Recently returned from a 6 day stay at the Atlantis, Paradise Island and stayed in the Coral Tower with my wife and daughter. I'll start with the Good: weather was terrific; pools and grounds were tremendous, which include an enourmous "lazy" river that contains "rapids" and is attached to water slides, many choices of pools, as well as large water park type play area for children and all are staffed by lifeguards; beach is nice with wave runners available to rent. Our Oceanview room in the Coral Tower was clean and adequate, however, nothing great. In addition to the above, there is really no reason to leave the Atlantis property as everything that one would need is available there, however, at a cost. Activities include rock climbing wall, and swimming with dolphins. Finally, entire facility seemed clean and all employees seemed to be nice, obviously if treated in kind. Of note, the Coral Towers are connected to the Royal Tower as well as the Beach Tower. Very nicely located as the grounds are very spacious.
The BAD: the cost of "food". Paying for gourmet but not getting gourment. Finally: FERGIE - excellent! - higlight of the trip.

My husband and I went to Atlantis for our 1 year anniversary.

Here is the good and bad of it.
Good- They upgraded us right away from the Beach Towers to the Coral Towers (a little nicer but at the cheaper price). We got to our room, which was nice and charming. Nothing to exciting. And since we were on LA time (3 hours behind) we were starving. We ordered room service which was AMAZING. Best french fries I think I have ever had. Food was delicious, presented very well.
When I woke up in the morning and went outside, I got a great surprise. There were black sharks directly next to our outside balcony in a very thin lagoon. Crazy that no signs were posted! And they were so tame and calm. My husband actually touched one and it just chilled. There were actually 5 sharks huddled together! And a beautiful side view of the ocean. Very nice. Pools were every where and beautiful. Beach was empty and stunning. The entire location is sooo romantic and gorgeous to look at and walk around. We really loved it. We never got bored, always something fun to look at and walk to. The water slides were fun and all the wildlife was lovely. We didn't gamble but walked through the casino. It was perfect for gambling if you want to do that. We went to the nightclub which was OK. Well designed, fun music. A little bit of an uncomfortable crowd, but that is what it is like when you travel sometimes.

BAD- The housekeeping people were EXTREMELY loud. And since we were 3 hours behind, it was 4am for us (7 am their time) when we started to hear them yelling/talking in the hallways for the next 3 hours. It was incredibly annoying. I complained to the management and there was no change. For the first 3 days of our trip I was awoken by this and it was pretty awful. (The next 2 days we stayed at the Cove- review on that under the Cove)
All the food at Atlantis is INCREDIBLY expensive. We didn't do the food plan (knowing that we eat less than most people/ and enjoy very high quality food). But we were amazed how expensive it was (And I eat in Beverly Hills all the time/so I am used to expensive food). The bathroom is a bit small (but fine for the price). No other complaints!!!!!!!

Stayed at the Atlantis Resort week of April 14, family of 5 (kids 9-7-4). Overall we had a great time, but as many reviewers have posted, the food is insanely expensive. We knew this going in, so we planned accordingly. So some tips:

1) Pack water or other beverages in your checked luggage. For us, we packed a 12pk of Mt Dew, four 10 pks of juice boxes, 12 20oz waters, and 16 8oz waters. We distributed these among our checked luggage to keep the weights down below 50 lbs for each pc of checked luggage.

2) Pack snacks and other dry food goods in your carry-ons. We packed things like Teddy Grahams, PopTarts, Dole Fruit Cups, NutriGrain bars, etc. Enough for the stay, and in case the kids got the munchies at the airport or at the pools. By doing this we simply ate breakfast in the room, and since the kid's snacked during the day at the pool.. no one got hungry for lunch. Our food bill for 6 days/nights, family of 5 at the resort was less than $700.

3) Pack a collapsable cooler. Fill with ice each morning and take your beverages with you to the pools. No one asked any questions, and didn't seem to mind.

4) Bring beach toys from home if you can. You'll pay a premium at the resort for something you can get at Walmart.

5) Do eat at Bimini Road. Best food we had for the price. Other economical food choices are the pizzaria and Johnny Rockets. We did eat at the Great Hall Cafe... not worth the money. There is also Anthony's Grill (not associated with Atlanthis) which is located just outside the resort near the entrance. Good food and decent prices.. There's also a Quizno's right next door. Over the bridge there's an Outback and Domino's.

We did do the timeshare presentation for Harborside Villas. Only because they gave us $125, tee's for the kids, and a 6X8 Atlantis photo frame. Had to give up 3 hours of our time though. Do it in the morning if you are so compelled, the resort pools and rides don't open until 11AM and close at 6pm. Beaches are open all evening as they are considered public, just be aware there are no lifeguards or beach attendants on duty after 6pm.

Would we go back... probably... but not for another 3-4 years. Atlantis is in a 7-phase development project, and have only completed thru Phase 3.

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.