The Cove Atlantis

Needing an escape after this past year, my wife and I booked at a stay at The Cove because the Bahamas had been a place we had on our travel agenda for some time. While there were protocols to enter the country and not every restaurant open, DO NOT let that deter you from staying at this amazing resort. The best perk was with no cruise ships currently, the resort is not overcrowded and you can easily get the best service ever. We spent most of our days at The Cove pool and cannot say enough about Lester, Kayla and Cameel. The most attentive service and made our experience every day so much more enjoyable! If you are from a bigger city, the prices will not shock you and for a couple we spent about $300 per day at the pool. For the night time, Enrico at the Sea Glass at the bottom of The Cove is the an amazing bartender and fantastic host. Make sure to try the Pineapple Passion drink. As for restaurants, Nobu was our favorite by far, then Olives and our least fave was Seafire as it was not the true steakhouse experience we had hoped for. All the quality of food at every outlet exceeded our expectations and again, prices were in line with what we had expected. Finally, for the room, it is well appointed, spacious and the housekeeping staff was immaculate and always greeted us on our way out every morning! Needless to say we will be back and could not of asked for a better vacation!

The hotel and rooms are very nice. Beautiful beach and nice pool area. However none of this matters that if you receive poor customer service. The women, especially working the pool area are just rude. Not sure if the men and women received different hospitality training. I will never come back here due to caddy women. It was very strange how they interact with other women.

Our family of 4 (kids 11 and 9) had a fantastic stay at the Cove. We felt safe with all COVID protocols in place. We had a great, large room with a nice sunset view that was perfect for our family. ALL staff we encountered were very friendly, kind, helpful and welcoming. You can tell that they were excited to see larger numbers of visitors back at the resort. The food options were still a bit limited, but we ended up having great (albeit a tad bit pricey) meals out for dinner. We ate at: Carmines, Olives and Seafire. We also did order in pizza one night and also grabbed a burger at the newly opened burger bar. We brought breakfast food and snacks with us and bought some supplies upon arrival (milk, bread, peanut butter) which allowed us to eat breakfast and make lunches most days of our stay. We did wish the pool bars would have stayed open a little longer. The water parks were great with minimal lines most days of our stay. At the tail end of our trip we did notice the crowds starting to pick up a bit, but it did not impact our trip in the slightest. The beaches were clean and the pools were in great shape as well. All in all, a great trip at a nice resort.

We had a great trip to the Bahamas. The Cove was outstanding. Right now, Cascades and Sip Sip (near the adult pool) were open until about 5pm. Great for drinks and lunch. However, Seafire was the only dinner option and the menu is fairly limited. Therefore, we logged about 20k steps each day going over to use the Atlantis water park and then back to dinner every night. I have a 10, 9 and 6 year old. It was a lot of walking for sure. I still think the Cove was well worth it with the kids. I felt away from the craziness of the water park. It was a lot closer to the beach and the kids could easily go back and forth from the ocean to the pool. As a parent, visibility was easy to keep you eyes on the kids. I don’t think staying at the Royal would have allowed for this. You would have had to have chosen one or the other. Getting chairs on the beach was not a major issue. It was crowded but spacious. The resorts had set up movie nights for the kids. I had read that the pools close at 5pm. It was 7pm and during the movie a lot of kids were in the pool which was easily past 8pm. They brought out a popcorn machine and it was really nice. The snorkeling outside of the Cove was outstanding. I was completely caught by surprise. Giant fish, turtles, a sting ray and a barracuda on the last day to scare the heck out of us. I snorkeled every day it was so good. I thought the restaurants were very good. I read mixed reviews but really had no issues. The kids ate a lot of grilled cheeses and chicken fingers. I can see how some folks get sticker shock from the menu. If you have a few drinks with your meals, lunches are easily $100 and dinners can range from $200-300. SeaGlass (cove)- great tuna poke. Probably the worst for the kids grilled cheeses of all the places. Sip Sip (cove) - great lobster quesadilla and the drinks are way better than at Cascades. Just walk around into the adult pool. The lines are also way shorter. I really wish this was open for dinner. SeaFire Steakhouse – I thought my steak was really good. Cooked perfectly. On the thinner side for a ribeye, but I am not going to get too picky. My girl really enjoyed her salmon and it was a good size. Pirate Republic – I didn’t care for any of their beers and they were out of a few which made for a limited selection. Kids loved their grilled cheeses. Burger was not great but the wings were good. The Point – it’s a hike for sure. The kids were able to walk there. Great sunset. Not crowded at all. Really good food and a nice change of pace on the menu from most other places. Marina Pizza – not bad. You cannot call and order ahead. You have to stand in line which was long, but moved quickly. We ate breakfast the last day at Fish and at least the food was very good for how expensive it is. Otherwise, there is a Starbucks at the Reef and a little market with cereals and snacks at the Cove. In fact, most of the places you cannot call. Book your reservations far enough in advance. I wish we could have tried Nobu but could not fit it in. The staff did a great job with Covid protocols, answering questions ahead of time and helping prep for a great trip. Thank you Earlene! I checked a bag filled with bottles of wine, waters, and snacks for the bedroom. It was worth for wine on the balcony every night after the kids were in bed. Otherwise, expect to spend about $40-50/bottle in the stores (if you can track them down ahead of time). If you are going now, prepare yourself for the rapid test before you leave. Get it scheduled when you arrive so you can avoid waiting in line. We had an appointment scheduled but just showed up after we left the beach on the first day and there was no line. At the Royal, I can see people may have waited an hour or more to get a rapid test due to how many people were in line. Dolphin Cay was pretty amazing. Kids had a blast with the dolphins.

At the gate we were told they couldn’t accept our Covid test results from Island house where we stayed prior —we were negative and results were within the time limit but they had a problem with it being on paper vs electronic. They asked us to drive to another location to take a rapid test. Totally fine. We paid for 4 tests and drove back to the gate . They then tell us results won’t be available for an hour and they can’t let us check in until our results arrive. We ask where we can wait during this time assuming that there would be arrangements for guests waiting on results. They had no answers. All they said was we couldn’t be let onto the property without the results. After some pushback, they suggest that we have our driver drive us around while we wait (as if I want to pay for an additional hour of car service). Then they suggested we find a restaurant off property to wait at and then call a taxi to drive us back when the results come in. I am traveling with lots of luggage and two young children. Mind you, our driver told them he’s been in this situation before at Atlantis and the guests were allowed to wait on property but outside. They completely refused any solutions at all that would be accommodating or comfortable for us as guests. I was so turned off that I went on my phone and booked us at Baha Mar. We ended up getting our results on the way there but Baha Mar required us to take a test when we got there. They had indoor, comfortable waiting areas. It was a very safe and well thought out Covid check in procedure. Night and day as far as experience. I really appreciate the lengths taken on the island to ensure safety and I was looking forward to the stay at the Cove. It’s just such a shame that it appears there’s not a great check in process for all guests at the Cove.