My friend & I were in Nassau for the day with a Carnival Cruise ship & decided to enjoy oceanside cabanna massages at the One & Only Ocean Club. I called & made the reservations in advance with no problem. Unfortunately on the day we were there it was rainy & windy so we couldn't do the oceanside massages, but enjoyed an indoor one instead. Afterwards we walked onto the beach & walked all the way back down to Atlantis & inside their aquarium & casino and then onto the Marina & shops before enjoying lunch at Anthony's. (Side note, if you want to enjoy a value priced meal while on Paradise Island, go to Anthony's! Look for the yellow sign when you cross the bridge onto Paradise Island).

My wife and I spent a week at the One and Only Ocean Club in Nassau at the end of February. You will love this hotel because of its ambiance & wonderful, I would say exceptional, service.

The hotel is a very special property. It has a classical Brit colonial elegance and sobriety that is very appealing for those who really want to relax. The rooms, even those non-suites with a garden view, as the one we picked, have ample space and a wonderful terrace with rest chairs and a comfortable dinning table and are impeccably clean. The mini-bar is nothing but mini. Generous half-pint bottles of all the best drinks, with the exception of wine, which is really below average throughout the whole in-house dinning experience.

The beach is absolutely pristine. White sand and those blues only found in Bahamas. One of the jewels of the Hotel is the Beach House, which allows you to enjoy the beach from the comfort of a terrace and in an open-air bar. Smokers are not discriminated.

The restaurants, room service, and food are not a highlight: sufficiently good not to become an issue, but very far from what you would expect from such a refined environment.

The Hotel has one of those details that define real luxury: one pool for adults, and a separate one for families. What this adds to your experience needs no comment. The pools are large enough to exercise but not as big to feel in an Olympic games villa, have a prudent surrounding space –close enough to admire the blonde in the bikini but sufficiently distant not to have to share into her newlywed conversation.

The in-house activities -swimming, sunbathing, tennis, great spa, and just reading and relaxing- are enough for people like us. In contrast, the out-of-property experience is horrible. The hotel relies on its partnership with The Atlantis, and other outside providers, to arrange activities such as snorkeling, sailing and fishing. In most cases you are bumped with a gang of strangers, which –how I will put it- frequently have other criteria than yours about dress code, manners and etiquette. To give you an idea, beyond the gate is like spring break in Cancun or an all-you-can eat weekend in Las Vegas.

Our suite was lovely, clean and beautifully furnished, the grounds and location are also lovely, sadly the rest of the experience at the One&Only was let down with indifferent staff, the breakfast service was a joke, both restaurants lack any sort of ambience with staff who need serious customer relations training. The shuttle service works well and thank goodness for some great local restaurants and the Atlantis, at least there was a choice even if not your preferred choice. The pool area is tired with broken paving, tiles and a dirty tide mark all around the water line and the service around the pool leaves an awful lot to be desired, the staff couldn't wait to pack up.
Certainly not a 5 star resort.

The setting, landscaping and amenities of the property was only surpassed by the caliber of service throughout and for our entire stay. They even graciously and readily accomodated our unexpected request for a late check-out due to flight problems.