Pack Your Bags - Bahamas Edition (Everything You Need To Know About Traveling To The Bahamas)

United airlines has 1 daily flight in the summer, and 2 daily flights in the winter from EWR-NAS. Its a short 3 hour flight, so great if you aren’t looking to travel for so long.

Always check Google Flights to see how much united wants in cash, because many times it can be cheaper to book with cash than use miles. However, if you want to compare your options, here is what you can do. Go to United.com, and search for an award flight from PHL-NAS, as they have many dates available with Award Space. If you find space, you can transfer chase ultimate rewards to your united account and book the flight for as low as 7.5k Miles!

If all you have is Amex miles or Capitol One miles go to Aeroplan and sign up for an account if you don’t have one already. You can sign up for an account here.

Aeroplan charges 10k miles plus $79 canadian (Approx $58 USD) to fly on United from EWR-NAS. Aeroplan miles are transferable from Amex, Chase and Capitol One all at a 1:1 Ratio.

Once you have your aeroplan account setup, search for an award flight from EWR-NAS, and your result should look something like this:

United in general is very stingy about the partner award space it releases compared to other airlines, but I personally find that in this particular route there are many dates available.

JetBlue and Delta have daily flights from JFK-NAS.

Always check Google Flights to see how much prices are in cash, because many times it can be cheaper to book with cash than use miles. However, if you want to compare your options, here is what you can do.

Go to Jetblue and sign up for an account if you don’t have one already. You can sign up for an account here.

Jetblue doesn’t have a set award price for its flights, but rather charges based on how much the flight costs. However, its always a little cheaper to use miles. Jetblue miles are transferable from Amex, Chase and Citi, but only Chase transfers at a 1:1 ratio.

Once you have your Jetblue account setup, search for an award flight from JFK-NAS, and your result should look something like this:

For Delta,  go to Delta.com and sign up for an account if you don’t have one already. You can sign up for an account here.

Delta’s miles pricing is also based on cash. However, it can be a little cheaper to use miles. Delta miles are transferable from Amex at a 1:1 ratio.

Once you have your Delta account setup, search for an award flight from JFK-NAS, and see what comes up!

American Airlines only flies directly from PHL-NAS in the winter, and they don’t have flight availability every single day. So make sure there is a flight on the day you want to return before booking the way there.

Always check Google Flights to see how much prices are in cash, because many times it can be cheaper to book with cash than use miles. However, if the cash price is looking expensive one way, here’s what you can do.

Search for Award availability on Qatar Airways since they only charge 13,000 avios for this flight. If you don’t have a Qatar account you can sign up here.

Once your account is created and you are logged in, go to the homepage and search for an award flight. See picture below:

Search PHL-NAS, select your dates, and see if any award space comes up. If it does, it should look like this:

Qatar charges 13,000 avios to fly this route, and as I’m writing this article American Airlines wants $294 for this flight! So you can definitely save money by using miles in this scenario here over cash.

Keep in mind with all of this, never transfer your points over from the Credit Card company to a mileage program before you confirmed availability.

Now that you have a way to get there, lets move on to where to stay.

There are 2 main locations where people stay when visiting the Bahamas. Baha Mar and Atlantis Paradise Island.

Baha Mar has 3 hotels, the Grand Hyatt, the SLS, & the Rosewood.

All 3 hotels include access to the Baha Bay Waterpark. Baha Bay is an all-new luxury beachfront waterpark set on 15 beachfront acres with a spectacular array of experiences.

The Grand Hyatt is the most family friendly less expensive option.

Next level up is the SLS, and the most expensive and luxurious out of the 3 is the Rosewood.

They are all relatively new hotels, the Grand Hyatt and SLS opened in 2017, and the Rosewood opened in 2018, so either way you can expect a modern, clean and updated amenities.

The only downside in my opinion to the Baha Mar resort compared to the Paradise Island Atlantis is the beach. While the resort and water park are modern, new and luxurious, the beach is smaller than Paradise Island and isn’t anything to write home about.

The Grand Hyatt Baha Mar is bookable using Hyatt points, which can be transferred from Chase Ultimate Rewards.

You can sign up for a Hyatt account here.

For example, if I wanted to stay there from November 10-14, at this time the cash price is showing $447 per night. When I click the “Use Points” option, its showing 21,000 points per night, which is worth roughly around $270, depending on how you value your points.

If you are flexible with your travel plans, you can also click points calendar on top to see how many points they want per night for the entire month.

See pics below for reference:

Atlantis Paradise Island Resort guests can enjoy the thrill of Aquaventure, a massive waterpark featuring thrilling slides, lazy rivers, and a wave pool. The resort also boasts a pristine private beach, perfect for sunbathing and swimming in the crystal-clear Caribbean waters, and multiple pools. However, the Waterpark and general grounds aren’t as modern and updated as the Baha Mar, but does have more of that tropical island feel, which is why I personally like the Atlantis better than the Baha Mar. But its really a matter of personal opinion.

Atlantis has 5 Hotels:

The Royal, The Cove, The Reef, The Coral, and Harborside.

All of them except for Harborside are in the actual Atlantis Resort except for Harborside. Harborside is across the street but has access to the Atlantis amenities including the waterpark included free with your stay. If you want to be in the action I would recommend The Royal, The Cove, The Reef or The Coral.

The Royal and Coral are the more budget friendly options than The Cove and The Reef.

The Cove is the most exclusive, offering an amazing location on the beach and an adult only pool, perfect for the luxurious traveler without kids.

The Reef offers spacious apartment-style suites with full kitchens, and is right next to the Cove right on a stunning beach.

The Royal is right in the center of things, attached to the casino and right by the waterpark. The hotel itself is older though, and not as nice as the Reef or The Cove.

The Coral is closer to the Marina, and is a walk to the beach.

The only real reason in my opinion to consider the Atlantis over the Baha Mar is the stunning secluded beach on the corner of the island, and if thats the reason you are choosing the Atlantis I would recommend the Reef if you are going with kids, or the Cove if you are traveling without kids, since those are the 2 hotels right on that stunning tropical beach.

I have personally been to the Reef, and had a great experience there, enjoying the kitchen in the suite with a fridge, microwave and counter and sink perfect for warming up those microwaved meals.

On that note, if you are looking to travel without bringing Kosher food, the Baha Mar is definitely your choice since they are the only resort in the Bahamas that offer full kosher food for Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner. We’ll get to that below.

If you are looking to stay at the Atlantis using points, Marriot is the only major program at the Atlantis. You can use Marriot points to book The Royal, The Cove or the Coral.

You can sign up for a Marriot account here.

The Reef is not bookable with Marriot.

One very important thing to note is that the Baha Mar is the only resort in the Bahamas with in house Kosher food!

They have a food truck that serves Breakfast & Lunch called Knosh, and they have a kosher restaurant that serves Dinner called Cinko Asian Latino Grill. Knosh & Cinkō are Kosher certified under the strict supervision of Chabad of The Bahamas.

Additionally, Cafe Madeleine offers a full selection of sealed to-go salad and sandwich options. Open from 7:00am to 9:00pm.

The Knosh food truck is by the beach of the Hyatt, and all dairy products are Cholov Yisroel. They are open daily for breakfast from 8am-11am. Click here for the breakfast menu.

Lunch is from 12pm-5pm, and on Friday until 3pm. Click here for the lunch menu.

Cinkō Asian Latino Grill at Baha Mar celebrates the rich culinary diversity of South America, bringing an exciting exploration of this multicultural Latin cuisine and pairing it with bold Asian flavors. They are open daily from 6pm-10pm, except Friday & Shabbos. They do have a Sit-Down Friday night Shabbos dinner service, and a Shabbos day Lunch takeaway service, and you need to reserve those by Thursday at noon. Children under 5 eat free.

Click here to see Cinko Menu.

Click here to see updated kosher information from the Chabad website.

There is no guranteed Minyan in the Bahamas, but you can reach out to Chabad Of Bahamas for minyan info to see how many people signed up. They have a Minyan Whatsapp group that you can join here.

Chabad Of Bahamas Minyan Info