Visited Caesar's Windsor (Ontario, Canada - near Detroit) in May 2014
In 2013, Caesar's had a promotion for existing Seven Stars where you would get a SECOND "Annual Trip" if you accumulated a minimum of 150k tier credits that year (basically renewed Seven Stars for the following year).
I took my first annual trip to New Orleans in December.
I had until June 30, 2014 to use my second 2013 trip.
I like to use these trips to create a subsidized vacation for myself. That is, I pick somewhere I actually want to go, and I find a way to work the Caesar's visit into it. I don't gamble at all on these trips. I usually fly back from a different airport than the one I originally fly into.
On this trip, I chose to create a 6-day/5-night trip to three places:
- Caesar's Windsor (Detroit area, but the hotel is in Canada)
- Niagara Falls, Ontario (230 miles from Windsor)
- Toronto (90 miles from Niagara Falls)
On this trip, Caesars would pay for:
- My airfare and my wife's airfare (flying into Detroit and out of Toronto)
- My hotel stay at Caesar's Windsor
- $500 in food and/or gift shop purchases at Caesar's Windsor
I would be paying for:
- My rental car
- My son's airfare
- All food and hotels in Niagara and Toronto
I won't bother posting about the Niagara and Toronto parts of the trip, since this is a gambling forum, and you're probably more interested in Caesar's Windsor and my Seven Stars trip there.
Setting it Up
Before I go on, you should know that I am a Seven Stars member, but not exactly the type of customer that hosts like to deal with. This is because I use the maximum benefits and play the minimum to achieve my level. In addition, I have played fewer than 100 tier credits in 2014, while using every benefit available to me. While this is technically the hosts' responsibility to book this trip, I know that they don't feel like doing me many favors, and I do as much as I can by myself. Also, I get it done quicker and more accurately/efficiently this way.
I called Caesar's Windsor directly and set up the hotel room. I was disappointed to hear that they were refusing to provide me a suite ("Your play doesn't justify it"), and they couldn't even guarantee me a room with a view. I specifically booked for a trip starting Wednesday night because their only high end restaurant, Nero's Steakhouse, is closed on Monday and Tuesday. I actually told the host at Windsor this, because initially I booked a trip starting Monday, and then called to change it.
The flight portion was a pain in the ass because my son is only 3 years old, and there was no way to book him "by himself" online, even though he's technically on the same plane as me and his mom. I had to do this over the phone, and it was a pain, but I won't bother going into detail. I did manage to finagle free "economy plus" on the flight out there (from the airline, not Caesars), as a result of my hassle. Interestingly, Caesars refuses to book minors as your traveling companion on these trips. They claim it's because of legal reasons, but I don't believe that, because you CAN take a minor as your travel companion on the NCL Cruise benefit.
Our plan was: 2 nights in Detroit, 1 night in Niagara, 2 nights in Toronto
Arriving in Detroit
We landed in Detroit in the early evening, to where it was still somewhat light outside. Obviously you've heard about all the problems in Detroit, and we weren't looking forward to spending any kind of time in the city. I had originally planned to spend most of our time there in Windsor (despite the appearance that there was little to do there), and perhaps visit an island park that is technically part of Detroit.
The Detroit airport is like 30 miles from the Canadian border, and is not actually in the city of Detroit. However, once we got into Detroit itself, my wife and I were fascinated. On both sides of the freeway, there were burnt out, dilapidated, and crumbling houses. Not just a few. Whole neighborhoods looked like this. You don't see anything like this in the western US -- not even in the poorest ghettos.
We decided to research that evening whether a visit to these areas (during the day) would be safe, as we were really curious about seeing it.
After reading a few Detroit-area forums, I determined that, yes, it was safe to visit the ruins of Detroit during the day. We had our plan for the next day.
Crossing the border was a pain in the ass. There were several lines, and you would have to choose one at random. I always seemed to choose the wrong/slowest line. Basically, if one person ends up taking a long time with the border patrol, you are stuck waiting for them to finish. On our first border crossing, the border patrol person took a 20-minute break, and we were stuck!
Caesar's was literally right over the border in Windsor. Windsor (Ontario, Canada) has a very strange location. It is directly SOUTH of Detroit, despite being in Canada!
There were signs all over town directing you to Caesar's. It's definitely the most influential and powerful business in Windsor.
It was very difficult to figure out the parking at Caesar's Windsor. I was just trying to temporarily park, register, take my stuff to the room, and then self park. Not so easy! The most obvious entrance was actually an entrance to the side of the casino. No registration there!
It was then very difficult to find my way to the valet/registration area. Finally I got there, temporarily parked the car, and went to register. This is when I was delievered a bit of bad news...
No Kids Allowed
The gambling age in Canada is 19. Anyone under 19 is considered a "minor". My son, being 3, obviously missed that cutoff by a mile, but he would have been treated the same there even if he were 18.
They told me that I couldn't be in the tower with the best view because it was an "adults only" tower. Okay... no problem, but it would have been nice if I was told this when I made the reservation.
However, knowing that I wasn't really staying there for the view, it wasn't a big deal. Besides, even had I known, it wouldn't have changed my decision to go there.
We went through the registration process, and then I got the bomb dropped on me:
"Since your child is under 19, you will be unable to access most of the property with him. This includes all restaurants, other than the one you see right across from us."
She pointed to a middle-eastern-themed restaurant, which is quite inexpensive and really more of a "lunch" place (even though it's open for dinner).
This meant we couldn't go to Nero's Steakhouse -- the reason I changed the reservation to Wednesday in the first place!
I was really annoyed that the host never warned me about this. I didn't tell her that I was traveling with a 3-year-old, but I also didn't say I was traveling there alone. It's a pretty big deal that anyone with kids aged 0-18 can't access most of the property, including almost all of the restaurants. A responsible host would have asked, "Are you bringing any children? If so, let me tell you about our policy..." No one told me anything until I showed up there, from over 2,000 miles away.
I argued that they needed to make an exception in some way. They informed me that it was against Canadian law for minors to enter the casino in any way, and that it required an entry to the casino in order to access the steakhouse.
I then came up with the idea to have the steakhouse deliver the food for room service. After initially being told "No", they checked into it further and agreed. Props to the Windsor for this. They could have given me the middle finger, and I would have had no recourse.
It was especially important for me to have the steakhouse because I had $500 in food credits to spend in 2 days, and it would have been virtually useless at that one cheap restaurant. The $500 could not be used for alcohol, according to Canadian law.
The room was nice. It was fairly large for a standard room, and we had an okay view of the river and Belle Isle island. Not as nice as the skyline view from the adult tower, but obviously nothing I could do about that, given our 3-year-old's presence.
We had our meal fairly late, and it was hit-and-miss by expensive steakhouse standards. I had to basically order around $225 worth of food for two people and a 3-year-old, EXCLUDING alcohol, so obviously I was very liberal with what I ordered. Some items were good, while others were mediocre and/or not kept warm enough for the room service trip. I decided not to complain because they had already gone out of their way so much for me, and I left a nice tip for the guy who brought it to us. (Rob Singer wouldn't approve, I'm sure!)
The self-park was really weird. It was across the street, and had a weird side entrance. You could only get in with a Diamond or Seven Stars card, which you would feed into a machine that would validate it. I was shocked how many Diamond and Seven Star members there were, even on a Wednesday night. For those of you wondering why I didn't valet the car, I hate using valets for personal reasons, even when it's not my own car.
A Day in Detroit
I found a great website with a suggested Detroit self-driving tour: http://onedayindetroit.com/tours/5
I followed this tour to the letter, and it was really fascinating. At no time did I feel unsafe.
Here is the old train station, abandoned since 1986:
http://toddwitteles.com/pics/detroit/train.jpg
Here is one of many dilapidated houses in a mostly (but not completely) abandoned neighborhood:
http://toddwitteles.com/pics/detroit/mansion1.jpg
Here is the old Packard Automotive Plant, closed in 1958!
http://toddwitteles.com/pics/detroit/packard1.jpg
If you're not from the area, I really suggest doing this driving tour!
Later that day, we went to Belle Isle Island, a big island park accessible by an easy bridge. We only got to see part of it, because there was a NASCAR race there coming up, and they were preparing for it. It was interesting and somewhat scenic, though it was crawling with police trying to ticket people.
Continued next post...
