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5 Days in NoLa Recap [long with handpay]

Discussion in 'Non-Vegas Trip Reports' started by TIMSPEED2, Oct 14, 2016.

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  1. TIMSPEED

    TIMSPEED Money’s on the way, with CashNetUSA

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    My Trip Report

    Warning: LONG!
    So this will just be a recap of our recent New Orleans Trip.
    We flew out of SFO Sunday at 10:40am, and arrived at MSY at 5pm CST (We flew United, with a Boeing 737 on the way there and a Airbus A321 back; I highly recommend the A321 over the 737)
    Once at MSY, we grabbed an Uber to Harrahs New Orleans, for $33.
    We got over to Harrahs and were given a room on the 6th floor; which had a meh view, but the room itself was quite nice, with a separate shower and tub (The tub was HUGE and easily fit both my wife and I, it just needed some jets and it would have been a jacuzzi)
    We had paid $75 per night for the cheapest room available on harrahs website (no resort fees because we're diamond), for Sun-Thur.
    We had alotted $400 for gambling ($100 per night, just to play a little before bed) and $1200 for food and whatever we wanted to buy in NoLa.
    Our first night there, we didn't want to do too much, so we had dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse (Which WE THOUGHT took the $100 diamond celebration dinner voucher; WRONG!) Our bill came to $150 with tip.
    We walked through Harrahs Casino and decided to play our $100 and go to bed early to get rested up for the week ahead.
    We looked around to find some $1 7/5 BP machines, which AREN'T listed in Vpfree (and they WON'T list them either because apparently they're not 99% and not the best paying in $1 denom; But for everything I seen, they ARE the best paying $1 single line machines)
    They're located right in front of Besh Steakhouse. The are the machines we decided that we'd play each night; because they had the best game for us.
    That first night, we went on quite a tear! Off of a single $100 bill, we played 500TC, and cashed out dead even, thanks to EIGHT quads (one of which was small cards).
    Monday morning we woke up, and headed out to try Beignet's at Cafe Beignet (Everyone said it was better than Cafe Du Monde), PLUS we wanted breakfast, and Du Monde ONLY serves coffee and pastries.
    So after breakfast, we caught a free shuttle over to Blaine Kerns Mardi Gras World, which was a TON of fun, getting to see all the floats and props and learn about all the Krewe's/Super Krewe's (apparenrly people pay between $500-$1500 a year to be part of a Krewe, JUST to be able to ride the float and throw trinkets/beads; but the rule is you MUST be masked and CAN NOT get off the float until it's completely over)
    After taking a ton of pictures at Mardi Gras World, we shuttled back over to the French Quarter and walked over to St. Louis Cemetery #1, for a guided tour.
    We did the cemetery tour from SaveOurCemetaries, which was really informative, and we got to see Marie Laveau's tomb.
    From there, we walked back through the French Quarter, and had lunch at Felix's Seafood (I got the crawfish etouffee).
    After lunch, we walked back to Harrahs, to take a little nap, and soak a bit in the nice tub.
    After a room break, we caught an uber over to Haunted History Tours, meeting in the French Quarter at Rev. Zombie's Voodoo shop. This was definitely worth the $25 each we spent! We got to have a guided walking tour around the French Quarter, even seeing the house that the American Horror Story: Coven, was based on. We had a pit stop at Jean Lafitte's Black smith Bar too, where we bought hurricanes in souvenir cups.
    After the Haunted tour, we were hungry, so we grabbed dinner at NOLA PoBoys, which was AMAZING..we had the Roast Beef Debris PoBoy.
    From there, we caught an uber back to Harrahs, and took the $100 from the previous night and tonight's $100 and proceeded to lose it amazingly fast on the $1 7/5 bp machine.
    Tuesday morning, we had a car rented from Hertz for $50 for the next two days...so we walked down 3 blocks to pick it up, and we got a 16 Chevy Sonic hatchback (which we thiught we'd hate, but it wasn't too bad)
    So we headed out for Slidell, to go to Honey Island Swamp Tours; which we JUST BARELY made it in time for the 9am tour!
    The swamp tour was really fun, and we got to see some turtles, cool birds, and even a 10' alligator named BlackJaw. It was on a 20' flatboat, and the capt was feeding the gator hot dogs off a stick!
    After the swamp tour, we were starving like crazy, so we came back to New Orleans and went to Dooky Chase's. I must say, that fried chicken is GOOOOD, but our waitress went on break apparenrly and left us hanging for 30 minutes without anyone ELSE checking on us; so we eventually BEGGED for our check, paid and left ZERO tip)
    We only did this because we were on a tight schedule, to get out to our next destination.
    We drove out to Vacherie, to see Oak Alley Plantation (Wife has always wanted to see it, since its in Interview with the Vampire)
    From Oak Alley we came back into New Orleans, and went to Frenchmen Street to check out the scene, and had dinner at Snug Harbor Jazz Bistro (I got the BBQ shrimp and they were AWESOME!)
    Again, we returned back to Harrahs and took $200 and played our video poker machines...this time they cooperated and we got 475TC off of the $200.
    Wednesday morning, the plan was to drive into Pensacola and also check out Biloxi. So off we headed at 8am, simply grabbing a McDonald's breakfast on the road (because we had a lot planned for the day).
    We arrived in Pensacola Beach around noon, and decided to have lunch at Hooters, because it had a deck that went out onto the beach.
    After lunch, we took our shoes off and walked along the surf and beach. The water was insanely warm compared to the frigid pacific. Also that fine white sand, compared to ours back home, was much nicer to walk in.
    We could have spent the entire DAY there, but we had plans to also check out Biloxi, so we hopped back in the car and headed back on East-I10, towards Biloxi.
    We arrived in Biloxi, and took $300, and found a bank of $1 7/5 BP vp machines, and hit a couple quads, and got to 510TC, but alas, no double-up, but close a couple times (up to $550).
    We decided to eat dinner at Steak & Shake there at Harrahs, because we wanted to try their burgers. They were Ok...but nothing special.
    I have to say, harrahs gulf Coast has a TINY casino, and the diamond lounge is a damn broom closet!
    After dinner we headed over to Beau Rivage, because I had wanted to see it since I read a book on Steve Wynn (Winner take all).
    I must say, I was definitely impressed...but to me Biloxi felt like Reno...a few casinos, but nothing really otherwise...
    So we left Biloxi behind us and drove back into New Orleans.
    Now, we had ALREADY blown our $400 gambling budget PLUS $300 at Biloxi...but I told Kris that we'd take $400 out of the ATM and simply double or nothing, to get us back in line, monetarily.
    We had pretty good luck, getting up $200 quickly with a set of quad ducks...but then it spiraled down to $45, when we got back-to-back full houses, followed by more solid hands to climb back up to $100 and we switched machines..it was good we did too! As not too long later, I had JQKAh dealt to me and because it NEVER usually happens, I didn't even pause for a second, and up popped the beautiful 10h for a Royal Flush!!! Haha and we had talked about the "mandatory" state tax on the flight down too...so we filled out the paperwork and LA kept their $240 share and we had $170 left in the machine, so Kris wanted to go for the big hits, so she switched to 9/5 DDB and hit quad 8s for $250 and got the ticket up to $500 to cash out.

    to be continued, as Im typing this on my phone while we drive down to San Diego... 20161013_012830.jpg
     
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  2. Niteshade

    Niteshade VIP Whale

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    Sounds like a great trip. Congrats on the Royal.
    Enjoying following along. Hope you hit another!
     
  3. 93 Octane

    93 Octane Chief Bottle Washer

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    New Orleans is a great American city rich in history and a culinary Wonderland (top 5 imo), everyone should visit at least twice!
     
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  4. TIMSPEED

    TIMSPEED Money’s on the way, with CashNetUSA

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    So, once we had that that $500 ticket, we consolidated and we had $4260, so I told Kris we could play the $260 in slots..which she did and actually hit a pretty amazing double top dollar hit ($85 x2x2)
    So we played for about 2 more hours on that money, and went to bed with $4000 and 1000TC, haha.
    Thursday was our departing day, so we got late check out at 12pm, and slept every minute of it, haha.
    We got out at 12pm, and bought a 1-day pass for the streetcars, and caught the Riverfront line up to Cafe Du Monde, to try their Beignet's...meh, Cafe Beignet is DEFINITELY better.
    After that snack, we caught the street car back up to St. Charles, and rode that streetcar down to Loyola, to see all the Garden District.
    We headed back to Harrahs to get an early dinner, at Mannings, and grab our luggage and hit an Uber to MSY.
    Hope you enjoyed reading it, sorry it got so long winded...but if you're thinking about taking a trip down to Harrahs NoLa, DEFINITELY DO IT!!
    The casino is lively and decorated neat, an NON SMOKING!!!
    The French Quarter is close by, and there are a ton of fun things to do.
    Ourselves, we can't wait to go again 20161013_021456.jpg
     
  5. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

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    Sounds like you guys had a great time! The royal didn't hurt either!

    Sucks that the best dollar game you found was 7/5 Bonus. Probably cet trying to take advantage of that casino location.

    And did you actually like Tunica more than Biloxi? I know tunica is a gambling wasteland, but Biloxi?
     
  6. TIMSPEED

    TIMSPEED Money’s on the way, with CashNetUSA

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    7/5 Bonus is pretty much par the course for CET, so I'm used to it...they were only FOUR MACHINES, all the rest were 6/5.
    Ehh only maybe because Tunica had Horseshoe and Gold Strike basically connected...but I'd rank them the same...no reason to ever go back (for me; in your case, Tunica is like your Reno, is to me)
     
  7. NewOrleansSlimm

    NewOrleansSlimm VIP Whale

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    as we talked about, you covered way more in a short time than most people, glad you liked it...i was pretty much spot on about Biloxi...you said they were feeding the alligators hot dogs, whats crazy is they really like marshmellows, not sure how they found that out, but its true...for the riding in mardi gras, yep its expensive, you have to pay those dues every year, my girl rides in muses and I think its $900, if your late they have late fees from $50-$250 and if you dont pay those dues, you wont ride in the parade. there is a several year waiting list to get on, you have to attend all the events/balls that they do. then you have to buy all the stuff to throw which is probally close to $1000 minimum, on top of that, hers is famous for shoes, so you have to decorate tons of those. the mask thing only pertains to new orleans, not the surrounding cities. they have people in the crowds all down the parade route looking for anyone who removes the mask or is smoking on the float. they point you out and then fine the krewe.

    by the time you come back, they will have slot machines outside in the valet smoking area, they just got permits and started construction, also they are figuring a new restaurant and kids area on the 2nd floor which is the size of the first floor, just never done anything with besides storage

    Come back anytime
     
  8. Dr Nostron

    Dr Nostron VIP Whale

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    Love Nola and the gulf coast - nice report!
     
  9. jENBEAU

    jENBEAU VIP Whale

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    Great TR! Thanks!
     
  10. Jejas

    Jejas VIP Whale

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    Nice report and great hit on the royal.
    So, now you are officially over-royalled.
     
  11. bjpcyclone

    bjpcyclone High-Roller

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    Great report. I was at Harrah's NO for a few hours a couple of weeks ago while I was at a conference there. Casino is a tad small and typical crappy CET VP paytables but I liked it. I was talking with the bartender about the light system in Vegas and he had no idea what it was. He said he'd quit if it came to NO because his tips would go way down...
     
  12. Richard Alpert

    Richard Alpert LOST

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    Nice TR! Congrats on the royal and other highlights!

    RICHARD
     
  13. TIMSPEED

    TIMSPEED Money’s on the way, with CashNetUSA

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    I thiught just the opposite..the casino was fairly large...Harrahs Gulf Coast is TINY...
     
  14. BayouBengal

    BayouBengal VIP Whale

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    Did you have anyone come up to you and ask "I bet I know where you got dem shoes?"
     
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  15. Dr Nostron

    Dr Nostron VIP Whale

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    Yeah I would not classify casino as "small" at all
     
  16. NewOrleansSlimm

    NewOrleansSlimm VIP Whale

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    same thing i was thinking... HGC is 35,000sqft shoebox, HNO is 115,000sqft, 2,100 slot machines, over 90 table games and a poker room, night club, ect
     
  17. TIMSPEED

    TIMSPEED Money’s on the way, with CashNetUSA

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    No but I wished I did! lol
    We had a shuttle driver that took us over to Mardi Gras World..and I couldn't figure out his dialect...then I realized, he was speaking jive! (ala: AIRPLANE! movies) lol
     
  18. BayouBengal

    BayouBengal VIP Whale

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    It's your California ears. Haha. I grew up in Louisiana. I probably wouldn't have even noticed the accent or dialect. Do they still have the ferry that takes you to Algiers? That's the only way I've ever gone to get to that part of the West Bank (aka the wank).
     
  19. NewOrleansSlimm

    NewOrleansSlimm VIP Whale

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    the ferry is still there but it was taking over by a private company and no longer carries cars, just pedestrians and bikes, also cut the hours it runs, a complete waste
     
  20. spicole

    spicole No shirt, no shoes... NO DICE!

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    Thanks for the trip report! I think you barely scratched the surface of NOLA.

    I do think that Harrah's in NOLA is decent, with a good poker room, and I love love LOVE the fact that it is now non-smoking.

    New Orleans and Las Vegas are two cities that are completely unlike any other city in the US.
     
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