Is the Atlantis Excursion worth it???

[primamama]

I have read a few posts about the Atlantis excursion from the ship. Here is my situation...3 day cruise & will not consider booking at the Comfort Inn (don't even bother bringing it up)! I am travelling with DH, DS (12) and DD (9) and my not so active parents (in their 60s). My kids want to go so badly, but is their really enough time to get the full experience of the Atlantis from the cruise ship??? It will cost us about $1,300 for the day (including the dolphin swim).

We do have the option of going to Discovery Cove once back in Orlando as the dolphin swim is a MUST DO for this vacation for my DD (9). I am a grown woman who makes big decisions every day, but this one is driving me nuts! As I am writing this I am so grateful that this is the biggest obstacle that I face today...we are so blessed!

 

[caribbeandreaming]

We did the Aquaventure excursion through DCL last year and paid around $450 for the 3 of us. IMO, it was not worth it. Here are the reasons why...

- It takes forever to check in for the excursion. This is followed by waiting in the WD Theatre and then waiting for a shuttle bus to take you to Atlantis. It was at least 11:00 or later when we got there and I think we had to leave around 4 or 4:30.

- By the time we got there, there were no lounge chairs available.

- The lines for the popular attractions were extremely long - as in at least a 45 minute wait, if not longer.

- It took over an hour to eat lunch because, you guessed it, the lines were long.

- We spent most of the time in the lazy river since it wasn't much of a wait. We did not pay that much money to float all day. We wanted to ride the water slides.

Keep in mind that there were 5 ships in port that day, so I'm sure that contributed to the crowds. If we were to do Atlantis again, we would either make it a separate trip or book through Comfort Suites so it wouldn't cost so much. I definitely did not feel we even got close to our money's worth through the DCL excursion.

 

[primamama]

That is exactly the info that I was looking for!!! Would still love to hear other experiences. Thanks so much.

 

[caribbeandreaming]

I will add that it is a beautiful place and definitely made me want to come back to stay. I don't think you could begin to do the place justice just by spending a few hours there. However, I do feel kinda bad for the people that do stay at the resort because they have to deal with large influx of cruise ship guests during the day. I don't really feel that's fair to them and will keep that in mind when looking at rates for a future stay there. Good luck with whatever you decide! It would be fun to look around the resort even if you decide to not to the Aquaventure (although I think you have to pay to look around - might even be a DCL excursion). You might can justify the cost if there aren't going to be more than 1 or 2 other ships in port that day. You used to could check that on cruisecal.com for free, but I think that you now have to pay. It may be worth it though to check that out

ETA: Just did a quick Google search and found this website for port schedules!! http://ports.cruisett.com/schedule/Bahamas/455-Nassau

 

[primamama]

That makes me even happier about my decision. Five boats in port that day. I think we'll be hanging on the ship to really get our money's worth from this trip. Many thanks!

 

[jrez]

We did the Aquaventure excursion through DCL last year and paid around $450 for the 3 of us. IMO, it was not worth it. Here are the reasons why...

- It takes forever to check in for the excursion. This is followed by waiting in the WD Theatre and then waiting for a shuttle bus to take you to Atlantis. It was at least 11:00 or later when we got there and I think we had to leave around 4 or 4:30.

- By the time we got there, there were no lounge chairs available.

- The lines for the popular attractions were extremely long - as in at least a 45 minute wait, if not longer.

- It took over an hour to eat lunch because, you guessed it, the lines were long.

- We spent most of the time in the lazy river since it wasn't much of a wait. We did not pay that much money to float all day. We wanted to ride the water slides.

Keep in mind that there were 5 ships in port that day, so I'm sure that contributed to the crowds. If we were to do Atlantis again, we would either make it a separate trip or book through Comfort Suites so it wouldn't cost so much. I definitely did not feel we even got close to our money's worth through the DCL excursion.

We had a different experience than you. We were in port on the Magic last May (the Dream and Carnival ship were in port as well.)

We only did the Waterpark and no Dolphin swims.

Getting there was easy, and we were able to spend at least 6 hours there.

We arrived around 11:00 and were able to easily get some lounge chairs (I think we got at least 2 or 3) but that didn't seem to be a big issue.

The slides are flat out amazing. I can't imagine a much better water park anywhere. Those alone were worth the money.

As for the waits, when I got there I got in line for the Leap of Faith as I figured it would only get longer throughout the day and the line took about 20 minutes for my turn. THAT WAS THE LONGEST I WAITED ALL DAY FOR ANY SLIDE...INCLUDING RIDING THE LEAP OF FAITH AGAIN. The longest I waited after that first time was about 5 minutes and I rode all the slides.

Yes, the lunch line was a little long...it took us maybe 25 minutes to get through but it was ok since we were taking a break from swimming.

All in all we felt it was worth the money for how much fun we had. I recommend it.

 

[jrez]

I also have to add I enjoyed Atlantis more than Castaway (I know that is not a popular opinion on here) because I am much more of a pool person than a beach person.

Don't get me wrong I think Castaway is fabulous...I just loved the water park.

 

[over50visits]

I have read a few posts about the Atlantis excursion from the ship. Here is my situation...3 day cruise & will not consider booking at the Comfort Inn (don't even bother bringing it up)! I am travelling with DH, DS (12) and DD (9) and my not so active parents (in their 60s). My kids want to go so badly, but is their really enough time to get the full experience of the Atlantis from the cruise ship??? It will cost us about $1,300 for the day (including the dolphin swim).

We do have the option of going to Discovery Cove once back in Orlando as the dolphin swim is a MUST DO for this vacation for my DD (9). I am a grown woman who makes big decisions every day, but this one is driving me nuts! As I am writing this I am so grateful that this is the biggest obstacle that I face today...we are so blessed!

Discover Cove - absolutely! You will visit a world-class island (CC) on your cruise, then you can extend your vacation with Discovery Cove and their day-long wonders.

 

[Stinkerbell1973]

DH and I cruised on the Oasis of the Seas 2 years ago and did the Atlantis excursion. We LOVED it. The water park is amazing....DD wasn't with us and the whole time we kept saying we wished she was with us. We did not do the dolphin swim, just hung in the pools/water park/beach the whole day. We want to get her back there, but aren't sure that we want to stay at Atlantis, so we're considering a 3 night cruise in order to so do.

We've also done Discovery Cove, and that place is incredible. You'll never experience anything like it. DH and I went there the year it opened, so DD has never been there...but she's getting a surprise trip there for her 9th birthday (as part of our WDW vacation) in September.

It's all a matter of personal preference. The day we went there 2 years ago, there were 4 ships in port.

Either way - ENJOY!!

 

[Mousemom]

We took a taxi out there to just look around. It's a huge place with what looks like a lot to do. We did not want to spend the money as it was realy expensive and crowded. We did look at the public swimming area on the beach but ended up going back to the ship, having lunch and swimming. Loved having a relaxing time with just a few people on the ship. No lines for the aqua duck!