Trip Report: Atlantis Resort, Bahamas

Hey friends and happy Friday!  If you follow me over on Instagram you know my family and I spent last week at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas.  It was pretty much our first time in the Bahamas (except for the almost cruise – more on that in a bit), and we had an absolute blast!  Today I thought I’d jot down a few thoughts and share a little trip report with you all!

We’ve been on a cruise to the Bahamas before, but unfortunately we didn’t have great weather.  So we only ended up having a couple hours in Nassau and never ended up making it to the next port during that trip.  This time we were all very excited to finally experience the clear turquoise waters so many of our friends have raved about.  And the beaches did not disappoint.  The water is truly so beautiful it doesn’t seem real!

CATlantis

Truth?  We planned this trip around a college basketball tournament.  My husband is a HUGE Kentucky basketball fan, and they were playing in a tournament in the Bahamas. So we decided to take the opportunity to make this our summer vacation.  We weren’t the only Kentucky fans who made the trip.  You couldn’t escape the color blue even if you tried.  It was so fun!  Just imagine a flight full of people in their best UK gear and the flight attendants leading a round of C-A-T-S-CATS-CATS-CATS, because that actually happened!

What We Did

There is so much to do at the Atlantis Resort (and because we’d never been before) we stayed on property the whole time.  Plus there was a basketball game pretty much every night that we were there except for one night, so we really just didn’t have time to explore much outside of the resort.  Although my daughter still wants to swim with the pigs one day.

When we booked the trip I honestly had no idea how huge this resort was.  There are multiple pools, beaches, a waterpark, an aquarium, just a ton of things to do on property to keep all of us entertained.

I basically turn into a big kid at a waterpark!  I just LOVE me a waterslide or pretty much any water feature that requires a tube.  Both of my kids know that I dream of one day having a lazy river in my backyard.  Pools are for losers.  😉  Lazy rivers are where it’s at!  Just sayin’.

(bathing suit – love this one piece!)

So we floated the days away and just enjoyed the sun and warm weather, but not without my favorite mineral sunscreen.

(hat, sunscreen, sunnies)

My animal-loving daughter wanted to do the shallow water dolphin experience.  And it was absolutely one of the most incredible experiences of my life.  She and I had the best time!  This was price-y for a one-hour experience, but in my opinion it was totally worth every penny (and a portion of the proceeds goes to support The Blue Project Foundation).  I personally wouldn’t have done this with a younger child.  I’m glad she’s old enough that she’ll remember this, you know?  My son didn’t want to do this, so this was just a mother-daughter bonding time.

And we both fell head over heels for Brewer.

Where We Ate

While on instagram it may have seemed like I was on a liquid diet as I only ever shared pictures of drinks, I promise I did eat solid food.  😉  Although I’m pretty sure one pina colada was half the calories I needed to consume in a day.  None of that matters when you’re on vacation though right?!

I’m pretty sure this is the cutest Starbucks I’ve ever seen.  Surprisingly though, they didn’t offer coconut milk.  Their dairy-free options were almond and soy milk, so I just opted for a splash of half & half.

But besides beverages we found a few restaurant gems that I wanted to be sure to tell you all about.  First off, the food was, as we were warned about, very expensive.  Be prepared for Disney-style food pricing.  Most restaurants were fairly accommodating with their gluten free offerings.  The kids enjoyed burgers with gluten free buns at Shark Bites, which is right in the middle of all the waterpark area.  And they also loved the gluten free pancakes at Olives!  There’s a pizza place, that I can’t remember the name of, that did offer gluten free crust….but we all felt that it tasted like disappointment (and it was a whopping $20 for one personal sized pizza!).  If you’re gluten free, I’d skip the pizza place.  But if you’re not, the regular pizza looked pretty good, and it’s nice to take and go down to the beach and eat while the sun sets.

One restaurant we all loved so much that we decided to eat there twice was Carmine’s.  It’s an Italian restaurant where everything is served family style (reminded me of a Maggiano’s), and they offered gluten free pasta!  This place was good and decently priced for their servings!

(blue maxi – perfect length for shorties – I’m 5’3″)

We had an incredible time!   We all loved Atlantis; but as with every vacation we’ve ever taken, it’s not about where you go, it’s about the people with whom you travel.

And P.S. ~ We all traveled with carry-on luggage only.  Let me know if you want me to do a quick recap of how I packed for 7 days in one carry-on sized roller board, in case you missed my packing tips that I shared on Instagram Stories a couple weeks ago!