First Time Cruiser... Atlantis??

[MIMomof2]

We are first time cruisers leaving in 21 days for our land/sea Disney vacation (4-night Wonder) and traveling with our 5 yr old and 19 month old. Can anyone recommend an excursion for Atlantis? I think we would enjoy the aquarium, but don't know how much of Atlantis' new waterpark my kids would use. I am looking at the Atlantis Aquaventure and the Atlantis Beach Day. Also, would like to do the glass bottom boat tour on either Nassau or CC -- anyone done this? Can you actually see any colorful fish/is it worthwhile? Also, on CC, would my 5 yr old beginner swimmer be able to snorkel with my assistance or is it in very deep water? THANKS for all the help!!!

 

[mom x4,grandma x4]

The aquarium is excellant at Atlantis. you can easily do this on your own with a taxi if you dont want to do an entire excursion.

The tour runs fast but you can go back through at your own pace so the kids can really enjoy the fish. the windows are almost floor to ceiling, so easy for little ones to see.

part of this is outside where there are a few steps, so if you have a stroller, try for a smaller one that can easily be folded up for this area.

 

I have only seen their water park area and I dont think your kids could do much but wade around the pool area, so really wouldnt be worth the money it costs.

 

I have done the sunshine glass bottom boat ride at Nassau. I hate to say dont do it, but we didnt see hardly any fish at all. But fish do move around a bit to follow the food, so it may have just been a bad day??

 

also the boat is old and dirty looking. to see the fish you must go down a few STEEP steps and then there is a wall around the glass bottom so you may have to hold the kids up to see over it, which is ok,

Itis a small area, so if the boat is full you will have to take turns being down there.

 

At CC it is a newer boat, but NO seats, so plan on standing the entire trip or sit on the floor (deck). I have NOT dont this myself but I do know of others who did it and they did see lots of fish and really enjoyed it. their onluy complaint was no seats.

 

if i had to choose, i would do Disney excursion on CC.

 

snorkeling starts out ankle deep and gradually gets deeper. Most of the fish are out a ways but there are lots and lots of them, even BIG ones and there is a hidden Mickey statue and a sunken boat to see. I think the deepest part is around 15 feet deep, maybe 12?? it is hard to gauge it.

 

many kids do learn to snorkel there but dont go clear out to the far side.

 

mom x4,grandma x4

[trmclendon]

Hey, we just go back from Atlantis this past weekend. We opt NOT to do the expensive exscursion and we caught a taxi ($4 Per person) to the resort. You can view much of the Atlantis and the Aquairium yourself and for FREE. I mean hom much fish can you actually take? Plus, you are taking a 19mo old and a 5 yr old, you will never know how they will be that day. And it would be ashamed if you spent all that money on exscursion and was not able to go. My advise.....take a taxi and view it yourself, I don't think that you will be disappointed.

When we went, the kids actually stayed on the boat (along with an adult) while in the Bahamas. Then when we got to CC, we all explored that Island. There is so much to do there, the kids (and kids alike) will LOVE IT! We went in Dec '07 and are dying to go back. Hoope this helps

Renee

[DISNEY CRUISE FAN]

We Explored Atlantis By Ourselves When Our Son Was Very Small, And It Was Ideal, As He Was Kept Cool In The Heat Of The Day, And We Paid For Our Tickets At Atlantis, Which Meant That We Could Go At Our Own Pace, And If We Wanted To Slow Down, And Stop For Restrooms Or Snacks, Then We Could Do So With No Inconvenience. If We Wanted Information About The Fish, Then It Was Easy Enough To Ask.

 

We Have Done The Glass Bottom Boat At Castaway Cay, And After That Have Done It Every Year That We Have Gone. It Is A Really Good Trip, And There Is Very Limited Seating At The Front Of The Boat, So If Your Need Was Great I Would Just Turn Up Early, And We Found That We Just Perched On The Window Ledges. The Trip Is Not Really Long Enough To Need Seating. The Glass Bottom Was Not That Clear, But What My Son Liked Was All The Children Were Given Handfulls Of Oats To Throw Over The Side, And Then Loads Of Fish Came Up (some Jumping), So We Had A Really Good View Of Them.

 

We Also Did The Stingray Encounter At Castaway Cay Which He Enjoyed As He Liked Feeding Them And Touching Them, And He Could Sit In Shallow Water And Watch Them As He Didn't Want To Snorkel.

[poncho1973]

This is completely off-topic... but do you really hit -shift- at the beginning of every word or do you change it after the fact?

 

You wouldn't think it so... but it makes it a little difficult to read.

[hoop4321]

This is completely off-topic... but do you really hit -shift- at the beginning of every word or do you change it after the fact?

 

You wouldn't think it so... but it makes it a little difficult to read.

 

It was typed all in caps, the board converts it.

[DISNEY CRUISE FAN]

I never noticed about the typing, but I am lazy, and if I am typing a lot of text, then I just use caps loc., so I just thought you were being really rude, but now I see what you mean. I don't know why the board just leaves a capital letter at the beginning of each word, then converts the rest.:D

[cjgtigger]

It's nice to know that I am not the only one that noticed that!!!