Any Atlantis transportation advice?

[baileybrown]

We booked a room at the comfort suites in Nassau to enjoy Atlantis, but I was hoping to hear from anyone who has done this, was it worth while doing separate from Disney's excursion? Were Taxi's easy to grab? Expensive? about how much? what time should we leave by? any lunch recommendations there? Thanks so much! Cruizin' in Oct 08!

 

[lisagirl88]

I'm bumping this message because I also have these questions!

 

[michellem1118]

I'd recommend taking a water taxi from the cruise terminal to the ferry terminal at Paradise Island - the boat driver will give you the walking directions from there to the Atlantis area. It was $3/person each way; car taxis seemed to run $4-5/person each way.

 

[Gonecruisin]

Hmm... all the posts I have read say the water taxis are tooo slow and land taxi are the way to go. I have read that the water taxi won't leave until it is full which can take 20 min --- longer than it takes to drive there. And that it chugs along in no particular hurry, even making other stops. It is not a direct route. So for the extra dollar, it was recommended to go the land taxi route. I wish I could find the post but it was a while back. I'll keep looking.

 

[Gonecruisin]

This isn't the one that mentions the water taxi vs land taxi but has helpful info.

http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1914560

 

[HoosierFrog]

I know I have seen a picture (and it mentioned many times) that "taxis" are $4.00 per person. They are more like vans so they fill them up before leaving, but they are still faster than the water taxis.

 

[Uno Mas]

I took a land taxi and it was a van - we sat in it for about 15 minutes while the driver tried to hawk enough other tourists to fill it up before we left. (The drivers will be waiting at the end of the pier and will take you to their vans around the corner in the street.) But once we did leave, it was a quick trip over to the Comfort Suites. We enjoyed the day at Atlantis but the price for lunch was ridiculous at the resort. Just be prepared to pay an exhorbitant amount for mediocre food, and an extremely busy restaurant. We did not want to leave the Atlantis property to find other alternatives so we expected it to be pricey.(I'm talking $160 for four people for lunch). We ate at an open air restaurant near the underground aquarium. Service was slow and the birds were very agressive, walking all around your chairs to try and swipe some food. One bird actually dove down and grabbed a piece of chicken off of a nearby diner's plate! The taxi service back from the Comfort Suites to the boat was much quicker, although I'm not really sure the seats could be called actual seats - half were caved in and seat belts were at a minimum, so hold on tight to your kids. The straw market in Nassau was not worth a trip - it was actually quite seedy looking and we bypassed it.

 

[solgent]

We just returned from the 8/21-8/24 cruise and enjoyed Atlantis through Comfort Suites. When you check in you get a card showing you are staying there. You can then show this at any towel booth at Atlantis to get wristbands. We stopped in the lobby of Atlantis to get a map of the property. Very necessary.

We loved Atlantis. We liked the Lazy River and the Mayan Temple slides. I would never pay the Disney excursion prices. We also went through the Dig.

We got fast food-- fish and chips. There was also a booth near the Royal Baths pool with healthy wraps. Other booths seemed to have burgers and nachos. We brought our own drinks. I brought two Nalgene bottles onboard--we use these for picnics and hiking at home all the time. Filled them with ice and lemonade before disembarking.

 

[keishashadow]

we have Choice booked in Oct.

was planning on the taxi as transport

read here somewhere that there is a multi-buger special poolside in the $25 range ; honestly just figured on fueling up @ breakfast aboard the ship then a snack or 2...which is what we usually do on excursions just to avoid possible unpleasantries eating ashore

we do plan on returning to room to shower & change (more room imo) then grabbing a taxi...not sure whether we'd have to walk back over to Atlantis to grab one or not? anybody know if they have a cab stand @ Choice?

 

[brasey]

I did the 3 night Wonder 8/21 - 8/24 and took a water taxi for $3 to the Atlantis but luckily caught the boat just before it was going out. Expect to wait if the boat is not full and do not expect a quick trip over. The throttle on the boat was tied with rope so the "captain" could not go faster. We had a boat hand give some commentary the whole way over and then walked around with his baseball hat for tips so the $3 cost went up a bit. It is a 5-10 minute walk to the Atlantis and not bad at all. You get to see some real nice yachts docked as you walk and also go through a little shopping area. We stopped in a deli for something to drink and two bottles of water and a can of soda were $19. Luckily we saved the few bucks instead and donated it in the Casino instead. The van back was much better as we hopped on one real quik and were off. $4 well spent listening to the driver tell us about how he likes Barrack Obama and that legalizing marijuana would be great for the US economy. He also made it known that he liked to partake in it quite frequently also. All in all they both were quite interesting but it all depends on when you catch them on how quick it will be. We figured we just could have taken the scooters instead and driven around a while and it would have worked out even. At least the air conditioning they advertised on the scooters probably worked

 

[momdmd]

We just did Wonder 8/21-8/24 and took the taxi over for $12 going there and $16 going back. I don't know why the price difference but it was me, husband and 2 kids (5 and 3). We shared the white van with another family of 4. The cab driver took us directly to the Royal Tower, helped us with the double stroller, walked us down to the cashier's desk (on the first floor near the aquarium and the dig). Otherwise, I wouldnt' have known where to go. I didn't buy the excursions from Disney becuz it would've cost us $500. I paid $285 total becuz the 3 y.o. was free. $105 for adults and $75 for the 5 y.o. I contacted Atlantis directly myself for the rate. make sure you walked right out to the street to get the taxis. There are alot of them waiting outside the terminal. Don't let the hustlers inside make you wait.

 

[billagioCruise]

All of this advise is great, thank you!

Another question, please....

Can we take a taxi to Atlantis or the Comfort Suites and just walk to the beach? Do you have to be a hotel guest to use the beach? I know you have to be in order to use the pools... Just wondering about the beach.

THANK YOU!