Las Vegas guide and MSE thread 2021

Brats64

pebblesmax….thanks for the reply.

secretmachines

We went just before Christmas (Plaza, Palazzo) and are going again in May (Circa, Delano).

December trip was our 7th in all, and first since April 2019. It was great and we had no hesitation booking again for this year.

For us, it was as fun as it always has been. Stuff is a bit more expensive, but that's the same pretty much everywhere.

There was so much new stuff to see, like Circa and Resorts World.

We don't really have any health concerns, but are very sensible. We didn't feel any unease and would have no concerns with any future travel.

robrymond

Just returned after five days, first trip since 2017.

Prices for snacks and things even in CVS and Walgreens was terrible. $5 for a bag of sweets, no thanks.

Beer cans in CVS were minimum $3.99, no multibuy offers anymore but still cheaper than bars.

My bugbear was the cost of buying drinks at a bar. Now I know you can slip in a $20 into the VP but if you want a quick drink, a bottle of Bud Light in Linq was $12 plus tax and tip.

Fancy a spirit? $16 thanks. It's a captive market but the Linq was more expensive than the Cosmo for drinks (Linq was the hotel we stayed in, but I know where I would much rather drink!).

I expected high prices but things are disproportionate even down to the quality of hotel you are at.

That said cocktail service was pretty decent in most casinos, particularly Cosmo, Linq, Bellagio and Resorts World. Still happy to take a $1 tip but I'd usually do $2-$5 unless I was short on notes. My friend gave a waitress at Resorts World a £5 note as he'd run out of cash and she welcomed it. Paris was awful, I did a full lap of the place and there was not one waitress patrolling the slots. And the table games waitresses there refused service to those stood around, this was not an issue at any other resort!

Service downtown was superb especially in Circa, best service we had, drinks back and forth in less than 10 mins even though it was busy after the superbowl. Very impressed by Circa.

Food prices are high as expected, but perhaps takeaway food seemed to be the biggest culprit of inflation, $10 for a burger meal at In and Out.

You can still get bottles of beer for $2 at Oyo and $3 at Casino Royale. Which shows that the margins elsewhere are staggering really. 

Had a superb meal at Delmonico steakhouse, around £110 pp with wine. Obviously as a one off this was great but it soon adds up.

Sadly the food prices meant I had less gambling money than hoped. It still amazes me how much money passes through these places, blackjack tables now $50 minimum at the higher end places especially over the weekend. Funny that the tables were largely empty and the cheaper ones full. 

I even saw $100 minimum in Bellagio on the normal floor. Guess this is the new norm going forwards. My group played far less blackjack than our last trip due to these new minimums and invested far more in slot play instead. 

Still loved the trip, we even had 50mph winds and snow on Tuesday which was an incredible sight. However the price gouging is substantial at some places and usually not the premium resorts either!

One last thing was how hot the casinos were. The weather outside was roughly 15c to 20c by day and 3c at night except the last day however they were boiling. On Saturday night it was so unbearable with thick smoke and heat in places that I went to bed early, let alone trying to get a drink! It also made you feel sleepy which is not what I want to feel like. Wearing jeans or chinos was too warm. Do they over compensate for the cooler weather by making them so warm. That was my negative take from the trip really.

bobbyhibs

hi
 and  thank you for the trip report robrymond,not only    is this thread a fab  resourse for advice, tips, and money saving  advice and  trip reports which i   really enjoy reading,though maybe .im a bit nosey   i guess, though i often   see what other people  do,find inresting and  sometimes think to myself  wow   thats a good thing to do ! sad to read about  the  huge  increase in prices  though, but if you enjoyed your trip and have happy memories then thats what all that counts! thanks again  for the trip report

rpstdavids

robrymond said:

Just returned after five days, first trip since 2017.

Prices for snacks and things even in CVS and Walgreens was terrible. $5 for a bag of sweets, no thanks.

Beer cans in CVS were minimum $3.99, no multibuy offers anymore but still cheaper than bars.

My bugbear was the cost of buying drinks at a bar. Now I know you can slip in a $20 into the VP but if you want a quick drink, a bottle of Bud Light in Linq was $12 plus tax and tip.

Fancy a spirit? $16 thanks. It's a captive market but the Linq was more expensive than the Cosmo for drinks (Linq was the hotel we stayed in, but I know where I would much rather drink!).

I expected high prices but things are disproportionate even down to the quality of hotel you are at.

That said cocktail service was pretty decent in most casinos, particularly Cosmo, Linq, Bellagio and Resorts World. Still happy to take a $1 tip but I'd usually do $2-$5 unless I was short on notes. My friend gave a waitress at Resorts World a £5 note as he'd run out of cash and she welcomed it. Paris was awful, I did a full lap of the place and there was not one waitress patrolling the slots. And the table games waitresses there refused service to those stood around, this was not an issue at any other resort!

Service downtown was superb especially in Circa, best service we had, drinks back and forth in less than 10 mins even though it was busy after the superbowl. Very impressed by Circa.

Food prices are high as expected, but perhaps takeaway food seemed to be the biggest culprit of inflation, $10 for a burger meal at In and Out.

You can still get bottles of beer for $2 at Oyo and $3 at Casino Royale. Which shows that the margins elsewhere are staggering really. 

Had a superb meal at Delmonico steakhouse, around £110 pp with wine. Obviously as a one off this was great but it soon adds up.

Sadly the food prices meant I had less gambling money than hoped. It still amazes me how much money passes through these places, blackjack tables now $50 minimum at the higher end places especially over the weekend. Funny that the tables were largely empty and the cheaper ones full. 

I even saw $100 minimum in Bellagio on the normal floor. Guess this is the new norm going forwards. My group played far less blackjack than our last trip due to these new minimums and invested far more in slot play instead. 

Still loved the trip, we even had 50mph winds and snow on Tuesday which was an incredible sight. However the price gouging is substantial at some places and usually not the premium resorts either!

One last thing was how hot the casinos were. The weather outside was roughly 15c to 20c by day and 3c at night except the last day however they were boiling. On Saturday night it was so unbearable with thick smoke and heat in places that I went to bed early, let alone trying to get a drink! It also made you feel sleepy which is not what I want to feel like. Wearing jeans or chinos was too warm. Do they over compensate for the cooler weather by making them so warm. That was my negative take from the trip really.

Cheers for the report robrymond, totally agree with you about prices, especially on the Strip. As you said, bottled beer was anything from $10 to $14 a bottle in most casinos, a complete rip off!

I was there in Feb and Dec last year, mainly thanks to cheap flights using miles and some comped rooms.

Stayed a few nights in the OYO in Feb as it was SuperBowl weekend, and prices everywhere else were ridiculous and enjoyed many of their $2 beers, rest of the trip was Downtown at the El Cortez, much, much cheaper than the Strip. 

In Dec it was the first 3 nights comped at Luxor, followed by 5 nights comped at El Cortez again. If it hadn't been for the comped rooms and return flights with BA for £150 using miles. we would not have gone in Dec due to the crazy prices for virtually  everything, especially on the Strip.

There are a few cheaper places to visit on the strip, like Oyo, Stage Door, Oceans One and Ellis Island for example which all have reasonable drink/food prices, almost every other bar in the casinos, unless it's 'Happy Hour' or you are gambling, are a complete rip off! And don't get me started on Buffets! Visited both MGM and Bellagio buffets last trip as we had 2 for 1 vouchers via MyVegas, and they were both so not worth it, even at half price. I used to love buffets, and I'm not a fussy eater, but never again for me.

Personally, for me from now on, Downtown is the place to be, much cheaper, a better atmosphere and no need to walk miles from casino to casino and some great bands playing on the 3 stages each night. I know it's not everybody's cup pf tea, but after 19 trips, I am well and truly done with the Strip. 

Sorry, didn't mean for this to sound like a 'rant', I still love Vegas, but just not all of it. 

stoneman

As I mentioned before after 45 trips we’re done. 

TBH these days we only go to get dressed up, gamble  and bladdered on free drinks and it was like trying to find hens teeth. 

Cruising is the new Vegas

robrymond

rpstdavids said:

Stayed a few nights in the OYO in Feb as it was SuperBowl weekend, and prices everywhere else were ridiculous and enjoyed many of their $2 beers, rest of the trip was Downtown at the El Cortez, much, much cheaper than the Strip.  

We popped in OYO on the Saturday before the SuperBowl and it was certainly doing a brisk trade. We also went to Ellis Island which had reasonable food and drink prices. I had a six flight of there home brewed beers for $9 and a pint was $4. It is beggars belief that people pay $14 for a bottle of Bud Light on the strip. 

I thought the prices in CVS and Walgreens this time around were unreasonable compared to my last trip. I didn't pop into the new Target though to see if that was cheaper.

Cheapest draft on strip I had was at Margaritaville which was $7 a pint. Most of the time you can grab something from the cocktail waitresses but for those moments you are drinkless you end up paying silly money.

totallybored

stoneman said:

As I mentioned before after 45 trips we’re done. 

TBH these days we only go to get dressed up, gamble  and bladdered on free drinks and it was like trying to find hens teeth. 

Cruising is the new Vegas

The more I visit other places the more I realise we are done too. 

I’ve just had a week in Abu Dhabi (needed a bit of sun) and I was shocked at the prices there. It was actually cheaper than Vegas. The price of drinks didn’t seem too bad compared to Vegas. I paid £12 for a cocktail at the pool in a 5 star hotel in Abu Dhabi. Same cocktail cost me £19 at the pool in Vegas. A bottle of beer at the pool was around £10 - again cheaper than Vegas. I also went to the Cheesecake Factory there and it cost less than Vegas even though the cheesecakes are shipped in from the US!

StuieUK34

i'll be going to Walmart and buying myself a packed lunch !!!!  
When we were there in July, i carried a hip flask with JD in it, as when asking for JD & Coke whilst gaming at the tables, i got no idea what was in the glass!, some weak a$$ nasty bourbon!
In the end, ordered coke on ice, poured my own, pit bosses didnt mind (guess they were happy watching me lose my money !   )

Defo pricey on the strip area compared to 2019, but downtown still does good with decent pricing, including Heart attack grill being well priced!

robrymond

StuieUK34 said:

i'll be going to Walmart and buying myself a packed lunch !!!!  
When we were there in July, i carried a hip flask with JD in it, as when asking for JD & Coke whilst gaming at the tables, i got no idea what was in the glass!, some weak a$$ nasty bourbon!
In the end, ordered coke on ice, poured my own, pit bosses didnt mind (guess they were happy watching me lose my money !   )

Defo pricey on the strip area compared to 2019, but downtown still does good with decent pricing, including Heart attack grill being well priced!

I actually took a cup with me like this to do exactly this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09PN7DF67?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

I bought a litre of Smirnoff at duty free in the UK for £10.79 to decant when I arrived and add coke/lemonade. As it turns out the vodka was left unopened as I had enough comp drinks to see me through but if I was taking my wife this would certainly be what we walked round with on the strip and in casinos between comp drinks. I did put beer in it from the Oyo as it was cheap and carried it round Luxor though which was useful.

I wasn't downtown enough to see the pricing for food and drink, we only had comp drinks in Circa and Golden Nugget and at the downtown events arena we paid $18 a two pint cup for the superbowl.