So, another perk of being a Diamond member with Caesar's is free rooms not just at any CET property, and $100 dining credit, but a deal with Atlantis in the Bahamas. Say what you will about you really are "paying" for it through gambling, we would gamble even without the perks so to us they really are reward perks. When Jeff hit Diamond because we'd gone to Vegas twice in one year in 2018, we thought - this may be our only opportunity to use this benefit. Not knowing he'd remain Diamond for the next two years and counting and that I'd hit it in 2020. So we jumped at the opportunity and are thinking of going again in Jan 2022. So what's the deal? Five days/Four nights free room at the Royal Tower (main center tower in Atlantis property that you'll see in most photos), one free dolphin experience, one free round of golf (which we didn't end up using), and deals at 3 of their 5 top restaurants.
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| My favorite shot I got of the property |
I apparently didn't write a trip report on Trip Advisor for this so this is all by memories and photos - which happen to be popping up this week. I do remember that by the time we landed, the one hour time change, and the drive in a van from the airport to the resort it was late afternoon. Our room overlooked the harbor where Cruise Ships come in. OMG their HUGE!! Our first evening and night, we just walked our building which has the main aquarium and a bit of the near by grounds, grabbing a bite to eat at a 50's style diner and then a few hours checking out the casino. The complaint I saw from most people on the travel forum was the prices in Atlantis. Maybe it's going to Vegas so much that we were prepared for sticker shock. But $30 plus tax and tip for soup, sandwiches, fries, and drink didn't seem outrageous to us. Now $15 for a cocktail? Yeah, that seems more like Vegas. But strong! And we only paid for one or two around the pool and each night with dinner. The rest on the casino floor were comped.
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| Beach & Pool Day |
Day 2 - first full day, up before the sun (I believe in Jan it didn't rise until after 7am) I got dressed and found Jeff in the casino. We agreed to walk the entire property to get the lay of the land for best areas of the pool, beaches, and exhibits. Are there no other morning people who travel? Even on vacation, as long as I've been up an hour and had a cup of coffee...let's go! Yet between 7-9am I swear we were the only people around except for facility crew and a few diehards determined to get their towel out before anyone else took their favorite spots.
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| Slushy Cocktails! |
It was pool day so after breakfast at that diner we got changed and hit the "Aqua Adventure" that is Atlantis. Before I lost my nerve I agreed to go with Jeff on the largest water side there called the LEAP OF FAITH that end up going through a tank with sharks (you're in a tube, they're swimming around) before you end up safely in a pool. We did two other slides, the lazy river, a walk to dip in the ocean at Cove beach and back for a slushy cocktail. Lunch, afternoon nap and dressed up for first "fancy" dinner at Seafire Steakhouse where we had free cocktails. I ordered a conch chowder soup (as conch is what is knowns as a true Bahamian cuisine). When I hear chowder, I think cream based. This was tomato & broth based so a bit of a let down - but the conch itself was fine. Fishy/crabish type flavor but if a little more rubbery. Night at the casino and bed.
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| Cove Beach |
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| Leap of Faith with Sharks |
Day 3 was Dolphin Day! This was something I was really looking forward to! So much so, that for some unknown reason I was wide awake at like 5am. Couldn't get back to sleep with Mr. Juice snoring away beside me so decided to walk the property in search of the sunrise at 7. So leaving him a note at 6am off I went for coffee and the breach of night to day. Turns out it's too far off property to safely do alone but still a lovely peaceful walk alone was had. Breakfast and back to room to ready for our 9am dolphin swim. First group of the day, the group was split into two groups of 10ish. We got a male dolphin named Menus (like Venus only with an M) which is Greek for first born male. He was named this as he was the first born male from the group of dolphins they rescued after Katrina that this habitat was built for. We each got a chance to pet him, give him a sign for a trick, and then pictures. Aside from individual pic, you could get a travel group/couple photo, and entire group photo. The entire pkg is like $75 - um no! I don't need photos of strangers. But $35 for the single photo of Jeff & I seemed like good memento especially since our casino pkg was buy get one free for the experience itself. This nights fancy dinner is Nobu a Japanese restaurant where we have free appetizers. I get a vegetarian entrée (very good but seriously the cost for no meat was insane!
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| Our time with Menus the Dolphin |
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| Fort Charlotte |
Day 4 was our day to explore Nassau. I had researched a few things to do so we hopped a cab for Fort Charlotte. (It is virtually across from the main market & beach but we are not shoppers, so we decided to skip the market). It was a fort built by carving into a limestone hill. Took two years to carve out. A bit sparse (I'm sure my impression is tainted because I've toured lots of castles in England as a child) but still interesting none the less. As the only people there when it opened at 9am, we got a private tour guide. Great view of the lighthouse from here.
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| View from Fort Charlotte of lighthouse on Paradise Island tip |
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| Rum tasting at John Watling Distillery |
Since we couldn't catch a cab with no one there we decided to walk into town to find our next stop (how far can it be?) Apparently without good GPS signal so just going by what I could remember of a map and our drive past in the cab that morning - you can take a really long way around. We ended up walking 1.5 miles to arrive .6 miles away at John Watlings Rum Distillery. 10am short fifteen min tour and then tasting of 4 rums. Woo! That will wake you up feeling tired from lack of sleep. From there another 1.5 miles wandering around to finally find the Queen's Staircase. Which was again carved out of limestone but took 17 years to complete. Kind of cool, but wouldn't walk that far again. Thankfully we found it at the top of the staircase, not the bottom as my legs were growing weak. Cab back to Atlantis decided we'd walk this much - why not go seek out the turtle habitat and lunch at a lagoon bar. Dinner was at Todd English (very delish pasta meal) and cocktails strong enough to get these old married folks frisky ;) A wonderful end to a great vacation.
Next day we'd heard that you should ask the casino desk if your play warrant's any back end comps (so any CET Diamond members that cross this path) DO IT! They took off over half our bill (of meals and drinks we'd charged to the room). So no longer did this place seem so expensive LOL. We flew out of the sunshine and returned home just before a blizzard hit Chicago. Welcome back to reality.
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