Tropicana

Introduction

     

     

Built in 1957, the Tropicana is one of oldest properties on the Las Vegas Strip. In its prime, it was one of the best properties in Vegas. When James Bond came to Las Vegas in the movie "Diamonds are Forever," he stayed at the Tropicana. Unfortunately, the property has not aged well, and it does not look like much has changed since the 1970's. When I visited on October 1 and 2, 2009, it was undergoing a much-needed remodeling.

The Tropicana is owned by Tropicana Entertainment and is one of the few properties on the Strip not part of either the MGM-Mirage or Harrah's Corporation. Lake many casinos in Vegas, it is under bankruptcy protection. According to the Las Vegas Sun, the Onex Corporation of Toronto is in the process of taking over the Tropicana.

Location

The Tropicana sits on the southeast corner of Las Vegas Blvd. and Tropicana Blvd., the intersection that holds the world record for the most hotel rooms. Pedestrian bridges make crossing the intersection easy. Next door are the MGM Grand and the Excalibur, and kitty-corner is the New York New York. Within easy walking distance are the Monte Carlo, Hooters, Luxor, and Mandalay Bay. The Tropicana is among the closest casinos to the airport, and it has easy access to the I-15.

Free Spin

At the two main entrances are promotional slot machines. Everyone walking by gets a free spin. The possible prizes are:

• Car or $15,000 in chips.
• $25 in chips
• $10 in chips
• $5 in chips
• Any two free show tickets
• Two magic show tickets
• One show ticket (house choice)
• One magic show ticket
• Scratch card, for signing up for a player card

Most people get the voucher for a scratch card. I already have a player card, so I don't know how good the scratch cards are. These machines often tease the player by stopping on the car on two of the reels, and then a blank.

Casino

According to the 2009 American Casino Guide, the Tropicana has 62,011 square feet of casino space. By way of comparison, the MGM next door has about 2.5 times as much at 156,023. According to the Nevada Gaming Control Board, the Tropicana is home to 45 table games, although I only counted 32. As already noted, I was there during a renovation, so some tables may have been temporarily removed. The Gaming Control reports the number of slots as 920. By way of comparison, the MGM Grand has 178 table games and 2,470 slots. At the time I was there, the Tropicana had no live poker and no high-limit table game room. An employee said a poker room was part of the expansion.

When I visited, there was no shortage of blackjack tables with $5 or $10 minimums. If you are a low roller, you should not have difficulty finding a game at the Tropicana. On the other hand, they didn't have a high-limit table game room or pit, so the high rollers will not get the extra attention or better rules that other casinos may offer them.

Following are the games they did have and some comments on the rules.

Food

In many ways, the Tropicana is a large property that feels like a small one. For example, for a hotel with 1,877 hotel rooms, there were relatively few restaurants. There was no basic coffee shop, which should be a staple in even the smallest of casinos. The eating choices when I was there were:

• Island Buffet
• Player's Deli
• Bacio Pasta & Vino
• Legends Steak & Seafood
• Havana Go Go Cafe

My Webmaster, J.B., and I tried the buffet for dinner. The prices were $10.99 for breakfast, $13.99 for lunch, $16.99 for dinner, and $15.99 for continental breakfast. On the good side, there was only one group in front of us in line, and the service was friendly and fast. However, the food left a lot to be desired. The selection was extremely small, with few or zero high-end choices. You can judge a lot about a buffet by the shrimp. In this case, it was the peel it yourself kind, which I don't have the patience for. With no salmon or other respectable fish choices, I tried the pasta bar. There you choose your pasta, sauce, and stuff to put in the sauce. The chef drowned my selection in sauce, putting on about twice as much as one normally gets. J.B. declared his own pasta dish a success, because the noodles were not sticking together. Overall, I was not impressed. The price was also too high, given the selection and quality. I would recommend paying a little more and crossing the street to the MGM's buffet.

I had my heart set on a nice diner for breakfast, but was told it was closed during remodeling. So, I settled on the Havana Go Go Cafe. In my opinion, table service should be required to call a restaurant a cafe, which was not the case here. This was strictly fast food, offering mostly sandwiches. For breakfast, I ordered the lox bagel, but they were out. So I had some kind of Cuban egg McMuffin kind of thing, which I would not order twice. On the other hand, the coffee was pretty good, and the service was fast.

I've never tried the Player's Deli, but here are some prices:

• BLT $7.25
• Shrimp Cocktail $4.50
• Folies Bergere (hamburger) $8.25
• Coffee $2.25

Entertainment

The Tropicana used to host the long-running Folies Bergere, but alas, it has ended its run. Today the Tropicana offers the following shows:

• The Soprano's Last Supper (dinner theatre)
• Hypnosis Unleased
• Xtreme Magic Starring Dick Arthur (magic)
• Bobby Slayton (comedy)

The only show I can comment on is Hypnosis Unleashed. I told the young woman who worked at the box office that it was against my religion to see a Vegas show without a coupon. Then I noticed a used 2 for 1 coupon to the hypnosis show on the counter and inquired if she had any. She proceeded to look all over a cluttered counter for one, and after about two minutes, she found one and gave it to me. This was truly going beyond the call of duty, which I applaud her and the Tropicana for. For more information about the show, please see my review of Hypnosis Unleashed (link coming soon).

Hotel

     

       

When I stayed there on the night of October 1, 2009, my choices were a Garden room for $33, an Island Tower room for $43, or a Paradise Tower room for $63. There was also an additional $7.99 "resort fee," which covered local calls, parking, pool, incoming faxes, and the fitness center. As I've said many times before, I oppose any kind of fee added on top of the standard room prices if the guest has no right to refuse it. Plus, I received a voucher for two free drinks (beer, wine, or "call" only).

Even with the silly resort fee, these were very reasonable prices. I took the middle of the road with the Island Tower. From past experience, I know that any kind of room labeled "garden" in any way, whether it be the type of room or the moniker for every room in the place, is to be avoided (don't write -- I'm sure there is an exception somewhere). The Paradise Tower is the newer of the two high rises, and it’s nicely located near the casino. The Island Tower, where I stayed, is further back, and you have to walk past a bunch of little retail kiosks to get to the elevators. In my younger days, I recall there were lots of parrot cages in this hallway instead. I could see from my window that the Garden rooms were in three-story, motel looking buildings.

My room was fairly big, but like most of the property, it was long overdue for a renovation. I couldn't help but take a picture of the moldy caulking in the bathroom. The color of the bathroom walls was lime green. Why anybody chooses this as a color for paint is beyond me. The bathroom freebees were just two small bottles: shampoo and lotion. The TV was small and old. Worst of all was the mattress, which was much too soft, probably from decades of use. Despite it feeling like a trip back in time, the room was satisfactorily clean.

Pool

The Tropicana earns points for a nice pool. It is reminiscent of the kind of pools you see in Hawaii, the ones that meander all over the place with lots of landscaping and a waterfall or two. It wasn't quite as nice as what you might find on Ka?anapali beach in Maui, but it’s still one of the best features of the Tropicana. Unlike in Maui, the Tropicana's pool has swim-up blackjack.

           

Suggestions for Improvement

• The Tropicana is in much too good of a location to let it get as run down as it has. However, they were doing some remodeling when I was there, so I can't say they aren't trying. There is a lot to do, and times in Vegas are tough, so I'll forgive them if it takes a while. Perhaps some of these ideas are in the works, but here are my suggestions for improvement:

• More restaurants: For a property of this size, there should be a basic diner, Chinese food and Mexican food. There were none of these when I was there.

• Poker room: I've seen much smaller casinos that had a poker room. These days, it is pretty much a staple of a full-service casino.

• Island Tower Passage: Those vendor stalls in the hallway are simply tacky. How about bringing back the parrots?

• Gambling: The Tropicana does an excellent job at offering plenty of games for red-chip players. However, there should be a high-limit table game room, or at least a designated pit for $25+ players.

• Slot tickets: Have a heart, and give the players more than 30 days to cash a slot ticket. Do you think that most of your customers visit on a monthly basis?

Links

• VPfree2 (video poker information)
• Official Tropicana web site
• Wikipedia
• Cheapo Vegas

Acknowledgement

I'd like to give a huge thanks to Lisa Furman and Nikkia Carter and for their modeling services. Lisa invites you to visit her page at ModelMayhem.com. Nikkia invites you to visit her at myspace.com.

Contact Information

Address: 3801 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Las Vegas, NV 89109
Phone: 888-826-8767
Web site: tropicanalv.com

Games at Tropicana

Blackjack	Location	Decks	Min	Max	Soft 17	DA	DAS	RSA	Surr	Tables	CSM	Party Pit	6/5 BJ	Video	H. Edge
Blackjack	Strip	6	5	1000	H	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	4	Yes	No	Yes	No	1.90744
Blackjack	Strip	6	10	1000	H	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	4	No	No	No	No	0.57085
Blackjack	Strip	2	25	5000	H	Yes	Yes	No	No	3	No	No	No	No	0.45688
Blackjack	Strip	6	100	5000	S	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	3	No	No	No	No	0.28507

Blackjack Variants	Decks	Min	Max
Counts Kounted	6	10	1000

Poker variants	# of Tables	Min Bet	Max Bet
Crazy 4 Poker	1	5	100
High Card Flush	1	5	100
Mississippi Stud	1	5	100
Pai Gow Poker	1	10	1000
Three Card Poker	2	5	100
Ultimate Texas Hold'em	2	5	100

Baccarat	# of Tables	Min Bet	Max Bet
Baccarat	2	50	5000

Craps	# of Tables	Min Bet	Max Bet	Odds	Field12	Video
Craps	2	10	3000	3-4-5 x	Triple	No

Roulette	# of Tables	Min Bet	Max Bet	Rules	Video
Roulette	2	10	300	00	No
Roulette	1	3	3000	00	Yes

Video Poker	Rank	Avg Return	Grade
Video Poker	51	96.37%	C-

Video Keno	Rank	Avg Return	Grade
Video Keno	63	88.45%	D