Thank you all so much for the suggestions and guidance. I am researching all of the good points/ideas you guys made/passed along. THANK YOU AGAIN! May come back with more questions. . but in the meantime, THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Def, would research Out Islands for what you have in mind, Harbour Island, Exuma, Abaco or Eleuthera.

Check out the Orange Beach Inn. It is far down the coast from Cable Beach big hotels but there is a chamring jitney bus that will take you into town if you want, and the scuba/snorkel places will pick you up for daytrips.
Paradise Island is a smal island across the channel from downtown Nassau, which several large hotels and the fanciest one, $$$ The One and Only which was in a James Bond movie and a nice spa. Nassau has some interesting British colonial history (check out the fort and the Queen's Steps, eat at Greycliff.)
If you like more solitude and nature I'd rec. the Cayman Sister Islands, Cayman Brac or Little Cayman, especially if you'd like to scuba or learn to. Also Bonaire.

Anonymous wrote:OP, I wasn't terribly impressed with Atlantis. However, we flew into Nassau, then got on my in-laws' boat that was docked at the Atlantis, and the next day when to a small island 3-hours away, where we stayed. Spent 2 days at Atlantis on the way home. After the beauty of staying on the tiny island, my opinion may be skewed.

The aquarium is not some hours-long adventure like the Baltimore aquarium would be. It is pretty cool, but takes maybe 10 minutes to walk through.

I found the rest of the areas (the sharks etc.) to be unimpressive. I dunno. I just couldn't believe how expensive that place was for what it is.

you do realize there are about 4 different pools of aquariums around the resort, not just he one in the lobby.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I wasn't terribly impressed with Atlantis. However, we flew into Nassau, then got on my in-laws' boat that was docked at the Atlantis, and the next day when to a small island 3-hours away, where we stayed. Spent 2 days at Atlantis on the way home. After the beauty of staying on the tiny island, my opinion may be skewed.

The aquarium is not some hours-long adventure like the Baltimore aquarium would be. It is pretty cool, but takes maybe 10 minutes to walk through.

I found the rest of the areas (the sharks etc.) to be unimpressive. I dunno. I just couldn't believe how expensive that place was for what it is.

We did this too but spent a little longer at Atlantis on the front-end of the trip. I found it to be Disney-like and crowded for my taste, but a LOT of people like that kind of thing. They do have great food and service. Did you go to Harbour Island - the little island with no cars and pink sand? That's where we went and LOVED it.... but probably too hard to get to for OP. I think you have to take a small plane from Nassau, then short boat ride from there.

PP here. Nope, we did not go to Harbour Island but I've heard good things about it. We took the boat to Compass Cay, in the Exumas. The boat is one that we lived on, full kitchen, etc. We docked at Compass Cay, which is a small island with no stores or anything like that. Our days consisted of hiking to various places on the island, snorkeling (either right at Compass Cay or at nearby places we would take the dinghy to, such as Thunderball Grotto), scuba diving off the boat, socializing with other people docked in the marina. Sometimes we would take the dinghy to a nearby island for lunch. Extremely relaxing trip.

Sounds heavenly. We were staying on boat too but went off to Harbour Island from Atlantis - pretty remote but Compass Cay sounds even more so. There are so many little islands to explore. I do think you're right - Atlantis is nice after something like that because you're getting the natural, secluded fix first.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I wasn't terribly impressed with Atlantis. However, we flew into Nassau, then got on my in-laws' boat that was docked at the Atlantis, and the next day when to a small island 3-hours away, where we stayed. Spent 2 days at Atlantis on the way home. After the beauty of staying on the tiny island, my opinion may be skewed.

The aquarium is not some hours-long adventure like the Baltimore aquarium would be. It is pretty cool, but takes maybe 10 minutes to walk through.

I found the rest of the areas (the sharks etc.) to be unimpressive. I dunno. I just couldn't believe how expensive that place was for what it is.

We did this too but spent a little longer at Atlantis on the front-end of the trip. I found it to be Disney-like and crowded for my taste, but a LOT of people like that kind of thing. They do have great food and service. Did you go to Harbour Island - the little island with no cars and pink sand? That's where we went and LOVED it.... but probably too hard to get to for OP. I think you have to take a small plane from Nassau, then short boat ride from there.

PP here. Nope, we did not go to Harbour Island but I've heard good things about it. We took the boat to Compass Cay, in the Exumas. The boat is one that we lived on, full kitchen, etc. We docked at Compass Cay, which is a small island with no stores or anything like that. Our days consisted of hiking to various places on the island, snorkeling (either right at Compass Cay or at nearby places we would take the dinghy to, such as Thunderball Grotto), scuba diving off the boat, socializing with other people docked in the marina. Sometimes we would take the dinghy to a nearby island for lunch. Extremely relaxing trip.

Anonymous wrote:OP, I wasn't terribly impressed with Atlantis. However, we flew into Nassau, then got on my in-laws' boat that was docked at the Atlantis, and the next day when to a small island 3-hours away, where we stayed. Spent 2 days at Atlantis on the way home. After the beauty of staying on the tiny island, my opinion may be skewed.

The aquarium is not some hours-long adventure like the Baltimore aquarium would be. It is pretty cool, but takes maybe 10 minutes to walk through.

I found the rest of the areas (the sharks etc.) to be unimpressive. I dunno. I just couldn't believe how expensive that place was for what it is.

We did this too but spent a little longer at Atlantis on the front-end of the trip. I found it to be Disney-like and crowded for my taste, but a LOT of people like that kind of thing. They do have great food and service. Did you go to Harbour Island - the little island with no cars and pink sand? That's where we went and LOVED it.... but probably too hard to get to for OP. I think you have to take a small plane from Nassau, then short boat ride from there.

Here is a Wash Post article giving recommendations for romantic and reasonably priced beachy resorts:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/29/AR2009122902199.html?hpid=features1&hpv=local

At the time of writing they were all direct flights, but the article is a bit old so things may have changed.

I second the recommendation to look elsewhere. You can spend an afternoon walking around Atlantis, but other than visiting the casino, walking through the acquarium and having an overpriced dinner, there isn't much to do there. You can't go to their beaches/outdoor areas (at least when we were there they checked ID). Groceries will be very expensive and from what I recall, the only place to eat near Atlantis is Atlantis, so your options are (1) spend $40 on lunch consisting of 2 hotdogs and 2 sodas; (2) eat at your condo; or (3) walk 30+ minutes to Nassau or take the cab ride to eat there. Nassau is 3-4 blocks of tourist shops that become very crowded when the cruise ships come by. A few hours there and you have seen it all and you are done. There is a fort you can go to and spend a few hours there too. Unless you really want to just sit on the beach, I think 4-5 days there would be too long.

Anonymous wrote:OP, I wasn't terribly impressed with Atlantis. However, we flew into Nassau, then got on my in-laws' boat that was docked at the Atlantis, and the next day when to a small island 3-hours away, where we stayed. Spent 2 days at Atlantis on the way home. After the beauty of staying on the tiny island, my opinion may be skewed.

The aquarium is not some hours-long adventure like the Baltimore aquarium would be. It is pretty cool, but takes maybe 10 minutes to walk through.

I found the rest of the areas (the sharks etc.) to be unimpressive. I dunno. I just couldn't believe how expensive that place was for what it is.

Ohhhhh!!!!! I am glad you told me this (the info bolded above)!!!! I had thought it would be like, at least a few hours' activity. Ok, I am moving farther and farther from doing this idea. Thanks to you all for this good BTDT feedback.

Grateful for any other continued recommendations of possible places to look into. I'll check out any places anyone cares to throw out here. THX!

OP, I wasn't terribly impressed with Atlantis. However, we flew into Nassau, then got on my in-laws' boat that was docked at the Atlantis, and the next day when to a small island 3-hours away, where we stayed. Spent 2 days at Atlantis on the way home. After the beauty of staying on the tiny island, my opinion may be skewed.

The aquarium is not some hours-long adventure like the Baltimore aquarium would be. It is pretty cool, but takes maybe 10 minutes to walk through.

I found the rest of the areas (the sharks etc.) to be unimpressive. I dunno. I just couldn't believe how expensive that place was for what it is.