? Atlantis

[magickingdomrules]

Let me know if anyone has booked Atlantis and if you had a hard time. How far in advance did you book? Has anyone not been able to get it at all?

Thanks

 

[holcomb-mania]

We booked a day room at the Comfort Suites next door, and had full access to the Atlantis complex. I can't remember precisely, but I think I booked the room around Sept/Oct for a January trip.

The grounds, aquarium and pool/slides were awesome. They were in the midst of construction on the new timeshare section, but it wasn't a big deal. For the $200-225, I guess it was okay, but we wouldn't do it again. That's a lot of money. And when you get into Atlantis, get ready to shell out even more. A friggin small Gatorade is around five bucks, and to eat lunch there...well, let's just say we looked at the menu while we were waiting for a table, and decided we'd go hungry until we got back to the ship.

Next time, we agreed that we'd just stay on the ship, and maybe make some shopping forays and go to the pirate museum. We weren't big Nassau fans. I would LOVE getting two days at Castaway Cay instead of going to Nassau.

 

[holcomb-mania]

I apologize. For some reason I thought I was on the Cruise board.

My screw up, and a long one to boot!

I haven't booked anything outside of Disney resorts through DVC, so just pretend I'm not here.....

 

[MarylandMommy]

I have to agree with the other poster. We loved Castaway Cay and only moderately liked Nassau. My family and I love the beach and swimming. I thought about staying on the cruise ship, but figured when would be at Nassau again? I loved around for Comfort Inn codes and got a good deal for a room - about $170? However, we got off the ship, walked through this big Nassau welcome center, finally found a cab driver, had to wait until he found another family to fill the cab, drove over to the Comfort Inn, checked in and got our bracelets for the Atlantis, crossed the street, walked through the Atlantis hotel hallway, through the casino, and out to the lagoon. The Atlantis is so spread out you walk and walk and walk.
However, the Atlantis is very nice. The lagoon was great. The beach was closed because of the strong current, but the kids could play in the sand and swim in the lagoon. We also went over to the water slides. My 7 year old loved them. I took my 3 year old over to the little kid section. They had their own mini-water park with slides and slash-things in ankle deep water.
I knew about the food prices at the Atlantis. When we woke up on the ship, I ordered room service. Four sandwiches and four big chocolate chip cookies. We got chips from up by the Mickey pool. We spent $3 for a liter of water, which we all shared. I don't think you are suppose to bring food, but I couldn't spend $50 on lunch!
I loved Castaway Cay even better. No hassles. Just walk off the ship and you are at the beach. My older son and I fed the stingrays (wonderful). We got two packages that included a raft, a bike for 1 hour, snorkel equipment, and the stingray encounter. While my older son and I went to the stingrays, my husband and younger son enjoyed the bikes and the water rafts. When we got back, my husband took my older son snorkeling right off the beach. We had a great time at Castaway Cay!

 

[beachblanket]

To respond to the OP's question, which appeared to be regarding the Harborside Resort at Atlantis via a DVC/Interval trade (link to the official listing on the Disney Interval site and some pics/villa layout diagrams are below, the time share units are in those pastel buildings), I have yet to see any posts here from those who have done or tried to do that.

So the issue of "how tough" is still open.

http://disney.intervalworld.com/web/cs?a=1503&resortCode=HRA&parentResortCode=HRA

 

[ChickieToo]

My DB and DSiL own at Sheratan Vistana in Orlando and traded it for the Harborside which is the timeshare portion right next door to the Atlantis. They said Atlantis is awesome, and they liked the Harborside rooms. All in all they had a great time.

They asked for the trade over the summer say in July for sometime in fall and took what they had which was the last week in October. The trade came in rather quickly and it was easy for them.

Having said all that, I understand it is not nearly as easy to trade in from DVC, so I don't know what your chances are. A few people have written in saying that it is nearly impossible. Perhaps they will respond and answer this directly

 

[bpmorley]

Let me know if anyone has booked Atlantis and if you had a hard time. How far in advance did you book? Has anyone not been able to get it at all?

Thanks

I've tried twice. Both times I tried over a year away with a 6 week window. No luck on either search.

 

[MarylandMommy]

I apologize. For some reason I thought I was on the Cruise board.

My screw up, and a long one to boot!

I haven't booked anything outside of Disney resorts through DVC, so just pretend I'm not here.....

oops! Me, too. Sorry.

 

[safetylady]

I called for a ressie for August (late, I know). The Member Services advisor actually laughed and said that Atlantis never has openings because "it sells itself".
BTW, I have tried since February to get into essentially anything "resort-y" in the Carribean, New England and PA (the timeshare resort near Hersheypark) and have had absolutely no luck transferring in from DVC. I'm starting to wonder about the value of this whole thing if you can't get what you want with a 7-month window.

 

[Starr W.]

I called for a ressie for August (late, I know). The Member Services advisor actually laughed and said that Atlantis never has openings because "it sells itself".
BTW, I have tried since February to get into essentially anything "resort-y" in the Carribean, New England and PA (the timeshare resort near Hersheypark) and have had absolutely no luck transferring in from DVC. I'm starting to wonder about the value of this whole thing if you can't get what you want with a 7-month window.

The 7 month window applies to the DVC properties, the ones you are looking at are Interval Interntational and that's a whole different ballgame.

 

[beachblanket]

I called for a ressie for August (late, I know). The Member Services advisor actually laughed and said that Atlantis never has openings because "it sells itself".
BTW, I have tried since February to get into essentially anything "resort-y" in the Carribean, New England and PA (the timeshare resort near Hersheypark) and have had absolutely no luck transferring in from DVC. I'm starting to wonder about the value of this whole thing if you can't get what you want with a 7-month window.

Dean is the clear expert on this, but as Starr mentioned the issue here appears to be your understanding of the 7 month window.

That is a DVC timetable relative soley to being able to get ressies at the DVC properties outside your home resort. It has nothing to do with Interval, where the general understanding is trade availability improves the further out your dates and the wider your range of potential properties.

As example, we are staying in a Marriott this August through an Interval trade. That came about after I called MS almost a year ago and opened a search for a number of Marriotts anytime during summer 2008 (they let you open up searches for dates up to two years out, and for good reason). Last December, MS got back to me indicating they had found a week in August at one of our targeted properties, and we accepted the trade.

 

[tomandrobin]

I own a Westin timeshare, which Atlantis is part of. Atlantis is extremely hard to get into internally, within Westin (Starwood). They have a 12 to 8 month "home" resort priority window, then it opens up internally to other Starwood owners.

Atlantis owners usually don't trade into II, they either rent out thier week or do a private trade. Also, Starwood has a corporate II account, which they control the inventory. If I had an Atlantis week and wanted to trade thru II, Starwood would take my Atlantis week and deposit a different week, from a lesser resort, maybe even a different season. So by doing that, lnot much Atlantis weeks actually make to the II pool!

 

[Dean]

There have been trades into Harbourside through II including at least a couple of DVC members I know of. No question it is a tough trade though. Start a full year or more out, give as many weeks as possible and don't even think about a 2 BR or Feb to mid April. Try to a direct exchange with a member there at the same time you're looking for an exchange. Have a backup plan and be willing to wait until less than 60 days out to get the exchange. Buy it never hurts to try. IMO, this is actually related to one of the best ways to trade DVC. Develop a short wish list and search for each of them ongoing. Then when you finally get one, take it off the list if you so chose. Only request things that are worth making special arrangements if you are successful. Things on this list might include top ski resorts/weeks, London or Paris summer, Maui, Aruba Marriott's, Royals Cancun, Westin St. John, Reef resort all for prime time.

 

[nezy]

Once there, is a grocery store nearby that is affordable. Everything I hear about going to the Atlantis in general is how expensive it is for food.

Anyone I speak to states that they will not go back to the Atlantis because everything is soo expensive.

 

[tomandrobin]

There have been trades into Harbourside through II including at least a couple of DVC members I know of. No question it is a tough trade though. Start a full year or more out, give as many weeks as possible and don't even think about a 2 BR or Feb to mid April. Try to a direct exchange with a member there at the same time you're looking for an exchange. Have a backup plan and be willing to wait until less than 60 days out to get the exchange. Buy it never hurts to try. IMO, this is actually related to one of the best ways to trade DVC. Develop a short wish list and search for each of them ongoing. Then when you finally get one, take it off the list if you so chose. Only request things that are worth making special arrangements if you are successful. Things on this list might include top ski resorts/weeks, London or Paris summer, Maui, Aruba Marriott's, Royals Cancun, Westin St. John, Reef resort all for prime time.

I do think your best chance with the "big three" Starwood properties are either direct trades and 60 days out. There are always last minute cancellations. For example, my BIL is going to Atlantis in June. We were told two weeks ago that they will probably have to cancel the trip. Its too late for them to convert the unit to points, so they will have to either rent, deposit the unit, or just let it go unuesd.

Also, you might want to target off peak times like September and October, hurricane season.

 

[tomandrobin]

Once there, is a grocery store nearby that is affordable. Everything I hear about going to the Atlantis in general is how expensive it is for food.

Anyone I speak to states that they will not go back to the Atlantis because everything is soo expensive.

Harborside has a shuttle that will take you to the grocery store for an hour shopping trip. I think the cost is $10 round trip. Its well worth the cost to have food and drinks in your room.

 

[bpmorley]

How do you go about doing a direct trade? do you have to know someone?

 

[mcqueengroupie]

We bought a timeshare at Harborside in 2002. We fell in love with Atlantis and even though DH wasn't thrilled with Nassau, I really liked it. We bought it and traveled there the next year. We thought we were getting the best of both worlds, ie. a Carribean Resort, and a great ability to trade with II to get into a DVC. To me Atlantis was a Carribean Disney. However, just as yuu are having troubles getting into Harborside, we couldn't get into any DVC, and we were devestated. I tried for over a year, and nothing came in. We then decided if you can't beat them, join them. My brother is DVC and when a friend and family sale was going on, we purchased at SSR. We were planning on selling the Harborside timeshare, but after it sat on the market FOR A YEAR , we took it off the market. We do love Harborside, we just weren't looking for two timeshares, but many of our family and friends want to go, so we are gonna keep it.
All that being said, yes Atlantis is very expensive, but not all that much more than WDW. The restaurants are out of this world, and there is sooooo much to do. Harborside used to have a grocery list to order from before you got there, but they did away with it! Why? I have no clue. You can walk to a small store, and you can take a cab to one in Nassau. I haven't been in a while, but I do know that they were building many new stores right next to the marina, hopefully they will put some sort of little market there. I hope all this helped

 

[bpmorley]

So you do have to know somebody. 2 years ago I went on the harborside website to take a look. I had to enter my email. Then I started to get email from a salesman. Somehow he got my number and started calling. I wasn't happy with that. But the strangest part was that he would never give me a price.

 

[mcqueengroupie]

Ahhhh, the old suck you in without telling the price......yeah, that's what got us. We walked by the advertising booth in the Atlantis, and stopped to look. This very nice woman came over and talked to us, telling us all about the great reasons to but, I just looked at her and said, How much?.. and she said, oh, let me get someone to sit down with you.......and hour later, we were owners.....scary!!!