Las Vegas thread and MSE guide 2010

Spursman180

October , November

am05 wrote: »

Hi Guys, off to vegas on the 20th. What time does it get dark around there? and is there anywhere we can bet and watch horse racing? Thanks

Am

It is exceptionally difficult to bet on UK markets whilst in the USA, my Betfair account doesn't work out there, the best location to get UK footie prices is in the Excaliber, they produce a regular sheet of matches they will take bets on. The number of bets available are very limited on football, unlike the UK market itself. With 3pm kickoffs over here then it's 7am Vegas time, the books will be pretty much empty and they will put games up on the big screen. Whilst not a gooner myself my mate watched Man U v Arsenal on what must be a 30' screen and I played poker. The waitresses will deliver food and beverages to your seat, he was as happy as a proverbial pig......

One thing to note, every time you put a bet on ask for a drinks ticket if not offered one, as DRINKS ARE NOT COMPED IN SPORTSBOOKS and you will have to pay bar prices (usually $7 for a short & mixer, $4 for a beer) collect the tickets.

If you want to get odds on any UK racing then Caesers Palace is probably best, they will get you a market with notice, you would need to speak to the sportsbook manager a day ahead and they would arrange prices on the day/s.

You might not get instant results or payouts as it is a remote market.

The other top sportsbook is South Point, it can get a bit mental as I found out when using it during the NBA finals.

The Mresort is a magnificent venue as a whole but the sports book has something none of the others have and that is mobile betting, you can pick up a hand held device that will allow you to place a bet anywhere in the casino, so you can be sat at the blackjack table betting on the book. They also have drinks wells spread around the casino floor where you can help yourself to soft drinks without having to find a waitress, they also probably have the best looking and friendiest waitresses in all Vegas, with only the poker waitresses in the I.P. being a close 2nd.

I always hire a car as I like to go all over the place, the Mresort is about 10 miles south of the main strip ($25 in a cab) so my car hire is covered by what would be a large cab bill over the week. Warning don't even think about drinking and driving, I don't and have been stopped a few times, the police also have purges where they put up road blocks and stop and check everyone. I got stopped at Christmas and with a car load of obvious drinkers thought this would be difficult (even though I don't drink) I was given a voucher which as the designated driver allowed me go to any bar with my mates and enjoy soft drinks and coffee etc for free curtesy of a programme by the chamber of commerce.



Don't forget all US betting is on the Pari-Mutuel it is a bit different to the Tote so if your not familiar then a good place for info is the Daily Racing Form (www.drf.com) which has a number of guides within it's pages on betting. It is the US equivalent of the Racing Post. Not all that easy to get a copy but any casino with a book should have copies in their shop. One thing about the American betting market they do like a stat or twenty.

You can bet as little as $2 a time and it's a great way to just chill out for no money and who knows you might have a winner or two.

duchy

March

StuieUK34 wrote: »

HOTEL idea - Is it worth it ?

I was thinking along the lines of this:
I arrive in Vegas on a friday afternoon, then fly to florida on the following friday evening.. To juggle costs and so on, could it be worth checking into a cheaper hotel on the friday and Saturday night, then moving to a nicer one for the remaining 5 nights ?
It would it prove a nightmare or not cost effective doing it like this ?
(Now i know of resort fees and so on, i was thinking 2 nights in Excal and then 5 in Tropicana or Luxor ?)

Depends on the time of year and distance between hotels.

I quite like moving hotels to get a different atmosphere but unless it's very close it often swallows up with saving with the cab fae and the faff of repacking so I wouldn't do it just to save money unless it was really a significant amount.

Donny and Marie are back on track at the Flamingo -They've settled with their ex-producer Chip Lightman who apologised for his attacks on them on twitter (made a bit of a twit of himself tbh) and tickets are now on sale until April. Show is dark in December as they are appearing on Broadway though.

StuieUK34

June

ferf1223 wrote: »

I must be doing something wrong - whenever I check netflights and CH3000 - the latter is always cheaper - always.

Indeed you are correct, the latter is cheaper.... Today that is, last week there wasn't a previous cost in red with the font subscripted
Will have to keep my eyes peeled on this site also now
(i did dec 7th to 17th - 10 days, the rental firm would be dollar with fuel/driver)
Netflights at £209, and this week CH3000 at £196, most likely with dollar.....
Best i go see how they quote for my mustang

ferf1223

April

duchy wrote: »

the faff of repacking

I thought this would annoy me to no end and is one of the reasons I resisted moving mid trip until recently, but actually have found it works in our favor...as we've started staying 5-6 nights one place then move for the last 3, we never really get much unpacked at the 2nd hotel - so packing to go home is a breeze...we've usually done all our big shopping before the move too so that's all tucked away.

Only bad thing was last trip I decided somewhat last minute before the move that I wanted to do laundry - figured packing everything clean made more sense. It did make more sense, but as it happens, by the time my washing was ready for the dryer all the dryers in the whole place stopped working! Eventually had to pack everything wet...go back to Caeasars to load the car for the move...check in at Encore...then go out and find another laundry where I could sneak my wet clothes into some driers - the place I had been at 11 am still didn't have driers working at 3pm. It was not the best experience but hey, minimal washing when we got home.

StuieUK34

June

My thinking was, stay in a cheap place on the friday/sat night, then stay in a nice hotel for the 5 nights on the strip, i dont mind moving around like, and given i set myself a budget of £1000 each for our trip (in June 2011), i ideally need to try and keep my costs down for the vegas part, so i'll be taking peoples advice and booking last min or when the good rates come out, etc etc but also means u get to experience the 2 hotels in a cool place!

ferf1223

April

StuieUK34 wrote: »

My thinking was, stay in a cheap place on the friday/sat night, then stay in a nice hotel for the 5 nights on the strip, i dont mind moving around like, and given i set myself a budget of £1000 each for our trip (in June 2011), i ideally need to try and keep my costs down for the vegas part, so i'll be taking peoples advice and booking last min or when the good rates come out, etc etc but also means u get to experience the 2 hotels in a cool place!

Sure, I get the concept - but I wouldn't have though the price difference between Excalibur and Tropicana/Luxor would be that great to justify the move.

I also think if we are going to move we want to move more than across the street or down one property as it makes it feel that much more different...but that's just us.

StuieUK34

June

i was looking at the Monte Carlo for the Sunday to check out on the friday..... and maybe an off strip for the fri/sat night ? i dont mind cab fare between 2 sites

photome

StuieUK34 wrote: »

i was looking at the Monte Carlo for the Sunday to check out on the friday..... and maybe an off strip for the fri/sat night ? i dont mind cab fare between 2 sites

I have never stayed in 1 hotel on any visit to Vegas.I usually go to the Orleans on a fri and sat. Packing, unpacking never a problem and always managed to get in to a room at Orleans at about 10am , that cant be said for most strip hotels

Agree with Ferf though about Excalibur and Luxor..not much diff in price and next door to each other,so no point.

If you do go "cheap" at the weekend it then allows for a better hotel the other nights like PH, Paris, or even CP, TI etc

I thought you had a car in vegas so no taxi fares

luci

May

We always hotel hop at least a couple of times per trip and it isn't a hassle. Only a couple of times have we had to check our bags with the bell desk, but only for 1-2 hours till our room was ready. The quickest we've done it is 15 mins from leaving one room to walking into the next and that includes waiting for the elevator, walking through the casino, getting a taxi, checking in and getting the elevator to the next room.

I certainly wouldn't move from the Excalibur to the Luxor or Tropicana. Not only are they practically next to each other, I wouldn't consider the Luxor or Tropicana to be that much "nicer" than the Excalibur.

ferf1223

April

for those who have stayed at either or both, would you recommend Venetian or Palazzo?

So far Venetian has the slight edge due to its proximity to Harrah's etc...but looking at the property map, Palazzo seems to have lifts to the guest rooms and parking garage in the same area - as we'll be departing from Palazzo and like to make a couple of trips to the car with our cases, this might be handy...I know we could just valet and call a bellman up to help with our bags, but we like the 2 trips thing as it gives us one last chance to have a look around for anything we may have missed. It looks like it may be a bit of a haul from the rooms at Venetian to the parking garage.