New Orleans or Gulf Coast? Resort opinions

You may vote for more than one option!

So the wife and I are planning a trip on the first week of May. Looking at comps(Caesars) and travel distance(we are in SC) it appears the only really good options for a week long trip to a new destination within the Caesars family are New Orleans or the Gulf Coast hotel+casino. We would love to visit the Pompano Beach location in Florida, but they don't have a hotel portion and the hotels they are affiliated with won't comp us any free rooms, so it doesn't appear to be worth it to go. Which hotel and casino experience do you like the best for anyone that has stayed at these options?

She was born in Louisiana, so going down memory lane by staying in NOLA is a definite nod in that direction. However she's never been to the Gulf Coast area and we know there are some really cool sights to see in that area, plus we'd only be 2-3 hours from NOLA for a day trip.

In terms of gaming interests: I've been on a craps kick lately, so any low minimums, favorable rules(vig only on win, 3x on field, $1 ATS, etc) are a perk of staying at a particular hotel over the other. Crapless table for when I actually want to play lightside would be beneficial(primarily a Darkside player, but do like to take stabs at the light side sometimes.) Would love to find some of the more unusual Youtuber enticing video poker games like 3-way video poker, 6-card video poker, etc. Stuff that Cherokee does not currently have. Wife is primarily a slots player, with an eye for older weirder themed machines.

I stayed at Harrah's Gulf Coast and Harrah's New Orleans a few years ago. New Orleans had a better hotel, casino, and food options. Gulf Coast was more laid back, had lower minimums, and service was better. I would go to Biloxi if you want to relax and visit multiple casinos. If you want to visit attractions and listen to music, New Orleans. I also think theses two are less than 2 hours apart and you could easily split your time or make a trip to visit the other.

I have stayed at the other casinos in Lake Charles. The casinos are nice and the local food is great, but the city lacks other forms of entertainment.

Unfortunately I don't have specifics on Craps.

I found the Harrah's gulf coast rooms really bad. Very musty and damp. The casino is way to small as well. Location is nice as the gulf is right across the road and many other casinos in the area to gamble at.

New Orleans has recently done an upgrade and are just about done if not done. A much nicer hotel and casino.

Quote: vegas

I found the Harrah's gulf coast rooms really bad. Very musty and damp. The casino is way to small as well. Location is nice as the gulf is right across the road and many other casinos in the area to gamble at.

New Orleans has recently done an upgrade and are just about done if not done. A much nicer hotel and casino.
link to original post

The Harrahs NOLA casino has been torn up for over a year with the hotel tower addition and reconstruction. Things were not great earlier this year, but the food court is open along with a new restaurant. The casino floor was a mess with many parts shut down. Maybe things have improved in the lest few weeks.

The property will be rebranded Caesars NOLA when the hotel tower opens later this year.

Even with the construction, Harrahs NOLA is much better than Harrahs in Biloxi. Why isn't Cherokee on your list?

If your focus will be on gambling then Gulfport and Biloxi is a much better choice. Lots of casinos, small minimums, more variety. New Orleans has a lot to offer as a city but the gambling is nothing special.

Quote: Mental

Quote: vegas

I found the Harrah's gulf coast rooms really bad. Very musty and damp. The casino is way to small as well. Location is nice as the gulf is right across the road and many other casinos in the area to gamble at.

New Orleans has recently done an upgrade and are just about done if not done. A much nicer hotel and casino.
link to original post

Why isn't Cherokee on your list?
link to original post

We go to Cherokee already and are bored of the extra attractions around there. I'll call tomorrow or Monday to the NOLA location and see how far along they are. I'm starting to debate with her if we should just go to NOLA for 2-3 nights then travel back east to Gulfcoast for a few nights. Best of both worlds to some degree.

Really appreciate the knowledge dump guys!

I chose other. You should try going to Miami/Broward. . 😀 Miami/Broward is teaming with lots of fun nightlife and day life and the Casinos are good Casinos and give decent free play for brand new Newbies. 😀

Calder Casino gives about $100
Hialeah gives up to $200
Gulfstream Park Casino gives about $100 I think
Casino Miami gave $50 when I joined about 10 years ago.
Seminole Hard Rock /Classic Casino gives a play $200, come back twice and get the $200 back!"
Magic City Casino gives a play 100 points, get $60 back!" I believe.


😀

Quote: Nathan

I chose other. You should try going to Miami/Broward. . 😀 Miami/Broward is teaming with lots of fun nightlife and day life and the Casinos are good Casinos and give decent free play for brand new Newbies. 😀


link to original post

Yes, but can the casinos tell if you’re a “legit newbie” or if you’re a sock of someone who’s been to the casino many times before?

Quote: mcallister3200

Quote: Nathan

I chose other. You should try going to Miami/Broward. . 😀 Miami/Broward is teaming with lots of fun nightlife and day life and the Casinos are good Casinos and give decent free play for brand new Newbies. 😀


link to original post

Yes, but can the casinos tell if you’re a “legit newbie” or if you’re a sock of someone who’s been to the casino many times before?
link to original post

🤣 But in all honesty, they check IDs during each sign up. 💡

Quote: Nathan

I chose other. You should try going to Miami/Broward. . 😀 Miami/Broward is teaming with lots of fun nightlife and day life and the Casinos are good Casinos and give decent free play for brand new Newbies. 😀

Calder Casino gives about $100
Hialeah gives up to $200
Gulfstream Park Casino gives about $100 I think
Casino Miami gave $50 when I joined about 10 years ago.
Seminole Hard Rock /Classic Casino gives a play $200, come back twice and get the $200 back!"
Magic City Casino gives a play 100 points, get $60 back!" I believe.


😀
link to original post

Definitely an interesting idea for our next-next trip, and we still haven't been able to go to Vegas. My wife isn't much of an amateur AP but she has discipline to walk away when she's up especially off of freeplay.

There's a couple different properties outside of Caesars currently in NOLA and Gulfcoast, and I've already mentally prepared her that I'm gonna be a degenerate for at least 1-2 days and hit up every casino for as much matched freeplay as we can get. Although with MGM's recent security scandal I might not wanna give them my info, lol.

Of course I also told her lets just train every day for the next 2 months in black jack card counting and go hit all the properties for a couple grand(assuming variance on our side) before we get banned but lol she won't go for it.

Edited above for formatting.

So interestingly our rooms for both properties went from fully comp'd to no longer comp'd in the span of 2 nights. So I've been cold calling other resort-casinos in NOLA and Gulf Coast all day. So far most hosts will flat out refuse even based on W2Gs I'm willing to send and coin-in I was willing to play with this special trip. However two properties in Biloxi and 1 adjacent between Biloxi and NOLA are willing to comp 2 rooms up front. I'm actually kind of shocked most of the smaller venues wouldn't take our potential business, and it's the mid-tier properties that are willing to "take a chance on us".

Any Caesar experts know why 2 day difference would change my and wifey's comps from 100% to 0%? Only weirdness is the change from March to April, new month = new algorithm? Only reason we didn't book 2-3 days ago was we were still waiting to hear from her boss that she had the week off from work. Next time I'm obviously gonna book the rooms and cancel if things don't work out. Frustrating to say the least.

Quote:

Two headlines, right next to each other, in MarketWatch (a CBS fin-news website):

"Caesars Entertainment stock price target cut to $63 from $113 at Stifel Nicolaus"
"Street Notes Caesars Stock Is Still a Buy, Even Pricing in a Recession, Analyst Says"

CZR closed on 7/18 at $41.79.

From BillHasRetired thread... could this be why?

Quote: ChallengedMilly

So interestingly our rooms for both properties went from fully comp'd to no longer comp'd in the span of 2 nights. So I've been cold calling other resort-casinos in NOLA and Gulf Coast all day. So far most hosts will flat out refuse even based on W2Gs I'm willing to send and coin-in I was willing to play with this special trip. However two properties in Biloxi and 1 adjacent between Biloxi and NOLA are willing to comp 2 rooms up front. I'm actually kind of shocked most of the smaller venues wouldn't take our potential business, and it's the mid-tier properties that are willing to "take a chance on us".

Any Caesar experts know why 2 day difference would change my and wifey's comps from 100% to 0%? Only weirdness is the change from March to April, new month = new algorithm? Only reason we didn't book 2-3 days ago was we were still waiting to hear from her boss that she had the week off from work. Next time I'm obviously gonna book the rooms and cancel if things don't work out. Frustrating to say the least.

Quote:

Two headlines, right next to each other, in MarketWatch (a CBS fin-news website):

"Caesars Entertainment stock price target cut to $63 from $113 at Stifel Nicolaus"
"Street Notes Caesars Stock Is Still a Buy, Even Pricing in a Recession, Analyst Says"

CZR closed on 7/18 at $41.79.

From BillHasRetired thread... could this be why?
link to original post

There could be different reasons.

When did you last play using your caesars card? How much did you play?

The new month is definitely a possibility. They determine offers monthly.

One possibility is they wanted to entice guests from out of town in March but not April. April is Easter and spring break and that's beach front property so maybe they aren't willing to give up the rooms for free.

Too many factors to determine without solid info and even then it could be something missing

Like dark says could be many things. Could always be a specific property in a phase of going overboard cutting off players to the point they’re scared of virtually anyone who doesn’t profile as a problem gambler or close to rather than something on your overall account.

Don’t think spring break is likelier in April than March though, that’s typically second week in March through first week in April. Easter was in March too this year…. that’s an outlier though.

You're right I didn't think about spring break issues for those two areas. I'm so far removed from caring about spring break, but clearly I shouldn't have been ignorant of it. I bet that's it. One of the hosts did mention that "We only have X number of comp'd rooms to give out, once those are all booked up then it'll change on the app." I imagine this is one of those weird things where a bunch of frat houses, random families, etc. decided to go to NOLA/Biloxi and they all decided during Easter weekend. Would explain why pre-Easter we saw one thing and post-Easter it's all different.

However... I've checked a bunch of random places around the country and its changed across the board, including places like Atlantic City(does AC have spring breakers???)

Took this pic last time I was in Biloxi
The top of the Monument marks how high the water got

Quote: ChallengedMilly

You're right I didn't think about spring break issues for those two areas. I'm so far removed from caring about spring break, but clearly I shouldn't have been ignorant of it. I bet that's it. One of the hosts did mention that "We only have X number of comp'd rooms to give out, once those are all booked up then it'll change on the app." I imagine this is one of those weird things where a bunch of frat houses, random families, etc. decided to go to NOLA/Biloxi and they all decided during Easter weekend. Would explain why pre-Easter we saw one thing and post-Easter it's all different.

However... I've checked a bunch of random places around the country and its changed across the board, including places like Atlantic City(does AC have spring breakers???)
link to original post

I've enjoyed lurking here for a long time, but I felt compelled to give you an answer since this forum has provided me with many over the years. The first week of May is weekend #2 of Jazz fest in New Orleans

Quote: UsuallyLurk

I've enjoyed lurking here for a long time, but I felt compelled to give you an answer since this forum has provided me with many over the years. . . {snip}
link to original post

Welcome into the sunlight, UsuallyLurk! I hope you'll choose to be more active in the future. I bet you have some stories you could tell! :)

I have never been to the Gulf Coast nor NOLA, so I felt compelled to log in to the Caesars website and check. I find that I am comped for all three Caesars properties from now through June 4. I usually barely qualify as a 7Star every year, so yeah, I've got the red card, but they know I'm really only giving them 10k-- as income. Still, free rooms are a significant savings.

There are two possible factors: comped rooms might be allocated according to Tier levels (for example, Diamonds have 15 rooms comped, Diamond Plus 45, Diamond Elite 100, 7Stars 250) or your play level from two months previous to the current date may not warrant a comp. (corollary, your play level over the previous three visits to a Caesar property may be too anemic to rate a comped room)

OTOH, you can always spend some Reward Credits to soften the blow. Diamond and above usually exempts you from resort fees, so you are dollar-for-dollar reducing your bill when you burn RCs for stays.

Our play is way down due to us not being able to go last year and what gambling time we've done in 2023 was done at a non-caesars casino. That doesn't explain why in late March it showed as comp'd and then April it shows as no longer comp'd. However, comp'd rooms per tier levels + easter weekend families making new plans does perfectly explain why it changed so quickly.

From now on I'm booking trips and canceling if need be. Wife is still deciding if she wants to deal with the hassle that the three comp offers from local Biloxi casinos, since those offers mean we're bouncing around to different rooms every 2-3 days, and possibly having to deal with a Host reneging on the verbal deal we made on the phone.

Quote: ChallengedMilly

Our play is way down due to us not being able to go last year and what gambling time we've done in 2023 was done at a non-caesars casino. That doesn't explain why in late March it showed as comp'd and then April it shows as no longer comp'd. However, comp'd rooms per tier levels + easter weekend families making new plans does perfectly explain why it changed so quickly.

From now on I'm booking trips and canceling if need be. Wife is still deciding if she wants to deal with the hassle that the three comp offers from local Biloxi casinos, since those offers mean we're bouncing around to different rooms every 2-3 days, and possibly having to deal with a Host reneging on the verbal deal we made on the phone.
link to original post

If you haven't played in over a year at a caesars property then that's your answer.

They give out offers on a .monthly basis. The offers are based on your playing history. That history is not for your entire lifetime as a member. Different markets have different look backs but generally six months.

After six months (or that particular markets lookback) then there is usually an extended "we miss you " style offers. These would be limited to free rooms and some limited freeplay. Perhaps some throwaway offers like free dinner or free show tickets

Then after about one year the offers stop completely.

This isn't a hard and fast rule. I have seen unending "we miss you " offers but it's rare. And some last more than a year.

It appears you may have crossed the threshold of the "we miss you " look back when April came along. You are now out of their marketing system for free rooms until you play again.

You can ask someone at a rewards desk to look up your current status. They will usually use the term "non-active member account " or "non-active status". That will be your biggest clue.

IF that's it sometimes that makes you eligible once again for new members offers. But only if they specify open to non-active members as well.

It's possible you're right, since we had a ton of the Caesar Air "we will fly you out for 4 nights at any major hotel and casinos in the country!" Offers all last year. Those seemingly did dry up recently. Just frustrating that a couple days things changed so dramatically without much recourse. C'EST LA VIE.