a quick Biloxi trip

Linda (wife) and I just got back from a very quick trip to Biloxi. This was a two-night air package to the Beau Rivage out of Clearwater/St. Pete airport, for $199 pp. Lots of fun, but only gives you a late afternoon, evening and whole day. We made the best of it. Didn't play at the Beau very much; it's a gorgeous hotel but we like the IP (we're Boyd people anyway) and Boomtown, on the Back Bay, better. Fortunately, Boomtown still has their free shuttle, and we used it plenty. They actually have a welcome center (no longer manned) and big sign right across from the Beau, where everyone with a north-facing room has a view of it. Clever marketing.

Anyway, we got in Thursday, easy flight and transfer, and our room was ready. Got settled and took the shuttle to Boomtown, had a little fun there. Linda played a lot of blackjack and did fairly well ($10 DD, H17, DAS, about 1.3 deck pen). I played some 7/5 Aces and Faces, got a premium quad and wound up ahead, then won another $10 on some freeplay that I got from a kiosk game ("Cow Tipping," but there was really no tipping involved, just picking one of six cows [some could have been steers, couldn't tell from the angle at which they were presented]). Linda stayed at Boomtown and I walked over to the IP, played a lot of dollar 9/6 JoB and made a few bucks, also did the "Play Ball" kiosk game (again, no playing involved, just picking one of six balls [not the kind off the steers]) and made another $40. I also played some Illinois Deuces (got dealt three deuces with AQ suited, so no adventuring there).



Walked back to Boomtown and we ate at the buffet. Fairly good and reliable, kind of reminded me of a Stations buffet in Vegas, with more Gulf Coast influence and less Mexican influence. I also like a buffet that spells Tartar sauce with two capital T's.



Took the shuttle back to the Beau and got some sleep.


Got up early on Friday, there was an 8/5 JoB progressive at one of the bars, royal up to $1700, played that with my coffee, got a quad so I wound up ahead. Linda woke up, and we walked over to McElroy's, a local seafood joint next to the commercial fishing harbor behind the Hard Rock. Nice place, really packed for lunch. I had a tasty seafood gumbo (not New Orleans, but pure coastal Mississippi) and crawfish etoufee; Linda had a po boy, half shrimp and half oyster.





We had thought about going to the Ole Biloxi Schooner, but a few locals said that it's really gone downhill since the new management; they suggested either McElroy's or The Filling Station. Anyway, took the shuttle back to Boomtown, Linda did well at blackjack again, but I got beaten up (biggest loss for the trip), never got dealt so many stiffs in my life. And of course, the dealer drawing 8s on 13s didn't help, either. I also played Pai Gow Poker for an hour or so, nice, laid-back game ($5 at Boomtown). I was the only person at the table not playing the Fortune Bonus game, or whatever it was called; one local kept telling me that I just had to play it, since I hadn't gotten any good hands and was "due." Another guy was actually betting it for me; he didn't speak any English at all, but we kind of figured it out. After a while, we both went over to the IP and played some more VP, then Linda went to the sports bar and watched the Pens-Rangers game, while I went to the buffet (she got a comp because they screwed up her BConnected account). People have spoken well of the IP buffet lately, and it really was very good. Top-notch snow crab and crawfish, good BBQ, lots of good seafood. Never got to the New York strips, but they did look good. I played some more VP after dinner and did okay; took a cab back to the Beau because it was pouring and we didn't want to get soaked waiting for the bus. Got a bunch of flood warning alerts on the cellphone overnight, and it was still raining pretty steadily when I woke up on Saturday.

Quick turnaround on Saturday, had to catch the bus back to the airport at 8am; I played some more on those JoB progressive bartops (royal up to $1800 now), but didn't do well. Uneventful trip back to the airport and home. Overall, a quick but fun getaway. Hate to have MGM subsidize our trip so we could play better games elsewhere, but what can you do? We wound up about $170 ahead; Linda was up $185, I was down $15. Thanks for reading!

Thanks for the TR. It helps with planning my July trip. I looked into the BR junkets out of St. Pete but the single supplement was a killer.

Fun is good but winning trip is great :>).

Nice trip report. QUICK trip! but sounds like you had a little fun and ate some good food at least. You mean Tar Tar isnt' two words??? LOL No slot play in your trip?

I didn't play a lot of slots; played some Li'l Red, got one of those rare bonus rounds and actually cashed out ahead a few bucks (rare for me). Was going to play some Lobstermania, never got around to it. It was a fun trip; you should have come along, Linda.

Siwst, that Beau air package is definitely the Deal of the Day. I remember the single supplement being really high, though. Actually, I got lucky a few years ago, IP used to have air packages out of Tampa, no single supplement at all. Those were the days. I also heard that they're going to suspend the air packages, at least for the summer (also heard that the Beau was having problems with VisionAir's reliability). There's a rumor that they may start packages to Gold Strike in Tunica. We'll see.

Thanks for this report. We are doing a Beau trip June 10, three nights, but the flight out doesn't leave (Little Rock) until 6:43pm, arrives 8:03pm. The Friday flight back leaves Biloxi at 2:18pm, so basically just two full days, but free flight to any gambling mecca is a bonus.

Very much appreciate the details about the other casinos and eateries.

The flight is by "Sun Country Airlines operated by SUN." Is this the same as VisionAir?

Candy, I think three nights is a lot better than two, lots of places to play in Biloxi. I'm guessing that you're on some sort of comped air package from the Beau? VisionAir runs the charter for the packages from St. Pete/Clearwater, and I think also Orlando and/or Atlanta; maybe they have other packages out of Little Rock. The landscape apparently changes from time to time; I hear that they're dropping Vision Air, at least for a while. I've heard different rumors: getting rid of them due to poor reliability (we had no problems), also heard that they're switching over to the Gold Strike in Tunica for the summer. We'll see.

Let me know if I can tell you anything else about Biloxi, we did a lot of research before we went.

Late to this thread, but I got the word from Beau Rivage this week that the Vision Air flights from PIE (St. Pete/Clearwater) will cease completely after June 21 (last return flight June 24, I think). The reason was vague, but they said at the end of August flight packages would be available to Gold Strike - Tunica, though none from Florida. Don't know if business is that good that they don't need the Central Florida market, or that it's so bad that they can't take the cost of operating the air service and packages.

An Update: on 6/11/14 I learned that flights from PIE to Gulfport/Biloxi will resume August 12 or so, 5 days a week, but the airline will be Sun Country, not Vision Air.