We (myself, my wife and our 3 year old daughter) stayed in the Coral Towers for 4 nights during the second week of April. While I can't say that our experience was horrible, I'm pretty sure we won't be rushing back to Atlantis anytime soon.

The resort is huge. Seriously, seriously huge. Too huge. The size wouldn't normally have been a problem, but we found that navigating the many stairs, both inside and out, was very difficult with a stroller. Add to this the fact that the outdoor pathways are somewhat maze-like, and we routinely spent 20 minutes just trying to find our way from one pool to the next. I can't imagine how (or why) someone in a wheelchair would do it.

The pools and slides are fantastic and pretty much as advertised (though I'm not sure what is with the pools all closing at 5 p.m. - people scared to swim in the dark in the Bahamas??). Unfortunately, the Mayan slide was closed the entire time we were there and I actually heard a manager arguing with another customer at check-out, denying that any of the slides were out of operation. Not sure if he was lying or just misinformed.

That brings me to one of our two biggest gripes about the place - the level of service. While some people on this site have raved about the service, we found it to be abysmal. Other than the clerk at check-in, we found the staff in the stores and restaurants to be generally disinterested and, at times, borderline belligerent. I can't help but think that the 15% automatic gratuity on EVERYTHING is because the service is so bad that nobody would otherwise tip and the resort would be unable to retain any employees. And yes, I understand the whole "island time" thing, but this went way beyond relaxing and going with the flow. If someone is going to charge me the same price for a room that I would pay at a 4S, the service better be at least marginal.

The other big shock was the price of the food. I had read about it on Tripadvisor and thought I was prepared, but was frankly blown away despite the fact that we flew in directly from Disney. $68 for a piece of fish? Are you kidding? Is it magical gold plated fish? Does it sing and dance? I live in the middle of land locked Alberta and can get a fantastic seafood dinner at a high end restaurant for a fraction of that price. Come on - grab a friggin' fishing pole and walk 50 feet to the beach.....

Our room was generally fine. It seemed to be relatively clean, if dated, but there were no significant issues (provided you wore socks and didn't look to closely at the carpet). Housekeeping was a bit haphazard - some days they would come at 10 a.m., other days, 4 p.m. But, we could rest assured that at 7:30 every morning, someone would bang a vacuum into our door while cleaning the hallway. This, even after we stole a "Do Not Disturb" sign from a neighbour because ours was missing. Also, it was a bit like Christmas in the sense that we didn't know what we would receive from housekeeping in the bathroom each day - some days, we would get a bath mat. Others, not so much. One day we received no hand towels - just a stack of wash cloths. We went to bed each night in eager anticipation of what the next day's haul would bring us.

I'm not sure why, but they keep the common indoor areas freezing. I'm confident that the lounge area in the Coral Tower was cold enough to hang meat. I like A/C as much as the next guy, but there's a limit. And I'm from Canada, for Pete's sake.

The other thing I found odd was that you couldn't find a cold bottled water or beverage in any of the stores. The had drinks, but they were all warm, sitting on the shelves. No refrigeration whatsoever. So, you either had to go to one of the bars and pay an inflated price (plus a 15% gratuity), hunt around for an ice machine (never did find one) or pay the extra inflated min-bar prices. I can't help but think this is deliberate since I found a nicely stocked refrigerator with beverages in the (much more expensive) Reef Tower sundry store during one of my many lost wanderings. I guess if you only pay $500 a night, you get to drink warm water.

We had a celebrity sighting while we were there. No, not Brad Pitt - Corey Feldman! While a D list celebrity sighting may not be on the top of your list of exciting vacation experiences, please bear in mind that I was delirious from not eating for 4 days out of principle. Ah, who am I kidding - I loved The Goonies!

I went diving with Stuart Cove a couple of the days. The on-board crews were great but, again, the local staff running the shop were a bit of a gong show. At one point, everything ground to a halt for 10 minutes while 3 of them (including one with a name tag identifying her as the company accountant) tried to figure out how to ring in a hot dog and soda. Seriously - I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried. That said, if you're a diver, you really should do the shark adventure - it was very cool.

Anyhow, I could go on but I think you probably get the flavour. Not the worst vacation experience we've had, but certainly not even in the top 15. And, considering what this joint charges, that's just not good enough.

This was the 4th time we had been there but WOW, when did it get so expensive. We ended up getting a Villa right near the Lazy River and Goombay Waterslide. It was great for the kids we could walk right out our door and sneak right into the lazy river. The Goombay Waterslide was broken the entire time and the pyramid slides were broken until the last day we were there (we stayed for 6 days). Everything was wonderful except for the cost of the food. $6.50-$7.50 for a beer, the food was out of this world priced. Walk down to Anthony's, great breakfast and lunch, there is also a liquor store there. I bought a case of beer and brought it back to the room, by doing this I saved $140.00 right there. In addition, we did win $4,800.00 in the casino! The kids had an absolute blast and it was not that crowded.

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.