There’s certainly no ignoring the Atlantis Paradise Island Resort in the Bahamas.
Painted bright pink, with two towers topped with turrets, spires and domes, the property makes no effort to blend into the Caribbean surroundings.
Walking through the huge bronze doors into the Great Hall of Waters, the hotel’s main lobby, guests will enter a world of glitz and glamour, which sets the scene for the whole resort.
With 2,300 rooms, the Caribbean’s largest convention centre, more than 38 bars, restaurants and lounges, its own private beach, marina and a golf club, I defy anyone to visit the resort and not get lost.
To illustrate the point, on the night that I was due to attend a cocktail party in the hotel’s salubrious Bridge Suite, it took me half an hour to get there from the reception. I was being shown to the suite by a member of staff who had worked at the Sun International property for five years, which made the fact that we got hopelessly lost even more amusing. The guide had to make an SOScall to reception and we discovered that we were in the wrong wing.
In her embarrassment, the guide swore me to secrecy but the fact that I ended up entering the party through the back, parlour door, 30mins late could hardly go amiss.
I grabbed a glass a champagne, mingled with the crowd and wandered around the suite’s 10 rooms in absolute awe – but at US$25,000 a night, before tax, you’d expect something special.
In fact, the Bridge Suite features in the Guinness Book of Records as being the most expensive accommodation in the world. Suspended 17 storeys high joining the hotel’s two Royal Towers, the suite features a 50ft by 25ft living room with its own baby grand piano, king and queen bedrooms with their own marble bathrooms. Its terrace offers views of the harbour, ocean and the resort grounds, which stretch as far as the eye can see.
For shopaholics there’s a mall of boutiques, fitness fanatics can use the high-tech gym, or scuba dive in the seven-acre saltwater snorkelling lagoon filled with tropical fish. There are 11 swimming pools, a waterpark and, for $35, adults can get rid of the kids for a few hours by booking them into the Discovery Channel Club.
One of the highlights for me was The Dig – a maze of glass tunnels that zig zag their way through a giant aquarium. Just a pane of glass separates guests from giant sharks, barracuda, sting rays and a myriad of colourful fish. In fact, the tropical fish were the closest I got to anything vaguely resembling the Caribbean during my whole visit.
Instead, the experience, especially the 1,000 slot machines and 78 gaming tables in the casino, made me feel as if I were in Las Vegas rather than the Bahamas.
The Atlantis paradise island
Location: on Paradise Island, Bahamas. The airport, outside the capital Nassau, is 30mins from Atlantis.
Accommodation: 2,300 rooms split across three towers. The Beach Tower offers moderately-priced accommodation from $295 per room per night in winter 2000. Rooms in the Coral Tower start at $345 per night. The Royal Tower is at the upper end of the scale and prices start at $395 per night. At the top of the Royal Tower is the Imperial Club offering the Bridge Suite at $25,000, three Royal Suites, four Presidential Suites, 10 Grand Suites, 102 Executive Suites and 46 Junior Suites.
Dining facilities: 38 restaurants and lounges serve American, Continental, Asian and Bahamian cuisine.
Entertainment: 11 swimming pools including a waterpark built around Mayan ruins; a private stretch of beach; a casino; the Discovery Channel Club for children only; a marina with 63 slips for yachts, a golf club – currently being redesigned to become an 18-hole championship course; a shopping mall of boutiques and duty-free shops; a sports centre; a beauty spa and a nightclub.