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NYE... just your everyday freak-show...

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by sybgal, Jan 7, 2015.

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  1. sybgal

    sybgal VIP Whale

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    My Trip Report

    We began with a group of 6 (3 couples) that changed to 9 when son-in-laws 3 male co-workers decided to join us. Then about a month before leaving...it grew by another 2.....then another 4...... geez....15 people to keep track of at one of the busiest times in LV. No one in our group had ever experienced LV on NYE so we knew we were in for a big adventure.....but nothing can prepare you completely for NYE on the strip. :)

    9 of us flew out of Louisville on Sunday 12/28....this flight began normally until I realized a Grandmother sitting across the aisle from me who had 4 - 20 something's she was treating on her trip. All I can say the 2 girls reminded me of Cinderella's evil step sisters. Smart mouthed and demanding of old grandma. The 2 girls were sharing a room, the 2 guys had another room and Grandma would get a little peace & quiet with her own room. Get this: She is footing the bill for all of them...each had 4 drinks / the girls demanded a car service for 2 nites (clubbing) because they would not get in a nasty old cab. The one reminded Grandma that she promised meet & greet tickets for Lady Gaga (didn't realize she was in town).....@ $358 each. They already had tickets for J-lo. Grandma kept her credit card hot on her iPad.....when all said & done....tickets / limo / ?? / she spent $4600 just while we were in flight!! Entertaining as this scenario was....I felt bad for old grandma.

    Finally landed after 4+ hours & our limo was waiting for us. Would highly recommend Earth Limo....great driver and only $99 to Flamingo & Harrah's. Damn....it was cold outside...same as at home. But it would get colder as the week went on.....great...hoped to escape winter. Nope!
    Went to Diamond check-in at Flamingo & helped immediately by a sweet, lovely young girl. Unfortunately, she didn't know her a$$ from a hole in the ground and gave bad info to us about the NYE dinner & party. Luckily, daughter was checking in with another clerk and had correct info....we were able to get it all worked out but she was a train wreck. Took about an hour before all 9 of us were ready to gamble & drink in the casino. I couldn't lose that 1st nite.....had my bankroll and $200 when I finally called it a nite. Good start. Since the 3 single guys had never been to Margaritaville to eat....that is where we ended up.....The food was better than usual and the margarita's were "fine"....lol Lots of activity with the mermaid sliding into the glass and stilt walkers, etc. Good way to start off the trip for our Vegas virgins.

    The rest of our group arrived on Monday and things got difficult arranging meet ups....to the point we gave up. Who ever wanted to join us could....if they wanted to do something else....that was ok too.

    This is going to get seriously long so will just add some thoughts & observations next:

    Saw two big, burly biker guys in leather with many tattoos.....yes....ok....that's normal / well....they were holding hands & snuggling. That was a 1st for me but they seemed happy and were having a good time!

    Have never seen so may small children & strollers. It was very cold out and those parents had little ones out till 1-2 in the morning. Felt really sorry for those kids.

    Where did all those Jesus freaks come from? They were everywhere with their megaphones harping at everyone....they seems to have taken the place of the porn snappers...lol

    Lines to every restaurant were crazy.....even the Diamond lines had a short wait which is unusual. The Diamond Lounges had a 2 hour wait from 4-6pm.... Must recommend the Rio DL....served margarita and a hurricane in the big hurricane glassed & they were perfect. Best I've had in LV. There was a 20-30 minute wait in the high limit room for entrance to the DL @ Rio but the cocktail waitress kept drinks coming to everyone so it went very quickly.

    Saw many young men who were too drunk to walk being led to their rooms by Security guards....this happened many times especially as NYE approached. Security sure earned their pay that week....everywhere was full / busy and on the brink of some kind of major issue.

    3 couples were invited to the Flamingo dinner / show thanks to Hunter putting it all together for us. He went out of his way and we so appreciated it. Dinner was wonderful....so many unusual dishes and the variety was impressive. Lots of great seafood / salads / antipasto / Italian section and every mini dessert you could possibly want. Liquor choices were terribly limited so had to wait for my drink of choice till after. Then we went to see Olivia Newton-John...nice...brought back good memories but not really a show I would pay for.

    Since we got a new TR Visa, had free tickets to the High Roller which we used during the day but also used December's free show tickets for another pair to go at night. Very different experiences but glad we saw it all. Pods are comfy and they weren't over crowding each one, which made it easy to move around to take pictures. We used our January free show tickets for Legends since we've never seen it....good but again, glad we didn't pay for it.

    About 1:30 or so on NYE...went to the Cromwell.....OMG....it was CRAZY....every drunk young person was there and must have been 100 or more hookers (male & female) waiting for the late nite club to open. They were drunk / rude / obnoxious.... and any other derogatory term you could think of. Heck, I'm 65 years old and had offers from 2 young guys.....one asked me if I was having a good time...uh...yeah.....he then said "want to have MORE fun"....yeah right....I told him to move along "little boy". Hubby also got offers from a couple of girls. You could barely move in there and it was a zoo so we left after hubby had a talk with the manager about it being a real shame that it is such a nice, beautiful new place only to be too out of control for normal people to want to come in & gamble. The manager agreed and said he was just trying to get thru the night without the place being destroyed! Those kids were not gambling at all, just causing trouble but the waitress was bringing them free drinks.

    One nite we all went downtown to see a band a friend of my husband is in...can't remember the name but they played outside and were freezing with the rest of us. Don't know how they were able to play their guitars with cold, stiff fingers..... Freemont Street....the usual freaks....saw a girl dressed as a NUN that was topless.....yes, real nice.../ then the G-string cowboy.....lol.

    Looked for & wore my green VMB wrist bands but never saw anyone else with one. Disappointed...hoped to meet some other members.

    Anyone else think SWA is not what it used to be? Flights used to have attendants who were fun and made the trip memorable. Not so much not....think they need to retrain some of them. Our flight home had me once again sitting by or near some unique individuals....one young hippie looking girl with a headset praying the entire flight. When we landed - the person sitting next to her asked if she sang the whole trip (guess with the cabin noise she didn't understand what the girl was saying)....the girl said.."oh I was praying....I even pray in my sleep"....what?....everyone around her laughed. I sat next to a couple carrying 2 small dogs...sure didn't know you could do that without using a carrier....but they did. They each got up 2-3 times during a 3 1/2 hour flight to go to the restroom...for themselves or one of the dogs! The flight attendant came & told them to please be more careful with their animals since there was urine all over the floor. WELL, they certainly did not like that and called her a liar....really? They were not pleasant to share an row with & I was on the aisle. Again.... crazy people!!!

    This was a fun trip but felt it was too cold to really get out & enjoy as we usually do and the amount of freaks in town were ones I'd rather see in a move or on TV....not in person!!

    Think we will stick with our March Madness and August trips in the future. We can mark NYE in LV off the old bucket list! :)
     
  2. kps

    kps High-Roller

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    Nice Trip report. Fully agree re SWA. Seems like they are just going through the motions. Would think they would be fired up when departing for LV but for my last trip they were meh.
     
  3. Hobofrank

    Hobofrank Prime Minister of Idiocracy

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    SWA from Burbank is always good for me, but it's under an hour, last time leaving Las Vegas, I had EBCI and still almost missed the plane
    got the last seat in the very back, right as they were about to shut the doors

    window girl was a 2nd time flyer and totally anxious, said she could really use a drink, I said you and me both!
    her BF said he had a fistful of drink coupons and all 3 of us were covered, LOL

    I think the crews based out west are more fun based on what you 2 are saying
     
  4. allmine1958

    allmine1958 Low-Roller

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    I have to agree on the SWA point. On my flight out last week, we were delayed and got on then sat for 25 min with no attendant in sight. No word either, then saw a luggage carrier pull up, 2 bags taken off, the all of a sudden attendants moving around and the door closed. Then on way home, they were rudely saying over intercom, that it was full flight, just take any seat and we could make up time we were delayed. Again after everyone was settled we sat for 25 minutes before they started counting and getting ready o leave. Also, I am used to kids but so many dogs is crazy. We had 6 on our flight. One was a husky, 2 labs, and 3 mall dogs.
     
  5. smartone

    smartone VIP Whale

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    I fly the short jaunt from Reno to Vegas once a month or so and for the most part enjoy an happy flight crew, though occasionally I experience what you did. Perhaps they're just tired of dealing with a public that are in greater numbers... assholes. Thanks for the report... glad for the most part, it was a fun trip for you folks!
     
  6. breanna61

    breanna61 Super Moderator

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    It's been 10 years since I've been in Vegas for NYE.....I'm always tempted but after reading your description of the zoo at Cromwell, maybe I'll keep resistng.
     
  7. Superpocky

    Superpocky VIP Whale

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    Thanks for sharing, I need to find myself a grandma like that! Oh wait, she's been dead for 20 years now........

    Love the details, and I also agree that SWA is no longer that happy airline most of us remembered.
     
  8. casinokid68

    casinokid68 Caesars Diamond Member

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    Thanks for your report!! NYE in Vegas is something I always wanted to do. As a matter of fact, I had reservations for NYE this year, but I had to cancel because my girlfriend had work and couldn't make it. Sounds like I'm glad I didn't go, it was a zoo out there. Regarding SWA, since I live in NYC, Southwest is not the best choice of flying to Vegas, but on July 4th, I flew them to Vegas from Laguardia with a stop in Midway in Chicago, and I found the crew very nice and friendly, especially the Chicago to Vegas flight. They were joking around and had the whole plane laughing. Guess it depends on the crew you get!! I did stay in Cromwell twice last year, and the crowd that comes in there with this new Drai's dayclub and nightclub is crazy!! LOL But being up at the beachclub during the day, and seeing the prices they charge for those drinks up there, the hotel generates crazy profits from those young people, who don't care about charging their credit cards up to impress the girls. And the entry fee to get in to the nightclub is 40.00 bucks per person, unless you are a guest of the hotel, which I am sure they are not. The hotels these days generate more money from clubs probably than gambling, which is why you see so many clubs now opening everywhere in Vegas!!
     
  9. bswim

    bswim High-Roller

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    We normally fly Alaska but now and then will fly SW. Everytime I fly SW I look around at who I'm surrounded by and it feels like I'm shopping at Walmart.
    I'm not some uppity person either. I'm a blue collar night shift worker who doesn't even own a tie. LOL.
     
  10. chef

    chef Resident Buffetologist

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    SWA is still okay on the flight attendant front, but nowhere near what they used to be 15-20 years ago.
     
  11. Terry Benedict

    Terry Benedict VIP Whale

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    "...There is a $2500 fine for damaging the smoke detector in the lavatory. And if you could afford that, you'd be flying first class on American."
    I'd ask to give them a break. A comedian can't be on every night, especially if they're not a comedian.
     
  12. sybgal

    sybgal VIP Whale

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    Huh????
     
  13. smartone

    smartone VIP Whale

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    That's one of the funny lines the SWA attendants use on occasion during their "rules announcement".
     
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