Breezes Runaway Bay in Jamaica a Super Beach Retreat

When I first received a press invitation to visit Breezes Runaway Bay in Jamaica as part of a girl's golf getaway, I must admit I jumped at the chance! Only a three-hour Air Jamaica flight to the beachfront at a super-inclusive resort on the Caribbean Sea, walking upon some of the finest sand, being pampered with manicure, pedicure, spa treatment, and playing golf? It was a dream come true...and a birthday wish!

SuperClubs Breezes Runaway Bay is on a lovely quiet cove with everything a vacationer needs in order to relax, from hammocks dangling in the shade to food and drink being served around every corner of the twenty-two acre retreat. Although there are so many different activities to occupy your time outside of the complex (golf, Dunns River Falls, swimming with dolphins to name a few) it is a pleasure to just grab a book, take a swim or take a slow walk and melt the stress from the job which awaits you upon your return home.

Could it be that Runaway Bay was named Breezes because of the casual, warmhearted feeling surrounding you as soon as you enter into the open-air sea-breeze infused atrium? The front desk team is quick to greet tourists as is the bellman. Bartenders are standing at their stations mixing the day's special concoction. Yes, as soon as you enter this SuperClubs Resort, you feel as if your vacation has begun.

There are several room variations throughout Breezes Runaway Bay with different amenities: my room was slightly larger than the standard with terrific beach views. Some travelers might prefer the lush garden and pool view while others may enjoy a suite outfitted with a plunge pool; the choice is yours.

Here are a few images of my room: although I did not take a picture of the double-sized shower with dual heads spraying me both front and back, I should have!




Views from my private balcony (below) including a some of the suites with plunge pools. This new section of Breezes Runaway Bay Resort was also built with a small private pool and lounge area for a quiet retreat. Two additional pools within the complex are much larger. There is an infinity pool with a swim-up bar and music which was very popular.

These are lush, tropical views of the Breezes Runaway Bay gardens from the entrance of my third-floor room:

This SuperClubs Resort is a picture-perfect paradise.

Rain comes and goes throughout the day and although the heat noticeably took it's toll on the fairways and bunkers of the PGA-quality championship golf course, the views there were stupendous. The instructor in charge, Seymour Rose (a Senior Tour card holder), as well as the caddies, were very knowledgeable and "old school";  no video lessons (as I had originally thought), just basic golf lessons about how to make the best of the round, the golf course, and the golf swing. This was very refreshing!

While playing golf, my partner Lois Friedland (a.k.a. AdventureGuide) and I were not only assisted by our caddie Raymond, we also were treated to stories of the plantings on the course. In this picture, we had just bitten into the (bitter) fruit of an almond. Raymond cracked open a dried almond so we could sample what we purchase in our local supermarkets!

This was an exceptional and memorable vacation in Jamaica for me. Breezes Runaway Bay Resort and Golf Club should not disappoint the traveler seeking rest and a view of the Caribbean from a Jamaican perspective. Stop and chat with the locals selling beads on the beach to gain an appreciation for their way of life.

I'll leave you with a few pictures of one of the most beautiful beaches I have been to in recent years.

A special thanks to these folks who made me feel at home:

Suzanne McManus, SuperClubs
Franklyn Eaton, General Manager, Breezes Runaway Bay
Patricia Clarke, Public Relations and Wedding Manager, Breezes Runaway Bay
Megan Vibert, Spring O'Brien

I also wanted to thank the Jamaican people who make visitors feel IRIE!

Golf and Brazil's International Olympic Growth Potential (part 2)

 August 5^th 2011 marks five years to go before Rio de Janeiro hosts South America’s first Olympics and golf returns to sports’ biggest stage for the first time since 1904. Tim Maitland looks at how the sport is evolving in Brazil as 2016 inches nearer, from building awareness in the sport to golf as an international business. Read the first segment here, What Will Olympic Status do for Golf in Brazil?


Building Awareness

Typically, tournament golf is one of the biggest drivers of awareness in any emerging golf market, but the days when Gary Player, Ray Floyd, Jerry Pate and Hale Irwin etched their names on the Aberto do Brasil or Brazil Open trophy in the 70s and 80s are a distant memory. And the European Tour’s Brazil Rio de Janeiro 500 Years Open and Brazil Sao Paolo 500 Years Open as part of the celebrations of Pedro Alvaras Cabral’s “discovery” of the country in 1500 did no more than mark the anniversary and quickly disappeared.

For the moment, it’s left to the limited-field unofficial HSBC LPGA Brasil Cup to fly the flag as the only truly international tournament. From a perspective of golf’s heartlands it might be hard to believe that a US $720,000 event could sustain the role, but the feedback locally says otherwise.

Rachid Orra, with his South American Golf Federation hat on, described the victory by Columbia’s Mariajo Uribe at the end of May over a field that included both Cristie Kerr and Suzann Pettersen, as being as significant to the region as Jhonattan Vegas’ victory at the Bob Hope Classic in January; even though Vega’s win has single-handedly changed Venezuela president Hugo Chavez’s attitude to the sport.

“Symbolically, it’s the same thing because it’s a girl that has beaten some of the best players in the world!” declares Orra.

“It’s very important for us. It’s an example for the young girls that want to play golf to see one girl from Colombia – a country like Brazil – can win a very important tournament. The coming of the HSBC LPGA Brasil Cup was a very important step for us, taken three years ago. This is another one. Both are very, very, very important.”

Before the event, Rio’s biggest newspaper, O Globo, shoved aside some of its wall-to-wall soccer coverage to give Pettersen and Kerr posing at a photocall on Botafogo beach prime position on the second page of its sport section, briefly relegating the news of Flamengo, Fluminense, Botafogo and Vasco da Gama. Such coverage of golf hasn’t been seen in recent memory.

“It was fantastic. That helps a lot. I think the last time was back in the 70s when there were fewer things to cover and it got more space, but it was still very limited and very few people read newspapers at that time,” says Ribeiro.

“The HSBC LPGA Brasil Cup is a huge driver in terms of creating interest. People are not accustomed to seeing golf. The exposure on TV is very limited normally. The Majors and big championships are on just one cable channel or maybe on the Golf Channel, which is still very small. The HSBC LPGA Brasil Cup is covered by SporTV, which has five times more viewers than all of the channels that carry golf combined. Just with that we’re reaching five times the average audience for golf.”

Naturally, the LPGA is eager to expand its tournament, but the business of tournament golf is caught in the same Catch-22 in Rio; for events to grow there need to be more people who have got the golf bug, but to get the golf bug you have to get infected first, and for most people that means swinging a club somewhere…but where?

Counter-intuitively, one of the best ways of developing tournament golf in Rio de Janeiro may be to move out of Rio for the time being. One could argue that taking the seedling that is international tournament golf to the more fertile nursery of Sao Paulo, one of the biggest financial centres and richest cities in the world where there are almost fifty golf courses, would allow more rapid short-term growth. There, an event could forge closer links with the international business community, moving back to Rio as a more robust sapling once the opening of the new Olympic facility had created the significant increase in the city’s golf population that such an event needs.

Golf’s International Business

That’s not to say that relatively slow spectator growth has to hamper the development of the tournament as a whole. As Kotheimer explains, having the only international event in a sport that resonates with the international business community is a powerful tool to educate and inform potential clients about his business’s ability to cross borders.

“We have a tournament with thirty golfers and if you look at the list of players you see a Canadian golfer, an Australian golfer, an Argentine golfer, Spain, Chile, the US, Brazil, England, Paraguay, Taiwan, Sweden, Columbia, Norway, and Korea. The global connectivity of this sport pretty much mirrors the connectivity of HSBC around the world. Our focus for our clients in Brazil is the connectivity between Brazil and China, Brazil and Mexico and so on. There’s an alignment with what golf is doing internationally with what we’re doing internationally,” he says.

Yet, even if Rio doesn’t solve its dilemma quickly, things are still evolving exponentially. It would be wrong to say that Olympic status has opened doors for the sport because, such is the elite nature of golf’s status in Brazil that most of the great and good were all ready members of Itanhanga or Gavea, but it has thrown golf right into the middle of much bigger conversations.

The landscape is changing, too. The Confederacao Brasileira de Golfe has just announced a domestic national tour, starting small with a plan for three events in 2011. By the end of the year the Tour de las Americas is likely to be absorbed into a far larger Latin American PGA Tour covering South America and the Caribbean and providing the region’s top players a direct route into the Nationwide Tour and, hopefully, following Brazil’s Alex Rocha and Jhonattan Vegas into the big leagues.

“It’s a big effort. It’s a very, very important thing, because it’s a new tour made for South America and the money-size of South American tournaments and with the help of the biggest tour in the world. It’s a big step. This will help to form new players and make them grow. We hope in the future we will have many Jhonattan Vegases and a Tiger Woods from Brazil,” Orra states.

High Society Meets the Favelas

Golf is reaching out, which given its high-end origins is one of the most impressive aspects of the way the sport is changing. Maria Priscila Iida is talking during a short break between helping teach groups of children from Rio’s favelas, the city’s infamous hillside slums and shanty towns, the day before the 2011 HSBC LPGA Brasil Cup at the Itanhanga course. The idea of clinics for disadvantaged children before a professional tournament is nothing new to the golf world, but it represents an enormous quantum shift in the mentality of the Brazilian golf community caused by Olympic status.

“This thing with the children is incredible. Who would have thought we could do something like this?” Iida asks rhetorically.

“Most of the golf courses are private; if you came here nobody would let you through the gates, but now they’re calling out and trying to make something bigger.”

Photo credit: PGA.com
1959 Brazil Open Golf Championship Medal Commemorative on eBay


Share your opinion on Twitter @Golf4Beginners and Facebook

What will Olympic status do for golf in Brazil?

August 5^th 2011 marks five years to go before Rio de Janeiro hosts South America’s first Olympics and golf returns to sports’ biggest stage for the first time since 1904. Tim Maitland looks at how the sport is evolving in Brazil as 2016 inches nearer.

From Rio de Janeiro’s perspective, the final piece of the Olympic jigsaw was put into place in June when, during the IOC Coordination Commission’s visit, the decision to build a new course in Barra da Tijuca, rather than to refashion the nearby Itanhanga Golf Club, was made. For the Rio 2016 Organising Committee it meant that the venue master plan was complete.

With the five-years-to-go point upon us, it gives golf fans a clearer picture of what golf in the Olympics will be like, with the International Golf Federation still working on the qualification premise it presented to the Olympic family when it successfully made its bid for inclusion in 2009: the top 15 men and women in the world rankings (with a limit of four per country) will be there, with the rest made up by working down the rankings with a maximum of two players per country until the sixty-player field is filled.

2016 Olympics in Rio

Concerns about whether all of the top players will take their places in the field in 2016 are frequent and, now at least, may seem relevant. One suspects that will be a moot point by the time the Games arrive for the simple reason that the entire multi-billion dollar global golf industry – players, tours, the International Golf Federation, golf courses and the golf apparel and equipment brands – all need the injection of renewed interest a successful Olympics will provide, especially in the wake of the Credit Crunch.

So what will Olympic status do for golf in Brazil? Well, just as for the golf world in general, the opportunity is far greater than two four-round Olympic events; it’s already put golf into a whole new stratosphere of Brazilian sport.

“After the IOC decided golf will enter in the Olympic Games, things have changed completely in Brazil,” says Rachid Orra, the President of the South American Golf Federation (the Federacion Sudamericana de Golf) and of the Brazilian Golf Confederation (the Confederacao Brasileira de Golfe).

“Golf in Brazil was growing steadily every year, but now with this new opportunity and with golf returning to the Olympics here in Rio de Janeiro, things are changing dramatically. Even the Brazilian government is interested in helping us develop golf in Brazil. It’s an opportunity that we have to take very seriously in order to take profit… to give big steps in the development of golf. The investment in money is not yet significant, but I’m sure this will grow very fast in the future.”

Hosting two successful tournaments is of paramount importance for Rio and Brazil but, as Brazil’s former LPGA player Candy Hannemann puts it, that is just part of a far bigger aim.

“It’s a project. Our goal is not just the 2016 Olympics. It is “how can we help the 2016 Olympics kick-start more of a golf tradition in the country? And then how can we go on from there?” I think the project is more than just 2016,” says the 32-year-old Hannemann, who played for five years on the LPGA until a wrist injury forced her off the tour in 2008.

Things are already changing…starting with attitudes. That’s beautifully summed up by another female professional, Maria Priscila Iida. A third-generation Japanese-Brazilian, Iida talks of moving to Japan eight years ago without a word of Japanese and experiencing a vastly different rural world to the megacities of Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya that she had envisaged. However her tone of incredulity is just as strong when she describes coming back for the first time in six years to play the 2010 HSBC LPGA Brasil Cup.

“I had culture shock backwards. Everything was different. There are so many celebrities playing golf right now and you see it in the magazines. It is like, “What is this? Everybody knows about golf now?” I played with a Brazilian actor last year and learned that Formula 1 driver Rubens Barrichello takes lessons with my ex-coach,” explains the 32-year-old Iida, who played with Hannemann in Brazil’s junior national team before either reached their teens.

“The way I hear things it’s becoming much bigger. You can’t count the golf courses anymore; there are so many. They’re golf courses one here and one there. It’s bigger and it’s growing,” she adds.

Rio’s Dilemma

Rio’s challenge is that the Japeri Golfe Clube, the only public facility in the entire city, it is losing two of its nine holes because of road expansions prior to the Olympics. The other two golf courses, Itanhanga Golf Club and Gavea Golf and Country Club, are the high-end private members facilities.

“It’s a Catch 22!” says Candy Hannemann.

“It’s like the chicken and the egg story. Without the egg you don’t have the chicken, without the chicken you don’t have the egg,” echoes Enio Ribeiro of Brasil1, the biggest of the country’s sports marketing companies involved in the golf industry.

“There needs to be people playing for somebody to invest in it, but nobody will play unless there is a place to play,” Hannemann continues.

“Here the investment needs to come with a leap of faith; a belief that the game’s going to grow and be marketed in a way that will bring the game to the mass, because that’s when golf becomes big. We could have thousands of people out there with the potential to be PGA or LPGA golfers but we don’t know they have the talent because they don’t have the access to it,” she points out.

Right across the board in Rio there’s a consensus that the issue of accessibility to the sport needs to be solved if golf is going to benefit from the Olympics.

“The most important thing is the facilities. That’s simple math. Brazil has 200 million people and only 25,000 golfers. Argentina has 50 million people and 200,000 golfers. Because of the economy we definitely have around 10 million people that could play golf. What we need to do is have facilities that can allow them to try it,” says Ribeiro.

“We need some big magic…not magic…we have to work harder,” adds Rachid Orra.

“It would be easier if we had a lot of public courses to put a lot of people from schools directly into playing golf, but the Brazilian reality is not like this so we have to work 10 times harder than in America for instance. We need much more driving ranges here. Brazil has a lot of land. The major new courses are the resorts, the hotels further out of the cities. In the Northeast of Brazil, the greater part of the new hotels in Brazil are planning golf courses. Tourists like to play golf in Brazil; it’s an economic need, which is good for golf in Brazil.”

The good news from Rio’s point of view is that, with almost every major stakeholder in golf engaged in the process of preparing for the Rio Games, help is more available than it has ever been in finding the fix to the Catch 22 issue.

“Everyone from here, that’s what they want to talk about: every single one of them. It’s a vicious cycle that we have to figure out how to break, and we can. It’s more about awareness,” says Jane Geddes, a two-time major champion and chairman of the International Golf Federation, during a short break between meetings arranged for her trip to the HSBC event.

Thriving Economy

Historically, the kind of investment golf needs has been an issue in Brazil where spiraling inflation prohibited long-term projects, but since 2000 the number of golfers has increased from 6,000 in that year, stabilising in more recent years at around 25,000. The number of courses has increased too in those 10 years, up nearly 25% to 110, while another 30 are under construction, but as Rachid Orra mentioned, some of that growth is far away in sparsely populated states like Bahia and Pernambuco catering only for European tourists a surprisingly short six-hour flight away.

The fact that this development is happening at all is a product of a period of growth that has seen Brazil develop into one of the world’s top 10 economies by gross domestic product.

“The economy in Brazil for the past 10 or 15 years has really been a stable economy and one where you see significant amount of foreign investment for a variety of different projects. One of the largest offshore oil finds in recent history, the Topi oil field, is offshore of Rio so there’s a lot of investment taking place in the oil and gas industry in and around Rio. Similarly in other parts of Brazil; investments in agriculture, investments in other industries are taking place,” explains David Kotheimer, Vice President of HSBC Bank Brasil.

“The economics are there. The financing capability is there. The economy in Brazil is there. From a demographic perspective, you see more and more people improving their socio-economic condition year-on-year and that’s predicted to continue over the next 30 years. The prosperity in Brazil is continuing to increase. The stability, you’ve had that in the Brazilian economy for a long time now and that’s why HSBC is here; we’re helping with that growth and we’re making those types of loans to companies that need to invest. That will continue on. I think the stability is there and the financing is there; it’s having a sufficient demand for that type of investment in a driving range or golf course,” Kotheimer adds.

So the financial climate ripe, and the socio-economics suggest a significant sector of Brazil’s population are in the process of moving into the level of wealth where golf becomes aspirational. Growing and meeting that demand, which you could break down as a combination of awareness and opportunity, stand hand-in-hand as Rio’s big obstacles.

The second part of Tim Maitland's article, Golf and Brazil's International Olympic Growth Potential, will be posted tomorrow is now posted on Golf for Beginners blog.

Photo credit: StanfordReview.org


Voice your opinion on Twitter @Golf4Beginners
Friend Golf for Beginners on Facebook

 

Rory McIlroy, a Chandler-Slam and other hot 2011 U.S. Open golf topics

Surely the hottest buzz during the 2011 U.S. Open was in response to Rory McIlroy's tremendous golf game but there were other side stories that kept the media, and fans, humming. Here are a few memories from the 111th U.S. Open at Congressional Country Club.


1. A Chandler-Slam?  Rory McIlroy's stupendous comeback after a misstep at the Masters to become one of the youngest U.S. Open champions set the stage for a possible 2011 Chandler-Slam. Andrew "Chubby" Chandler's stable of top-notch golfers has given him a few major wins including last year's Open winner Louis Oosthuizen and 2011 Master's Champion Charl Schwartzel. Could Lee Westwood grab this year's "British Open" or will McIlroy's confidence carry him through the rest of the season?


2. The next Tiger Woods?  McIlroy will have to win quite a few more tournaments to be placed in the same league as Woods, but leave it to the media to make comparisons to get fans' juices flowing. In majors it's still Tiger Woods-14, Rory McIlroy-1.

McIlroy perfecting the Tiger Woods fist pump

3. If Tiger Woods makes a comeback, can he compete against a younger group of golfers?

Tiger Woods' physical (and mental) issues could prevent a comeback. His body is not recuperating as easily as when he was Rory's age. The youth, talent and mental strength of McIlroy may have the Tiger by his tail.


4. European Tour and Asian Tour globalize the U.S. Open. During the U.S. Open, there were questions as to whether or not an American would finish in the top-ten; if not, it would have been the first time since the early 1900's that an American could not rise to the occasion. During his reign, was Tiger Woods so overpowering as to leave a gap in the strength of the PGA Tour? European/Asian Tour players did not have the same distraction week after week.



5. Fashion sense (?) Bubba Watson's camoflage pants ; you either loved them or hated them but either way, fans had something to say about them. Come to think about it, pink pants were stylishly worn by Ryo Ishikawa but similar threads donned by Davis Love III didn't go over well, especially by a man who rides a custom chopper.


Finally, during the NBC opening sequence of the final round of the U.S. Open, a few words were noticeably left out of the Pledge of Allegiance. Although hosts apologized for the "under G-d" mis-hap, it was an unfortunate bloop (?) to make but still not as bad as Christina Aguillera's rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner."


Photo Credit: Washington Post, Huffington Post, Blog.Syracuse.com

Voice your opinion on Twitter @Golf4Beginners and friend us on our Facebook page.

Dustin Johnson's Myrtle Beach as a world-class golf vacation destination

U.S. Open hopeful Dustin Johnson is actively promoting the golf mecca, kids are flocking to it (for the free golf?) and the beaches are so pure that the Grand Strand has been ranked as one of the best and least expensive vacation areas by U.S. News Media Group. Myrtle Beach is a rising star as a family fun destination.

Dustin Johnson at home in Myrtle Beach

 Earlier this season, 2010 fifty-four-hole U.S. Open leader and area  native Dustin Johnson signed on to promote the Myrtle Beach region as "America's number-one golf destination." Twenty-six year-old Johnson said,

"Myrtle Beach truly is one of the world’s top golf destinations, and has so much to offer in the way of beaches, restaurants, nightlife and even shopping. I can’t think of a better place for a golf vacation, and I’m proud to now be able to spread the word. Regardless of where I reside, Myrtle Beach will always feel like home."


In addition to Dustin Johnson's promotion of "The Golf Capital of the World", and in an effort to grow the game of golf and to make memories in a family-friendly environment, kids will be allowed to "play free" on almost half of the Myrtle Beach area golf courses.


The Myrtle Beach area Kids Play Free summer program is also meant to encourage a bit of friendly competition between fathers and sons, mothers and daughters and all who would like to compete in the 2011 Summer Family Golf Tournament.


The series, hosted every Wednesday at a different golf course from June 29th-August 10th is open to any duffer, whether or not you have a handicap. I fear however, that Myrtle Beach tee times may also be at a premium during this summer season!


Here is a sampling of a few well-known Myrtle Beach area golf courses participating in the "Kids Play Free" Program.

Wachesaw Plantation East

Wachesaw Plantation East is a Tom Fazio designed, low country Scottish links course listed in Golf Digest's "Places to Play" list and was also host to the LPGA Tour on four occasions. The eighteenth hole, it is said, is a well-known visual spectacle and should not be missed.







Sandpiper Bay Golf Club was the 2010 MBAGCOA Golf Course of the Year and is rated four stars by Golf Digest. It's on Sunset Beach, about twenty minutes from the heart of the action, newly renovated and you may just spot professional golfers like Curtis Strange hosting a free clinic this season!






Although Tidewater Golf Club is very challenging (especially in the rain), it is also nature at its best. A true risk-reward course, a golfer needs good course management to score. A Golf Digest "Top 100 You Can Play", Tidewater is definitely a world-class Myrtle Beach golf course but may be too strenuous for beginners.





With about one-hundred golf courses spread throughout the Myrtle Beach area, golf is definitely a main attraction. Visit the beach, add the NASCAR Speed Park experience, Broadway at the Beach and Zipline fifty-feet above water and you and the kids will keep busy your entire vacation!




Photo Credit: Golfweek, Tracy Wilcox
Photo Credit: Wachesaw Plantation East

Hotels, Golf and Non-Stop Atlantic City Casino Action

At least once or twice a year I travel three hours from New York to Atlantic City, New Jersey, in order to partake of boardwalk/beach action, great casinos and, of course, the nightlife. Rarely do I ever spend more than an overnight and, strangely enough, I have never played one round of golf in Atlantic City!

The Atlantic City Golf Course (operated by Hilton Hotels) is undeniably a place to play a round of golf; the terms "Birdie" and "Bogey" were coined there, but it is to understand casino strategy and pull the one-armed bandits that I usually find myself in New Jersey.

I am not a heavy gambler; as a matter of fact, I rarely move past the quarter machines to the dollar machines, but I still like the action of pulling the slot handle and usually sit mesmerized until the wheels have made their stop. It is usually my husband who will meander with me through the roulette and blackjack tables in order to find the dealer that "feels" right.

Also, the drinks are free in Atlantic City casinos...definitely a "plus"!

Being that I have stayed and played (even briefly) in almost every resort in Atlantic City (including off-boardwalk premises), here are a few hotel and casino reviews to make the most of your vacation.

Caesars brands include probably the largest conglomerate of hotel rooms and casino space in Atlantic City, perhaps with the Trump Organization weighing in a close second. On the boardwalk, four uniquely different interconnected resort hotel buildings are Caesars, Ballys, Wild West Casino and Claridge Hotel; a very brief five-step walk from the door of Caesars to the door of Trump Casino makes this a five-casino hotel connection (Trump Hotel and Casino should be investigated...it's as glitzy as some of "The Donald's" New York City hotels and I have won in the casino!)


Not only are the hotel buildings all an indoor walk to each other, Caesars has reopened a beautiful indoor mall shaped like a ship which has a wonderful water show every half hour on the hour. This means that, for people who want to explore but don't wish to wander the boardwalk, everything you could ever need or want is indoors; gambling, food and fun!


For those people who would prefer staying at a resort which is about a half-mile stroll to the center of the boardwalk, I suggest the Hilton Casino Resort, next to Tropicana hotel. The Hilton provides a lovely beach bar, elegant surroundings and, in my humble opinion, good odds. Also, right next door to Hilton is the Tropicana, a huge resort complex for when you feel you need more excitement and a change of scenery. The Tropicana also has so many dining options and is so large that you may lose your way!


On the opposite side of the boardwalk, and for fans of New Orleans, stop by the Showboat. House of Blues makes its Atlantic City home at the Showboat and it is also right next door to the once glamorous Resorts Hotel and Casino. I personally liked the Showboat Hotel more in the past, when there was a live band in the lobby and the musician who wandered around entertaining and teaching guests to play the spoons in the hallway but cutbacks, I guess, have made these entertaining treats unaffordable.

Showboat Hotel and Casino with House of Blues

I am content to visit Atlantic City at least once or twice per year although it is certainly not as bustling as the Las Vegas strip (it also isn't a five-hour flight away). I might eventually play golf in Atlantic City but for now, it's the long stretch of boardwalk and entertainment keeps me coming back for more.




photo credits
Atlantic-City-Casino.com