We rented from an owner, KevinA and had the
best time over the Christmas week. Where do
I begin. Simply wonderful- though glad to be
home as usual.
I was worried with the negative reviews on
some websites, about cost, and friendliness.
It was very comparable to other resorts with
food prices in all ranges. The friendliness &
helpfulness of the staff was great at both the
Harborside and Royal Towers. We will clearly
go back, our personal concierge
assigned at check in was wonderful, Sherique.
We had a 2 bedroom unit, 4 adults, a 3 month
old and 3 year old. The Harborside kitchens
were great and allowed us the flexiblity to eat
in and at different times. (Learn about
convection oven cooking. I cooked a great
turkey but ruined a cake.) We taxied to a
large grocery. We did the majority of our
meals in condo or great sandwiches to
beach/pool and ordered fries or drink. We felt
obligated to make a dent in all the groceries
we had purchased. (Eating a # of the meals in
condo also made us feel like we had received
good value throughout entire stay and since
kids were napping around 2 pm, it was always
easy to schedule to get back to room.)
The Harborside pool area was relaxing, with a
work out room, very large hot tub, outdoor
shuffleboard, pool and ping pong. Plenty of
chairs and views of Nassau and Marina.
Restuarants:
The Point Restaurant at Harborside pool
overlooking the marina and Nassau was very
reasonably priced. Dinner menu included
sandwiches around $11 with fries but the full
entrees were only $21 and included salad,
potato, meat, coleslaw & dessert! Super
location as well.
Carmines in Marina Village was a GREAT
dinner choice as well. Great Atmosphere. We
knew to get best value , we needed to eat
the same thing. The staff immediately told us
that one order of Chicken Parmesean-$58
would feed all 5 of us, we added pasta.$16, it
would feed 5-6 adults easily, The salad-$21
would feed 6-8 adults easily and same for the
Calamari-$23 appetizer. The meal with tip
$144 and we brought home leftovers in 5
trays.
(Disliked Anthony's outside resort, for Dinner-
kind of like going to Denny's. The Point much
better and better value)
The location by the marina and close to Marina
Village was superb. Made for relaxing walks
with 3 month old while others played in hot
sun. The Marina brought beautiful yachts
which take your breath away and made for a
lot of interesting conversation on the meaning
of the names- No Rules, Scott Free, etc. We
had to have eyes out for elevators at the
main resort but was very do-able even with
stroller.
Size:
The resort is much smaller than it appears
from a map. I consistently thought I was in
Coral Towers, only to realize that I had
walked through Royal Towers and was at end
in Beach Towers. Cannot tell from inside
where one hotel lobby stops and another
starts, the decor is beautiful throughout.
Recreation:
All the reviews talk about the DIG-
unbelievable and entertained everyone from a
3 year old to my husband of 81 years. The
slides and beach area/lagoons, fish etc were
beyond comparison. Never had an easier time
finding a pool chair.
Our 3 yr old was chosen as an Aqua Tot (only
5 a day)and was able to stand in water (Okay
a little scared, so he sat on last step with
Daddy) and fed the starfish, sting rays, sea
urchins, conch and fish and touch them. Really
cool!
Disney or Atlantis:
Everything worked out great and the choice of
activities beat Disney- We had gone to Disney
World in April-Polynesian & Grand Floridain in
August, the 3 year old had fun character
meals but let's face it, each day was only 4/5
rides on Buzz Light Year, 2/3 Small World, 1/2
Winnie & Peter Pan, and the people Mover.
Lots of lines, everywhere etc and not very
relaxing. Atlantis was the opposite, even
when we were walking somewhere, we were
looking at sharks, mantarays, eels, turtles
etc.
Very beautiful, relaxing and would highly
reccomend the resort and the owner from
whom we rented. Plan to go back.
PS- We did spend 2 nights in Royal Towers
immediately before our 7 day stay at
Harborside. It was nice and allowed us a
chance to look around Royal Towers- better,
and find the restaurant, pharmacy, & coffee
bar. No question the Harborside condos are
best though.... I suppose that is obvious. The
shuttles were super fast and you could have a
fun walk through the Marina Village if you
choose to walk instead. Window shopping at
Versache's, Coffee at Starbucks, ice cream at
the Creamery or a hamburger at Johnny
Rockets.