Las Vegas guide and MSE thread 2016

duchy

I was hand baggage only coming back from the US so not too much in the food stuff line - except two big bottles of dried flavoured coffee mate (or rather the Aldi's version) security at both Chicago and Stockholm got rather excited over it - so it must look dodgy too.

ferf1223

dontone wrote: »

but what are those 'Peeps' things in the picture? I'm intrigued.

they are the devil's food...their only redeeming value is what happens when you microwave them...but some people like them ...marshmallow chicks. I did not know they came in purple, I might be able to consider purple Peeps.

Also, we highly recommend these - first had some at a movie theatre and paid about $47 for them...now we pick them up at WalMart both in the snack packs and the larger bags and bring plenty back to take to the cinema in the UK, too.

ferf1223

duchy wrote: »

I was hand baggage only coming back from the US so not too much in the food stuff line - except two big bottles of dried flavoured coffee mate (or rather the Aldi's version) security at both Chicago and Stockholm got rather excited over it - so it must look dodgy too.

my husband is certain that the 8-10 bottles of powdered french vanilla coffee mate is the primary reason that our food case gets opened...I still think the mac and cheese rattling around may be of some concern.

How is the Aldi version?

vanilla8

Hi all,

Realise I never got round to do the trip report i promised from our trip in March, so here goes!

Flights:

We flew VA Upper, first ex EU from Dublin and all went fine. We had a horrible FSM on flight out who was really grumpy but didn't put too much of a downer on our spirits. We ate and drank well as always, but not a fan of the bar configuration.
Return flight the seat didn't go completely flat so received 20k flying miles as compensation.
No issue getting bags checked to Gatwick only on way back.

Transport:

We booked Presidential Limo for airport transport, price charged was as quoted on website, I read before we went about extra charges if held up in immigration but we didn't have any issues, and he took us to get drinks etc before going hotel. Would use again.

We used Lyft (similar to Uber) for getting round on the strip and used a code for 10 $5 trip discounts, worked really well and cheap with the discount added.

Hotels:

Stayed in Mirage again, comped for three nights, with $150 F&B credit and $100 freeplay. Just a standard King room, not a fan of the small bathroom though. No resort fees charged either.

Moved to Aria for 4 nights with a $50 daily F&B credit ($200 total)
We had three rooms and all three had issues with the $50 not coming off and extra room charges! Took a while at checkout to get resolved but in the end we got most of the food charges removed.

Food:

Took a trip down to Peppermill for the first morning breakfast, food good but service really slow - they have separate people for ordering alcoholic drinks and it took ages to get bloody marys!
We ate at BLT burger and California Kitchen in Mirage. Both were OK but really busy.
Ate at Margaritaville again just for the nachos the main courses were a bit of a let down though.
Had a burger in Holsteins at cosmo, really nice and great menu both food and drink choices.


In Aria we had sunday brunch at Bardot Brasserie, can't remember who recommended it on here but it was very good, although service was slow to start we were able to get plenty of bottomless Rose wine in us :beer:

We went up to Mandarin Bar at sunset for drinks/appetisers.Stayed a few hours and the waitress seemed to have missed off a round, not sure if it was on purpose as we had atleast 4 rounds. Beef Sliders were excellent and would go again.

Car Hire:

We hired what we thought would be a Dodge Ram for 2 days from the national pick up at the Westin behind Flamingo. Was about $80 and it turned out to be a Ford Pick up instead. Was still huge and a great experience :T Plus upon returning we got $40 taken off as I complained about the fact they gave us the vehicle with less than a full tank and we returned it full. (It cost about $13 to fill it up, we drove to red rock canyon, walmart and neon museum)

Gambling:

We came home with around $900 of the joint $4200 gambling budget, so not that successful! My brother - on his first trip, staying at Wynn got two handpays on his last morning and came home up on the whole trip (beginners luck!?!)

My biggest wins were $450 on Dragon Spin(loved that game) in Aria and $460 on an old Money Blast machine in NYNY (Playing Max Bet)
Won $220 twice on same Ultimate Sevens machine in Aria.


Went to Ellis Island with our bag full of change on the last day and got it exchanged for notes. Ended up playing $5 blackjack here for an hour and walking out $150 up, but didn't get one drink whilst playing!
Enjoyed the $5 BJ tables at Treasure Island too, will definitely return there. Had a fun couple of hours playing Craps at Flamingo. Nice low limits compared to Aria.

Finished trip at Gold, got about $90 pool charges comped off the Aria bill at the mlife desk, so with that and the mess up on food charges with the $50 daily credits the total bill was reduced quite a bit.

5th trip down and looking forward to heading back at some point next year maybe! In the meantime I will have to make do with coming back on hear to read how you are all getting on

vanilla8

bubble113 wrote: »

Booked for next year through Virgin flydrive which worked out nearly £200pp cheaper than booking direct on Virgin Atlantic. As it's a flydrive we get a "free" car however it's basic insurance, which as far as I can tell doesn't include CDW. As we usually hire a car using a UK firm CDW is always included and we know we don't need any upgrade insurance when we get there.

Paying to upgrade insurance on Virgin was £500+ which I wasn't going to pay. We have 2 cars as a group of us going.

Does anybody have experience of buying a separate insurance policy to cover everything? Or do I just to ditch the "free" cars and book as I usually do?

Thank you.

Hi bubble you can get the car hire excess insurance quite cheap over here, have a look at the main site for the car hire article . (Edited to say we went through the MoneyMaxim link in that article) We recently paid for it for a car we hired in Vegas for two days, it cost around £8.
We had to tell national when we picked up the car who the insurance is with.
Alternatively if you have a credit card see if you have cover with them, for example the Amex Platinum gives you the cover you need.

Brats64

traveller wrote: »

Glad you guys that are out there are having a fab time! Stuie, that suite!!! Brats, not pleases to hear about Spice Market, I bought the groupon too and was considering getting another one from Travelzoo as they've extended the time on it now till October. I do hope they bring back the Paris one which I got in 2013. That was was lovely.

Lovetotravel, I'm doing a few days in San Diego too!Where about are you staying, we're at the Best Western Island Palms on Shelter Island
: )

Don't worry too much about my comments on the spice market buffet.
I am quite fussy,and only eat certain foods.I think we must have arrived at a bad time,as a lot of the things I like to eat were missing,and weren't being re-stocked.My wife however can eat anything,so she had no issues...have to say they were at least free flowing with the included drinks,we both got champagne,and while it isn't champagne,it was still quite nice.After the first drinks she then fetched a full bottle and left it on the table.More glasses followed after we finished the bottle.....so not much food,but plenty of alcohol....I didn't care that much about the food by the time we left.:rotfl:

Brats64

Hovis91 wrote: »

Brats,I have always found when we go twice in a year...I will have one holiday were I lose consistently .no wins no bonuses.Then on the second trip I can't go wrong and it's win win win.So here's hoping you are a winner in September!
9 days and counting for us and I am really hoping it's good fortune time for us!!

Let's hope it works that way for us Hovis...and hope fortune is smiling on you for your upcoming visit.

vegasvisitor

traveller wrote: »

Glad you guys that are out there are having a fab time! Stuie, that suite!!! Brats, not pleases to hear about Spice Market, I bought the groupon too and was considering getting another one from Travelzoo as they've extended the time on it now till October. I do hope they bring back the Paris one which I got in 2013. That was was lovely.

Lovetotravel, I'm doing a few days in San Diego too!Where about are you staying, we're at the Best Western Island Palms on Shelter Island
: )

Thanks for the heads up about Spice Market extending on Travelzoo. I might get this now...although I think I normally buy from groupon and hope for a discount code (which would make it slightly cheaper). They are only up to August just now though, and they only have the buffet for 4 available.

Brats64

lesley74 wrote: »

Thanks for the heads up about Spice Market extending on Travelzoo. I might get this now...although I think I normally buy from groupon and hope for a discount code (which would make it slightly cheaper). They are only up to August just now though, and they only have the buffet for 4 available.

Yeah...the groupon price we paid was $39.20 for 2 with unlimited drink...that was with a 20% off code,which are quite regularly available...but as you say,only go August,and not available at the moment.
I'm sure they will re-stock in time.
At £27 for 2 with drinks maybe I shouldn't really complain,but I have to be honest,the standard of food imo...and the actual place itself...was fairly poor when compared to most strip buffets we have been to.

Winter_Jasmine

Talking of Travelzoo - they've got High Roller happy half hour daytime rides at $35 for two on at the moment, best price I've ever seen. We did this last summer and it was great, I recommend the day time over the night as you get to see such a lot more than 'just' the pretty lights