First off..take all of the earlier reviews with a grain of salt. The resort was recently purchased by Warwick International and have already made changes and have set plans to upgrade the resort starting this spring. This resort caters to those who don't want to stay at the Atlantis. If you are looking for a mega-resort that resembles a Las Vegas hotel, move on and look at another resort. However, if you are looking for a budget-minded resort with friendly staff, free food and drinks.. you have come to the right place.

Taxi - We (4 people) took a taxi both ways to the hotel and it cost $42 each way. Once on the island, everything is no more than a 10 minute walk. No Car needed.

First Impressions - We arrived at the hotel and was welcomed with a Bahama Mama cocktail from the bellhop. We arrived early (1pm), so our room was not ready. However, we were able to check -in and receive our wristbands to start our all-inclusive options.

Hotel Room - We had a island view room (501). We have nice view of the Atlantis. While the room is a little rundown, it was appropriately sized and served its purpose. You are on vacation.. why would you be so concerned with the room? The bathroom is a little small, but I am used to it by NYC standards.

Food/Drink - The bars (Wahoo's Poolside and Spinnakers Lobby) start serving drinks at 11am and close at 1am. We enjoyed the buffet for breakfast and dinner (different theme each night). For lunch, we ordered from the Wahoo's and enjoyed it by the pool. The hotel also has a sit down restaurant (Harbourview). You just need a reservation and can make one in the morning at the buffet. We enjoyed a delicious New Years Eve dinner at Harbourview.

Pool/Beach - The hotel has a great pool. The man-made beach is so-so. The hotel faces Nassau, so you don't get that crystal blue water and gorgeous view. However, if you take the 10 minute walk to the other side of the island, you will reach Cabbage Beach (public). When you enter the beach, you will be bombarded with vendors and people from the cruise ships (their towels gives it away).. go right and walk past the crowd. You will see there is a large section of the beach that is somewhat empty. If you are in the mood for a drink.. a rum-filled cocktails just cost $10.

Atlantis - Yes, the resort looks amazing. However, when you enter the resort, you feel like you are in Las Vegas.. not very Bahamian. If you arrive at 6:30pm, the aquarium is free to view. I highly recommend it. While you are there, there is a decent casino that serves free drinks while you gamble. Make sure to take a walk by the marina to view the yachts that docked. When you are near the marina, there is a small strip of stores. There is a Ben & Jerry's, Starbucks, a candy store, and a high end Seafood Restaurent. Its a quick walk from the Harbour Resort.

Shopping - Just take a left out of the resort and you will hit a small shopping center. There is a straw market open from 9-6pm daily, a bank (Scotia Bank), grocery store, pharmacy, liquor store, gift shop, and a Dunkin Donuts.


New Years -Throughout the day there was hourly activities.. poker, checkers, karaoke, bingo. However, what impressed me the most about the resort was the nightly entertainment. We were fortunate to be there for New Years and boy they did not disappoint. The night started with a live band that played for until 10:30pm. Soon after, there were a number of live dancers that entertained us till the ball dropped. After the ball dropped, a group of Junkanoo performers entered the hotel and lead us to the pool area where we watched fireworks from three different locations. It was amazing! The hotel really put a lot of time and energy into the night.

"Managing expectations" is a big key to many aspects of life. Vacationing is no different. We are a well traveled family (Antigua, Mexico, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, and others) and have stayed in some very nice resorts (including other all-inclusive), as well as, some pretty plain hotels. It all depends on the reason for the trip. For this trip we were looking for anywhere warm, with beautiful waters and beach, without spending a fortune (would rather spend the same money on two trips instead of one).

This was our first time to the Bahamas, but other family had been there multiple times. We didn't want to spend the money for the Atlantis and the Comfort Inn was booked (it gives you access to the Atlantis, for less $). We have stayed at several Riu properties, but it was booked as well.

Now the Paradise Island Harbour Resort. It is an older property, nothing fancy. As the name indicates, it is on the Harbour side, with boats (from yachts to cargo ships) going by all the time. We liked seeing most of the ships, but if you want to overlook the blue ocean you will be disappointed. The staff was very pleasant and polite. You always hear "thank you for coming to the Bahamas." That being said, they call it "island time" for a reason. After all that is one reason you go there right? Just realize, if you are use to the service at a resort in the Yucatan they are no where close. Other Bahamian resorts might be different, but this has been my experience in the Caribbean. It's just a slower, laid back pace. The rooms are OK, the bathrooms a little small and need an upgrade. The balcony rooms overlook the pool and harbour side, probably only 40 or so balcony rooms total. The big negative about having a balcony room is the noise at night. They had a live band one night and a DJ another. The music goes until 11:00 pm. Let's just say the music inside our room (8th floor) was louder than if we would have been playing the music in our own room. Being forced to listen to "DJ Slick Rick" until 11:15 while trying to relax on vacation was less than desirable. The need to have a seperate place for the music, without bother others who don't want it.

Beach access: There is beach access, with a pretty simple 10 minute walk. It is located to the south side of the Riu. Beautiful waters and sand! Many people will be there to offer you chairs, umbrellas, jet ski, and other water sports. If you are interested, great, if not just say "no thank you" and they are fine with it. We would go over to the main beach after breakfast, then come back to the resort for a late lunch, then get more sun time at our resort. (just grab some fruit to hold you over).

Food: We were actually impressed with the food. The taste was pretty good of everything we ate, with a pretty good salad bar. The pool grill was OK for basic fried food (recommend trying the Conch Fritters). The main buffet room is not fancy, like the rest of the resort. At night, the reservation restaurant was very good. We had the prime rib, pasta, and roasted chicken. It was all very good.

Summary: The resort is about a 25 minute cab ride from the airport. Cost us $45 (for 4 people) + $5 tip. We were glad we stayed on Paradise Island verses on the Nassau side, but wouldn't be afraid to stay there either. Did travel over to the straw market, queen's stairs, and a fort. A water taxi was fun to take across the harbour. It is located under the north bridge ($8/person round trip). If you're a beach person (likely if going to the Bahamas) plan on walking over by the Riu. It gets a little crowded when all the cruise ships port in. Walk south of the hotels along the beach for more seclusion if you like. We felt very safe the entire trip. After 6pm the aquarium is free at the Atlantis, for a cheap fun night. If you are willing to spend another 1K-1500, would probably upgrade to another resort. If money is tight, the Paradise Island Harbour Resort should fit the bill. For us the resort was the cheapest of all hotels and included all the food. That being considered we were happy with our choice. It was somewhere in between average and very good. We had a great trip, but still prefer Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. What a blessing it was to go. Travel on!

We paid $50 per person for three adults as a shore excursion as part of a Carnival Cruise. We didn't get a room here and rated this as an excursion. The "resort" is literally ON the harbour and that is the view that you see from the pool. Your view is industrial ships and large shipping containers. We didn't swim in the harbour...the beach was really tiny and the water can't be clean with all the ships going in an out with their gasoline motors. They said we can walk 10 minutes to get to an ocean beach access, but we didn't bother. Drinks and food were all inclusive but The buffet shut down at 2pm, so you had to eat at the snack bar the rest of the day. The food looked good...but has little taste and the beef stew tasted like out of a can. The salad bar was really very nice and fresh. The drinks were made very weak since after three Bahama Mama's I felt nothing. After only 2 hours of our several hour reservation, we left and walked over to Atlantis Resort and had a wonderful time walking around there before going back to the ship.

The Paradise Island Harbour Resort was a good value. It included a beautiful harbor, man-made beach and pool. The service was so-so and so were the rooms. The public areas needed some cleaning and the food was okay. For a budget friendly vacation I was pleased.