This year I decided to celebrate my birthday in Nassau Bahamas! I’ve always heard of the Bahamas and saw the commercials on TV of Atlantis when I was young, but I never had the opportunity to visit. Anywhere with a beach and clear water are my favorite places to vacation, so I thought Paradise Island is the perfect place to celebrate my birthday! Also, because I think I was a mermaid in my last life and originally from Atlantis. Once I made up my mind of where I was going to go and all of my girls were on board for a girl’s trip, I started shopping for my favorite swim suits and planning my itinerary.
It was surprisingly not a long flight to from New York for traveling out of the country and only took about three hours and 30 minutes. It’s so close that I forgot the Bahamas was out of the country. I double checked my passport was not expired lol. Something to definitely remember before booking a trip! I recalled the time when I was flying to Italy and preparing myself for the 9-hour flight I had to take to get to Florence, so this flight was a breeze.
It’s like flying from New York to Florida which I used to do a lot. After booking my flight on Jetblue, I needed to decide where I would want to stay. There are many different places to visit and stay in the Bahamas, but I knew I wanted to stay on Paradise Island. I like to be inside a resort when traveling somewhere new if possible, and I was immersed in watching videos online of Atlantis and visualizing myself on the water slides on Paradise Island so I was sold.
One thing about Paradise Island is there are 5 different hotels to choose from. The Cove, The Beach, The Royal, The Reef, and the Coral. This decision took some time as I researched the different locations. I decided to stay at the Atlantis Royal Towers after one of my besties whom previously visited last October recommended I stay there and that she had a great time. At first, I considered staying at the Coral because it had a newly renovated wing that was modern and had cute balcony’s, however with the construction at the time I felt it would be best to stay at the Royal Hotel. Another great thing about the Royal hotel is it was connected to everything and had the restaurant I booked for dinner the night of my birthday downstairs, and the nightclub next to that so we wouldn’t have to walk far from the room.
The staff at the Royal Towers were so helpful and friendly. There’s tons of security everywhere and you need to have a key to get access to the different areas of the hotel. There are a lot of floors and I believe we were on the 12th floor. It had a great view of Paradise Island and the water park and surrounding beaches from the Balcony. Another great thing about the Royal hotel is it was connected to everything and had the restaurant I booked for dinner the night of my birthday downstairs, and the nightclub next to that so we wouldn’t have to walk far from the room. There was also a great diner downstairs if you wanted to wake up and have breakfast, and a lounge throughout the day and if you wanted to stop in for food or drinks. At night this place is fun and has live music with different singers and a good place for drinks. The night leading up to my birthday we sat in the lounge and listened to live music and ordering drinks to countdown until 12:00AM. Inside the Royal is also gift shops for souvenirs if you want to grab something to bring back home to family and friends or if you’re like me yourself! I usually purchase a hoody from every new place I visit to wear whenever I Netflix and chill at home on the couch during the winter in NYC.
My favorite part of the Royal towers were the aquariums and fish tanks. They were huge and on the lower level when you enter the front of the hotel, and a couple of different caves throughout the resort you can walk through to view the sealife. It was really pretty to see all of the different exotic fish and sharks swimming right in front of you. I’ve never seen a fish tank this big and close. It was beautiful. If you are adventurous you can even go snorkeling in the tank and swimming with the sharks and dolphins on Paradise Island. I thought it was beautiful but I’m not that brave. If you continue to walk through the hotel there were also shops to purchase luxury jewelry and watches, right next to the casino downstairs. At night the Casino was packed! If you are not into gambling there were still tons of things to do like go to the bar/lounge in the center of the casino for drinks, music and dancing. During my stay on the night of my birthday the girls and I decided to make reservations at NOBU. It was my first time ever going to Nobu although the restaurant also has two locations here in NYC. I had a amazing time and the atmosphere was gorgeous. The waiter was super friendly and even send me an extra drink! If you ever go and like shrimp be sure to order the creamy rock shrimp dish. I enjoyed it so much I went back to Nobu when I returned to NYC with one of my friends and ordered it again at the NYC Downtown location.
After my birthday dinner we decided to stop by club Aura next door. I really enjoyed the DJ and music there that night. It wasn’t long before I found myself in VIP and had fun talking to other people who were also visiting the Island. My birthday usually falls during Spring break and there were a lot of people there on Spring break having a good time. The next day the girls and I decided to make some time during the day to hit the Aquaventure waterpark and the beach. The weather was up and down during our stay, so we had to make sure we utilized the sunny days for the beach and waterpark. If you have never been to the lazy river or slides in the Bahamas, you have not fully lived. I have to say I haven’t had that much fun in a long time. The water park did not disappoint and going on all the slides made me feel like a kid again. We all equally rated it one of the best parts of the trip. It may have been because we were drinking prior, which I do not advise drinking and swimming, but there is tons of security to save you on the lazy river if you should fall out of your float like I did. There is also a slide that allows you to ride through the inside one of the shark tanks which was pretty crazy. I loved it so much I went through it four times. The beaches on Paradise Island were beautiful and also has jetski’s to ride. People on the beach will also offering to take you on day yacht rides around the island with other groups. We did not have the opportunity to go on a boat ride during this trip but heard they are fun.
Another favorite part of my trip was the Junkanoo festival we ended up walking into on the street during our route to eat at Carmines the restaurant in Marina Village. This is a festival I believe the Royal towers host during the spring and summer time a few nights during the month. If your going I would ask the hotel staff when it is as they also host a Junkanoo dinner on Friday nights downstairs in front of the fish tanks that looked like a lot of fun in the passing. Junkanoo is also a street festival parade with music, dance, and costumes. It reminds me of the Carnival festivals and parades around the Caribbean I see friends attend. Check out my stories on my Instagram travel section for more videos of this trip.
Atlantis has over 21 restaurants and 19 bars on the island. It was hard to choose where to eat but it was nice to have so many options. I visited the restaurant Carmines in New York during the holidays, so once I heard Carmines was in the Bahamas as well I was happy because the food is soooooo good! The waiters were amazing and the food was on point. One of the waiters even came over and sang to me at the table and was an amazing singer. I highly recommend eating at carmines if you visit paradise Island. One of my other favorite restaurants was Frankies Gone bananas for the jerk chicken and seafood. During the day we went to the Cove Pool to eat lunch and sat at SIP SIP which was a good vibe with great drinks. The Cove is a good place to stay next time since it has a great exclusive pool area only for quest staying in the Cove hotel, however there are other pools throughout the resort to choose from open to everyone. We also stopped at Shark Bites on the Island prior to heading to the beach to grab something quick to eat. Another fun restaurant nearby that we heard was fun was Margaritaville not far from the hotel.I remember this also located in Jamaica when I visited Montego Bay.
One of the days we did take a boat from right outside of the resort over to town with other tourist to see more of the Bahamas. The ride was really pretty and viewed the different cruise boats that were also coming in from around the world. The people running the boats were friendly and gave us a ton of history and interesting information and facts about the Bahamas during our ride.
It was nice to see the village, meet more people and other tourist while visiting the different restaurants and stores. We arranged a ride with one of the drivers on the dock after leaving the boat who was super friendly and took us to a great restaurant called Da Fish Fry Twin Brother Seafood and Steakhouse with THE BEST FOOD EVER. I had the salmon and rice and pees and huge frozen drinks which were delicious! It’s famous and well known for its food with two levels indoors and an outdoor area. I miss it so much! We sat outside and ate in the sun. Our trip through town was pretty with all the colorful houses and great photo ops, and we had the opportunity to see where other people also stayed and view other beaches we could visit next time.
I enjoyed spending time on the beach outside of the royal towers, and it was not super crowded which was nice and relaxing. There was literally not enough time in the trip to hit everything we wanted to do but had a great time and I’ll be back soon. The island literally has everything and caters to all ages from kids, to teens, to adults. I would recommend a family, couples, or girls trip to the Bahamas its really just finding the area that had everything you want to do.
If you’ve ever been to the Bahamas leave me a message below on where you stayed and let me know your thoughts. If you have any questions about my trip comment below and I’ll be sure to respond. xoxo
Always with love,
Jennifer Danielle
