Atlantis on our own and getting back to the ship on time

[kwynn]

Hi, all! I recently booked a snorkel activity and a dolphin encounter through Atlantis' website, not the ship, as it was $150/pp or so cheaper.

 

1. Is this something I can do? Is there a catch? I don't understand how it is literally hundreds less - I just went on their website and did it. I hope that's okay/allowed.

 

I've only been to Nassau once before on a cruise and it was easy to get back on board - we left Atlantis about 1.5 hours before and easily got back on board with no problems - we were back on board within 30 minutes of leaving Atlantis.

 

2. If our dolphin encounter is over at 3:15 at the latest, do you think we will be fine to make a 5pm leaving time? I'm a little worried now. I figure that gives us 15 minutes to get our stuff, get a taxi, and take a 15 minute ride back, wait in security for 15 minutes - allowing 1 hour for delays in traffic or at the port.

 

I'm reading horror stories of people saying it took an hour just to get from Atlantis to the cruise dock and then another hour to go through security, so you need to leave Atlantis 2.5 hours before the ship leaves! :(

 

I can probably move my excursion times up if you think it will be an issue. There are 4 ships in port that day - 2 others leaving at 6, one leaving at 3:30, ours leaving at 5.

 

Thanks for all your advice! I went to the Bahamas 8 years ago and we had no issues at all with traffic from Atlantis, we breezily just walked on and off the ship, etc - but things may have changed!

[scubagirrl]

Hi, all! I recently booked a snorkel activity and a dolphin encounter through Atlantis' website, not the ship, as it was $150/pp or so cheaper.

 

1. Is this something I can do? Is there a catch? I don't understand how it is literally hundreds less - I just went on their website and did it. I hope that's okay/allowed.

 

I've only been to Nassau once before on a cruise and it was easy to get back on board - we left Atlantis about 1.5 hours before and easily got back on board with no problems - we were back on board within 30 minutes of leaving Atlantis.

 

2. If our dolphin encounter is over at 3:15 at the latest, do you think we will be fine to make a 5pm leaving time? I'm a little worried now. I figure that gives us 15 minutes to get our stuff, get a taxi, and take a 15 minute ride back, wait in security for 15 minutes - allowing 1 hour for delays in traffic or at the port.

 

I'm reading horror stories of people saying it took an hour just to get from Atlantis to the cruise dock and then another hour to go through security, so you need to leave Atlantis 2.5 hours before the ship leaves! :(

 

I can probably move my excursion times up if you think it will be an issue. There are 4 ships in port that day - 2 others leaving at 6, one leaving at 3:30, ours leaving at 5.

 

Thanks for all your advice! I went to the Bahamas 8 years ago and we had no issues at all with traffic from Atlantis, we breezily just walked on and off the ship, etc - but things may have changed!

 

 

It's unlikely that you will make the ship by 5pm that time of day. Traffic will be backed up on the bridge starting around 4pm.. and will take the better part of an hour just to get over the bridge and downtown. Then long lines at security and boarding.

 

Also, there's traffic around the island with school buses.

 

You would need to be in a cab and on your way by 3:15 pm. If your encounter ends at 3:15 it will take you 20-30 minutes just to get out of Atlantis and into a cab. You will also miss picking up pictures etc.

[kwynn]

It's unlikely that you will make the ship by 5pm that time of day. Traffic will be backed up on the bridge starting around 4pm.. and will take the better part of an hour just to get over the bridge and downtown. Then long lines at security and boarding.

 

Also, there's traffic around the island with school buses.

 

You would need to be in a cab and on your way by 3:15 pm. If your encounter ends at 3:15 it will take you 20-30 minutes just to get out of Atlantis and into a cab. You will also miss picking up pictures etc.

 

Thanks for your advice! Do you think we could make a dolphin encounter that starts at 9:25am if we dock at 8:00? I figure we won't be able to get off the ship until 8:30, but that leaves us an hour to get to Atlantis and get there for the excursion.

 

I could switch it to that time.

 

I need to double check how long the dolphin encounter is. It says "orientation and 30 minutes in the water" so I assumed it was an hour, just to be safe. But maybe it's really 40 minutes? If anyone knows, let me know. I will call tomorrow as well.

[happychippy]

We booked the Dolphin Cay independently with bahamasdaypass.com and it was about 2.5 hours from start to finish. You can easily grab a taxi at the pier and go to The Cove Atlantis and walk over to Dolphin Cay from there. We did an afternoon session at 1:30p.m and we had to leave early at 3:30p.m to get back to the ship that left at 5:00P.M I would recommend doing an earlier session if it's available.

[kwynn]

Thank you - BahamaDayPass emploees told me it takes 2.5 hours, but Atlantis employees have repeatedly said one hour or 1.5 hours - so I changed to the 9:25 time. :)