USA Girl

Wednesday, October 12, 2005 Posted: 1656 GMT (0056 HKT)

【(CNN) -- For those looking for an unforgettably opulent -- not to mention

unforgettably expensive -- holiday experience, a night in the Bridge Suite

at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas is the thing for you. 】


Located on the appropriately-named Paradise Island, and owned by

South-African entrepreneur Sol Kerzner -- the man behind Sun City --

the $450 million, 600-acre resort is a wonderland of sumptuous, over-the-top

hedonism, with the Bridge Suite the jewel in its crown.


So-called because it occupies a bridge between the resort's two main

buildings -- the 23-story Royal Towers -- the suite is not only the most

extravagantly luxurious of its kind in the world, but also, at $25,000 per

night, by some distance the most expensive.



Guests, not surprisingly, tend to be limited to the ranks of the world's

super-rich. Michael Jackson, Oprah Winfrey, Celine Dion and Michael Jordan

have all stayed in the suite, as have Bill Gates and Donald Trump, although

it is most frequently occupied either by Saudi sheikhs or high-rolling

businessmen in town to try their luck at the resort's casino, the largest

in the Caribbean.


As you would expect for $25,000 per night, The Bridge provides its guests

with an unrivalled degree of designer luxury and customer care.

Decorated in extravagant shades of red, gold and black, and with enough

gilt fittings to fill a small palace, its 12 ft (3.6 meter) high

floor-to-ceiling windows offer breath-taking views over the Atlantis-themed

resort below and out across the Caribbean


Its 10 rooms include a 50 x 25 ft (15 x 7.6 meter) living room, complete

with grand piano, two entertainment centers and an 800 square foot

(244 square meter) balcony; a dining room with a 22-karat gold chandelier

and custom-designed 10-seater table; and a kitchen with its own private

entrance so the suite's seven dedicated staff -- including butlers, cooks

and maids -- can come and go without disturbing its guests.


The King Bedroom boasts his-and-her marble bathrooms, a four posted bed

covered in hand-painted linens, a private lounge and a walk-in dressing

area. The Queen bedroom, although smaller, is no less spectacular, with

custom-made draperies and carpets, designer furniture and wardrobes that,

according to one journalist, are so big "you could drive a car into them."



Given its size and magnificence those who rent the suite could be forgiven

for not actually stepping outside it for the duration of their stay.



Should they wish to do so, however, they have all the resort's other

facilities available to them as well, including 11 swimming pools, 35

restaurants, an 18-hole golf course and a patchwork of lagoons, waterslides,

cascades and Mayan ruins designed to re-create the mythical lost continent

of Atlantis.


For those who can't quite stretch to the $25,000 nightly charge, rooms

elsewhere in the resort rent for a slightly more manageable $150

(low season).


You might not get the butlers, marble bathrooms and grand piano, but at

least you'll get the chance to gaze up at 'the bridge' and dream.