What kind of forum is Fodors? Why are so many comments deleted @ http://www.fodors.com/? Why is the thread ATLANTIS TRIP REPORT CLOSED for instance? Bahamas Consult watches the Bahamas thread since weeks and all negative comments at Bahamas Critic @ Fodors.com are deleted. Why? Is it not allowed to publish all comments? The Bahamas is really not a destination to recommend - this is a result of several surveys. Only fodors does not want to know this? If we do not get the right information - we should not visit the Bahamas!

I claim that cruise passengers were greeted by a band playing homemade instruments which was really cool but he bad part is that the band was pulling people in to get their pictures taken then insisting that the tourist pay the band for posing. They were also greeted by taxi and horse/buggy drivers, scooter lenders, hair braiders, and merchants who were all extremely aggressive. Not just aggressive in their sales tactics but actually grabbing people and trying to intimidate tourists into buying. Taxi drivers have to have meters in the cabs by law and should be forced to use them.

Many tourists I spoke to claim the strange contrast between rich and poor neighbourhoods in Nassau. One even do not have to pass the location of the 5 star Gray Cliff Hotel at Blue Hill Road or the Police Headquarters at East Street you find already wide spread slums close to the port. Anyhow the growing number of derelict buildings along the eastern end of Bay Street are contributing to a drop in business in the area, where nearly a third of the shop spaces are vacant. Ants are the winner in Nassau’ downtown area. One can easily imagine that you will find termites and ants among others not only in a few houses, shopping arcades, restaurants, hotels and kitchens.

Travellers should not at all surprised when Bahamians might show a friendly attitude towards foreigners. But they do it mostly only as long as they can expect any advantage from them. Even worse: A trip to the Bahamas is always expensive and tourists claim you wont get the right value for your money. Alleged advantages due to special discounts on cruise ships, cheap prices at the straw market for items produced in China or any savings on rum offers are used up very quick. Bay Street, Straw Market and Potters’ Cay are unsanitary. Complaints touched on everything concerning the straw market from excessive heat, poor lighting and flooding, to unsanitary and claustrophobic conditions. There is only one bathroom for about 3000 people a day.

After 7 pm Nassau is nothing else but death because cruise ship passengers mostly return on board where they have more fun, better food and better entertainment at reasonable prices. I even say that the US Dollar has in the Bahamas a value of 50 cents only.

I guess a cruise out into the ocean is not bad, but after getting into the water and above the reef it is really not very good at all. The coral appeared to be dead and fish were nonexistent. Very disappointing for me and the other people who paid 40 dollars a head. After getting back you might visit Paradise Island where the big attraction is the Atlantis Hotel and Casino. It is nice to look at and quite impressive but if you are not staying there it cannot be too much fun. The highlight of a Bahamas trip was looking a high priced hotel?

OK, where many people are living there is crime, stealing and killing too but from my point of view the Bahamas is a small country with about 300 000 inhabitants. This means to me that the crime, stealing and killing rate should absolutely not so high like in New York or Moscow. I personally agree also that the US embassy even published not only once a travel warning at least for spring breakers. An American family lived the most terrifying moments of their lives: "When leaving the hotel room two gunmen with a local accent forced us to return to our room. We were thrown on the floor, they tied our hands and feet, covered our mouths, kicked our bodies and threatened us with their guns demanding "where is the money". After taking our personal property and inflicting on my daughter and my wife the most inhuman and cruel acts, these men left our room and entered the room across ours, where they perpetrated another attack to an American family of two adults and a small child from New York. About 15 minutes later a lady from the Island of Trinidad was also attacked by the same ruthless criminals.

The Bahamas Government should not invest so much money for false advertisements. Less tourists would return disappointed. I am also wondering that Condé Nast Traveler published recently an island report written by Adam Sachs with the headline “Bahamas rising”. In my opinion our judgement will be wrong if we look only at Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island or at the Four Season Resort on Great Exuma, which is a gated hotel, away from the real life in the Bahamas. In fact he Bahamas are quite different. If you want to read more about wide spread criminality, corrupt officials, injustice, a legal profession with anti-foreign attitudes, racism, drug trafficking as well as bad service with high prices write us a email. Visit http://www.reporter.int.tc/ for Nassau pictures.

Paradise Island was once called Hog Island – one should petition the Bahamas government to change the name Nassau in Hog City. Atlantis has three buildings: Beach Tower and Coral Tower are the old once and Royal Tower is the new big one. From my point of view Paradise Island is already overpopulated. And more constructions are still going on. There are a lot of imported palm trees at the pool side but not even one at the beach for shade. Whereas it is too loud at the pool the disadvantage of the beach is the dirt.

Atlantis room rates are very high. Same thing concerning the food. For an evening buffet you pay more than 100 box for two without drinks - and consider it is self service. Service does not reach always the level what you expect. Even if you have booked a stay at the Atlantis in the Royal Tower for 5 nights they might try to break our 5 night stay into 2 separate rooms with 3 in Royal Towers and 2 in Coral Towers at the arrival due to overbooking.

You can have also various "mistaken" wakeup calls and "wrong" room service deliveries. Make sure that they do not double bill you and charge for mini bar that you never used. It can take months to straighten a part of the problems out. Over all our memories unfortunately are of hassle and lack of sleep...

I even say that the Dollar has in the Bahamas a value of 50 cents only. Same thing with any excursions. I guess a cruise out into the ocean is not bad, but after getting into the water and above the reef it is really not very good at all. The coral appeared to be dead and fish were nonexistent. Very disappointing for us and the other people who paid 40 dollars a head.

The worst experience is a walk to the foot of the Paradise Island Bridge. It stinks there from water and sewerage tanks which are close by. It is also disappointing to see all the poor locals offering food at dirty stands and drinking canned beer. It seems that after sunset it can be also dangerous if you walk alone.

OK, where many people are living there is crime, stealing and killing too but from my point of view the Bahamas is a small country with about 300 000 inhabitants. This means to me that the crime, stealing and killing rate should absolutely not so high like in New York or Moscow. I personally agree also that the US embassy even published not only once a travel warning at least for spring breakers.

The Bahamas Government invest much money for false advertisements. We spoke to many tourists who would
not return to the Bahamas. Another disappointment was a walking tour to Nassau downtown. On the way we did not see anything what could be interesting for us. And on the way back the taxi driver refused to turn his meter on and charged us 5 dollars PER PERSON for a short trip of one mile. Beside the Casino the nightlife is very poor. For the money you spend at Atlantis you can easily find other places in the Caribbean.

We headed back to Freeport, determined at that point to just find a nice resort place to stay and go from there. As we drove I calculated the cost of staying three more nights, the car, the meals and the toll on our friendship. I called American and paid the $200 for us to change our flight to the next day - and we left Freeport/Grand Bahama the next day, glad to be gone...

A new development has led to rise in crime like stealing, drug trafficking, armed robbery and killing in the Bahamas Out Islands. Some islanders blame an influx of people from Nassau. They are afraid that they will get a lot of riff-raff from Nassau. Businessmen say shop owners are trying to close down before sunset. In the meantime even in the Out Islands people have already burglary bars which you never saw before. New hotels are more and more built as gated communities.

Read in the newspapers that at smaller Bahamian airports airplanes were stolen by Bahamians, a team of detectives has flown into Rum Cay for instance to probe an arson attack that destroyed a $300,000 plane or another plane was found in Columbia...... Be careful that you are not approached to purchase drugs by one of the locals even if you are approached for this purpose 6 times in five days.

Special advice…

In every travel guide and independent travel forum there should be stated that majority of those who have taken vacation in Nassau and Paradise Island would no way recommend this trip to their family members and friends. Practical experience has shown that interest that was aroused having read promotional material, did not prove out when visiting the place.

1. Unfortunately, when visiting The Bahamas, only superficial friendliness is felt, as essentially there they look only at the tourist’s money. Improper service has been criticized as well. The vacationer feels that previously existing pirating is still there. Bahamians are often compared to the chameleons that change the color of their skins according to the situation.

2. Even though supposedly not expensive proposal of the tourist trip has been acquired, the tourist can expect too high expenses in the recuperation place. The price – service ratio is actually not adequate.

3. The Bahamas have also been criticized due to the fact that very often it is described as paradise of tax. Duties and taxes in hotels increase expenses of vacations very much. Even local goods are unaccountably expensive, when you think that a box of beer costs almost 36 US dollars – at that is for small 0.33 liter bottles. Even right before departure one has to pay departure taxes.

4. Criminality, widely spread corruption and first place in drug sales meet the eye as well. Homicide rate is among the highest in the world. It surprises even more, as criminality level in smaller communities due to less anonymity is usually noticeably lower. Tourists from America and Canada are also the victims.

5. Any normally thinking tourist can hardly imagine how strongly rooted is injustice in The Bahamas. Familial companies, immoral trade and corruption are appreciated as values to pursue for one layer of society only, but tolerated nonetheless by majority of other residents. Especially attempts are made to cash in on white foreigners.

6. Even though racism directed towards white tourists is not publicly discussed, but citizens, the legal profession, the commissioner of police and the minister should still raise the question, whether they are adapting racial approach. Ask the prime minister, what kind of honor could he express towards foreign tourists?

7. Contrary to the information found in glitzy brochures, Bahamas’ tourism supply to the vacationers is experiencing failure. For example, its capital Nassau, supposedly the most convenient place for cruisers to tie up, is only among the last third of the most popular ones, due to the ramshackle houses, dirty beaches and disappointing diving excursions. The US ships come there only because it is close to the US coast.

8. Unfortunately, many of Bahamian travel boards are influenced by the Bahamian travel mafia. They take care that the criticizing comments will be deleted and leave only the positive ones. Those who are involved in such bulletin boards are selling various books about traveling or tourism trips, therefore it is of their interest to eliminate the negative messages from forum and on the other hand they leave incorrect comments.

9. The Bahamas has been praised as a place for vacations during all seasons of the year, even though in summer it is unbearably hot there even for locals, and vacation in winter, when cooler wind is blowing and it can often rain for weeks, can disappoint those who expect to have rest on the beach. After a storm restoration of electricity supply may take weeks, and cleaning works – months. Tourists who have been in The Bahamas during the time of hurricane are telling of their negative memories.

10. The truth is that positive publications do not always match the reality and that vacations in Bahamas are very expensive - until parity of the US dollar remains. Purchasing power of the US dollar in Bahamas is about only 50 cents.

Read several messages that have been deleted from Bahamian travel boards. You can also visit the following sites on the Internet http://www.fodorsreview.us.tc/ or http://www.my-caribbean-on-line.net.tc/, or read commentaries about the Bahamas on http://www.travelforum.net.tc/.

More about hurricanes at http://www.hurricanefrances.net.tc/