Las Vegas guide and MSE thread 2012

vegasvisitor

VALUE FOR MONEY

Julz11
I'm sure the driving will be fine. At least you don't pick up till the next day. We pick up at 4pm roughly on the Friday afternoon, then drive to Culver City which is fairly near the airport. Next day we will spend driving around LA area, with another night at Culver City. Then we will drive to Vegas, probably early as we'll still be jetlagged and waking at 5am I reckon :rotfl: On the way back, we drive across from Vegas on the Friday, stay Friday night at Long Beach (good deal on Hotwire for the Westin at about £65). We then drive back to the airport for a 3pm flight. When do you go? Will be keen to hear how you get on if it's before us (31st August).


Sunflowersuffolk - you will be fine. We are Vegetarian and have been to Vegas 11 times, and managed to put on weight each trip. :rotfl: You may struggle in some restaurants, places like Mon Ami Gabi. Not sure if you're into posh places, if so I suspect it might be tricky. We eat buffets and Italian food, so we rarely struggle.

kroberts

WEATHER

Hi all

Just come back from a great 8 night holiday in Vegas and thought I'd share some of what we did.

Tues 10th July - Flight with VA, was on one of the older aircrafts but flight wasn't too bad. Arrived about 2.15pm local time to the new terminal, short wait for passport control and luggage was off fast so felt like we were straight out. Got bus to pick up our rental car from Thrifty, we had hired a Mustang Convertible and managed to get a brand new model - only 13 days old, very nice. Got to hotel about 4 (staying in Vdara) and the valet parking was fine (we only tipped $1-2 a time when we picked the car up each day and had no problems, was always out within 5 minutes latest). We managed to get a comp upgrade to a view of Bellagio fountains and strip. Was nice to have both a bath and shower, and a kitchen although we only really used that to store snacks and drinks. Had a very very comfy bed.
Walked to Luxor early evening and went to the Titanic Exhibtion, didn't think it would be worth the $30 but you can get discounted tickets at Tix4tonight stands.
We were too tired to dine out so just ordered takeaway pizza from Rock Bar in Miracle Mile and took them back to the Hotel - can recommend the pizzas

Weds 11th - Drove to Lake Havasu and saw London Bridge, not much there but I wanted to see it so glad I went. On way back went to Walmart to pick up few bits and pieces as it's a lot cheaper than the strip. Walked some of the strip and Dinner in a restaurant in the Venetian, can't remember the name at the moment

Thurs 12th - went on the neon museum boneyard tour. Nice to see some of the old signs. They are currently building a visitor centre which will be ready later in the year and they will have proper facilities and souvineers.
Went to premium outlet north to pick up a lot of bargains and then later in afternoon walked some more of the strip, tried the world flavours tasting tray in coca cola shop, some nice some horrible, especially the Italian one.
Was very happy in the evening - put $10 into Ghostbusters machine and got $171.80 out, not a big win for some but pleased me
Husband also managed $120 from $30
Had dinner in Hard Rock.

Fri 13th - Drove to LA, walked Hollywood Blvd and walk of fame, saw Hollywood sign from the shopping centre there. Drove sunset blvd to our hotel for the night (Park Plaza Lodge). Good price for nice room, plenty of parking and free wifi. Staff were friendly and very helpful. A 5 minute walk to The Grove centre and farmers market which is part of the reason we chose it. Walked to The Grove, had dinner in Farmers Market, it was fairly busy but I guess thats expected for a Friday night.

Sat 14th - Drove up Rodeo drive and up Beverly Hills, stopped at a visitor lay-by to look at the view and Hollywood sign. The drove back down and to Santa Monica Pier (the end of route 66) walked up and down the pier and then went across the road to Santa Monica Place/Promenade. Drove back to Vegas in the evening. Saw the Botanical gardens in Bellagio. Indian for Dinner at Tamba, was a buffet, what was there was nice enough but wasn't much choice.

Sun 15th - Went to Roos & More zoo in the morning. Was able to hold a baby monkey and a Lemur. Some lovely animals there and value for money. In the afternoon went to south premium outlet but not much there.

Mon 16th - A needed lay in and then a trip to the Town Square as hadn't been there before either then back to hotel and onto the Flamingo Gardens as hadn't been on previous trips. We booked with Tix4tonight to go to Cirque du Solei Love at 9.30pm so had dinner in BLT Burger in The Mirage, fairly long wait but good food. And then onto see Love. Great show, sat about 5 rows from the front, had a good view.

Tues 17th - Went to Siegfried and Roy Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat. They're renovating the secret garden (stingray cove) but Tigers and Lion's still there. Dolphins were playful. Went back to the North Premium outlet to pick a couple of things we saw before. Went back to Rock Bar for some Dinner but ate in this time. Had a nice BBQ Beef Briscket and good cocktails.

Weds 18th - Dropped car off back at the airport, no problems. Not much duty free in the new terminal. Got a new VA aircraft on way home and seated upstairs, seemed comfier than the older ones and better entertainment systems as its on demand.

A good trip but hot. Had monsoon storms one of the days but we missed most of the rain as it was the day we drove to LA.

secretmachines

VALUE FOR MONEY

Ahh great stuff kroberts! We're not hiring a car this time, but really like the sound of Roos... I wonder if there's another way of getting there?

When you got upgraded at Vdara, did you ask/tip for an upgrade? We've booked the basic room, hoping we can either get a corner suite or at least a fountains view - having stayed there twice before :-)

ferf1223

VALUE FOR MONEY

If Roos N More calendar shows they are open on a day that works for you, you could consider renting a car just for one day, picking up and returning to a Strip hotel or something if you really wanted to make the trip, could use it for some other purposes that day...would probably only cost £25-£30 + petrol. It's a very easy drive.

If you did do that would be worth bearing in mind that hotel car hire desks usually only have one person working, so sometimes there is quite a queue...think we waited about 45 minutes at TI for a pick-up at 10:30...the girl on the desk said mornings are crazy, afternoons calm down...I think next trip we may plan to pick our car up in the afternoon from TI as we'll be returning it in the afternoon anyway, would avoid an extra day charge too.

kroberts

WEATHER

secretmachines wrote: »

Ahh great stuff kroberts! We're not hiring a car this time, but really like the sound of Roos... I wonder if there's another way of getting there?

When you got upgraded at Vdara, did you ask/tip for an upgrade? We've booked the basic room, hoping we can either get a corner suite or at least a fountains view - having stayed there twice before :-)

Roos is in the middle of nowhere really, just a few housed about si probably would need a car for it.

The upgrade we just asked if there were any comp upgrades available and she said she would have a look. Then went on to ask what floor we preferred so asked if we could get a lake view. She said oh yes can upgrade you to this room. Worth asking

shelldanielle

Hiya peeps,

Just got a quick question, I noticed on a site that cosmopolitan requires a deposit for $150 per day.
Im staying for 11nights and I wont have that kind of money for just deposit.
What is the deposit for? im confused lol x

Froggitt

For charging stuff like food to your room, minibar, phone calls etc. They only ringfence funds on your card, they dont actually take the money. However on the card, it still shows as being unavailable to spend.

They should allow a much smaller deposit if you ask nicely.

shelldanielle

So can they still hold it on my card even i don't have the money? I should be ok if I don't spend in room service etc.

Froggitt

Say your card has £3,000 credit limit, say $5,000. Youve spend say $1,000 at Argos before you left, leaving $4,000 available. Cosmo will ringfence $1650, leaving $2,350 available credit.

You then spend $1,000 in Fashion Show Mall, leaving $1,350 available.

Over the trip, lets say you spend $150 on breakfasts at Cosmo. They debit $150 from your card, and release the $1,650 ringfence. So your card available credit goes back up to $2,850.

Some people have complained that the ringfence does not get credited quickly enough, and it can take a few days to be released.

Froggitt

shelldanielle wrote: »

So can they still hold it on my card even i don't have the money? I should be ok if I don't spend in room service etc.

Depends what you mean by "dont have the money". If you mean "dont have available credit", that could be a problem.

If you mean "dont have $1650 in cash", thats OK, so long as you dont then go and spend the deposit.

From memory, some hotels allow "no credit" and therefore dont take a deposit....ie the phone doesnt allow outgoing, they empty the minibar, you cant charge to the room in the restaurant.