Trip Report

Harborside Trip Report – Thanksgiving 2009

I am not an owner. I rented from an owner contacted via Redweek.com. Used the escrow service that Redweek recommends on the site. Kept things very painless and easy, and helps to make both sides feel secure.

Had a 1 BR premium in building 7. 4th floor with balcony facing the Harbor/Atlantis Royal Tower. Building 7 is in a great location. It is the same building as check-in, meaning you are at the free shuttles to Atlantis towers, the sundry, the concierge, and the computers for public use.

Weather was great. Mid-low 80’s. 70’s at night. My family at home was fighting 30/40 degree temps and rain, so we were pleased!

Caught a taxi from airport. $40 one way. That was 3 persons with two large suitcases, a stroller, and 3 or 4 smaller bags. It is a solid 25-35 minute trip depending on traffic.

Check in was a breeze. Staff at the desk is kind and helpful. This is our 3rd stay in the past year or so at Harborside and they are pretty consistent in not getting you into your room until 3:30 or so (check-in was technically 4). We always fly in on the same flight and we are at the front desk by noon, and we everyone checking in at that time hears that the room will be ready about 4 PM and to check back at 3:30ish. At check-in I was pleased to hear of two nice improvements since our last week stay 3 months ago …. Now you do NOT have to get your Atlantis wristband at the Harborside pool before heading to the main pools and water park. You can now get your band at ANY towel hut with your Harborside room key. This is GREAT, especially for those in building 7 which are very close to the shuttle but not-so-close to the Harborside towel hut. Secondly, there are now 2 computers in the Harborside lobby for guest use. Each person gets 15 minutes free use per day. You sign up at the concierge who tracks the time usage. This is a big improvement over lugging your way all the way to the Atlantis library to check email. Printing of boarding passes is free for Harborside guests. Very nice.

Building 7 is starting to show some wear, in my opinion. The décor has a late 1980’s or early 90’s feel with the blue carpet, glass dining table top with a faux stone base, aqua blue trim, blue sofa bed, etc. Many little touches were missing in my room. No doorstop on the bathroom door, so there was a nice-sized whole in the wall where the bathroom door handle had hit the wall over the years. Light bulbs missing. Balcony door that slid loudly and needed effort to pull. Deep scrapes in the countertops of kitchen. In the corridors there were light fixtures with exposed wires. I don’t want to paint a bad picture, as it is still a great building to stay in. But based on the very high maintenance fees owners pay annually, I’d expect 4/5 star maintenance and upkeep on the building. My last stay was in a newer phase room and was very sharp all around. I feel that building 7 is still very nice, but is due for a facelift.

Grounds were perfect. Landscaping is amazing. All pools were in working order. One hot tub at Atlantis was down, but the hot tub and pools at Harborside were all up and running all week (including the water feature that is in the HS main pool, which only had 1-2 “arms” working my last stay).

Shuttle service was spotty. Everything seems empty and sleepy the Sat-Tues before Thanksgiving. Shuttles were empty and timely. As the week picked up at the holiday, shuttles were slow and often filled to complete capacity (including the jump seats). Two drivers chose to crank their music at high levels, which annoyed me with my 1 year old in tow. Also, while most busses are clearly marked with signs that read something like To/from Coral & Beach Towers, two of the busses had no signage on the side. Put a magnet on there, for pity sake. Every time it pulls up you have to climb to the first step and ask where they are heading. A few times it was a double whammy.. the driver with the radio at volume 100 had no signage on the bus. Folks could not even hear him when he tried to scream out where he was going ... Coral Tower and Royal Tower sound very much alike when screamed in a Bahamian accent muttered beneath Jay-Z playing at full blast. Overall, though, the drivers were friendly and the shuttles were pretty good as far as timeliness. They did need to add a bus or two at the busy times after Thanksgiving.

Got the hang of the convection oven on the microwave this trip. We cooked and froze meals before we left, re-heated them using the convection setting. Worked swimmingly. The only complaint is the cheap pots and pans. You can use a ½ can of PAM spray and the food STILL sticks to them. Does not feel like vacation when you need to scrub your arm off with an SOS pad due to cheap pans. Of our two checked bags 1 and ½ was food. Saved us a TON of money. Food and drink on the resort and at the sundry is worse than ever. Murry’s Deli and the Pizza place … $7 for one slice of pizza? $3 for one 12 oz can of soda? $5.50 for one bowl of cereal and one cup of milk? $15 for a tuna melt sandwich? $9.50 for a cheeseburger by the pool? $7 for a can of beer? And places like MESA and NOBU look great but we can’t stomach the price tag, personally. If you are on a budget, pack a ton of food and ask your taxi driver to stop at the grocery on the ride in (or take the Harborside shuttle to the grocery).

The new Kid’s Club is under construction. The ads make it look GREAT. Really can’t wait for that for the little ones.

Used the Cove beach as our main stomping ground for beach. The water was not quite as clear on this trip as in previous visits. Turns out that they are digging up the harbor to fit the new Oasis cruise ship into Nassau (6000 passengers or something?). They need to dig down 40 extra feet from the current harbor depth to fit in this big old ship. That digging is temporarily causing some murkier waters. We’ve hit all Atlantis beaches and the Cove beach is our favorite. Light waves, not crowded, usually lots of open chairs, etc. You can get some interesting situations at the far end of the beach near the adults only private Cove pool, though. Some loud music and some partygoers down there. On the opposite end, though, it is very quiet and usually darn near empty of people.

Splashers is a blast. My son could spend all week there at that one pool area. The lifeguards there do a nice job in keeping the older kids under wraps when their parents do not. Rode every thrill slide in the park, most of them multiple times. Great fun. The Dig and all aquarium areas are perfect. You see new sea life every time, it seems.

Harborside is simply great. As a renter, I pay less than I would for a regular room at the Beach towers. Rather than getting a small and run-down single room, you get a spacious area with a kitchen and balcony. Perfect place to stay for families. This time we had longer than 1 week off of work, so we stayed a few days at the Wyndam Crystal Palace after checking out of Harborside. While the room and resort there at the Crystal Palace is nice, it is just that .. a room. We were so spoiled by the space and amenities at Harborside. It really makes it tough to go back to hotel living.