Belterra Resort & Casino, Indiana
We entered the glass doors and walked into the grand rotunda with the colorful, intricate carpeting. Check-in was to the right, a gift shop and finer stores were to the left, and we encountered a café and nicer restaurants when we followed straight ahead.
We weren’t in Las Vegas or Atlantic City, we were in Belterra, Indiana at the Belterra Casino Resort and Spa, only 50 miles from the I-75/I-71 crossing of the Ohio River.
While normal room rates at Belterra are over $100 most nights, the resort offers a $60 discount on Monday and Tuesday nights if you show your Kroger Plus card. Mark flashed ours upon check-in.
We arrived at 2 p.m. and were hopeful that the room might be ready then, but we were disappointed. Jerri, the clerk, reminded us that normal check-in is from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. but that we were welcome to check back before 4 p.m. to see if the room were occupancy ready.
So we checked our two bags with the bellman and went exploring.
Our fist stop was the gift shop just to see the prices. Some gorgeous silver necklaces were only $15 a piece. I asked Mark to pick his favorite, and it was my favorite too, but it was so impractical.
“What could I wear that with?” I asked seriously.
He paused briefly, then replied, “With your wedding dress.” It was that fancy. I didn’t buy it.
The gift shop offered more practical items as T-shirts, sweatshirts, ball caps and short-sleeved baseball jerseys.
On our way to the casino, we passed The Aquarium, a nice restaurant with a hostess. I asked her if we needed to make reservations for dinner, and she shook her head no.
Then we noticed a line forming at a counter. The signs advertised the Champion’s Club. Joining the Club is free and allows people to get comped for time they play or money they invest in gambling at Belterra’s casino. Mark and I weren’t eager to begin losing our money in the slots or at the tables so we joined the cue. As we neared the front of the line, I saw another sign saying that joining the Club entitled new members to free buffet dinners. That’s a bonus.
After we got our comp cards, we boarded the boat, where the casino is located. The river boat, which never leaves the dock, has two levels of gaming, each with a free soda fountain at one end and a deli counter at the other. The lower level has mostly slot machines with only six gaming tables while the main level has more than twice as many tables plus plenty of slots.
At 3:15 our room still was not ready so we chose to explore the spa area.
On the second floor of the hotel is a workout room with free weights, weight machines and cardio equipment including a stepper, two stationary bikes and two treadmills. The separate men’s and women’s facilities have lockers, showers, hot tubs and saunas. The room supervisor asked us if we’d be interested in massage or specialty bath services they offered: Shiatsu and therapeutic massage, exfoliating and herbal baths, plus others.
The beauty salon, under separate management than the hotel or casino, offers haircuts, styles, dyes, facials, manicures, pedicures and even permanent makeup. I made an appointment to receive two services the next morning, to coincide with my massage, and then we went again to check our room’s readiness.
At 3:50 p.m. Jerri told us, “20 minutes.” We needed to sit after hours of exploring so we wandered across the hall to the chandeliered lounge and sat on a cushy couch.
Mark read a paper while I worked a crossword puzzle, and at 4:20 p.m. I checked the room’s availability. Still no go. I asked if someone could bring us the key cards when the room was ready, and at 4:30 p.m. Jerri politely handed them to us. We collected our bags from the bellman, and up to floor seven we rode.
After a bit of freshening up, we returned to the main floor for our free dinners—the best buffet ever, in my opinion—and an evening of gaming.
After losing almost $100 between us, we decided to retire to our nice room, where I bathed in the Jacuzzi and Mark watched baseball.
The next morning Mark slept in while I took advantage of the workout room before my treatments and massage.
I thought I’d have to wake him in a couple hours when I was finished, but he sat waiting for me as I floated from the best massage ever: told me he hit it big playing Let It Ride and had the where-with-all to quit while he was ahead, enough to cover my massage and manicure.
Belterra. Good gaming and great pampering: a vacation close to home.
We weren’t in Las Vegas or Atlantic City, we were in Belterra, Indiana at the Belterra Casino Resort and Spa, only 50 miles from the I-75/I-71 crossing of the Ohio River.
While normal room rates at Belterra are over $100 most nights, the resort offers a $60 discount on Monday and Tuesday nights if you show your Kroger Plus card. Mark flashed ours upon check-in.
We arrived at 2 p.m. and were hopeful that the room might be ready then, but we were disappointed. Jerri, the clerk, reminded us that normal check-in is from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. but that we were welcome to check back before 4 p.m. to see if the room were occupancy ready.
So we checked our two bags with the bellman and went exploring.
Our fist stop was the gift shop just to see the prices. Some gorgeous silver necklaces were only $15 a piece. I asked Mark to pick his favorite, and it was my favorite too, but it was so impractical.
“What could I wear that with?” I asked seriously.
He paused briefly, then replied, “With your wedding dress.” It was that fancy. I didn’t buy it.
The gift shop offered more practical items as T-shirts, sweatshirts, ball caps and short-sleeved baseball jerseys.
On our way to the casino, we passed The Aquarium, a nice restaurant with a hostess. I asked her if we needed to make reservations for dinner, and she shook her head no.
Then we noticed a line forming at a counter. The signs advertised the Champion’s Club. Joining the Club is free and allows people to get comped for time they play or money they invest in gambling at Belterra’s casino. Mark and I weren’t eager to begin losing our money in the slots or at the tables so we joined the cue. As we neared the front of the line, I saw another sign saying that joining the Club entitled new members to free buffet dinners. That’s a bonus.
After we got our comp cards, we boarded the boat, where the casino is located. The river boat, which never leaves the dock, has two levels of gaming, each with a free soda fountain at one end and a deli counter at the other. The lower level has mostly slot machines with only six gaming tables while the main level has more than twice as many tables plus plenty of slots.
At 3:15 our room still was not ready so we chose to explore the spa area.
On the second floor of the hotel is a workout room with free weights, weight machines and cardio equipment including a stepper, two stationary bikes and two treadmills. The separate men’s and women’s facilities have lockers, showers, hot tubs and saunas. The room supervisor asked us if we’d be interested in massage or specialty bath services they offered: Shiatsu and therapeutic massage, exfoliating and herbal baths, plus others.
The beauty salon, under separate management than the hotel or casino, offers haircuts, styles, dyes, facials, manicures, pedicures and even permanent makeup. I made an appointment to receive two services the next morning, to coincide with my massage, and then we went again to check our room’s readiness.
At 3:50 p.m. Jerri told us, “20 minutes.” We needed to sit after hours of exploring so we wandered across the hall to the chandeliered lounge and sat on a cushy couch.
Mark read a paper while I worked a crossword puzzle, and at 4:20 p.m. I checked the room’s availability. Still no go. I asked if someone could bring us the key cards when the room was ready, and at 4:30 p.m. Jerri politely handed them to us. We collected our bags from the bellman, and up to floor seven we rode.
After a bit of freshening up, we returned to the main floor for our free dinners—the best buffet ever, in my opinion—and an evening of gaming.
After losing almost $100 between us, we decided to retire to our nice room, where I bathed in the Jacuzzi and Mark watched baseball.
The next morning Mark slept in while I took advantage of the workout room before my treatments and massage.
I thought I’d have to wake him in a couple hours when I was finished, but he sat waiting for me as I floated from the best massage ever: told me he hit it big playing Let It Ride and had the where-with-all to quit while he was ahead, enough to cover my massage and manicure.
Belterra. Good gaming and great pampering: a vacation close to home.
posted by Elizabeth Evans Fryer | 7:13 PM
2 Comments:
While we were in the u.p. we went to BayMills resort and casino had a great time!
When Mark and I were in MI in 2002, we went to a casino close to Traverse City. We always have fun gambling for an hour or two.
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