Comfort Suites Paradise Island Atlantis Access
My family had a great day at Atlantis to close out our week long trip to Nassau. The best part is that we used a way to get Atlantis access without paying Atlantis prices! Room rates there can get extremely high. Pricing for the week we were there in mid-March was around $800-$1,200 a night. It was the beginning of spring break, so no surprise there. How did I do it?
Comfort Suites Paradise Island – The Cheaper Way Into Atlantis
Right across the street from the front of Atlantis and the Marina Village, you’ll find the Comfort Suites Paradise Island which is bookable with Choice Points. During our stay the hotel was pricing out at around $300 a night, but was available for 20K points which rises to 30K point during peak times. After check out, I saw I was charged $102.50 per night, which was a resort fee/tax per person. I don’t recall ever seeing this disclosed anywhere, and when I checked out I was told I had a zero balance. Definitely not thrilled about that, but that’s a different discussion entirely and still significantly less than what Atlantis charges overall.
This article isn’t a review of the property itself, but it was fine for what it was. Like most Comfort Suites, it was serviceable for a night or two. An acceptable breakfast and pool, decent enough sized room. It was a bit run down and musty, busted coffee maker, and sketchy water pressure. I didn’t particularly mind, since we were really just there at the end of our trip to squeeze in a day at Atlantis. I wouldn’t want to stay there for an extended period of time, but that’s just my personal preference.
How To Get Choice Points to Access Atlantis
For my stay I used some leftover Choice points I had on hand from a previously cancelled trip, so this was perfect! A quirk of the Choice program is that you can only book a hotel on points 100 days in advance so I set a reminder for myself and booked the nights separately as soon as they became available, just to be on the safe side.
If you don’t have a stash of Choice points like me, you can transfer Amex or Capital One points to Choice at 1:1 (not great), from Citi at 1:2, or you can signup for the Choice credit card from Wells Fargo to boost your point balance.
Getting Atlantis Access
Comfort Suites Paradise Island makes it super easy to get your access to the Atlantis facilities and water parks. When you check in, the front desk gives you a paper with pink cards for each person detailing the check-in and check-out dates. As a note, our 4 year old didn’t need his own card.
These pink cards can be used to access the Atlantis property without a wristband, except for the Aquaventure water park (see below). This was useful the day we arrived, because it was too late in the day to go to the water park, and the desk to get them was already closed. We wanted to walk around the property, get some food, and explore the marine life on the grounds. We showed the guard our cards, and he let us through.
How to Get Aquaventure Water Park Wristbands
To get your wristbands, you need to go to the Atlantis Adventures desk. The hours are from 8:30-4:30, although there is a bit of a line at opening, so we waited until a little later, and the wait was about 10 minutes. Aquaventure doesn’t open until 10 anyway.
While the desk can be hard to find, I’ll do my best to describe how to get there. From the hotel entrance closest to Comfort Suites, go left, through the mall and casino, and then you are in the lobby of the Royal Tower. Go down the circular stairs towards the giant aquarium and The Dig. When you get down the stairs, look directly to your left, and the desk is there. The front desk at Comfort Suites advised us to just bring a picture of our passports for ID verification, which was good to not have to carry those around.
When it was our turn, the agent checked our pink cards against a list of what I presume are guests at the Comfort Suites, and she also looked at the pictures of our passports. We each filled out a waiver, and then we were all given wristbands (our son included) with the current date printed on them. You have to get a new wristband every day that you want to go.
This wristband granted us access to all facilities at Atlantis. Keep in mind if you are planning to spend money, don’t bring cash. Credit cards will work and I found that Apple Pay worked at the places inside the water park and pool areas, but not at the gift shops for some reason. Resort guests have the option to room charge with their wristbands, which are a different color from the ones we had. We were also able to book activities before our arrival without needing to provide any proof our our stay. You need to have access to the property in order to do any activities, however, so you have to have your wristbands before going to them.
Comfort Suites Paradise Island Atlantis Access – Bottom Line
In the end we had a great day enjoying the facilities at Atlantis. We ended up spending a full day on property, even doing a Sea Squirts activity for our son, which I would highly recommend. We also spent plenty of time at the beach, the kiddie water park, and the rapid river. All in all, we had a great time at Atlantis for significantly less cost than normal, and it was a great way to end our spring break. Hopefully, these tips can help you save on a memorable experience for you and your family!
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They aren’t supposed to charge resort fees for choice point redemptions. The choice hotel agents confirmed this to me a year
Never did this personally but read about it years ago when we used to cruise in the Caribbean. Cruise passengers would book a room and use it to access Atlantis and then clean up before heading back to their ship.
Yeah that is a popular strategy and often much cheaper than booking it other ways.
I thought of this but problem is check in is at 3 pm. You cant access the waterpark until after 3! I thought about booking for night before so we could go to Atlantis the day of checkout but you have to check in that day or room is cancelled.
If you talk to the check-in desk people, they should give you the pink voucher even if your room isn’t ready. This is of course subject to the mood of the desk person though, as most things are.
So did they give you the pink voucher the day you booked prior to 3pm check-in? As Mellisa says, they state 3pm check-in, maybe slip them a $20 lol. There’s been conflicting comments about this strategy with the limited amount of talk about this that I’ve come across, but would definitely pay for a room for the day over $1000 for Aquaadventure day passes. Thanks for any insight and your personal experience on the matter.
I got there right around 3, but they should give it to you whenever you get there from what I’ve heard.