ATLANTIS "Wrist Bands" for Day~use of facilities?

[dreamflight99]

Once again...I find myself becoming a bit confused by the numerous excursions and options available for "experiencing" ATLANTIS on Paradise Island. We are taking the four-day cruise, and plan to enjoy ATLANTIS while docked at Naussau. We are aware of the TAXI transportation. However, we can not decide about the BEST way to "DO" Atlantis.

We have read SO many posts about the resorts available for DAY-RENTAL, which include the full use of the pool/beach/acquarium, etc. YET...we have also read there are "WRIST BANDS" available for purchase @ approx. $35 per person, which permit the use of ALL ATLANTIS facilities. Can ANYONE please tell me MORE about this (such as, where to purchase, the true cost, what these include,etc.)?

Any and all assistance is greatly appreciated! Please, feel free to PM me with insider tips/info. Thank you!

 

[cjsmith]

I've never read anything on any of the boards about being able to buy wristband for $35 to use all of the facilities at The Atlantis. Has anyone ever done this? It sure would have saved me money!
Carolyn

 

[nyloc]

There USED TO be a day access program at Atlantis, way back before the Royal Towers came on stream.

It is no more, not even for well connected locals.

Unfortunately there are still dated postings out there which come up from time to time.

The only solution if you want to have full use of the facility is to get a room at Atlantis or Comfort Suites.

 

[WDWLVR]

My DH (MarkRG) has posted many times about the wrist bands you can get at Atlantis for $25. These are not for use of the facilities, but will allow you to view the dig and walk around the entire complex. You cannot, however, use the pools and water slides with these. There are different color wrist bands that are given out for hotel guests so that they can use these facilities.

Hope this clears things up.

 

[sbrownell]

I just booked a room for 4 at the Atlantis thru excite.com for $195 a day plus tax a service charge. Works out to a bit more the $50 a person for a full day at the Atlantis and full use of all facilities. You can check in early and get use of everything. Based upon the excursion fees, this isn't too bad for 4 people.

 

[DawnL]

We were on the 3/30 Wonder and booked a room at the Comfort Suites for approx. $165 with tax. We checked in by 10:00 a.m. and they gave us tickets to give to one of the towel stands by the pool. We walked over to the Atlantis and would not have been able to exit the hotel to the pool area without these tickets. They had 2 people stationed at the door checking. When we gave these tickets to the towel person, she then gave us our wrist bands.
We spent the day at the pools and they did come around a couple of times to check for wrist bands. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't great the day we were there, very cool and windy that the beach was even closed, so the kids didn't get to too many of the slides. All in all, it is a beautiful resort, but huge and all the pools and slides are spread out all over the place. It was one of those, I'm glad we did it, but once is enough kind of days.

 

[disneyholic family]

exactly the way i felt and feel....
glad we did it but i would never do it again....i'd much rather relax on the ship....
but surprisingly, my kids (15 and 18 at the time) said they would like to do the slides and pools again the next time we cruise....
weird....
as for spending the $25 just to walk around the complex and see the aquarium.....i can't imagine anything less worth the money..
while it is indeed a nice resort, it's still just a resort...
and the aquarium isn't anything special if you've been to any decent ocean aquarium....
no way would i spend the money to just walk around the place...

 

[cjsmith]

I agree about the rip off of paying $25 just to see The Dig and walk around the property. We've been to way too many aquariums to be excited about the Dig and were glad that entrance was included with our day room at The Atlantis. Had I paid the money to walk in, I would have been pretty annoyed.

I also agree with the other posters. While my 3 kids loved their day at The Atlantis and using the pool, slides, etc., I won't do it again. I'm also glad that we stayed there for the day and pre-checked it out since I was going to go for a 5 day stay and now won't do that. While the slides are nice, I've been to much better places, including those right in my own back yard of Naples, Florida.

It was fun though for the experience of seeing my kids going down the slides and through the shark tanks all the while taping the expressions on their faces!

 

[sbrownell]

I guess I have a different perspective on this. I would and are doing it again. Instead of staying at the Comfort suites for $175.50 a night, we got a $195 rate at the Altantis. Since the ship we are on doesn't leave until after midnight, we will use the rooms, maybe even eat dinner there. My two kids loved it. They enjoyed everything there is to do there including shuffle board, floating in the lazy river (not quite the Disney park water park lazy river), the water slides, playing pingpong on a cement slab, the dig was really cool (and we didn't even get to see most of it as we walked thru it on our way out). The aquarium is fantastic, even though it's not up to snuff with ours here in La Jolla, it is really cool. I too would not do a five day trip here, but this is a great stop in Nassau instead of shopping in a town that is similar to Tijuana.

My kids are so excited to go back.

 

[disneyholic family]

if we ever go back and my kids want to do the pools/slides again, i would definitely take a room at the atlantis rather than comfort suites....

 

[nyloc]

OK ... "official" word.

Atlantis day room policy is an on and off thing which started fairly recently.

It's a great deal (as CJ and others have stated) if you can get it ... but it's essentially a walk-up program.

Agreed, Atlantis is superior to Comfort Suites as a facility. Comfort Suites is Comfort Suites but it's hardly a dump. OK ... maybe in comparison. But I've stayed there many times with my family and place visiting dignitaries from work (all Europeans) there all the time and have never had a bad experience - within expectations.

All this to say ...

IF you want a day experience at Atlantis you either have to plan ahead and book an "overnight" or take your chances with the Atlantis "standby".

Don't get me started on the snide remarks about Nassau being the equivalent of Tijuana.

 

[sbrownell]

I must say that when I said Nassau /Tijuana I was completely wrong. Nassau, when we were there was clean, the people were friendly and the town was no where near the poverty stricken outskirts of Tijuana. However, with that said, I personally would rather spend the day at the beach/pool/slides than walking thru town on a hot sticky day shopping. Just my personal preference. But - Nassau is a beautiful town with wonderful townspeople. NOT Tijuana.

 

[cjsmith]

Like I originally stated on another thread, the day rooms are wonderful, but you are taking your chances, which Nyloc just confirmed. For me it was the way to go because I had 5 people in my family and both the Atlantis and Comfort Suites will only let you have 4 people per room. On the days where they really check and will only give you the amount listed on your room id, this would have not worked for me. I'm sure the Atlantis is much more stringent on checking on those days where there are cruise ships in.
If I had only 4 people in my party, I probably wouldn't chance it and would pre book a room at either resort if I had my heart set on spending the day at The Atlantis.
Carolyn

 

[dreamflight99]

Thank you for all the information and assistance with this question. Yet, does anyone have any experience or opinion on the DISNEY EXCURSION to ATLANTIS which includes the BEACH access (yet excludes the pool)?

I just received an email from Atlantis for a 3 eve stay for the rate of $299! It included a free SPA certificate and a free Discovery camp pass. Not bad for three eves in the tower, is it? It's good through Sept. '03.

Does anyone know how late the Wonder stays docked here? DD is going on the 7:00 teen cruise, and DH and I may return to the ship for dinner. Is it worth the price of the room to stay the day, and return about 6:00? What's the earliest we are able to disembark the ship? Is the straw market worth a visit?

Thanks again, for all the wonderful help with this matter. You guys, as always, are the BEST source for information on the Disney Cruise line!

 

[disneyholic family]

i wouldn't think about the atlantis in terms of how much time i can spend there (i much prefer the ship to atlantis any day).....
if there are things you would like to do there, then it's worth it, if not, it's not....
we got up at a reasonable time on nassau day and went to the sit down breakfast in tritons (i much prefer being served my meals over eating at buffets......and you can order as much as you want at tritons, so it's not as if you get less food there)....
then we went back to our stateroom, changed, packed up the day pack, took our passports, key cards, one credit card, and some cash and headed down to get off the ship at about 10:00 i think it was....
we walked out to where a local police officer was standing, asked him where the taxis were, found a driver who happened to have a limo but charged us the same amount as for a taxi and off we went to the comfort suites...
we had to wait in a short line behind a large family who were actually checking in (as opposed to just there for the day).....then we checked in, got the coupon for atlantis, headed over there, walked in and were initially overwhelmed by the size and number of people (it was july 5th of 4th of july weekend, and the place was packed....it's the size of a gigantic vegas hotel and seems to hold at least as many people.....it's actually about 4 or 5 huge hotels that have been merged into one....)...
we finally found our way to where you get the wristbands....headed over to the mayan area, put our stuff down on chairs and headed for the slides for about an hour and a half....
after that we spent about an hour at the lazy river by the coral towers (the building where we'd come in to begin with), then when my 2 kids said they'd had enough (plus there was a large local high school class that was about to join us in the lazy river, that we'd had to ourselves up to that point) so we headed back to the comfort suites, checked out, got into a van cab and went back to the ship, ordered room service which arrived just as we all finished showering, chowed down (really yummy tuna sandwiches) and finally headed for the walt disney theatre for a showing of lilo & stitch on the big screen)...
so,..
all in all we spent about 3 hours at atlantis.....for about $300 (comfortsuites +surcharge for kids over the age of 15 + taxes + round trip taxi)......probably many people would say that it wasn't worth it...but we had a really lovely time.....so yes it was worth it to us.....spending more time there wouldn't have made it any more worthwhile for us (it was cheaper than the 4 of us going to a broadway or vegas show)....my point being, it's not how much time you spend there....it's a question as to whether you want to be there or not, regardless of what it costs....and whether it's worth it to you......that's a very subjective thing.....one man's junk is another man's treasure....
also, we enjoyed the drive there and back...although the resort is very close to the port, it's still an interesting drive.......and the drivers were very very nice and provided us with a bit of on the fly tourguiding...

finally, as to whether an excursion from the ship is worth it or not...
it depends on you.......it definitely would NOT have been worth it to us to pay money and be dragged in the heat around the atlantis.....in the end, it's just a resort....a very pretty one, but i wouldn't want to pay money to be taken on a tour....and then to add insult to injury, see the pools and slides i can't use...
as for beaches...i live 10 minutes from the mediterranean and haven't been swimming there in about 6 years....so i don't have to say that i wouldn't PAY to go to a beach....

 

[sbrownell]

Last time we went to the Atlantis, we got to the comfort suites around 10am or so. We were a group of 10, with 3 rooms there. We played at the pool, slides, beach, lazy river and play suffle board, ping pong, et. We needed to be back on board for dinner as one of the girls with us was celebrating her birthday and wanted to have dinner on the ship. So on our way out we rushed thru the aquairum/ dig and were disappointed that we hadnt done it sooner. We returned to the ship around 5pm and the traffic was a mess getting there. We wished we had more time there. This time, we are going on RCCL and actually got a room at Atlantis for 230 (includes everything, tax , fees, etc). and we will be staying later than before. Hope this helps.

I would imagine that the time of year you goes really does make a difference. If it is really crowded, I am one to leave earlier rather than later. We went in October, but will be going in June this year. Hope is not crowded.

 

[Fantasia Sam]

So if we want to just got to the Casino at Atlantis - can we just get a taxi over to the hotel and then back again - or would we need to do the excursion?

Still interested, like DF99, to learn about whether the excursions are worth it for Atlantis.

Thanks

 

[MarkRG]

Ok, I'll see if I can collect some questions all into one answer:

Yes, you can just take a taxi($4 per person, make sure the driver agrees to this up front!) over to Atlantis and back to the dock/town. There's plenty of them at both places.

Access to the casino and the main building is free.

You want to explore the whole resort and The Dig(aquarium) it's going to be $25 adults, $19 4-12, under 4 free. Go to the kiosk with the blue globe over it in the casino for wristbands and maps

The big problems with the official excursion are two.

First, the scary, usually looking overloaded boat launch, which drops you off a good ways away from Atlantis. The taxis will drop you off right at the front door.

Second is they really rush you thru. And while you are more than welcome to go back thru the resort on your own, after the first time on the guided tour, you're going to be too tired to do it again. We're talking miles of walking here.

Also, from what I remember seeing on a map of the tour the beach you're allowed to use on the end of the tour is in the lagoon inside the resort, not the oceanfront. I could be wrong about this part, someone please correct me if I am!

A lot of the rest has been talked over, but I'd like to interject my opinion on the resort. The resort is definitely worth seeing. I would still say The Dig is on par with a lot of better public aquariums out there. Sure there are better ones out there, but not that many. I'd also say the waterpark side is.. ok. If you're spending time at WDW before/after the cruise, you'd be better off taking a day at one of the waterparks there. If the kids just want to spend time in the water, stay shipboard for a bit and the pools up on deck 9 will be quite deserted. The ship stays docked for a long time, you can go exploring Nassau a bit later on as well.

Whatever you do, don't overplan! Take the day one step at a time and enjoy it! Cruises are suposed to be relaxing, after all.

 

[Fantasia Sam]

Thanks Mark for all the info - I was all set on an excursion and now I think I'll go for the taxi route do a bit of gambling and then may get a chance to look at the dig.