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Council Bluffs

Discussion in 'Non-Vegas Trip Reports' started by JR Swift, Jul 16, 2016.

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  1. JR Swift

    JR Swift VIP Whale

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    My Trip Report

    Took my parents on an overnight trip to Council Bluffs this past. My room was comped but I paid for theirs. We visited all 3 casinos, starting with a trip to the Horseshoe . Horseshoe is a good sized casino. We ate at the buffet there for lunch. It isn't spectacular but I like it. Half a dozen stations and everything I had was good. Dessert is excellent. All 3 of us had good luck gambling.

    Around 4, we headed to Harrah's Council Bluffs. Rooms were nice enough. Mine had a good view of the river and downtown Omaha. Theirs faced the adjacent golf course. We played for a few hours with little success and then had the dinner buffet which only cost 777 RC's. Wasn't great but filled the tank and was cheap.

    Folks and I both had a good hit which cushioned the blow of an otherwise rough night. Machines there have an option to order a drink. First time I tried it, I had a beer in 5 minutes. The second time, no one came for a good 15 minutes. When they did, they apologized and comped my drink. Overall, visiting Council Bluffs turned out pretty well. Stopped into Ameristar for an hour or two before leaving town. No good fortune but pretty nice casino.

    Overall, Council Bluffs has pretty nice casinos but I think we were fortunate to make out as well as we did. Rooms were nice and comfortable. Food was cheap and pretty good. Not worth a special trip but not bad for an overnight visit.
     
  2. JJLV

    JJLV High-Roller

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    Thanks for sharing. I get offers for CB all the time. Thought about a few times but never plunged. Nice to hear you enjoyed it.
     
  3. cvkelz

    cvkelz Extremely Low Roller- like, I barely roll at all.

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    Nice report!
     
  4. dmr

    dmr Registered Abuser

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    I live just southwest of the Omaha metro area so I visit the casinos semi regularly, usually on the weekends and we have an off-again on-again breakfast club that does the buffet, currently Ameristar.

    Yes, Horseshoe is the largest and nicest, casino wise, but they took out many of the machines I like and replaced them with so-called penny slots that cost the better part of a dollar for minimum. They also cut back on their live entertainment. They used to have bands on Friday and Saturday, but now it's Saturday only, and the ones I've seen lately have been more so-so than great.

    The buffet, food-wise, is usually very good with the best selection of the three. It has all of the ambiance of a high school cafeteria, however, except for 1000 kids yelling and throwing things. The coffee shop (more like a large snack bar with an extended menu) is actually not bad at all. Their video poker, lately, should be titled "$20 dollar bill eater" and not VP! :(

    Ameristar has the best selection of machines I like, and I usually do the best there of all three. Their buffet is usually very good and much more relaxing in terms of atmosphere, but not as much selection as Horseshoe.

    Harrah's is, well, there. :) They used to have a fairly large three-deck riverboat but they moved the casino to the old convention area and sent the boat to the scrap yard, literally. They used to actually do daily cruises, with the Coast Guard supervising. They would steam up river just past downtown, then turn around and go back and re-dock. They would let kids on for that, but not in the casino areas of course. The new casino is smallish with not much of anything I like to play. The buffet is very Obut nothing to go out of your way for. They do have an excellent lineup of concerts on kind of an outdoor grove "Stir Cove." That's the one redeeming feature. Oh, don't plan on leaving the casino area right when a concert gets out! Major traffic tie-up.
     
  5. Richard Alpert

    Richard Alpert LOST

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    Thanks for the report, JR Swift! Sounds like you had a great time with your folks!

    RICHARD
     
  6. JR Swift

    JR Swift VIP Whale

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    Interesting note for people living in the Omaha area: If you swipe your card at both the Horseshoe and Harrah's on the same gambling day, they give you 100 tier credits. It said you could do this 6 times a month so you could technically earn 7200 tier credits a year this way. Probably not something that will last but a pretty good bonus.
     
  7. dmr

    dmr Registered Abuser

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    Oh really? I'll have to try this and see if it works. Might be worth swinging by Harrah's on the way.
     
  8. JR Swift

    JR Swift VIP Whale

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    The 100 tier credits hit my account today. First of the month, just like it said in the small print.
     
  9. dmr

    dmr Registered Abuser

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    Do you just have to swipe at the kiosk or do you need to actually play at both? Is this for everyone or just Diamond?
     
  10. JR Swift

    JR Swift VIP Whale

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    The signage did not mention play being required. Of course, consistent swiping without any play is going to screw up your ADT, I would pretty much guarantee a swipe is going to generate a "gaming day." Oh...and it was for any cardholder. Again, I can't tell you how long this promotion has been going on or if it is still going on. I would call or email before I made a special trip.
     
  11. addicted

    addicted High-Roller

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    DMR did you get a chance to try swiping your card at both locations?

    I usually play at horseshoe, but this could be worth the trip for a lowly gold member like me.
     
  12. dmr

    dmr Registered Abuser

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    Ya know, I totally spaced it off. I'll (try to) remember this Saturday.
     
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