Some quick notes on Paradise Island and Nassau.
This post is not intended to offend - this was my experience, and any BYers thinking about going and trying to save some $ will probably benefit from this.
I went to the last UConn BFA. Met a couple BYers there. That was nice.
If you are going, I recommend booking something on Paradise Island itself. The whole think is 2 miles long, and Atlantis is centered, so it's all walkable. Not sure about Ubering.
There are 3 parts to Nassua - Paradise Island, which is virtually all tourists and tourism workers, the very north strip of the main island, where the cruise ships dock, which, again, is mostly tourists and tourism workers, and then the rest of the island.
I saved a bunch of money booking what looked like a nice place at the very south of the island and renting a car.
I'll make this short - I could write a small book on our time there. Driving is dangerous - lots of speeders, different side of the road, disregard for traffic controls. Outside of the tourist areas, it is not safe. In the area in which we stayed, virtually all houses had 6-8' walls around them, dogs, which barked all night, and bars on the windows. My daughter was followed walking around the beach and had to come back to the rental. There is trash everywhere. The nearby dominos pizza had a buzzed entrance and an armed guard on duty at all times. We got 2 flat tires at the same time at one point (my fault), and we were waiting for the rental car guy, which was dicey as ____, because it wasn't clear anybody was working at Hertz after 5 pm, everybody's on island time, and so on. It was getting dark. A local couple driving an Escalade stopped and virtually insisted that we allow them to drop us off - they lived next to where we were renting. I said we'd just wait for the rental guy. They implored us, saying it was not safe. Everybody else went, I stayed with the car (my transport to the next game - was not leaving it).
The power went out. Outside of the tourist area, the locals were 50% friendly and smiling, 40% ignoring us, and 10% negative. I tried to buy some fish on the docks, at one point, and I said hello to two guys just standing there, and one aggressively said to me, "was I ------ talkin' to you?" Turned around and walked right back to the safety of the tourist area. At the time we went, there had just been a sensationalized police shooting in the U.S. (white cop, black perp), and they had just issued a warning in Bahamas to be cautious if you travelled to the U.S., so maybe that was on his mind. My daughter and I walked into a local bar. Two bartenders, two patrons. After being seated for 3 minutes at the bar and being completely ignored by both bartenders, I asked, "are you open?" Yes, yes, what you want? Very unfriendly, and clearly we weren't welcome.
If you rent a car, at least last time, there is only one parking garage on Paradise Island, and it wasn't always open and/or attended. Signage is bad.
The beaches on Paradise Island's north side are nice. The beaches on the main island are . . . meh. Okay. When we went to the beaches on Paradise Island, the corporations that owned the hotels were trying to ban all locals from the beaches. Because we weren't in one of the resorts, we had to park in a cramped lot that fenced off and walk to the beach. Last I heard the intention was to get rid of that, so that only folks in the resort could use the beach.
In short, whatever money I saved getting a place on the main island was not even close to being worth it.
If I can get a place on Paradise Island outside of the resort, I'll likely go, notwithstanding that it's a small place and you're pretty much going for the beach and the tournament. Everything else I saw was an overpriced tourist trap, which is a shame.
Every other place I've travelled I've had very good luck experiencing the culture, making acquaintances, and such.
Finally, we ordered our tickets online and through the phone and getting them at the resort before game time was . . . a massive PITA. Nothing well marked, everything disordered. Get to the front of the line, and they can't find our tickets. It all worked out, but I'm hoping that they have gotten some of the bugs worked out. QR codes on smart phones or something. [EDIT - just went to the website - what a mess, no dates, no links . . . nobody picks up the phone. LOL. Nothing has appeared to change].
Good luck, and see you there.
