Las Vegas guide and MSE thread 2012

Wizbit82

HOTELS

Hi everyone....

It's been a while since I've been on- we got married in Vegas last July (little church of the west) and couldnt face reading the posts everyday with a longing to be back in Vegas holding heavy in my heart....until now Have a couple of weeks off now so thought I'd take a sneaky peek at what's happening. We're sadly not off to Vegas this year as paying wedding off so going south of France for a week in July then New York for Christmas (never been and having been on the NYC forum it's not half as nice or useful as this one). Anyways.....

We're doing another 3 week stay on the west coast next summer- at present at least a week in Vegas, then LA again followed by Palm Springs.

Looking at probably staying in Cosmo/Mandarin (stayed here for our honeymoon and it was out of this world amazing, and actually we got a deal which made it very reasonable) though I have also fancied hotel 32 in the Monte Carlo

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has anyone got experience of this? Will probably stay in at least 3 hotels as get bored staying just in one.Realise this may not be the most MSE way of doing things but we always look for deals on rooms, food etc and get as many coupons as we can (I guess it's personal choice and we enjoy nice holidays but still do them on a budget)

Looking forward to reading daily posts again and planning for July 2013 :T

pebblesmax

VALUE FOR MONEY

Re changing sterling to dollars at the cage. We found that Cosmo and Imperial Palace had the best rate of exchange last trip. Can't say for this trip yet because haven't needed to change any yet.

Froggitt

Gill247 wrote: »

We have the majority of our dollars and traveller cheques having got a good deal with Sainsburys using our Nectar card. However my husband gets paid on Wednesday again - we fly out of Edinburgh on Wednesday at 9.30am, so its not possible to go anywhere for more currency before we go to the airport.

The airport exchange range is pretty awful ($1.45 when I checked yesterday, compared to the $1.57 we got at Sainsburys). Anyway we only want to change another few hundred pounds, would it be better to take the cash out at Edinburgh and get the rubbish rate - or wait till we get to the US and take it out in cash at an ATM? Weiging up the ATM charge against the better rate we would likely get? Thanks!

See if Travelex still have the best price guarantee. Buy online for pickup at airport, and if you find the rate better anywhere else, they will send you a cheque for the difference.

Everyone used to use Crown for the pricematch till they went t1ts up, so try Thomas Exchange or Thomas Currency (theres two confusing Thomases both who do great rates) for the pricematch.

pennylane99

SHOWS

Froggitt wrote: »

See if Travelex still have the best price guarantee. Buy online for pickup at airport, and if you find the rate better anywhere else, they will send you a cheque for the difference.

Everyone used to use Crown for the pricematch till they went t1ts up, so try Thomas Exchange or Thomas Currency (theres two confusing Thomases both who do great rates) for the pricematch.

Travelex are no longer in Edinburgh airport, its American Express

ferf1223

VALUE FOR MONEY

Gill247 wrote: »

The airport exchange range is pretty awful ($1.45 when I checked yesterday, compared to the $1.57 we got at Sainsburys). Anyway we only want to change another few hundred pounds, would it be better to take the cash out at Edinburgh and get the rubbish rate - or wait till we get to the US and take it out in cash at an ATM? Weiging up the ATM charge against the better rate we would likely get? Thanks!

It depends on what card you would use, whether there are any charges from the card itself in addition to any ATM charges...but I would probably just wait and see if I needed more cash and take a withdrawal in Vegas if needed...maybe you won't even need it...but if you use the ATM somewhere like Casino Royale the ATM charge will be minimal...worst case will be $4.99 at most casino ATMs...at a $0.12/$1.00 exchange loss between the two rates you quote above, you only have to withdraw about $50 to make up a $4.99 charge anyway...but again, depends which card you would use...it seems that the difference would be pretty minimal regardless so probably not worth worrying about.

gamboller

Has anyone used edreams for holidays before? They are coming up with a good price on a flight but read one bad review online which is putting me off.

nvh

Is the bad review about purchasing an airline ticket?

TBH airline tickets are one of the things i'm more comfortable with as you are pretty much* buying directly - maybe have a look whether people say you get your e-ticket straight away. I'd be concerned if you didn't get it until (for example) a week before the flight.

E-Dreams are linked to by Trip Advisor aren't they? It'd fill me with some confidence that they aren't fly by night

Failng that, who's the flight with? I wonder if you can get airlines to price match resellers? - i'm sure someone on here may be able to advise on that



*well it feels like it - you get your e-ticket almost straight away usually and the ability to go on the airlines site to confirm that you have the flight you think you have, change seats etc etc

duchy

SHOWS

As most of the regulars know I'm a big fan of the Orleans -and although I'm not a tables player the tables seem to stay lively far later than a lot of the Strip hotels. The loft *is* a nice place to eat but I'd say overall the smokiness of the Orleans is a little worse than some of the Strip hotels (but not all). Unless you have really bad allergies though the advantages of the Orleans vastly outweigh this (IMO).

duchy

SHOWS

I've looked at Edreams a couple of times but always found better options elsewhere in the end. They aren't "mainstream" enough for me to feel comfortable booking with them. Looking back most of my best fares have come from Ebookers and I've always found them excellent -never had any problems -e ticket arrives promptly etc.

mat5664

CASINOS

just got a great deal in business class to Las Vegas for August.

Have to start the trip from Dusseldorf to get the fare (using 4500 avios +£13.50 to get there) then:

DUS-LHR-LAS-JFK-LCY-LHR-DUS

All in business class on BA except Las-jfk which is first class on AA. Get to try the all business class BA flight to from New York to London City on the way back.

Cost £1220 + gets enough BA tier points for silver membership. Equivalent business class fare on BA from LHR for same dates is £3600. Had to book on American Airlines website for this price even though most of the flights are BA operated.

Staying 3 nights at Wynn and 3 nights at PH.