Nassau - Noon to Midnight.. what to do?

[KristenM]

TLDR; This is a very subjective subject, but curious on people’s opinions. What would YOU do in Nassau from noon to midnight?

My 9 y/o has been begging to go to Atlantis. I’ve never been, mostly because I can’t justify spending that money. I ended up booking a room at the hotel next door (Comfort Inn?) that gives you full access to Atlantis. With taxes and fees, it’s a little over $300 for 3 of us. Not terrible compared to buying the Aquaventure passes at $160 each. But, I forgot we don’t arrive until noon, and I think I read the waterpark closes at 6. Realistically, by the time we get off ship, get a cab, check into hotel and all that fun stuff, I doubt we would get to Atlantis before 2pm. That leaves 4 hours, lame!

I have been openly anti Thrill Waterpark at CocoCay since the announcement, but now I’m debating doing the waterpark there (as a “compromise” with our 9 y/o). It will cost half the $ and we have the full day. I am so torn!

If you have been to Atlantis, did you find it worth it? Especially from a kids perspective. And if we don’t do Atlantis, any suggestions for Nassau for this time frame besides staying on the ship?

[monctonguy]

I would spend the afternoon wandering Nassau with him and spend 1/2 the money like you said to splurge on Cococay..based on the timing and the costs that seems to make the most sense.

 

But I have never been to Atlantis....way too much $ for this cruiser....

[Zacharius]

I wouldn't do much in Nassau if I were going somewhere else vacation-y on the same cruise. Personally, when I was there, we took a few hours to walk around the town, walk up to Queens Staircase and Fort Fincastle, walk around some of the government buildings, grab a local conch lunch, grab a couple beers at the okay brewery, and head back to the ship. A few hours, no money spent aside from food/drink, and then move on to the next port where I spent good money on a great boat/beach day.

[Pima1988]

I would do as others have stated and spend the money on Coco cay, maybe even pay for the helium ride as a  special treat.  

This does bring up an interesting point though.  I wonder if for Atlantis the new Perfect Day will see them have a loss in revenue since passengers now can skip the water park at Atlantis and just do it at Coco Cay cheaper.  That could be a lot of RCCL passengers skipping Atlantis on a daily basis.  

[Neo]

18 hours ago, Pima1988 said:

This does bring up an interesting point though.  I wonder if for Atlantis the new Perfect Day will see them have a loss in revenue since passengers now can skip the water park at Atlantis and just do it at Coco Cay cheaper.  That could be a lot of RCCL passengers skipping Atlantis on a daily basis.  

To be honest, I’m not sure I’d ever pick a Nassau itinerary again assuming I can always find a Perfect Day itinerary without it now. 

[joshvc]

I love water parks. We did the one at Atlantis last year, and with the advent of Perfect Day, I'm pretty certain we'll never go again. We found it very crowded, long lines, and not particularly well maintained (nothing unsafe, just a little worn down). The early reviews & videos out of Thrill Waterpark look like the slides are just as good or better than Aquaventure, and with much shorter lines. Aquaventure has a couple very unique slides (the shark tank one, a "water coaster"), but not really enough to be worth the trouble.

That being said, the aquarium area of Atlantis was really good, and free, but I wouldn't spend the hour+ round trip just to see it alone. We also did a Dolphin encounter that was excellent, we booked that through Resort For A Day. I would do that again, and just consider the water park a nice bonus for an hour, not a place to spend the rest of that day. The casino there pales in comparison to a mid-level Vegas casino, but I suspect that's not a priority with a kiddo coming along.

[Kwevans]

On 5/17/2019 at 8:53 AM, KristenM said:

TLDR; This is a very subjective subject, but curious on people’s opinions. What would YOU do in Nassau from noon to midnight?

My 9 y/o has been begging to go to Atlantis. I’ve never been, mostly because I can’t justify spending that money. I ended up booking a room at the hotel next door (Comfort Inn?) that gives you full access to Atlantis. With taxes and fees, it’s a little over $300 for 3 of us. Not terrible compared to buying the Aquaventure passes at $160 each. But, I forgot we don’t arrive until noon, and I think I read the waterpark closes at 6. Realistically, by the time we get off ship, get a cab, check into hotel and all that fun stuff, I doubt we would get to Atlantis before 2pm. That leaves 4 hours, lame!

I have been openly anti Thrill Waterpark at CocoCay since the announcement, but now I’m debating doing the waterpark there (as a “compromise” with our 9 y/o). It will cost half the $ and we have the full day. I am so torn!

If you have been to Atlantis, did you find it worth it? Especially from a kids perspective. And if we don’t do Atlantis, any suggestions for Nassau for this time frame besides staying on the ship?

We are in the same situation!!  My 10 yr old son has watched Youtube videos on Atlantis' leap of faith for a long time and has always begged to go. When we booked our cruise and found out we were stopping in Nassau there was no way we could skip Atlantis. We made him choose between CocoCay waterpark and Atlantis.  Of course he chose Atlantis.  I went ahead and bit the bullet and booked the day at Atlantis.  My question on Atlantis is, can we access the beach through the waterpark?  The Atlantis website says we can but the excursion details say nothing about beach access. 

[Pima1988]

@Kwevans you might want to check your cruise planner.  They are having a good sale for Memorial Day. There are posters saying that the Thrill Water park pass has dropped significantly for their cruise.  We booked a cabana on Chill, so that has no thrill for me.  However, both the all day snorkel and the beach mat rentals dropped.  This was the lowest price for those items since Black Friday.  

[joshvc]

23 hours ago, Kwevans said:

 My question on Atlantis is, can we access the beach through the waterpark?  The Atlantis website says we can but the excursion details say nothing about beach access. 

Yes, the beach is adjacent to the waterpark. You'll get a wristband that gives you virtually unlimited access to the Atlantis property, and can go back & forth between the beach, waterpark, hotel/casino, and aquarium freely.

[heresjohnny]

On ‎5‎/‎17‎/‎2019 at 9:53 AM, KristenM said:

TLDR; This is a very subjective subject, but curious on people’s opinions. What would YOU do in Nassau from noon to midnight?

My 9 y/o has been begging to go to Atlantis. I’ve never been, mostly because I can’t justify spending that money. I ended up booking a room at the hotel next door (Comfort Inn?) that gives you full access to Atlantis. With taxes and fees, it’s a little over $300 for 3 of us. Not terrible compared to buying the Aquaventure passes at $160 each. But, I forgot we don’t arrive until noon, and I think I read the waterpark closes at 6. Realistically, by the time we get off ship, get a cab, check into hotel and all that fun stuff, I doubt we would get to Atlantis before 2pm. That leaves 4 hours, lame!

I have been openly anti Thrill Waterpark at CocoCay since the announcement, but now I’m debating doing the waterpark there (as a “compromise” with our 9 y/o). It will cost half the $ and we have the full day. I am so torn!

If you have been to Atlantis, did you find it worth it? Especially from a kids perspective. And if we don’t do Atlantis, any suggestions for Nassau for this time frame besides staying on the ship?

they will enjoy coco cay better

[KristenM]

On 5/22/2019 at 9:27 AM, Kwevans said:

We are in the same situation!!  My 10 yr old son has watched Youtube videos on Atlantis' leap of faith for a long time and has always begged to go. When we booked our cruise and found out we were stopping in Nassau there was no way we could skip Atlantis. We made him choose between CocoCay waterpark and Atlantis.  Of course he chose Atlantis.  I went ahead and bit the bullet and booked the day at Atlantis.  My question on Atlantis is, can we access the beach through the waterpark?  The Atlantis website says we can but the excursion details say nothing about beach access. 

That is exactly where my son saw it too!!  I was planning on biting the bullet, but only if we would have a full day there. Considering how late we get into port it just doesn't make sense for us this time around.