One of my favorite trips Tigh has taken me on was to the Bahamas!
We stayed for 12 days at the Harborside Resort.
Now, when asked to do this blog and review places we stayed and my tips, etc, I concluded I would be 100% honest. Pros and Cons to each trip will be noted.
Since I wasn't planning on doing reviews on these trips, I never really took photos of our suites or anything. Now, I will be sure to include ALL the info needed!
ANYWAY,
Our trip to Atlantis was stressful at first. This was trip we chose to bring our two daughters on! My baby was only 9 months old, and my sweet Char was 3, almost 4! So, OCD me, I had everything ready to go and then I had a HUNCH to check customs requirements, etc. When we booked our airfare, we asked if our girls needed passports, "Oh no! Not at all," Said the sweet woman on the other end of the phone, "all you need is their birth certificate!" Well, done and done. However, much to my dismay, I did my research, called all sorts of different numbers to verify the terrifying, not-wanting-to-accept info I had just acquired via the Nassau government website, and our sweet girls did, in fact, need passports! Strike me down, so help me, I was in a panic! T-minus 49 hours till departure and having already purchased airfare for our one daughter, PLUS airfare for my sister/trip-nanny, PLUS an additional room for said sister/trip-nanny, leaving the girls home was NOT an option! Especially when you have a 9 month old baby! I was not, in any way, prepared to say goodbye to my sweetie for 12 days! Mom's need time to prepare for these things (ahem, dads...)! So, being as efficient as my Tigh is, we paid the $900 needed to get our girls' passport done via government "express" and they got to us THE DAY we were leaving! 3 p.m. Fed Ex knocked on my door and 10:30 p.m. our flight left! It. Was. Nuts. So, tip #1. MAKE SURE EVERYONE HAS PASSPORTS! Even the babies!
I don't remember much of the flight. We flew from SLC to Chicago, to Frt. Lauderdale then onto Nassau. Truly, moms, just take melatonin with you to relax your kiddies on these flight. All natural, but a total lifesaver! (for you and everyone else on board!)
**Awesome side story: On our flight from Florida to Nassau, I had my sweet baby Stella on my lap, and I was seated next to this very deliciously, dark man who was from Nassau. Stella kept STARING! I mean, REALLY staring! I couldn't figure out why at first, but the sweet man piped up and said with a huge grin, "She is cute. And don't worry, there's a first time for everyone..." --Stella had never seen dark skin before! Thank GOODNESS we travel! I informed him we were from Utah and we all died laughing!**
The ride from the airport to our resort was about 45 minutes. We brought our girls' car seats along which were easy to use in the vans. It cost about $30.
Now, onto the FUN stuff...This was our resort:
^^ Click and it takes you to Trip Advisor ^^
Atlantis is in the Background, which is amazing! Harborside is the beautifully colored buildings in front. Separating the two is a small body of water you can't see from this view. Shuttles run every 5 minutes and it takes no more than 5 minutes to get to the main building.
Staying at Harborside, daily passes to the Aquaventure Water Park are included (at least for us, they were. terms may change) Go ahead, just TRY to tell me that isn't the dang coolest water park EVER! We had a BLAST!
They have 11 different pool areas throughout the water park. One is JUST FOR KIDS! Which I absolutely loved:
It's quite large, very shallow waters, but still enough to splash around in. And did I mention the have LIFE JACKETS for the kids at every pool?? Plus life guards. Seriously, talk about putting a mother's heart to rest!
Except, sweet Stella's was too big ;)
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| You laughed, too...I know it. |
I would recommend one of those swimsuits with built-in life jackets for the younger than 18 months crowd. No, I don't know what they're called...I'm a good mom like that.
Probably our FAVORITE part of the Aquaventure (which is hard to choose, but we like being lazy at times) is their lazy river. Except, it ain't so lazy! They have a wave generator! So, at one point there are HUGE waves (rarely do you flip over) and then it slowly dies down. you then come to a point where you can keep being lazy and just floating, or make a swift left into the rapids area. My daughter giggled through ALL of them! There are 3 different ones. once you choose the rapids area, you come to another fork: water coasters or rapids. We would do the water coasters because they ended at the rapids anyway! Char was too little though, so we chose rapids with her.
Once you choose the Water Coasters, you are sitting in a lazy river in line, sometimes not moving, just floating (better than out of the pool, waiting on stairs with a huge tube, right? RIGHT!) You snake your way towards the beginning of the incline. You then turn yourself onto this conveyor belt like what you see at the grocery store at checkout, face forward and enjoy a LONG lazy, scenic ride UP, up, up until the top of the first coaster. You then make the choice to ride that coaster, or hop out and take the stairs to higher slides. The first one is SO FUN!!
I believe it was called The Falls. You can ride in a two-seater tube. You do a big drop, then another quick conveyor belt brings you up again.You go up and down different slopes, twists and turns. It is seriously so fun!
Next time we go, we are taking our camera with us! But, you can search for it on Youtube and see some!
For the pools, I give a solid 10!! You could spend every day at the Aquaventure and still not experience everything. It is packed with fun!
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| Heading up the conveyor belts to the rapids! |
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| SO RELAXING! But Visually fun! |
---The other thing we loved was the Aquarium.
Tigh and Char observing the HUGE Manta Ray
Some exhibits are hands-on. They allow you to touch, feel, etc. They also have hand-sanitizing stations at each one.
Now, let's talk about SERVICE there...
We got frustrated a few times. Simple things like , "Hey, we need a cord for our internet" took about 4 hours. I talked to a few visitors and they said it was typical. Not that they're lazy, or rude, but the vibe there is so "chill". Nothing is really an "ASAP" deal to them. SO, we bugged them for about 4 hours until we got our internet cord. Tigh DID complain (considering he is not use to this type of attitude when traveling) and they sent us an amazing gift basket with lotions, fruit, nuts, cakes, flowers, waters, treats, etc. Truly, they are all nice there, but don't hesitate to "nag" if you really need something. :)
Our activities were mainly hanging at the water park, pools and beach:
BEACH KISSES! My favorite...
Charlotte LOVED going out in the evening when all the crabs were trying to crawl away. There are lots of tide pools and baby crabs crawling everywhere! The best is first thing in the AM when the tide has gone out. There are all sorts of creatures chilling close to shore in the shallow waters! Set your alarm early, swing by Starbucks in the Royal Towers and make your way to the beach. Your kids will love it!
Yes, Those are teeny, tiny crabs! They look like grains of sand! Don't step on 'em! ;)
Shallow water, several different kinds of fish and if you hold really still, they swim up to you.
Across from Starbucks in the Royal Towers is a little market. They have Fish Food for you to use!
Excursions!
Tigh and I LOVE to do excursions. LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE to do them!
Though my overly-achieved husband has been scuba diving all over the world, he still loves to take me! Wait, I snorkel, not scuba dive. I do have a gift certificate from him sitting on my bulletin for certification, but I somehow always miss the beginning of each class series...No, I'm not scared.
OK, I'm scared.
Moving on...
We did an awesome excursion! It was a snorkeling tour that took you to 3 different snorkeling locations. We did it through Stuart's Cove . They have a shuttle that picks you up at a certain time, and it's about an hour drive to their dock. BUT it is really beautiful scenery. You drive through town, see old, broken down estates, etc. BEAUTIFUL!
The first 2 locations were reefs, where we did see a few shark and several other fish and sea life, but the third was a sunken ship where shark like to feed. This is mainly because these boats take you there, drop a bucket of chum 25 feet below and you hold onto a rope, face in the water and watch 20-25 shark show up and feed! You are only allowed in the water for 5 minutes! SO SCARY! I had to remind myself to be calm and that I could last 5 minutes. AND I DID! Say whaaaaat?! Ya heard me. I lasted 5 minutes. :) I know, I know, you can high-five me later...
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| Just cuz he's cute. On our way to the first location! |
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| Oh haaaiii.... |
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| The blurry, white blob there is a JELLY FISH and they scare the crap outta me. |
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| He was pointing at something really cool, I know it! I just can't remember what it was... |
After you're all out of the water, they just start throwing fish in the water and all the shark come to the surface...one accidental slip off the boat into water and you're now the chum. I hyperventilated a little...
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| Waiting at the dock! Almost time to go. |
Ok, so there are grocery services you can use when you stay at Harborside. There IS a shuttle that takes you to the grocery store, but its a pain because you share the shuttle with a ton of people and then you have to lug it all up to your room. BUT, we found this site:
https://www.foodstore2go.com/
THEY DELIVER! You order online and they deliver it to you! And I was so happy because I THOUGHT I had brought enough formula with me for my baby, but turns out, I didn't and they delivered it! Paid the lady a tip and I was good to go!
There were also these great boardwalk shops behind the Royal Towers. Lots of boutiques like Dooney & Bourke , Juicy Couture, etc. It's called Marina Village.
We ate dinner at Johnny Rockets and then shopped all night. There was a live band outside, people dancing, outdoor dining, views of million dollar yachts just chilling along the walk. It's really a fun place to just wander around in the evening.
One evening we went to the Royal Towers Casino to watch some football games (I know, I'm a good wife) and me, being the protein-pig I am needed a burger, or chicken breast, or SOMETHING. Haha Across the way we saw this:
Grabbed a menu, saw the burgers they had and immediately put us on the list. Not gonna lie, it was an amazing burger! I got the mushroom, swiss, whatever else was on it burger and it was cooked perfectly! It was about $12, came with fries and a dill pickle. AND the hubs still got to watch his game because there were literally TVs plastered everywhere...and the drunk people were pretty hilarious, too. I GIVE IT 2 THUMBS UP! So delicious and right in the casino against a wall.
Other random thoughts and pictures:
-Some days, the cruise ships dock and the pools are INSANE! Be prepared for an overabundance of college-aged-but-not-in-college people to hound the pools and bars. It's only for a day, don't fret.
-The Aquariums at night are really freaky, but cool
-It rains in the mornings and sometimes afternoons. Obviously. It's jungle-ish. Like Hawaii.
-We didn't need to rent a car. :)
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I will add more as I remember!
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| Aquarium |
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| Heading towards the rapids! |
GO TO ATLANTIS!
You'll love it!
Love,
Jacque
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