We stayed in the Royal Towers at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas. The resort is incredibly beautiful with many wonderful features. We loved the beaches, pools and the water attractions. The people were very nice.
What we didn't expect was the very high prices for gratuities and food. They attached automatic gratuities to the room, resulting in an extra $110 a day to stay. The resturants are very expensive. Chinese food can be as much as $35 a dish. We ate at a hamburger place called Johnny Rockets. The bill for two drinks and a salad and hamburger was $50. None of the food was that great. If you stay, it is worth it to travel into Nassau and eat. You will save a lot of money even with the taxi ride.

Just came back from a week at the Atlantis Hotel. Expect to wait for luggage for at least 30 minutes or more when you arrive at the airport. We took a taxi to the Atlantis and they charged $33. The ride last about 30-40 minutes .Upon arrival we were told the room would be ready in about 2 hours so my wife , son and I started to walk the property. The marine life in and around the property is mind boggling. I took so many photos of the manta rays, sharks, etc. Once we were given a room key we changed and off to the pool we went. Once we got settled in at the pool just outside the Royal Towers, my son and I decided to slide down the "Leap of Faith " . It is a vertical drop that you slide down into a pool surrounded by sharks. Of course the sharks are in a tank next to you on both sides. At first I was a little skeptical about slidng down a ramp at 60 mph but since my 11 yr old went for it, how could I not. It was exhilarating. From there we walked over to "The Current " . This is a mile long ride while you are sitting on tubes. There are parts where it becomes rapids and you are getting tossed around. It is so much fun. We did it about 8 times during our stay.
Lets talk about the room accomodations. First of all we were in a room with a view of the harbor. It was ok but next time we will have the water view room. The room itself on a 1 -10 scale is about a 7. I am used to staying in hotels like the Bellagio and the Wynn hotel in Las Vegas and the rooms are much better. Anyway there is a plasma TV in the room along with a mini bar if you ever get thirsty or hungry for a snack.
As far as dining is concerned bring alot of cash. The restaurants are expensive but there are few places that are somewhat reasonable. Murray's Deli in the Marina is very reasonable. The Pizzeria next to Murrays is about $7.00 for a slice and $35.00 for a pie. It was also very tasty and 2 slices will fill you up very easily. The Marketplace Buffet in the Royal Tower is about $50 a person and about $20 for children . The food was plentiful and tasted very good. The burgers and fries by the pool were very good and so were the tropical fruit smoothies.
Each day we would get up around 9:30am and I would go to the pool to place towels on lounge chairs. We usually showed up at the pool at 10:30 or so. My suggestion is you do the same otherwise your choice of seating will be very limited. The hotel employees are very friendly and nobody ever got in my face about anything regarding time shares. If you are interested in that they will certainly spend time with you.
On the 3rd day my little one complained that he was alittle sunburned so we decided to go to the "Straw Market" The cab only cost $4 a person and we were there in about 15 minutes. You should buy all your souvenir's in town. My wife purchased coffee mugs for $7.00 and the same ones at the Atlantis were $12 or higher. After spending 2 1/2 hours buying stuff we stopped off for Hagan das Ice cream and then back to the hotel.
The weather was outstanding during our stay. Mid 80's and sunny everyday. We just booked another stay for the 4th of July weekend for 4 nights.

We stayed April 22nd through April 29th....This was our second trip to Atlantis in as many years.....What does that tell you? My wife and I, and our two children now ages 8 and 10 headed back to Paradise for their Spring Break vacation this year. Last years trip was as close to perfect as one could get so this year we had extremely high expectations. Well, it was just as good if not better! The rooms, and grounds are immaculate, the pools and slides are as good or better than any hotel or amusement park, and the staff was friendly and polite. The wait staff was so courteous and everyone truly seemed interested in making sure we were having a good time.

We stayed in room 11536 which is on the 11th floor, ocean front in the Royal Towers. It was perfect. Clean, priceless view, comfortable beds, nice size bathroom. We slept with the large sliding door wide open all week to the sounds of the ocean and temperatures around 70. There was never a fly or mosquito to be found???Well stocked mini bar.

The Royal Towers are the most centrally located rooms in a resort that encompasses a lot of landscape.

Everyone on this site seems to make a big deal about the prices of the food??? These prices are no more than the prices in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, South Beach, NYC....

We ate dinner at Mesa Grill, Carmines, The Poop Deck, Marketplace, Anthony's Grill, Atlas Grill. All but the Atlas Grill were very good to Fantastic, with Poop Deck and Mesa are top shelf.....Dinner for 4 never broke 200 bucks, (to be fair, 2 meals were often off the kids menu, and just the adults ate at Mesa). Breakfast was always at Marketplace, a breakfast buffet could not be better and have more choices than this place. Breakfast 80 bucks for 4 daily.

Lunch was pool side each day and was definitley on the light side, (we were still full from breakfast) Pizza, fries, nachos, hot dogs, salads, etc. We never spent more than 40 bucks for lunch for the 4 of us each day.

We sent the kids down to pick out chairs a few of the days around 8 am before we went to breakfast but it turned out to be unnecessary as other days we showed up to the pool areas and beaches around 10ish and never had a problem getting 2 chairs next to each other.

The casino was similar to Vegas and AC..

We were told the hotel was at 92% capacity during our stay....So much for a Recession!!!!!

Once again the kids liked the slides the best and my wife and I really enjoyed the River ride as well as the pools and beaches.

This is also the second year we spotted a "star." We ran into one of the "Wizzards of Waverly Place" at one of the restaurants who was nice enough to take pictures with a few of the patrons.

I really could go on and on about the place and we will almost certainly be going back again next year..........................What else could I say???

If somone knows of another resort that has all this stuff for around the same price, please let me know I would love to try it out.........
...........

Spent four days at the Atlantis with my wife and 11 month old son and we had a good time. Overall we thought the resort was great.

I thought the service level was pretty good, especially for the Caribbean where I am generally used to getting subpar service by US standards...everything seems to be slower in the Caribbean. Our room was pretty standard, and a good size. They had a great set of water slides, a bunch of different pools and at least two beaches. Also, a really amazing aquarium, one that I would be happy paying admission to see in the US. I thought the food was good--they had a good collection of restaurants and even the snack bar fare was above average. Another good thing about the Bahamas is that there is no language barrier, and they use US currency. But there are some downsides that people should be aware of.

The place is an absolute zoo: I didn't mind the fact that it was crawling with kids because I had a baby of my own with me. In addition to the kids they tend to have activities in near the pool such as bingo and trivia which features an emcee blaring over a PA. So, if you are looking for a relaxing vacation, one where you can sit by the pool and chill, this is probably not the ideal place for you.

Getting Around: It is definitely kid friendly, with the waterpark, kids club, kiddie pools, etc, but it is not very baby friendly. I say this because I found the biggest headache was getting around the resort with a stroller. There are stairs everywhere, and very few ramps. I got a great workout carrying my son in his stroller everywhere. I can't imagine someone getting around the resort in a wheelchair.

Prices: I heard about the astronomical cost for things before I went, but even as someone that lives in Manhattan I was stunned by some of the prices. When on vacation you just go ahead and pay what they charge, but you should know what you are in for before you go. We have eaten at Carmines in NY and the one here, and it seemed that the mark up at Atlantis was about 60-70%. Probably the most outrageous example was the $9+ liter bottle of water.

Dinner: You better make sure you have reservations well in advance if you want to eat at any of the good sit down restaurants. We went to Carmines right when it opened one night and were told that there is a 60 minute wait despite the restaurant being 2/3 empty at the time with no one else waiting. We had a reservation another night for Chopstix and heard the couple ahead of us get turned away despite the restaurant being half empty at the time. Usually when on vacation I like to see where the day (or night) takes me, but you definitely have to plan ahead here.

Operating times for the pool: This was a minor issue, but the pools didn't open until after 9am and they closed at 5 I think. Normally, I wouldn't care, but with a baby we were up at 6AM, and ready to head down there. The waterpark slides didn't start running until at least 11am. It would have been nice to get a few rides in a little earlier before the pool got crowded and the lines got really long (usually a ~20 min rate per ride).