Trip to the Beau Rivage in Biloxi

This was our first trip back to the Beau since 2004 (pre-Katrina) and our 3rd overall. We loved the casino, the rooms and what they’ve done w/ the high end restaurants! If any of you have been there before the storm, I think it's even nicer now... Steve Wynn made this place just like a mini Bellagio w/ much more reasonable (in cost) restaurants, beautiful views of the Gulf of Mexico from your room and a more tropical pool area (than Bellagio).

I’ll start w/ a little side story: The trip started out w/ a little entertainment by some lovely couple at about 5:45 am on Sunday. Not unlike Las Vegas, you always see some drunken young folks still up from the night before on Sat & Sun mornings. I’m an early riser anyway but I usually am up earlier the 1st day… this trip was no different, I was up about 5:15 on Sunday and slept till about 6:30 the rest of the days. We usually hit the rack about 11pm. So anyway… I’m up before the Roasted Bean opens so I figure I’ll head to the Breeze Bar for some VP and a coffee. There’s about 6 or so young partiers from the night before and to my right is a guy playing VP yelling back and forth to his friends on the other side. They are funny as shit to listen to and the guy next to me was a good enough guy… we chat a bit and I laugh at how I was an ignoramus like that when I was young. He mentioned that he was going top spend Fathers day drinking beer w/ his Dad and playing guitar out on the porch… Hmmm…. I “am†in the south huh? Anyway, to his right is a guy about 25 talking w/ a lady that looks to be about early 30’s (maybe younger but just rode hard?). Out of the blue comes this gal’s boyfriend and mentions something about talking to his girl… and then he sucker punches the younger guy. Well… young guy is about 6’3 and 240 w/ zero fat on him and drunk guy w/ the lovely (??) lady is about 6’ and 170… next thing I know, I hear chairs and tables going everywhere behind me and the young guy is giving the "sucker puncher" an ass whipping like he’s probably never had… well, maybe as stupid as he was, it may have been a week or two. The bartender says to me and the other young guy next to me “don’t get involvedâ€. I’m thinking… “yea right… like that was the first thing that came to my mind on the 1st day of vacationâ€â€¦lol ..anyway, the security guys come running over and pull them apart and the guy that got punched was actually pretty good about it considering the circumstances. Sucker puncher guy was trying to find his bearings and was wiping the blood off of his mouth… he says to the security guy “I think I’m OKâ€â€¦ like anybody really was concerned. He was lucky the young guy was drunk and they broke it up or he would’ve been making a visit to the local hospital. The young guy looks at the lady like WTF were you thinking and lovely lady says “I really was going to break up w/ him tonight because he hits me sometimes and always gambles my money awayâ€. I’m thinking, these two are made for each other… and yes... again, "I am in the south"....lol

So… the rest of the trip was uneventful in comparison but here’s a few of the highlights:

We went to the pool everyday for about 4 hours and it was beautiful… a few too many screaming kids for our liking (our daughter is 21 and we figure we’ve done enough of those trips) so we’ll probably be planning any future trips in the fall & spring while the curtain climbers are in school, just like we do for Vegas.

We had a very beautiful room that looked out over the gulf and the Hard Rock (HR will be opening 7/7/07) looking east. The only thing I’d like to find out is if they have any rooms (other than suites) that have double sinks.

Gambling consisted of a lot of VP (mostly DDB) and Pai Gow Poker & Roulette for a fun break and more social games. We ended up down but did bring back approx. ½ of our gambling allowance due to a $2K RF on Wed morning and some 4OAK Aces on Thursday. They ended up comping the room and all food and booze so it was a pretty good trip over all (cost wise)… we took some cash back mid trip so I didn’t have exact totals but I think we had about 30,000 points between us.

Eating was fantastic…The Coast Saturday night, Olives Sunday, Memphis Q on Monday, back to Olives on Tues, BR Prime on Wed and back to Olives (again) on Thursday… yea, we kind of liked Olives Breakfast was either at the café or an early lunch from the pool bar. We’re not big on buffets but did try it on Thursday and it was very good.

This is the fist time I played mostly DDB (just really discovered it on our last trip to Las Vegas) and (IMO) I’ve determined that in order to give yourself a chance at being successful in this game you need to bankroll it for a minimum of 400 credits.

We used the Hotard Van (local bus/van service to the casion/hotels) to & from the airport but will probably use a taxi next time or try and talk the host into setting us up w/ a pick up from the hotel. Arriving in the parking garage basement was not the classiest way to start your vacation..lol I figured if we play enough for them to give us RFB, the limo shouldn’t be a big deal. That’s what we used to get thru our old host when we alaways stayed at the Mirage, who is really a sweet lady.

That’s about all I can think of… oh yea, we did go out to Club Tiki (they turn the pool area into a big Tiki Party every Thurday in the summer) for a while on Thursday night and although it was a very cool set up, the ba-boom, ba-boom music wasn’t our thing… I thought it was going to be some good Reggae, Jimmy Buffet and Beach Music like they were playing during the day while setting up…. silly me

We will always love Las Vegas but this is a nice diversion for us w/ a MUCH shorter flight (1 hr & 15 min from Va Beach/Norfolk to Atlanta and 1 hr from Atlanta to Gulfport/Biloxi).

Dino

 

Sounds great Dean....
Glad you had a good time. My daughter & her family just moved there & she said that casino/hotel was beautiful. Her hubby just retired from the Navy & they were stuck in south Texas for 4 years & all the casinos in the area will fill her needs until 2008 when she gets to return to LV. Thanks for the info!

 

Thanks for the report Dean. I haven't been back to Biloxi since the hurricane.
We use to do the casino junkets out of Tampa. What other casinos are up & running ? Is the area all cleaned up now ? How is the re-building going ?

 

Sunni... we didn't venture out too much as we were quite at home at the BR I do know that the new IP http://www.ipbiloxi.com is open and the Hard Rock (next door to the BR) is opening on July 7th. There's a few others too like the Grand that are open but I'm not too familiar w/ them. Most of the damage seemed to have been from the beach about 5 blocks back and there is still a lot of emtpy lots w/ a foundation and stairs leading up to nothing. But I do know that the BR was one of if not the 1st resort to re-open and they love to see you coming to stay... I think they were one of the largest employers post Katrina. There's also a deal w/ Jimmy Buffet and Harrah's to build a Margaritaville Resort in Biloxi that is going to be Carribean themed. I posted a link to it a few weeks ago under "non Vegas chat".

 

I responded on the Biloxi board, but thanks again for the interesting trip report. About Biloxi, the casinos open are: Grand Biloxi, Palace, Isle of Capri, Treasure Bay, Boomtown, Imperial Palace, Beau Rivage and soon to open is the Hard Rock. In Gulfport, there is the Island View casino which was formerly the Gulfport Grand. The IV just opened an expansion which also has an Emerils Restaurant. If you are interested in more information about Biloxi, I invite you to visit the EZ Board Biloxi board.

http://pub120.ezboard.com/bbiloxione

 

I have been to Biloxi to venture to Keesler AFB, and only had a chance to look at the casinos from the outside pre katrina, as well I was only about 18 at the time. I dont recall exactly, but how is it set up there is it like a mini strip, I know they are all offshore and you get there by some sort of boardwalk, are taxi's the best way to get around, is it possible to walk to other casinos on foot or is it like you book a room you pretty much headquarter out of that casino resort for the stay, and venture off to others as you wish but its not like right across the street, being from Tampa, this sounds like a possible nice side trip I might look into, turn into an Airshow vacation next time they have an airshow in town.

 

Nice report.

 

Coast casinos on land

USFMD82, the casinos can now be on dry land in Mississippi ( on the Gulf Coast ). They can't be more than 800 feet from the water though. This went into effect after Katrina and because of Katrina. Most of the re-opened casinos are now land based on the coast. The casinos on the Mississippi river ( Natchez, Vicksburg, Tunica, etc. ) still have to be on water.

David

 

Great report. We were thinking about making a run up to PH tomorrow morning. They are unoficially opening 30 Jun at 10am. But we figured why fight the crowds. The locals will have it figured out. We are going to check it out soon though.

Thanks for posting Dean!

 

John you have Dale and I talking about going up to Biloxi now. Between you and a poster on another board I think I am hooked on the idea!! Thanks for the TR. Is Olive's another Todd English Restaurant? We didn't love the one at Bellagio.

 

Ann...I sent you guys a mail w/ some BR details

 

Sounfed like a good fight! i guess this means that Brittney is giving up on the idea of getting back with Kev then! LOL
Doug and Patty

 

Huh Britney and Kev? I dont get it..

So how close in proximity are these casinos to each other, is it a hike to get to them or is it walking distance?

 

Does anybody know of any offers for BR? January 2008?