TORONTO to NASSAU, BAHAMAS ♥
Bahamas is truly a magical place! This was my first trip with my sister and it was definitely a one to remember ! We stayed at the Riu Place Paradise Island and this was my second time I stayed at a Riu after how pleased my experience was at the Riu in Jamaica. We stayed here from June 30th, 2014 till July 4th,2014.
Arrival and Check in:
We landed in Nassau and took a bus provided by the hotel to Paradise island. It took us around 20 mins to get there. When we got to the hotel, there were already people in line for check in and as we waited, waiters came around with refreshments. We ended up making a friend from our flight who had previously visited this location 3 times before with her dad. While we were in line with them, her dad ended up getting us to the front of the line and having us check in right away after him, which we thought was super nice!
Hotel and Rooms:
Our room was really nice, we got the junior suite with an ocean view with two double beds. Our view was really beautiful, but there was AC machine outside directly below us and it was loud all the time. We complained about the noise but eventually we just didn't care because we were on an Island with Palm trees and salt water. We weren't going to spend our vacation in a room so we decided to not to let it bother us.
Staff:
The staffs were super friendly and nice and made such an effort to make sure everyone was having a good time. I actually feel terrible because I forgot their names since it was 2 years ago but I do have pictures of them!!
Entertainment:
This hotel was not that big at all so it was easy to walk around and know where everything was. The entertainment room was always a good time. They started the show with kids and then ended it with a club/disco. They did different theme nights and actually played a lot of games which was so entertaining. I remember my sister volunteered me to go up and it was 5 girls where we all had to get one thing from all the men in the room, thank god I only had to get the one shoe from all the men. After the shows and games with done, they always turned it into a little club, which was always fun.
Nightlife:
Other than the club that was at our resort, we did go over to Atlantis for the CASINO and NIGHTCLUB. We didn't actually go clubbing because it was super expensive and me and sister were on a budget. But we did sneak in some gambling which we lost $$, so it was a no win situation. But the nightlife in Atlantis is definitely a place you want to be if you go down to party. It essentially is VEGAS on an ISLAND! The music was really good throughout Atlantis and the vibe was more younger than our resort. You can also grab packages from the Riu to go clubbing, we did inquire it was around 80-90$ with drinks included. Now that i think about it we probably should have done that but we ended up doing other things.
Beach/ Ocean:
The beach was actually perfect! it was such a beautiful view, I can still picture it. The sand was super white and the sand wasn't that hard so it was nice to walk on. But some days it was very hot so be mindful and always walk with your flip-flops just in case. The Ocean was super beautiful it was a light teal with a mix of ocean navy blue, it was actually breathtaking. I was in the ocean filling up sand in my bottle and I see that everyone was just standing still or some people were just running back and then I realized it was 2 stingrays just swimming by one top on one another. It was pretty awesome but obviously me being me I was super scared. In terms of the whole beach, on the left side was Atlantis beach so you can't really walk over but you could walk over to the right side. You could also rent out snorkelling gear with your room number but we didn't really do that since my sister can't really swim and I wasn't going to go snorkelling alone. lol.
Food:
I honestly was so skeptical about the food because I saw mixed reviews and from my last trip to Jamaica i was just nervous about how the food was going to taste but it was actually really great. I probably had one of the best steaks ever at this resort and the chef was actually really nice, he came over to talk to me and sister about the food and if we enjoyed it at breakfast the next day. This resort has 1 main buffet and had 4 A La carts. They were all actually good. The steakhouse was probably my favourite. We also had a 24 hrs room service which had GREAT! food and yes we ordered every night because the sports bar was the only place open later and the room service food was WAY better!
Drink and Bars:
The bartenders were super creative with their drinks, I swear we probably tried all the drinks we could have. They were all so delicious. I will attach pictures below of some of the drinks. There was a main bar on the main floor which was the "bar to go to". There was also a bar in the entertainment room and in the sports bar.
Excursions:
We didn't really want to do too much because we were only there for 5 days but we did go jet skiing for 25$. It was for half and hour and when we returned, the guy was super nice and took us around the whole island with me and sister. It was actually really cool because he was talking about the history of the island and Atlantis and I swear we were on this thing for over an hour. It was pretty awesome.
We also bought a package that allowed us to go over to Atlantis and spend the day there with beach access and the underwater museum. It was really intriguing walking through the lost city of Atlantis underwater museum but then realized the museum was just man-made to get attraction. But it was still cool, and the beach was the same as the Riu so there was nothing special there.
We also took a cab provided by the hotel to Nassau which was about 20 min drive. We got dropped off at the City and walked around. We went by the marine, we walked all through town, we walked through the market place. The market place was pretty cool, it was inside a building and all the stores were packed together, one store after another. The people do come up to you but honestly they are just trying to make money, but they do back off when you tell them you aren't interested. They had really nice jewelry and decoration pieces and it was actually cheap.
Check out:
Check out was pretty easy, we even got a late check out and stayed around the hotel until we had to go.
Overall:
Overall, I really enjoyed our trip to the BAHAMAS! It was actually one of the nicest places I've been to. I loved the location of the hotel, the beach and the food. Everyone was super nice, but this is just based on my experience. The vibe at the hotel was super fun and thats why it was so hard to leave. Especially the gorgeous ocean, the water was amazing. I can't wait to return here and check out different islands of the BAHAMAS!
I know my reviews are pretty long, but I wanted to be as detailed as possible so that everyone can picture and just gain knowledge of what it was like.
HOTEL: 4/5
FOOD: 5/5
SERVICE: 5/5
VIBE: 9/10
Please leave any comments or suggestions below and I will definitely take in the feedback!