Trip Report - Harborside Atlantis Resort

[artvandelay]

I'm posting this report because of a rumor a while ago that said DVC would include Harborside when Phase II is complete.

Harborside, Atlantis Resort
Paradise Island, Bahamas

Room 2738 + 2739 2BR Lock off

2739 - I stayed in this room with my wife and son. The room is approx. 558 square feet. It's a 1 bedroom with King size bedroom and a kitchenette. The kitchenette included a microwave, medium size 'fridge, sink w/garbage disposal, electric stove top, dishwasher, toaster, coffee pot, washer/dryer, and a full compliment of utensils, bowls, classes, pots and pans. We had a verandah w/2 chairs and a table (solid metal, not plastic) that overlooked the marina and part of the pool. The couch has a pull out bed with a very thin mattress. I didn't sleep on it, but I don't think I would of been comfortable on it. The small dining area had a glass table with 4 chairs. The bathroom connected to the bedroom and hallway. The bathroom had a whirlpool tub. TV's were in the living room and bedroom. The LR had a vcr. There is a connecting door to the other 1 bedroom.

I was impressed with this room. I still haven't stayed in a DVC resort yet so I can't compare it. The room was comfortable.

2738 - Approx. 862 square feet. It came with all of the above, plus a full kitchen w/ breakfast nook, huge master bath with separate shower and whirlpool tub, dining room w/6 chairs, and a verandah with 4 chairs and access to it thru the LR and BR. My sister stayed in this room with her husband and 2 children.

When we first got to the room, we noticed the following:

- the toilet leaked at the base. We called the front desk and w/i 5 minutes a maitenance man fixed it.
- burned out bulb in the shower.
- broken handle on a nite stand.

Housekeeping came on the 3rd day and cleaned the entire place and changed all sheets and towels.

The service is excellent. Shuttle buses run every 10 minutes to the Royal Towers and Beach/Coral Towers of the Atlantis. Also, it's only a 10 minute walk around the marina to walk to Atlantis

The Harborside pool was great. Zero entry, but no slide. It was never crowded.

I went to the phase II demo. All TV's were flat panel tv's with combo DVD/VCR. The living room TV's had a Bose surround sound system!

I hope this will be included when phase II is complete. It's a great resort that had full, deeded access to the Atlantis.

 

[kdonnel]

Besides the room how was your stay?

My family and I are going in late July and staying at Harborside. It sounds like we are going to be in a room like the first one you described.

 

[artvandelay]

It was great. The weather was perfect. The pools at Atlantis are incredible. A lot of great waterslides for all ages. I was disappointed with the casino, though. A lot of broken machines and very high table limits.

The restaraunts in the Atlantis are very expensive, even for lunch. The Pointe at Harborside was great for dinner. It overlooks the harbor and you can watch the seaplanes takeoff and land.

Have a great time on your trip.

 

[KLR-wlv]

thanks for your report - we just got a trade there using a starwood ts we own - going the 2nd week of December. We went to Atlantis for the day on the cruise so I;m excited to have a week and have time to explore. I have a few questions if you don't mind Did you do any excursions to the other islands, or the dolphin swim? I'm interested in the power boat trips to exuma or eleuthra (SP?). Did you do any meals in your villa and was there a reasonable place to get groceries? Did you eat mostly at Atlantis or did you venture to other places and what would you recommend? Did you rent a car or was it unnecessary? I was thinking maybe renting one for a day to drive around the main island.

Thanks again for the info - It's still a ways off for us but the planning is half the fun!

Kristen

 

[Doug Wolfe]

Late in 2004 I received a mailing from DVC that beginning in 2005 we would be able to exchange into the hotel at Atlantis using our points. Since that time DVC has said that deal has fallen through.

It would be really nice if they add Harborside at Atlantis, since it has villas. I will only book the villas because of the size of my family. Who knows, maybe someday we will be able to take advantage of this resort.

 

[Stitch 626]

I noticed the Atlantis resort in the 2005-2006 planning guide, but when I went to find the points it said "Call Member Services". One can only assume that the deal was not done at the time of printing. Of all the literature I received from DVC when I joined, only the planning guide had Atlantis in it. We, too, would be interested in a few nights at Atlantis but after seeing the price for the rooms I can only imagine how high the points price will be.

Still waiting and hoping for a good points price.

 

[artvandelay]

thanks for your report - we just got a trade there using a starwood ts we own - going the 2nd week of December. We went to Atlantis for the day on the cruise so I;m excited to have a week and have time to explore. I have a few questions if you don't mind Did you do any excursions to the other islands, or the dolphin swim? I'm interested in the power boat trips to exuma or eleuthra (SP?). Did you do any meals in your villa and was there a reasonable place to get groceries? Did you eat mostly at Atlantis or did you venture to other places and what would you recommend? Did you rent a car or was it unnecessary? I was thinking maybe renting one for a day to drive around the main island.

Thanks again for the info - It's still a ways off for us but the planning is half the fun!

Kristen

We did not do any excursions to the other islands, but I wish we had after hearing about the high speed ferries. We did take the ferry to Nassau. The ferry terminal is right behind Harborside.

We did not do the dolphin swim.

We had breakfast every day in the villa and lunch a couple of times. We stopped at a supermarket just past the bridge to Paradise Island (I can't remember the name, sorry) and stocked up on supplies. I'll ask my sister for the name of the supermarket. It cost $109 for almost a week's supply of food. We had to get more water and milk on day 6. THere's a small supermarket that's a 5 minute walk from Harborside. It's just past the traffic circle near Zio Gigi (a great pizza place) and Solomon's mines.

We ate at Anthony's Bar and Grill. It was great. It's located in a strip mall across the street from the future Atlantis shopping village. This shopping village might not be done by July, but it reminds me of the Disney Marketplace.

I would not rent a car. You drive on the opposite side of the road and the roads are narrow and confusing. I'd rent a moped or a scooter for the day and tool around the island. My BIL did it and got over to Nassau w/o a problem.

I hope you have a great time.

 

[Dean]

Late in 2004 I received a mailing from DVC that beginning in 2005 we would be able to exchange into the hotel at Atlantis using our points. Since that time DVC has said that deal has fallen through.

It would be really nice if they add Harborside at Atlantis, since it has villas. I will only book the villas because of the size of my family. Who knows, maybe someday we will be able to take advantage of this resort.

Since it was on and now off, and the hotel deal fell through, I wouldn't hold my breath for it to be added again later. I'd like to see it but I don't think it's likely to happen. Remember Starwood is a competing company in Orlando.

I noticed the Atlantis resort in the 2005-2006 planning guide, but when I went to find the points it said "Call Member Services". One can only assume that the deal was not done at the time of printing. Of all the literature I received from DVC when I joined, only the planning guide had Atlantis in it. We, too, would be interested in a few nights at Atlantis but after seeing the price for the rooms I can only imagine how high the points price will be.

Still waiting and hoping for a good points price.

The deal fell through after the printing so it's a done deal as not available, at least for now.

 

[artvandelay]

Since it was on and now off, and the hotel deal fell through, I wouldn't hold my breath for it to be added again later. I'd like to see it but I don't think it's likely to happen. Remember Starwood is a competing company in Orlando.

The deal fell through after the printing so it's a done deal as not available, at least for now.

It's true that Starwood and DVC are competing companies, but DVC members can trade into the Westin St. John, which is one of Starwood's best properties.

I do hope Harborside gets offered again. Two of my sisters own weeks there, and if I could trade in, we could have an entire family reunion.

 

[Dean]

It's true that Starwood and DVC are competing companies, but DVC members can trade into the Westin St. John, which is one of Starwood's best properties.

I do hope Harborside gets offered again. Two of my sisters own weeks there, and if I could trade in, we could have an entire family reunion.

I know, same for Westin in HI. But it's likely one factor of many.

 

[KLR-wlv]

Thanks for the reply to all my questions - glad a car isn't necessary. What I like about the Starwood units - even though I haven't stayed in one yet - is that it's not a studio/one bedroom combo like DVC - with the smaller side you still get a king size bed and separate living room, and washer/dryer.

For anyone interested in trading into the starwood properties, we bought a cheap eoy 1 br summer week at Sheraton MT Vista in Colorado on ebay (not a mandatory property in their system which gets you direct access to internal trading) to use mainly as an interval trade. I didn't know how it would do but Harborside came up, and a Westin St. John the 3rd week of Dec came up too. No Hawaii properties ever popped up on interval for a trade, but 2 br weeks at VB came up - a 1 br at OKW in Sept came up and a lot of the properties on the dvc interval trade list came up, along with most of the Starwood properties (except Westin HI). Some of these aren't prime times, but for what we paid, I'm pretty happy with the results. With this trade, it's almost paid for itself.

 

[yyzgurl]

Just wondering what a mandatory week in the Starwood system is...

 

[KLR-wlv]

It's a 'mandatory" resort - not week - sorry for the confusion. When you buy resale at a mandatory resort - you get to join the "starwood Vacation Network" which assigns a point value to your unit and week - similar to how dvc does - and then you can call at 8 months I think - and say "I want to use my points to reserve at St. John" (assuming you have enough points available) and oftentimes from what I've read on Tug it can be difficult to book - but if you're flexible you have a pretty good chance of exchanging to any of the starwood properties. So if you buy through Starwood - ANY of the resorts allow you into the SVN - if you buy resale at Harborside, St. John, Westin Maui, Westin Kierland and Vistana Villages (only the Villages section) then you can get into the SVN with a fee of about $700 - (I think that's the list - there may be another Westin property I'm forgetting). I bought at Mt. Vista so I have to go through interval to trade - which I did and many starwood properties - including 2 br westin's, st. john and harborside (at lower seasons) - came up to exchange. The resales at Mandatory resorts are, of course, typically more. But for trading - It's a much better way to go than using disney points when about 85% of the same properties come up to trade for about half the maintenance fees and 1/4 the initial cost.