1) does anyone know when ticket info is released? approximately? Cuse seems to be doing such this week - 20 minutes!
2) are there hotel deals? usually not for an event like this. you could try just booking directly with Atlantis without the tournament packages, but it is also Thanksgiving week and they will not be hurting for business. If I recall correctly, the last time we played at Atlantis, they had a near 100% occupancy rate that week.
3) do you purchase from the school? I do not know. I did not last time, but I do not live in CT, so I was not looking for packages from the local airports.
4) any suggestions on where to stay or eat? - The best place to stay is at Atlantis. Always great seeing the teams at the pool, in the Casino, coaches walking around the hotel, etc., but it is pricey. You can stay at other hotels on Paradise Island or in Nassau and just come over for games if that is all you are interested in. If you do that and want to use the Atlantis pools and stuff, I think you can pay a day rate. In that case, you can choose to do the Atlantis activities for a single day, and save a little money that can be put towards other out of resort activities. We ate almost exclusively at the Atlantis restaurants last time, but there are other hotels and restaurants on Paradise Island that are probably cheaper. But if you figure in a cab ride to get to a lot of the different places (especially into Nassau), that will likely offset the savings.
5) how much are dinner entrees? are they $ 35 $ 50 or really crazy like $ 75. I won't mind $35, can tolerate $ 50 but people are beginning to scare me with talk about $ 200+ per couple per night - food is resort-expensive. There are places that will be $75/entrée such as Nobu, the steakhouse, Bobby Flay's, and a few other Gourmet places. There are cheaper places at the resort, like a pizza place, Johnny Rockets, BBQ, etc that are less, but still more than your average home-neighborhood prices. See my comments above about going off-resort.
6) how expensive are the drinks? - drinks are resort-expensive. its a higher end Caribbean resort and drink prices reflect that. You can drink beer, some well drinks (non-tropical), and some rum drinks for a little cheaper, but if you have ever been on vacation, you should know that the frozen drinks are going to be expensive.
7) any advice appreciated - we booked pretty low end rooms last time because it was a family trip. We did not do the lowest possible, but maybe one step up. You are not the newer part of the hotel that makes all the brochures, but the rooms were adequate, especially with my nieces and nephew who were younger, did not know the difference, and can be loud and destructive (to an extent). My son, that is now a teenager would like to stay in the newer part this year, but we are still discussing whether it is worth it. The overall trip is expensive enough without trying to shoot for the more luxurious accommodations, especially since we are already doing an anniversary trip this summer without child. Good news is that the cheaper rooms are closer to the basketball venue. Bad news is that the rooms are farther from the nice part of the beach and the water activities. If it's just adults, or you are celebrating something, and looking for luxury or a once-in-a-lifetime trip, the rooms in the newer part are nice, but significantly more $$$.
