Newbies -- No off-strip experience and could use some guidance

Hi everyone. My husband and I are planning a trip for April, and we are currently booked at Caesars Palace April 27 through May 3. We are both platinum and got a phenomenal rate through TR ($120.00 for the six nights total). However, we are wanting to also stay on until Wednesday and are looking at off-strip or possibly downtown. Since we've only been to Vegas twice, we are completely clueless about off-strip properties.

I've been reading the board and seeing what everyone has to say about the off-strip places, and right now on our short list is Gold Coast, Palms, or Orleans.

Which would you recommend to a couple in their late 40s, looking for a nice room, good food (we love breakfast and then a late dinner -- buffets are good for breakfast, but also non-buffet places), a nice pool, and good casino action (mainly slots, but husband likes to play BJ and I like 3 card poker and let it ride). We like to go to different casinos so that's why I'm thinking Gold Coast or Palms. Since there are shuttles to the strip, that is also a plus. We will not have a car, so shuttles or walking are our options.

Thanks for any help. Recommendations for where to stay and eat are greatly appreciated.

Jeanette

 

The Palms meets all your criteria. Nice pool, good buffet value, good gambling, a nicer food court with good value plays and some higher end restaurants. Orleans would be the runner up in my book. All 3 properties are fine in my book. it's easy to walk back and forth between the Palms and the Gold Coast.

 

If you have a car, head to Mr. Mama's for breakfast. There's no good breakfast at Gold Coast. Orleans and Palms have nice cafes. Gold Coast pool is very small Orleans pool is a lot nicer.

Take a look at South Point. Nicer pool than Orleans and a lot of great dining options. They also have very low table minimums.

 

I would suggest downtown. My friends and I are in our early 30's. We always went downtown a night or two each trip so we finally decided to split up our trips and spend a couple days downtown then hit the strip the rest of the trip.
If you want a nice pool, the only place to stay is Golden Nugget. I've stayed in the Gold tower which is ok, but for a little extra, I would suggest paying the little bit of extra and book a room in the Rush tower. The good thing about downtown is that everything is so close, that if you get bored with one casino, you can stumble down the street to a number of other casinos. There are plenty of dining options downtown from quick bites to fine dining, and again you aren't stuck in the one location, there are many options all in walking distance.

If you choose the Palms, and don't mind spending a few buck on food, try N9NE steakhouse. The food was amazing there.

Another option is Hard Rock. I stayed there this past June trip. It was a lot of fun, but it seemed to be pretty dead most of the time during the week, expect if there was a concert going on. The pools there are very nice and there are a few pools to choose from. The rooms were very nice and food options were good and reasonable. FU had very good Chinese food. Lucky's 24/7 also had good food. They had a few daily specials as well as the "$7.77 gamblers special" (steak, shrimp and mashed potatoes). Great deal for the price. I liked that there were a couple bars and they're weren't overcrowded. I was always able to find a seat and the bartenders were awesome.... maybe a little too good to me at times.

 

Is there a reason you are not considering the Rio as Total Rewards members? You could probably get it comped and I think it meets all your needs.

 

I think Palms would be your best bet and meets your criteria.

 

Since you require a good pool, I would suggest skipping the Gold Coast as it's on the sorry side. I don't know enough about the Palms but I am thinking it maybe a good option to try as it would be a good transition from CP. I was also thinking RIO but it may benefit you to have a secondary relationship in Vegas outside of CP.

 

I don't think that we would be able to get comped at RIO as we already have 5 comped nights at Caesars. When I pulled up the calendar for the last three nights, it shows that they would be comped but when I clicked on "Book It", it informs me that we already have reservations for that time period and then gives us the rates for the nights. We were just thinking of staying at a non-TR property to see if we could get other offers in the future, as well.

We are also looking at M-Life properties through MyVegas if we can use the weekday bonus reward for consecutive nights. We have to wait until after January, though, to see about those because the dates aren't released yet for the time that we will be there.

 

Palms Place is wonderful!
Has great rooms. (with fridge, and a small kitchen)
Easy walk to Casino
Nice prices!
And pretty good gambling.

 

Either palms or hard rock.

Both have good pools, are a very close cab ride to the strip, and have good dining choices. They both have shuttles to the strip, but they're so close that I think it's easier to pay a $5-ish cab fare to wherever you want to go and save yourself some time waiting around.

Palms is across the street from Gold Coast and rio.

Not sure if any place downtown will meet your expectations after staying at Caesars, but take a trip downtown some evening, it's a fun time.

 

All based on my own experiences

Best room of those three is PALMS
Best food of those three is PALMS
Best Pool of those three is PALMS
Best Casino Action is either Gold Coast or Orleans
Best Location is Palms or Gold Coast

At Palms or Gold Coast you are close to Rio, Palms, and Gold Coast. All three have a FREE shuttle.

At Orleans you are close to no other casinos and the only shuttle is the Gold Coast shuttle.

At the Palms ask for a room on the east side of the building from floors 16 -22. You will have a very nice view of the Vegas strip at night or early morning. Gold Coast all you will ever have a view of is either the Palms of the Rio. At the Orleans all you will have a view of is the Orleans parking lot.

When I stayed at the Palms or Gold Coast I always had breakfast at 24/7 at Palms. The Eggs Benedict is very good.

For nice restaurants, you can't beat N9NE or Alize at Palms. Nove Italiano is ok. Cortez Room at Gold Coast is pretty good also. I have never eaten a buffet at any of them nor have I eaten a buffet in Las Vegas. I will defer to everyone else on buffets.

Since you will be there in April/May be prepared for WIND!! The Gold Coast pool is a joke compared to the other two.

 

If you're concerned that you might not like being off strip or downtown, I would suggest spending a night at the Palms or Golden Nugget, or a night each to see how you like it.

 

Of the three casinos you mentioned, I would go with Palms. I enjoy the atmosphere there, the buffet is good but not huge, and plenty of slots, video poker and table games. You can also walk to Gold Coast and Rio. Did you consider staying at Rio? It is a Total Rewards property and the rooms were pretty nice the last time I stayed there. And you can walk to Gold Coast and Palms. I find Gold Coast to be fairly smoky, so if that sort of thing bothers you, I would not recommend staying there, although it may be the least expensive of the places you mentioned.

 

The computer will NEVER give you another room on the same day you are checking out from another CET hotel. You have to call in to get it done.

 

I like the Orleans but we always have a car. (Car rental prices are generally lower than average in Vegas.) There are many entertainment options available at the Orleans and most food options include a New Orleans taste as well as the regular American. There are plenty of dining choices available.
http://www.orleanscasino.com/vegas-hotel-reservations?cmpid=ppc_msn_hot_orh_the+orleans+las+vegas&s_kwcid=AL!4192!10!1808094342!18450372493&ef_id=VAHJ8AAABcDEfjgz:20140830125616:s

They do run a shuttle complimentary for guests.
http://www.orleanscasino.com/stay/shuttle-service

 

Thanks for letting me know about this. I didn't know that. Maybe I'll call and see what they offer. In your opinion, is it possible to get another comp after having 5 night comped the previous week? I will look into this for sure.

 

Sorry for the double post -- I just want to thank everyone so far for their recommendations. Y'all are great!


Jeanette