The $ 3.5 billion Baha Mar project in Nassau has been long overdue, but will eventually include multiple luxury hotels, as well as a mega casino and a private island, rivaling Atlantis as the top gaming and entertainment destination in the Bahamas. . With new owners slated to take over the project in 2017, Baha Mar can finally go from fantasy to reality after more than a decade of broken promises and controversies.
Baha Mar will have 4 hotels and a huge casino in Cable Beach
The huge new tourist destination is being built on 1,000 acres in Nassau’s legendary but somewhat faded Cable Beach (Nassau) area. The project, billed as the largest tourist destination in the Caribbean, will include the 1,000-room Baha Mar Casino & Hotel, the 700-room Grand Hyatt in Baha Mar, the 300-room SLS LUX and the 200-room Rosewood. in Baha Mar. The resort will have approximately 2,200 rooms, 284 private residences, a 100,000-square-foot casino, a 200,000-square-foot convention center, a 30,000-square-foot ESPA destination spa, and the Golf Course Tournament Players Club. Baha Mar golf, designed by Jack Nicklaus.
Other promised offerings include an on-site animal encounter program and a private island that can be reached by a 15-minute boat ride.
The casino will be the largest in the Caribbean, dwarfing even the gigantic gaming space of Atlantis. The closest neighbor to the resort is the all-inclusive Breezes Bahamas, which currently has a virtual monopoly on the east end of Cable Beach.
West of Baha Mar sits the Wyndham Nassau Resort, Melia Nassau Beach, and Blue Water Resort on Cable Beach. The Baha Mar resort is about a 15-20 minute drive west of downtown Nassau, and about half a mile from its future archrival, the nearly as sprawling and ambitious (and much more established) Atlantis Paradise Island development. Supporting the Baha Mar project is a new highway system connecting Nassau’s Lynden Pindling International Airport to the Cable Beach area; The airport is just a 12-minute drive from the complex.
Atlantis Aquaventure water park, a big difference
By comparison, the Atlantis has about 3,800 rooms in total, including the iconic Royal Towers, the 600-suite Cove Atlantis, the 497-room Reef Atlantis, the Beach and Coral towers, and the Harborside Resort. Until Baha Mar opens, the Atlantis can still boast of having the largest casino in the Caribbean, and it also trumps the Baha Mar in at least two ways: It has an exclusive marina and a 141-acre water park hailed as one of the the best of the world. Not to mention, it’s actually open for business.
Like the Atlantis, the Baha Mar distorts luxury, especially at the Rosewood and SLS properties. Baha Mar’s construction is reportedly 97 percent complete, but was halted due to financial problems in 2016. The new owners, Chow Tai Fook Enterprises, owner of the Rosewood hotel chain, promise to put the finishing touches on the project and finally change course. Doors open in April 2017, but we’ve heard that kind of prediction many, many times before, so stay tuned.
Will Baha Mar really open? There is already too much money invested in the project, and it is too close to completion, to believe otherwise. Assuming Caribbean travelers can start booking rooms in 2017, Baha Mar will have the upper hand over Atlantis as the newest game in town, and the partnership with Hyatt resorts will likely provide a boost for frequent travelers. It will be exciting to see the new casino, as well as the promised private island experience. And Cable Beach retains its classic charm – we’d give Baha Mar the beach edge over rival Paradise Island.
But don’t bet against Atlantis, which has cleverly aligned itself with the Marriott Autograph Collection and will continue to appeal to family travelers with its water park, animal encounter programs and “lost world” theme. However, like everyone else, we can’t wait to finally get a chance to walk the gardens and explore the halls of the new Baha Mar resorts so we can make a real comparison between what could become the top two mega resorts. del Caribe, located less than half an hour from each other in Nassau, easily accessible.
