Las Vegas guide and MSE thread 2015

gamboller

gamboller wrote: »

Your Social Media account doesn't meet the minimum engagement requirements recommended by our client.

Anyone know what requirements are? I must have lost some "followers" on my phantom twitter account. Have 10 and account is almost 12 mths old. Used to work fine

This is Mike from Social Rewards support.

Due to new parameters set forth from both Twitter and our client, you
do not or no longer meet our minimum engagement requirements to
participate. We do not disclose the minimum participation levels
required.

Thank you.

Mike


Ah well that'll be a few less dollars for the next trip

stoneman

ajdj wrote: »

A couple of questions for our first trip next week that I can't find answers to, if you can help please?

Is it permissible to have 2 people sitting on one slot machine in the main strip hotels? My partner has mentioned pooling our gambling money rather than having a budget each (something about me being luckier than her!), just wondering if it's strictly one person per machine?

Also wondering if the hotels provide free water at pool areas or if we are going to be sucked into buying expensive bottled water? We don't want to drink alcohol during the day and understand they search bags before you go in. We are staying at Aria.

You can seat as many around 1 slot as you like. A few slots have double seats at them.
You can take water into any pool you like I think except for Flamingo. And if you can't just go up to the pool bar and ask for some ice water, it'll be free

bobbyhibs

ajdj wrote: »

A couple of questions for our first trip next week that I can't find answers to, if you can help please?

Is it permissible to have 2 people sitting on one slot machine in the main strip hotels? My partner has mentioned pooling our gambling money rather than having a budget each (something about me being luckier than her!), just wondering if it's strictly one person per machine?

Also wondering if the hotels provide free water at pool areas or if we are going to be sucked into buying expensive bottled water? We don't want to drink alcohol during the day and understand they search bags before you go in. We are staying at Aria.

hi as stoneman said above there are some 2 seater type machines ,When my brother and i were in vegas(july last year and june this year) we often *watched* one another e.g sat beside one another , when one played the machine in front of them, the other watched, sometimes like i think you are meaning, sometimes we would put $10 each into one machine and take turns to price the button.

Im unsure if the pool provide free water.There is however a shop just beside the mgm(its maybe directly over from the monte carlo , the mgm side though) that had a good deal(i think) on bottled water 2 for $3 witch i think is a good rate.I often poped into the shop cos it had bottled coke witch was 2 for $2 (just over 500ml if i recall maybe 560ml?)
I tihnk it was called the grand canyon shop,but it was just directly opposite tix4tonight stall.
hope this helps

duchy

Right finally settled on a hotel and got the Tuscany for three nights for thirty pounds a night (before cashback) the 4th night will possibly be NYNY with MyVegas or maybe the Orleans -still can't decide.

As my partner in crime may be leaving after the three nights I'm leaning towards the Orleans for my last and only solo night in Vegas as I know the Orleans and am very comfortable there. The MSE-er in me says take the free night though LOL.

The more I think about it though -as that night is the Friday of Labor Day weekend I probably don't want to be staying on the Strip as it'll be crowded. The Orleans has plenty of food choices and realistically what I save on Strip food costs there and the lower resort fee -it probably not much difference in costs - and the Orleans casino is always fun .

Hmm I seem to have talked myself into the Orleans as I type this

kroberts

Flights - Flew out Tuesday 14th July from Gatwick with Virgin at 11.20am, we were able to board as soon as the gate number came up and left on time. Arrived in Vegas about 15-20 minutes early. The aircraft was one of the refitted 747s (Ruby Tuesday) and we were sat upstairs in the back row.
Flew back home Friday 24th 16.35pm landing Saturday Morning but aircraft was not as nice (older style) this one was Mustang Sally, did arrive back in the UK 35 minutes early though. Pre-booked an extra case each for the flight on the way home as knew we'd have a lot to bring back.
















Rental Car -
Had pre-booked a Mustang Convertible with Dollar so took the shuttle to the Rental Centre to collect the car. However OH was tempted by the upgrade offer and we ended up with a Camaro RS Convertible. Managed to knock the upgrade offer down from $50 per day to $22 per day plus a tank of fuel to return empty. The cases ended up on the back seats!




Hotel -


We had booked Vdara via Millington Travel at the beginning of the year as it was the best rate we could find at the time and included all resort fees. We have stayed at Vdara before and really liked it so thought we'd do the same again. Stay was for 10 nights, they had originally booked us for a suite on the 6th floor but after asking if anything else was available they moved us up to the 49th floor. A nice view of the mountains which we watched lightning over one evening and then a view of the Bellagio fountains just outside our door. The suite was big and included a coffee machine, house keeping left coffee pods each day, a big Fridge freezer which we just used for drinks, a washer and dryer (I did end up using them). The bathroom had a bath and shower.





Trips -
We wanted to go on trips we hadn't done before so we drove to Red Rock Canyon one day and walked one of the short trails. It was very hot and I was wary of seeing a Scorpion / snake while out walking but we didn't, instead we saw something more dog sized sitting in a bush! The trail was good though and glad we managed to get out on one.


Also took a drive out to Kingman, Oatman and Laughlin. Didn't find much in Kingman but did like looking around Oatman. We watched a gun fight and looked in a few of the shops. Bought a couple of items. There were a lot of Burros about. Walked around Laughlin for a little bit.
We also went to Freemont Street, Neon Boneyard night tour to see some of the old signs lit up, Silverton to see the Mermaids, Container Park in Freemont, Summerlin, and the Springs Preserve Botanical Gardens which was something a bit different to do.



Shopping - We did the usual trips to Premium Outlets North & South (we always prefer North), bought a lot of clothes, seems to be mainly Ralph Lauren and some Oakley's each. At Summerlin we went around their shopping Centre - Macy's had some good bargains.
We met Mike Tyson at the Field of Dreams shop in Caesars Forum Shops and got a signed Glove.
Also met Richard Rawlings from Gas Monkey (if anyone is a fan) at Lee's Liquor signing bottles of his new tequila.
Did all the usual Miracle Mile, Forum Shops etc andall the Casinos over various days.
Took a drive to Walmart to pick up shopping lists for family.



Gambling - Didn't do too much gambling but did play on some slots each day. Won a few but lost a few, no big wins but probably ended up even or maybe a tiny bit down. As long as we were having fun it didn't matter :-) I liked the Flinstones, Sex & the City and Wonder Woman Slots, OH liked The Hangover and Ghostbusters slots.



Food - First night we got a Pizza from The Secret Pizza Place at Cosmopolitan to take back to the hotel, it was very good.
We had breakfast in Vdara one morning, portions were big but food was good and the price was not too bad. We had some nice sliders from the ViceVersa bar in Vdara too. For a couple of lunches we bought the salads from the hotel to share as they were so big.
We had never been to In & Out burger before so ended up there one evening.
Through MyVegas we had 2 free breakfast / lunch buffets for Monte Carlo, we went for 'Brunch' and the options were better than I thought so was pleasantly surprised. We also had 2 free Mirage Dinner buffets, food was good with a lot of choice and the included alcohol made it even better. Another voucher we has was the $50 dining credit in Monte Carlo which we used in Double Barrel.
We ate in Hard Rock on the last night. Cocktails and burgers were good. I can't remember all the other nights but sometimes we were so full we couldn't manage another meal so had snacks :-)
We used a MyVegas voucher for alcohol infused shakes from the creamery - a bit sickly and I probably wouldn't have one again.

Concerts -
We went to see Mariah Carey, the show was amazing. Not something I would have seen had it been in the UK but I'm glad we went while in Vegas and would recommend.




We hadn't been to Vegas for a couple of years so it was good to see the Linq area complete and we liked that area for bars/drinks.
There were a few MyVegas vouchers we didn't end up using for a Cocktail at Bellagio, Popcorn and Sweets from Hexx so have now refunded them.



A good holiday had by us both, not sure about coming home to this rainy weather though :-( but glad we managed to miss the Cosmopolitan fire!

gamboller

Can I ask how much the signed glove from Iron Mike cost?

kroberts

gamboller wrote: »

Can I ask how much the signed glove from Iron Mike cost?

Worked out to about £125, we wasn't going to get one to start with but then decided it's something worth keeping and putting away for our son. Also had some photos with him.

jaytay

there are some decent prices about for january next year at the moment.

Just booked DUB-LAS 10th jan on BA via lgw returning LAX-LHR on AA 16th Feb for only £260pp

prefer booking with BA but for that price will book with a Travel Agent(ebookers)

baza52

jaytay wrote: »

there are some decent prices about for january next year at the moment.

Just booked DUB-LAS 10th jan on BA via lgw returning LAX-LHR on AA 16th Feb for only £260pp

prefer booking with BA but for that price will book with a Travel Agent(ebookers)

Great price


Wrap up, it will be fairly chilly that time of year

Winter_Jasmine

Hopefully better late than never!

Trip Report 21st June - 2 July

Airport (Manchester)
Bit of a wait at bag drop as the conveyor belts were bust. No queue whatsoever at security, whizzed through duty free, picking up a treat from Benefit along the way then to the lounge

Swiss Air lounge - Terminal 2
Alcoholic drinks are served at the bar. Food is self service, including very nice bacon rolls until 11am and soup afterwards. We preferred it to the Escape lounge, much quieter in our experience and nice to have unlimited amounts of the hot options. Also, unlike most places, right before the change to lunch they were still refilling the warm cabinet with bacon rolls

Booking into a lounge has now become a must for us. The £30 it costs is easily worth it for the peace and quiet and comfy chairs alone. Once you consider the cost of buying food in an airport it becomes really good value

Travel
We'd booked seats in the bubble for no charge (we booked our tickets before the changes). When we checked in we both got messages that we'd been moved downstairs to even up the weight distribution. After take off we could've moved back up but as we had three seats to ourselves, with no one in front of us and no one directly behind me, we decided to stay put. We'd had seats across the aisle from each other upstairs so it was an unexpected positive to be sitting next to each other. It was a very quiet flight, lots of spare seats. It was the first VS flight I've been on where they didn't run out of/stop serving alcohol and they actually did a second full drinks service - I've never known them to do that before. I was also impressed that they've started giving out miniature spirits rather than serving you a measure - the Bombay Sapphire bottles were easily enough for two g&ts at my preferred strength!

Arrived more or less on time, whizzed through immigration and hopped in a shuttle (after being tunnelled the last two trips we just didn't want to start another holiday on a bum note). Nicest shuttle driver in the world, we were the second stop and it took maybe 20 minutes

For the flight back we decided not to check in until we go tot the airport in the hope we wouldn't get moved again - it worked and we still had our upstairs seats (next to each other this time). Again we had three seats between the two of us, which was nice. The only irritation, on both flights, was that the arm rests wouldn't go all the way up - if I'd paid for seat plus I would have been really annoyed at this!

Monte Carlo - first five nights
There was no queue to check in when we arrived at around 4pm. The hotel was full due to EDC so there were no upgrades available - paid or otherwise. We had three separate reservations but I'd emailed ahead to link them so we were assured that we were checked in for the full stay and wouldn't need to check in /out or refresh our keys

We were given a room on the 9th floor - my initial impression was that it was fine, it was no Vdara but I wasn't expecting it to be, it was large and clean with a view of the roller coaster and building site, not exactly picturesque but never mind.

On the first night slept I until 5:30am but hubs was woken by noise from the construction site at around 3am. We popped down to the front desk and asked to move rooms - the clerk was very helpful and said she'd arrange for us to move to a strip view room on the 15th floor later that day. To cut a long and boring story short, this got mucked up leading to several time consuming trips to the front desk and our resort fees being comped for three nights (should have been the full five but that was a further !!!! up!).

I can only assume that the room change messed up the linking of the reservations so we ended up having to refresh our keys at the start of each reservation. The front desk staff were very friendly and helpful, I just wish we hadn't seen so much of them!

I was disappointed with the pool area, yes there's a lot squeezed in but it really is squeezed in - so many sunbeds crammed in. I didn't think any of the pools were very pleasant - we spent most of the time messing about in the lazy river which was ok.

(I am aware the above probably makes me sound like a proper whinger - I'm not usually, honest!)

Excalibur - last six nights
I hadn't really wanted to stay here but we had five nights comped so felt we couldn't turn it down. I was worried that it would feel like a step down from Monte Carlo but in fact the reverse was true. DH's M Life offer had been for a contemporary room but mine and the My Vegas night hadn't - I asked nicely if we could have a contemporary room for all six nights and the clerk happily obliged. I was really impressed with the room - it was much nicer than Monte and we had a great view of the mountains and pools. Wifi was a bit patchy to start - my phone was fine but DH had to call the M Life technical support people who fixed it for him pretty quickly

I preferred everything about Excalibur over Monte Carlo apart from the location - the gym was better equipped and cooler, the pools were much nicer and the food court was excellent (I loved being able to get an unsweetened green smoothie in the mornings so I could kid myself I was undoing the damage of the day before!). Best of all, we only had to speak to the front desk once!

Food
We had five food rewards from MyVegas between us - the $50 MC credit, 2 x 2 person Aria lunch buffets and 2 x 2 person Mirage lunch buffets.

We used the MC credit at Double Barrel on our first night. I had jambalaya, DH had a rack of ribs. Both delicious although my jambalaya was a bit oily (maybe it's meant to be?). Both came with a biscuit and a side. I also ordered some fried pickles, they were ok but not a patch on Rock & Rita's. Total bill was $120 including three cocktails, tax and tip, so around $70 out of pocket.

Aria is my new favourite buffet - I really liked the variety of items and everything seemed to be really high quality. I finally sorted my buffet strategy here - teaspoon sized portions enables me to eat everything I want and still be able to walk out normally!

I thought Mirage was ok, DH said it's now his favourite M Life buffet. What they had was decent but I thought they had a really limited amount of dishes on offer. The first time we went we had wine and beer but didn't bother the second time

We had a Groupon for Pampas Churasscaria. The salad bar there was by far the best I've ever seen, we had the surf and turf rodizio deal but I would have been quite happy with the $14 salad only option

Thanks to this thread I'd also started saving Social Rewards points and had converted these to TR points - between us we had $200 worth. I'd just like to say an absolutely massive thank you to everyone who explained the programme to me, it's blooming great! Much prefer it to MyVegas in that you have so much more flexibility about how you use your points.

We used some of our points for the Spice Market buffet (yes....another buffet!). This is one of our stops each trip, it was good as usual but they're still trotting out the same dishes they were five years ago which is a bit lame.

The rest of our points were put towards the meal I've been looking forward to for over 12 years...The STERLING BRUNCH!! Oh my goodness, it was really lovely; impeccable service and a wonderful atmosphere. I have no clue how much champagne we drank but it was A LOT, they really don't like letting your glass drop below half full! The signature omelette was delicious, as was the filet Benedict. DH was particularly impressed with the fist sized shrimp! My only regret is that I filled up too fast (this was before I'd perfected my buffet strategy!). Due to the points we had, we only paid about $25 out of pocket for the meal - even with the tip added (around $35) it was still an absolute bargain. Ferf - I think you've been toying with the idea of going? I think it's definitely worth it; DH is harder to impress than me - he can't stand eating in subdued lighting so he didn't like that but otherwise he really enjoyed the food too. I'd love to go back but probably not for a couple of trips.

Other
We only play slots - we've yet to have a big win on any of our trips but we enjoy spinning the reels and hoping! We didn't win or lose big this trip - I was luckiest in Caesars and Cosmo, DH did well in MGM.

We seem to have one night of insane cocktail service each trip - always on a Monday. Last time it was Long Islands at Luxor, this time it was at Cosmo. I was drinking chocolate martinis, hubs was on mojitos. I'm sure the waitress was on rocket skates - I remember drinking the first one slowly and thinking about how strong it was but before I knew it I was staggering out of there never wanting to taste anything chocolate ever again! We must've had six or seven in about 90 minutes - bleurgh!

We had Living Social vouchers for the happy half hour ride on the High Roller ($25 each). We got there at about 2:30pm on a Wednesday, there was no line and the bar carriage was at the bottom waiting for us. It was just us and another couple so we had a lot of drinks - very nice margaritas! The bartender also gave us each one for the road when we got to the end. Aside from the drinks, we both really enjoyed our ride; the views were breathtaking and it was fabulous to get such a different perspective on all the hotels. I'd recommend doing the day ride rather than the night as there so much to see in the day rather than just the (very) pretty lights

I got the dreaded Vegas nose for the first time this trip Thanks to someone mentioning it on last year's thread I went and got some saline nose spray so I was all sorted in a couple of days. We also both ended up with rotten colds but hey, a sick day in Vegas is better than a great day in work!!

We had a really quiet holiday this time, we did very little really - pool, food, slots, food, slots, bed was about the shape of each day. I know some people find this weird - we're forever being asked what we 'do' in Vegas, to which my answer is usually 'b****r all!'. To people who haven't been, I think Vegas seems like a faraway planet where normal holiday rules don't apply but we both have stressful jobs and do like to just relax when we're on holiday. To us this is why Vegas is so perfect - you can have exactly the holiday you want and you can change your mind about what that is as often as you want!

I was really pleased to find I hadn't put any weight on when we got back (last time I put on 10lbs!). We walked 4-5 miles a day and I ran in the gym a few times (waaaay too hot for me to run outside, even early morning) and it paid off Despite dodging the weight gain, we agreed that we definitely over-buffeted - including Pampas and the Sterling Brunch we had eight of them! Most were free or heavily discounted, which was the main reason for it. We wanted to make this trip as cheap as possible as we're in the final stages of paying off our mortgage early - hopefully next year this will be done and dusted

Stuie - I saw you mention that you want to go when it's hottest next year. You might want to try our usual dates, the hottest day of the year for the last couple of years has been the very end of June or start of July. We were there in 2013 when it matched the all time record of 117 degrees!

Cost
We used points to pay for our flights (thank you Tesco Clubcard!) so only had to pay the taxes and we had nine of our eleven nights comped and three nights' resort fees waived.

So, in total we paid £316.72 per person (flights and hotels) for 11 fantastic nights in Vegas - I think I'd struggle to get that kind of value anywhere else!

Roll on the next Reward Seat sale so we can book next year's flights!