Las Vegas guide and MSE thread 2021

nvh

rpstdavids said:

Masks no longer required in most places  in Vegas.😁

https://www.lasvegasnevada.gov/News/Blog/Detail/corona-virus-update

You timed that well! please let us know how your trip goes

rpstdavids

Arrived home Friday, in the middle of Storm Eunice, after 7 days in Vegas.

Flight out on 11th with Virgin in Premium on a 787 was great. No problems at check in, arrived at LAX early to a empty immigration hall and was at the baggage carousel within 10 mins. Connecting flight with Southwest on time.

Stayed at the OYO for the first 4 nights. Hadn't realised when we changed our October flights to February that this was Superbowl weekend, so hotel prices were high. The OYO was fairly priced. The rooms were clean, but a bit basic. The casino is on the small side, but lively enough, and the beer was only $2 a bottle, so we were happy. It was OK for a guys only trip, not recommended if you are going for a special occasion.

The last 3 nights we spent Downtown, staying at El Cortez. Booked tower rooms and we were suprised how nice they were, would defintely stay there again. Rooms were quiet, and only a short walk to Fremont Street.

Overall Vegas was busy over the weekend, but not as packed as we were expecting. Finally got to the Pinball Museum, great way to pass a couple of hours. Also went out to the Galleria Sunset shopping mall for a change, plenty of shops and a Best Buy as one of my mates wanted a new laptop.

None of us are real foodies, but we did make our usual trip to Ellis Island for the BBQ, which was as good as usual. Also ate at Chickie's and Pete's at Sahara, which I wouldn't really recommend, the 'crab fries' were awful and expensive, and the sevice was a bit chaotic, we ordered together, but everything came out bit by bit, and by the time my chiken burger arrived the fries, which had arrived 10 mins earlier, were cold. The wings at Tom's Urban were fairly good though.

Downtown we tried Saginaw's Deli and Project BBQ at Circa. Saginaw's was very good, if a little pricey, but the 'Garbage Bowl' at Project BBQ was not as good as I expected. Magnolia's at 4 Queen's was good for breakfast, the Cafe at Binnions was OK, nothing special. Downtown itself was fairly busy on Monday, but a bit quiet the next few nights. Nice to be out there watching the live music again though, and a couple of house bands I hadn't seen before along with some regular ones such as Alter Ego and Crush.

On the gambling front, had a few little wins on the slots the first couple of nights, then could not win for love nor money! My mate hit a handpay on a Wheel of Fortune slot at Luxor on the Sunday afternoon, and they sorted the paperwork so he didn't have to pay the 30% tax, although it did take over 3 hours to sort this. Just as well the Superbowl was on, gave us something too do whilst waiting.

The flight homeon the 17th via LAX was OK. Check in was fairly easy, they just checked we had done out locator forms on line. We were in an A350 on the way back in Premium again. Boarding was very chaotic, and Border control were at the gate photographing everybody before they boarded, something I'ver not seen before and caused further delay.

Had been looking forward to seeing what the A350 was about, but the cabin seemed a little cramped to me, and service was a little slow. Not sure if they were short of crew, but the front rows had finished their meal before we has been even served, and there are only 7 rows in Premium. Plus they has run out by the time they got to us, so we has to have economy meals, which are just the same, but not served in proper dishes, but this was no big deal.

The good thing about the A350 was the 'Tail cam'. It was fun watching it, especially as we came in to land at LHR, the landing was pretty good considering the weather conditions, and can be seen on YouTube via BigJet TV, we were on 'Queen of Hearts' which had a bit of media coverage as the pilot's wife was watching the stream.

Overall. it was great to be finally back in Vegas. Preferred our nights Downtown to The Strip, which seems to have got a lot more expensive. Paying $8 to $10 for a bottle of beer is ridiculous, especially when others are charging $2 To $3 for the same thing, but that is just my personal feeling.

Already in the process of planning the next trip

bobbyhibs

hi and welcome back from your trip!
i always enjoy reading (i guess a lil nosey?) people's  reviews and what they got upto...always   a chance you find out something and go   that sounds intresting to do !
thanks again for your trip report

StuieUK34

Good post rpst!   Missed reading reports over the past few years (including making my own!)....
Glad to see Ellis Island in there, cant bloody wait to get back there!!!
I stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Dominican Republic same time as you for the week...
Gambling wise, in my weird ways of things, sometimes i felt i could'nt win on the dam slots (max bet $5 / $6.80 / $8.88 ) , but for every few hundred i wasted and threw my own tantrums (in my head that is!    )     , i would win elsewhere, etc !
Took $2k with me, blew $600 in 4 min's on the last day whilst waiting for the transfer ($500 on slot machines!), but still came home with $3400 !
Ready for Vegas in May, sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet !

bobbyhibs

stuie34

Took $2k with me, blew $600 in 4 min's on the last day whilst waiting for the transfer ($500 on slot machines!), but still came home with $3400 !

hi
 you remind me of my brother with  gambiling    money  quickly!.one time in vegas whilst checking (check in queue was like 5-10 long) my brother left his suitcase with me and said back in a minute.... 5mins later he comes back and i asked where did you go (thinking he needed the loo) he said  "ah just lost $400" and im like what in 5mins? lol
  all the best for  your may trip and    hopefully       we can read your trip repost when you come back !

StuieUK34

i always think of the scene from "Vegas Vacation", where Griswold says "I lost $300 in 15 mins" !   
Thats defo me!!!  

R_P_W

I've considering a trip to Vegas in middle of April for somewhere between 5- 9 nights depending on the prices available.  I've been a dozen or so times over the last 10 years, usually on my own to mainly play poker.

Aria has always been my hotel of choice due to the rooms, spa, poker room and the handy Todds English pub close by.  I've been watching a few vids on YouTube of people that have been so far this year and seems quite a lot has changed which is making me consider trying somewhere else to stay.

Does anyone know if anything has opening up in the English Pub spot next to aria?  I understand it closed down over the past couple of years.

martmonk

our Apr 20 trip, which became Oct 20 and then May 21 is finally happening, although in a much-altered form.

It's a BA 241 voucher booking which means we're at the mercy of what avios reward seats are available.

I'd been to Florida for work in Jan and other than the annoyance of testing and masks, it wasn't too bad an experience so we looked at what we could do.

Ended up booking next Monday flying into San Diego, and back from Vegas on Sun 20th.

All of which preamble is to ask whether there's a newer, better site than rentalcars.com that anyone uses for car hire?

StuieUK34

https://www.autoeurope.co.uk/
I got a few bookings with them this year, all for large (FFAR) fullsize SUV's , which are with Dollar (listing shows Dollar TA Only)
I asked over the phone what that was, and they said it means travel agent, but i was assured i can ignore that
Time will tell !

photome

martmonk said:

our Apr 20 trip, which became Oct 20 and then May 21 is finally happening, although in a much-altered form.

It's a BA 241 voucher booking which means we're at the mercy of what avios reward seats are available.

I'd been to Florida for work in Jan and other than the annoyance of testing and masks, it wasn't too bad an experience so we looked at what we could do.

Ended up booking next Monday flying into San Diego, and back from Vegas on Sun 20th.

All of which preamble is to ask whether there's a newer, better site than rentalcars.com that anyone uses for car hire?

cheapest I can find at the mo without booking one of the cheapies is AlamoBrits.

I had seen that deal with Autoeurope   for a full size SUV rented with Dollar that Stuie mentions but something doesnt look right, ie its too cheap as Stuie says time will tell