The best of Aquaventure

[scootch]

As I said before, CruiseTT is not up to date, especially with Disney ships for some reason.

http://www.cruisetimetables.com/visitingnassaubahamas-11mar2016.html

Sorry, I somehow missed your post. Thank you so much.

 

[GrnMtnMan]

As I said before, CruiseTT is not up to date, especially with Disney ships for some reason.

http://www.cruisetimetables.com/visitingnassaubahamas-11mar2016.html

It looks like CruiseTT has come back to life....or I was linking to an abandoned part of the site.

Here's the March schedule, which looks about right:

 

[dmunsil]

It looks like CruiseTT has come back to life....or I was linking to an abandoned part of the site.

Great news! They were definitely missing most of Disney's schedule. Hopefully they'll keep it up to date going forward, as I like the fact that they show you the port load for each destination. Or if CruiseTimeTables would add the port load info, that would be fine as well.

 

[mevelandry]

Question: Do they have free wifi (for visitors) over there?

 

[dmunsil]

Question: Do they have free wifi (for visitors) over there?

To the best of my knowledge, no. It's included for guests of the resort, but paid for everyone else. And I don't know if it extends all the way out to the water park.

 

[Anisum]

What are the best place to eat with the DCL vouchers?

We ate at Riverbend Café. I would not eat there again. The soda machine (you get a soft drink with your voucher) had bees everywhere to the point where we didn't get a drink. When we were leaving an employee offered to assist us but by then it was not worth it. We ate there because it offered healthier options. I had a wrap which was prepackaged. My friend had sliders which were made there and took fifteen minutes to make (on the upside they were fresh) but even though she asked for cheese on them and the employee who took our order shouted to the one working on the grill to add cheese they didn't and neither of us cared by that point.

What are the best attractions?

We tried everything and enjoyed it all. We also did the snorkeling the ruins and while I would probably suggest just doing castaway cay instead it was cool to snorkel with sharks and sting rays. I would only suggest castaway cay instead because you only get to snorkel for about 45 minutes.

What to avoid?

Be careful not to fall out of your tube during the rapids in the lazy river and to keep your toes away from the wall. I flipped over in my tube and ended up rather bruised.

 

[jrabbit]

We only did the not so lazy river and all of the water slides / body slides, etc. I think everyone else has you covered.

as far as food with the vouchers - we were there 3 years ago (already that long ago!!) we found the fish and chips place. They basically deep fried 1/2 of a fish (you got the right or left half, not "front" and "back"). Thought that it looked a bit creepy, but it was very, very good!!!

Glad that you are only interested in the BEST of everything!!!

 

[mevelandry]

Hi!

I have another question: My mother in law would like to know if we are getting in the shuttle at the port or if we have to go through the "Welcome center" (secured perimeter) and/or get passed the secured perimeter in order to go from the ship to the shuttle (and back!) ?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Heidiatmn]

Hi!

I have another question: My mother in law would like to know if we are getting in the shuttle at the port or if we have to go through the "Welcome center" (secured perimeter) and/or get passed the secured perimeter in order to go from the ship to the shuttle (and back!) ?

Thanks in advance!

You do not have to go thru the welcome center (and the masses of people trying to sell you stuff) getting off. You meet on board and you walk with Disney staff who pass you off to Atlantis staff before the welcome center. on the return you do go thru the welcome center but no crowds are congregating there at the return times.

 

[mevelandry]

You do not have to go thru the welcome center (and the masses of people trying to sell you stuff) getting off. You meet on board and you walk with Disney staff who pass you off to Atlantis staff before the welcome center. on the return you do go thru the welcome center but no crowds are congregating there at the return times.

Thanks! And when we come back, do they bring us near the Welcome Center/secured perimeter or do we have to walk over there (and then through the masses of people trying to sell you stuff)?

 

[Heidiatmn]

Thanks! And when we come back, do they bring us near the Welcome Center/secured perimeter or do we have to walk over there (and then through the masses of people trying to sell you stuff)?

When you come back you do walk thru that area- (the welcome center/secured perimeter where the masses are when you get off the ship) They drop you off right there-however our experience was that the crowds are gone by that point-in fact we even stopped and got an ice cream and sat on a bench and ate it before heading back on the ship. It is definitely not the high pressure/high stress environment like when you get off there-we did not head back super late either. It was at about 3:30 I believe.

 

[mevelandry]

When you come back you do walk thru that area- (the welcome center/secured perimeter where the masses are when you get off the ship) They drop you off right there-however our experience was that the crowds are gone by that point-in fact we even stopped and got an ice cream and sat on a bench and ate it before heading back on the ship. It is definitely not the high pressure/high stress environment like when you get off there-we did not head back super late either. It was at about 3:30 I believe.

Thanks! At least we know what to expect.

Are the vendors less pushy later in the day?

I thought leaving Atlantis around 3:00 PM should be perfect in order to come back to the cruiseship without feeling rushed... (and give us enough time to get dressed for dinner at 5:45 PM).

 

[krisinparis]

Just wanted to tell you our experience on the rapid river----my husband and another guy both got forced down one of the rapid areas at the same time and my husband's tube bounced into one of the cement boulders which scraped his head and ripped off his toenail. His tube then flipped over and since it was in one of the rapid areas with lots of water being pushed into the area, it took him a long time to get back on his tube. I was ready to exit the water at this stage, but my kids were having fun and my husband said we might as well keep going. However, I didn't feel comfortable letting my 8 year old daughter continue without a life vest (she is a very strong swimmer) so we stopped and got one for her. Later on, in another rapid area we saw a little girl get bounced off of her double tube. I will say a lifeguard got her out of the water quickly, but her father had no way to react and his tube was instantly whisked further down the river. I'm sure he was in a total panic and I'm not sure how he met up with his daughter again. If you are not a strong swimmer, definitely wear a lifevest-- they do have them in both child and adult sizes.

 

[mevelandry]

Just wanted to tell you our experience on the rapid river----my husband and another guy both got forced down one of the rapid areas at the same time and my husband's tube bounced into one of the cement boulders which scraped his head and ripped off his toenail. His tube then flipped over and since it was in one of the rapid areas with lots of water being pushed into the area, it took him a long time to get back on his tube. I was ready to exit the water at this stage, but my kids were having fun and my husband said we might as well keep going. However, I didn't feel comfortable letting my 8 year old daughter continue without a life vest (she is a very strong swimmer) so we stopped and got one for her. Later on, in another rapid area we saw a little girl get bounced off of her double tube. I will say a lifeguard got her out of the water quickly, but her father had no way to react and his tube was instantly whisked further down the river. I'm sure he was in a total panic and I'm not sure how he met up with his daughter again. If you are not a strong swimmer, definitely wear a lifevest-- they do have them in both child and adult sizes.

Good to know! You are not the first to report injury in Atlantis (rapid river or slides) ... I think we're going to spend most of our time in the pools.

 

[mevelandry]

Argh... The more I read about Aquaventure and the dates we're going (end of Spring Break), the more I am confused.

If we were to pay 182$/pp (or more since it's next year) to end up having to wait a long time for slides and have "human soup" as pools, we would be so disappointed.

I'm starting to think about the Atlantis Beach Day (we still get the tour + a meal + the possibility to swim/take advantage of the site for a while, if it's not too busy)...

How are the beaches and lagoon?

EDIT: After a chat with the family, we realized that 3/4 of us were not comfortable with the water slides and ... Well... Swimming in a pool doesn't sound worth spending 80$ more (yes, I know, they're very pretty but that's a lot of money for a pretty pool).

 

[cmph]

Argh... The more I read about Aquaventure and the dates we're going (end of Spring Break), the more I am confused.

If we were to pay 182$/pp (or more since it's next year) to end up having to wait a long time for slides and have "human soup" as pools, we would be so disappointed.

I'm starting to think about the Atlantis Beach Day (we still get the tour + a meal + the possibility to swim/take advantage of the site for a while, if it's not too busy)...

How are the beaches and lagoon?

EDIT: After a chat with the family, we realized that 3/4 of us were not comfortable with the water slides and ... Well... Swimming in a pool doesn't sound worth spending 80$ more (yes, I know, they're very pretty but that's a lot of money for a pretty pool).

I hear you. Thanks to the port links above, I see that there are 6 ships in Nassau when we'll be there. The port load is over 20k, which (in flipping through a few months) would appear to be as high as possible! Spending $600+ to stand in hour long lines for the slides or fighting people for tubes sounds likely. I'm wondering if we should just do the half-day beach/Dig option, forgoing the waterpark entirely, and plan to head back to the ship early once the crowds have made us nuts.

 

[Princess T]

Like others have stated, be extremely careful on the Rapid River. My son and I were flipped off of our tube as well and ended up underwater. Do to the constant waves, we had a difficult time getting back on our tube. Unfortunately, the life guard did not come to our aid. A very nice gentleman came to our aid and helped my son to get back on the tube and held it steady so that I could get on as well. I ended up scraping my foot rather badly against the brick wall of the Rapid River. Not a very pleasant experience. We did enjoy the other areas of Aquaventure though.

 

[mevelandry]

I hear you. Thanks to the port links above, I see that there are 6 ships in Nassau when we'll be there. The port load is over 20k, which (in flipping through a few months) would appear to be as high as possible! Spending $600+ to stand in hour long lines for the slides or fighting people for tubes sounds likely. I'm wondering if we should just do the half-day beach/Dig option, forgoing the waterpark entirely, and plan to head back to the ship early once the crowds have made us nuts.

I was told that 3 ships or more in Nassau means chaos in Atlantis... Can't imagine how six will feel like.

 

[cmph]

I was told that 3 ships or more in Nassau means chaos in Atlantis... Can't imagine how six will feel like.

Ugh, yes, we've pretty much already called it quits on Aquaventure thanks to that, unfortunately! I'm not even sure I want to do the full-day beach/Dig/aquarium option in that pandemonium. Now I'm thinking of just doing the half-day only. Hoping someone chimes in about how crowded the other parts of Atlantis tend to be. I guess we just need to approach this with the mentality of seeing if it will be worth the money to go on a vacay to Atlantis, based on the kids' reactions to it in person. (even though everyone is freaking me out with the injury reports!!! DD 10 is an injury-magnet.)

 

[mevelandry]

Like others have stated, be extremely careful on the Rapid River. My son and I were flipped off of our tube as well and ended up underwater. Do to the constant waves, we had a difficult time getting back on our tube. Unfortunately, the life guard did not come to our aid. A very nice gentleman came to our aid and helped my son to get back on the tube and held it steady so that I could get on as well. I ended up scraping my foot rather badly against the brick wall of the Rapid River. Not a very pleasant experience. We did enjoy the other areas of Aquaventure though.

This is why we decided to go with the beach day instead:

I just can't believe the number of reviews I read where people nearly drown and/or got hurt in the Rapid River. I saw videos and it looked a bit rough for me.

All We're really looking for is a relaxing day, taking a look at exhibitions. Swimming a little. Hopefully not getting injured.