I just got back from a 5 night stay at Atlantis. My husband, 2 year old daughter and I stayed in the Royal tower. We also traveled with extended family (about 20 of us total). I am from San Diego and am used to traveling to nice, luxurious places. I was very excited to travel to Atlantis after reading reviews and researching Atlantis, but I was let down. I am not picky, but when I pay for a top notch vacation, I expect the best. I am not exagerating about any of what I am about to share with you. Where should I start:

CHECK IN: We arrived at the Royal tower and we waited for a person to check us in for about 20 minutes. Check in took forever (about an hour long). There were numerous problems. One of our rooms were ready, while the others were not. They expected us to stick around until a room was available. We were all seperated when we were promised rooms in the same tower. Some had to go over to the East tower, while others in the West tower. They even said one of us were staying at the Cove, which was not true. Many of our families rooms were not ready until 4:00 or 5:00 that day. Total waste of a day for them and they had young children with them who needed a nap. Now to the rooms.

ROOMS:
The rooms were horrible. We booked about 6 rooms and each one of them smelled like mildew. The rooms were very small and looked runned down. We had rooms in the West and East wing and this was the same for both. The rooms are very basic, not luxury at all. You cannot walk out to the balcony either. One of the rooms had an ocean view, but you couldnt open the sliding door to look outside. Even though the Royal tower is the center of the all, it takes forever to walk to the beach or pools. Be prepared to walk, walk, walk. If you have children, bring a stroller. It is a long walk to everywhere. You varely spend anytime in your room because it takes forever to walk from the room to the pools, beaches, and resturaunts.

POOLS:
There are many pools to choose from, but none have ocean view. To me the resort seemed more like a theme/water park then an upscale resort. Very Vegas style. The only pool that looked clean and relaxing was the Cove pool called Caines. The only problem is that you have to be a Cove resident and no kids allowed. There are too many pools and it is overwhelming. You cant enjoy a drink in the water either. There are children and families everywhere, so if you are on a honeymoon go tot he Cove or dont go to Atlantis at all. Not a romantic place. All pools close at 7:00pm. I know I like to enjoy the pool area at night, but your not allowed.

SERVICE:
Most everyone who works at the resort is slowwww. It takes them forever to take your order or deliver your drinks and food. Many of them expect a tip from you even though gratuity is added to your bill. My nephew got injured on the kiddy slide and was gushing blood out of his eye and it took the life guard 10 minutes to get to him. It didnt seem like the workers were there to serve you. many of them were rude when you asked a question, but not all. They will clean your room only upon request.

PRICES:
I am used to high prices, I live in San Diego and dine out regularly and to nice restuarunats, but I have never seen prices like this. Ridiculously priced! We were expected to spend money at Atlantis, but the prices here are like no other. We have been to New York and spent a lot of money on food and didnt have a problem because it was good quality food, and we are used to resort prices, but I have never seen anything like this. A small bottle of water was 5.00 and hamburger and fries were almost 30.00. A drink at the pool is at least 10.00. Buffet dinner is 52.00 a person. A bagel is almost 10.00. We even went to the local market and prices are expensive there too. I felt ripped offf and I know I was. I dont like the feeling of being taken advantage of and I know I was and could not do anything about it.
FOOD:
The resturaunts at Atlantis are not that good. The quality of the food is just ok. The buffet at the marketplace was decent. Mesa at the Cove was decent, but nothing special. For lunch, all there is to eat is fries, hamburgers, hotdogs and nachos. How much of this can you eat though. I am sick of the fried, fake food being served. Very commercial food. I think I lost weight while I was there because the food did not taste good. We went to town twice and ate at Senor Frogs, which was probably the best meal we had and Fish Fry which was disgusting. One of us actually got sick from it. I do not reccomend leaving the resort for food unless you go tot he market. Marina Village is a good place to eat, but very pricey and a far walk. Pool drinks are not good either. Very commericial pina coladas and daquiris.
NIGHTLIFE:
None. Don't leave the resort because there is nothing out there. Every store closes at 5:00 pm and it doesnt seem too safe. That is just my opinion. Senor Frogs one night was fun, but thats it. We walked the Marina Village every night that we got sick and tired of it. Nothing to do if you are looking for a fun time.
BEACHES: The only beach that is nice for swimming and lounging around is the one near the Cove. It is a long walk from the Royal tower though. This is where we hung out. My daughter could play in the sand and we sat in the water. The other side of the beach, by the casino smells and is not swimmable.The lagoon, which is like a fake beach smells and has mildew growing in it.
COMMUNICATION:
THere is none. Cell phones dont work in or around the hotel. We called our provider and even activated the international calling, but none worked. When we got off the resort, they worked. I reccomend taking walky taklkies or something, because the resort is huge and it is almost impossible to find your family. A collect call is soemthign like 20.00 a minute and calling cards can only be used in 1 area and there is always a line to use them.
OVERALL:
Atlantis is a rip off. I think it is hyped up too much. The landscape is nice, but nothing special. It reminds me of a Vegas hotel. The resort is not very kid friendly in my opinion when it cmes to restuaruants. We like eating good food and all the decent restuaruants do not allow children under 12 years old. So we were limited to eating at the buffets and bar and grills which were awful. I would much rather go to Cancun. Nicer beaches and water, resorts, and food in Cancun. When you walk up to your rooms and pass the Manta Rays and fish, it smells really bad, like the sewer. If you do stay at Atlantis, I would only stay at the Reef or Cove, they seemed like the only clean towers. I am happy to be home. As soon as I got to the U.S airport, I rushed to get something decent to eat. Never will travel to the Bahamas again. I will go to Cancun in a heartbeat comparing to Atlantis.
No luxury unless your at the Cove. Beaches are just ok and food is horrible. I really am not that hard to please when it comes to hotels and vacations, but I just dont want you to get ripped off like we did. If you ahve questions, please feel free to ask and I will give you my honest opinion.

Stayed at the Royal Towers July 2 - 12. Their celebration of our 4th of July was awesome.
Unlike other reviews we had read, our experience with the staff - everyone (housekeeping staff, bartenders, wait staff, life guards) - was friendly, courteous, well mannered, helpful and pretty much tried to please any request if asked.
The food and drinks are pricey, but at least they are all very good. In the end, we didn't mind the automatic 15% gratuity add-on because service was always excellent.
Water park is a lot of fun, slides are great, wait times not long at all. Lagoons are awesome, great snorkeling.
Hotel lobby is beautiful. Their "aquariums" are amazing, the marine life is just spectacular and is just a pleasure to look at.

The grounds, water venues, landscaping, interior design, aquarium life, and rides were phenomenal!! We enjoyed the tube rides every day, loved the foliage, music playing all over the grounds, plenty of chairs with sunshades by all the pools, great rapid river ride, great water slides, beauty everywhere! There's no solution for the expensive food. You are trapped on the island with $60. rountrip taxi rides to the mainland to purchase less expensive food. Overall the grounds are worth visiting at least once in your life. The Royal Towers were in a great location and beautiful hotels!

We had a wonderfull stay at the Atlantis ! We were a family of 6,mom,dad,grandma and kids,13,10 and 8.We were there for 5 nights 6 days. We used the car service "Celebrity" , very nice company and very prompt. We used them for arrival and departure. We had 2 adjoining rooms,clean,big and comfortable.We stayed on the 17th floor,ocean view, gorgeous !!!. Our stay was great , the service was great. The employees were very nice, laid back , but still very nice. The first thing to do is tour the property and learn your way around on the first day !! This will make navigating in this huge resort much better. And ask,ask,ask, any of the staff,for directions. It is better than trying to find your way around from solely the map that they give you .
We were on the gourmet food plan, which in our opinion was too much food ! It is worth it for those who like to have a gourmet sit -down dinner every night and then a nice big breakfast every morning. We ate at some very nice places that we would not have done off the food plan,but it was still too much food. We had dinners at:
Carmines- good food,huge portions,took some food back to room for next day lunch
Bahamian Club-very good food,normal portions,elegant setting
Great halls of Water-good food,smaller portions,beautiful aquarium setting.
Casa d'Angelo-great food !!! Loved everything about this place, fresh food, good portions .
Mosaic-high end buffet, very good as well. !!!! Everything from sushi to steaks,pasta,stir fry,salads, antipasto........
Our breakfast places were:
Mosaic- buffet,very good, our favorite for breakfast
Marketplace- buffet,good food
Murrays deli-sit down brakfast,just o.k.
Food is expensive there but if you do a little extra planning,it will not be that bad. We brought a collapsable cooler and bought waters and soda at a convenient station before arriving at the resort. Our driver "Farley " from the car service stopped there for us at no additional charge. We also requested a refrigerator in our room to keep the drinks and any leftovers from dinner cold. We would order the fresh friuit plate for dessert at dinner and have them wrap it up to take,. It made a great refreshing snack the next day at the beach. We also bought some individual bagged snacks,rice krispie treats, M&M's and Hershy kisses for the room, from home. Thiese things kept the kids happy !Pack them in your suit case in a hard plastic container and they wont get smashed.
We like the Cove beach the best and stayed there ,it was also close the the "baths" pool which was also our hang out. The slides were great and the "current" lazy river ride was also fun,but be careful because there are some rough water spots..
We did the Dolphin encounter at Dolphin Cay, the kids loved it . It is a 90 minute presentation from start to finish. This means about 30 minutes in the water with the dolphins.The pools were beautiful, the grounds were clean. It did get crowded at the pools by 9:30, so we would get there early and get our towels on beach chairs to assure our spots.
Shopping is very upscale and expensive on the resort, such as Guccie,Versace, Faconable,cartier,,,and so on. We did however take a ferryboat ride to Nassau and did a little shopping at the Straw Market. It was an experience but still fun. You can find some good deals on ,t-shirts, costume fun shell jewelery and things like this for a fraction of the price the resort had them for. We did take a taxi back . One way on the ferry was plenty !
The Dig is a must see , you walk through a under ground museum, engulfed with aquariums of beautiful sea life. Very soothing place to be. You can go through in about 10-15 minutes and it is open all day long.
All in all it was a great trip. Yes it is expensive,but worth the experience. We cannot wait to go again.