Harrah's sent us an offer for New Orleans that was too good to refuse. I
received 3 nights at choice of hotel, 2 coupons for $150 each for 2 restaurants,
and 2 free aquarium tickets. We found out that list members CoachVee (Tom and
Hedy) and Connie Kellers and her husband Michael were also going for the same
dates. Tom made reservations for the six of us for Besh Steakhouse (Besh is
the chef) in the casino and Restaurant August (also Besh chef but French)
nearby as our basically free meals. He also found a good host for us - Dana
Yuratich (5045336000 ext 8023), hours 11-8pm.
We had a great time over the weekend. They have a lot of 9/6 JB and NSU
deuces, as well as the usual slot machines, 8/5 bonus poker, table games (sorry I
didn't even look at the Bj), etc. We played mostly triple play quarters which
had NSU and 9/6 JB, 9/7 DB, 9/6 DDB. There were also some slant tops nearby
with 5 play NSU quarters, a 9/6 JB $1 progressive! (got up to over $5500), a
$1 9/6 DB progressive (over $6000), some single line quarters with NSU and 8/5
JB, and so on. All the VP was located in one grouping, except for a few $1
and up machines in a high roller area.
Coachvee didn't get any airfare reimbursement, so sometime after he had
played 4000-5000 basepoints, he asked if he could get some, and picked up $150
toward airfare. I had received $300 voucher toward air, so at the end of the trip
when I also was somewhere over 5000 base points (I didn't notice the exact
amount unfortunately), I thought I might as well ask, and I was able to get
another $160 (so my $460 total cost was covered).
We stayed at the Wyndham which is across the street and adjacent to a mall.
The hotel's lobby is on the 11th floor and has a great view of the river.
When we checked in we had a trainee who wasn't able to get us a non-smoking room.
So we checked back later and were switched to a non-smoking king with a
river view. Be sure to emphasize the kind of room you want when you book and ask
for river view.
Actually though, in the future I would pick the DoubleTree or W hotels which
were a bit closer to the Harrah's casino. Since I play into the late night, I
didn't really like the walk over to the Wyndham after midnight. The streets
do have people on them, but I thought it would be safer to pop over to a
closer hotel. I did find there was a shortcut through the mall (by Saks) to the
Wyndham latenight (with key access), but the door to the mall was still open
after midnight, and no security was in sight.
We were given free tickets to the New Orleans Aquarium, which is a block or
so away from the casino and the cluster of nearby hotels. It is a great place
and also has some excellent Imax films. The Imax costs extra, BUT if you ask
at the VIP desk at Harrah's, or ask the host, they may give you a free IMAX
ticket too! (Coachvee got one). We asked at the desk and we got IMAX tickets by
paying with points.
It turns out that the VIP desk at Harrah's can book you for Gray Line Tours,
the riverboat, and possibly other tours and maybe even sell you a restaurant
voucher for other restaurants, and you use your points (comps) to pay for them!
We booked 2 tickets on a city tour ($24 each) and used points. I hate to
pay with real money.
Since we also had some extra Besh Restaurant coupons for my husband (from a
separate mailing) and for myself from a different mailing than the original.
We used these for a 3rd free dinner and also a free lunch. The Besh has good
steaks and fish but a very limited menu. Also it is somewhat noisy, due to a
lack of wall into the casino. Ask for a seat in the back. Reservations are
suggested except for lunch (which is only on weekends from 1-3pm). They had a
very good organic salad with pecans, but ran out of pecans on Saturday, which
was too bad (served walnuts, good but not great). They also had some bad
deserts, including a pyramid chocolate cake that everyone hated (and was hard to
cut due to hard chocolate shell). Their homemade ice cream wasn't good either.
They ran out of creme brulee so I couldn't try it. The service was very
friendly, but also very slow. Six of us took 3 hours to eat and even 2 people
asking for faster service took 2 hours. So in a city crammed with great
restaurants, my guess is the Besh isn't the best. But hey, with over $350 in free
food vouchers for Besh, we ate at Besh (we even got some wine and took 1/2 a
bottle home to Vegas).
My suggestion if you get a Besh coupon is to ask at VIP services if they
could substitute a different restaurant.
Also our host was able to book a hotel limo to take us to and from the
airport, and it was 100% on time and waiting for us. (If a host does book for you
though, double check with the bell desk prior to arrival and departure to make
sure everything is correctly booked - this is just common sense.)
Restaurant August was a lot better than Besh and is recommended.
New Orleans has tons to do, and we spent most of our time sightseeing. You
can take a free ferry across the river right next to the Aquarium and then a
free shuttle bus to a museum with Mardi Gras floats-- Mardi Gras World. You can
walk around the French Quarter which is within walking distance of the hotels
and casino. You can take a riverboat, city tour, swamp tours, plantation
tours, and more. There is also a flea market and farmer's market right in the
French Quarter with good buys. We got some dirt cheap feather boas (nice ones)
- 2 for $5 and carnival feather masks 3 for $5. Gris gris dolls, jewelry,
handbags, hats, pecan pralines, and more are also good buys.
Gasoline was a lot lower in New Orleans than Vegas ($1.59 versus 2.09).
We went on a very good city tour which also stops at one of the above-ground
graveyards. The riverboat trip is only so-so, so you might want to spend
limited time on other tours instead. New Orleans is an excellent city for walking
tours as well (on your own or escorted). It also has a nearby excellent art
museum.
For gamblerholics, there are 2 other casinos nearby (one is Ballys) on the
Lake. There is also a D-Day Museum, carriage rides, and more.
Oh, in the Besh steakhouse inside the casino you can see several blue dog
paintings by Louisiana artist George Rodrigue, and his studio is nearby.
We really liked that we could use our points for sightseeing. Also Harrah's
seemed generous with extras such as providing limo service to the airport,
airfare reimbursement, and so on.
Recommended.
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