Just got back from Vegas this morning. It was my fiancee's first trip in about 15 years so most of the time was spent walking up and down the Strip checking stuff out instead of gambling. Here's the summary. Gambling total: +$107.50 (mostly craps, a little blackjack) Casinos/resorts visisted: Mirage, Caesar's, Bellagio, Aladdin, Paris, O'Shea's, Venetian, Treasure Island, Las Vegas Hilton, Golden Nugget, Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Excalibur, Tropicana, MGM Grand, New York New York Shows seen: "O" at Bellagio Free shows seen: Mirage volcano, Treasure Island pirate battle, Bellagio fountain shows, Fremont Street Experience disco medley, Creedence Clearwater Revival knockoff band at Fremont Street Experience, other street entertainment at Fremont Street Experience Pool visits: Mirage x2. It was hard to find two cots together on Friday and Saturday, the pool was damn crowded. I learned when getting up early to check out this morning, that people were lining up before the pool opened at 7 AM to go out and put their stuff on a cot to save it for themselves for the day, and that's why it was so hard to find cots when we went out there at 10 AM. Best meal: Brazilian style barbeque at "Samba" in the Mirage Other meals: breakfast buffet at LV Hilton, Italian somewhere in Caesar's Forum Shops, crepes and croissants at Paris Best deal on a beer: $2.50 for a pint of Newcastle and other good beers at the Golden Nugget Worst deal on a beer: (tie) $7.50 for a skunky 20 oz. of Pilsner Urquell at Bellagio, and $6 for a bottle of Amstel Light at "Caramel" bar/lounge at Bellagio Fruity tropical drinks consumed: small Volcano (aka Mai Tai) at Mirage pool, big Volcano (32 oz.) at Mirage pool, huge strawberry margarita (40 oz.) in a plastic football shaped cup at Tropicana Other notable drinks consumed: Romulan Ale at Quark's at the LV Hilton; Harp at O'Shea's casino (notable because most casinos only offer sucky beer at the tables); pitcher of sangria with Brazilian barbeque; bottle of chianti with Italian meal at restaurant in Caesar's Soccer viewed: last 20 minutes of USA/NZ at Luxor sports book. The bastards at Bellagio were unable to turn one of their 75 TVs to espn2 to show any of the LA/Colorado MLS game. Discuss.
Hint: avoid the Bellagio if you're going to Vegas, and not really even because of the soccer snafu. If I ever get there I'll follow that.
That's kind of the lesson I learned. It is a very pretty place, and the fountain show out front is fantastic, but that's about it for things I liked there.
So which hotel did you stay in? I've been to the Bellagio and the rooms are extremely nice. Two times ago I stayed in a suite at the Luxor in the tower part - and those rooms were awesome. The bathroom must have been 400 square feet. I was at the Paris during the WC last summer - that place didn't do much for me - my French Major wife, it was her idea.
I stayed at the Mirage. Room was OK, pool was very nice, and it is nicely located in the middle of the strip. My fiancee was really fond of the shops and restaurants at Paris so she may influence the hotel decision for next trip.
Just got back last night. It was my...um...4th time to Vegas and my buddy's like 7th. I shall summarize along side with you. Gambling total: -$80.00 or so. I was up for a while. I was down a whole lot more for a while. But in the end, I'm pretty damned satisfied considering how much I was gambling. My buddy came out ahead about the same as bill, but he was ahead a LOT more going into the last night there. He had a not-so-good night at the craps tables and Blackjack tables that evening. Casinos visited: Far, far too many to remember. Pretty much went in every one downtown then all the ones from Mandalay Bay down to the Sahara. Shows seen: None. Usually I try to see a good show, but this time was strictly a gambling/soccer trip. No time for shows. I'm going back later this year with AFLette for the MLS Cup and we'll probably take in a show then. Free shows seen: pretty much all the same as above. Sweet god were the bands on Freemont Street bad. In addition to the CCR knockoff, did you see the Bruce Springstein cover band? Oh good lord they were painful. Just went to the pool at Mante Carlo. Not a bad pool. They have a wave pool and a regular pool. But the one time I was down there was the only cloudy two hour span off the weekend, so I didn't stick around for more than an hour and a half. Not a bad pool, though. Best Meal: Well, since we weren't out for good eating like I normally am, we skipped all the good stuff and just hit the cheapy eats. The best buffet I had was the seafood buffet at Main Street Station. I ate my weight in Giant crab legs. Other meals: Fatburger - my buddy loves Fatburger. Buffet at Sahara - below average. Buffet at Rio - not bad at all, but less than expected. Great breakfast by the stadium in LA at a joint called The Dandy Lion. Had steak and eggs. It was the yum. I didn't pay for any drinks except for buying a pop every now and again at a shop. Staying in the casinos heps keep beer costs down. However, my buddy really loved the beer at the Main Street Station brewery but absolutely hated the ones at Monte Carlo. Again, didn't pay for any. Fruity tropical drinks consumed: None. Other notable drinks consumed: Again, none. However, it's probebly worth mentioning that I didn't drink the bottle of Dasani water that the hotel was kind enough to leave in the room with a card on it that said we'd be charged $4.00 if we opened it. Drove to LA for the Galaxy/Colorado game. Obviously was not happy with the outcome because I am a good and right and true American so i hate LA. But seeing as how the Rapids are the worst soccer team in the history of organized sport, I really didn't expect anything less than a Galaxy win. Headed over to Mandalay Bay for the US/NZ game. Walked up to the bartender in their main center bar and asked if we could turn the channel to the US game and he had absolutely no problem doing it. We got us a couch directly in front of a giant wide-screen TV with a marble coffee table in front of us for our feet. It rocked a great rocking. For future reference, guys, you should know better than to go to a sports book to try and watch a game that isn't being bet on. It makes no sense for them to put it on. Go to the bar and watch it there. We stayed the first two nights at Main Street Station downtown because it was cheap. I was blown away by how nice it was. Absolutely stunning place to stay. I'm definately going to stay there again. Huge room, fantastic service, very accomodating staff, and low price tables. Stayed the next two nights at Mante Carlo because we were wanting to be on the strip the next two nights and wanted to be centralized. Not a terrible place. I'd say average for what we paid. Good sixed room, nice people, horrible microbrewery. Low priced tables on Sunday and Monday. I mostly played Roulette and my buddy mostly played craps, though when were were gambling together, we were at the Blackjack tables.
Re: Re: Vegas trip report June 5-9 I was impressed overall with the Fremont Street Experience. Except for the bands -- I heard a little bit of the Springsteen cover band, but I tried to block it out, until you brought it up. The pan-flute guy over on the east end of the FSE was better. There was also this street artist who was really amazing to watch, he had cans of spraypaint and various props and he would churn out a 11x17" or so piece of pop art in ten minutes or so. I may stay downtown on my next trip -- the lack of a resort-sized pool is a downside, but the gambling downtown was easier on the wallet, the FSE was fun, and those endless hikes between the Strip resorts in the heat and construction dust suck.
Re: Re: Re: Vegas trip report June 5-9 I wanted to key each and every one of those little gangster trucks they had parked all over the place down there, too. I thought they were trying to get more people down to Freemont street. Don't they know that us white folk from the midwest that spend all our cash there are deathly afraid of mexicans in hairnets and wife-beaters, driving hydrolic-powered low-riders with bad rap music blaring from their rattling trunks?
Any advice on the best way to get flight/hotel deals? Are the best fares via the hotels themselves or are there means (i.e websites, travel agents, etc)? thanks
I usually go directly to the hotel and airline websites because I know what hotel and airline I want to use. The site www.biddingfortravel.com is a forum dedicated to getting the best deals from Priceline or other set-your-own-price places. They have guidelines for how to bid and get good prices. They have a forum dedicated to Las Vegas hotels. They have above-average moderating strictness -- if you don't follow the guidelines for posting you will get chewed out by the people in charge. But the advice on how to take advantage of some Priceline quirks to get the best deals is worthwhile.
Nex time out there I want to stay at the Mandalay Bay or The Venetian. Can anyone out there make a recommendation between the two?
They both are very nice although I haven't stayed @ either one. The Chinese restaurant @ Mandalay Bay was outstanding (Shanghai Lilly's IIRC). The Venetian is more centrally located on the strip but, the Mandalay Bay has a Monorail. I say go with the one that has the better rate. I think the Mandalay Bay may be more $$$ -- a lot of the Asian high rollers go there. They advertise it heavily in Asia from what I hear.