Las Vegas guide and MSE thread 2014

nvh wrote: »

We went to the USS Midway (awesome by the way) in San Diego - no sales tax charged (or it was included in the price that was advertised - though unclear).

We went to a Maritime Museum in San Diego - sales tax was charged.

The USS Midway web site says it's run by a non-profit organisation so perhaps sales tax isn't applied to them.
http://www.midway.org/about-uss-midway-museum

I guess the maritime museum might have been a commercial operation run for profit, so sales tax would apply in the same way as for cinemas and theatres.

As other posters have said, sales tax rates in the USA vary for different types of items and in different states. You certainly need to consider sales tax when buying large items (and how much UK customs regulations allow you to bring in), and at a more mundane level how much money to give a child to go and buy an ice cream.

Hi All, summary of my recent trip 16/8-28/8.

Wasn't supposed to be going this year so booked late and a package through ebookers was the best value at the time. Direct flights with VA from Manc and 11 nights at SouthPoint x 2rooms. Myself, OH and son (12).

Flights- Economy row 30 outward and bubble home. We chose row 30 to be quick off the plane and fast to immigration, this would have worked well if there wasn't a system crash, therefore a 1.5hr wait. Felt sorry for the people at the back of the looooong queue. Think the fact that there was no announcement for the delay, it was only as we were near the front and could see the problem. Was expecting a huge taxi queue but hardly anyone waiting.

Hotels We have stayed up at SP before and like it for the cinema, bowling and kids arcade to entertain our son. thanks to doodle bug for our coupons, we enjoyed our free pool cocktail .

We also had 1 night at Mirage and 2 nights at Monte Carlo courtesy of Myvegas. I loved not having to pack up completely and just take a bag down, felt like a holiday in a holiday!

I preffered MC over Mirage maybe because we had more luck on the slots at MC! Can't compare pools as only went to one at MC, we liked it apart from son was a bit disappointed with "wave" pool...far too tame...

The doors on the rooms are a bit strange somehow at Mirage, difficult to explain but felt you could hear too much corridor noise. Also the "tropical" casino smell is a bit overpowering, could not face that with a hangover.

Entertainment Went bowling 5 times! Son wanted to go early hours as it open 24/7 so had been at 2pm that day then went again at 2am, would you believe it was 4x busier at that time...only in Vegas!

Cinema a couple of times, $5 on a Tuesday and had coupons for free popcorn so excellent value.

Boys did Scoot City strip tour, OH really enjoyed it we have done Red Rock one and he said he preffered strip one.

Flightlinez Bootleg canyon- This is in Boulder City and is a tour up the mountain then four different ziplines to the bottom. It cost $369 with code DEST10 and a child price. It was a good morning out but a bit of waiting around and the boys said they expected to go faster down the lines. The most exciting part was after the tour a woman went to the restroom, screamed very loudly at the rattle snake that was also using the facilities!

Cowabunga water park- Groupon for $99 for entry for four, pizza and drinks. This was still better value than paying entry for 3, its about $35pp. Very good day out not a huge park but son loved this wave pool, the boys went back again the following week after local kids had gone back to school so park was very quiet.

Food Short bit as we ate very casually...

Buffets- Mirage and MC via Myvegas, I preffered the MC but think that was because I was hungry then and not really at Mirage. Wouldn't rush back to either but good for free. Just a side note on Myvegas, I actually had the $50 credit at MC and when I went to redeem they wanted to know where I was using it. I thought it would just credit to your room but nope and no change given had to be used in one transaction. They seemed to be having quite a few issues with the changes to do with hotel stays, I saw a few get refused redemption.

Texas De Brazil at Townsquare- This was $150 for 3 with a child price and a $25 coupon. My son was tired and didn't eat much and I fill up quickly so maybe not the best value for money but great if you can eat plenty, lovely salad bar.

Steak N Shake- This is in SP and we love it, ate here far too many times. Its usually around $30 for 3 of us so excellent value and great burgers and milkshakes.

Shopping Went to South, FSM and Townsquare. For A&F and Hollister Townsquare is better for sales, great bargains. There is a free shuttle bus now it stops at SP, Silverton, Tropicana and PH as well as a few others. Walmart is also a fav of ours so had a few trips there. We even bought our dinner there one night from the deli thats how casual we ate!

Gambling How annoying, had actually written in on the schedule to play Lion's share on the Monday and some lucky sod won it the Friday before! No big wins to report, enjoyed pai gow but missed out by not being sat at a table where a 7 card straight flush was dealt. This means everybody playing envy bonus ($5) which I do, won $5000! Slots were a bit tight but had a couple of good wins on last day $550 spin on Sirens from $1.50 bet and $470 bonus on Timber wolf from$1.20 bet.

Overall a great trip for us sorry if a little boring for you but this was our 14th visit so don't really do a lot of the strip stuff anymore but still love going. Very tempted by the reward seat sale for next summer.....:)

as it happens I was just successful in getting the MC $50 dining credit via MV after trying for ages and coming close but never quite quick enough...I have had it before and I am all but positive I used 35k reward credits for it the first time and this time so not sure what makes this a different batch. I really always thought we could only get it once each.

I am still trying to get 100% confirmation on the stay requirements in terms of when, exactly, you can redeem a reward with a stay requirement.

The first reply I received said:

You have to be the registered guest of an MGM hotel room to redeem that reward. So yes, you can redeem them on any of the dates of your stay.

I have gone back and again asked for confirmation that if we (say) were staying at MGM and checked out on Tuesday morning, could we use the Aria dinner buffet MV reward on Tuesday evening...we were registered guests that morning, but not at the time we would in this scenario be redeeming the reward. I did include that scenario in my original message so maybe they have confirmed that we could do this, but I just want to be sure.

Has anyone rented a car in the U.S. without using a credit card?

I've been looking at rentalcars.com and netflights.com which both state in their terms and conditions that a debit card will only be accepted at the managers discretion.

Any rental firms that don't mind debit cards?

dreaminglasvegas wrote: »

Has anyone rented a car in the U.S. without using a credit card?

I've been looking at rentalcars.com and netflights.com which both state in their terms and conditions that a debit card will only be accepted at the managers discretion.

Any rental firms that don't mind debit cards?

Avis accept according to this from my booking confirmation email:

The payment cards accepted for your rental are American Express cards, MasterCard cards (excluding prepay cards), Visa debit and credit cards (excluding prepay cards, Visa Electron cards and debit cards in Belgium and Spain) and Diners cards. If you have pre-paid your rental with a Visa Electron card, please make sure you bring another accepted payment card for the rental.

I personally don't want them swiping my debit card so will use a CC but can ask them if you like (will be at that desk at McCarren in less than 2 weeks)...