The Las Vegas Thread and MSE guide

pennylane99

May

lucror wrote: »

... and ...

I just read on another forum that some ATM networks limit you to $200 per day withdrawal. Does anyone have experience of withdrawing larger amounts? I intend to spend approx £1500 - £2000 over 7 days so I'll probably be needing about $500 per day.

Mark

I have taken $500 from ATMs at Mandalay Bay & MGM

lucror

pennylane99 wrote: »

I have taken $500 from ATMs at Mandalay Bay & MGM

That's good to hear - we're staying at The Signature @ The MGM. What sort of card was that with, I'm not sure if that'll make a difference.

niceday999

lucror wrote: »

... and ...

I just read on another forum that some ATM networks limit you to $200 per day withdrawal. Does anyone have experience of withdrawing larger amounts? I intend to spend approx £1500 - £2000 over 7 days so I'll probably be needing about $500 per day.

Mark

starting to panic now as I only have $2000 and £500 to take with me and also my card for purchases. Never been before and it hard to work out how much for all your food and drink etc.
Not like spain where you know the score. either eating in hotel or out and about.
hoping to do the Grand Canyon ( prob about £300 for both of us )
will eat out every day ( obviously ) what ya think i would need for spends just for food and drink ?
not wanting to eat out in the best restaurants just run of the mill....

ferf1223

March

lucror wrote: »

... and ...

I just read on another forum that some ATM networks limit you to $200 per day withdrawal. Does anyone have experience of withdrawing larger amounts? I intend to spend approx £1500 - £2000 over 7 days so I'll probably be needing about $500 per day.

Mark

We've taken over $500 at Ballys - up to $600 when the exchange rate was over $2/£1 (our bank limits us to £300/day)...this was with a Visa debit card but as far as we know Maestro cards should be accepted anywhere with the Mastercard logo...and your Maestro card likely has the Cirrus logo on the back which I think is the ATM side of things.

One other thing to consider though - Travelex have a best price guarantee...so if you find a better rate they will send you a cheque for the difference...their current price is $1.899...TEG's ( http://www.thomasexchangeglobal.co.uk/) current price is $1.925. That's pretty much your difference of $50 right there over £2000.

the terms and conditions are on Travelex's website, but basically you buy the currency from them, then send them an email within a day (as defined by their T&Cs) with details of the better rate, they check it to confirm it was available and they send you a cheque for the difference.

ferf1223

March

niceday999 wrote: »

starting to panic now as I only have $2000 and £500 to take with me and also my card for purchases. Never been before and it hard to work out how much for all your food and drink etc.
Not like spain where you know the score. either eating in hotel or out and about.
hoping to do the Grand Canyon ( prob about £300 for both of us )
will eat out every day ( obviously ) what ya think i would need for spends just for food and drink ?
not wanting to eat out in the best restaurants just run of the mill....

How long are you going again? I assume 2 of you?

It's really relative as there's so much variety - you really can go as inexpensive or as expensive as you want....especially if you keep an eye out for coupons in magazines, funbooks you get free for signing up for players cards or have the American Casino Guide...stoneman mentioned Ellis Island barbeque before - with the 2-for-1 in the ACG two can eat a ridiculous amount of pretty good food for less than $10 for example...the Gold Coast breakfast buffet is something like $6 and there's a 2-for-1 voucher in the ACG, etc...lunch and dinner aren't particularly expensive, either...these are just examples, of course.

We normally eat 2 meals a day - just how it happens...I'd say it's unusual for us to spend more than $50-$60/each on food a day and that's going where we want to go (middle of the road) without seeking out any deals...and some days it is much, much less.

And drinks are free if you are gambling - we've seen people sitting at penny slots, put in $1...play $0.01 a spin...slowly...and order drinks every time the waitress comes around. Drinks aren't cheap if you buy them most places - a few exceptions like Casino Royale's beer and frozen margaritas, Slots-a-Fun has cheap beer, etc...but after paying $6 for a tiny Diet Coke once I vowed to avoid ordering ANYTHING at a regular casino bar.

ruthy14

April

hi
I want to shoot a gun, been on the gunstore website but there are no prices!
anyone experienced this and can give me some info?

thanks

pebblesmax

November/December

niceday999 wrote: »

starting to panic now as I only have $2000 and £500 to take with me and also my card for purchases. Never been before and it hard to work out how much for all your food and drink etc.
Not like spain where you know the score. either eating in hotel or out and about.
hoping to do the Grand Canyon ( prob about £300 for both of us )
will eat out every day ( obviously ) what ya think i would need for spends just for food and drink ?
not wanting to eat out in the best restaurants just run of the mill....

Absolutely no need to panic. If we had $2000 + £500 it would last us for a month. Two meals a day is average, either a breakfast buffet or standard breakfast somewhere, plus either a big lunch (buffet or other) + a little snack; or a snack + a big dinner (again buffet or other). The portions tend to be on the large side everywhere you go.

Drinks can be expensive if you're not gambling, but $1 in a machine will get you whatever you want for another $1 tip. (within reason) We take very little cash with us, use ATM's to get cash (Nationwide:- $500 every day if you needed it.) Most large shopping purchases and hotel bill are paid for by Nationwide CC or cash remaining, depending on how far into the trip we are.

It is by far the most cost effective destination if you do your research and get an ACG and/or POV.

wdyw

niceday999 wrote: »

starting to panic now as I only have $2000 and £500 to take with me and also my card for purchases. Never been before and it hard to work out how much for all your food and drink etc.
Not like spain where you know the score. either eating in hotel or out and about.

with that dosh you should dine at koi and buy 3 of the high roller sushi rolls....... but then you wouldn't be able to pay the tax or leave a tip so maybe not.

In Vegas there's food at every price level. From the $1 menus at Mcdonalds or Burger King to the cheap buffets up to the $100's at numerous over priced poor value "names"

Some days we spend $10 on food, other days, closer to $200. The buffets are perfectly fine (mostly) but don't compare to most "proper" restaurants in terms of food quality.

Drinks - we never buy in a bar, always when playing at casinos or in a local store. Grey Goose ordinary/orange/pear all for less than £15 for a litre bottle - hard to beat (and store them in our room though techinally its illegal to consume alcohol not bought on the premesis).

Without doubt the range of "free"drinks you can get while playing has improved a lot lately - a lot more named beers available along with wines/spirits/"cocktails" etc

wdyw

Open Skies made USA today. "service grows and fares dip from USA to Heathrow". As most of you haredened travellers are aware the Open Skies policy came into being at the end oof March and we all hoped that new airlines would start flying to the USA and in particular Vegas.

Well so far an additional 18 flights a day are now scheduled between the USA and Heathrow though none to/from Vegas. 5 new USA airlines and Air France now fly in addition to the original 4 and fares have come a massive $4 on average compared to last year.

However, this is an actual drop as flights to the rest of Europe have gone up $104 over the same time period.

Main factor causing the new operators to keep flight costs high has been the cost to buy the rights to fly. Continental paid $209 for 4 landing slots a day at Heathrow.

Load factors have been below forecasts as a large number of USA travellers see Heathrow as a "zoo" that is to be avoided at all costs.

photome

I have been checking flight prices for april next year and it looks like nothing under £400, so I may not be going again . I had been looking at March prices when they came out and M+M was £350 and even that is now over £400.

Not sure I even want to go with Virgin anymore, Air France is cheapest at mo at £411, Anyone been with Airfrance.

ps these flights are into and out of LA as we are thinking of starting off in LA