1. Welcome to VegasMessageBoard
    It appears you are visiting our community as a guest.
    In order to view full-size images, participate in discussions, vote in polls, etc, you will need to Log in or Register.

3/18-3/20: Piff the Magic Dragon weekend at the Borgata AC

Discussion in 'Non-Vegas Trip Reports' started by lithium78, Mar 20, 2016.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. lithium78

    lithium78 VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Sep 8, 2013
    Messages:
    1,442
    Location:
    New Jersey
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    5

    My Trip Report

    Just got back from a terrific weekend at the Borgata in AC. Typically, we only go to CET casinos to earn comps we can also use in Vegas, but Piff the Magic Dragon of "America's Got Talent" fame brought his Vegas show to the Borgata, so we bought tickets and used teaser comps they sent us for playing a little bit there on a day trip last summer.

    Here's how the trip went:

    3/18:

    Arrived around 3 pm and easily checked into the Water Club, which is the Borgata's premium tower. There was basically no line. Meanwhile, there was a very long line to get into the Borgata classic tower. Score. Checked with the front desk to make sure that the complimentary bottle of wine we were supposed to get as a My Vegas reward was being sent to the room. They confirmed that it was being sent up, so I went to the My Borgata desk to get my other rewards. I cashed in some my My Vegas loyalty points for a Borgata paperweight with a $500 fake casino chip, $10 slot play, a BOGO sandwich at Bread + Butter sandwich shop, and a BOGO for the buffet.

    20160318_160505.jpg

    Word of advice. If you already have two comp buffets on your My Borgata account, wait until after you use them to get the BOGO buffet passes from My Vegas. This really confused their system for some reason and I had to wait around at the buffet while they sorted things out on the phone. Just use one and then get the other to avoid headaches. The Borgata seems to have a lot of trouble with My Vegas rewards, which I'll discuss more later.

    The buffet was delicious. I wouldn't have paid $72 for two people, but for free it's definitely worth it. We appreciated that they had tons of seafood for Friday, since we're Catholic and it's Lent right now.

    After dinner, my wife went upstairs to relax and watch some TV and I hit the slots. It was mystery slot bonus day so I put in my card and my guaranteed $40 turned out to be $60 plus my $10 bonus from My Vegas. Score. I decided to try something a little different this time and I played quarter slots at $1.25/spin instead of dollar slots at $5/spin. I wasn't getting any big hits like I sometimes do with dollar slots, but holy crap, I was getting comp points like crazy. The first night there, I earned about $40 in comp dollars. I realized at that point that if I was playing this level at CET, I would easily be able to make Diamond in a Day. So that's what I'm going to do for my convention trip in May to Harrah's.

    Some pretty decent hits for quarter slots:

    20160318_185533.jpg
    $80

    20160318_185627.jpg
    $40

    20160318_191828.jpg
    $375

    I played about four hours that first night before heading to bed around 10 pm like an old person.

    3/19:

    We got up early for a weekend and got some breakfast at Starbuck's before heading to the Water Club's spa Immersion for a 10 am deep tissue massage appointment. The masseuse commented that my shoulders were a mess, which is true. My job is really stressful, plus I'm an athlete in my free time. She did a great job of working out my knots. Terrific tension release. After that, my wife and I spent about 5 hours enjoying the rest of the spa like the steam room and sauna, hot tub, lap pool, and lounge. The lounge with the hot tub and lap pool is co-ed and has a beautiful view of the marina and boardwalk skyline overlooking the Atlantic Ocean from the 32nd floor (or something like that.) It looked terrific. I did lots and lots of laps for some exercise and we had a really relaxing time. Highly recommend the place.

    We took a break to get lunch at Bread + Butter which at the time seemed like a good choice because we had the BOGO reward from My Vegas, but it ended up being a real problem later on. More on this later.

    We went for an early dinner at the buffet at around 4 pm to try to avoid the Saturday evening rush, but we still got stuck in a long line anyway. Even the black card line was pretty long. When we got up to the counter, we ran into a problem with the BOGO buffet reward from My Vegas, because their computer system was all screwed up, but the employee at the register was awesome. She called the My Borgata desk and while they couldn't fix the issue they offered us a $50 comp instead, which turned out to be worth more than the actual buffet. So we got two more buffets for free as a result. Nice. The employee also moved us to the front of the black card line because getting it sorted out took so long. Top quality service. It was wonderful.

    After dinner, we caught Piff the Magic Dragon's show and it was as hilarious as you can imagine. He did variations of his tricks from "America's Got Talent" plus some new ones and had a good time making fun of Criss Angel and most of the audience. We were in stitches the whole time. After the show, Piff stuck around to sign autographs and take photos with everyone and my wife even got to hold his "magic chihuahua" Mr. Piffles. My wife made friends with his stage assistant, because they both shop for dresses at Tatyana's at the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood in Vegas.

    I'd put up the photo of us with PIff the Magic Dragon but my eyes look all weird, so I'll let my wife do her Photoshop magic on it first and then post it later.

    After the show, I hit the slots again, while my wife went back up to the room to relax. On my second night of slots, I discovered the magic of the quarter slots Quick Hits machines. Man, I made that game last for freaking ever. I probably played another four hours on only about three hundred bucks and pounding that button like a madman. I was getting bonus rounds with re-triggers and quick hit jackpots like crazy, man.

    [​IMG]
    $50

    [​IMG]
    $132

    [​IMG]
    $108.50

    [​IMG]
    $106.25

    I went back up to my room around 12:30 am or so. Another fun night in the casino.

    3/20:

    We got up this morning around 8:30 because we were really tired and got breakfast at the Borgata Bakery, which was okay, but nothing really all that more special than Starbuck's next door. I checked my total earned comps for the weekend: $63 in comps and $31 in slot dollars. Not too shabby. That's the equivalent of about 6300 tier credits with CET or about $31500 coin-in. Total real loss: $600. That is almost perfectly in line with my expected loss of $631 with my rate of play. So now I know how I'm going to play on my May trip to Harrah's to try to finally get Diamond.

    The only real problem we had on this trip was check-out and that's because of two issues:

    1.) Bread + Butter screwed up entering my BOGO sandwich reward from My Vegas and charged me for two sandwiches anyway. It was weird because the receipt from Bread + Butter was right, but the checkout computer was charging me the wrong price anyway. Rather than do what anybody at a hotel would normally do and just adjust the amount at checkout, the manager forced me to walk all the way from the desk across the entire casino to Bread + Butter, wait in line to talk to the manager there, get told that the manager there couldn't do anything about it, and then go back to the desk where the desk manager finally removed the charge. It took about a half hour and my wife had to wait in the lobby with our luggage the entire time. Terrible customer service. It really pissed me off.

    2.) The valet people seem to have trouble knowing how to do their job. We went to the valet desk with our ticket and we were waiting for them to return with the car. After a really long time, we noticed that our car was pulled up alongside the wall outside with no one in sight. We went outside and had to search around for the valet, because they apparently didn't think it was important to come inside and let us know the car was ready. They tried to say they looked for us, but we knew that was a lie because we were sitting there waiting the entire time. No tip for them.

    Overall, though, we had a great time. The Borgata is clearly the class of Atlantic City. Caesars could learn a lot from them how to offer some luxury. I noticed that the Borgata is currently running two shows -- the Borgata Comedy Club and the Variety show -- during the week and they have special shows every weekend. Meanwhile, Caesars has two shows over the past two months on only two weekends and nothing on weekdays. It reminds me of how things were with the Showboat shortly before CET closed the place down. This does not bode well for CET's future in Atlantic City. Glad I am building a relationship with the Borgata in case CET completely collapses from their bankruptcy.
     
    Last edited: Mar 20, 2016
  2. hearRN

    hearRN Tourist

    Joined:
    Oct 20, 2013
    Messages:
    20
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    15
    What a nice trip report. Congrats on the nice hits. Just a bit of advice on those Quick Hits machines....they can be your best friend OR your worst enemy! I've seen both! There are some trips where those QH machines are like an ATM others they suck the life out of you! lol

    I too had some issues with the MyRewards redemptions but as you said, they took care of it and are a true class operation when it comes to satisfying the customer.

    I love that they have entertainment during the week, it breaks things up and reminds me of days gone by where every casino had something going on everyday of the week.

    If you do get to be Diamond don't forget to upgrade to Black at Borgata. You get the buffet for $10 comps (additional guest is also $10 in comps) You can also gain access to the Amphora Lounge and if you think the buffet is good, just think of the buffet with top shelf liquor drinks! So worth the $10 comp access for you and a guest!

    Just a bit of a note. I joined the Founders Card and for $375 per year, one of the perks is Diamond Status with CET, best money I ever spent. Didn't have to pay resort fees in Vegas, $100 diamond dinner AND I was able to upgrade at the Borgata Black. You know how much that would have cost me in "coin-in"? You can PM me if you have any questions.

    Again, thanks for sharing!

    Michelle
     
  3. smerrian

    smerrian View from Bally's

    Joined:
    Apr 22, 2014
    Messages:
    8,331
    Location:
    South Jersey
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    50
    Great trip report. I play at Har-AC and Borg, also. I play at Har until I have diamond and then move my play over to Borg for the $10comp buffets for my husband and myself.
     
  4. ngrund

    ngrund High-Roller

    Joined:
    Jun 12, 2012
    Messages:
    862
    Location:
    Huntington Station, NY
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    25
    re: myVegas, i had no problem on Fri redeeming the paperweight, a match play, the $10 slot play and the 2 for1 buffet. the slot play was on my card, and I used the match play and buffet this morning, the only issue is that I also purchased the 2for sandwich which I didn't redeem, but i don't see a way to cancel it to get my LP's back,, nbd.
     
  5. Mooda

    Mooda Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Nov 24, 2014
    Messages:
    166
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    35
    Great trip report. I Haven't had any problems redeeming my vegas rewards at Bread and Butter. But I've heard thru friends the Borgata is still working out the kinks of this new program. I totally agree Borgata is the model to look up to in AC. CET pay attention. Whatever Borgata is doing WORKS!!
     
  6. Jerseyguy

    Jerseyguy MIA

    Joined:
    Sep 6, 2011
    Messages:
    2,766
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    10
    Borgata is where the money people I know play mostly. If I read the report right, you lost $600 but the comps and points you got made up for it ?? Now you have to excuse my ignorance about this stuff because I'm strictly a low-roller but you didnt seem upset about the $600 loss but were annoyed about not getting the free sandwich?
     
  7. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2013
    Messages:
    31,220
    Location:
    Chicagoland
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    28
    Nice report! And everything I read, Borgata is far above the rest. They are helping keep AC afloat.
     
  8. spdandpwr

    spdandpwr VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Feb 25, 2016
    Messages:
    3,843
    Location:
    East Coast
    Borgata nearly doubles the revenue of any casino in AC. Crazy how they've been able to do that. That said, Harrahs, given it's size, yields a lot of cash too. So CET isn't completely lost. Also, relatively speaking, the casino floor at Ceasars is tiny and is in dire need of an overhaul. Heck, even Ballys is better and Tropicana is wayyyy better. Once, the North Jersey casinos get rejected (crosses fingers), CET will be in a sound position to reinvest on their boardwalk properties.
     
  9. lithium78

    lithium78 VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Sep 8, 2013
    Messages:
    1,442
    Location:
    New Jersey
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    5
    Who cares about $600 in gambling losses. That's a lot less than I usually lose playing slots. It's called gambling not stock investing. You are supposed to lose your money. That's how casinos stay in business. Anybody who says otherwise is either a liar or a casino marketing executive (but I repeat myself.)
     
  10. ant1433

    ant1433 Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Sep 5, 2005
    Messages:
    261
    Location:
    nj
    I actually like Caesars over Bally's. Bally's feels old and outdated. I also like the 2nd floor is non smoking as well. No where near as nice as the Borg or Harrah's but not as bad as Bally's IMHO. Love the bartenders in the Diamond Lounge as well:beer:
     
  11. Loverboy

    Loverboy Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Feb 21, 2016
    Messages:
    150
    Location:
    Long Beach,Indiana
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    16
    Nice report ...Borgata does rock property wise
     
  12. Grid

    Grid Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 17, 2011
    Messages:
    3,484
    Location:
    Chicago
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    31
    I dont want to speak for the OP but you gamble your money knowing all too well you are risking it. You might be sad if you lost but you knew the risk going in. Redeeming an offer should be easy. Standing in line while someone helps figure out just what went wrong is, well, annoying. Since you didnt expect that outcome going in to it.

    As for loosing $600. The gamblers mentality says you just "invested $600" to gain a $300 room for free for a couple of nights. Not annoying, just not the outcome anyone hopes for.

    Great Report BTW!
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.