In contrast to last summer's cross-country road trip (which you've hopefully already read about here or else you're in for a treat), I've been mostly busy building my travel business. The only vacation I've taken was a three-day, two-night trip to Atlantic City. I was accompany by a guy we'll call "Ben", a good friend of mine who happens to be a BHM. Since our vacation was short, we decided to splurge a bit and chose the upscale Caesars Atlantic City hotel. While I rarely wager much in casinos, I knew that I would be gambling more than usual as I wanted to try my hand at some table games. For Ben, gambling was his primary motivation for the trip.
As we exited off of the Atlantic City Expressway, I was pleased to see the new developments on The Walk. This collection of outlet centers was just opening when I visited several years ago and their expansion made for a nice introduction into the city. Ladies of Size may appreciate some of the offerings at Ashley Stewart.
There were only two people ahead of us as we walked into Caesars at 7:30pm and we were eager to check into the non-smoking mid-level Luxury room we had reserved. I cheerfully inquired to our agent about the possibility of being placed in the Centurion Tower which, according to many accounts I had read about, was supposed to be the “best” tower.
Unfortunately, we found out that not only were all the Luxury rooms sold out but that we were going to be assigned a smoking standard Deluxe room in the least desirable Temple Tower. Needless to say, we were disappointed although, from experiences in Vegas, I knew that casinos don't guarantee room preferences.When we declined the offer, the agent hinted that we might be transferred to a sister hotel. Being unamused by that prospect as well, we asked the agent if we could speak to her manager. She disappeared for a few minutes and returned with the news of a “magically” discovered non-smoking room in the Temple Tower at a fair discount.
Ben and I approached the room with a bit of trepidation but it turned out to be nicer than we thought it would be. Being accustomed to the basic amenities in Vegas Strip casino hotel rooms, we were pleasantly surprised to see not only a refrigerator and coffeemaker (not that we were coffee drinkers) but also a flat screen with three times as many channels as one would normally find in the desert. The alarm clock with the iPod dock was a nice touch too. Night Owl Ben really appreciated waking up to my tunes at 8 in the morning! The coffeemaker was on a round table stuffed in the corner with two fabric chairs with low arms. My rather burly friend found it difficult to sit in those chairs but the armless wooden chair at the business desk accommodated him just fine. The bathroom was nice enough with an ample tiled shower - no tub – soft towels and decent soap and shampoo. We both found our beds to be rather comfortable. The only thing we didn’t like about the room was the “view” which consisted of a frosted window hiding a window to nowhere.
The casino was slightly confusing to navigate but we considered ourselves “veterans” by the morning we left. The two levels of gambling was an interesting twist. As non-smokers, we also appreciate the ample spacing between the smoking areas. Although we didn’t play any table games here, we enjoyed losing our slot money slowly. Like most casinos, there is a considerable amount of walking to do. There are plenty of escalators between the gambling floors as well as one elevator. I also noted a number of rented scooters in use although I did not spot any particularly larger persons using them. However, just like Vegas, I would predict that larger-size scooters would be made available with some pre-planning.
We found our food experience at Caesars to be just okay. Café Roma was decent for the typical premium-priced casino coffee shop. We went to La Piazza Buffet as a last resort one morning and the selection and taste was underwhelming. That said, I did like the ambiance at both places. There were plenty of armless chairs at each establishment as well. On a future trip, I intend to try one of the more upscale restaurants on the property or across the way at the Pier at Caesars, where the Ocean One Mall once stood. Finer dining was a non-starter for gambling-focused Ben.
The one thing I appreciated the most about Caesars was the service. In particular, when we were looking for a certain slot machine, a security person not only approached us to help but also walked us over too it. She ended the interaction by saying “Thank you for coming to Caesars!” In fact, virtually every person we encountered from the valets to housekeeping to casino staff was friendly. Even the front desk agent person we dealt with was reasonably courteous and professional. The one slight exception was a Café Roma server we dealt with one night who was slow and didn’t look particularly happy. Generally speaking, it seems that staff has received the message that customer service is more important than ever these days considering the current economy and rising competition.
Next: We venture out of Caesars...
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