Las Vegas guide and MSE thread 2013

StuieUK34

Perfume sucks!! as the cost is waaaaaay more than that we pay here!
Last week, we did North and South outlets (twice!), and also took a trip to Primm outlet...
Also took a trip round City Centre and Forum Shops and then realised i was dreaming if i could afford that kind of stuff!!!

Best thing with the outlets, signup before hand online, so you pickup a voucher book when you get there.....
I bought 2 pair of levi's, worked out to be $95, so only slightly cheaper than here...
However, with the voucher book, in North Outlet, i got 50% off a single item in DC store (sweeeeeeeeeeeeet!) and in the south outlet, got 50% off a single item in the Quicksilver store, sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!!!!
Also, i had email offers for Tommy stores giving 20% off as opposed to the voucher book offer which is 10 or 15%, etc etc.....
In total, i spent $912 on clothes, and $20 on BBQ Sauce !!! (3KG of the stuff! haha)

duchy

martmonk wrote: »

My first attempt to upload a pic to flickr and then share it here so we'll see if this works!

it's relevant in that a few pages back there was a discussion on the opinions of and views from the Cosmo.

This is the view from our one bed terrace balcony from April 2012. We'd booked 3 nights (Mon-Thurs) in a city room but were upgraded thanks to $20 and the question - any chance we could get a fountain view?



EDIT - well it doesn't appear that I've cracked it.

The link is http://www.flickr.com/photos/97012590@N02/8959400054/

Wow that is gorgeous

wynnvegas

Thanks Guys,

We will play as normal in NYNY so it won't just be taking the money and running - just an additional boost to the budget for that day. The MGM offer was through Smartervegas so isn't affiliated with our !!!!!! account in any way. I'll give it a go. Worst thing is that we don't get any additional offers but we don't gamble in any one single place exclusively enough in any event to get us brilliant offers so no future offers wouldn't be the end of the world.

29 days and counting!

Cheers,

Billy

alisonofagun

gatita wrote: »

Sorry if this is in the wrong place but I am dizzy trying to find the posts that I am sure are here!!
I am shortly off to Las Vegas and wondered what things are really good value? I believe Levi's are a good buy? what about make-up and perfumes? I would be really grateful for any recommendations'
Thank you

If you like Bare Minerals makeup the Bare Escentual shop at the north outlets had some amazing prices last summer, in excess of 75% off some items!

Did not find the Levis shop to be that cheap but do remember Converse was buy one pair get one half price. If you're into watches the Fossil shop is brilliant - I got a Marc Jacobs watch for around $120 which I saw in John Lewis a few months later for £245!!

In terms of Sephora I found that brands such as Benefit, Urban Decay etc weren't really any cheaper than online prices - but Nars, Laura Mercier etc were about the same price in $$ as we would pay in ££ here. Plus you can get Make Up Forever which is near impossible to get in UK! Sephora also does a lot of starter kits which are usually really good value for money

(I'm a big make up and shopping fan, if you can't tell!)

Andream

There are a couple of perfume shops in the North outlets, the better one is Perfumania, we have a had some good deals they quite often they have a 'buy one get one for $9.99' they also have a store in the shops at the Stratosphere, they also have prices on their website if you want to check before your go, I believe there is one at the South Outlet Mall but haven't been there for a few years so not too sure.

StuieUK34

Here goes nothing!!!!
Budget: £750 each (to include flight/hotel/Resort Fee)
At time of booking, prices had remained high for over 2 months (booked Feb).
Booked flight/hotel with expedia, flying from Amsterdam via Philly to Vegas staying at Excalibur for 10 nights, booked seperate flight with KLM, Bristol to Amsterdam. Total Cost: £748 total.
(KLM flight booking had 2hr transfer gap, so if that plane were delayed, holiday would have been ruined!!! )

Through my usual wheeling & dealin, blaggin and bluffin, i cancelled the Excalibur booking, and ended up with 3 nights Mandalay Bay, 2 Nights Golden Nugget, 5 Nights Luxor, total price now changed to £716 each !!!! :T

Day 1: (22nd May)
Left Bristol OK, got to checkin desk for US Airways OK at AMS, McDonalds breakfast sucks a$$ at Amsterdam! tasteless and overpriced!! Got on the plane and asked for Big seats if avail , got moved to exit row seats (sweeeeet!) Landed OK, got myself a nice Philly Cheesesteak at the airport, mmmm mmmmmmmmmm! Now the fun begins, were delayed 1hr 20 for our flight with US Airways to Vegas, get onboard, got exit row seats again.... Now were delayed for 1hr ON the plane, sat on the taxiway! grrrrrrrrrrrrrr !!!!

Got to Mandalay Bay around 9pm, lady says i can pay the final balance with no incidental hold, no probs. Then says all she has is a Queen room?!! I asked if that were a standard room, as i had blagged us a 660spa suite! She says standard room (as hotel well busy due to upcoming Memorial wkend)!!
Show her the email which shows i got a suite upgrade, she talks to boss, comes back and says we'll have to have the 750ft Great Suite! Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!!!
Room is awesome and big, partial strip view! Jacuzzi bathtub is awesome!




Went straight out for munchies and went to 'Slice of Vegas', had R.com voucher.... We had pizza and wings, i asked for some of there 'Atomic' sauce.... So left my chicken wing to soak in the sauce, wife said was i gonna check it first, but no, i just took a big bite! :eek: OMG!!!! I like mega hot stuff, but this was like pure extract, i drank my beer in 1 go, tried to eat pizza to make the pain go away!!! haha!!!! eventually had to go mens room to stick mouth under tap!!! The guy said the sauce is waaaaaay hotter than Ghost chilli!!! Pain felt like i had chewed a sea urchin!!!
:eek::eek:
Day 2:
I have carpet burns! Not good for sunbathing, and worst part, its on my foot, not knees!
Sunbathed all day on the beach, pure bliss! Pure burn't too!
Had Buffet at Monte Carlo for evening tea (myVegas), it was OK, nice and so on, nothing to rave about though!


Day 3:
Sunbathed a little, but quite burnt from Day2!!! Went for Lunch at 'Fresh Grill & Bar' in PH shops using R.com, very very nice!!!!! Back to sunbathing, followed by 2 super good seats at the Criss Angel show (thank you myVegas!). Show was OK, some stuff impressive, did enjoy it!
Went into the MIX lounge before the show, we were dressed up, so no charge, we come down after 20 mins, lots of peeps paying to get in! haha!!!!!
We played slots and tables in Luxor/M Bay for past 3 nights, little wins and losses, played 3cd Poker, BJ, and Ghostbuster slots, and wheel of fortune!!! (more wins for me than the wife!!)



Day 4:
Had booked a convertable for 1 week with Alamo, got a super deal for £170 inc Fuel & wife to drive!. Used the SaveTime option, so went straight to the garage.... 6 cars to choose from at the time, 5 mustangs and 1 200.... went for the Mustang


Got to exit gate and gave my visa debit card, guy didnt like it, so gave my pre-paid FairFX $ card, he took that and billed $1 to it (Auth ?) strange as Dollar never did this when i booked the same package! oh well, at least he accepted a pre-paid card!
Checked out of M Bay (total bill £208), and went upto Golden Nugget in Old Town...
Its now Memorial wkend, its also the Punk Rock Bowling wkend in GN! Busy is an understatement! Got room key, all is good, normal room in Carson tower.
We hit the road and went to Primm...... Got voucher book and spent some $$$ ! Went to the lotto shop just over the border, got a $5 scratch card, won $50!! but as queue was massive, gave the card away to a couple in the queue....
Stopped at North Premuim Outlet until 8pm!

Time to go out and get munchies, so ended up in Market street cafe (in downtown), nice T-bone for $15!, this is around 10:30pm, so no queue anywhere... by 10:50pm, there was a massive queue outside due to the 'graveyard menu'!!!!!!


Left there and went to the 'California' to do some gambling, WOW, WOW and WOW some more! Best hand was 3 of a kind on 3cd poker, won $800 total!!, by the time we left there, i had over $1200 in my pocket ($1k profit!!) left there very happy!

Day 5:
Plan is to goto Santa Monica for the day, so we got as far as Primm, stopped for a bite to eat (oh and the rollarcoaster is closed ), and then headed on our way....
Got as far as 100 miles outside of Vegas, got bored, so we come back! haha!!!!! Late afternoon now, so hit the south premuim outlet again!!
Then went for a cruise around Red Rock Canyon

Evening time now, had buffet dinner in GN, was OK i guess for $45 for 2.... Went back to the California to gamble, not so lucky, only came away with $420 profit
Stopped at 'Gold Digga's in GN, cool place but feeling well p!ssed, so got a 2for1 drink and then went on the BJ table, walked away with $80 profit! Need sleep now, as we been going to bed at like 2am every night so far!

Day 6:
Check out of GN (total bill = £108) and headed for Luxor, stopped by 'TheGunStore' on Tropicana, $300 later and i did the MP5, M16, M4, Colt 1911, Beretta & USP! YEAH!!!!!! missis did 2 handguns and AR15 rifle! Gambling and shooting are both the same, u see your money dissappear in a flash!!


Got to the Luxor, masssssive queue around 2pm, got to the desk, tried a $40 sandwich, but she just put the money on the counter and said no comp upgrades available... I guess given her next words were "5 nights full comp with nothing to pay at all" probably means the sandwich trick wont work!!!!
We got a queen room on 21st floor in the pyramid, happy with this, nice room and big shower!



Went for walkies and look around some shops/hotels, and for evening munchies, we went to 'Memphis Championship BBQ'..
Lets just say, after wanting to go here, i wasn't impressed! Granted the chicken was awesome in flavour, but value sucked along with size and the pork/ribs were like they had been sat under a lamp for 10 hrs Oh well, i did other reviews to say it had gone downhill a bit


Back in Excal/Luxor for some gambling, more wins for me!!

Day 7:
I consider this our Aniversary Day (pressie for wife!) (although not till 7th june), sunbathing most of the day, hit south prem outlet for quick shop, along with wings at Buffalo Wild Wings (got my Blazin hot sauce!) for lunch, more sunbathing....

7pm, we got 2 awesome seats to see Zarkana (4 rows from front, myVegas!), WOW WOW WOW WOW!!!! what an amazing show, we are totally amazed by this show!!!
After that, onto our aniversary meal at the Harley Davidson (we went there for our wedding meal 2 years ago on 7th june Tuesday)... Used an R.com voucher, great food, great evening!

Left there and grabbed the 11:15pm showing of 'Hangover III' down at TownSquare... Back to Luxor for some wins on slots and tables, bed by 3am!

Day 8:
We hit the VIP part of Luxor, nice pool with super nice comfy beds, etc, was 2 beds for $50 Awesome, just an awesome day sunbathing!!! Burn some more burnt skin!!!!


Quick lunch at 'Fresh Grill & Bar', back for more sunbathing!
Tournment of the Kings show tonight at Excal (myVegas), good laugh, good fun! Out of there and onto some more gambling,
After there, we hit NYNY around 11pm, i won a few $ hundred on the BJ tables, so come 11:30pm, we went to the Dueling Pianos in NYNY, with $150 worth of free drinks (myVegas).....

Now this bar is amazing fun, cocktails are $10, beers around $7 and shorts/mixer around $10.... Used first voucher and barman knocked 1 drink off bill to make it tally up, left him a good tip... Then started with 2nd voucher (x2 $75 vouchers).....
Now, singing, dancing, drinkings, its all good mega fun!!!!

We leave just before 2am, however, this is what i was told the following day.... We leave the bar to which i dont remember, the Bridge between NYNY and Excal, well, lets just say i was emptying my pockets onto the bridge (had nearly $1k on me!), room key and all, wife puts all back in my pocket, i then stick my head in the bin on the bridge, and puke around $90 worth of spirits!!!!! hehe !
I hugged the bin, so all the crap then went onto my polo shirt! not good!
Then after that, wife made me walk behind her as we made our way back to Luxor, peeps walking by me going "VEGAS BABY!!!" haha, and few groups of girls were wanting to have there pic taken with me cos i looked a super mess/state!! haha!!!!!!
Dont recall getting to the room, but wife says she washed me cos i was a dirty wreck, i puked more in the loo, and then stumbled into the spare bed!! hah!!!!!


Day 9:
Woke up at 9am wondering where i was, and who i was! hah!!!
Followed by the worst hangover feeling ever!!!! Crikey, all day i felt like i was gonna puke or crap myself!

VIP Sunbathing at Luxor again all day, quick stop to McD's for BigMac&Chicken as my hangover cure, then more sunshine...
Roll on early evening, went to see BeeGees tribute act (myVegas), was OK for free, nothing special...
Went to Taco's & Tequilla for tea (R.com voucher), not impressed, not the usual type of mexican food, rather dry for some of there stuff! More gambling, more wins for me!

Day 10: (Friday)
Our last day, feeling rather gutted, go out to sunbath, but VIP pool closed due to Jabbawockeez party launch, so we get VIP beds in the other pool....
Lunch time, we goto the Bellagio for buffet lunch (myVegas), WOW, WOW, WOW and WOW!!! Food is awesome here!!!!!!!
Back to Luxor for 3:30pm, get told all the pools are closing cos of this party launch, but told we can use Excalibur pool....

I was like, erm "just spent $50 on seats!", 5 mins later and after a call, someone is waiting for us at the Excal... We get to Excal, get taken to our super comfy loungers directly in the sun, free munchies and usual bottle of waters/ice
sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet! Nice pools in the Excal mind.....

Fri evening, walk around hotels, went to Stripburger with R.com voucher, nice burgers, walked round shops, casinos, bet in each, walk out a winner!, etc... Back to Luxor for some late night gambling (got back around 1am), plan was to stay awake due to early flight......
Sooooooooooooooooooooo....
I've got $1047 left on my last day (only took $2300 with me and i spent a LOT on clothes, ammo!!!) , figure i would try my luck and win more..... Bad move, lost $500 in 30 mins
Didnt help placing $245 on blackjack in 1 hand in anger and losing that! doh!!!!!!

Day 11: (well, 6 - 8am)

Were in Airport, theres a Ghostbuster slot, in goes a $20, out comes a $141 ! Go into the departure area, few more slots, out comes $90 ! On route to pHilly tired, cant sleep on plane, then plane from philly to amsterdam, night flight, still cant sleep legs swell up on this flight too !
Land in Amsterdam, we got 6 hours to do some sight seeing.. we get onto the train (stupid conductor put us and others on wrong train), we end up in Amserfoot!!! Back on train to AMS central, get there, walk round, look at hoochies in the windows, munchies time, back to airport, home!


WOW, is all i can say !, we had a super awesome time in Vegas, sooo many good moments to mention, it is by far the best place to go, and as we missed so many things again (including NYNY coaster), we have to go back next year!!!! It truly was an amazing holiday.....
And best part was: We paid £716 each for the hols (well £801 if you include the hirecar), and we did a joint kitty for food/drinks/tips/fuel and that cost us £255 each for 10 nights..
Amazing value using myVegas and R.com and other vouchers i picked up!
Feel super down to be back home as it was an amazing holiday, but, seeing as i came back with $490 and money in the bank, we just booked 8 nights in Gran Canaria in a nice hotel for £277 each, via Stuies wheel n deal of the day.ltd holidays! hehe !! That helps to take away the downer part!!!
I made Pearl Tier on my mLife card in the days we were in Vegas due to the amounts and time gambling!!

Froggitt

Mrs Stuie looks Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!!!!!!!

StuieUK34

hehe !!! Tried to gamble her with some Texan guy, but i lost, so had to bring her back!!!

Misty_Blue

This thread is amazingly useful, thanks to everyone who contributes. :T

I booked my Las Vegas trip yesterday. Not until summer 2014 though, so a really long time to wait. It's a surprise 40th birthday gift for my other half, so I also have to keep quiet about it when I'm dying to discuss it!

My heart was set on a fountain view room at the Bellagio, but so many people steered me away from it (including the travel agent), saying the rooms are dated and the hotel has had its day, that I ended up booking a One Bedroom Fountain View Terrace at The Cosmopolitan. I'm very taken by the Japanese bath and gorgeous views!

I've also upgraded the flights to Premium with Virgin, and will be booking some nice restaurants nearer the time. I'm hoping there might be a great band or singer on at the time we're there.

Now off to browse the rest of the thread to get more ideas..... :beer:

martmonk

secretmachines wrote: »

The North and South outlets will be a good start for you. There's a perfume store at the North outlets where we usually find a good deal. The Converse store usually has some great deals on shoes, there's a big sneakers store too where we picked up 2 pairs of Nikes for about 50usd. If you have the time you can usually pick up some cheap branded clothes at Ross (near the Harley Dav cafe)... think TK Maxx, can be a bit of a jumble sale.

Best value for us (in March this year) was in the South Outlet;

Ralph Lauren - polo shirt and jacket for me. Shoes and dress for wife. Total cost was around $250 (thats less than £180 at the exchange rate at the time)
Nine West - 2 pairs for $63 (just over £40) .... I've seen my wife pay more than double that for Nine West sandles in this country!