The Royal at Atlantis

The room was nice, the people were great, the casino took our money (LOL), and we really loved the aquarium a lot. We had a good time at the beach, pool and water park. We watched the fish/turtles get fed and the gentleman was great at answering questions. The food itself was average at best, and expensive.

You can certainly tell this place was amazing in its prime. Feels worn down these days. Lots of worker roaming around chatting with each other....but not necessarily keeping up with things. Took this picture while I watched the staff ignore it for hours. Gross.

If you like hundreds of young children running under foot screaming, $100 per person buffets and a 45 minute wait to get a $50 hamburger and drink by the pool then this is the place for you. The worst vacation of my life. The locals don’t want you there and they prove it with every interaction.

We loved our stay and came home saying it was the best time we've had as a family in a long time and our kids (7 and 9) both rated it their favorite vacation so far. Some quick things to point out: -We booked with Amex and got 2 free breakfasts at Poseidon's Table (the buffet) and a $100 room credit per day, which really helped sticker shock at the end of the 5 nights. -We stayed on the 18th floor of the Royal West tower, ocean view. We loved our room and the view. It was updated and clean. I was worried about the "musty smell" in other reviews but thankfully had no such experience. -My 9 year old son was tall enough to go on all the main rides, but my 7 year old daughter was not. My son is about 50" tall and my daughter is about 43" tall. The height requirements for all the bigger rides is 48" and they are VERY strict. Honestly, there is no reason why my daughter could not go on the Jungle slide, which is a slower, shorter slide (I got stuck in the middle of it) and emptied out into 3 ft of water, and we both felt it was a little ridiculous she wasn't allowed to go in a 2-person tube with an adult in the back on the tube rides. The only "fun" ride she was allowed on was the Rapid River ride, and that was the only ride we could do as a family. I knew this going in but thought she would be happy at Poisedon's Playground, but I think we all felt that she was a bit too old for the "baby" slides. There is not much available to kids in her in-between height. We all wished she was allowed to go on some of the less crazy slides at 43" or there should be more "older kid" slides for kids who are too old for the baby slides and too young for the "big kid/adult" slides. -There is so much to do and so many pools. There are definitely a lot of mini baby slides and baby pools/zero entry pools near Poisedon's playground. -We all thought the service was excellent, attentive, professional and friendly. I read some reviews stating the employees could be rude; we couldn't think that was more off-base. 5-stars for service all around. -The lines for slides were typically never very long. I was bracing myself for Disney-like queues, but during the time we went (4/13-4/18) it seemed busy but never crowded, especially in the morning or late afternoons, you could almost always get right on the slides without much waiting. -As I'm sure everyone was warned you, the food is EXORBITANTLY EXPENSIVE. My double pina colada the pool was $26. Our family of 4 would spend about $300 every meal. Besides Bimini Road, which was the WORST food we ever had (chicken and ribs were so dry they were like jerky, vegetables were unseasoned, etc), we found the food to be good overall. Highlight was Crocodilo (by the Coral pool). Nobu was fine but not worth it IMO. The Bahamian Nights at the buffet they recommend you book in advance was so not worth it, nor did you need you book in advance. The buffet is empty at 6pm. We were expecting some kind of entertainment but it was a basic normal buffet with one section of "Bahamian" inspired food. Skip it and go somewhere else! -We took a walk from the Royal/Aquaventure to the Coral pool (with the swim up bar) to cross the rope bridge (so fun) and got lost on the way back, discovering the underground aquarium tubes and caves. It seemed like you could find something fantastic around every twist and turn. So unexpected and so fun to discover by accident. Highly recommend venturing over there and poking around. -"The Dig" which is under The Royal is not to be missed! Really amazing and very Disney-esque of them. The entire resort is laid out so well, and really amazing, seems well taken care of and kept up well. The water does smell like sulfur though and you will walk a LOT and do a LOT of stairs (ie the Power Tower and Mayan Temple) so be prepared. You will not want to take your shoes with you on the slides so you will walk barefoot and your feet will take a beating. Our bodies felt broken the first 2 wakeups, LOL. But worth it. -That said, the pools were COLD and the breeze could be chilly. We didn't expect cold pools, but apparently they arent heated. The temps felt better when the days warmed up to 80-81, but when the days are in the 70's (ie, it was 76 one day) bring warm coverups to the pool. -We all agreed they should offer towels/have a towel stand at the end of the Rapid River ride. We would always get out freezing and then have to trek back to our chairs to get our towels. Would have made sense and been a better experience. -We did the playtime with dolphins experience. Heads up we assumed it would just be our family/private/ but there were many other families. About 3 to a dolphin. We got to stand in knee-deep water and pet, kiss, and high-five the dolphin. My kids loved it and it was very neat to be that upclose to a dolphin and touch it, but somehow thought it would be actual playing with a dolphin in at least waist high water....heads up they do make you change into a wet suit over your bathing suits. -We found everyone (in line, at the resort etc) a very friendly and polite crowd...lots of young families. Felt like the nicest bunch of tourists we'd encountered at a resort, if that counts for anything. -Tip: Definitely bring a refillable water bottle (when we checked in at the Amex desk they gave us 2 free atlantis ones, but not sure if that's standard for everyone) and fill up your bottle in the hotel at the Elkay in the hallway by the ice machine before venturing out...it's better tasting water than the sulfuric tasting tap water they offer in the park. We packed tons of snacks and skipped lunch two out of the 4 waterpark days we were there. -We may go back one day when my daughter is tall enough to go on all the slides and we can do everything as a family. Until then I do hope management considers opening the Jungle slide to kids 40" and up at a bare minimum, if not the Serpent slide with an adult... -We decided the only drawback of the Atlantis was not enough rides for kids who are almost 48" but not quite, and the overpriced food. The rest was amazing, and no place was perfect, but the Royal at the Atlantis was darn close for our family.

Beautiful Atlantic resort it was clean and everything was so organized the food was amazing. Room service staff they were amazing along with the housekeepers very friendly