Atlantis with children -- should I spend the money???

[DisneyPoly]

We are doing the 4 night cruise with the family in May. I am debating whether to travel to Atlantis on our Nassau day. My children (4,8,9,12) saw Atlantis on the Mary Kate and Ashley video and fell in love. Of course, they would want to swim in the pools if we go there. I checked into rooms at Comfort Suite, the cost will be approx. $380 (since I need two rooms -- they only hold 4 -- and I assume I will only get ID for 4 if I get one room).

Atlantis rooms are $260.00, but again, I need two rooms as their occupancy limit is 5. I can take DCL beach excursion for $315, but no pools.

I am not sure what to do. Does anyone have any advice? Should I just stay on the ship? Should I do the DCL trip? Or is it worth the money to go to Comfort Suites so that they can swim in the pools?

Any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Dave_from_Marietta]

Keep in mind that there are height and age restrictions for some of the attractions. Your younger kids won't be able to go on the coolest water slides for instance.

 

[queendarvet]

The height requirement is 48 inches for the big slides at the Mayan Temple. There are a few very small slides for the younger kids. I would imagine that you need two rooms in order to get the proper number of wristbands (that is how they identify guests of the resort). Two rooms is very expensive to spend a day at the pools. The resort is great, but for much less you could spend time at WDW at the water parks and have just as much fun! We have three kids and spent five days at the Atlantis last August and my husband and I joke about how much we spent to have the kids swim in cool pools (they basically ignored the ocean!)

 

[disneychic]

I can almost guarantee that your kids will be having such a great time on board, they won't want to leave. There are SO many activities for the kids, plus you won't want to miss the deck party while in port. It's a blast. The kids will love the pool on the ship so much you won't be able to get them out. Plus, the food at Atlantis is not that great. We sailed with friends of ours in October, they had paid for the excursion and everything and then the day of, their son didn't want to leave the ship, they ended up going on their own and were not impressed. Trust me, you'll have a great time on board. Save Atlantis for another time.