Las Vegas thread and MSE guide 2009 part 2

ferf1223

October , November

wagster wrote: »

Only priority is a nice decent hote mainly decent rooms reallyl.

Its a backup hotel if the hotel we are already booked into is crap.

Cheaper the better but with the deals on at these hotels i are looking at $100/night max monday thru to thursday.

Which hotel are you booked into? And most places have a 72-hour cancellation policy - so you would get stung for both rooms for 3 nights if you book a back-up and wait until you get there to decide and cancel one.

I'd knock Excalibur off unless it's a widescreen room (recently renovated)...I don't mind Excalibur, but from your list it's at the bottom I would think.

Luxor pyramid rooms are cool, but we aren't alone in thinking they're quite worn and there's better out there.

I haven't stayed at any of the others so can't say based on personal experience, but if I were choosing from that list I'd choose Mirage or Treasure Island based on what I've read and location. Mandalay Bay may be one I'd consider, but I prefer mid-strip myself.

davidmcg2u

September

tbrown10 wrote: »

Hi, my wife and I are off in mid October for our first trip to Vegas. We are stay for 7 nights, staying at Caesars Palace. We both want to do the helicopter trip to the Grand Canyon. I have been seaching on line for a good deal, the best so far appears to be Viator.com which is coming out at £172pp plus $40 fuel supp, which sounds a bit of a con really. As the title states, do you experts out there recommend booking on line before we go or wait until we arrive at Vegas?

Thanks
T

We did it in April 2008 & it cost us £298 all in for us both. That was using Papillon & think it was Grand Celebration Tour which included a landing & small picnic lunch - but remember the exchange rate then was $2 to £1.

It's really down to what you want to pay - you obviously don't seem keen on the prices you've found so you have nothing to lose by leaving it until you get there but the prices may not be any better.

luci

September

wagster wrote: »

Only priority is a nice decent hote mainly decent rooms reallyl.

Its a backup hotel if the hotel we are already booked into is crap.

Cheaper the better but with the deals on at these hotels i are looking at $100/night max monday thru to thursday.

Without knowing which hotel you already have booked it's impossible to advice which of those would be better.

As ferf said, you need to cancel 72 hours before arrival otherwise you will be charged.

wagster_2

Ok will give a basic rundown to help decide lol.

2 week holiday 12th-26th Oct.

Flights cost (£798)

12th-15th Staying in LA at the Terranea Resort. ($135/night)

15th-22nd Vegas staying at the Riviera. (£200 for 7 nights)

22nd-26th Denver staying at The Inverness Hotel. (£295 for 3 nights)

We are booked for an Grand Canyon Overnight Escape Self Drive Tour by Car at the Grand Canyon West Ranch on 18th Oct. ($498)

Now about the Riviera.

On a poker forum i frequent someone suggested about going to Vegas way back in January for a week and it has ended up about 12 of us meeting up. The person who suggested it also suggested about staying at the Riviera as they have stayed there before so that is where everyone is now booked into. I have paid just £200 for 7 nights there so not really complaining about the price.

Now after reading this thread and other reviews i am concerned about how bad the hotel might be. It doesnt bother me too much but my wife doesnt want it to spoil the trip.

As we are going away for 1 night on the Sunday to the ranch, my brain kicked in and thought, if the hotel/room does turn out to be a dive then i am happy to put up with it for the 1st couple of nights until we go off to the ranch then when we come back on the Monday move to a better hotel.

My thinking is.... if i book somewhere else from the monday to the thursday and the Riviera does go bad i can just check out and go to the other hotel. Not bothered about losing out on what i have already paid for the hotel if it means making the trip better.

If we decide we can put up with the Riviera once we arrive i will have enough time to cancel the other hotel and not lose the deposit.

Ibizavic

September

davidmcg2u wrote: »

I pre-booked seats for 3 of our 4 flights, (left this too late) she couldn't do our connection from Philly - Vegas but went for middle seat & aisle seat as plane is 3-3 config. She says I may be able to get emergency exit seats if I turn up early.

IFE - movies Glasgow - Philly - Glasgow - went into site & it's 1 each way in economy - says on demand movies areavailable but cross that bridge when we come to it.


I'm starting to rabble now - enough I need to go an pack - getting uptight at the thought of the flights :eek:

Ta much

We have just arrived back from Vegas on Sat and did Gatwick to Philly on the way there. It depends what plane you fly in but it sounds like a 757 which is what we were in with 3-3 seating plan. On the way there we only had the tv screens on the ceiling not in the seats and had to buy headphones. We only got one movie and a few tv programmes which were pretty crap to be honest. You also get a choice of music stations but after 7 1/2 hours you have listened to them over and over again!
Both internal flights had no entertainment at all.
On the way back we flew Vegas - Charlotte - Gatwick and the international flight was on a huge airbus with the on demand TV/movies etc. although we were far too tired to watch them!
Dont panic about the flights, I did but there was really no need. You will probably need to collect your bags at Philly but the airport staff are all very helpful and will show you where to go and what to do with regards to the connecting flight.
Enjoy, we had an amazing time and I didnt want to go home!! I would live out there if I could!!

Ibizavic

September

wagster wrote: »

Now about the Riviera.

On a poker forum i frequent someone suggested about going to Vegas way back in January for a week and it has ended up about 12 of us meeting up. The person who suggested it also suggested about staying at the Riviera as they have stayed there before so that is where everyone is now booked into.
I have paid just £200 for 7 nights there so not really complaining about the price.

Now after reading this thread and other reviews i am concerned about how bad the hotel might be. It doesnt bother me too much but my wife doesnt want it to spoil the trip.



If we decide we can put up with the Riviera once we arrive i will have enough time to cancel the other hotel and not lose the deposit.

We have just stayed at the Riviera for 10 nights and were really worried about the bad reviews we had read before we went but were pleasantly surprised with the hotel. When you check in, ask for a room upgrade. We thought we would be cheeky and try and it worked. They put us in the Monaco tower which has all the refurbished rooms and the room was fab, clean, maid service every day etc. I cant comment on any of the other towers as we did not go in them but if you can get a Monaco room you should be fine. The pool area is also pretty nice but I would advise you not to play poker there. The dealers came across as moody and miserable and the play was totally crap to be honest. We got told to go to Bellagio if we wanted a good game as the people there have so much cash to throw away they tend to play bad hands. A couple of people we spoke to in the Riv said the same thing.

luci

September

wagster

The Riviera isn't one of the best hotels. It's very old and doesn't have a great reputation among the Vegas die hards, but it may not be that bad. You need to remember that people who comment are usually comparing it to the Mirage, TI, Bellagio, etc and it doesn't pretend to be anything like them.

I've just looked at the reviews and they look OK to me. It will probably be much better than say a hotel in Spain.

If you can afford it I would book another hotel just for the experience. I would choose between the Mirage, MGM or TI.

Have you booked the Riviera direct or through a 3rd party?

wagster_2

luci wrote: »

wagster

The Riviera isn't one of the best hotels. It's very old and doesn't have a great reputation among the Vegas die hards, but it may not be that bad. You need to remember that people who comment are usually comparing it to the Mirage, TI, Bellagio, etc and it doesn't pretend to be anything like them.

I've just looked at the reviews and they look OK to me. It will probably be much better than say a hotel in Spain.

If you can afford it I would book another hotel just for the experience. I would choose between the Mirage, MGM or TI.

Have you booked the Riviera direct or through a 3rd party?

3rd party but not bothered about losing a bit on the price i paid.

I am not bothered about looking to shell out more money to change hotels for a few nights but as per usual trying to pick a decent hotel as a 1st timer is not that easy lol so hoping to get help narrowing it down.

karie

anyone booking a grand canyon flight/helicopter ride with papillon, use this "coupon" to get 10% off: LVA-1 - it just worked for me, good saving

wagster_2

Ibizavic wrote: »

We have just stayed at the Riviera for 10 nights and were really worried about the bad reviews we had read before we went but were pleasantly surprised with the hotel. When you check in, ask for a room upgrade. We thought we would be cheeky and try and it worked. They put us in the Monaco tower which has all the refurbished rooms and the room was fab, clean, maid service every day etc. I cant comment on any of the other towers as we did not go in them but if you can get a Monaco room you should be fine. The pool area is also pretty nice but I would advise you not to play poker there. The dealers came across as moody and miserable and the play was totally crap to be honest. We got told to go to Bellagio if we wanted a good game as the people there have so much cash to throw away they tend to play bad hands. A couple of people we spoke to in the Riv said the same thing.

Guess you had the same worries i am having now lol.

I am willing to give it a chance and i definately will be trying for the upgrade. I have tried to get reviews on the different towers and rooms but all i seem to come across is old reviews on the hotel in general or reviews on the old rooms.

Did you just ask or did you use the $20 trick? I have read somewhere that it is harder now as they use an automated check-in system.