1 Night in AC, help picking hotel?
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9 members have voted
August 11th, 2015 at 11:32:13 AM
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I'll be doing a big family trip to the Jersey Shore the last week of August. Have the chance to do an overnight with just the hubby and leave the kids with their grandparents. I was only going to go ahead and book if the prices came down to a reasonable (to me) level. Here are the two main choices I'm considering plus the Water Club thrown in. I wasn't planning on spending that much but I'd like to have a nice experience so I'm willing to consider the extra $50 over a regular Borgata room.
This would be our first time staying in AC and checking things out. We don't have to stay overnight, I'd just like to get away from the kids for a night. My husband would rather hang out with the kids and not spend what we don't need to. I've been with the kids 24/7 this summer and I'm burned out. :/ I might just go alone if he doesn't want to come with, haha.
This would be our first time staying in AC and checking things out. We don't have to stay overnight, I'd just like to get away from the kids for a night. My husband would rather hang out with the kids and not spend what we don't need to. I've been with the kids 24/7 this summer and I'm burned out. :/ I might just go alone if he doesn't want to come with, haha.
August 11th, 2015 at 12:16:22 PM
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First time to AC? Note that Borgata, Harrah's and Golden Nugget are in the marina district. IE away from the boardwalk and ocean.
If you're bringing the kids, go with Trump, or any of the boardwalk casinos. There's nothing for kids to do in a casino, so at least they'll have the boardwalk and ocean.
Just the two of you? Borgata. Or WC. For pretty much the same reasons: if you're not bringing the kids, then you probably don't want to be bothered with other people's kids, who will probably be on the boardwalk.
If you're bringing the kids, go with Trump, or any of the boardwalk casinos. There's nothing for kids to do in a casino, so at least they'll have the boardwalk and ocean.
Just the two of you? Borgata. Or WC. For pretty much the same reasons: if you're not bringing the kids, then you probably don't want to be bothered with other people's kids, who will probably be on the boardwalk.
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August 11th, 2015 at 2:35:12 PM
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Checking things out has to include the Boardwalk and you'll have to drive there from the B. Just park at any casino and walk around. There will be a fee if you don't have a higher tier card but you should get one free transfer upon check in at your place of choice.
You can walk the paths between the three Marina District casinos. It's a little hike for some. My wife and I like to walk/jog/run and do those paths often. There's probably not time for both with a short stay so I would choose the Boardwalk.
We've stayed at every property and would rank the B as the best although we've never stayed at the Water Club. We are not fussy and have no problem staying at any of the casinos. It's been Resorts for the past several visits and we may be there the weekend that you're considering. The old girl's a little tired but always does right by us.
You can walk the paths between the three Marina District casinos. It's a little hike for some. My wife and I like to walk/jog/run and do those paths often. There's probably not time for both with a short stay so I would choose the Boardwalk.
We've stayed at every property and would rank the B as the best although we've never stayed at the Water Club. We are not fussy and have no problem staying at any of the casinos. It's been Resorts for the past several visits and we may be there the weekend that you're considering. The old girl's a little tired but always does right by us.
Many people, especially ignorant people, want to punish you for speaking the truth. - Mahatma Ghandi
August 11th, 2015 at 4:15:06 PM
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If you're already going to get your fix of the beach / shore with the family and just want the best atmosphere for the getaway without the kids-- go with Borgata or Water Club.
August 11th, 2015 at 11:44:59 PM
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Water Club is tremendously overrated. The Borgata rooms were renovated much more recently than the WC rooms. Borgata rooms have nicer furniture, a much nicer TV, and nicer bathrooms. I would say the beds are about equal. I like the pillows at Borgata better.
The only advantage the Water Club has over the Borgata is a much, much, much nicer pool. The Borgata pool is completely disgusting and unusable. The Water Club pools are gorgeous and clean.
But if you go at off-peak times, you can just wave your Borgata room key at the WC pool lady and she will let you in without checking on her computer. Saturday at 11 am, maybe not so much.
The Water Club also has an air conditioning issue on hot days. The AC in the Borgata tower is a lot stronger.
Stay at Borgata unless the pool is very important to you.
The only advantage the Water Club has over the Borgata is a much, much, much nicer pool. The Borgata pool is completely disgusting and unusable. The Water Club pools are gorgeous and clean.
But if you go at off-peak times, you can just wave your Borgata room key at the WC pool lady and she will let you in without checking on her computer. Saturday at 11 am, maybe not so much.
The Water Club also has an air conditioning issue on hot days. The AC in the Borgata tower is a lot stronger.
Stay at Borgata unless the pool is very important to you.
August 12th, 2015 at 1:05:51 AM
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Quote: sodawaterWater Club is tremendously overrated. The Borgata rooms were renovated much more recently than the WC rooms. Borgata rooms have nicer furniture, a much nicer TV, and nicer bathrooms. I would say the beds are about equal. I like the pillows at Borgata better.
The only advantage the Water Club has over the Borgata is a much, much, much nicer pool. The Borgata pool is completely disgusting and unusable. The Water Club pools are gorgeous and clean.
But if you go at off-peak times, you can just wave your Borgata room key at the WC pool lady and she will let you in without checking on her computer. Saturday at 11 am, maybe not so much.
The Water Club also has an air conditioning issue on hot days. The AC in the Borgata tower is a lot stronger.
Stay at Borgata unless the pool is very important to you.
On a recent stay, I saw no fewer than 10 sleeping homeless men (and women) with sneakers off, winter jackets and backpacks around the two hot tub areas, near the plants. Who wants to see that at the Borgata pool?!
Chereya, I recommend Revel. It's a nice and real quiet property.
August 12th, 2015 at 8:25:14 AM
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Bally's has a tremendously underrated pool/health club area. I believe it costs to get in, but you get in for free with a Seven Stars card (and a discount for Diamond).
"Dice, verily, are armed with goads and driving-hooks, deceiving and tormenting, causing grievous woe." -Rig Veda 10.34.4
January 9th, 2016 at 9:36:38 PM
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I didn't do a very good job of returning to the forum to update on my 1 nighter to AC. Sorry about that! In fact, I had neglected to finish my own blog review until this week and it's been 4 months. We did end up getting a room at the Borgata. Here's the link to my blog review where the pics are at. Text only below.
My Borgata Review
My husband and I splurged on a date night to Atlantic City and stayed at the Borgata on the advice of some very helpful members of the Wizard of Vegas forums. :) We had been to Atlantic City once before for a couple of hours but it was so long ago that this was basically a 1st trip for us.
I had managed to book a standard room at the Borgata few weeks prior to our arrival. It wasn't the best price I'd seen but for $169 it was also not the worst. August is still a high tourist season and we stayed on a weeknight so this is pretty much as low as it was going to get with such short notice. Taxes and such brought the total to $192.
We drove up from Stone Harbor where we were on a week long extended family & friends vacation in a beach house rental. It was really nice to get away from the kids and house-mates for the night and spend some time together taking in the atmosphere of the AC Boardwalk. It was about a 45 minute drive and we used GPS to head straight to the parking garage in our rental car. Parking is a flat $5 upon every exit! I tucked that bit of information away for later.
We checked in around 5pm. There was a short line and the wait was about 5 minutes. The check in process was not what I was used to compared to Las Vegas checking in! I'm used to having a genuine friendly interaction checking in at Vegas; here, the prevailing attitude is that the employee is at work today to do Me a favor. I asked if there were any complimentary room upgrades available and was told no. Ok, no problem. How much would the cost be to upgrade? This is when things got weird for me. The clerk spent 5 minutes typing then told me, she didn't know and I would have to talk to central reservation. Uh ok. She called on her desk phone and handed it to me once she explained that I wanted to know the cost for a room upgrade. I needed to verify my name and address before she could quote me an upgrade fee? It was all for naught as the "upgrade fee" was the difference between my room cost and the current rack rate for the evening. Right. No thank you.
It was just as well that the room upgrade didn't happen as our standard King room turned out to be quite lovely! I was pleased with the cleanliness and décor choices of both our room and the hotel. Everything seems fairly new and in very good condition.
The bathroom was good sized and came stocked with upscale toiletries from "lather". I quite liked the oatmeal bath soap which had a citrus scent. One thing to note is that there is no tub accommodation - only a large shower. So if you were hoping for a nice relaxing soak, you're out of luck.
Our one night was spent out on the Boardwalk taking in the night air and atmosphere and we didn't spend a lot of time in our room. The bed and pillows were comfortable and the sheets were quite nice. Sheet sets are available as a point reward on the MyVegas casino Facebook/mobile game if this is something you'd like for use at home. I'd like to note that The Borgata became a MyVegas reward partner after my stay happened. At the time of this writing, there are discounted $89 rooms available as a MyVegas reward for 5000 loyalty points and if you are lucky they will bring back free rooms for 50,000 loyalty points. Discounted and free rooms are for Sunday through Thursday stays only and not available to be used on weekend (Fri-Sat) nights.
My Borgata Review
My husband and I splurged on a date night to Atlantic City and stayed at the Borgata on the advice of some very helpful members of the Wizard of Vegas forums. :) We had been to Atlantic City once before for a couple of hours but it was so long ago that this was basically a 1st trip for us.
I had managed to book a standard room at the Borgata few weeks prior to our arrival. It wasn't the best price I'd seen but for $169 it was also not the worst. August is still a high tourist season and we stayed on a weeknight so this is pretty much as low as it was going to get with such short notice. Taxes and such brought the total to $192.
We drove up from Stone Harbor where we were on a week long extended family & friends vacation in a beach house rental. It was really nice to get away from the kids and house-mates for the night and spend some time together taking in the atmosphere of the AC Boardwalk. It was about a 45 minute drive and we used GPS to head straight to the parking garage in our rental car. Parking is a flat $5 upon every exit! I tucked that bit of information away for later.
We checked in around 5pm. There was a short line and the wait was about 5 minutes. The check in process was not what I was used to compared to Las Vegas checking in! I'm used to having a genuine friendly interaction checking in at Vegas; here, the prevailing attitude is that the employee is at work today to do Me a favor. I asked if there were any complimentary room upgrades available and was told no. Ok, no problem. How much would the cost be to upgrade? This is when things got weird for me. The clerk spent 5 minutes typing then told me, she didn't know and I would have to talk to central reservation. Uh ok. She called on her desk phone and handed it to me once she explained that I wanted to know the cost for a room upgrade. I needed to verify my name and address before she could quote me an upgrade fee? It was all for naught as the "upgrade fee" was the difference between my room cost and the current rack rate for the evening. Right. No thank you.
It was just as well that the room upgrade didn't happen as our standard King room turned out to be quite lovely! I was pleased with the cleanliness and décor choices of both our room and the hotel. Everything seems fairly new and in very good condition.
The bathroom was good sized and came stocked with upscale toiletries from "lather". I quite liked the oatmeal bath soap which had a citrus scent. One thing to note is that there is no tub accommodation - only a large shower. So if you were hoping for a nice relaxing soak, you're out of luck.
Our one night was spent out on the Boardwalk taking in the night air and atmosphere and we didn't spend a lot of time in our room. The bed and pillows were comfortable and the sheets were quite nice. Sheet sets are available as a point reward on the MyVegas casino Facebook/mobile game if this is something you'd like for use at home. I'd like to note that The Borgata became a MyVegas reward partner after my stay happened. At the time of this writing, there are discounted $89 rooms available as a MyVegas reward for 5000 loyalty points and if you are lucky they will bring back free rooms for 50,000 loyalty points. Discounted and free rooms are for Sunday through Thursday stays only and not available to be used on weekend (Fri-Sat) nights.
January 10th, 2016 at 5:05:57 PM
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You may want to check if Revel is open with it's waterpark. Seriously, if it's just you and your husband stay at Borgata. If with the kids the Boardwalk.
January 15th, 2016 at 12:26:13 PM
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Quote: IntheknowYou may want to check if Revel is open with it's waterpark. Seriously, if it's just you and your husband stay at Borgata. If with the kids the Boardwalk.
I don't know poster personalities around here very well so I can't tell when people are "joking" with me... :) Hasn't Revel been defunct for some time now? You're the 2nd poster to mention it. I Googled but didn't see any new news about what is going on with Revel since April 2015?
Co-incidentally, we'll be back at the Jersey Shore again this August for 2016 (not my favorite way to spend time/money on a family vacation but the kids enjoyed it and it is good for them to bond with the in-laws). I managed to snag the free MyVegas Borgata room reward so we'll use that to stay there again for a night.
January 15th, 2016 at 12:56:37 PM
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Quote: ChereyaI don't know poster personalities around here very well so I can't tell when people are "joking" with me... :) Hasn't Revel been defunct for some time now? You're the 2nd poster to mention it.
Yes...they are being sarcastic...Revel has been closed since Sept 2014.
chauncey is an AC expert...and he is of course correct about Revel being real quiet.
January 16th, 2016 at 10:33:38 AM
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Anyone who is planning a trip to Atlantic City and has questions should visit this site.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum-g29750-i78-Atlantic_City_New_Jersey.html
They can answer all your questions.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum-g29750-i78-Atlantic_City_New_Jersey.html
They can answer all your questions.
January 16th, 2016 at 2:20:03 PM
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Lets not forget this site as well.
http://catcountry1073.com/atlantic-city-named-most-dangerous-city-in-new-jersey/?trackback=fbshare
http://catcountry1073.com/atlantic-city-named-most-dangerous-city-in-new-jersey/?trackback=fbshare
January 16th, 2016 at 2:38:15 PM
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The Revel comments likely referred to Glenn Straub finally progressing in getting the place together. Her purchased the disputed power plant and once he gets branding together he can conceivably reopen the very beautiful property
Remember the Clubs and the restaurants were making plenty of money. It was the casino mismanagement and the debt(now gone) that bringing the place down.
Remember the Clubs and the restaurants were making plenty of money. It was the casino mismanagement and the debt(now gone) that bringing the place down.
