Now $345 (Was $̶6̶1̶8̶) on TripAdvisor: Holiday Inn Resort Aruba - Beach Resort & Casino, Palm - Eagle Beach. See 4,536 traveler reviews, 4,254 candid photos, and great deals for Holiday Inn Resort Aruba - Beach Resort & Casino, ranked #21 of 25 hotels in Palm - Eagle Beach and rated 4 of 5 at TripAdvisor. Jun 25, 2019 Excelsior Casino Aruba: Excelsior Poker Room - See 315 traveler reviews, 21 candid photos, and great deals for Palm - Eagle Beach, Aruba, at TripAdvisor. At the Holiday Inn Sunspree Resort J.E. Irausquin Boulevard 230, Palm - Eagle Beach. Excelsior Poker Room. Review of Excelsior Casino Aruba. Reviewed January 4, 2013.

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The small island of Aruba has twelve casinos to entertain the nearly 1.5 million visitors it gets every year. Eight of them are located in the Palm Beach section of the island, which could be considered the Las Vegas Strip of the Caribbean. The casinos are very similar to those in America in their look and game selection. Furthermore, all gambling seems to be done based on the U.S. dollar. This page details my observations on most of the casinos there and includes some general Aruba travel tips at the end.

Blackjack

Except for a few exceptions, all blackjack rules seem to be six decks, blackjack pays 3-2, dealer hits soft 17, double any two cards, double after split allowed, surrender not allowed and re-splitting aces is not allowed. Beware that 6-5 blackjack has unfortunately invaded Aruba. I also saw a double-deck game at the Orchid casino at the RIU. I would roughly estimate that 60% of the tables used an automatic shuffler, 30% a hand shuffle, and 10% a continuous shuffler. Penetration on the first two types was about 2/3. Following is the basic strategy under the Aruba rules:

Poker

Three casinos offer live poker in Aruba: the Orchid Casino in the Rui, the Excelsior Casino at the Holiday Inn and the Hilton Aruba Caribbean Resort & Casino. I can only comment on the rake at the Rui, which is 5% up to $10 for Texas Hold' Em and up to $12 for Omaha. Compared to Vegas, this rake is inordinately high.

I spoke with a friend who plays a lot of poker in Aruba. He says most games are no-limit hold 'em and pot-limit Omaha. He says that many players speak Spanish openly at the table, despite an English only rule. The dealers, he complained, don't enforce the rule. Nevertheless, he says the locals are awful players, which American pros prey on. Players from Venezuela were the second best source of soft players, but there are fewer of them around due to the economy of that country tanking.

Machines

The video poker and video keno in Aruba are simply awful. The pay tables are about as bad as they get, often the same as used at the Las Vegas airport, which is the worst place to play video poker in Vegas. To make matters worse, some older casinos use cathode-ray machines that date back to the 80's. If the video poker and video keno are any sign of how they set their reeled slots, which is generally a strong indicator, then I would expect them to be as tight as a cruise ship. My advice is to avoid anything that plugs into the wall. If you must play the machines, then do so in strict moderation.

Drink Service

Aruba is one of the few places I've been outside the United States where alcoholic drinks are free to players. The frequency of cocktail waitress service can vary significantly from one casino to the next. I would estimate the frequency of visits per hour ranges from zero to three. I do think the mixed drinks are generally stronger and larger than what you get in the US.

Smoking

Smoking is, unfortunately, allowed in casinos in Aruba. It is sad that any locality would allow this health hazard in a public place. A role of government should be to keep places of business open to the public healthy and safe, which most countries realize by banning smoking in all public places, including casinos. The United States and Aruba are unfortunate and sad exceptions.

Tipping

I'm not sure if this is true, but I was told tipping expectations are the same in Aruba as the US. Be warned, many restaurants will quietly add a service charge to the bill. I didn't notice this until a few days into the trip and I'm sure double-tipped at some restaurants before catching it. In the casinos, I seldom noticed other players tipping the dealers or cocktail servers, but I may have just been around stingy patrons.

Dress Code

The entire island of Aruba is very casual. You will be perfectly fine in any casino or restaurant in shorts and a t-shirt. Furthermore, Aruba is hot. The more clothes you wear, the more uncomfortable you'll be. I brought some nice clothes with me, not knowing what to expect, and never touched them.

Transportation

Taxis are readily available and have fixed pricing from one zone to another, like in Washington DC. The price from the airport to Palm Beach is $25, which is quite reasonable. Unless the cab is the type that is a small bus, the maximum number of passengers allowed is five, which is strictly enforced. I was a bit annoyed at this rule as we were a party of six. At the airport there will be a queue for taxis. Don't worry if it looks long -- it moves fast.

Rental cars are readily available, but I think most people won't need one, especially for the whole trip. We got one for just one day to hit some miscellaneous points we didn't see on a guided tour during previous visits. The cost for one day with a small car was about $120.

There is a public bus that goes up and down between Oranjestad and Boca Catalina Beach. When I was there, the cost was $2.50. There are also private individuals (I assume) that make the same trip in big passenger vans. These poachers charge the same amount.

Finally, there are blue rental bicycles at self-service facilities where you rent by the hour, or day, with a credit card. Cost was $8 for one hour and $12 for two. I forgot the rates for increments greater than two hours. I highly recommend this method of transportation in any city that has them.

Coupons

There are many coupons for match plays and free slot play for many of the Aruba casinos. Most hotels have a desk for somebody who arranges excursions and there are many coupons to be found on or near such desks. If not, I'd suggest the hotel front desk. I鈥檝e heard many casinos will reimburse cab fare as well, but can't directly vouch for that. On my visit I collected about $200 worth of casino coupons and triple-dipped with my wife and daughter.

Downtown

Downtown Oranjestad, the capital of Aruba, has two small casinos. They seem to attract mainly locals as the city is rather far from most of the hotels. They probably get some foot traffic from the cruise ships that park within walking distance. Both casinos were pretty quiet the evening I paid a visit.

Seaport Casino

I think this is the only casino in Aruba that isn't associated in any way with a hotel. It is located on what seems to be a large pier supporting various shops and restaurants, similar to Pier 39 in San Francisco. It was very quiet on the evening of my visit other than several locals playing the slots. Almost all the table games were closed, which were as follows:

Blackjack: 3
Roulette: 2
Caribbean Stud Poker: 1
Three Card Poker: 1

A $0.25 video keno game I took notes on had an average return of 91.97%.

Here are video poker games available on a randomly chosen 25-cent machine:

30-7-7-7 All American 94.00%
20-10-8 Deuces Wild 95.96%
6-5 Double Double Bonus 94.66%
7-5 Jacks or Better 96.15%
14-7-4 Joker Poker (kings) 94.00%
6-5 Triple Trouble Bonus Poker 96.26%
Average 95.17%

Crystal Casino

The Crystal Casino is associated with the Renaissance hotel in downtown Oranjestad. It is a nice property that boasts its own private island to hotel guests. The casino is about twice the size as the Seaport and much more modern and upscale. Drink service was the fastest I've seen in Aruba. The players seemed to be a mix of locals and hotel guests. Following were the table games I counted:

Blackjack: 6
Roulette: 3
Baccarat: 1
Three Card Poker: 1
Caribbean Stud Poker: 1

The dealer did not take a hole card in blackjack, bu

Holiday Inn Poker Room Aruba