carribbean gambling

So,

Looking for a little vacation to the carribean -

I'm not asking for much.

A nice beach, place to scuba and golf, adult all inclusive, with a casino.

who has gambled in the carribean?

any thoughts?

1. Nassau, Bahamas. (Atlantis Casino). I wrote a little review for forum member Mosca yesterday. Search Atlantis on the forum and you'll pull the thread right up.

2. Panama City, Panama (Veneto Casino). Went there in 2010, nice cheap gambling. DO NOT drink the local water in Panama or use their Ice Cubes. I got deadly sick with a 104 Degree Fever and ended up in the emergency room when I came back home. The Wizard has a nice write-up on his review of Veneto. Search for it on this forum.

3. Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. I stayed at Bavaro Palace Casino. I've heard great things about Hard Rock Casino, Punta Cana. I met a Craps player in Bethlehem Sands who said they won $32,000 playing Craps at the Hard Rock Casino in Punta Cana.

These are the only places that I remember gambling in the caribbean. I would go with Atlantis in Nassau, Bahamas if I had to choose only one.

There is gambling at several hotels in San Juan Puerto Rico as well. The Sheraton in Old San Juan is a block away from the cruise ship terminal.

I would put Aruba on the list of potentials. It is a long way to go, but when I stopped there for a day on a cruise several years back, I thought to myself if you wanted beaches, scuba & gambling, this looks like a pretty good spot. Only one full size golf course on the island....the island isn't that big, but they do have some name brand hotel/resort properties there.

Curaçao is a good option. About 10 casinos on a small island. Beautiful beaches, friendly locals.

I have stayed at the St. Kitts Marriott in St Kitts. It had a nice casino, and golf course. The problem is not much off of the resert that is real close

Quote: slackyhacky

A nice beach, place to scuba and golf, adult all inclusive, with a casino.

who has gambled in the carribean?

First, just to be really picky, the spelling is "Caribbean" not "Carribean". This is perhaps related to a lot of difficulty I have encountered in establishing the "proper" pronunciation -- with the emphasis on the second or third syllable. A friend from Jamaica told me they emphasize the third syllable -- "be" -- even though my dictionary says that the "rib" is emphasized in the islands. Who ya gonna believe?

I have only visited the island casinos while on cruise ships, so I can't tell you a lot about staying at the resorts themselves. I have played at casinos in Aruba, Curaçao, St. Croix, and St. Kitts. Eventually, I will post images of the chips in the Casino Chip of the Day thread.

I have also played at three casinos in the Bahamas, but (again being very picky) the Bahamas are in the Atlantic rather than the Caribbean.

In general, the casinos are rather small. The major exception I am familiar with is the Atlantis casino on Paradise Island, just across the bridge from Nassau, Bahamas. There are also some larger casinos in San Juan, but I have never played in them. The St. Kitts casino was also a respectable size, as I recall.

As previously mentioned I would suggest Punta Cana at Dominican Republic. The place is awesome, the beaches are so beautiful that you won't want to come back. Another positive point is the price. I would suggest staying at the Majestic Elegance Resort, for something as low as $230/night for a couple with all inclusive. This is a luxury all inclusive, possible the best or one of the best I have ever stayed.
Punta Cana gained place among my favorites because of the quality of their service and for having a good customer relationship. The staff is very lovely, food is good and abundant as are the drinks. They have a great crew, they run contests and have lots of daily activities for you to choose from. This hotel has a small casino where you can kill some time, but of course, Hard Rock Casino is a must go.
The casino is really new, has a wide range of table games and slots and features a poker room. As far as I am concerned they offer the following games: blackjack (3:2), craps, caribbean poker, 3cp, mini bacc, roulette (single and double zero on the same flor, lol), let it ride, ultimate texas Hold'em.
Their hotel is amazing but actually costs two times more than the majestic. Since it's a 10' drive between both and a U$15 fare I do not see the need of staying there.
You can send me a private message in case you want.

Not to get ahead of yourself, but how was the Treasure Bay casino in Freeport? I recall it was an Isle of Capri when I was planning my trip there two years ago. Nice/Dumpy/Indifferent?

Quote: teddys

Not to get ahead of yourself, but how was the Treasure Bay casino in Freeport? I recall it was an Isle of Capri when I was planning my trip there two years ago. Nice/Dumpy/Indifferent?

Assuming this was directed to me, I would summarize my assessment of Treasure Bay with a single word: Dead. It looked fairly nice, and I think it could be a fun place to play, but you really need to have a few players in order for a place to be alive. Now I admit that I didn't give the casino a chance to show itself off well -- I was in Freeport for a one-day cruise stop. I was there mid-day on a Wednesday, and I had hoped to play a little craps. They had two crap tables, but both were closed. I asked when they would be open and was told "Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings." It's not too surprising they were closed mid-day, but if they only are operated three nights a week, that's just not very impressive.

I didn't count them, but there were maybe two dozen card tables. They had two Blackjack tables open, but I saw no more than three players at either table at any time. They were operating with $10 min. One table was idle much of the time. They also had 3CP, Let It Ride, and one other game (don't remember) staffed, but I didn't pay enough attention to notice whether anyone was playing. They may have had a roulette table staffed. Other than that, it was just the slot machines and not a whole lot of them, unless there was another room that I didn't go into.

My wife played penny slots for a few minutes, and I played blackjack at $10 to $20 a hand. I bought five $1 chips, kept one and played four as dealer bets. Maybe three of those won, and I tossed in a $5 chip toke as I got up. That left me with a $1 souvenir chip plus my buy-in amount, so I broke even gambling, got a free addition to my collection, and was entertained for half an hour.

Yes, the place used to be an Isle of Capri, and I'd have to look up the history. Years ago, when the International Bazaar was the big tourist thing in Freeport, there was another casino that I think was called the Casbah. I remember peeking into it when I visited that area of town in 1976, but I didn't play. A hurricane damaged many of those structures, and they were shut down rather than being restored. That included the casino and several resorts. Even the McDonald's is closed. Our taxi took us right past the closed structures on the way from the cruise port to the Lucaya area where the tourist markets, the resorts, and the casino are located now.

Quote: aluisio

but of course, Hard Rock Casino is a must go.
The casino is really new, has a wide range of table games and slots and features a poker room. As far as I am concerned they offer the following games: blackjack (3:2), craps, caribbean poker, 3cp, mini bacc, roulette (single and double zero on the same flor, lol), let it ride, ultimate texas Hold'em.

I stayed at the Hard Rock PC last year. This is the only Caribbean casino I've been to, but it was pretty nice and Vegas-like. Having been to the Hard Rock LV, they kept pretty true to form here in terms of the ambience and theming. I remember blackjack ($10 min 3:2 games, 6 deck hand shuffle, H17, DAS, I'd assume no RSA/surrender), 3-4-5X odds craps at $10 minimum, roulette, carnival games, and baccarat in the high limit area (they had a big baccarat table but I never saw it open). Plenty of slots you'd expect to see in any US casino (no licensed themes). The high limit area was big relative to the rest of the casino, but only a couple tables were ever open.

I had a great time here, the wife and I got on a tear at $10 blackjack and turned $100 into $800 within a couple hours. The slots were looser than I'd have expected at a casino in the Caribbean with little to no competition...not as loose as AC/Vegas but looser than the racinos in my area. As far as the resort goes....I had a good time. The rooms are awesome, the liquor flows freely, the pools are great. However, I also can speak functional Spanish (I can get what someone's trying to say and get my point across). The staff here were not very good at all with English and if you could communicate with them in Spanish, you definitely seemed to get treated better and have a better experience.

Another warning: they seem to always offer what appear to be very generous resort credits ($1500 for a week stay). You will be allowed full use of your credits...however, be aware that the things you'd want to use them for the most (spa and casino) have limits...I believe a $350 credit limit at the spa and $100 at the casino. If you're like me, you'll struggle to spend the balance on things that are worthwhile, since the excursions you can use them on are also limited. I heard that initially, you could use all $1500 on free slot play or table game match play...I'm sure it didn't take too many good blackjack players taking them to the cleaners to change this rule.

Overall, I'd recommend the place. I had a great time.

the best combo golf/casino resort would be the mariott in st kitts.