Second Atlantic City visit

Just got back from a 4 day road trip (6 hours from Richmond VA) to AC. Stayed at the Ocean Casino at the end of the boardwalk. Nice hotel and excellent staff.

Everyone was wearing masks and staying 6ft from each other. Max 4 to an elevator. Casino was pretty empty most of the day and with everything closing at 10pm the casino floor was also fairly empty. Felt totally safe.

Slots were fairly decent. Although I did not win any great amounts I rode some winning streaks to make sure my dollars went a longer time. A guy on one machine next to me (two machines over) won $17,000 + playing on the Dancing Drums machine with an $0.88 spin. He was beside himself as you can imagine. I gave him an arm bump but his luck did not rub off on me.

Due to the bars not being open I do accept I lost more money than normal. Most of my trips involve slot play until 8pm or 9pm then I go into the bar and play VP to get the free drinks. I usually end up back in the room around 12 - 1am and only losing a hundred (or winning some times). Not having the bar and VP option means I spent more time on slots trying to chase my loses.....Duh...dumbass....LOL.

Spent time at Resorts, Hard Rock, Caesars, Tropicana and Borgata. Security in all casinos was tight for mask wearing and ensuring everyone was safe. Cleaning crews in each of the hotels were spot on. Once a player moved from a slot a crew member would clean the machine. The only issue we had was the drink servers. Most have been let go for now due to Covid so you are chasing around looking for the servers.

Bottom line it was a safe trip to take the wife (as she will not fly in todays climate). She enjoyed herself and I had a relaxing time so I get the brownie points. Now ask if I enjoyed myself and the answer would be not really.

My idea of enjoyment for casinos is to be at a safe and secure hotel, nice "comp" room, warm climate outside, plenty of different themed casinos to choose from, bars open and smoking allowed (in certain areas) and places to visit away from the casinos for day trips.....does anyone know a place like this????

Keep safe

Terry

No such place exists right now, and probably won't for several months.

The choice is between having a crappy and overpriced casino experience or not gambling at all until the pandemic is over. The latter option is certainly cheaper.

Beau Rivage in Biloxi MS.  Their 'nice' bar is closed, but there is a VP bar that kind of divides the casino.  Covid-19 security very good.  Plenty of eateries with full beer/wine/cocktails.  Check out the website if interested.  BR is an MGM place, for comps.  Hard Rock is next door.  As far as I know still a Hard Rock.  A trolley-like shuttle goes around to all the casinos, inexpensive.  Biloxi is an interesting town, some people do a day trip to New Orleans.  Can't remember if they still allow smoking but I think so.  They have a new sports book with dining, VP machines, again check out the web site.  Regular rooms are very nice.

 Sorry you didn't get major enjoyment from your recent trip, but as they say, "happy wife, happy life".  If interested in Beau Rivage you can fly into Gulfport and rent a car to get to the casino.   Good luck wherever you go.

Candy 

Thanks for the trip report. Our favorite slot the last few trips last year was Dancing Drums, a lot of fun and my wife hit the jackpot just below the Grand for $1300 on .88.

To add to Candy's post, yes the Beau allows smoking.  And the Hard Rock is indeed still the Hard Rock.  Biloxi is a nice ocean front town - in fact, the entire Mississippi coast is cool.  Ocean Springs, immediately east of Biloxi, has "hip" downtown - and if you think "hip" is old-school, well, you should just experience Ocean Springs. 

Thanks for TR, cool info.

Thanks for all the positive comments.

Candy --- I did check out Biloxi but I've heard some bad stories about that place from friends especially after the recent storms they had. I will however look into this area a bit harder to see how it feels now. It appears I do not get comped rooms there even being an MGM member. Oh well it is still worth looking at.

They have close calls a lot (Jim Cantore shows up a lot...almost a joke among the employees), and recently they did close the Beau for a day and a half or so due to the forecast.   I'm sure it was a bummer for anyone having to vacate.  I'm going there tomorrow, so I can report with an update.  Golden Nugget is on a Vegas scale, Scarlet Pearl, and of course Hard Rock which people do like a lot.  Harrah's Gulf Coast casino is tiny, don't particularly recommend that one.  Lots of smaller more homey places.  I think Palace (no hotel?) is a non-smoking casino, so you'd want to avoid that one.  Island View is said to have the "best" gambling.   

It's a bit contradictory, but I tend to visit casino areas based on what's nearby, not the gambling itself. Vegas has absolutely nothing of interest within 100 miles (once you've visited Hoover Damn), while Tahoe has so much to see and do, it's almost criminal to spend any time inside in a smoky casino at all. Atlantic City is a giant dilapidated ghetto surrounding a few blocks of casinos, but at least there's the ocean.

I've found Gulfport/Biloxi to be in the category of "lots to see and do." There's the Gulf itself, of course, and the beaches. Then there's the local history. I'm not big on plantations and such (since all those elegant old buildings were built by slave labor), but there's lots of Civil War stuff nearby. I drove about an hour and took the boat excursion out to the old Confederate fort in Mobile Harbor. Then I went bird watching on the Redneck Riviera. Thanks to the Gulf breezes, it's tolerable there when it's sweltering inland. Cajun Country is within reach, too.

And let's not forget the food...good God...combine southern/Cajun and fresh seafood...eat eat eat eat eat (burp) eat eat eat eat eat. No wonder everyone down there weighs 400 pounds and moves realllll slowly. If you ever attend a crawfish boil, and there's some good music playing, you just might set fire to your return plane ticket.

Palace does have a hotel, which like the casino is non-smoking.  Drinks are comped in MS casinos, as they are in Vegas.  More and more states have moved away from comping drinks to gamblers.