PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas (7 Nov 2004) -- From the moment you walk into the circular lobby of the Atlantis resort -- a spectacular, crass and fabulous construction of marble and gold with eight carved pillars supporting a two-storey vaulted ceiling decorated with gilt seashell designs and surrounded by fantasy paintings of the lost continent -- you know this is more than a hotel. It's a terrazzo city: 2,300 rooms, 35 restaurants (including one beside the aquarium walls, so you can eat fish while watching fish), bars and lounges, a disco, a comedy club, the Caribbean's largest casino, a movie theatre, 40 waterfalls, six salt- and fresh-water swimming pools, white sand beaches and a faux Mayan temple with waterslides on all sides, one of which exits into a glass tube running through a lagoon where sharks swim. Like somebody once said about a studio mogul's nouveau opulent mansion in Hollywood, it shows you what God could do if he had money. The Atlantis is a family resort run by Kerzner International, the second-largest employer in the Bahamas next to the government, and it is a unique combination of ostentation and elegance. It's what Disneyland would be if it was suddenly taken over by Aztec billionaires. Atlantis has three towers, the Royal, Coral and Beach, joined by a long hallway where you can visit some of the restaurants -- ranging from casual bars to high-priced ($100 US a person) gourmet eateries -- or stores that include Bulgari, Cartier, Versace, Gucci and dozens more. Atlantis provides property maps, which you can see people consult as they walk through the ivory-and-brown themed halls or along the covered arcades outside the coral-coloured buildings, seeking the next beach, pool, waterslide, waterfall, shark tank or day camp. (Atlantis has one, which it runs with the Discovery Channel: Its "base camp" is a replica of a 17th-century Spanish galleon.) There's a 63-slip marina that can accommodate yachts up to 200 feet long. There is a spa and a health club and a golf course next door and there's more to come: Kerzner is designing a Marina Village of more restaurants and shops, a Pirate's Cove hotel with 1,500 rooms, an underground river and an expanded spa that offers everything from yoga to teeth-whitening. Professional golfer Ernie Els is designing the new 18-hole golf course. After your exciting interactive 'waterslide with the sharks' eco awareness experience, how about a thrilling PADI Project Aware $99 shark feeding dive in the hotel tank? | | While frustrated scientists continue to search for the lost city of Atlantis, tourists on $299 three-day holiday packages have already found it in the Bahamas!!! It's overdesigned, over the top and overwhelming, so big it goes beyond questions of taste. It's what the sunken continent would have looked like if the best interior decorator in Las Vegas had been given an unlimited budget and access to a marble quarry. It was built 10 years ago and since then has been featured in several movies and TV shows, most prominently the new Pierce Brosnan-Salma Hayek heist picture After the Sunset and the Olsen twins direct-to-video film Holiday in the Sun. The rooms range from plain old King and Queen to Regal, Grand, Presidential and Royal suites. All have satellite TV that includes strangely, stations from Montreal and St. John's, Nfld. When the high rollers come to stay they can be found in the so-called Bridge Suite, a 6,000-square-foot wonder occupying a bridge that connects the two spire-happy wings of the Royal Towers, which are festooned with carved seahorses and topped with swordfish statues. The suite, with panoramic views of the ocean and the Atlantis marina, features 3.6-metre ceilings, hand-painted stencilling on the walls, marble flooring in the foyer, a living room with a baby grand piano, a bar lounge with a marble-inlaid chessboard and custom-made bar and a dining room with an iron-and-gold chandelier and gilt armchairs. The master bedroom leads to his-and-hers baths (dolphin bath fixtures in hers; a marble shower in his) and features a three-metre-high four-poster bed decorated with hand-painted linens. It costs $25,000 US a night -- that's $1,000 and change an hour, if you're keeping score -- and includes the services of a butler. Some guests rent it by the month. SOURCE - CanWest News |
