St Martin Casino/Casino Experts??

[tink5697]

Well, as annoying as it is, my dh's family is rather addicted to casino's - slot machines more specifically. The family trip we all took to Hawaii 2 years ago, HAD to have a 3 day stop off in Las Vegas on the way back to NY (My daughter is 6 and she has been to LV 3 times already) I'm always game for ANY trip, so I tag along. We live in NY, so trips to Atlantic City are monthly for almost everyone excluding DH and myself. We travel to Connecticut for the Mohegan Sun and Foxwood Casino's.
With that being said, I think we have seen some of the biggest most beautiful casino's the world has to offer. I don't think it gets much better than the Bellagio or Venetian in LV.
Basically my question is this: What are these St Martin Casino's going to be like? They insist that if there is a slot machine that they haven't seen, they need to get there. I WILL NOT be going anywhere near them, but I am trying to convince my BIL's and MIL that from the pics I have seen, these places are going to give them no play on their money and they look like old office buildings transformed into casino's.
Can someone give me some sort of description of what these casino's will be like? Has anyone been to LV or AC and St Martin casino's to have some sort of comparison?
(Sorry this got so long, it turned into a vent for me, thanks for listening! )

 

[ThreeCircles]

I've never been to Las Vegas (or any other major gambling area) but I did experience several of the casinos in St. Maarten during my last Eastern cruise.

Here's my take:

First, as mentioned above, I've never been to any other casino aside from those in St. Maarten and I'm not really into gambling much at all.

The slots were fun for about $25.00 worth of play and then I was ready to move on.

The casinos are pretty simple and, um, cheesy? Slots generally take up the majority of the space and the casinos tend to be small, at least the three that I visited. Lots of neon lights, flashing bulbs, and mirrors. The largest of the three that I went into may have had somewhere around 100 machines, a couple of card tables, and that's it.

I have to admit that the hour or so I spent at the casinos was fun. I kinda liked the cheesy feel of the casino! An individual truly into gambling, however, will probably be very disappointed.

 

[ClarabelleCow]

If you have been to AC, LV and Foxwoods, St. Maarten will be a joke!! A fun joke, but a joke, on Front street there are I think 3-4 casinos, towards the Simpson Bay area there are 3-4 more, but nothing like Foxwoods, we go to the Casino Royale and Princess Port De Plaisance nightly, mostly for something to do and DH plays craps, but it doesn't get going until after midnight, and I turn into a pumpkin!!! You can hit the beach on front street (Great Bay Beach), while they go to the Casinos!

 

[tink5697]

Thanks so much for your great replies! Hopefully the family can save their money for ice cream and miss these casino's!!

 

[DMS_cruisers04]

Clarabelle, would you say these are like O'Shea's across from Caesar's (not that I'm knockin' O'Shea's, cheap roulette and a Baskin' Robbins) or like some of the 'sidewalk' casinos downtown?

 

[tink5697]

bump

 

[Dave_from_Marietta]

Most of the downtown Philipsburg casinos are rather seedy-looking with the exception of one... the Coliseum Casino, which is NOT on the main drag, but is probably a $3 taxi ride from the ship, looked fine from the outside. But you know what they say about judging a book by its cover...

The nicest casino on the island is reported to be the Princess Casino at Port de Plaisance.

www.princessportdeplaisance.com

 

[BethA]

Anybody ever get a room here to use pool, etc. My husband has to go to the casino and I wondered what else the hotel offered.

 

[rae519]

Hello BethA!
Nice to see your username show up!!!!

In the past I have asked some of the servers what Casinos they go to and their opinions. You can get some pretty awesome tips from them!!!

Mom had to "taste" the casinos there also and we did have a little fun til her $20.00 ran out (you know how fast that happens!!)

Rae