Spring Break in the Bahamas
 

My 12-year old son and I went to the Bahamas for his spring break - unfortunately, my husband had to teach, so he couldn't join us.

DL had 757s to NAS through ATL so I bought two FC tickets instead of going on American Eagle. The BNA-ATL flight turned out to be a 727 and it was dirty and cramped in FC and the headset was missing from my seat. No food, but a basket of little ginger cookies, peanuts and pretzels. The flight was very bumpy because of the storms. ATL-NAS saw a nicer 757, but not as nice as the US Air 757s I've been on in Business Class. The snack was a chicken caesar salad and my son - now becoming the inveterate traveler - wanted to know why they didn't offer him a choice of meals. I explained it was a "snack" and that you don't get a choice with a snack. He didn't like the salad, but discovered that cran-apple juice is pretty good. The flight was really bumpy due to more storms all through Florida.

We were staying at the Sheraton Grand on Paradise Island - I had enough Starwood Points for five free nights. I faxed them the night before and asked for an upgrade to a "deluxe" full ocean view room on a high floor (this strategy worked perfectly over NYE at the Sheraton Dolphin in WDW, where we snagged a corner top floor double balcony EPCOT room).

Our room was waiting and it was a corner high floor full ocean view - quite impressive and twice the size of the partial views. The hotel is right on the ocean and the sounds of the surf are ever-present.

The Sheraton Grand is a lazy hotel - there's a Starwood Desk but no personnel ever working there, and as resorts go, it's meager. A tiny sundries store, unheated pool, small dive shop, small pool cafe and no service to speak of. Everyone is very friendly, but there's just nothing going on there. Because the Atlantis is right next door, they just send you over there for meals and shopping (but we weren't allowed to use the water facilities there). Room service at the Sheraton was a major disappointment, but it was prompt and service was friendly. The mini-bar was empty for two days but then someone got around to stacking some little liquor bottles on top of it.

When my son saw the Atlantis he was pretty upset we didn't stay there, but I explained that our hotel had a much better rate (free!) and he understood that.

We went over to the Comfort Suites across from the Atlantis - the only hotel in the area with Atlantis pool privileges - to see if they would sell us a "room" so we could get the Atlantis pool wrist bands. But they were "sold out" due to spring break and wouldn't even take $250.00.

Someone here at FT recommended the PowerBoat Adventure Tour so I booked that ahead on the Internet and we did that - AWESOME!! A wonderful full day at several private islands in the Exumas via high speed boat. We also did the Blue Lagoon tour - sort of like a cruise ship private island and lots of fun - and a short ride around the harbor in a fake submarine.

We ate our dinners at the Atlantis each night - fantastically overpriced with that ever-convenient 15% auto-gratuity. Service was astoundingly slow at every restaurant we tried, but everyone was very friendly. I complained once about the automatic tip but was met with blank stares so we just resigned ourselves to enjoying the atmosphere and not worrying about it.

The Atlantis is an amazing hotel, but they just gouge gouge gouge. No one seems to mind, though and I imagine with the economy so robust, people are proud to overpay.
We met a family in the Exumas who where staying at the Atlantis and they were complaining about the mini-bar that uses the magnetized chip system so that if you even so much as touch a soda can, you've bought it. Since a coke is $4.00, this can get expensive with little kids who like to touch as much as look, as they soon discovered to their dismay.

The Bahamas has no sales tax, but the Sheraton - like every other hotel - had a $3.25 per person per day maid fee, a $3.00 per person per day "energy" fee and a $2.00 per day in-room safe fee. Then there is the 12% hotel tax. Room service had the $2.50 per person ordering fee and the 15% tip, but that's pretty standard everywhere these days.

Our total bill was around $240.00 for five nights for the food and fees. Not bad and even the desk clerk was impressed that Starwood Points had picked up most of the tab!

On the way back, we had 757s, but my son's audio wasn't working and he cared even less for the Southwestern Chicken Salad snack than the Caesar and wondered again where his choice went.

All in all, though, we had an incredible time, and want to go back again, though perhaps this time we'll bite the bullet and stay at the Atlantis.

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"Living well is the best revenge"