Who can tell me about Atlantis, in the Bahamas?

There's not much info on this forum, according to the search. Anyhow, Mrs and I are going in June, and while I'll be fine with tables, she is a slot player, and I'm leery about slots in non-competitive environments. I'm sure Atlantis is a nice place, now I'm trying to figure the cost of the vacation!

No one's been?

Sheesh. :-)

I think it's an amazing resort.

Weekend minimums are $15 for bj (h17, no rsa, 8 decks hand shuffle) and craps is $10. No high limit room so you can often see whales in the central pit. Beautiful beach. Public beach next door also nice, where locals will sell you snacks and drinks for next to nothing.

The resort is beautiful- and huge.

It is a flat $4 per person shared cab ride from atlantis over
To downtown Nassau, the port, straw market, and the like.

That's about all I know. Ive been there on cruise stops 3 times, but have never stayed.

I concur, it is a beautiful place. We also stopped there while on a cruise. The slots we played were really tight, but we did'nt play enough to make a real judgement. We were also there early in the day and it was practically empty, so we cannot comment on how other people were doing.

Have fun. I would have liked to spend more time there.

Quote: Mosca

and I'm leery about slots in non-competitive environments.

Well, don't expect to win. If you do happen to hit a jackpot, good luck with it. The cost of a vacation with the Mrs. is usually far, far less than the cost of not taking a vacation with the Mrs.

Been to Atlantis about 10 times, even did a few day trips there from Fort Lauderdale, FL (25 minute flight) when I had a serious Craps itch to scratch.

Not sure if you've been to Nassau, Bahamas before but it is a BEAUTIFUL place. Trying to convince my wife that we should move to Nassau permanently. Cab ride from Nassau Airport to Atlantis is about $30. For food, head over to the Fish Fry market to Twin Brothers restaurant for some Conch Fritters (Best in the World), Macaroni & Cheese, Plantains, great Pina Coladas at tremendously reasonable prices. All the locals eat here so it's a great way to immerse yourself with the local culture. You can catch a cab ride from Atlantis to the Fish Fry Market for $4. Food at Atlantis is way overpriced and frankly not that good.

The water at the beaches in Nassau is crystal clear...similar to beaches in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. It is exquisite.

Gaming

Minimum Bets are mostly $15 with 3-4-5x Odds. Seldomly you'll find a $10 table but that's not the norm. There are no sidebets available (Firebet, All/Tall/Small, Double D, etc) Blackjack is mostly $25 Minimum though there are plenty of tables with much higher minimums ($50, $100, $500). They have a good sportsbook to the rear of the Craps area where you can bet on virtually any sport. Plenty of slot machines.

My biggest complaint about Atlantis gaming = No Poker Room. I keep praying this will change but it has not. Additionally, dealers can be a bit moody and make sure you watch your bets especially on the Craps table carefully. They "forget" to pay winning bets a bit too much to be accidents.

Don't be surprised if you see a lot of Sports Athletes/Movie Stars at Atlantis; they frequent the place all the time. Local Bahamians are not allowed to gamble; it's actually against the law for Bahamians to gamble so you won't be gambling with Locals; not a fan of this law. Make sure you check out "Yacht Row" at Atlantis. You'll see numerous Million $$$$ Yachts, absolutely breathtaking.

You and your wife will LOVE Atlantis. Absolutely gorgeous place to vacation and gamble. The Aquarium at Atlantis is Amazing; Make sure you check that out. I know I jumped around a lot in this review of Atlantis but if you have any specific questions, feel free to post them/pm me and I'll answer as best as I can.

Oh, man. I'm psyched. It's an all expenses paid trip; I'm going to get a 1099 for about $6200, for 5 days. So our only expense is going to be airport parking, and gambling.

Nice to know the table rules in advance. I'm used to slots being tight, they always are it seems.

What about taxes on winnings, if I should be so lucky?

Quote: Mosca

What about taxes on winnings, if I should be so lucky?

I've never been lucky enough to win enough to have taxes taken out of my gambling winnings. Unless you win a huge jackpot playing slots, I would just cash out a reasonable amount of chips at different cages and not worry about paying taxes...

Have fun. I once had the opportunity to go on a next-to-free trip to Freeport that happened to coincide with the first few days before my exams. Now, I wish I had gone in lieu of studying. The Bahamas just sound amazing. I hope you and Doc fill us in on your trips.

There are 0 taxes on gambling winnings in the bahamas. Your only problem (which isnt really one) is getting it back to the USA. Ive bought back over 40k from atlantis on at least 2 occasions.

Great place and very beautiful. Don't expect much in the way of comps unless you are betting big money ($400 or more on table games).

Mosca,
We've been there a LOT! Our favorite place to vacation.

Craps is right...

Quote: CrapsForever

For food, head over to the Fish Fry market to Twin Brothers restaurant for some Conch Fritters (Best in the World), Macaroni & Cheese, Plantains, great Pina Coladas at tremendously reasonable prices. All the locals eat here so it's a great way to immerse yourself with the local culture. You can catch a cab ride from Atlantis to the Fish Fry Market for $4. Food at Atlantis is way overpriced and frankly not that good.

Also, Goldie's at Fish Fry is great!

Quote: CrapsForever

The water at the beaches in Nassau is crystal clear...similar to beaches in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. It is exquisite.

For a day trip go to Stuart's Cove for snorkelling or scuba. Great place!

Quote: CrapsForever

Gaming

My biggest complaint about Atlantis gaming = No Poker Room. I keep praying this will change but it has not.

They were starting to build a poker room when we were there in September. Locals are very friendly...we've made friends with several locals and go out with them when we're there. If you play craps ask for look around for Stephen AKA Diddy...great guy!

Quote: CrapsForever

You and your wife will LOVE Atlantis. Absolutely gorgeous place to vacation and gamble. The Aquarium at Atlantis is Amazing; Make sure you check that out. I know I jumped around a lot in this review of Atlantis but if you have any specific questions, feel free to post them/pm me and I'll answer as best as I can.

"Aquarium" is the understatement of both 2012 and 2013. It is unmatched. In addition to The Dig....centerpiece they have 10-15 outdoor pools you can walk up to and watch turtles, sharks, rays and other fish without fences or barriers. They offer dolphin or sea lion interactive events too. Ditto on a PM with questions. Especially if you haven't booked yet...we're looking at going around our anniversary in the middle of June.

Quote: Woldus

Mosca,




They were starting to build a poker room when we were there in September. Locals are very friendly...we've made friends with several locals and go out with them when we're there. If you play craps ask for look around for Stephen AKA Diddy...great guy!

I will find out for myself in 10 day when my wife and I are going to the Bahamas for a week but where do they play poker? Poker Stars runs their large tournament there and I was expecting a lot of cash games at the same time. We will be there in time to see the final table of the main event as well as the high roller event. Also will likely enter a at least one of the small closing tournaments they have to see if I can get killed by a pro.

We won't be staying at Atlantis as the room reviews are not that great and the whole place just seems overpriced.

There is also another casino in Nassua at Cable Beach. Anyone ever been to it?

Quote: kenarman

There is also another casino in Nassua at Cable Beach. Anyone ever been to it?

Yes, the Crystal Palace Casino. It's perhaps a mile up the road from the center of town and the cruise ship docks. I dropped by there briefly in May 2006 to collect a souvenir chip -- to be posted in the Casino Chip of the Day thread, probably in late March or early April of this year. I'm pretty sure I played craps there, but it was just a short visit, a taxi ride after I made my first visit to the Atlantis to pick up a chip there. The Crystal Palace is a much smaller casino than the Atlantis. There used to be at least one other casino on Paradise Island, but it and its hotel were absorbed in one of the expansions of the Atlantis complex.

Thanks Doc we will be staying close to it and I will be checking it out. Maybe post current games and limits when I get back.

Quote: kenarman

Thanks Doc we will be staying close to it and I will be checking it out. Maybe post current games and limits when I get back.

I played there in 2008 or 2009. It is either a harrah's property, or it is closely associated to harrahs. My play at the crystal palace craps tables is what got me started on the free junket flights to harrah's casinos. I remember posting quite a bit about the trip on here.

A hurricane came through Grand Cayman while we were there. We had big plane problems both getting in, and out of the island. the casino lost power for 6 hours or so during the height of the storm. I swore the casino was employing two shills to screw up the dice game, because every time a table got on a roll, one of these two guys would show up, make some totally weird amount place bet, and then argue like hell about the payout. It happened about 6 times with either one, or both, of the guys showing up. They were very effective at ending a good roll.

We stayed right at the Crystal Palace.

Quote: RaleighCraps

A hurricane came through Grand Cayman while we were there. ... We stayed right at the Crystal Palace.

If those two statements are related, I didn't follow them. We were talking about a Crystal Palace casino in Nassau, which is 500 miles from the Cayman Islands. Did the hurricane hit both places?

Sorry, I was making it too brief.
The hurricane that hit the Caymans did cause bad weather for us in Nassau, which was the power outage.
The plane problems came about because our charter jet that was supposed to take us home from Nassau, was heavily used to evacuate people from Grand Cayman. When it came time for us to leave, our jet was in Miami and the crew was not allowed to fly for 12 more hours. So we had to wait in Nassau for the charter company to fly a new crew to Miami, pick up the plane, and then fly to get us in Nassau.
All this after our flight down had been delayed 6 hours because a fuel pump on the plane malf'd, and they had to fly one in from someplace.

But we still weren't done. The charter company is based in Greensboro. So we landed in Richmond, VA to drop people off, but it was a very nasty thunder storm when we landed, and the ground crew could not come up to service the plane. We sat on the plane for 1/2 hour waiting for a break. I will never forget that take off. It was a 737, with roughly 70 people on board. The pilot announces we have a hole in the cover, and they are going to go for it. We took off and the pilot put us in the most severe bank I have ever been in, in a jet. It felt like the plane was wingtip straight down. And it felt like he still had full power engaged. We did what felt like a 270* turn, leveled the wings, and then went nose up in a big way. A flight attendant was in the row behind us, and I heard her gasp.
We got out of all of the crap and had a nice flight home. I was talking to the flight attendant later, and she said that was by far the wildest take off she had ever been on.

I have always wondered what the structural flight limits are for a 737 - 200 or 300. I'm sure it felt worse than it was, but I can guarantee it was exponentially more than anything I have ever experienced before.

I know there are a couple of aviation gear heads on here. Hopefully one of them can fill in some details on flight limits on a 737

Quote: drunktek

There are 0 taxes on gambling winnings in the bahamas. Your only problem (which isnt really one) is getting it back to the USA. Ive bought back over 40k from atlantis on at least 2 occasions.

That doesn't make it any less taxable in the US. I don't know your risk tolerance, but I, personally, would not risk jail time to get around reporting $40k in income.

RaleighC.

What was the minimum on the craps table at the Cyrstal Palace since that is my game of choice.

Quote: kenarman

RaleighC.

What was the minimum on the craps table at the Cyrstal Palace since that is my game of choice.

I don't recall, but it must have been $10. I KNOW it was not $5, and I did not have much BR back then, so $15 would have been almost out of reach.

Quote: kenarman

RaleighC.

What was the minimum on the craps table at the Cyrstal Palace since that is my game of choice.

Generally on the island it'll run $10 though I've seen $15 min on the weekend at Atlantis. There's only two choices so if you want to play they make it at least $10. At the outdoor Cove gaming area it's usually $15, too. (Never seen a $5 table in 10 years).

A couple other thoughts...not sure your situation on getting to the hotel from airport. The "limo" services use vans or smaller buses (like rental car shuttles). They won't leave the airport until they're full. We always get a cab for about the same amount of money, but there's rarely a line and they take you right away.

Make sure you set an evening aside to eat at Luciano's of Chicago. Converted house on the harborside - right on Bay street. Outdoor dining, great service, fantastic food...11 out of 10! Fish Fry is open, casual and fun - Luciano's is comfortable, but upscale and colonial.

We ate at an Italian restaurant that we walked to from Crystal Palace. It was 1.5 km and a pretty easy walk, although a part of the walk was a bit sketchy.

The meal was AWESOME! In looking at the map, I am certain it was Capricco Ristorante on West Bay Street.

If you like authentic Italian, you will not be disappointed.

Quote: AxiomOfChoice

That doesn't make it any less taxable in the US. I don't know your risk tolerance, but I, personally, would not risk jail time to get around reporting $40k in income.

and i thought you were a gambler :)

Has anyone been to Atlantis recently? I’m heading in November with the family and friends. Interested in what blackjack rules and limits they mostly have now. Also for craps limits and odds. Thanks! May also play some carney games like UTH if I’m just hanging and drinking with my friends.

What about taxes on winnings, if I should be so lucky?

If you should actually hit a jackpot or hot streak, put the money in the safe on the cruise ship and never tell a soul.