The 8 of us--w families with 2 college-aged kids apiece knew ahead of time that this was a big-budget type of place. We knew about the glitz and Vegas-on-the beach atmosphere. We were also prepared to pay big $$ for food. That being said, Atlantis is a unique place. The planning of all the aquatic and marine life exhibits, the pools, beaches, lovely atmosphere the well-maintained grounds, fun water attractions and variety of things to do and see make it very appealing, vacation destination. But the price of food is SO outrageous!! I have traveled to Europe, the Caribbean, across the US and Mexico and have never encountered prices like this. And we were lucky--b/c we won a nice amount of $$$ in the casino to help defray food costs!! I understand that the overhead to run this place must be enormous. The staff (all of whom --from security guards, to wait staff to concierges to marine life experts) were attentive and plentiful. There is always someone to help guide you or answer your questions. So, in order to pay for this gargantuan staff, impressive grounds and facilities--the money must come from somewhere. Maybe that’s why the food is so expensive. It's almost as if the Atlantis has its own currency rate. Even Disney isn't this costly. Management here MUST take heed and do something about this. Although we had a wonderful time overall, the cost of dining on property put somewhat of a damper on the experience.

This was the most expensive hotel I have ever stayed in, but it was worth it, at least once. We stayed at the Coral Tower and the room was ready when we got there. I had booked a standard view, but was very happy with our ocean/hotel grounds view. I could see the beach and the sharks swimming around the lagoon. I used my 15 free minutes of internet access most days. And it was located very close to my room. We ate at the Marketplace buffet one night. It was nearly 50 dollars a person and not worth it. The restaurant located near the lagoons served good lunch. We ate most meals off property. The food was better and cheaper.

The water slides are what makes this hotel special and worth staying at. I loved all the slides and the current. I never had to wait in much of a line, 10 minutes tops. I was disappointed that they close the slides so early every day. The pools were large and usually the water was warm.

All the fish and sharks on property to view were nice. I also loved the beach in front of the coral towers. The waves were large. Tip: Bring a float from home. I did and it was so much fun riding the waves. There is no snorkeling from shore.

All the boat trips I took were just a short walk from the hotel. I took the Dolophin swim trip, The powerboat trip to the exumas, and the Seahorse snorkeling trip. All were good, but the powerboat trip was the best. I loved the drift snorkel. I also took the Stuart's Cove trip were you make 3 stops with the last being with reef sharks. I got a lot of good pictures and sharks did get fairly close.

I intend to return, maybe in 2009, but next time will stay at the cheaper Comfort Suites but still have access to all of Atlantis's water activites.

This was our 3rd year in a row coming to Atlantis. After our experience this year, we won't be going back. We never had any problems the first two years but ALOT has changed. Let me tell you what our experience was this year. On arrival into our room, we noticed small ants on the baseboard and night table. When we called the front desk to change our room, they said they would have someone come and spray the room. We told them we didn't want to smell the spray all night so they said they had another room we could look at. So we said we wanted to look at the room first and went down and got a key and guess what- the room they had available had small ants in the bathroom! We went down and told them we did not want a room with ants and the manager basically said too bad. She was very rude to my husband. I couldn't believe that a place that charges as much as they do, would have a manager that doesn't care about their guests. So we decided to live with the ants and just try to not have any food in the room that would attract them. The next disappointment was that all of the Mayan Temple slides were closed. They said a pump was broken and didn't know when it would be fixed. We were there for 5 nights and it didn't get fixed. I felt like we had be ripped off. My son was heartbroken. Also the other slides didn't open until 11:00 and closed at 5:00! Since the other slides were broken, the lines to the ones that worked were 45 minutes long or more. The next thing we noticed was that the prices of their food has skyrocketed since last year. They consider a kid who is 12 to be an adult. So the breakfast buffet is $25 for adults and $13 for under 12. So a family of 4, (with 2 kids-one is 15 and one is 11) we paid $102 for breakfast (that includes the mandatory 15% gratuity). We also noticed half of the bahamian people this time had bad attitudes. They just didn't want to be nice. Also make sure if you take a taxi to or from the airport that you ask how much it will cost BEFORE you get in. It only cost us $32 from the airport, but we didn't ask when we left to go back to the airport and got in the taxi. Once we were in we asked, he said $45 and I said What? I told him that it shouldn't be that much and what we paid before. And he said that is not true. I told him that was what we paid and he basically said I was lying. I will never make that mistake again. Always ask BEFORE you or your luggage gets in. Anyways, there were a few things that were still good. We still loved looking at all of the fish in the aquariums. The weather was nice. We enjoyed the beach. They lazy river (next to Coral Towers) was relaxing. There are some cool bridges and waterfalls. The scenery is nice to look at. But for the amount of money and hassles and disappointments we had this year, my kids said they were ready to go home and they never had said that the other 2 years.

Booked Beach Towers room but upgraded for free due to overbooking- no complaints here. The rooms were very nice, no complaints; Beach Tower rooms seemed comparable; only difference was location (we were in main bldg but Beach towers are on the beach). The property itself was amazing with all of the aquariums, pools and waterslides; loved that i didn't have to leave the resort & never got bored. Staff was polite and well-trained, but I didn't like having to show security my guest room card/key to walk the property and signing in to use beach chairs that I had to drag myself- slightly annoying for what you're paying to stay here. The food prices are ridiculous at the Atlantis and the quality mediocre. I believe the breakfast buffet was ~$50 USD for 2. The restaurant with the aquarium view was neat though. Exit the hotel and go across the street to the strip mall for duty-free liquors and a cute restaurant, Anthony’s. Venture off Paradise Island to eat. There's a great Italian restaurant on the water-amazing (www.lucianosnassau.com)! The Straw Market was fun too.

Overall, I would definitely go back to Atlantis and would book a Beach Tower room again (no big difference), but I'd eat and shop elsewhere.