We returned from 4 night stay at Royal Tower and the place was quite an incredible experience. A little background may be in order: I have 2 elementary age children, and my wife (their mother) passed away this spring, so I was looking for a nice play to take them for vacation that would be safe and fun. Researching the internet and reading all reviews on the Atlantis never really addressed my situation as a single parent, so I took a chance and I am really glad, as the place was great for the kids but I thoroughly enjoyed it as well.
The reviews you read about things being expensive are, succinctly put, quite accurate. For example,four pieces of pizza, two pieces of cheesecake and three softdrinks ran right at $60. I purchased the Gourmet dining plan for the 3 of us and it was worth it BUT BE FOREWARNED that you really need to make reservations in advance. This point was underestimated by me, and I was told by staff that getting dinner seating would not be a problem, but in actuality it was. Do yourself a favor irrespective of whether you have a dining plan or not and decide where you want to eat and make reservations when you arrive.
I can recommend Carmines, the portions are enormous and food quite good.
Overall the resort is very clean and although I had read to the contrary, I was impressed by the friendliness of the resort staff. I suppose that in any given group there will be bad apples but virtually everyone we encountered was very pleasant.
One other note: be prepared to walk a good bit, as I was amazed at the size of the property. Many restaurants are in the Marina Village which means a good walk from the west tower, including a stroll through the casino to get there. Similarly, to get to Cove beach (great lookout are to oversee resort), it is a good bit of a walk. Not too much for adults, but after a day of swimming, all the walking gets little ones a bit tired.
I strongly recommend this place to single parents, parents and couples alike. If you are taking kids, I might suggest packing snacks as there were no snack machines on our floor but instead there is a stocked frig with expensive snacks in the room, to the tune of $3.00 cokes and $4.00 cookies, as well as minibottles (various brands) ranging from $7-10 per minibottle. Thus if you wanted a rum and coke at the end of the evening in your room, you'd be shelling out at least $10. That is still less expensive than the bars, as I understand it (being that I had my children with me alone, I was unable to venture into that area but was told by others that the nightlife was fairly expensive).
The pools were all well maintained, clean, and plenty of lifeguards all around. All water activities close at 7pm (open at 9am) and we found that the more crowded activities had very few people at the end of the day, so it is a good time to try out different waterslides, etc.
I hope this entry is helpful to some of you that may be in a similar position and seeking more information. I think you will truly enjoy being there, and would highly recommend the Royal Tower.

If you have read the other reviews, they do this place justice, so I will summarize our trip and point out what I felt was unique to us. This was our second stay at Atlantis, the first was at Beach Tower. We enjoyed the first time enough to come back two years later, but quickly remembered what we didn't like faster than what we did like.

In terms of comparing Beach Tower to Royal Tower, I would say the rooms were very, very similar. Not at all worth the cost difference. You will walk a ton from Royal Towers too, so location isn't an advantage worth any extra room cost. If I returned, I would book Beach Tower or maybe the Cove as that actually looks nicer.

Positives:

+ Amazing water attractions and nice beach.

+ Beautiful property from the outside.

+ Found the vast majority of the staff to be helpful and polite.

+ Food quality at Carmines and Bimini Road were very good.

Negatives:

- Cost of food is really just insane. Anyone who tries to justify this is just plain crazy. At even the nicest levels of Disney or Las Vegas you can eat affordable meals, but that isn't possible at Atlantis. Everything is 2x or 3x what it should cost. Just because you can charge more doesn't mean you should! Family of 4 (2 adults and 2 children) and we typically paid $100 for breakfast, $200 or more for dinner for casual dining.

- Lots of walking. Know what to expect here. You will end up on 15-20 minute walks all the time. Carrying beach gear in the heat can be a chore.

- Skip the Cafe at Great Hall of Waters - most over-priced, bland food and the views of the aquarium aren't that good.

- Housekeeping neglected to clean our room two days out of four.

- Husband was injured on the conveyor belt to the water slides when the belt was stopped and he was told by the staff to stand up and go up facing forward instead of backward (this didn't seem to matter except for this one moment in time btw) and he fell down backwards. Broken toe, cuts and scrapes on arm, knee and shoulder. "Water safety" staff could care less. When asked for a supervisor or manager, waited 30 minutes an no one came.

- Two nights in a row in the casino the fire alarm went off for more than 15 minutes. No instructions from the staff and no one seemed to care.

- Have to go to time-share sellers to get property maps and get approached by them every time in the lobbies. Annoying.

- Big place = big crowds and big lines. Forget about eating at prime times without reservations. Also the crowds contribute to the resort looking dirty in the halls and on the property - trash, towels, etc. just seem to get thrown every where by the guests that is.


Summary / other tips:

* Don't plan on walking around during mid-day without your sandals - the cement paths get crazy hot in the summer. Not a complaint, just a tip.

* Marina Pizza Place is just OK, the Pizza is doughy. A lunch option at best.

* To me, Atlantis is just over-rated. If you want to do a great water park / beach day, it is worth a day visit. While the scope of the property is a draw to some, we didn't like it at all - and would prefer a beach vacation to be closer to the beach. The costs of the rooms and food make it hard to enjoy and we won't be returning.

We just returned from a several day stay at Atlantis Royal Towers. We were treated like royaly (pardon the pun). It was our first stay and we were there for our 30th Anniversary. I had alerted the resort ahead of time that we were coming for our anniversary. We had an early flight, so went to see if we could store our bags and go to the pool. When we went to check-in, the agent smiled and wished us a happy anniversary. She left and came back with a huge smile. We were upgraded to a junior suite on the top floor, ocean view, 2 "real" balconies on a VIP floor which gave us very nice (and money saving) perks. To top it off, we could check in immediately. We had a separate elevator which was an express elevator and only went to the consierge floors, so being so high up was absolutely no hassle at all. Everyone at Atlantis was very nice and helpful. Our accommodations were great. The concierge sent us a card and a bottle of wine -- chilled and waiting when we came back from our anniversary dinner. Everything was really great, accept, it was very crowded in some places in the hotel and around the pool area. Lines were long at the pool slides and the food at the pool areas, while good, was really pricey. It is a great family resort and there were loads of kids. We ate off sight at Dunes and Graycliff so that we could have romantic childrenless dinners. There are areas where you can go for a little piece and quiet, but it is not by the pools. All in all, it is a great resort with lots to do and see. Service was exceptional.

I've read ALL of the reviews of Atlantis on this site, so I was pretty sure what to expect. However, no review can adequately describe the beauty of Atlantis. Even photos don't do it justice. I'll try to break it down:

ROOM:
We had a clean, larger-than-usual 15th floor ocean view room in the West Tower - very comfortable, plenty of towels, nice French balcony. The cleaning staff stopped by each evening for turndown service and to drop off extra towels (without our asking, and without additional tips).
However - our phone was broken for 3 of the 4 days we were there, and requests to replace it were ignored. Even worse - our toilet seat snapped in half, and it took 2 days to get that replaced. Our toilet clogged, and no one ever came. My husband, God bless him, fixed himself. Worst of all, though, was when our sink backed up on our last night there -- with water from the shower from the next room over! ICK! We could hear their shower running, and hot water, soap, and hair were coming up our drain. Truly gross. I think the room was beautiful, the view extraordinary, but there seems to be some basic infrastructure issues going on here.

STAFF:
Very accomodating and friendly. We never once felt fleeced for additional tips. We were greeted by every staff member we passed. We were only asked to attend the timeshare presentation one time; we demurred and were not asked again. Check-in desk staff were the least friendly, which was weird. Lifeguards and pool staff were relaxed but attentive - no over-the-top lifeguard power plays here.

FOOD/DRINKS:
OK, they were expensive, but not overly so. Yes, hot dogs and burgers at the pool were 6 bucks each, but they were HUGE and really very good and grilled right there. Frozen drinks were about 10 bucks, but not at all watered down (as I have experienced at all-inclusives in Mexico). We took everyone's advice and brought large bottles of water with us, so we never had to purchase any. We also brought breakfast foods (poptarts, granola bars) and pool snacks (Pringles, pretzels etc) in our suitcases, so that helped a lot.

We ate at Plato's, Carmine's, SeaFire, Johnny Rocket's, Murray's Deli, and the Marketplace buffet. The buffet wasn't so great, and it cost $215 for 4 of us, but there was definitely a lot of food available, including a decent stirfry station. Carmine's was delicious - as good as it is in NYC; dinner for 4 was $250. SeaFire was $350 for 4, including 2 glasses of wine, and cost $350 - pretty steep for a pretty good dinner. Johnny Rocket's was good and casual, and the servers gave a little 'spontaneous' performance at the stroke of each hour. Murray's was a very good deli; one of our favorites.

DOLPHINS:
We went off-property to Dolphin Encounters and had a terrific experience!! It was a highlight of our trip. We walked just outside the property to the ferry terminal and took a 30 minute boatride around the island (passing Oprah's house!!) to get to the dolphins. The staff there was wonderful; the dolphins were truly amazing. It was $165/person for the Dolphin Swim, which included about 45 minutes in the water (a group of 10). We got great photos. Don't miss out on this experience!

AIRPORT TRANSPORT:
DON'T use Majestic! Rickety old vans, rude drivers, unclear instructions, and late arrival to the airport on our return were all dealbreakers for us. Use a limo service.

POOLS/PROPERTY:
Everyone is right - there is a LOT of walking to get around the resort. But the pools and slides are fantastic; very little wait-time. The ocean water is warm and calm and crystal clear. Use the beach by The Cove; it's more secluded and nicer than the more public beach on the other side of the resort. If you want lounge chairs with canopies, which I highly suggest due to the hot Bahamian sun, get down there by 8:30am and leave some personal items on your chairs - flipflops, a book, a tshirt. Just leaving a few towels won't cut it. We loved the little pool with the waterfall close to the beach. It seemed almost like a private pool because it is so much smaller than the others.

I'm sure there's much more I could write, but that covers the basics. 4 days was a great length of time; I feel like a week would have been too long. This is a huge resort, but we felt like we 'covered' it in 4 days.

Have a great vacation!