My spouse and I stayed at the Tropicana in the Chelsea Luxe
Tower on a Saturday evening in late August 2019. We booked our stay online the
day before, and we were immediately charged one night’s fee (non-cancellable). Check-in
time is 4:00 pm on Saturdays (5:00 pm on Sundays and 6:00 pm for day-of
bookings); however, when we arrived around 12:30, the front desk agent offered
us an early check-in for an additional $20, which we accepted. Parking in the
Chelsea Tower is valet only for $15 with a Trop card and $20 without.
The Tropicana property offers many dining options.
Counter-service outlets include A Dam Good Deli, Fiesta Buffet, Going Nuts, La
Petite Creperie, Marketplace Express, Perry’s Pizza, Premium Ice Cream Parlor,
two locations of Starbucks, The Green Bar, Tony Luke’s, and Zeytinia. Casual
sit-down restaurants include A Dam Good Sports Bar, Broadway Burger Bar, Casa
Taco & Tequila Bar, Chelsea Five Gastropub, Chickie and Petes, Cube Libre,
Firewaters Saoon, Gilchrist, Hooters, PF Changs, Ri Ra Irish Pub, and Seaside
Café. Finer dining is available at Carmine’s, Golden Dynasty, Il Verdi,
Okatshe, Olon, and The Palm. (We dined at Okatshe on this visit; see our separate
review. We have also dined previously at Olon and Cube Libre.) Bar/nightlife
options (most with live music on some nights) include the 10 North Lounge,
Anthem, Bar Olon, Boogie Nights ($15 cover charge on Saturday nights), Kiss
Kiss Nightclub (we attended a comedy show there prior to the nightclub
opening), Missile Bar, Planet Rose Karaoke Bar ($5 cover charge), Tango’s
Lounge, Wet Willie’s, and Whiskey Five Bar (in the Chelsea on the fifth floor).
The property also offers an escape room and IMAX theatre, as well as shop in
The Quarter. A spa, indoor pool, seasonal outdoor pool, and fitness center are
onsite.
Because we booked our stay last-minute on a sunny summer
weekend, our lodging options were limited. (For comparison, the Hard Rock,
Ocean [Revel], Borgata, Water Club, and Caesars were sold out.) Many of the
room options at the Tropicana were unavailable, so we decided to take our
chance at booking a Chelsea Luxe Oceanfront room. Our room number was 1512 and
offered an excellent view of the Atlantic Ocean. Our room was a nice size, with
a king bed abutted by two nightstands (with cute bird lamps), a desk/bureau
unit that held the TV, a comfy chair, a bar area (with empty mini-fridge below
and shelves above), another shelving unit, a large closet, and a nice-size
bathroom. Echos of Nature/Silver Lining Amenities International toiletries
(shampoo, conditioner, body lotion, massaging bath soap, facial soap) were
provided. Décor had a retro feel (which some people may view as needing an
upgrade, but it seemed in relatively good condition to us). We had read many
negative reviews of the Chelsea property before our stay, but our visit was
totally satisfactory. We liked that the Chelsea offered its own valet parking
garage, and that the check-in lobby was right next to the area where we dropped
off our car (rather than needing to drag our bags through the casino in order
to reach the check-in desk, like guests must do at some other AC properties).
We were also thrilled that we could check into our Chelsea room early (even
though we had to pay a small fee).
We enjoyed our stay at the Tropicana in the Chelsea Luxe
Tower, and we would stay there again in the future.
