CoalCracker

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After our CoalCracker Adventure in December 2022, my wife and I were not as happy with Caesars as we had hoped, but she enjoys going to her convention in AC and wants to make it an annual trip. The 4 hour trip home gave us plenty of time to discuss it and we decided that we liked AC enough that we would explore other hotels in the city throughout the year to see if we could find a better match.

We decided to initially stick with Caesars properties since we had the rewards card with Platinum status and we were hoping to explore the rewards more in order to get to Diamond within the year, so we could enjoy the benefits that come with it, such as free valet and no resort fees.

With that, we set out to explore both Harrah’s and Tropicana. Just two days after getting home from Caesars, we booked our first stay at Harrah’s for January 17 through January 20, 2023.

After checking out the different rooms at Harrah’s we opted for the Bayview Tower Suite | 1 King | Non-Smoking at what we felt was an incredible price, especially coming off the trip to Caesars. We decided a shorter 3 day trip would be optimal and give us plenty of time to figure out if the room was a good fit and not be too long so that if it was uncomfortable we would want to leave early.

Booking the room in the app was simple and quick and we spent the next few weeks doing some research and assessing whether we wanted to keep the reservation. We discovered that Harrah’s doesn’t offer valet during the week. I think it ended at noon on Monday and started back at noon on Friday. So, self park was the only option. That wasn’t a deal breaker, but dealing with our own luggage would have been (we always pack heavy), so we called the hotel to confirm they had bell service all week long. The did, so we decided to go ahead with the reservation knowing we would have to make the trek from the self parking to the hotel – how far could it be. (Turns out it was a pretty long hike).

When we got to the hotel on January 17, they confirmed that there was no valet, but bell service was in fact available – so that was a plus. We left the bags with them and then went to navigate through the self park garage. This was an adventure in itself. Having never been there, it was challenging to figure out which ramp goes where, but eventually we made our way out and back into the garage and found a suitable spot. I’m a firm believer in step economy, so the closer I could get to the hotel entrance, the happier I was going to be. On a positive note, there seemed to be an ever present security vehicle making it’s way through the garage, so we didn’t feel unsafe at any point – which was a bit of a concern when we considered canceling the reservation.

Over the skyway and through the casino, to the check-desk we walked. And we walked… And we walked…

Making your way through a place like Harrah’s for the first time, not knowing where you are or where you are going can be somewhat disconcerting, but there were plenty of signs to guide the way and lead us to where we needed to be.

There were not too many people there, which we were happy to see. Some of the reviews we read indicated that the wait for check in could take a while. We were talking to someone at the desk within a few minutes and had our room keys after a few more minutes.

Off we walked to our room. And walked… and walked.. And walked.. It turns out that there is a lot of walking to do in Harrah’s. We found the elevators for our tower and made our way to the room. Once in the room, we realized that we were upgraded to the Waterfront Tower | Modern Suite | 1 King | Non-Smoking

The room exuded a sense of warmth and seemed more inviting than the Emperor Suite we previously experienced at Caesars in December.

Upon entering, we were greeted by a well-appointed dining area featuring a sizable table, a wet bar, and ample cabinet space for our belongings. To our left, an intimate living area beckoned, furnished with cozy chairs and a couch. Adjacent to this space was an entrance to the master bedroom and en suite bathroom, while a discrete door in the living area led to a convenient half bath.

The spacious and welcoming ambiance of the room made me feel that this Harrah’s experience might surpass our December visit to Caesar’s. Complementing this feeling was a picturesque view of the bay.

As we started to unpack we realized the HVAC in the bedroom didn’t seem to be working. The room was extremely warm and nothing we did with the thermostat seemed to remedy that. I called the front desk and before long we had Conrad from maintenance checking out the unit.He was very friendly and explained the issue. He said he could set the temperature lower in the unit, but we would not be able to change it through the night if it got too hot or too cold. After he left, we called the front desk and asked if we could get a different suite. We explained what Conrad had told us and they were very accommodating. They sent someone up from the bell desk to help us get our luggage to the new room and before long we unpacking, again. In all, I think it took about 2 hours or so to figure out the problem and get to the new room. They were nice enough to also give us a $50 meal credit on the room.

By this point we were hungry and wanted to get something to eat, so we headed downstairs and found that, like Caesar’s, there were limited restaurant options at Harrah’s during the week. We ended up getting burgers at Bobby’s Burgers by Bobby Flay. I had never eaten at Bobby’s Burgers before and I can unequivocally say that I never intend to eat there again. My wife and I were not impressed and we left there with some questions about how the rest of our CoalCracker Adventure would go when it comes to dining options.

We decided to wander the casino floor after eating our burgers and ended up spending several hours and a good bit of money at the slots. After a bit of testing the waters, we both ended up playing Bao Zhu Zhao Fu and did pretty well. Not so well that we went home with a jackpot, but well enough that we were going to start the next day up a little bit.

We went back to the room after a while and we were happy to find a very comfortable bedroom.

On the second day, we decided to go a bit more upscale for dinner and made reservations at McCormick & Schmick’s. We spent a few hours in the suite and then a bit of time on the casino floor while waiting for our reservation. Dinner was nice. The atmosphere in the restaurant was perfect for a nice romantic dinner with my wife. We shared a coconut shrimp appetizer. My wife ordered the stuffed salmon and I chose the New York Strip. The meal was excellent.

We decided to skip desert and figured if we wanted something, we could pick it up at he 24/7 cafe – which we eventually did later that night after more slot play (which wasn’t as lucrative as the night before)

For our last day of our CoalCracker Travels we decided to sleep in and I ordered a late breakfast to be delivered to the room. I ordered pancakes with chocolate chips and strawberries and a side of bacon with an extra side of bacon. In all the bill would have come out to close to $100 after tip and delivery fee, but the $50 room credit cut the cost in half. The food was great and I was stuffed afterward – maybe because my wife didn’t finish hers and I couldn’t resist.

Since there were so few options in Harrah’s for dinner, we decided to venture out and go to Carmines at the Tropicana, My wife had gone there with her brokerage during the two conventions and she really enjoyed the experience.

The food at Carmine’s was amazing. The portions are enormous. They serve everything family style and – at least as far as we know – there is no half order. If you are just there as a couple and looking to get salad, manicotti and meatballs, bring an extra stomach or two. You will never be able to finish all of it. Just as a side note, while the bread is amazing, don’t fill up on it or you will be able to eat even less of the amazing dinner.

Going to Carmine’s was my first visit ever to the Tropicana and my wife had only ever been dropped off there by me or an Uber driver. So, we weren’t sure where to park. We ended up going to the main entrance of the Trop and using the Valet. In hindsight, this was probably a mistake. It seems that there are places to park that are closer to the quarter than the main entrance, where you have to walk through pretty much the entire casino. There was something about the walk that didn’t suit me well. It was warm and my head was fuzzy by the time we left and it wasn’t from the copious amount of weed smoke filling different areas of the floor as we walked out. I’m not sure if it was the amount of food I ate, the warmth of the place or whatever I was smelling that wasn’t weed (there was something irritating my throat as we walked to and from the quarter), but it had an effect on me that wasn’t pleasant.

By this point in the trip, we had decided the Tropicana would be our next trip to Atlantic City. I really liked Harrah’s. The suite we had was amazing, but I didn’t like how far our tower was from everything else and our overall goal from the start has been to explore all of the Caesar’s properties to see which we like best. This excursion to the Tropicana made me wonder if I was going to have a similar experience while staying there.

Valet was back in operation by this point, so we decided to use them when we returned, so it would be easier to get the van when we checked out. After we got back to Harrah’s, we decided to spend some time in the casino playing slots. After a few hours, we went back to the room, got some stuff packed and went to bed – checkout for 11am means an earlier start for the day than I like.

Overall we had a great trip. The few things we disliked about the trip were easy to overlook with everything else that we enjoyed. The walk from and to the parking garage was not as bad as we expected. The hiccup with the HVAC not working in the initial room we were assigned was quickly fixed with a new room. The lack of dining choices in Harrah’s was remedied by venturing out to other places in AC. Even though I only put a few hundred into the slots during this trip, it was more than I had ever gambled at one time in my life. It was never something that really stood out to me, but this trip opened my eyes to it and I kind of liked it. Even if I mostly lost.

I left Harrah’s looking forward to planning a CoalCracker Adventure to the Tropicana. Little did I know that soon after we arrived home, I would be booking that reservation through the Caesar’s rewards app. Within a few days we had our next trip planned for March 12 through March 15 and booked the South One Bedroom Suite | 1 King | Non-Smoking at the Tropicana.

Fun fact. Our google maps / android auto GPS pronounces Harrah’s like Hurrah! It was fun hearing it every time we were driving to or from the place.

Please note. This post was initially written in January 2023, but never published – along with many other posts. I am using ChatGPT to assist in converting all of my notes into full reviews and sharing them here – backdated, to the time they were initially written to.