Las Vegas guide and MSE thread 2021

michele-p

We were in Vegas for three nights at the end of our Colorado/Utah road trip in June. Boy was it hot! They broke records every day for heat around that time. 

We stayed in The Horseshoe, which used to be called Ballys. Good enough hotel, and we had a great room overlooking half of ther Belagio fountains. A good mid strip position. We booked around 3 months before, all our rooms for the trip were refundable, and we kept an eye out for offers and sales. I managed to cancel and re-book before we went and saved around $150 at this hotel alone. So that's a good tip for the US.

The Horsehoe casino wasn't as nice as some, but it was connected to Paris, which has a really nice feel to it, and a much more themed look. We got a $10 free bet for joining Ceasars member scheme, my husband used it towards a $50 bet on roulette - red or black and won! He did this a couple of times over the nights, me keeping half each time he won, and we came away $250 up. For people with no real clue about gambling we were more than happy with this. 

We found everything has jumped way up in costs all over our road trip. But Vegas more so, we aren't really drinkers, we went to the Wynn one night to see their water show with Deadmous, and I was so thirsty, ordered 2 diet cokes (she poured around 1/3 of a can into a glass each) and it was $14!!! Beers and cocktails at many places looked cheaper.

We ate one night at Battista's Hole in the Wall, which was good value as included wine and 2 courses. The food was quite good. The last night we ate at Ocean One inside the Miracle Mile shopping Mall. That was OK too. They do some set prices for drinks deals too.

We were in Vegas in August 2008, so had already seen lots of the surrounding area, and had just finished our road trip this time, we only went again for a direct flight to Amsterdam (and a hop to Norwich), it's not somewhere I'd choose to go again really, been there, seen it got the photos! 

Hope this helps someone.

bobbyhibs

hi brats64 
first  and foremost   thanks for the  trip  report, i always keen to see what other people do and there experinces and what not   , might get   one of those   *i d like to do that*   kinda light bulb momens.
Seems you had fun and its always  great  bringing money back!
and   i ve not looked at aer lengus  flights to vegas   but soemthing to  check on,  thanks for the    tip there, as i see you   have  had an expensive   issue with  virgin  in your post.,,sorry to hear that !
and your right about that vegas nowhere like that!
thanks again for the trip report and   your advice!
bobby

bobbyhibs

hi michele and  thanks for  your trip report..seems you  enjoyed yourself!  road trips over in the usa  look a fun  thign to do, except  the mad drivers, thoguh   just as mad as over here !

retiredbanker1

We were going to book with Virgin Atlantic for our trip - but luckily checked Expedia out first - did a package with them 10 nights at Excalibur (Don't mock!) for the same price as the flight and the flight is with Virgin Atlantic - direct next week!
Our comped offers dropped off the MGM rewards system just before we decided to return - hoping this trip will start them coming back again although we intend to get rewards cards at every casino we visit this time.

Brats64

Latest trip report..mainly for Bobby H😄

Picture taken from our Terrace View room at Cosmo.

12 weeks after our first trip in over 4 years, due to covid, we were back in Vegas for another 10 night stay.
Hotel stays were 2 nights total comp at Aria with $175 free play and $150 food & beverage credit.Then downtown for 3 nights comped at El Cortez in one of their suites..surprised by how spacious and nice the room was.Finally back on the strip for 5 nights at the Cosmopolitan, 4 nights comped with no resort fees, only paid reduced rate for the Saturday night of $285.
We hadn’t stayed at the Cosmo before, we looked forward to being able to stay once they came onboard MGM as an option.
To be honest, it was a mix of good and bad..The service was very poor on a few occasions, they messed up check in, the fridge didn’t work..two days before we had a cold fridge, and trying to find your room costs was ridiculous.It doesn’t show on tv..front desk couldn’t give a print out, and the promise of it being emailed to me never happened either.Thankfully the total was as expected.
The Good..we had a terrace room with view of Bellagio fountains..it has to be one of the best views for a Vegas hotel room.Being able to sit and have a cold beer on the balcony..when we eventually had a cold fridge…in the evening before heading out was fantastic.Just the view of the strip and watching the fountains was worth the minor issues elsewhere.The other plus was the bed, we have always thought the beds in the Aria were the best, but I actually got a full nights sleep every night while at the Cosmo.
We had food and beverage credit added at Cosmo, but didn’t eat any meals there.So used other mgm properties.
some of the places we ate were some we always seem to visit, Rira is always a must for a good “fry up” breakfast.But we also at there twice in the evening..all meals were good.We ate at Grand Lux In Venetian, another place we always visit, great food at a very reasonable price..pot roast is my favourite.We tried the grand wok in MGM grand for Chinese food, and again, it was very nice..we have become a little disappointed with Chin Chin and PF Chang as options.
Other new food places for us were Gallaghers steakhouse in NYNY…nice but we prefer Oscars at Plaza downtown, better and cheaper.
Also the missus wanted to try the Eiffel Tower Restaurant at Paris, they did a 3 course brunch for only $59 each, well worth it.
Throw in a few meals in the usual “cheap eats” places like Ellis Island, and Greenberg’s Deli in NYNY and we were happy with most of what we ate.
Gambling was very much like our July trip, even down to the amount brought home total.You win some days, you can’t hit a bonus on others.
Unfortunately I get very moody if I’m putting in a $100 bill, and five minutes later it’s gone without even getting a play..to be fair, that happened a lot this trip, and when your daily budget is vanishing at a fast rate, it’s hard not to worry.But its swing and roundabouts with gambling in Vegas usually…you do get bad days where you can’t hit anything, but other days you put a $50 note in, and you can play all day on it..and still be able to put money back into the “take home” folder.
July trip we brought home two thirds our budget, it was the same on this trip…that’s a win in my book.
July’s weather was record highs, and we were not able to walk around outside for very long at all, we looked forward to the cooler October weather.Yet it was still high for the time of year, high 90’s.
So we did manage to walk more on this visit..not only that, but we did something we have talked about doing since we first visited Vegas years ago.We got a$1 casino chip from most hotels to make a framed display to have at home..some of those casinos we haven’t set foot in for many years.We we’re there when the Tropicana came down, but didn’t see the implosion, we had moved from Aria down to El Cortez the night before, and didn’t feel like going back up strip in the early hours to watch it.
So that’s us done for this year..no visit since late 2019, then two in a little over 12 weeks😂….i feel we have our Vegas fix back.

Booked for next April now, seems like a long wait, but I’m sure it’ll soon come round.