Atlantic City: Vegas of the East

As you know, I spent my New Years on the shores of Atlantic City, NJ with my good friends Curt and Diana.  On New Years Eve, we met up with 6 other friends and had a fabulous time bringing in the new year.  Since I already documented the drunken happenings of that celebration, I'd like to take some time speaking generally about Atlantic City and what it has to offer.

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Timeframe: As I mentioned in my Las Vegas post, it is always debatable how much time is needed when spending time in a city that boasts gambling as its cornerstone.  However, when it's warmer out, Atlantic City has a bit more to offer than just gambling.  For instance, you can take in the Boardwalk scene, stopping at a myriad of stores, eateries and candy shops.  You can also take in the Steel Pier in front of the Taj Majal.  The Steel Pier, which originally opened up in 1898, was famous in its heydey for showcasing the nation's most famous entertainers.  After a 17 year hiatus, Steel Pier reopened in 1993 and now offers patrons 24 rides, many games, snacks and affordable helicopter rides.  If you're also brave enough to bear the cold Atlantic Ocean, you can also of course take in the beach itself.  If without a beach chair, the city's website indicates that there are a number of stands offering daily chair rentals.

To be fair, I should warn you all to stay in the more busy/populated areas of the Boardwalk, because it has some more seedy, run-down areas that should be avoided.

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Flight options: Atlantic City is home to a small airport (code ACY).  There are only a few well-known airlines that serve the airport, namely AirTran and Spirit.  Spirit actually offers a non-stop flight from Boston to Atlantic City at reasonably priced fares.  In fact, I actually just saw a fare on Bing for $85 round-trip.  The airport offers parking for $1 per hour ($13 max) and is about a 20 minute drive to the casinos.  For more flight options, you could also choose to fly into Philadelphia airport and make the one-hour drive to Atlantic City.  Newark airport is about a two-hour drive.

Hotel options: There are a variety of casino/resorts in which to stay in Atlantic City, including Bally's, Caesars, Showboat, Tropicana, Trump Taj Majal, Trump Marina, Trump Plaza, Harrah's and the Borgata.  The general consensus seems to be that the most updated hotels are Harrah's and the Borgata. As I told you in the NYE post, our friends Curt and Diana were able to score the most amazing deal ever for us at Harrah's for the weekend.

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Harrah's atrium on the way to the front desk

To remind you all, our room in Bayview tower was clean and spacious, especially considering the price! The highlight for me was the large bathroom which had both a standing shower and large whirlpool bathtub.

Having spent our first night celebrating the new year at Harrah's, we were eager to venture out to a new spot on our second night.  Since Curt and Diana think so highly of the Borgata, we happily jumped in the car and made the 5 minute drive.

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Borgata lobby

Our plan was to grab dinner and do some gambling, but we took our time reveling in all of the ornate displays.  It is definitely the nicest casino I've walked through in the city.  They had a great winter display which I believe they update with each season.

Restaurants: There are a number of restaurants in all of the casinos I mentioned above.  Curt and Diana spoke highly of a number of restaurants at the Tropicana.  They also mentioned that McCormick and Schmick's was great for seafood. On this occasion and being in the mood for some asian fusion, our radar was permanently set on eating at izakaya at the Borgata.

The restaurant was dimly light and highlighted a number of sexy geishas throughout.  I thought it was a really cool vibe.

We ordered a number of small plates, including edamame, kobe beef fried rice, chicken robatayaki and a few choice specialty maki rolls.

Nightlife: Each of the casinos boast nightclubs that (at least on the internet surface) seem to be popular.  I can attest first hand that the Pool After Dark at Harrah's is a great time.  Other popular clubs include mur.mur at the Borgata, Game On! & dusk at Caesars and Casbah at the Taj Majal.

Overall, if you're looking for a getaway that isn't overly expensive and you do not have expectations for a 5-star resort, I would recommend spending a weekend in Atlantic City sometime.  Stay at the Borgata or Harrah's, enjoy good food & drink, take in the spa, do some gambling and check out the Boardwalk with friends in good weather.  Having been to Vegas, I would still rank the debauchery there as more fun, but Atlantic City is definitely better than its occasional reputation as its ugly step sister of the East.

Counting Down to 2011 by The Pool

I was so happy to arrive in Atlantic City for our New Years celebration!  I was giddy as we checked into Harrahs a little before 3pm and made our way to our room in Bayview Tower.  It was also great to see that the room was nice, highlighted by a huge bathroom.

Despite how genuinely nice the room was, it felt that much nicer knowing that we got the best deal in the city.  You see, rooms in Atlantic City at all the major Casinos (Harrahs, Borgata, Taj, Caesars, Tropicana, etc.) go for $699 per night on New Years Eve.  However, Curt happened to be on Harrahs website in November and noted rooms for $69.99.  Not stopping to even think about it, he booked a number of rooms and told all his close friends that they should go on and get a room themselves.  The very next day, Harrahs phoned Curt telling him there had been a pricing mistake on the website for a short period of time the day before and that they'd be willing to comp him 2 free rooms if he would just give up his room on NYE.  Clearly, they forgot to enter an extra "9"!  Curt decided to give up one of the rooms he reserved in exchange for a free night on New Years Day and another one at his leisure.  What this all means is that we shared a room with Curt/Diana for the full New Years weekend all for $40 per couple!  Insane right?!

That evening, our room served as the central point for pre-gaming.  Our table went from fairly well stocked....

 ....to a fully stocked bar.

Before we left for the night, I noticed the hotel's cute twist to the typical "Do Not Disturb" sign and wondered just how true it would be for us the next day....

Already feeling a little lit up after pregaming, the 10 of us headed down to The Pool Bar.  Due to the large dome overhead, The Pool is touted by Harrahs as an "indoor oasis".  By day, one can take a dip and grab lunch and a cocktail.  

By night, the pool turns into The Pool After Dark, where guests can reserve private cabanas and hot tubs.  We opted for a standard ticket, which included entry, free h'orderves from 7:30pm-9:00pm, open premium bar from 9:00pm - midnight and complimentary champagne at midnight.   

I was loving the atmosphere and snapped a bunch of pictures right away.  Good thing I documented early and often since things got sloppy fairly quickly.

The h'orderve menu included:

• Sushi (California Roll, Spicy Tuna Roll, Philly Roll)
• Mediterranean Tapas
• Sliders (turkey w/ granny smith apple and onion compote on whole wheat rolls; crab cake sliders w/ red brick remoulade on sour dough rolls; angus sliders w/ cave aged cheddar on mini kaisers)
• Strozzapreti in Grey Goose vodka sauce w/ crispy pancetta
• Fusilli in black garlic and EVOO w/ micro chicken meatballs
• Orange and miso glazed crispy chicken w/ jasmine rice

Everything I tried was very yummy! I was glad we got there early enough to enjoy.

There is a balcony section to The Pool that we scoped out.  Unfortunately, everything seemed reserved so we decided to head back downstairs to stake out a spot close to one of the Grey Goose open bar stands.

We did successfully claim a spot by one of the stands, which is where we spent the majority of the night.  We had a great bartender that always seemed to have our choice drinks ready for us before we could even spout out the order.

Unfortunately for us, all of this meant that we went from sober-to-slightly buzzed people to out of their mind drunk people.

Me and Dave, BEFORE

Me and Dave, AFTER

The ladies, BEFORE

The ladies, AFTER

Curt and Diana, BEFORE

Curt and Diana, AFTER

The guys, BEFORE

Some of the guys, AFTER

Even though I was all a bit gray to me, I did manage to snap a picture of the countdown.  Seriously, what is it about open bar that just causes you to go nuts?!

I hope you all had a great time ringing in the new year!  Hopefully for you, it didn't result in the massive, next-day hangover like mine did!  Here's to a fabulous 2011!

Aboard the Acela

Due to snowcumstances, Dave and I found ourselves catching the 7:15am Acela train in our efforts to get to Atlantic City for New Years.

Making this departure time involved taking the 5:45am commuter rail from Salem to North Station.  Dave doesn't do too well with extremely early wake-up calls, so I pretty much had this scene on my hands for most of our high-speed journey down the Northeast Corridor.

I really didn't mind my long-snoozing boyfriend because I found myself well entertained with documenting the trip and checking out the amenities.

We rode in one of the Business Class cars that was adjoined with the Cafe Acela car.  Being the first stop at South Station, we scored one of the seats with a full table.  If you cannot grab one of these, you will still have access to a tray table (similar to those found in airplanes).  I was also thrilled to find out that I had access to two electrical outlets right at my seat.  I happily plugged in my laptop and connected to the free Wi-Fi on board.

If you are taking the train from start to finish, you will be onboard for a total of 7 hours and will depart at Union Station in Washington DC (WAS).  Union Station is the 15th stop, after service to the following:

• Boston - Back Bay (BBY)
• Westwood, MA - Route 128 (RTE)
• Providence, RI (PVD)
• New London, CT (NLC)
• New Haven, CT (NHV)
• Stamford, CT (STM)
• New York, NY - Penn Station (NYP)
• Newark, NJ (NWK)
• Iselin, NJ - Metropark (MET)
• Trenton, NJ (TRE)
• Philadelphia, PA - 39th Street Station (PHL)
• Wilmington, DE (WIL)
• Baltimore, MD - Penn Station (BAL)
• BWI Airport, MD (BWI)

At Penn Station in NYC, the crew switches over and the cafe is closed for a short while.  Thus, right before we stopped, I grabbed myself a Diet Pepsi and Dave a water.  I noted that the cafe serves cocktails, wine and a variety of beers.  If it weren't ~10am, I would have started my New Years celebration early!

Instead, I snapped a few pictures of the NYC skyline as we approached the tunnel that would take us to Penn Station.

Our stop at Penn Station was the longest in duration (perhaps ~10 minutes) likely due to the crew changeover.  The rest of the stops along the way were quick, lasting maybe all of 2-3 minutes.  Dave was awake at this point and we started having mini photoshoots.

My big smile was reflective of how much I liked taking this high-speed train.  Even though I fly quite a bit, I'm really not a fan of being 5 miles up in the air.  I have a hard time shaking the anxiety that comes with take off and landing, and this train option saves me the worry lines.

Before we knew it, our 5-hour journey came to an end. Since Curt and Diana were our rides to Atlantic City, our departure station was Wilmington, DE.  We could have stopped one stop earlier at Philadelphia's 30th Street Station, but it was an easier and more direct pick-up if we took the next stop.

After giving big hugs to our friends and setting off on the road to Atlantic City, I mused about the Acela some more.  If you're planning a trip to NYC, an Acela will get you there in 3 hours and 30 minutes. If you think about it, a flight from BOS to Laguardia or JFK will only take you a little less than an hour, but you have to be to the airport a full hour ahead of time and go through the hassle of security.  Also, a cab from the airports to Midtown will cost you ~$55.  The Acela will put you right there in the midst of everything.  Even if you're going further than NYC, I might consider taking the Acela as well for the same reasons.

A few final tips for you:

• If you visit the Amtrak web site, you will see that your search results will also include Northeast Regional options.  Be aware that the Northeast Regional trains are not as fast.  In the instance of going to Wilmington, a Northeast Regional train would take one an hour longer.  Also, if there happen to be delays, the Northeast Regional trains must give priority to the Acela's.  Lastly, the Northeast Regional trains do not have Wi-Fi.
• Use your AAA membership when you make your reservations!  You will earn 10% on weekend Acela fares and 10% on all Northeast Regional fares.
• Make sure to check out the Weekly Specials before you book.  They are listed from Tuesday through Friday and are valid for travel on any day except Fridays and Sundays.