BlueWater Resort & Casino
Location: 11300 Resort Drive - Parker, AZ 85344
Phone: (888) 243-3360
Located just across the Arizona border, on the banks of the Colorado, and just south of Buckskin Mountain State Park in Parker, Arizona, Bluewater Resort & Casino is known as an amazing choice for budget travelers looking to experience what Arizona resorts offer: fun, sun, and gaming. The No-wake zone in front of the resort's beach area allows guests some relief from the busy traffic on the Colorado River. There's beach access direct from the hotel, and with this kind of proximity to a state park, you know this will not be the usual casino-resort vacation. Perhaps you'd like to have a gambling trip punctuated by outdoor adventure? Bluewater's the place to go if you're into the outdoors.
To make a reservation or for more information, call their toll free number (888) 243-3360
Rooms: 200
Price Range: $49-$145
Suites: 25
Price Range: $109-$300
Restaurants:
Buffet: B-$6.95 L-$7.95 D-$9.95
Games Offered: Slots, Video Poker, Blackjack, Poker, Keno, Bingo, Video keno, video roulette
Overnight RV Parking: Free, but no RV dump
Seniors are eligible for many food discounts
Check out their website, http://www.bluewaterfun.com, for pictures of the surroundings and amenities, more info on room rates, etc.
For an Arizona casino, the poker room at the Bluewater is active and exciting. The room is open every day at 2 pm, and features enough tournaments that a new kind of uber-tournament has begun: the World Series of Parker. To compete in this event, players must qualify at one of six qualifying tournaments. For a poker room in a casino in Arizona to host its own tournament series, this room must have a seriously commited base of players. They don't play a wide variety of games -- just 3 in fact -- Hold em, Seven card, and Hi Lo, but the presence of so much tournament action is not to be overlooked in this part of the country. There's also an active blackjack scene here, alongside the standard Arizona slot and video masses.
Looking at the hotel plan, the rooms are detached from the casino, so noise and smoke won't be a factor. Actually, you briefly exit the hotel and enter your room through an outside corridor. Note that the casino is third floor, even though it is street level from the front entrance. There are rooms above AND below casino level. All the rooms face the river/marina and have a nice little balcony, a surprise bonus for a relatively low budget experience.
The 'Indoor Waterpark' Bluewater advertises heavily is actually an assortment of several pools of different size -- some heated, some not -- and there's a single small water slide. I suppose there's no competing with the Colorado river just outside.
Recent visitors posting on Yahoo Travel sites and TripAdvisor have nothing but positive comments on customer service and cleanliness, suggest visitors check out the awesome breakfast buffet, and overall the Bluewater appears to be a rarity -- a well maintained budget hotel with the feel of a big time casino and resort.