THE BAHAMAS’ fabled Atlantis resort is no stranger to change. You might know it as the Lost-City-themed megaresort that sprang onto the scene in the mid-90s, captivating kids’ imaginations (and parents’ wallets) with its outsized shark and ray-filled tanks, and waterslides spewing from fake Mayan ruins.
Towering over the pretty and diminutive Paradise Island, Atlantis is just minutes from the traffic-choked center of the nation’s capital, Nassau. It a tired ’60s resort for years before Sol Kerzner bought it in 1994, reconceived it, and gave it a $1 billion injection.
Since then, the constantly expanding kingdom has added Marina Village (65,000 square feet of harborside shopping and dining), condos right on the harbor, and ramped up its dining program (with restaurants like Café Martinique, overseen by Jean-Georges Vongerichten).
The increasing number of kid-free singles and couples we’ve spotted around the pools in the past few years at least anecdotally supports the idea that there is, in fact, something for everyone. Unfortunately, the accommodations have always told a different story, with even the most elegant of towers feeling a bit Disney Moderate Resort disappointing (and equally kid-loaded),
With the opening of 600-suite luxury hotel The Cove next week, a new two-story spa, and a South Beach-style ultra-lounge, Atlantis could expect a change in demographic. On the other hand, the 63-acre aquatic compound Aquaventure, between The Cove and the iconic Royal Tower, as well as the new Dolphin Cay, promise to set off a child-to-parent begging spree of epic proportions.
Is it a real transformation or just a bigger version of the resort we already know? We put on swimsuits we could count on to stay put during a seven-story vertical drop, and checked it out.
TAKE TO THE WATER
Atlantis’s new “skyline” is the most prominent change.
The darkly sci-fi Power Tower (home of the four new waterslides), topped with prehistoric lotus-looking leaves, looms 120 feet over the western expansion. It’s the centerpiece of the five-million gallon Aquaventure, which includes a mile-long river with rapids, generated waves, and caves. Riding the Power Tower sucks you almost almost straight down into pitch black. You are then dropped in an underground pool surrounded by tanks of alligators.
If you want, let the river carry you right into the Power Tower, which uses a conveyor system to take you in your tube right up to two of the rides, the Drop and the Falls, which feature “Master Blaster” systems that propel you both up and down.
They’re fun tube rides, but we were most impressed by the river itself, called The Current. Once you get through The Rapids, a wave generator pushes out waves as you go through a twisty canal.
In a theatrical move, the generator building (a sort of mini-tower) has been covered with climbing walls, and you’ll see climbers teetering above you as you near the waves.
HELLO, DOLPHINS
Atlantis has long intended to have a dolphin interaction program. It was a stroke of good luck for 16 Florida dolphins washed away in the beginnings of Hurricane Katrina that that the resort was serious about opening what’s known as Dolphin Cay.
Since the dolphins are only now adjusting to their new home – an expansive, high-tech, 7-million-gallon marine mammal facility complete with hydraulic lifts and special pools with baby-bumpers for newborns – visitation is limited to about 20 Atlantis guests a day.
Eventually, they’ll take several hundred guests a day, who will be offered a shallow or deep water experience.
A visit is pricey, but $150 for 90 minutes is typical for a dolphin encounter; this is the best organized, spiffiest facility we’ve seen, with the most engaging trainers. Plus, some of the money goes to research). If you’re lucky, they’ll bring one of the 11 new sea lions to practice a few tricks on the beach.
GRAND HOTEL
Atlantis is encouraging visitors not to think of The Cove as a new tower, but as a separate hotel.
From the outside, the building doesn’t depart too drastically from the others in the complex, but its interior definitely does: A three story-high timber ceiling and lots of indoor/outdoor spaces make it less a temple to itself than to the outdoors.
Designed by Jeffrey Beers, the space is organic (lights that change colors with the time of day, rosewood counters inlaid with mother-of-pearl, bamboo walls and stone floors).
The suites (all rooms are suites, all offer water views), are high-tech, with Bose entertainment systems, WiFi, and at least two plasma TVs each. They’ve got big bathrooms with marble floors and big deep soaking tubs (some in front of windows overlooking the ocean).
Décor is clean, with light wood paneling and colors – like citrus greens and orange – that are a bit more sophisticated than the average tropical hotel room. The rooms start at 650 square feet, and feature step-down parlors.
Downstairs, the pool seamlessly transitions to the ocean via the beach between them, and has daybeds in the middle. Twenty high-tech cabanas surround it, with daybeds, Bose sound systems, and 42-inch flat-screen TVs.
More than the hotel’s design, it may be the new rules that set The Cove apart: No kids under 12 are allowed, and the pool is for adults over 18 only.