I generally agree with a PP's assessment of Nassau, but visiting Atlantis is not visiting Nassau. So please take cruiser opinions with a grain of salt. Their experience at Atlantis is more comparable to a day visitor to the Magic Kingdom, staying on international drive. Not a deluxe hotel visitor staying for several days and only visiting WDW...that's a more comparable visit to Atlantis. You'll see that I've been to Atlantis 9 time (timeshare there)....the first trip we visited Nassau to walk around. The other 8 trips we haven't left Paradise Island once (except on sailboats to snorkel a reef).
The best resource for Atlantis questions is the B
ahamas-Paradise Island forum on TripAdvisor. But I'm also happy to help.
First, it's expensive....no two ways about it, but there are ways to save. Comfort Suites is a great budget option....free breakfast and decent room. Renting a unit from an owner at Harborside (the timeshare part) can be very reasonable (but you have to stay for a week then)
Food is expensive, but only slightly more than WDW prices.
Yes, the breakfast buffet is $23-$25 per adult. Chef Mickey's is $26.62.
Yes, the dinner buffets are $40-$50. Boma is $39.40.
Yes, lunch is expensive. Burger, fries and soda value meal is around $9. But at Cosmic Ray's, the burger and fries alone are $8.79.
I really love Atlantis...possibly more than WDW. Why? I can actually be relaxing. It gets very crowded during school vacation times, but there's always a quiet place you can find. And crowds there are not like Disney crowds. And there's always something else you can do there that isn't crowded...unlike the times I've been in the MK when the TTA has a line....and so does absolutely everything else.