Las Vegas guide and MSE thread 2011

adamg

August

not sure it can be direct if your flying with Delta, but you an fly direct with virgin from Manchester

adamg

August

£729 pound with expedia flying with us airways via philli both ways, staying at luxor, use $20 tip at desk to get upgrade. If the £800 is with virgin direct I would rather pay the extra

costingbunny_2

Yes it's direct Adam. Someone has recommended the Bellagio but it isnt way up there on TA to justify the cost - Luxor OK? So get the basic room and use the $20 trick?

adamg

August

Luxor is ok, it is quite far down but you get get monorail to Excalibur and Mandalay Bay, It does not have the best resturant choice and I didn't like the buffet but my friends had a pyramid room there last year and really liked it. If you intend to go in January it can be cold, you may not need the $20 trick anyway if its quiet just asking can work

mat5664

November / December

costingbunny wrote: »

Looking to visit LV for first time next year - happy to go in January if it's a good deal. How does this look? Flying Virgin direct to LV form Manchester (although presume it will be Delta) 12 Jan - 19 Jan at Luxor Hotel (Pyramid Deluxe room) for £800 or £860 for Tower Deluxe. Similar price for MGM Grand. Thanks folks - any other good deals gladly received.

If it's direct it will be with Virgin not Delta.

CES (convention with 140k people) does not end until 13 Jan, so I wouldn't count on getting a free upgrade with or without the $20 bribe.

If it was me, I'd pay the extra to confirm whatever room type you really want to stay in.

ferf1223

March

robtruscott wrote: »

try and go for row 25 seats A B or C not only are they the exit row seats but they are also the first people to get off the plane so you wont have a big queue to get through immigration :j.
you will be looking at paying 75 pounds for seats b and c but nothing for seat A as it has the "bulge" from the exit door (its not that bad).
Try and do the twilight check in the night before and get the seats then:)

It's all relative, but we did this once - me in the middle, hubby in the window by the 'bulge', and it was the worst flight ever...the bulge made it impossible for him to get comfortable...we also don't really like the fixed arm rests - lose about an inch or two of width, and can't pop the armrest up between you...and we don't like not having space on the floor in front of us for all our crap. And I'm not even taking into account the poor guy on the aisle seat who vomited as we were coming in to land (thankfully not on us, felt really bad for the guy who was obviously caught completely off-guard).

But I know others like stoneman and his wife are perfectly happy in these seats...neither my husband nor I are particularly height/weight proportionate...but both can confine ourselves to a standard airline seat just fine...but the fixed armrests meant I couldn't lean over on him like I normally would, etc....and he was miserable with the lack of legroom.

We wouldn't pay for those seats again. We would pay for the extra legroom seats at the back of the plane, where they would exist...we have done that before and it was well worth it.

nvh

co-incidently, when we did exit row (row 25 but right hand side), the lady next to me in the aisle seat was ill too! - only time I've ever seen someone be ill on a plane.

re: floor space in front, as soon as the plane took off i dumped all my stuff in front of me - partly so i could access it, but also to mark my territory (to stop people dancing right infront of me ) - however when we had BA exit row, the stewardess went nuts at me for blocking the doorway off with junk

anyways, slightly (ever so slightly) off-topic but does anyone know how to make an authentic U.S. tasting Mac'N'Cheese from scratch? - i'm wondering if the secret is a mixture of processed cheese (slices) as well as cheddar but does anyone have experience of replicating it without using a packet?

Porthorg

May

I'm just wondering what others have found with regards to hotel prices on lowcostusa vs other sites and offers.

We booked with them earlier this year and had no problem and are currently looking at booking for next May/June

We are mainly looking at Mirage or CP for the 2nd week (but considering all options) and each time I look at various offers lowcostusa seems to beat their prices and in a lot of cases states that their price includes the resort fee.

katie1234

November / December

Flew BA on 1st Nov LGW to Las Vegas.

Flights there and back were ok. Food was typical cattle class aeroplane food. Two meals. Both 'dinners' were quite nice and desserts were lovely however both 'breakfasts' were horrible. 1 was a salad sandwich(!) which i didnt even try and the other was a raisin muffin which as muffins go was like cardboard.

We prebooked our seats outbound as im a very nervous flyer and couldn't sit in a row of 4 or sit away from my partner so just to be on the safe side. We chose the twins at the back. Bit more legroom and better than sitting with a stranger if you are travelling as a couple as you can spread out when asleep and not bother anyone sitting in your row!
However, as a nervous passenger i felt the turbulence was much worse here but for anyone else i dont think it would be an issue on such a big plane. For inbound, we booked the exact same seats but waited until check in 24hrs before. Risky but saved £60. Still some good seats available then.

They of course lost our luggage which didnt arrive until early morning of the 3rd. Considering we were getting married that day i cant tell you the stress this caused! Took dress as hand luggage but with both our suitcases gone it was little comfort.
(also for the ladies, or men maybe, hairstraightners as we know them in the UK operate at a different voltage/wattage than in the US so dont work over there unless you have a fancy power converter thing. i'm sure many of you know this but i didnt and cost me $100 dollars over there to find out).

1st day we did shopping, secret garden at mirage and stripburger. All excellent and would recommend. Had breakfast at BB kings in the Mirage. Horrible. Was just really hungry and couldnt wait.

2nd we got married in Chapel of the Flowers which if you are looking for a wedding chapel couldnt recommend enough. Photos are brilliant. Then TOTW for dinner which i found a bit of a let down. View is amazing so would just head for the bar instead! Breakfast in Grand something cafe in Venetian which was lovely. We went there for breakfast again another day it was so good.

3rd did bodies at the luxor which was something else. 1 of the highlights of my trip. Did madame tussauds too which is pretty much the same everywere but a good laugh. Went to cheesecake factory for dinner which although the food was good the waiter was a d*ck. Left no tip for the only time on this trip. Was really disappointed by it.

4th scoot city tours. Brilliant. Got some great photos and had loads of fun driving but it was scarier than i imagined! A lot colder too but i think there was a cold snap round the time we were there. Def bring scarf, gloves, hat etc if going Nov time of year. Went to absinthe that nite at caesars. On entry expected very little but pleased to say it was brilliant! Very funny and great acts but more adult humour.

5th shopped till we dropped. Only went to forum shops and fashion show mall which was plenty for us but spent way too much on the card! Saw la Reve which my hubby hated and i was disappointed with. It had a great set and did some great dives etc but overall didnt think was worth the money and would recommend seeing one of the cirques instead.

Last few days a blur but did the las vegas sign. Walked from the Mirage! Doable but only just. Was a lovely day and we stopped off at MGM to see the lions and all the touristy bits on the way! Went to shark reef at Mandalay bay.
Did wicked spoon on last day. Was amazing. Looked to be 1 of the best buffets. Food was excellent and so much choice. Did brunch here and brunch at carvings in the Mirage one day also. Cravings amazed us at the time until we went to wicked spoon. Cravings def not as good but still a good buffet we found.

Had dinner in California pizza kitchen and the Mirage deli one night also. Both were ok but not worth a visit in my opinion. Found we should have looked into a few more restaurants maybe as once i need to eat i need to eat now so some bad choices were made based on this!

Played a few of the slots etc but we werent really there to gamble and it became apparent that this was just as well! Felt you really needed to know what you were doing to win anything which is what we put down to winning nothing! They looked a lot of fun though.

Mirage as a hotel we were very happy with. Got an upgrade to the top floor, bigger room, bigger bathroom so although not a suite we were happy! Strip view. Bed were so comfy and we thought the hotel was quite modern and the maids left extra chocs on the pillows at night so we knew we were onto a good thing!
No resort fee charged as we had prepayed the hotel and it must have been included in the package so we were pleasantly surprised.

Found Vegas amazing and had a great trip and wedding. Sad to be all done now. For those planning trips, do it!!!

Big thanks for all the advice on this forum. Were i got most of my Advice from. Thanks again.

Katie. (sorry its long)

photome

August

katie1234 wrote: »

Flew BA on 1st Nov LGW to Las Vegas.

They of course lost our luggage which didnt arrive until early morning of the 3rd. Considering we were getting married that day i cant tell you the stress this caused! Took dress as hand luggage but with both our suitcases gone it was little comfort.
(also for the ladies, or men maybe, hairstraightners as we know them in the UK operate at a different voltage/wattage than in the US so dont work over there unless you have a fancy power converter thing. i'm sure many of you know this but i didnt and cost me $100 dollars over there to find out).


Katie. (sorry its long)

Katie thanks for the report and pleased you loved Vegas.

Shame about the luggage but hope it didnt spoil your day eventually.

As for the straightners, I assume you can get dual voltage ones in the UK, you def can hair dryers, but even without being dual voltage I thought they would still work but just take an age to heat up, of course there may not be quite enough voltage to get them to their hottest. I am waffling now and as a man with very little hair I will shut up.