Here’s some tips:
Take a taxi to the Coral tower at Atlantis, which is where you’ll need to check-in. The tax drivers will know the way. The fare will be $13, plus $2 toll, plus $4 per person (after the first 2), plus tip. Or you can take a shared taxi/van for $5 per person. Taxis will be lined up to take people at the port. Fares are regulated (
see here) and un-official taxis would quickly be eliminated by vigilante justice. They only take cash, and there’s nothing like Uber or Lyft in the Bahamas.
You’ll get Atlantis IDs/room keys at check-in. They’ll require a credit card for incidentals, and may pre-authorize some amount on your card. You might have to show ID for everybody.
Ask the front desk to point you towards the beaches and pools. Once outside, you’ll probably have to show your room key to a security guard…they’re stationed at most of the entrance/exit points for the pool areas. Ask to be pointed to a towel hut.
Since you’ll be an Atlantis guest, you can get your wristband at any towel hut (Comfort Suites guests have a different procedure for getting wristbands). I’d suggest getting yours at a towel hut by the Coral or Beach tower pools for the sake of shorter lines. You don’t need to get towels at this point, as you can get them at any towel hut. There's some outdoor sea-life exhibits over in this area and you have a 10 minute or so walk over to the locker area.
At the towel hut, they’ll ask for your room key and room number (you might not know it yet since rooms might not yet be ready), and how many wristbands you want. They’ll swipe your room key and confirm that they can give you the number you requested.
They’ll put the bands on you. Ask to be pointed toward the beach walkway.
Take the beach walkway over toward the lockers. Since you’ll probably not get into a room, you’ll have some valuables with you. There’s a locker area over in Aquaventure that’s primarily used by cruisers on day trips. But if one of the grandparents isn’t getting wet, and is willing to carry your documents, a locker isn’t necessary. Few Atlantis hotel guests get lockers and just leave a room key in a bag or shirt or something on a lounge chair. The dining venues out in Atlantis’ pool areas are cashless, so there no need for cash, and you don’t really have anything that valuable with you.
Enjoying Aquventure is like enjoying any water or theme park: go early, stay late, zig when the crowds zag. The size of the midday crowds will vary with the number of ships in port. As for don't miss rides, Aquaventure isn't high on the number of them, so you'll want to do as many as you can. In a single day you probably won't get to ride everything.
The dolphin experiences are nice, but time consuming. You just have to decide if you'd rather do them instead of more time in Aquaventure and the aquariums. There are schedule fish feedings to observe. You can see the schedule here, down toward the bottom:
https://www.atlantisbahamas.com/dailyevents
If you don’t have to go back to your hotel room, you can grab a taxi back to the ship from any of Atlantis’ hotel lobbies.
Here's some of my favorite
YouTube videos:
As you might be able to tell, I love the place. My annual week there is in three weeks!
