Punta cana - trip report - april 2015

PUNTA CANA - TRIP REPORT - APRIL 2015

(NOT A CRAPS LOVERS PARADISE)

We planned this trip only 3 or 4 months ago as a trial run to be Winter snow birds. Unfortunately we were too late to really get our plans together for February so it ended up being April which was fine because it was cheaper. What we did was rent a 2 bedroom condo right on the beach in the Los Corales section of Bavaro. This was in a private community with security guards, restaurants and a pool. The condo was beautiful facing the ocean with full floor to ceiling windows totally across the front facing the ocean. There were two balconies with outdoor furniture. Our daughter and son in law were with us the first week and my brother and sister in law the second week. This was on us and all they had to do was pay for their flights.

Our trip started on Monday 4/13 when we stayed at a Comfort Inn near the Philadelphia airport where we could leave our car parked for the whole 2 weeks we were gone. This saved us quite a bit on parking cost and they had a shuttle service to the airport. The only problem we had on the flight going down was that the plane left 45 minutes late waiting for passengers who were arriving from Boston. We flew first class and had what I call pod seating. Each person had their own space where the seat would fully recline flat. It was absolutely great. The flight was smooth and only took 3 hours and 5 minutes. Now for the real problems on day one. We arrived in Terminal B but the car rental agency counters were in Terminal A. They are not connected so we ended up taking a cab, although I'm sure there was some kind of shuttle service. We had reserved a Ford Mondeo, Fusion mid-size car, from Europcar. They didn't have it and tried to tell us a Honda Civic was the same size category car. If you know cars you know they are not the same size category. So we ended up with a Nissan Xtrail SUV which cost us more but we were splitting it 3 ways. So we ended up meeting the rental agent at his agency and we got to the condo around 4 PM. The girls then went to the supermarket to get food for breakfast and lunch since we were planning on going out to eat every night for dinner.

The next day we went to the beach in the morning and Eva and I went exploring in the afternoon to find our way to the 2 most promising casinos in the whole Punta Cana region. The first one is the Tower Princess casino which was about 1.5 miles from our condo. This casino doesn't open until 7 PM and their website said that they had craps. We next went to the Hard Rock Casino Hotel which was only 4 miles farther away with most of this distance being on a major highway. At the Hard Rock you need to get a wrist band in the hotel lobby to be able to go to the casino. We were there around 3 PM and it was pretty large, I think somewhere around 48,000 square feet. They had some table games open most with $10 minimums except for Ultimate Texas hold em and 3 card poker which were $5. We found out that craps opened at 8 in the evening. They had 2 craps tables both being 14 feet long with microfiber. There were no proposition bets and the odds were 3X4X5X.

That night after dinner we went to the Tower Princess casino and much to my surprise they had no craps. There were 8 table games, 3 roulette, 1 three card poker and 4 blackjack all with $10 minimums. What I had read was that the bet minimums were lower if you used Dominican pesos but that wasn't true. For example a $10 minimum bet required a $500 peso minimum which is around $11.36 American.

Most of Punta Cana is the all inclusive resorts which for the most part have very small casinos. By small I mean 6 to 8 table games with 30 to 50 slot machines. We made 3 attempts to visit some of these other casinos during our stay. The first was the Melia and we had no problem getting in there. It was small with 6 table games and about 30 slots. We just walked through and didn't play. A few nights later we stopped at the Paridisius. At the gate house we told the guard that we wanted to go to the casino and his reply was NO. I'm not sure if this meant no because we weren't guests there or no there is no casino. About 5 nights later we attempted the Barcelo Bavaro resort and casino and the guard told us that it would cost us $65 each. We said we're not eating or drinking all we want is the casino. We weren't going to pay this so we never got in.

Therefore the only place to play craps was the Hard Rock. As I mentioned previously the tables there were 14 feet long with a micro fiber layout and $10 minimums. I had read one review of craps in this casino on Axis Power Craps message board and it was very negative. This report said that the table was bouncy, the crew didn't or wouldn't speak English and that they dished out crap for short throws. Needless to say I wasn't expecting anything too good and seriously felt that this first trip there on Friday the 17th would be my first and last trip there.

We got there about 8:05 and there were already about 5 players at the table. All of them had small buy-ins and I only had to wait about 15 minutes before most of them cleared out. I took SR1 and had a 28 throw hand with no points made or come out wins, however 22 of the throws were box numbers. Here are the throws:

4/17

10, 2, 6, 8H,6, 9, 4, 9, 3, 5, 5, 8H, 2, 9, 6, 6, 4H, 9, 4, 8, 6, 6, 9, 3, 8, 8, 4, 7 OUT

The crew was fine, spoke English but sparingly and didn't give me any crap. The table was somewhat bouncy but more than playable. I only played the one hand because the table filled up completely while I was throwing.

I was encouraged after this and we went back there on the 22nd. I wasn't able to get on the table immediately and had to cool my heels for around 30 minutes and then I got SR1 with maybe 3 other players on the table. Before I got to my fifth throw the table had almost filled and there were chips all around my landing zone. I just got into the zone and kept throwing the dice. My wife Eva was at the table and I let her handle the betting while I concentrated on my throwing. I had a passline bet and odds. This hand was 61 throws with 9 points made. It started off great with a come out winning 7 on the first throw and I had 2 points made by the 8th throw. When the hand ended all the players gave me a round of applause but I colored in and left because it didn't appear that they were going to pass the dice back to me. There had to be 14 players on the table at the end. Eva and I were up somewhere between $650 and $700 from this hand. What's interesting to me is that I've had two 60+ hands in the last 2 months.

Here are the throws:

4/22

7, 9, 5, 3, 10, 9 PT, 8, 8 PT, 8, 11, 3, 6, 4, 8H PT, 11, 7, 5, 9, 8, 5 PT, 8, 6, 11, 6, 6, 2, 8 PT, 10, 9, 3, 2, 6H, 10 PT, 11, 4, 4 PT, 10H, 3, 6, 3, 11, 5, 8H, 9, 8H, 8, 8H, 3, 3, 6, 10 PT, 2, 3, 8H, 3, 8 PT, 10H, 9 4H, 5, 7 OUT

At around the 45th throw the box man started in telling me to hit the wall despite every throw hitting the wall. He only did this once and I was in such a zone it went in one ear and out the other.

Four nights later we went back for the final time and I ended up playing at a full table. Most of these players bought in after me and I had to wait guite a while to get the dice in my hands. This hand was very good but not nearly as good as the 22nd. It was 16 throws. Here are the throws:

4/26

12, 5, 4, 6, 12, 8, 5 PT, 2, 11, 10H, 4H, 5, 5, 8, 8, 7 OUT

Eva cleaned up on this hand because she always has high low bets on the come out throw and I hit them both.

The summary of my craps play is 105 throws in 3 hands for an average of 35 throws per hand with 10 points made for and average of 3.333 points per hand. It wasn't really much fun playing craps despite my great results. Being able to only play one hand per session is not what I was looking for. I usually start out playing very conservatively until I see if I'm on or not for the session. As you can see playing only one hand per night is not a session.

Punta Cana is a nice place to vacation for the sun, beach and other water related activities. However, if you are really into gambling there are far better places to play.

I've tried not to overburden this report with day to day activities, restaurants etc. If anybody would like me to fill in the blanks just PM me and I'll get back to you pretty quickly.

Dicenator

Very interesting report, thanks. What airline did you fly?

I flew on American Airlines (A 330) out of Philadelphia. The plane was great.

Dicenator

Yes, sounded like great F seats. Thanks again.

HHHHHEEEEELLLLLLLLLLOOOOO Dicenator: Not that I want to be picky or anything, but, isn't this topic supposed to be for casinos on-board a cruise ship? Anyway, have found that casinos outside of the states and even some inside the US to be not very good. Many don't even have a craps table. One time in the Bahamas found a casino with two craps tables, but, neither was in service when we were there.

casino player,

Yes, you are right that this message board is for cruise related items. All of my trip reports on cruises are concentrated on my craps play. It seems that a lot of the members on this board are interested in my craps play and that's why I posted this trip report.

If the members post that they are not interested in this type of trip report then I'll stop posting them.

Dicenator

casino player,

 

Yes, you are right that this message board is for cruise related items. All of my trip reports on cruises are concentrated on my craps play. It seems that a lot of the members on this board are interested in my craps play and that's why I posted this trip report.

 

If the members post that they are not interested in this type of trip report then I'll stop posting them.

 

Dicenator

HHHHHEEEEELLLLLLLLLLOOOOO Dicenator: One day I hope that we do end up on the same cruise. Could you imagine the action on the table then?

HHHHHEEEEELLLLLLLLLLOOOOO Dicenator: One day I hope that we do end up on the same cruise. Could you imagine the action on the table then?

CP, if you two do get together please let me know I'll do anything in my power to be on the same cruise, I'd like to make money on craps for once, lol.