Las Vegas guide and MSE thread 2011

bubble113

August

Edit.. forgot to say asked steward on Virgin about difference between economy and premium economy and got taken upstairs for a nosey. Must say it looks much nicer and a calmer atmosphere. I would pay to upgrade but OH thinks its a waste of money.

Estas must make a difference as it took 45mins to get through, pick up bags and to taxi. Thought it would be longer with amount of people.


Taxi to Ballys, was originally booked in Desert Rose but changed for a couple of reasons. It was between Ballys and Cosmo in the end went for cheaper option of Ballys.

Check in very quiet no wait $20 trick got us a move from south tower (very old rooms) to North tower (renovated). Did get offered a ST suite for $25/n but didnt bother. Room was on 11th floor no strip view form NT as at the back but could see edge of Bellagio fountains from our room.

So its about 5ish get showered and changed and back onto casino floor. Plan was to go to Le Burger Brassiere in Paris (using MRB voucher) but nobody hungry so decide to feed our slot addiction instead!

No luck today for me but brother in law had a $200 spin off 40cent bet. Had a few beverages and need a snack, quick visit to Nosh (very casual snack bar in ballys) for a Nathans $2 hot dog....cant go wrong!

Managed to stay up till 10pm then went to bed until 2am, got up went for a walk to Paris and PH, had Earl of Sandwich (gorgeous as usual) walked over to Cosmo very nice. Tired again by 5.30am and gambled 2 days allowance! so back to bed, back up at 8.30am......I dont sleep well in Vegas at home I usually have 10 hours at night!

Friday 8th April

Met up at 10am for Paris buffet breakfast. First time we have bought MRB so on a mission to use as many vouchers as poss. $18pp reg price, using voucher $10pp off therefore $8pp excellent value. BIL paid for breakfast with slot win so free for us, even better! Enjoyed it still find it very good quality dont think you can go far wrong with a breakfast buffet, that was until I went to CP more about that later.

Spent rest of the day wondering down the strip went to Venetian, Harrahs, Flamingo, Bills. Luck still not with me, am now into 4th day budget!! Dad had a $200 win off 30 cent!

Never really hungry after a buffet so had a casual snack in Flamingo food court at about 4ish.

bubble113

August

Back to Ballys to play a liitle cash poker. Myself and OH are the only ones that play texas poker but my sister and OH play pai gow poker with us.

Im not great at it and only play $1/$2 no limit but really enjoy it. I lost but OH won. Went to bed at 1.30ish lack of sleep catching up with me nothing to do with the cocktails and beers that I had during the day.

Saturday 9th April

Up at 5.30am walked to PH again for BLT from EOS. Plan for today is to shop while boys go golfing. We girls decided we would go to Wynn first for a quick gamble, didnt mention this to boys as my OH doesnt trust me with slots! Said our goodbyes but somehow ended up next to each other in taxi queue, was a little awkward when guy asked us where we were going, Wynn please, busted! :A, OH just rolled his eyes.

Wynn was lovely had a chocolate martini, delicious! luck didnt improve, mum did well on wicked winnings II, i'd watched this slot on you tube and really liked it so told her to have a go.

Eventually over to FSM only went to Macys, Dillards and A&F. Didnt buy much which is not like me but not got shopping head on. Taxi back. We used to use deuce bus but have become lazy and taxi most places.

Evening plan was to go to Orleans so using side door from Ballys(great tip ferf never once used front entrance) walked to Bills to get free shuttle to Orleans (thanks duchy) but for some reason never made it stayed in Bills all night. Played pai gow poker and drank long islands, thats all I can tell you cos thats all I remember! Seem to think music was good

Back at ballys thought it would be a good idea to play poker, OH insisted it wasnt but did I listen.....noooo. Surprisingly enough didnt win!

No idea what time I went to bed....

bubble113

August

Sunday 10th April

Hangover.... was planning on playing poker tourney but not up to it.

I havent mentioned weather, have been in April before and been at the pool but this week I thought it was cold for Vegas. Was told it had been lovely and warm in 80's but dropped down to 50's and windy....typical so not pool weather. Did have a wander to look at it and I can understand what you meant Luci about it being a bit of a walk from ST.

Masters final is on today so boys want to watch that so we all go to PH and we girls play slots again! Needed to recover from hangover so was happy to stay there. Still no luck

Sunday night had a trip up to Silverton spent a bit of time here before. Ate at the sundance cafe $14.99 for salad or soup, main course, dessert and glass of wine (actually quite nice wine). Good value.

We all played Pai gow, OH was 1 off a 7 card straight flush which would have paid approx $46000 and we would have got $5000 each for playing envy bonus so that would have been nice!

Mum and Dad got the last shuttle bus back to CP at 10ish we got taxis back in early hours.

bubble113

August

Monday 10th April

Up early again decided to go to CP for breakfast buffet, wanted to use $5pp off coupon. Its a really short walk from side of Ballys and over bridge.

Its about 7.30am no queue. Reg price is $17pp so hand in coupon, cashier looks at coupon a bit perplexed and asks manager, she says its $5 off total, ok I say and get seated. I was sure it was $5 off pp so checked a similar coupon in book and confirmed what I thought. me being me couldnt let it go, OH is saying its $5 no big deal but $5 is $5! Go back to cashier and asked to see coupon again, politely pointed out their error and was not impressed with response. It was like it was my fault and a big effort to give the refund. Had to discuss with manager again. No apology just alot of huffing and puffing over inconvenience. She really p****d me off, maybe I was a little tired but customer service was shocking.

bubble113

August

The buffet was pants, poor choice, everything mis labelled and food cold. Not had a buffet at CP before and was very unimpressed would have expected a hotel of its supposed standard to be much better.
Put me in a bad mood!:mad:

Would have rather tried IP coupon.

pebblesmax

November / December

We have never tried the CP buffet either. It seems expensive for not a lot. The old (Palatium?) buffet was great, but that disappeared when they built the Coliseum.

bubble113

August

Regrouped, better mood, got over it!

So on to Orleans, free shuttle from Bills, good service. Joined players club and used coupons from book for $10 slot play and $10 matchplay. Had buffet coupon but didnt use it.

Wanted to come here to book for our stay in August, check in was really busy, cashier checked rates for me, they were what I could get online and I asked to see a room but they were very busy so didnt bother, will keep checking rates online.

Played pai gow for most of the afternoon as bonus was $320,000 needless to say didnt hit it but did come off up which was a first

Shuttle back to Bills and a walk down to Ellis Island. Its 5 ish not too busy, BBQ to sit in for 6 is an hour wait, fine by us we also have drink coupons!

We each have a combo plate, half chicken, half rack of ribs and corn. Fab! Huge plate, ribs were awesome, couldnt manage all of chicken. It was messy but worth it! We didnt have drinks as we'd had them in casino so just had water. The bill, unbelievable for 6 of us total of $32!:eek: WOW! this was using BOGOF from MRB. Only negative about Ellis was I lost my winnings from Orleans!

Back to Ballys, played poker tourney (kept finding bits of BBQ up my arm :rotfl:). First 3 paid, four of us left so chopped the pot. Pleased with that. Played cash but lost, OH won. Bed about 2ish.

ferf1223

March

bubble113 wrote: »

Edit.. forgot to say asked steward on Virgin about difference between economy and premium economy and got taken upstairs for a nosey. Must say it looks much nicer and a calmer atmosphere. I would pay to upgrade but OH thinks its a waste of money.

It is much nicer and a far calmer atmosphere...problem is in a lot of cases it's double the price of economy...we flew PE last time but the difference between economy and PE wasn't the double it normally is...we couldn't face economy as we hadn't booked early enough to have any real hope of the pairs at the back so decided that this time we would go for it.

But it really isn't worth SO much more than economy...150% the price I could just about justify...2x the price is just too much for what you get...the main benefits we found were knowing that if the person in front of you reclined all the way (we seem to attract these people) your knees wouldn't be crushed for the entire duration of the flight...getting on and off the plane quicker was nice...much quieter cabin...but when you're talking £400+ extra in some cases, it's just quite a lot for what it is.

bubble113

August

Tuesday 11th April

Again up early, only managing 4-5 hrs sleep good job Vegas is 24/7. I love seeing the same person at a slot when you got to bed and still there when you get up. I like slots but no way am I that bad.....yet!

Met with group at 11am for Cosmo lunch before boys go golfing and girls go shopping.

$21 for lunch, OH was shocked when I didnt produce a coupon for buffet. We were all really impressed with it, I was really hungry so may have influenced opinion. Loved the individual servings, good choice and very tasty. Sister however likes a salad bar to choose her own, cosmo have ready prepared salads. Prawn miso is lovely.

Just had a call from sister BIL win was $294 not $200 as previously mentioned!:T

After lunch taxi to premium outlets (strat end). Again not really in shopping mode only bought make up and jeans for OH.

Tuesday evening not hungry so $2 hot dog again before getting taxi to Luxor. Played pai gow again rubbish , onto Excalibur but didnt stay long, all played gold fish slots in a row, we like doing it to see who gets bonus etc. Low rollers but have lots of laughs.

Taxi to PH to play poker. I was up but then got beat with pocket queens followed by pocket aces so gave up. OH was up so ended up staying until 9am!

Weird but met mum and dad in Ballys elevators as they were coming down for breakfast as we were going to bed! OH had said earlier "what will your parents say about you staying out till this time?" Had to remind him we'd been married for 11 yrs, had 2 kids of our own and I didnt live at home anymore so who cares!!!! Dad was actually impressed!

bubble113

August

ferf1223 wrote: »

It is much nicer and a far calmer atmosphere...problem is in a lot of cases it's double the price of economy...we flew PE last time but the difference between economy and PE wasn't the double it normally is...we couldn't face economy as we hadn't booked early enough to have any real hope of the pairs at the back so decided that this time we would go for it.

But it really isn't worth SO much more than economy...150% the price I could just about justify...2x the price is just too much for what you get...the main benefits we found were knowing that if the person in front of you reclined all the way (we seem to attract these people) your knees wouldn't be crushed for the entire duration of the flight...getting on and off the plane quicker was nice...much quieter cabin...but when you're talking £400+ extra in some cases, it's just quite a lot for what it is.

Did have a look how much more it was for August when we go again but its £900 pp, not worth it for that and going with children so 4 to upgrade. As you can tell didn't win to pay for it!