Las Vegas guide and MSE thread 2013

Hi again all.

Way back on about page 68 I posted about lowcostusa stating the cosmo resort fee was non mandatory which I was sceptical about. I can confirm that on checkin the hotel gave us the option to add it, or pay as you go. We decided on the later and paid exactly nothing.

Therefore my advise would be to use lowcostusa for any cosmo bookings as long as they are including the resort fee - they were cheapest by well over £200 for our 7 night stay.

Anyway we were there for my wife's 40th and she summarised each day on the phone whilst we were there. For context this was my 5th trip and her 3rd so there's plenty we've done before which we didn't want/need to include this time. We were also after a relaxing rather than hectic trip this time.

Our flights were booked with BA (through Opodo) and were Newcastle - Heathrow - LA - LAS which sounds like hastle but was really straightforward with approx 2 hours between each flight. On landing in LA we were given priority transfer documentation and able to breeze through which was a relief (the q's were massive!)

What we did in Vegas:

Sunday 24th March
Arrived, collected Love tickets from the mirage (had ordered via Travelzoo offer a few weeks earlier) then had a bite to eat at Denny's.
When we arrived back to our room there was a bottle of prosseco and cheese plate in the room. (We thought it was from the hotel,turns out it was from my sister)

Monday 25th March
Woke up about 5am, lounged around, got ready had a wander down the strip. Had a Starbucks for breakfast in MGM, then walked back up to fashion show mall.
Couldn't find the bus stop at the back of Bally's for the Orleans so took a cab so we could have a look around and buy some ice hockey tickets for Friday night. Grabbed a sandwich at fuddruckers inside Orleans, bus back so we knew where the pick up/drop off was for Friday. Warned that it was Rockabilly weekend so it'd be busy. They were right!

Drank prosecco and we went to see Love at the Mirage. Had a glass of champagne in the chandelier bar at Cosmo, finished the night off with a small win the slots.

Tuesday 26th march
Woke at 6am had buffet breakfast at the wicked spoon, ate enough food to feed a large family. Bought 3 day bus passes and jumped on the bus to the south shopping outlet. Spent too much but all bargains (2 pairs of Nine West shoes for example for a total of £43). Back to hotel for sunbathing (for OH) and catching the 2nd half of international games for me in the Cosmo Sports book. We then got ready to go to mix bar at the top of THE hotel where we had cocktails and watched the sunset. Walked thru Luxor and went for dinner at Pampas in planet Hollywood using restaurant.com voucher. (Wasn't as good as I expected it to be).

Wednesday 27th March
Up at 7.30am, jumped on the bus to the Las Vegas sign which is something neither of us had done previously, carried on down to whole foods....sat outside in the sun having a coffee before getting the bus back up to the Cosmo.
Walked to Wynn for the lunch buffet, stuffed our faces, walked back....had a little rest. Got a quick change hopped the bus to stratosphere to do all the extreme rides (bought prior to leaving UK on best of vegas). Hopped the bus again to Freemont street....spent the evening there.
Bus back and had a pizza slice from a little place squirrelled away on the third floor of the Cosmo, won slightly larger amount on slots before bed.

Thursday 28th march
Woke at 7.50am, walked to the Mirage then headed back through Ceasars. Then over to CaboWabo at PH for breakfast. Had a couple of hours by the pool. PM Jumped on the shuttle from Bally's to Rio. Came back,got ready and went for pasta at Wolfgang pucks restaurant in Crystals, amazing pasta. Jumped on bus to Freemont street again but didn't stay long as both of us were shattered.

Friday 28th March
Woke at 8, we went for a walk through Caesars palace and Bellagio. Had brunch at bacchanal buffet, umpteen glasses of mimosa, and lots of crab legs. Sunbathed PM before getting ready to go to the ice hockey, got there an hour before face off to wander around, game was great,Vegas wranglers won 5 - 4, after a penalty shootout.

Saturday 29th March
Woke at 9am, rushed down to the pool (it's been incredibly busy all week and once we hit the weekend it was even worse). Got a few hours of sun, had some lunch by the pool, came back and had a snooze. Walked to Monte Carlo and had food at dragon noodle, wandered around, then turned in ready for our flight home Sunday morning.

Hope I didn't bore you to death! I've not given much opinion/review of the places we ate but will happily share opinion if anyone has a specific question.

Thanks for the report Mart - really made me want to be back there. Like NOW!

ferf1223 wrote: »

thanks very much for the report - I always love reading them. Glad that things worked out on the Cosmo resort fee. Like Rahven it makes me want to go back right now - October seems a long, long way away!

Can I ask for more info on Pampas? It's one of those places we have been meaning to try forever and never have - seems that every time we are just about ready to give it a try we read a review that makes us rethink and with so many options to choose from we always settle on something else.

We had a rest.com voucher for there ( ithink) but exchanged it for the very same reasons you havent been

ferf1223 wrote: »

thanks very much for the report - I always love reading them. Glad that things worked out on the Cosmo resort fee. Like Rahven it makes me want to go back right now - October seems a long, long way away!

Can I ask for more info on Pampas? It's one of those places we have been meaning to try forever and never have - seems that every time we are just about ready to give it a try we read a review that makes us rethink and with so many options to choose from we always settle on something else.

It's not that it was bad, in fact some of the food was really good. I went for the regular meat option and the OH the seafood option which was another $8 or so. The seafood was nowhere near as frequent as some of the meats, although to be fair towards the end of our meal our server was asking if there was anything we wanted to get sent out. I had a $25 restaurant.com I'd bought for $4 but even with that I just thought we paid more than it was worth.

For example the pasta meal we had at Wolfgang puck was half the price (although I accept nowhere near the same volume of food).

In summary I've had better and I've had worse. I wouldn't necessarily recommend but I wouldn't put anyone off either.

BTW regular flyer distributors on the walkway from Cosmo to PH which were easily as good if not better value than the $25 off I had.

I bought a r.com cert for Pampas moons ago and eventually exchanged it a few weeks ago.

I haven't seen what I would call a "good" review of it and I couldn't justify the cost of the rodizio for all that I would eat which would probably be one piece of steak and maybe one other thing.

However I can recommend Texas de Brazil at Town Square which is the same set up and I think booking is essential as we booked for a Tuesday evening and it was mobbed. If you sign up for their newsletter they will send you a voucher to use in your birthday month. They didn't check ID to make sure it was actually your birthday.

Pampas do quite a good steak breakfast which is good value as is often overlooked due to its location.