Have you been to the Atlantis?

[deezeealum]

We are booked to go for the first time to the Atlantis next month and were told how expensive the food is IE $9.00 for a bottle of water Can anyone tell me if this is true and if there is somewhere close to get a case of water/ juices for our DD. We live in northern NJ so we are familair and accustomed to NYC prices, but any suggestions would be hugely appreciated. We plan on bringing some snacks in our luggage but liquids will be tricky. Thanks in advance!

 

[MAH4546]

There is really no place to buy cheap items.

We have a condo there, and buy groceries when we visit from the local Winn Dixie, but even there, it is extremely expensive for everything except locally made products like sugar and Goombay Punch. Almost everything is imported and import duties are very high, even on food.

Winn Dixie will be cheaper than Atlantis, but the cab ride across the bridge to the Winn Dixie won't be cheap.

 

[bdcp]

We were there in Oct '09 for 5 days. It was DH and I with his company. The company paid for 3 nights and all meals Thurs nigh through Sun am. We added a couple of extra days (Wed and we stayed til Mon) and yes, it is expensive. I don't remember water being that much (maybe in the room), but we just enjoyed oursevles. We ate a couple of meals in Nassau also.

 

[mjkacmom]

I've been to Nassau 3 times as a cruise port, and Atlantis one of those times. Yes, it seems expensive, and my friend thought so as well (we live less than 10 miles from NYC, and I think the prices at WDW aren't bad at all). Here's an idea - go to cruisecritic.com (disboards of the cruise world), and go to bahamas board. Ask your question there - maybe you could take a water taxi or even a jitney somewhere cheaper to stock up. There is a regular on there - scubagirl - who lives there, and has a lot of useful information.

 

[caborst]

I just went for the first time with my DD in November for teacher convention week. While expensive I did not find it to be as bad as I was expecting. There are daily lunch specials that include a refillable drink. The quick dining locations that have the special changes so just make sure you go to the right one for that day. Expensive lesson learned there. The portions are large so might be able to share. I don't remember all of the drink options but it was your basic carbonated fountain drinks. There is an ice dispenser also. I brought water bottles and filled them in the room. I thought the water tasted fine. I also brought instant oatmeal and used the coffepot in the room to heat water.

I would check your bill on the tv daily. I had multiple mystery mini bar charges, after I left as well. I called each time and they were promptly removed no questions asked but definitely keep watch.

Atlantis is gorgeous, you will have a great time.

 

[andychris14]

Yes the atlantis is super expensive. The beer was cheaper than the bottle water. I am not kidding. If you are taking a cab service from the airport you can ask to stop at a grocery store. The water is cheaper than the atlantis but still high. They do have some lunch combo meals that are ok but be prepared to pay a lot for food. The sit down restaurants are expensive. You can go to murrays deli or carmines and the price is a little cheaper.

 

[dvcterry]

be prepared to pay a lot for food and beverages. we paid $7-14 for a single scoop of ice cream. A pizza was $35. We ate at the Atlantis buffet for our family of 5 and it was about $250. Taxi ride to grocery store was over $40. Cereal was $4-$8 a box. Milk was $6. Everything was expensive-just understand that it's an island and everything is imported so the prices are high. I don't know if they have the prices online for their onsite restaurants, but check out their menus in advance. They also have a dining plan and that might help.

 

[casjen]

Yes, the food is expensive. But, when we were there all the restaurants outside had great lunch specials. I think it was $8 for a sandwich, chips, and water or soda.

Just know the food will be pricey and save for it. Look into the dining plan they have there. They just posted a "kids stay and eat free" promo" that may save you $$. Check their bwebsite and like them on facebook.

I LOVED it there when I went with my DH. We want to bring the kids back but we just haven't yet.

 

[maggiew]

We went to Atlantis for a day trip off of a cruise. I read on the cruisecritic board about a counter service place. It is called Shark Bites and is located at the base of the pyramid slide thing. You can get a family meal deal for around $25 (at least, at the time it was). It was like 4 burgers or hotdogs, fries and drinks. None of the other counter service places had this meal deal. I checked at one place near by the pool that we were at and they didn't have one. So we hiked over to Shark Bites and they did, indeed, have the meal deal.

Another word of warning is to bring water shoes. We about burnt our feet off walking from one place to another. I'm not kidding. We were like running from one shaded spot to another just to keep feet cool, even if it wasn't the shortest path between two points!

Maggie

 

[DaveClan]

Johnny Rockets and Atlas Grill in the casino are moderate priced options. Shark Bites quick service bar near the pool is cheap enough for lunch. Also, nobody has mentioned Anthony's Grill (offsite). Its located right behind the marina within walking distance (across the street from the marina on Paradise Island). It's a decent price option for breakfast and dinner.

http://www.anthonysgrillparadiseisland.com/index.html

Have fun.

 

[deezeealum]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I did post the question on the cruisecritic board too. Anthony's grill looks like a good alternative. We have breakfast included every day so I'm hoping to have a later breakfast and do a light lunch and then do dinner although my 5 yr old and my pregnant belly might have other plans.

 

[Helene]

We went 2 summers ago, stayed 4 nights. However we stayed at the Comfort Inn across the street & we had full use of the Atlantis facilities. Because our room had a fridge and microwave, I packed food from home and it saved us some serious cash. Even with those savings, I still managed to spend $800 for food and beverages (One adult, 2 children).

May not obviously work for you, but thought I'd post it in case some other folks are looking at ways to experience the resort and save $$.

Have a fun trip...the resort is awesome!!

 

[Halle]

A can of Diet Coke and a mall bottle of perrier from the mini bar were $4.00 each.
We had breakfast at Mel's dinner at the Harborside, 2 adults $40.00 with tip.
There is a Starbucks which offers breakfast sandwiches, can't remember the prices but more reasonable.
We had dinner at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill (best food), Cafe Martinique at the Harborside, to die for atmosphere and entertainment, and Greycliff....overpriced for mediocre food, dinner for 6 with 2 bottles of wine $1000.00.

 

[maggiew]

Greycliff....overpriced for mediocre food, dinner for 6 with 2 bottles of wine $1000.00.

Yikes!

Maggie

 

[jama]

We were there last spring....just a day from cruise....the price we paid for lunch wasn't outrageous...maybe around $7-8...
Can you ship a box of water, juice packs etc down? That would probably be your cheapest way.

 

[DisneyMomJen]

We were there about 3 years ago. I had read that prices were very expensive and they really were. There were 6 of us so we had 2 rooms which was expensive enough. I packed about 3- 4 water bottles in each plastic grocery bag(s) secured with packing tape and probably had about a case total. We did not have to pay for our luggage on the plane though and had about 3 suitcases total. I also brought granola bars or similar items for breakfast. This helped budget and time wise since whenever I went by the buffet there was a HUGE line waiting to get in. I looked for the lunch specials and never saw any. Johnny Rockets is in the Marina area which was reasonable. Also a pizza place where each pizza was $35 and each can of coke was $4 or $6.

There is a meal plan which is supposed to help somewhat. They had stopped this when we were planning our trip and than told we could not add it on to our reservation even though the meal plan was back in place. We would lose the room rate we had. Have a great trip!

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

Yes, DH and I went for 5 nights like 10 years ago. The food prices were INSANE. We have a cheapo timeshare trader that we're going to use to swap into Harborside Atlantis in the next couple of years. I fully intend to check a styrofoam cooler full of food (in dry ice or with ice packs...whatever is allowed). I swear, we'll be bringing like 2 bathing suits, one outfit and a pair of pjs each so I can put food in our suitcases. I'm pretty sure that I remember reading that there is a forum dedicated to Atlantis where people post about how they bring food down there like this...it's THAT expensive that it's common to do this.

 

[WDWisTheBest]

Yes, DH and I went for 5 nights like 10 years ago. The food prices were INSANE. I swear, we'll be bringing like 2 bathing suits, one outfit and a pair of pjs each so I can put food in our suitcases. I'm pretty sure that I remember reading that there is a forum dedicated to Atlantis where people post about how they bring food down there like this...it's THAT expensive that it's common to do this.

I think this post says it all. Food prices expensive to insane. Everything else expensive. What's the reason to go?

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

I think this post says it all. Food prices expensive to insane. Everything else expensive. What's the reason to go?

The resort itself is lovely and it's an easy flight from FL (we live in FL also). We can swap in easily with our cheap timeshare trader, and we'd love to take the kids. I really do think that I can handle the food issue almost entirely with a styrofoam cooler and whatever I can pack in our suitcases. It just takes a lot of planning. We bring and cook all of our own food when we do Disney also, though, so it is not a big deal for us to cook while on vacation.

 

[Tanzanite]

We went 2 summers ago, stayed 4 nights. However we stayed at the Comfort Inn across the street & we had full use of the Atlantis facilities. Because our room had a fridge and microwave, I packed food from home and it saved us some serious cash. Even with those savings, I still managed to spend $800 for food and beverages (One adult, 2 children).

May not obviously work for you, but thought I'd post it in case some other folks are looking at ways to experience the resort and save $$.

Have a fun trip...the resort is awesome!!

How did you like comfort inn ive heard mixed reviews about it .There would be 5 of us are rooms big enough or would we need 2 rooms.We did the Dolphin Shallow swim at Atlantis when on a cruise last year Atlantis is beautiful but to expensive for room for 5.