dinner reservations for the last night. We ended up at Bimini Road down in the village. Good drinks, good meal, good appetizers, fun atmosphere. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. We finished up just in time to catch the Junkanoo parade. Loud and festive. The following day we did another big breakfast at The Marketplace and headed home.

Be prepared for high prices. $10 drinks, $40 and up dinners, $12 desserts... It's easy to spend $1000 - $1500 in food for a couple for 4 nights.

Tips: send someone down to the pool or beach to claim some chairs before you do breakfast

several friends found "bargain" breakfasts at Starbucks and the bar outside the entrance to Marketplace

make reservations for dinner if you don't mind the more expensive restaurants, we called well in advance and still had odd dining times , 5:30 one night, 8:30 the next

eat a big buffet breakfast and share a lesser expensive lunch

don't let the prices ruin or monopolize your vacation, it was the subject heard being discussed everywhere. if you know ahead of time, you can be prepared and enjoy yourself.

There is no resort quite like Atlantis. Another wonderful stay, we plan to return again next April.

My wife and I took our boys (8 & 5) to Atlantis for their spring break from school in hopes of providing them a memorable and exciting experience. The complex ended up being so vast that we ended up spending 40% of our vacation just walking from place to place. There are only a few dining options available and the food is mediocre at best, but is unbelievably expensive!!! We live in New York and are very well familiar with fine dining, but the best places in New York cost about half of what we ended up paying for food, and the quality of food is so much better. After all, who ever heard of paying $85.00 for 4 slices of pizza with 4 soft drinks?!!

There is not one straight path in the entire complex, and as you walk, you come upon many dead ends, or areas that are closed off due to a private engagement. This would not be a problem, if there were any kind of markings to allow you to make a quick course correction, but the quickest correction that we have had to make ended up costing us 5 minutes!!! When I told an employee that if there was some sort of an indication at the beginning of the path that the area was going to be closed off, it would have made my experience much smoother, I was treated with rude indifference. Speaking of rudeness, there are several checkpoints throughout the complex where employees check your room key, but they show no regard for the fact that you are traveling on foot with children and that your hands are full. As a result, you have to stop the whole family, free up your hands and show the key. They should come up with a better method.

Last, but certainly not least, on our last day when we went to the swimming pool with the kids, it took us more than 1 hour to find a towel, so that we could get the kids out of the pool… The entire complex was out of towels!!! If all else can be forgiven, this cannot be. I can only imagine how they operate in full-blown summer swimming season!!!

Nor recommended at all. We went to Bermuda a couple of years ago, and while the place was also expensive, everything was well organized and everyone acted professional and courteous.