Las Vegas guide and MSE thread 2014

secretmachines

Kit1 wrote: »

Hi

We are going to Vegas for the first time at Christmas and am concerned about the tipping. Could someone please let me know what the is the expected tip (l know it depends on what your are doing) we don't want to under or over tip.

Many thanks

hi Kit1, hope you're excited!

The first page of this thread is your friend to cover all the basics

TIPPING

As with most places in the US, tipping is the etiquette when receiving any kind service (bell hops, cocktail waitresses, valet, concierge, taxis, meals, etc...). Vegas.com offers a comprehensive resource for all things tipping.

ferf1223

Kit1 wrote: »

Hi

We are going to Vegas for the first time at Christmas and am concerned about the tipping. Could someone please let me know what the is the expected tip (l know it depends on what your are doing) we don't want to under or over tip.

Many thanks

there's a link on page 1 to a good guide.

http://www.vegas.com/traveltips/tips-on-tipping/

It's a minefield though - everyone will have a different opinion/view on the whole culture of tipping.

nykied

So, my trip report, now that I feel vaguely normal again.

When? We flew from Manchester with Thomas Cook on a direct flight, on 12/09/14.

The flight: The outbound flight was fine. We booked meals which were nice enough. The inbound flight was delayed by 3 hours (nothing the airline could do - someone had a fit and they had to go back to Manchester, missed their slot at LAS and had to wait to 'groom' the plane. Not very well groomed, if you ask me. The back of the seat in front of my husband looked as though someone's meal had exploded all over it. Or worse. The 'vegetarian' meal was pasta and sauce. The breakfast was one oat biscuit, a small yoghurt and a small orange juice. That does not make a breakfast, IMO.

Where we stayed: The Venetian. Immense thanks to the person who recommended Priceline to me - a great price for a fantastic hotel! We loved it. Location was great, couldn't fault the service, the pools were all open, although one was shut on weekdays, the room was fantastic. I tried the $20 trick and although it didn't get us a better room as such, it got us a much better view (on the 31st floor, overlooking the pool deck, Trump, the Fashion Show Mall) and the person who did our check-in also waived the resort fee, saving us $280 and letting us use the fitness centre if we wanted to, and the wifi.

What we did: Well, we said 'I do', which was the reason for going to Vegas. After much deliberation, spread sheets etc, we decided on the Little White Chapel and it was fantastic. I'd recommend it to anyone wanting to get married in Vegas. The webcast was clear to watch, the photographer was great and sent us 28 pictures instead of the 17 or 18 in the price, and the limo driver took us past our hotel and to the Vegas sign and took our picture there, then dropped us off at our hotel. The picture he took is currently my profile picture on FB. We'd originally asked him if he'd mind taking us to the Coke shop so we could have our picture taken with the Coke bear but he suggested the sign, even though it's further.

We also took a helicopter trip to the GC. Booked from home with Sundance, despite reading about the crash/es they have had. Makes them more careful! It was amazing and well worth the money. Last time I went to Vegas this was something I didn't do and I regretted it, so we were doing it this time. The pilot was really chatty and gave lots of info about the area. Limo to and from the hotel too.

Two shows - 'Rock of Ages' at the Venetian, which was fabulous. This was a spur-of-the-moment thing, so we got the tickets at Tix4Tonite at a 39% discount. We also went to 'Love' by Cirque du Soleil at the Mirage. Amazing. Amazing, amazing, amazing. We'd see that one again in a heartbeat. We booked the tickets from home getting a discount on them by joining the Cirque club (thanks to the person who suggested that!). We didn't see them being offered at Tix4Tonite either.

The Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay. Wish we hadn't bothered. The tank inside the Golden Nugget is much more impressive. The tickets were through myVegas, so at least we didn't pay for them. If we'd paid $36 we'd have felt very cheated!

The secret garden/tiger cubs at the Mirage. BOGOF through myVegas and that was great. Well worth $20. All the cats were asleep apart from the leopard but still great to see them, plus the dolphins. The only thing I wasn't too happy about was the lack of space there seemed to be in the cats' enclosures.

Trip to downtown. I'd thought about staying here for the first few days of our holiday and I'm so glad I didn't. The Fremont Street Experience was great though, although my husband had thought all day that I was saying 'the free Monsters inc experience' so he was highly disappointed.

Shopping: we went to the Fashion Show Mall a fair few times and loved it. We also went to the North Outlets and were a little disappointed. The Boss shop, for example, had things at the same price as the mall. I printed off all the vouchers and got the voucher book but we only ended up using one, in a sports shop where we both bought sneakers and got a 20% discount. I got another pair in the Converse shop, which meant having two pairs for less that what one would cost me here, so not a total washout.
We went round the Forum Shops, the Venetian shops and the Magic Mile shops. Not much to report there.

We went up the Eiffel Tower on our wedding night, which was great. Had a BOGOF voucher from the Venetian concierge. We also bought cocktails in the ceramic Paris balloons, which we packed carefully in our cases!

Where we ate:
Johnny Rockets - okay I guess. Nice shakes.
A cafe in one of the casinos downtown - urgh. Not somewhere I ever want to eat again.
Dinner buffet at the Mirage - really not what I thought it would be, although the desserts were really nice. This was a BOGOF from myVegas again but I think it's put us off buffets for the future. We also had BOGOF rewards for dinner at Bellagio and Vdara but we didn't bother claiming those.
Strip Burger at the FSM - really, really nice. On the list for when we go back.
The Rainforest Cafe in the MGM. Lovely. It makes number 4 in our meals top 10. Got cocktails in the glasses that you keep. I'm drinking out of mine now. Cordial rather than cocktail but hey...
Mon Ami Gabi - we got the concierge to book this for us, then we waited 5 minutes for a terrace table. Really nice meal to finish our wedding day. It remained our favourite meal until later in the holiday, when it was pushed to 3rd by...
The Cheesecake Factory. Two evening meals taking places 1 and 2 for both of us on the food chart. Main courses followed by cheescake. If we had found this earlier in the holiday, we might just have gone here every night!

ferf1223

nykied wrote: »

The Fremont Street Experience was great though, although my husband had thought all day that I was saying 'the free Monsters inc experience' so he was highly disappointed.

This is brilliant! I love it...how funny.

Congratulations and glad you had such a nice trip and thank you for taking the time to post it.

I haven't had the Mirage dinner buffet but have had lunch there and based on our experiences I would think you might enjoy Bellagio (I wasn't blown away but it was good) or Aria (really l like it)...don't let one bad experience put you off the whole idea...maybe give one a try next time.

Rainforest Cafe was our first night's dinner for several years but we haven't been in ages...to many other options...maybe your TR has inspired me to go back.

nykied

Thanks ferf. I think the Mirage was just a bad one to have as our first buffet. I think next time we might try the Bellagio one, just to see what it's like. So many people on here like them, so maybe we did just have a bad one.

This thread has been so helpful in general. I wouldn't have known about myVegas, Priceline, the $20 trick, half of the things we did in Vegas and loads of other stuff.

Last time I went, admittedly 9 years ago, we stayed at NYNY for 2 nights, MGM for one and Caesar's for our final night. We just walked in and no doubt paid rack rate, probably got long-hauled on the way there, and only really saw the inside of the hotels we were in. I still loved it, but this holiday was the best holiday/wedding day/honeymoon ever

ferf1223

was there something particular you weren't happy with? I was not overwhelmed by Mirage breakfast/lunch, I thought it was OK for free but better options out there for me...but hubby was quite pleased with it and so we're going back this trip again on MV.

I am sad to have read this morning that Raiding the Rock Vault has closed at LVH/Westgate to move to Tropicana 1st Nov...we were really looking forward to that show very much. Now we only have one show booked (Shania) and I feel we need to add at least one more or we just end up wandering around casinos every evening and that can be dangerous.

Maybe it will be a trip where we hit up Tix4Tonight and see what might take our fancy on the day. Kind of running out of shows we both want to see - the few that are left we may take my in-laws to in March so have parked them - and I've bullied a few in there already on previous trips (Divas, Donny & Marie). Hubby actually said recently that maybe we should go see Zumanity to see if it is as terrible as many say...we enjoyed Criss Angel as we had zero expectations...maybe Zumanity would be the same?

nykied

It was a general feeling of bleurgh really. There wasn't a lot of hot food and what there was was really dry. It was okay for $30 or $40, whatever it was, but there are so many places to eat in Vegas, I think I'd rather pay a bit more for a much nicer meal and save somewhere else. In comparison, our first meal at the Cheesecake Factory was about $55 and that ended up as our top-rated meal in Vegas.

gracie10

nykied wrote: »

So, my trip report, now that I feel vaguely normal again.

When? We flew from Manchester with Thomas Cook on a direct flight, on 12/09/14.

The flight: The outbound flight was fine. We booked meals which were nice enough. The inbound flight was delayed by 3 hours (nothing the airline could do - someone had a fit and they had to go back to Manchester, missed their slot at LAS and had to wait to 'groom' the plane. Not very well groomed, if you ask me. The back of the seat in front of my husband looked as though someone's meal had exploded all over it. Or worse. The 'vegetarian' meal was pasta and sauce. The breakfast was one oat biscuit, a small yoghurt and a small orange juice. That does not make a breakfast, IMO.

Where we stayed: The Venetian. Immense thanks to the person who recommended Priceline to me - a great price for a fantastic hotel! We loved it. Location was great, couldn't fault the service, the pools were all open, although one was shut on weekdays, the room was fantastic. I tried the $20 trick and although it didn't get us a better room as such, it got us a much better view (on the 31st floor, overlooking the pool deck, Trump, the Fashion Show Mall) and the person who did our check-in also waived the resort fee, saving us $280 and letting us use the fitness centre if we wanted to, and the wifi.

What we did: Well, we said 'I do', which was the reason for going to Vegas. After much deliberation, spread sheets etc, we decided on the Little White Chapel and it was fantastic. I'd recommend it to anyone wanting to get married in Vegas. The webcast was clear to watch, the photographer was great and sent us 28 pictures instead of the 17 or 18 in the price, and the limo driver took us past our hotel and to the Vegas sign and took our picture there, then dropped us off at our hotel. The picture he took is currently my profile picture on FB. We'd originally asked him if he'd mind taking us to the Coke shop so we could have our picture taken with the Coke bear but he suggested the sign, even though it's further.

We also took a helicopter trip to the GC. Booked from home with Sundance, despite reading about the crash/es they have had. Makes them more careful! It was amazing and well worth the money. Last time I went to Vegas this was something I didn't do and I regretted it, so we were doing it this time. The pilot was really chatty and gave lots of info about the area. Limo to and from the hotel too.

Two shows - 'Rock of Ages' at the Venetian, which was fabulous. This was a spur-of-the-moment thing, so we got the tickets at Tix4Tonite at a 39% discount. We also went to 'Love' by Cirque du Soleil at the Mirage. Amazing. Amazing, amazing, amazing. We'd see that one again in a heartbeat. We booked the tickets from home getting a discount on them by joining the Cirque club (thanks to the person who suggested that!). We didn't see them being offered at Tix4Tonite either.

The Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay. Wish we hadn't bothered. The tank inside the Golden Nugget is much more impressive. The tickets were through myVegas, so at least we didn't pay for them. If we'd paid $36 we'd have felt very cheated!

The secret garden/tiger cubs at the Mirage. BOGOF through myVegas and that was great. Well worth $20. All the cats were asleep apart from the leopard but still great to see them, plus the dolphins. The only thing I wasn't too happy about was the lack of space there seemed to be in the cats' enclosures.

Trip to downtown. I'd thought about staying here for the first few days of our holiday and I'm so glad I didn't. The Fremont Street Experience was great though, although my husband had thought all day that I was saying 'the free Monsters inc experience' so he was highly disappointed.

Shopping: we went to the Fashion Show Mall a fair few times and loved it. We also went to the North Outlets and were a little disappointed. The Boss shop, for example, had things at the same price as the mall. I printed off all the vouchers and got the voucher book but we only ended up using one, in a sports shop where we both bought sneakers and got a 20% discount. I got another pair in the Converse shop, which meant having two pairs for less that what one would cost me here, so not a total washout.
We went round the Forum Shops, the Venetian shops and the Magic Mile shops. Not much to report there.

We went up the Eiffel Tower on our wedding night, which was great. Had a BOGOF voucher from the Venetian concierge. We also bought cocktails in the ceramic Paris balloons, which we packed carefully in our cases!

Where we ate:
Johnny Rockets - okay I guess. Nice shakes.
A cafe in one of the casinos downtown - urgh. Not somewhere I ever want to eat again.
Dinner buffet at the Mirage - really not what I thought it would be, although the desserts were really nice. This was a BOGOF from myVegas again but I think it's put us off buffets for the future. We also had BOGOF rewards for dinner at Bellagio and Vdara but we didn't bother claiming those.
Strip Burger at the FSM - really, really nice. On the list for when we go back.
The Rainforest Cafe in the MGM. Lovely. It makes number 4 in our meals top 10. Got cocktails in the glasses that you keep. I'm drinking out of mine now. Cordial rather than cocktail but hey...
Mon Ami Gabi - we got the concierge to book this for us, then we waited 5 minutes for a terrace table. Really nice meal to finish our wedding day. It remained our favourite meal until later in the holiday, when it was pushed to 3rd by...
The Cheesecake Factory. Two evening meals taking places 1 and 2 for both of us on the food chart. Main courses followed by cheescake. If we had found this earlier in the holiday, we might just have gone here every night!

Great trip report! We have just booked The Venetian for next year. How did you get the resort fee waived can I ask?

becksta

Great trip report Nykied and huge congratulations on your wedding. Sounds like you had a brilliant time and I'm so pleased that you enjoyed both The Venetian and Love.

nykied

gracie10 wrote: »

Great trip report! We have just booked The Venetian for next year. How did you get the resort fee waived can I ask?

You can try, but it's not necessarily going to be waived. Google '20 dollar trick' - you basically put $20 in between your passport and credit card when you're checking in and ask if there are any complimentary upgrades available. The check-in person might say no, might upgrade you to a better room or view, might waive the resort fees, might give you money-off vouchers. It's a gamble but hey, you're in Vegas.

I got more than my money's worth. I also got some money-off vouchers but didnt use them.