I've only been back in the days when I was doing 'visa runs'. It is in Myanmar and yes it does have a casino. Most of the passengers on the ferry are Thais with bags of cash (to lose!). On a visa run, you left your passport at immigration by the jetty and picked it up on the way out.
They take any currency. Looks a little 'up-market' so I imagine the prices will reflect that. A quick google, I'm sure, will give you hotel prices.
The Andaman hotel is on an island that is in Myanmar. The casino downstairs is mainly slots and automated roulette wheels, full of old Chinese women. There is a fancier one upstairs that you can access if you stay at the resort a night.
Yes, you need passports, immigration will stamp you out on the Thai side (must have a re-entry), and do all of the tickets. Then you walk to the end of the pier and get on the ferry (or speed boat if one is about), which takes you across in about 20 minutes. Then you go into Burmese immigration for a stamp which costs 950 baht including the boat ride (Thai ID cards are 50 baht), they will keep your passport.
The hotel is very nice and seldom has anyone staying but I would avoid weekends. It is worth the trip just for the duty free shop where you can pickup decent liquor for a fraction of what Thailand charges.
Enjoy!
Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed? - Hunter S Thompson
buksida wrote: ↑Mon Oct 28, 2019 9:24 am
The Andaman hotel is on an island that is in Myanmar. The casino downstairs is mainly slots and automated roulette wheels, full of old Chinese women. There is a fancier one upstairs that you can access if you stay at the resort a night.
Yes, you need passports, immigration will stamp you out on the Thai side (must have a re-entry), and do all of the tickets. Then you walk to the end of the pier and get on the ferry (or speed boat if one is about), which takes you across in about 20 minutes. Then you go into Burmese immigration for a stamp which costs 950 baht including the boat ride (Thai ID cards are 50 baht), they will keep your passport.
The hotel is very nice and seldom has anyone staying but I would avoid weekends. It is worth the trip just for the duty free shop where you can pickup decent liquor for a fraction of what Thailand charges.
Enjoy!
Want to go along? Headed there Nov 7
The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.
Once we got to Ranong we wern't sure where to go. GPS and signs took us to the Ranong pier where there were many signs for companies offering boat rides to different islands. I figured that the Andaman club must have their own dedicated fleet so asked mrs M to question one of the boat trip vendors (she so loves to ask questions), The nice lady said we wanted Andaman pier and gave us directions. I also checked the GPS and, sure enough, andaman pier came up.
We pulled into the large car park and found a spot fairly close to the building that has the Grand Andaman sign at the head of a large pier. Thais go to one counter and I went to the immigration window. The Imm officers were very nice and while I was at the window a returning Thai came by and gave them a large bag of individually wrapped packages of sunflower seeds. The Imm officer ladies were all happy and even gave me a bag of the nuts. After immigrations 10 minutes we had to wait a half hour for the boat. Boats leave mainly every hour on the hour but there are a few boats that go on the half hour in mid day.
Just before the hour a guy came with a golf cart which took us out to the end of the pier where we got on the speed boat. There were bigger boats there but on a Thursday they were using a small boat that held around 20-25. The boat was filled but we were the only ones with luggage. The rest of the passengers were either employees or day gamblers.
When we arrived at the island there was a Grand Andaman employee waiting. She zeroed in on us (Only falang and only ones with luggage) and asked for our passports. She put them together with the boat vouchers and walked us through customs, about 3 minutes. We got the paperwork back but no passports, they keep those and give us back a photocopy. It also cost us 950 baht for me, 150 for my Thai wife and MIL. The other passengers did their own thing. We exited the small building to a waiting van which took us to the Grand Andaman.
As I suspected we were the only ones checking in, in fact when they asked our names they were holding 2 small bundles of paperwork. Upon learning our name they sent one down so I guess only one other checkin that day. Check in was easy, decent english spoke and I handed over a 1,000 baht note as a deposit (we had paid when I booked on agoda). We only had one small bag leaving other clothes in the car so waived off the bellman and the lady who met us at the pier took us up to our room while also pointing out restaurants, shops and casino.
The hotel is very large with a beautiful pool area all kept up very clean. The room was, well a hotel room, with all the necessaries. It was clean and decent sized.
By this time it was dinner time and we chose the buffet. A variety of about 25 dishes which, while tasty was nothing to write home about (typical buffet). The 3 of us, and a glass of wine for me set us back about 1,200 baht.
After dinner we went to the casino, there is one downstairs, and one upstairs. Down stairs was a decent sized room filled with slot machines. We lived 3 hours from Las Vegas in the states and visited quite often so were used to large football sized casinos, this was much smaller. Many asian gamblers around but lots of open slots. Mom and mrs m found one and started in. I don't like slot machines but hung around a little. My wife hit a 8,000 baht jackpot with her 3rd pull so she cashed out and stopped money up. Mom was still working it so I wandered upstairs. It was a few roulette tables, many baccarat tables and that was it. I'm not a big gambler but do like 21, poker and craps, but they were not there. Looking at the wild eyed asian gamblers at each table I figured they wouldn't like a rookie trying to learn the game so I left back down to hang with the ladies.
I wandered over to the duty free shop looking for the low priced booze Buksida had mentioned and was like a kid in a candy store prices were so much better than Thailand with a good selection.
After a couple hours Mom quit, she had won a small jackpot which brought her positive and Mrs m convinced her to quit while ahead.
In the morning we went to the breakfast buffet that came with our room and it was a very decent selection of items for breakfast. After breakfast we packed up and checked out. I got my 1,000 baht deposit back and we waited in the lobby for the next boat.
Being the first time I adhered to the rule of one liter of booze per person so had 3 bottles of Talisker single malt.
The trip back was just as easy, Myanmar immigration gave us back our passports and, after the 10-15 minute boat ride, Thai immigration was also easy. I carried my booze in the duty free bag instead of burying it in the luggage but Thai immigration wasn't interested and I probably could have brought across a case.
All in all a very easy trip over and back. The hotel is beautiful and has all the amenities like spa, pools, etc and all kept very clean.
Would we go again? Probably. Mom likes to gamble and is the only place around. Hopefully the other restaurants are better.
We booked through agoda, considerably cheaper than the hotel site. Our basic room was 2,200 baht which included breakfast, the extra bed though was an additional 1,600 baht
The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.
Ginjaninja wrote: ↑Mon Nov 11, 2019 1:53 pm
Thanks for the detailed report Migrant.
I recall the dutyfree being particularly good value. What did you pay for your Talisker?
Cheers,
GN.
It was around 2000 baht. I think I paid 3000 at blueport before
The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.
