We are planning a trip to Atlantis over Halloween week. We will be staying at Harborside (the condos). This will be our first real trip with our son. We have traveled a lot before having him...so this will be a whole new adventure!!!

Questions:

1. Was the crib OK there or do I need to bring a Pack N Play? Did you use your own crib sheets? Was a blanket necessary with the A/C on?

2. Stroller.....I have heard the property is not stroller friendly? True? Comments/advice appreciated.

3. Eating off property - can you walk anywhere with stroller? We like to exercise anyway and don't mind walking... I was wondering which restaurants off the Atlantis property would be options and save us some money on dinner.

4. Ferry to downtown Nassau...that is close to the resort right? What are the hours of operation? Do they have a website? What is the cost?

5. Shuttle to the grocery store..does it run daily from the resort? Is it easy to catch a jitney/bus near Atlantis to see other parts of the island..how hard is that with a stroller??

6. Day trips - are there any you would recommend with our little one? Did anyone do a day trip to another island? Comments/suggestions?

Any other advice or travel experiences you can share would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Just got back from Harborside with my 7 & 9 year old. Saw a crib in the hallway; it looked like a perfectly fine typical hotel crib. Personally I would bring my own crib sheets, I am assuming they would fit.

I saw load of people with strollers. Getting around Harborside will be easy; once you get over to the Atlantis Royal Tower and Pool area I can see it being a problem. Bring a stroller that is lightweight and easy to collapse; you will be doing that every time you get on the shuttle bus. There are about 4 steps on the walk from the Harborside around the Marina to the Marina Village where most of the restaurants and shops as well as starbucks, jamba juice and ice cream shop are.
Did not take the ferry to downtown, but the Ferry dock is about a 5 minute walk from the Harborside. They drive on the left so remember to look right when crossing a street. A taxi to downtown was about $10 but there is not much appeal to downtown IMO.

I would bring as much food as practical (cereal etc) with you. We packed a small cooler with ice packs, frozen butter, sour cream, cream cheese, frozen bagels etc and then put it in a suitcase and it was all fine by the time we arrived. Be prepared to not beable to check into your room unitl 4:00 by the way. Anyway, the grocery store is about a 7 minute walk. The older man who works there offered to call a taxi for me and the driver carried my groceries to my building. I gave him a $20 for his kindness. The little sundry store in the lobby of the Harborside sells milk, cream cheese, bagels, eng. muffins juice soda water etc.

If you want an authentic bahamian meal (where all the Bahamians eat) try Fish Fry or Twin Brothers in Arawak Key about a 15 min cab ride. Fresh fish, peas n rice etc. Otherwise there is lots to choose from at Marina Village or Hurricane Hole Plaza (that is where the grocery store is), but most restaurants are on the expensive side at the resort.

We did the Dolphin Encounter which was a nice boat ride over . Your son might be too young for the "encounter" aspect, but the boat ride is fun and you can still watch.

My best advice to anyone is to smile and say Hello or How are you today? to every Bahamian. A little friendliness goes a long way, and I found the people of the Bahamas to be very responsive to a "hello"

Enjoy!

How exciting! We just got back from a 4-day trip to Atlantis over St. Patrick's Day weekend with our 19 month old twins, plus the inlaws. FIL is a frequent casino patron there and wanted to take us along for the ride this time (lucky us!) We had a fantastic time and will definitely be back, often, with the girls. This was our first "real" vacation (non-family-visit trip) with them.

1. Was the crib OK there or do I need to bring a Pack N Play? Did you use your own crib sheets? Was a blanket necessary with the A/C on?

FIL had reserved 2 cribs for us well in advance, but when we checked in it took hours and many, many phone calls to get them actually delivered to the room. The cribs finally came and they were made of silvery steel and really huge. I think definitely bigger than ours at home. The mattresses were awful (caved in the middle), but at that point we were stuck with them, and the twins did not seem to mind. They came with clean sheets. We brought our own blankets from home. The girls will not sleep anywhere without them. You will probably be in the same boat by the time your son is 15 months old. ; )

A last minute brainstorm I had that may help you if your son will be sleeping in your room: I packed a dark navy blue queen-sized bed sheet. After the girls went to sleep for each nap and evening, I sneaked over and covered the cribs with the sheet. That gave a tiny bit more freedom to turn on lights for whatever you need to do. Also, we ALWAYS travel with a small white-noise machine I got at the local Brookstone. This helps immensely with blocking out unfamiliar noises to get the girls to sleep.

As for room temp, no 15 month old is going to stay under any blanket you may put in his crib anyway. We dress the girls in those blanket footie sleepers every night, so that's what they had for the trip.

2. Stroller.....I have heard the property is not stroller friendly? True? Comments/advice appreciated.

I agree, the resort is surprisingly stroller UNfriendly, given how great a place it is for kids and how many strollers are there. The shortest way to get anywhere seems to be up or down some stairs. There IS a way to get anywhere without using stairs, it just requires a lot of patience and going out of your way. You will encounter a good bit of frustration at first. Once you have figured it out, it makes sense and you can deal, but on day one I was kind of annoyed.

Since you will not need the enormous rig of a double stroller that we require, you should just bring the smallest, lightest umbrella stroller you can find, and plan to carry it plus the toddler up and down stairs a lot. It will save you a good number of steps if you are willing to do this!

3. Eating off property - can you walk anywhere with stroller? We like to exercise anyway and don't mind walking... I was wondering which restaurants off the Atlantis property would be options and save us some money on dinner.

We stayed on property the whole time, no good advice here.

4. Ferry to downtown Nassau...that is close to the resort right? What are the hours of operation? Do they have a website? What is the cost?

Didn't do this, way too much to see and do at the resort itself.

5. Shuttle to the grocery store..does it run daily from the resort? Is it easy to catch a jitney/bus near Atlantis to see other parts of the island..how hard is that with a stroller??

DH walked to a grocery store once, but he was just getting a few things. He and I took the resort shuttle only once, for a big Saturday night dinner at the Ocean Club while the inlaws stayed with the girls. It was very efficient and nice. You should have no problem getting on any shuttle or bus with a tiny umbrella stroller, though.

6. Day trips - are there any you would recommend with our little one? Did anyone do a day trip to another island? Comments/suggestions?

We did not day trip at all, as our trip was too short to bother. Maybe next time!

Any other advice or travel experiences you can share would be appreciated.

We loved Atlantis and I bet you will have a marvelous time. : )

mgfit- I am hoping to go with my two little ones a year after you, the same week. Would you mind posting a trip report as it would be very helpful to me. Also, who are you renting your condo from? I am looking at VRBO now but am having a hard time finding a week in October or even early Nov.

Thanks and enjoy!

Sarah

We just returned from ATLANTIS, our 3rd time there. Our kids are older now, 16-19, but I can help a little. I don't think I saw ANY strollers while there.. but maybe...
And we went out the doors by the Marina.. strolled through the village which is part of ATLANTIS (shops and restaurants and the only ice cream place called The Creamery is in the village), and go to the end and go LEFT, OUT of the village.. and cross the street.. there are about 3 or 4 pale yellow shops across the street, and they are not affiliated with ATLANTIS.. and then, across the street from these stores are more stores, like one is called The Deli - it's a grocery/drug store and you can buy food in there... and near those yellow shops, there's a liquor store where we bought water regularly... priced at 75 cents though it was marked $1.00. Better than the 2.75 you pay for a smaller bottle in ATLANTIS. The water was higher at The Deli than at the liquor store. A good place to take kids is - anywhere, almost - at ATLANTIS. One great place is the diner - is it Morton's Diner? All sorts of family friendly meals there. Mac and Cheese and everything. I was really surprised that so many young, young children were in the Asian restaurant that has two "m's" in the name... it's in the resort. It looks fancy, but tons of kids.. in high chairs and screaming.. all thru dinner. Good food... We did go to one Italian restaurant off property (which was not cheap), but it had pizza and good food. It's right next to the Deli store I told you about, across the way from those yellow shops in a row... Forgot the name of it... And we did go to Nassau one day. We took the ferry as I heard it was cheaper than a taxi and we wished we hadn't been such cheapskates in the end because it took SO MUCH TIME and plus, the heavens opened up on us as we were just about to board, and boy did we get soaked!!! But coming, back (cuz we bought return tickets, otherwise we would have taxi'd it), the boat guy took FOREVER to leave port! They do not have designated times... leaving loosely every 1/2 hour (and it's close... to depart ATLANTIS you walk thru the village again, and go RIGHT to the boat dock - very short walk).... and they wait and wait 'til they get enough people. It only costs $3.00 but take the taxi if you're not patient or if you don't have a care in the world. We had dinner reservations on our return and it was awful to wait on the boat for a good 1/2 hour while they shouted for people to board.. jeez. I think they stop shuttling around 6pm or so. Nassau's lousy. It was hardly worth our while. Dirty too... nothing but jewelry shop after jewelry shop. Very tourist-y. Nothing special. I was looking for a gold charm, but left without one as all the shops ahd the same stuff and the shops seemed junky. I am now looking online for my Bahama charm! Always bring a coverup for restaurants... some are chilly, some aren't. NOBU was very nice for all our family. We ate twice in a row there, all the kids liked it. Have fun.