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Caribbean Travel RoundupNewsletter - Paul Graveline, Editor |
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Trip: July 1st - 4th, 1999 After a lot of extra work and a job well done, my husbands company thanked him by sending us away for a much-needed "fun in the sun" holiday. My husband (Shaune) and I are in our mid-late 20's; Shaune is 25 and I am 27 years old. We love the Caribbean and have somehow managed to squeeze in 3 trips this year. For our honeymoon in September we went to St. Lucia ... in January we went with friends to Cuba ... and so when we were given the chance to choose our own "gift" destination for a 4 day trip ~ Bahamas was the obvious choice to us. Tropical & fun, beautiful beaches and a short plane flight made Bahamas the ''place to be''. We were going with another couple (Tammy and Dave); friends of ours and they work for the same company as Shaune. We quickly did some research on the Internet and chose Cable Beach, Nassau on New Providence Island. We wanted a no-fuss, no-worries resort and chose to go all inclusive. We booked Superclubs Breezes Bahamas and counted down the days till we would leave. THE FLIGHT: Our Canada 3000 flight was scheduled to leave Terminal 3 Pearson Airport (Toronto, Ontario Canada) at 6:35a.m. Our plane left on time and we had a quick and smooth flight to Nassau airport. We arrived on time at around 9:40a.m. Our pilot gave us a quick and disappointing weather forecast: "wet". As we stepped off the airplane, we saw that it had been raining. There were big puddles of rain and the sky looked like it was ready to pour down again. We got through the airport quickly and boarded an air-conditioned shuttle bus designated for Breezes guests. Surprising to us was that our luggage did not come with us. It was boarded on a separate luggage van. We crossed our fingers and hoped it would arrive at the same hotel as us (it did). The ride to the resort was a short 10 minute drive down a nicely manicured road. The roads were in very good condition compared to other places we've visited. Our shuttle driver was very upbeat and friendly and helped start our trip off on a fun note. THE RESORT: Breezes Bahamas in located on the main ''strip'' of Cable Beach with other resorts like Radisson Cable Beach and Sandals Royal Bahamian. The resort is only 5 miles from downtown Nassau shopping area and only 5 miles in the other direction from Nassau International Airport. All the resorts along the drive looked very nice and we really noticed how well the private and public areas of Cable Beach were taken care of. Very clean and gorgeous landscaping. There is a long "boardwalk" type walkway in between the one way streets on the main strip. It was among gardens and was very clean - no garbage in sight. People could walk in on the pathway instead of the sidewalks. We saw many couples and families taking their morning walk along this pretty walkway. Breezes Bahamas was located close to Nassau Beach Resort and the Marriot (the casino!) The resort is adults-only and the guests are a mix of couples, and singles. No one under the age of 16 years old is able to stay here. We really enjoyed the adult atmosphere of Breezes As you enter the circular drive at Breezes, you instantly get a ''feel'' for the resort. The grounds are nicely manicured and the staff seemed to always have a smile on their face. The lobby makes the strongest statement. It was all done in bright Caribbean colours and was an open-air lobby. The lobby housed the reception desk, the restaurant reservations, public washrooms and an information and excursion booth. Directly through the lobby was the Entertainment area. This area housed the "theme night" entertainment and had a stage for performances. There was a large bar area and many tables and chairs. To the right of the lobby was the "games rooms". This area housed pool tables, board games, ping pong tables, and a large t.v. sitting area where there was usually some kind of sporting event on. The hotel has a central public core and has an 8 story wing to the left of the lobby and a 4 story wing to the right of the lobby. There is a total of 400 rooms including garden view, ocean view, and oceanfront suites. The hotel is shaped like a "U" and in the middle is where all the action takes place. The space between the two accommodation wings features the pool area. The pool consists of a main swimming area pool; a swim up bar pool that is connected to the volleyball pool; and a lounge pool where lounge chairs sit in shallow water for keeping cool while soaking up the rays. The pool area was the fun place to be. If you aren't into a lot of activity and loud music, you may prefer the beach. A couple times during our stay, we noticed the pool needed to be better cleaned (only noticed this in the shallow lounge pool) and like every other resort in the Caribbean, there never seemed to be enough towels! We also thought that although the pool area was nice, we thought that the pool(s) were kind of small considering the 400 room capacity of the resort. It was never full to the gills, but the pools didn't offer any quiet spots like most ''honeymoon/adult'' resorts do. There are four bars on the property; the lobby bar, the swim up/pool bar; the Pelican piano bar; and the Disco bar. You can find something to drink from 10 a.m. until 5 a.m. (if you really wanted to!) We found the service at the bars to be good and fairly quick and we thought they had great drinks. We especially liked the "do-it-yourself" bar with slushie machines (pina coladas, mudslides, daiquiris) and rum, etc. OUR ACCOMMODATIONS: We booked ocean view and were placed in room 611 in the west wing. Our room faced the pool interior with a good (but not close) view of the ocean. There are no balconies at Breezes, just a small platform with a railing so you can open your patio doors and look out without falling. It would be nicer if they had balconies so you could enjoy your ocean view. We really don't spend a lot of time in our rooms, so this feature wasn't a big disappointment to us. I personally wouldn't do the upgrade to ocean view if we'd been paying for it. For the extra cost, the view of the ocean is nice but not that great. Since there is no balcony, the only time you will see the ocean is if you lean over the railing. The ocean front suites (an additional upgrade in price) were right on the beach and they had wonderful full views of the ocean (although on the west wing, the trapeze equipment would likely ''get in the way''). If possible, I would request the main floor close to the ocean, as you can sun right outside your patio door and be about 20 steps from the ocean. Friends we met there had gotten the complimentary upgrade to ocean front and really liked the view but were given a room with a double bed. I'm not sure if most the rooms feature king or if it is a mix of King beds and double beds. Our room had a King size bed and the room was simple and plain. No-fuss. It had the bed, 2 end tables, a dresser, a small table and 2 chairs, and a large mirror. A large open closet with safety deposit box was to the left as you enter the room. The bathroom was directly across from it. The bathroom was the least impressive part of the room. It was clean, but did not give the appearance of being very well maintained. The fixtures were worn a bit and the bathtub needed to be replaced with a cleaner and newer model. The door to our bathroom did not close all the way and the first night we went to use the shower, the shower head was broken and the shower did not work at all. (More about that later) I would compare the hotel room to be about equivalent to a Holiday Inn. Not bad, not fancy... but in need of some ''polishing''. Our first day in Nassau - Thursday, July 1, 1999 As soon as we got off the bus we were greeted and taken to the entertainment area (overlooks the pool area and ocean) and filled out all the necessary papers for our rooms. We were told that the hotel was totally booked and no rooms would be available for check in until 2 p.m. I had wondered about this since we were arriving early, so I had packed bathing suits, etc. in our backpack in case something like that tried to get in our way of having a great time from the minute we arrived. We went to a 30 minute orientation where they familiarized everyone with where everything was and what was going on when. After orientation, Shaune and I quickly changed into our bathing suits and we went in search of a tropical drink. We were also hungry and quickly found the beach hut (which we found to have the best food of all). I had jerk chicken and fries and Shaune tried the Oliver's fish and chips. Both were terrific! As we ate our first meal at Breezes, in rolled a big down pour of rain. It POURED rain for only about 十 hour... but it seemed like it rained forever on our FIRST day there. We finished our food under an overhang on the roof of the Beach Grill and then decided to join the rain and relax in the hot tub. Later we walked around the resort and also made dinner reservations for the following night at Pastafari's. At about 1:00 p.m. we went to see if they had any ocean view rooms available yet. YES, they did. We quickly found our bags (set aside in a separate area until we could check in to our rooms) and headed to our room. From our room, you had a pretty decent view of the ocean. We liked the view but as stated earlier; we wondered if it was worth the upgrade. Unless you stand close to the railing you really don't enjoy the view. You cannot really see the ocean view if you just open your drapes and sat on the bed. Tammy and Dave also upgraded to Ocean View, but... their view was not as nice. They really couldn't hardly see any water from where they were and had a not so great view of a neighbors back yard. They were also located on the 6th floor but were on the outside windows of the U shaped building. We had a chance to take a look at the garden view rooms and found them just as nice... I guess it really just depends on your priorities and what you care to spend your money on. We found the rooms to be Okay and comfortable. We quickly unpacked and hung up our clothes. We were to meet Tammy and Dave for supper at the buffet restaurant, so we quickly jumped in the shower......to find it not working. I tried for about 15 minutes to contact the Lobby to ask someone to come up and fix it, but no one would answer the phone. I literally let the phone ring 40 or more times and still no answer. Well, we needed to get ready for dinner so we showered with it the way it was. The water coming from the shower head was spraying all over the place and we noticed a piece of the shower head was missing. We had to shower together and we took turns plugging the hole in the shower head with our finger. Talk about desperate. On our way down to supper we stopped at the front desk and they were apologetic. They promised to send someone up to fix it right away. With that taken care of we headed for supper. We aren't usually too fussy on buffet resorts and wondered how we would enjoy the food at Breezes. We were pleasantly surprised and were able to find plenty to eat each night. The salad bar was extremely good and I loved the cheese and bread selection. They always had many types of meat (Americanized food and ethnic foods also) and side dishes. I couldn't possibly give you a list of everything. Some of the things we enjoyed at the supper buffet were: steak; fried fish; fried conch; caesar and garden salads; pasta dishes; hip of beef; etc......... The list goes on and on. Our first night at Breezes was Toga Night (which they have every Thursday night). After dinner, we picked up the complimentary toga bed sheets by the entertainment area and went upstairs to ''dress up''. It wasn't easy coming up with a unique way to tie a bed sheet, but when we were all dressed we congratulated ourselves on some great fashion designing. The toga theme night took place in the large Entertainment area by the lobby and I'd say about 1/3 of the people in attendance dressed the part. Entertainment included both staff and guest talent shows (some were pretty good) and then the toga entertainment began. There was a toga parade where everyone in togas danced around the floor in a train/ "come on baby, do the locomotion!" and we had dance lessons. We formed a big circle and each person went into the center of the circle and did their thing. Shaune and I had a good time, but slipped away from participating (we prefer being spectators) to sit with the audience. There was a toga contest... most original, best girl costume, best boy costume, etc...... The guy to win had somehow compacted his sheet and made a "Sumo g-string" type toga to wear. Very brave... so he won. It was a really fun time and even if you aren't an extrovert and/or an exhibitionist, you can still participate and have a good time. After the toga competition, we changed into our bathing suits and went for a late night dip in the pool. When we returned to our rooms to change we noticed our shower had been fixed and we never had any problems with it again during our stay. Friday, July 2nd, 1999 Today was a busy day. We were up at 6 a.m. and showering to get ready for our early morning swim with the dolphins. I had researched excursions on the Internet and knew immediately that we wanted to do the Swim with the Dolphins program at Blue Lagoon Island. I contacted (via email) the program over a month in advance of our trip and it was already all booked for the entire time we would be in Bahamas. I was extremely disappointed and went on a waiting list in case someone canceled. A week prior to going to the Bahamas, they contacted me to let me know we had gotten into the program. The cost of the program is $115/ per person U.S. dollars. Quite expensive, especially when you factor in the exchange rate for us Canadians. But.... I just had to give it a try. The Swim With Dolphins program is one of 3 programs Dolphin Excursions offers. They also offer Close Encounters Program (where you stand in shallow water and interact with the dolphins - this is the program most people do; it is cheaper $50 approx. per person and is good for younger children to try) and Dolphin Trainer for a day Program (where you are an assistant trainer for 1/2 day; full day; not sure of the cost of this program). The program arranged for a bus to pick us up at the resort at 7 a.m. (for an additional cost of $7/each) and take us to the Paradise Island Docks. From the docks we boarded a large boat that took us to Blue Lagoon Island. The boat ride was approx. 25 minutes and is a nice ride. Blue Lagoon Island is beautiful and surrounded by amazing turquoise blue waters. The boat dropped us off at the Dolphin Excursion dock and we immediately saw some of the dolphins in a separated lagoon swimming and playing. It was like being a kid again. I was so excited just to see a dolphin that close and couldn't wait to get in the water with them. The boat held around 75 people and we were all taken to the information/ seminar area where they did a quick briefing on what to expect, how to treat the dolphins, some background on the dolphins (including one dolphin who starred in the Disney movie: Flipper). Then we were separated into groups of 10 and taken to the lagoon we would be swimming in. The water was very clean and there were yellow and black striped fish swimming all through the water. Our group of 10 sat on the floating dock and then two dolphins appeared from nowhere and began their entertaining. The 2 dolphins swam up along the dock and let us pet their bellies and their backs. There skin is smooth as silk, but not slimy feeling like I imagined. Remember if you are booking younger children in this expensive program: the dolphins are cute on t.v. but once the kids see their teeth they may not want to get in the water with them. That happened to a young girl around 10 yrs old. She became quite scared and wouldn't participate once she got a good look at the dolphins. We all got in the water and each of the 10 of us took turns going to the middle of the lagoon and then a dolphin danced with us; and kissed us; and we fed them a little fish. Then they posed with each person or couple for a photograph. (Note: be sure to take LOTS of $$$ with you. They have a professional photographer as well as someone Videotaping the whole thing and it costs a lot of money......but it is a once in a lifetime sort of thing!) For a 十 hour you do different things with the dolphins and as the finale the dolphins give each person a high-speed foot push through the water. It is an experience that is very hard to describe. It was the highlight of the program. Each person takes their turn. You float belly down in the water (you have life jackets on) with your legs locked. Both dolphins come up behind you and each puts their nose in the arch of your foot. They quickly pick up tremendous speed and push you through the water FAST. You are about 2/3 out of the water and they take you the distance of the lagoon. What a blast! That alone was worth the money. After the foot pushes are done; the dolphins say their goodbyes. You then get the chance to change or dry off and can go to the video area to immediately view your SWIM. Then they give you about 40 minutes to purchase souvenirs before the boat picks you up and takes you back. We highly recommend this excursion for anyone who loves dolphins. We felt it was money well spent. We recommend you take LOTS of money($50-$200 depending on what you purchase) for photo souvenirs (and the personal video is hard to resist once you've seen it) and be sure to each take an underwater camera (the disposable type) to catch some great close ups of the dolphins and of your spouse's or child's reactions. We were back at the resort at around 1:30 p.m. and quickly grabbed our first bite of food of the day. We ate at the buffet restaurant and samples many of their dishes. I'm big on variety and liked trying a small sample of lots of different things. A few of the foods you can expect to see on the lunch buffet are: coldest submarines; clones & pizza; bbq chicken; pasta with sauces and tons of different types of salads (macaroni, potato, etc...) If you are Vegetarian you should have no trouble finding something to eat here. We thought that the buffet offered a great variety of low fat; high fat (our favorite); and Vegetarian. Everything we tried at all meals were decent and most things we tried were very good. Today for dessert we found a special treat: large chocolate rum- ball truffles. They were amazing and we didn't see them again during our stay. We easily met up with our friends by the pool and caught some sun. The day was overcast and not very hot. It was hot enough to lie out at the pool and get a tan and there were lots of activities throughout the afternoon. We went and watch the circus school for 十 hour. The ''trainers'' seemed quite good and the trapeze and trampoline both looked to be very safe with harnesses and safety belts and a huge net underneath the trapeze swing. The trapeze was the most popular and every day there was people trying it out. Some people we noticed practicing quite a bit and they said they were going to be featured in the guest part of the "Circus Show". I grabbed an afternoon snack at the beach grill: Crab (artificial; but tasty just the same) Caesar Salad. The Pool Volleyball seemed to be the biggest hit at the resort. We started up a game in the early afternoon and found ourselves still playing at 6 p.m. Of course, the volleyball area in the pool is VERY close to the swim up bar and time had "flown" by. We had dinner reservations for 7 p.m. at Pastafari's but decided to skip the pasta and party in the pool until early evening. We met a lot of fun people in the pool that day from New Jersey; Texas; Pittsburgh; etc... and we stayed in the pool having a very good time until around 7:30 or 8:00 p.m. The rest of the night, I'm sorry to say is kind of "Fuzzy". This is the only night we really took ''advantage'' of the all you can drink feature of Breezes. After we got out of the pool we all congregated over at the beach grill and had Steak; Corn on the Cob; etc... (I hear it was tasty). Before we knew it was dark and Beach Party Night began. The Circus show was good and a lot of people showed to watch the performers. The trapeze is located right by the ocean and they had dance music and a band playing throughout the night. It was our "funniest" night in Bahamas (ya, I know that really isn't a word). But it was a lot of FUN. We swam in the ocean and stared up at the stars while we listened to Calypso and Reggae music; we sang and danced; we competed in the limbo contest (and were disqualified very early into it). Around 12:30 we finally went to bed, but it seemed more like 5 in the morning - - - a long day! Somewhere and sometime during our FUN, we lost my beach sandals and one of our underwater cameras we'd taken most of our dolphin pictures on. Bummer! We continued to check with front desk each day and neither the sandals nor the disposable camera surfaced. Saturday, July 3rd, 1999 We slept in today (only till around 9:30a.m.) and woke up a bit "groggy". We still somehow made it down to the Breakfast buffet and had some light food. It was still a bit overcast but the sun would peak through once in a while so we chose our lounge chairs by the pool and thought about taking a little nap. We snoozed on and off for some of the morning but it really is hard to catch any sleep with so much activity going on around you. The music was playing and they were having contests and activities. I didn't mind that and we had a nice relaxing day in the sun. (the quietest place to sleep and relax in the sun is on the beach). We played a lot of pool volleyball again today and had a fun time. We arranged to meet two other couples we'd met during volleyball for supper at the buffet restaurant. This night at the buffet was great. They had steaks and baked potatoes, and tons of different delicious entrees. Pretty much everyone at our table filled up on the steaks. I had heard so much about "conch" in the Bahamas and I kept looking at the buffet and beach grill everyday and couldn't find it to try. Tonight at the buffet they had conch. They had conch chowder and deep fried battered conch with some sort of tartar sauce. I fell in love with the deep fried conch and ate a plate of just that. At supper they had a man ''serenading'' the tables with his guitar. When he got to our table he sang "DEYO, dey...dey...dey....OOOO - Daylight come and me wanna go home!" He was a good singer and we had a good time singing along with him. After supper (at around 9p.m.) we headed for the beach and walked the short distance to the Marriot Hotel and Casino. We had some gamblers in our group and we decided to give it a try at the Marriot since it was such a short walk up the beach. I was wondering as we walked up the beach at night how many times we may be stopped and offered some "Party guana" but surprisingly we walked the beach in peace and it took about 10 minutes to get to the Marriot. Someone did stop us on the beach and told us that in a couple of minutes there were going to be fireworks over the ocean. When we reached Marriot a Junkaroo parade had just started and featured locals dressed in headdress and costumes and playing music and dancing. It was quite a sight and all the guests of the Marriot had on their party hats and American flags... It was a "pre- celebration" of tomorrow's JULY 4TH - Independence Day. I suspect that most tourists this holiday weekend to Bahamas were from the United States (we certainly didn't see a party for Canada Day which was July 1st - our first day in Bahamas ... but they're forgiven!) and the beach and the Marriot was party central. The fireworks began and we had a front row seat on a large retaining wall by the beach. They had a large ship out in the ocean and they put on an amazing fireworks show. It must of been at least a 十 hour long and featured a medley of "America" songs. Neil Diamond "Coming to America"; Bruce Springstein "Born in the U.S.A."; the American anthem... and so on. It was quite the show to see... American or otherwise. We eventually made it into the Casino. It was our first time in a Casino and we really aren't the gambling type... but we figured it would be a fun experience and we knew we were too tight with our money to worry about going overboard! We decided to just play the different slots and computerized games (the slowest way to lose your money) and spent $40/u.s. in total. It took us about 1 hour to lose it all. We won once in a while, but not very much and after about a half hour I had had enough. It was interesting to see some of the big spenders at the tables and even on the high money slot machines. We decided that Vegas would not be our sort of place to visit. At around 11:30 p.m. we all met up at the Casino lobby and headed back to our resort. We went for a swim in the pool and then stopped by the midnight buffet on our way back to our rooms. We grabbed some pizza and coldmeat sandwiches and headed inside. Sunday, July 4th, 1999 Our last day here! We were sad to have to be leaving today and decided Bahamas was a great retreat for a long weekend trip... but next time we come here it will be at least a week. There is just so much to do and see and the island is great. We didn't have to catch our plane back to Toronto until 10:00 p.m. at night so we had the whole day to enjoy ourselves. We woke up early and grabbed breakfast and then caught the number 10 bus to downtown Nassau to buy some last minute souvenirs at the Straw Market. This was my first ''straw market'' experience and I was expecting to be major hassled and crowded while we shopped. It was actually quite nice. Perhaps we went on a good day but we got downtown around 10:30 a.m. and there wasn't a mob of people and pushy vendors like I expected. Some of the merchandise was good but most of it wasn't worth much. We shopped around and bought mostly duty free liquor and also bought a t- shirt (which the colour ran as soon as it got wet - don't buy the t- shirts!!!) and 2 ball caps. Our friends bought a shiny conch shell for their niece as well as some other bargains. It was a good time and we enjoyed the time in downtown Nassau. The downtown was maintained okay (I imagine about par with most other cities in the Caribbean islands) with a mix of nicely kept shops and some run down buildings. The streets adjacent to the straw market offered more pricey and higher quality shopping, but we were looking for the bargains. We only stayed downtown until around 11:30 a.m. and then caught the number 10 bus back. I think the cost of the number 10 bus is $0.75 per person per trip u.s. dollars or Bahamian dollars. You must have exact change. This bus seemed to go by the hotel about every 10-15 minutes. We missed our stop on the way back passed and got off across from Sandals Resort. We were desperately looking for a bank that serviced bank cards from outside the Bahamas but had no luck. We had tried 2 banks downtown and then tried a bank across from Sandals. No luck! We were able to get a cash advance from our own hotel when we got back. We wanted to buy some photographs taken by the staff photographer and also wanted to buy a few souvenirs from the Breezes gift shop. We were supposed to be ''checked out'' of our hotel room by noon, but didn't get back from down town till around noon time. So, we rushed and got everything packed and then checked out around 1 p.m. The hotel let us know that since we had a late flight departure, a courtesy room would be made available to us (to shower, change, etc.) before we were shuttled back to the airport. Our last day was a beautiful and HOT day. This was the first day it was not overcast and the sun felt so much more intense. This day turned out to be one of our busiest days. Shaune and I had been watching the parasail boat our whole stay and decided to give it a whirl on our last day. We walked down the beach and paid our $40/u.s. per person and boarded a large jet boat with 5-6 other people. They took us out into the middle of the ocean and we each took turns going WAY UP in the air. Shaune went before me and had a blast. They harness you in and you wear a life jacket. The boat has a large platform at the back of the boat and once you are harnessed in, you simply glide up into the air and before you know it you can see all of Cable Beach. I went up after Shaune and took my underwater camera up with me. It was an amazing sight. The water was a dozen different shades of blue and green and I took a few pictures of my amazing view and a self portrait of me way up in the sky. At one point they slowly bring you down and dip you in the water and then you are quickly taken back up to the skies. The landing is back on the platform of the boat and is really smooth. It was a fun time!!! The whole experience is only about 10 minutes long but I'd recommend it - that is, unless you are afraid of heights!!! We had also made a 3 p.m. snorkeling appointment down the beach at the "Nassau Beach Resort" hut. The cost was $25/ u.s. per person and that covered the cost of all equipment, the boat ride out to the reef (visible from the hotel), a snorkel guide, and 1 hour in the water. We met up with Tammy and Dave and two other couples we had been chumming around with. The boat ride was only about 10 minutes out and all of us had snorkeled before except for one couple. The water was kind of rough and it wasn't the best snorkeling. We were at a reef in the middle of the ocean and about 5 minutes into snorkeling we spotted a shark in the water. It seemed to be ''sleeping'' and was just sitting still down in the reef. We were really surprised to see a shark (it was a fair size - about 7-8 feet long ... and that is no "Fish Story") and we just all floated on the surface and watched the shark for a while. I took a few pictures of it with my underwater camera, but didn't get any ''close ups''. One of our first time snorkeler's actually swam down in the reef and took a photo up close. YIKES!!! I told our guide 2-3 times that there was a shark in the water and asked if we should get out. He really just ignored me and didn't seem alarmed at all. So, he proceeded to guide us along the reef and we snorkeled away from the shark for about 10 minutes. One of the girls in our group was quite sea sick from the ride out and was too sick to snorkel for more than 10 minutes. Once we realized how sick she was we decided to call our snorkel adventure short and headed back into shore after about 十 hour of snorkeling. We were all quite shocked and excited to have saw this shark on our snorkel trip. I personally am terrified (and mesmerized at the same time) of Sharks (watched JAWS a dozen too many times) and was quite surprised by my ''mellow'' reaction to seeing a shark. When my husband first alerted me to the fact that there was a shark in the water I was terrified. After I got a look at it just lying still in the water it was quite interesting. Just the same, after I had had time to think about it, I think we should have got out of the water when we spotted the shark... who knows??? The rest of the day was spent lying out in the sun and swimming in the pool. The sun was really hot and I got a heat rash about 十 way into the day. We spent the late afternoon saying good bye to all the nice people we'd met and gathering up last minute "photo OOP's" and souvenirs. We used the courtesy room to clean up and get ready for our journey back to Canada. The courtesy room was a garden room on the bottom floor and we liked it better than the room we had in the "ocean view" section. It had ceramic tiled floors (instead of ours which had carpeted floors) and was more ''island feeling'' than our ''hotel room'' feeling room. The patio door opened up to a ground floor patio and was a few steps from the pool area. Just our opinion but I personally hate hotel rooms in the Caribbean with dirty and worn carpeted floors... it just doesn't make sense with all the sand you track in and out of your rooms. We were to meet our friends for supper at the beach grill but unfortunately it started to poor down rain, so we all opted for the supper buffet again. We got our last fill of "all inclusive" food and then caught a shuttle back to the Nassau airport. Our flight left the Bahamas at approx. 10 p.m and we were back in Toronto, Ontario, Canada by 12:30 a.m on Monday. It is a wonderful flight time... at only 2 1/2 hours long and another good reason to keep returning to this wonderful island. As we were about to land in Toronto our pilot gave us the current forecast for Toronto. It was hotter in Toronto than it was all weekend in Bahamas. After midnight and the temperature was at 30 degree Celsius and humid as anything. We instantly wished we were back on Breezes Bahamas beach with a Strawberry Daiquiri and the cool ocean breezes! In conclusion, I guess you could say we had a BLAST. I thought the resort was a lot of fun and offered both the chance to relax as well as the chance to party it up. We felt that it was good value for the dollar and would return to this resort again. The staff were all friendly and we enjoyed the compact layout of the resort... perfect when going away with others. There was never a worry of having to search long for someone, yet you never felt crowded in like sardines either. I'm not sure its my idea of the most romantic setting... but I guess that is all in the eye of the beholder. We went to wind down and relax and managed to get in a lot of fun in only 4 days. The island and Nassau were beautiful, well kept, and generally safe from what we experienced. We would recommend both Nassau and Breezes Bahamas for those looking for a carefree and fun filled holiday in the sun.
Trip 8/99 Arrive in Nassau August 14, 1999, around 6pm est. Went through customs very quick and easy. Total time to retrieve luggage and clear customs about 20 minutes. Trip to Atlantis about 30 minutes, rode on a Majestic Tours bus arranged by our travel agent. Twenty-eight dollars for two people one way. Had to load own luggage, driver just stood there with a very sour look on her face. She was very rude and had a very bad attitude. Arrived at Atlantis Beach Tower around 6:45pm. Check-in was very easy all our reservations were in order. Bellman delivered luggage to room very quickly. We chose the Full American Meal plan at a cost of $55.00 per person per day. Checked in room #7158. Room was old but fairly clean. Carpet was stained and remote control for TV did not have any batteries in it. Called desk and asked for a refrigerator and batteries. Went to dinner at Seagrapes, (buffet) food was very good but expensive. Service real slow no one seems to know anything about what's going on. Took forever to get someone to bring us tea to drink. They add the 15% tip to your bill automatically; this gives them no incentive to provide good service. I usually reward people for good service by tipping more that 15%. Their service rates about 5%. Service never got any better, really got a little worse. No one seemed to care if you had to wait forever to be seated or anything. I guess they figured you could not go any other place. Got back to room after dinner, refrigerator had been delivered. Still no batteries for remote. We never got any batteries for remote, I went in another room they were cleaning and swapped remotes. Enough of all that, I will just tell you all the highlights if you want more detailed info or have any questions please ask. I will give you a short description of most everything we did. FOOD Seagrapes - Buffet, food was very good. They server all meals at one time or another we ate most of all of our meals there. Breakfast they had every thing you would ever want for breakfast. Service again very non-caring and slow. Cost for breakfast about $36.00 for two people. FYI coffee is awful!! Seagrapes - Dinner, food very good large assortment of fish, steak and pasta. All types of salads and fruit. Many, many deserts. Again service was not what you would expect. Never could get refills on tea with out having to ask. Adding 15% tip at a buffet is a little too much, just their way of charging more. ATLAS BAR & GRILL Dinner - Service VERY slow! Took forever for someone to take our order. I had steak my wife had the ribs. Both were very good. Total cost for meal $75. 00 plus $11.00 for tip. Service again not worth the 15% tip. Get here early fills up quick. They do not take reservations. WATERS EDGE Made reservations had to wait three days to get an opening. Make reservations early or you will not get in. Food pretty good but not great. Service was real good better than anywhere we had been. Just can't seem to get good food and service at the same place. Cost for two $86.00. GENERAL INFORMATION Employees are not very helpful when asked questions. They do not seem to want to help you. They all stand around talking to one another and ignore you. None of the employees are very knowledgeable about the resort. I got the impression they did not want to help. I have other ideas why but reserve comment. SHORE EXCURSIONS We went on a trip to Rose Island with SEA ISLAND ADVENTURE. All day trip that included snorkeling and a lunch buffet. Forty dollars per person, very nice trip well worth the price. We left at about 9:30am and returned at about 4:40pm. Spent the day on the beach at Rose Island relaxing and snorkeling. Water was very nice snorkeling was a lot of fun. If you like snorkeling you need to try this. FYI if you go on this trip take some toast or crackers to attract the fish, we did and had lots of pretty colorful fish to view. SWIM WITH THE DOLPHIN Do not let the price scare you off, we paid $115.00 per person to swim with the dolphins. It was well worth it, spent about 45 minutes with the dolphins and really enjoyed every minute if it. They let you do all the tricks with them. They video the entire time and let you see the video after you are finished. You may also purchase the video for $48.00. I did not take enough money with me, they left one at the dock that afternoon and I returned the next day and purchased one. CHECK - OUT Check your bill if you stay at ATLANTIS. I read everyone else's trip reports and all said to check you bill close. This was very true, our bill was incorrect too, and they had over charged us by about $900.00. We prepaid for our room months in advance but they still charged us again. They corrected this but only after we complained. We had a noon flight to Atlanta, caught a Majestic Tours bus at hotel around 9:30am. Arrived at airport around 10:15. Very long line at airport to check in. DELTA ticket counter very crowded, but line moved rather fast. Completed check-in and customs in about 45 minutes. Delta did a very good job of making sure everyone where they needed to be. Only had about 45 minutes till flight. Seemed like everyone wanted to leave at the same time. We stayed 6 days, arrived on Saturday August 14, and left Friday August 20. CLOSING Total cost of trip for two people about $4,000.00. This includes airfare, which was about $1,700.00. Would we ever go again? No, reasons being to many children, to expensive for what you get, way to many people. We have been on several cruises and enjoyed them much more. I think we will stick to cruises in the future. MORE INFORMATION All the info I read online was very helpful. If you should decide to go I wish everyone of you have the time of you life. I hope I have been of some help to all of you. RANDOM PRICES Soft Drinks - $2.60 Water 2.50 & 5.75 Beer 5.65 Ice Cream Cone 4.00 Under Water Camera 21.95 Tee- Shirts 20.00 (very cheap ones) Atlantis Towel 40.00 Sand Bucket for Child 21.95
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