The Las Vegas Thread and MSE guide

sew109

November/December

fiendishly wrote: »

The South Rim tour sounds amazing. The key point about the 'West Rim' is that it isn't the Grand Canyon proper, and if you go there thinking you're at the Grand Canyon, you are really missing out.

South Rim every time its only the South Rim that is actually in the Grand Canyon NP

These are pics from my friens trip to West Rim http://www.flickr.com/photos/10135737@N07/sets/72157605664659810/

Adn my pics from the south rim
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10135737@N07/sets/72157603394603266/

PS you will notice my friend in both sets ;-)

sew109

November/December

buttercupj wrote: »

Hello staying at signature at MGM in september for our honeymoon, just wondered as i cant find anything on their website.... you know the 15 dollar resort fee, it says you have to hand over a credit card at check in, anyone know if maestro cirrus would be accepted for that, as well as paying for it?

They will probably not take Maestro if they do its not so good for you unless you have stacks in the bank and here is why, credit -v- debit is the biggest causer fo arguments at check in desks in Vegas. Beneath is what was explained to me about 3 years ago at MGM when I tried to use a Visa debit card instead of a credit card.

When you check in they will take a daily amount off of a card for incedentals (even if you dont want to use any) if this is taken off of a credit card say for arguments sake $100 (not unusual) they will ring fence this with the credit card company but not take it, when it gets to the end of the first day and you have used nothing they will release the $100 and then hold another (or the same if you like) for the next day and so on. So in effect if you are not using any of your money you will only have say $100 of your limit tied up because the money is not actually taken its instantly refunded.

If you use a debit card they can not ring fence money so they take the money off of your card, if you have not used it (or all of it) at the end of that day they will refund it and then take another $100 the following day the problem is that as they can not ring fence an amount of money and actually have to debit it and refund it there is a time lapse it can take 7 working days to get the money back. as you can see unless you have a large balance this can work out costly.

Aside from this if you rent a car you need to have a credit and not a debit card, I dont know if there is a way round this but there is a sign at the car rental desks saying that they only accpet credit and not debit.

Oh one tip for contacting the hotels cheaply by phone, install skype, pay whatever the least you can pay for skype out and then you can use all the 1-800 numbers for the hotels so its totally free.

sew109

November/December

Katykat wrote: »

Thinking of 5 nights here then 2 nights in Bellagio/Mirage or similar next june. Has anyone been here and has good/bad exxperience? Its got good reviews on tripAdvisor, but I usually take these with a pinch of salt.

I have stayed at both, Bellagio is nice but in my opinion probably over priced, Mirage is my favourite hotel on the Strip we stayed there on our honeymoon and have booked to stay there this Xmas. Yes its dark but its Vegas true Vegas great service, classy and relaxing. I find the service better at Mirage and the pool is certainly better than Bellagio. We found that the staff at Bellagio were a little up themselves and can be stuffy where as teh staff at Mirage coudl never do enough to help us.

You will get a suite at Mirage for the price of a room at Bellagio, our suite was so big !!

I have some pics here fo our suite at Mirage, I have to be careful here as I took a load of pics in the buff and my brother in law called me to tell me that he coudl see me in the reflection ;-) (they are gone now) but this is why ther are not many.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2404/2094297608_e436390709.jpg?v=0
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2209/2094309516_e0a4b1dfc7.jpg?v=0
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2175/2093426143_96cbcaa496.jpg?v=0

tehs are the raets we have used for Xmas from $72 for a room and $133 for a suite the suite in my pics is a Penthouse
https://reservations.mgmmirage.com/bookingengine.aspx?host=promo&pid=160&code=RRDLUX08&kbid=542076
https://reservations.mgmmirage.com/bookingengine.aspx?host=promo&pid=160&code=RRPV08&kbid=542076
https://reservations.mgmmirage.com/bookingengine.aspx?host=promo&pid=160&code=RRTD08&kbid=542076
https://reservations.mgmmirage.com/bookingengine.aspx?host=promo&pid=160&code=RRTWR08&kbid=542076
https://reservations.mgmmirage.com/bookingengine.aspx?host=promo&pid=160&code=RRPT08&kbid=542076

ferf1223

March

sew109 wrote: »

South Rim every time its only the South Rim that is actually in the Grand Canyon NP

These are pics from my friens trip to West Rim http://www.flickr.com/photos/10135737@N07/sets/72157605664659810/

Adn my pics from the south rim
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10135737@N07/sets/72157603394603266/

Wow - looking at those sets of photos next to each other it really makes it clear that there's a big difference in what you will see at the 2 rims.

pennylane99

May

sew109 wrote: »

They will probably not take Maestro if they do its not so good for you unless you have stacks in the bank and here is why, credit -v- debit is the biggest causer fo arguments at check in desks in Vegas. Beneath is what was explained to me about 3 years ago at MGM when I tried to use a Visa debit card instead of a credit card.

When you check in they will take a daily amount off of a card for incedentals (even if you dont want to use any) if this is taken off of a credit card say for arguments sake $100 (not unusual) they will ring fence this with the credit card company but not take it, when it gets to the end of the first day and you have used nothing they will release the $100 and then hold another (or the same if you like) for the next day and so on. So in effect if you are not using any of your money you will only have say $100 of your limit tied up because the money is not actually taken its instantly refunded.

If you use a debit card they can not ring fence money so they take the money off of your card, if you have not used it (or all of it) at the end of that day they will refund it and then take another $100 the following day the problem is that as they can not ring fence an amount of money and actually have to debit it and refund it there is a time lapse it can take 7 working days to get the money back. as you can see unless you have a large balance this can work out costly.

Aside from this if you rent a car you need to have a credit and not a debit card, I dont know if there is a way round this but there is a sign at the car rental desks saying that they only accpet credit and not debit.

Oh one tip for contacting the hotels cheaply by phone, install skype, pay whatever the least you can pay for skype out and then you can use all the 1-800 numbers for the hotels so its totally free.

re the credit card blocking, 2 weeks ago I stayed at Venetian for 4 nights, they put a block on $150 per day for incidentals when I checked in, so that was $600 immediately, when I checked out all I had on my bill to pay was 2 days use of wifi internet.

On arriving home, checked my cc balance and saw they had taken a second block of the same amount of $600 plus the $19.95 wifi charge, and $30 for minibar which i had not used.

I contacted them about the minibar charge, and they said they would refund the $30, and as far as the 2 lots of $600 they said not to worry, the charges would "drop off" my card in a few days.

It was a week before the 2 x $600 "dropped off", so be aware if you need the balance on your cc for other things.

And this was a VISA credit card, not debit card.

middy60

you do not have to leave a credit card or debit card at check-in but will lose the ability to charge things to your room,we stayed at the mgm in feb and left a debit card at check-in they just took $200 for a week and never charged anymore nd we charged things to our room and settled in cash

ferf1223

March

Just read on OpenVegas that it sounds like The Star Trek Experience is closing on 1st September.
The source sounds legit - though I suppose these things can change until there's an official announcement.
Gutted as we planned to take my father-in-law mid-October and have been talking about it for years.
We've done it, but now it sounds like he won't get the chance...most annoying that timing is so close.

Froggitt

Wouldnt worry ferf......was a two hour yawn. Was about as interactive as the Vegas Virgin Seatback Entertainment system.

Wish Id have gone shooting instead.

secondtoughest

Mirage is great downstairs , rooms are perfectly acceptable , but are a little aged , and don't have wow factor. are sure you cannot afford it we bagged weekday rooms for $89 last year and $120 for weekends.

You've got me all excited about the Mirage now!! Looks great, perfect for what we want in fact. The cheapest I found for 7 nights stay is £750 which over budget but I might book somewhere else, then keep looking for cheap deals. Checked the newer rooms on Trip Advisor, they look great!

I'm going with family so they're a little bit edgy about me not booking a hotel yet but I'm insistent on getting the best deal. The flights were £330 (Northwest Airlines) so I'm doing it the MSE way so far!

Katykat

Thanks Sew, the pics were lovely, did you only pay $72 pn? However, my question really was has anyone stayed in the Meridian Luxory resort. We definately are having 2 nights in ( probably Mirage) but the first 5 nights we want a 2 bed suite, just off strip - its only 1 block. As I said, its looks fab on the website, but I know MSE ers may have their own opinions if it is value for money.