The Lost City of Surcharges
Matt and I just got home from 4 nights in the Bahamas.
Matt’s parents take the whole family on an awesome vacation every year. Last year was the Grand Canyon, the year before that was Disney, and this year – Atlantis!
With a golf course, spa, casino, multiple aquariums, pools, lazy rivers, beaches, waterslides, a bunch of restaurants, swimming with dolphins, and ferries that take you to Nassau – Atlantis was a great destination for 16 people spanning the ages of 8-61.
There were adorable little stores, high-end shopping, and several Starbucks all on property. And, the weather was PERFECT!
But, holy-Bahamas, they price gouge their guests:
– The breakfast buffet cost $73 for 2 people.
– We drank $35 worth of bottled water at our first lunch (only 5 people attended that meal).
– A $20 charge was added to the dinner bill after we mentioned to the waitress that it was our niece’s birthday and the wait staff sang Happy Birthday (admittedly with a lot of gusto) and brought her a piece of “marshmallow pie”.
– They charge $30 per person to watch the “dolphin experience” from the beach – about 50ft. away from said dolphin. Only ten people in our group got into the water, meaning there was a charge for some of the parents to be in the vicinity of their kids interacting with a wild animal.
– If you make a reservation for a meal and then don’t show OR if fewer than the # of people on your reservation attend the meal – then they charge you $50 per person not in attendance.
The resort adds a 15% gratuity to all food purchases – even in you stand in line at a pool-side snack bar.
The rooms: Our room had an amazing view (pictured). The bed and pillows were clean and comfortable. But, our bath-tub faucet just ran the whole time we were there… not a leak… more than a slow trickle… The soap dish was missing, leaving behind a rusty metal wall anchor. Matt’s parents’ sliding glass door didn’t close all the way – leaving an inch-wide gap to outside. The building seemed to run out of hot water at popular showering times (in the morning and 5-6pm after the pools closed)…
The food was hit-or-miss. The service (for the most part) was pretty poor…
People obviously go there, the place was packed. Rumor had it that Michael Jordan was there while we were there.
I hope this doesn’t come across as complaining. It was a GREAT trip and no one was ever bored, hungry, or without Starbucks… The waterpark was pretty awesome, my massage was good, I loved sitting on our balcony, I loved reading by the pool, and I love spending time with Matt’s family. I love that we all got to go to Atlantis together – that’s like a bucket-list kind of destination – but I doubt Matt and I will fork out our own money to go back anytime soon.
BONUS STORY:
When we checked in, Matt and I were given a room on the 6th floor, but everyone else was on the 9th floor. We were told there were no more rooms on the 9th floor – so Matt and I did what we typically do when on vacation – we went to our room and took a nap. When we woke up, we had a text from Matt’s parents saying that we now had a room on the 9th floor and should go to the front desk to get new keys. While we were packing up our stuff, we heard someone messing with the door – and another family walked right in. SURPRISE! So, not only did the hotel assign two different families to the same room – essentially at the same time. They gave the second people a room that no one checked to make sure was vacant, let alone clean.
