Las Vegas guide and MSE thread 2021

vegasvisitor

nvh said:

vegasvisitor said:

Ok time for a little update on our trip so far. 

Hey! Thanks for the updates Is it (realistically) Lyft to everywhere from Hilton Resorts World? - I can’t picture where it is? (Opposite Wynn?) Do you think it’s a hotel worth making the effort to visit (much there for non-residents?)

Also, I’m conscious I’ll see for myself in just over 24 hours, but how does Vegas seem post-Covid? You mentioned earlier closing, but has much changed from your perspective? Staff behaviour, distancing, or service degradation etc?

I'm probably too late for you with this update now. 

Will be curious what you think Vegas is like post-covid also. I'm being more relaxed here than I would be at home, not wearing a mask all the time indoors (you don't need to). The only time you need to wear it is on transport I think, but some shops have signs asking you to wear them (although it's not mandatory). I've just been judging for myself, if it's busy I put it on (even in the street), if I go in a shop and notice others wearing them (staff, and customers) I put mine on too (even if it's quiet). I'm more relaxed than at home because to the best of my knowledge they have come out of a wave here and rates seem to be really low. Like 200 per day (3 million population in Nevada). Half the population of Scotland, which has between 5k and 10k cases daily. Even if the testing isn't particularly there etc, there were lots of cases until a month or so ago, so it does appear to be end of a wave. I also read that they test the waste water and that gives them indications of presence, and it's thought to be low. Staff behaviour is generally good, but you'll find servers don't wear masks etc. Distancing isn't so good in my opinion. Service, not much difference. 

Resorts World is just north of Trump. So if you come out of Fashion Show Mall, it's about 5-10 mins walk. Would I come here to see it - not sure, unless you like the look of the restaurants, a 66th floor bar, or the secret speakeasy which is behind a shelf in a shop at the food court. I heard a woman say to her husband at the pool today (she had bother with her keycard in the lift, this is a problem constantly in the lifts), 'This hotel is weird, we're not staying here again'. It's a fair point, there's some oddities about it. But the pools are lovely. 

vegasvisitor

stoneman said:

Keep us updated on Lyft/Uber , been hearing some horrible stories of constant driver cancellations because now they can see where you’re going and don’t want the short trips. 

(We’re getting that where we live)

We've only had one ride cancelled and it was our first one from the Airport to the hotel. It seemed to be taking a while, then we realised there was a change on the app. So it meant a longer wait, but the next one came. We've used it a few times, went to outlets today, took Lyft both ways. The only issue I'm finding is that sometimes there's no wifi at the pickup points - so you have to book then head to the pickup and hope no changes. 

stoneman

vegasvisitor said:

stoneman said:

Keep us updated on Lyft/Uber , been hearing some horrible stories of constant driver cancellations because now they can see where you’re going and don’t want the short trips. 

(We’re getting that where we live)

We've only had one ride cancelled and it was our first one from the Airport to the hotel. It seemed to be taking a while, then we realised there was a change on the app. So it meant a longer wait, but the next one came. We've used it a few times, went to outlets today, took Lyft both ways. The only issue I'm finding is that sometimes there's no wifi at the pickup points - so you have to book then head to the pickup and hope no changes. 

That’s good to hear. 

BTW do they comp drinks at the bars in Resorts World? 

nvh

Awesome. Thanks VegasVisitor. Not been here for over 6 years now (I think), so had forgotten how big the strip is and resorts world seems a way from where we are so may not get to explore that far anyways. 

Bit of an update from us now we are here…

Outbound flights:

Had a load of Virgin points to burn and some 2 for 1 vouchers to use. I’m Gold thru status match so get better redemption rates for the vouchers. We flew Upper to Miami on points at Christmas, and used remaining points to do Upper to Vegas. Knew the plane was naff, but time is limited so worth the time saving vs. the better virgin plane to LAX. Redemption availability when these were booked (between Jan and June 2021 was amazing.) It’s awful now so glad we got to use our points at a peak period. 

Heathrow T3 Upper Wing was dead. Upper security Lane was dead. Clubhouse lounge was dead. Perfect

Journey uneventful. Cabin staff are lovely and they “ran out” of booze in economy before the wheels even left the ground. Preempting the inevitable (lots of stag / hen / wedding parties). Booze in upper kept flowing though. 

Flight times changed a few weeks before departure and our 10am departure moved to 3pm (arriving in Vegas at 5:45pm) - much preferred these flight times tbh so did us a massive favour!

Arrival:

Landed around 6:15pm - a bit late but our take off was late. LAS T3 was dead (both pre and post immigration, and including parking garage!). Not many international flights arrive that late obviously. Had to wait for 10 mins for our bags, but from plane doors opening to getting in our Uber was around 30 mins. Superb! Took us 3 hours at Miami immigration a few months ago. Lyft usually my go to but quote was $47. Uber quote was $17 to Linq hotel

Linq hotel

Never stayed here before but knew it had been refurbed at some point in the last 10 years. I think they have a heated pool here too (could be wrong). Saturday night costs in Vegas are mad at the moment (on checking a week before we came, the cheapest Linq room which is usually around $30, was selling for $375 for last night!). On checking again on the day, the hotel had sold out.

Checkin is using automated machines. No front desk or tip opportunity here. I had just booked a basic King Deluxe ($240 + resort for the Sat and Sun night). The machine gave us a Queen deluxe on the 3rd floor opposite the parking garage. Not happy. Has to go and find someone helping with the automated check in machines who said that was all that was available which is why the machine had allocated a downgrade - wth?! (Tho on checkin, it had offered us an upgrade to two queens for $115 a night - no thanks!)

She soon found a king room on the 19th floor with a cracking view and upgraded facilities (coffee maker etc) though, so all was forgiven. 

The Strip

Wow! So busy (it’s Saturday night at 8:30pm tho). We wandered over to Bellagio to watch the fountains and keep ourselves awake a bit longer. Caught the 9pm show, then headed back to Chayo (Mexican) for a light bite. Ended up with a huge tray of nachos and some shrimp tacos which we shared and just had water. $45 inc tip. Seemed expensive for what it was but we couldn’t finish it so can’t complain. Headed up to bed at around 10:30pm. No gambling or alcohol yet! 

Up at 4:30am this morning 🙄 as vegas visitor says, bit of a shift in temps coming. Was highs of around 35c yesterday apparently, with temps at 27c at 10pm last night (but a breeze picking up). Think highest temp today is going to be 24c - we have one full day here (probably at the pool this afternoon) before we head to Zion tomorrow when the winds in Vegas will really pick up apparently. Back in a week or so once we’ve finished our little road trip 

vegasvisitor

stoneman said:

vegasvisitor said:

stoneman said:

Keep us updated on Lyft/Uber , been hearing some horrible stories of constant driver cancellations because now they can see where you’re going and don’t want the short trips. 

(We’re getting that where we live)

We've only had one ride cancelled and it was our first one from the Airport to the hotel. It seemed to be taking a while, then we realised there was a change on the app. So it meant a longer wait, but the next one came. We've used it a few times, went to outlets today, took Lyft both ways. The only issue I'm finding is that sometimes there's no wifi at the pickup points - so you have to book then head to the pickup and hope no changes. 

That’s good to hear. 

BTW do they comp drinks at the bars in Resorts World? 

Not quite sure what you mean there, are you meaning at bartop machines? We've not been in any bars in the hotel and unsure if they have them. The bars look really nice though. Cocktails are around $18. 

vegasvisitor

nvh said:

Awesome. Thanks VegasVisitor. Not been here for over 6 years now (I think), so had forgotten how big the strip is and resorts world seems a way from where we are so may not get to explore that far anyways. 

Bit of an update from us now we are here…

Outbound flights:

Had a load of Virgin points to burn and some 2 for 1 vouchers to use. I’m Gold thru status match so get better redemption rates for the vouchers. We flew Upper to Miami on points at Christmas, and used remaining points to do Upper to Vegas. Knew the plane was naff, but time is limited so worth the time saving vs. the better virgin plane to LAX. Redemption availability when these were booked (between Jan and June 2021 was amazing.) It’s awful now so glad we got to use our points at a peak period. 

Heathrow T3 Upper Wing was dead. Upper security Lane was dead. Clubhouse lounge was dead. Perfect

Journey uneventful. Cabin staff are lovely and they “ran out” of booze in economy before the wheels even left the ground. Preempting the inevitable (lots of stag / hen / wedding parties). Booze in upper kept flowing though. 

Flight times changed a few weeks before departure and our 10am departure moved to 3pm (arriving in Vegas at 5:45pm) - much preferred these flight times tbh so did us a massive favour!

Arrival:

Landed around 6:15pm - a bit late but our take off was late. LAS T3 was dead (both pre and post immigration, and including parking garage!). Not many international flights arrive that late obviously. Had to wait for 10 mins for our bags, but from plane doors opening to getting in our Uber was around 30 mins. Superb! Took us 3 hours at Miami immigration a few months ago. Lyft usually my go to but quote was $47. Uber quote was $17 to Linq hotel

Linq hotel

Never stayed here before but knew it had been refurbed at some point in the last 10 years. I think they have a heated pool here too (could be wrong). Saturday night costs in Vegas are mad at the moment (on checking a week before we came, the cheapest Linq room which is usually around $30, was selling for $375 for last night!). On checking again on the day, the hotel had sold out.

Checkin is using automated machines. No front desk or tip opportunity here. I had just booked a basic King Deluxe ($240 + resort for the Sat and Sun night). The machine gave us a Queen deluxe on the 3rd floor opposite the parking garage. Not happy. Has to go and find someone helping with the automated check in machines who said that was all that was available which is why the machine had allocated a downgrade - wth?! (Tho on checkin, it had offered us an upgrade to two queens for $115 a night - no thanks!)

She soon found a king room on the 19th floor with a cracking view and upgraded facilities (coffee maker etc) though, so all was forgiven. 

The Strip

Wow! So busy (it’s Saturday night at 8:30pm tho). We wandered over to Bellagio to watch the fountains and keep ourselves awake a bit longer. Caught the 9pm show, then headed back to Chayo (Mexican) for a light bite. Ended up with a huge tray of nachos and some shrimp tacos which we shared and just had water. $45 inc tip. Seemed expensive for what it was but we couldn’t finish it so can’t complain. Headed up to bed at around 10:30pm. No gambling or alcohol yet! 

Up at 4:30am this morning 🙄 as vegas visitor says, bit of a shift in temps coming. Was highs of around 35c yesterday apparently, with temps at 27c at 10pm last night (but a breeze picking up). Think highest temp today is going to be 24c - we have one full day here (probably at the pool this afternoon) before we head to Zion tomorrow when the winds in Vegas will really pick up apparently. Back in a week or so once we’ve finished our little road trip 

The forecast I saw shows the wind picking up in the afternoon- so it may be worth considering going to the pool earlier. 

Weather has been great so far but we also noticed wind picking up last night. Had an afternoon up at the outlets so didn't do much last night. 

StuieUK34

when you mention Zion , i always think of the underground city from the Matrix!!
I'll have to go looking for this place next month !

vegasvisitor

Ignore what I said about the wind...that's Monday afternoon.  

vegasvisitor

So I think my last update took us through Thursday. 

Friday was another morning at the pool, then ready and down to Fashion Show mall for a browse. Didn't really buy anything but saw some things to maybe go back for. Then into Maggiano's for flatbreads at happy hour, over to Buddy Vs for a drink and had one small plate (the only veggie one - Eggplant Parm), then down to Grand Lux HH. Then into Wynn, where I put $40 in a machine and cashed out $72. Had one drink and felt that was too much and headed back. Unsure if it was the Cadillac Margarita in Wynn or the cocktails in Grand Lux but some of these must have been quite strong as I felt it the next day! 

Saturday was another morning at the pool, weather still glorious. Back to room lunchtime and ready and up to the outlets using Lyft. Around $12. Shopped most of the afternoon and into the evening, and decided to go to Cheesecake Factory up there, but had to wait for a table. Husband was asking about starters, but I remembered how big the mains were here so I said no chance. I just had spaghetti and he had a veggie burger. Pasta was far too big and I only managed about half or so, he managed his burger. Probably quite reasonably priced compared to restaurants on the strip. Got back to hotel after 8pm and dropped off our shopping at the room and headed down to try join the slot club. All very automated. There's a QR code to download an app, etc, but then had to go to the desk as not US driving licenses. Got to the desk and they said no need passport. Bit unusual. There's a $25 sign up bonus so we might get back to that one when we have time. Popped over to the Walgreens across the road for some soft drinks etc and to have a look at what else is across the road. Peppermill is very nearby, but not sure what to make of that. Several small shops/eateries. Crazy long queue out in the street at Tacos el Pastor across the road! Not sure what is going on there as this isn't the busiest of areas and it looked like a takeaway. Must be very popular for some reason. Outlet shopping was ok, we got a few things, about the same sort of deals as previous years. The outlet coupons are now only online (web page with list of them). They won't give you a coupon book, but on the plus side there's wifi throughout the outlets now. I'm sure before we had to go outside Starbucks etc to get wifi up there. 

stoneman

vegasvisitor said:

stoneman said:

vegasvisitor said:

stoneman said:

Keep us updated on Lyft/Uber , been hearing some horrible stories of constant driver cancellations because now they can see where you’re going and don’t want the short trips. 

(We’re getting that where we live)

We've only had one ride cancelled and it was our first one from the Airport to the hotel. It seemed to be taking a while, then we realised there was a change on the app. So it meant a longer wait, but the next one came. We've used it a few times, went to outlets today, took Lyft both ways. The only issue I'm finding is that sometimes there's no wifi at the pickup points - so you have to book then head to the pickup and hope no changes. 

That’s good to hear. 

BTW do they comp drinks at the bars in Resorts World? 

Not quite sure what you mean there, are you meaning at bartop machines? We've not been in any bars in the hotel and unsure if they have them. The bars look really nice though. Cocktails are around $18. 

Meant the Video poker machines in the casino bars at Resorts World. Wynn/Encore are the only strip casinos that don’t comp drinks while playing at the bar top poker machines, just wondering if it’s worth the trip out