I’d seen the commercials for years- the one with the kids plastered up against massive aquarium walls, staring in awe as schools of tropical fish swam past or the one with the guy taking the plunge down the slide through the shark-infested lagoon. I never took the bait. I just never felt a pull to go to Atlantis. Watching those scenes just made me certain what an overly commercialized tourist trap of a place it must be. So when I found out the kids had a four-day weekend for President’s Day, and lacking sufficient time to plan a “real vacation”, I decided we might as well go ahead and try Atlantis. Turns out there are tons of things to do and the resort really does appeal to all ages. Our tweens still leaned heavily toward the child-friendly adventures, casting an interested, yet wary, eye at the teen dance club that awaits them should we decide to venture back in another year.

Show me the money!

Ok so first…….Atlantis is dang expensive! The only deal I found was the $5 bottle of White Dawn hairspray. Are you with me 80’s ladies? I was rocking the White Dawn for $5. Major deal. Everything else. Not so much. I highly recommend you pack a bag of snacks, sunscreen, and even waters or mixers and bring it with you. You can have a mini-fridge delivered to your room for free. Soooooo worth it. They give you two vouchers per day for free bottles of water but we either lost them or were not in the right place to retrieve them. Hint on room service- they charge $4 per person for room service which is a bit of a weird surcharge so be prepared.

The dolphins really are worth it!

Yes it’s expensive to swim with the dolphins but have I mentioned that everything at Atlantis is expensive? It would be the perfect present for a dolphin-loving child but in truth our entire family loved it. We opted for the deep water experience and I will say there is nothing like being pushed through the water by a dolphin.

Nobu is awesome!

If you love sushi you will love Nobu. World-renowned chef Nobu Matsuhisa’s restaurant at Atlantis serves up some creative and super fresh Japanese dishes. We ate there two nights in a row and I easily could have gone back for a third.

The beach is not! 
Having grown up vacationing on the powdery white sand beaches of the Florida panhandle, I’m a bit spoiled when it comes to great beach experiences. Unfortunately, the beaches didn’t look a thing like they do on the website and they were overflowing with drunken day trippers from the nearby cruise ships. On a related note, prepare yourself to navigate through the hoards of cruise boat tourists who flock to Atlantis on day passes. The good news is at night they’re gone! Although marijuana is illegal in the Bahamas, it’s fairly common so be prepared to answer when your kids ask, “what’s that smell?”

The water park is a lot of fun!
We all really enjoyed the water park and didn’t find it to be nearly as crowded as the beach. The kids loved The Abyss slide that shoots you down a 50 foot vertical drop but I don’t think I’ll be signing up for that one again anytime soon!

The catamaran snorkel trip is fun…..but the water was cold!!
We signed up to take a snorkel boat trip just a little way off shore for some open water snorkeling. There were plenty of fish to see but the water was cold! My daughter refused to even get in at the second stop so it might be worth asking about the water temperature before booking.

A comment about our room.
We stayed in the Royal Tower which is in the center of the all the activity which we enjoyed. We got a harbor view room and we all really enjoyed watching the cruise ships arrive and depart each day from our balcony.