January Vegas Trip

Travelers for this trip were me, my mother, my sister Kathy and brother-in-law Paul. We left Friday for six nights in Vegas. Mom had just turned 79 so we were celebrating her birthday on this trip.

Hotels:
Mom and I stayed the first two nights at the Mirage on an offer for 2 comped nights and Lionel Richie tickets. They tried to charge me the resort fee but I argued (persistently but nicely) with the clerk and he finally called Casino marketing and they waived it (for this time only). I was not told of the resort fee when I made the reservation and he kept telling me that everyone had to pay it, even for comped rooms. I always had a fondness for the Mirage because this is where I stayed on my very first trip to Vegas but I’ll never stay at the Mirage again because of this resort fee. The $15 per night charge covers internet, use of the exercise room, use of robes in the room and two bottles of water. I don’t bring a computer with me and I don’t use the exercise room or the robes. Pretty steep if all you will do is drink the water. The room was nice and upgraded and faced north on the Strip with a view of the mountains in the distance.

The next four nights were at the Palazzo on an offer that included 4 comped nights, $100 free slot play and $25 dining credit. I’ve stayed here before and as usual, the room is beautiful with 3 televisions, a huge bathroom and the best smelling soaps/shampoos in Vegas. I love to stay at the Palazzo and like that the Venetian is connected! I like to play at both casinos. The Palazzo did not charge the resort fee on comped rooms. Mom is Japanese and she liked that the Palazzo has a Japanese television channel. She watched Japanese news and sumo wrestling every day.

Kathy and Paul stayed at NYNY, then Harrah's for this trip. The room at NYNY was very small. Neither of their rooms had the flat panel television so Paul watched the football games in my room.

Food:
We ate at Margaritaville the first day. Mom and I had specialty drinks with weird names. They were delicious. I can’t remember what I ate, but I’m sure it was good too.

Mom loves Todai Sushi Buffet at the Miracle Mile Shops, so we ate there one day. They have an excellent selection of food. I don’t eat sushi, but there was tempura, sukiyaki, noodles, fried rice, chicken teriyaki and many more items. I love the little bite-size desserts they have.

We ate at the Grand Lux Café, both at the Venetian and the Palazzo. We had read reviews and knew the portions were large so we shared and it was plenty. We also ate at Harrah’s Café a couple of times and the buffet at Harrah’s.

Entertainment:
Mom and I saw Lionel Richie at the MGM-Grand. This was a special Players Card promotion. I was given comped tickets. The show was excellent. He sang all of his hits and many of the Commodore hits too. The MGM-Mirage properties provided bus transportation to take patrons to the concert. We did take the bus over to the MGM-Grand. After the concert was over, we saw the long line of busses in the back and decided it would be quicker to walk back to the Mirage. Of course, we had to stop and play at some of the casinos on the way back, so it took a while to get back to the Mirage.

I was able to get 4 free tickets to the Human Nature show at the Imperial Palace. I had a mailer coupon for two tickets and I used my “2 Free Diamond Tickets†to get two more tickets for Kathy and Paul. This is an Australian group of 4 men who sing Motown music. The show was energetic and they were great. The audience is invited to participate several times, so I was exhausted afterwards with all the singing and dancing. I don’t like the design of the Imperial Palace showroom so I had asked for a booth in the very back. Mostly this showroom has long tables with 8 chairs. I loved watching the show from the back. Paul bought their CD and got it autographed by the 4 members.

On our last night in Vegas, we saw Phantom of the Opera at the Venetian. The theater is beautiful. We had center seats in row AA, which is the first row of the second section. The theater was only about half full. We had a great view of the chandelier. My only complaint about Phantom is that the orchestra drowned out some of the vocals at times. Hearing the vocals is important for an opera.

We went over to Bill’s to watch Big Elvis. He looks great since he’s lost a bunch of weight and sounds better than ever. There was a good crowd of people watching his show.

Gambling:
We went over to South Point on Saturday. Paul had to watch the football playoffs so he dropped us off and then picked us up between the two games. I loved playing at South Point. I played video poker the entire time. Mom played two sessions of Bingo. After all the points I got there, I expect I will get some free room offers in the future. I stayed there once when it was the South Coast and loved the rooms there.

I played video poker and penny slots everywhere. I was dealt 4 to a royal many times but could never get that 5th card. I did hit many 4oaKs. I had one great hit on a Star Trek machine. Playing the minimum bet of 35 cents, I had a screen-full of Kirks that paid $60. I didn’t expect to get a Win Warp bonus on this but was surprised when I did. Then I got the “Kirks Gone Wild†bonus and won over $900! I wish I had my camera to take a picture of this but I had left it in the room since we were seeing Phantom that night.

In the end, it was still a losing trip but I had fun trying new machines, such as Sex and the City and Indiana Jones.

Other:
Since we had a car on this trip, we did some sight-seeing also. One day we drove over to the Valley of Fire and spent a couple of hours admiring the beauty of this natural creation.

We also drove over to Laughlin one day. It was a rainy day so we only went to one casino, Harrah’s Laughlin, since we have Total Rewards cards. I enjoyed that casino and they have a nice non-smoking section. I played video poker while looking out the window at the Colorado River. It was a nice drive over and I liked Laughlin. Paul went to a car museum at another casino. If it hadn’t been raining, we would have taken the water taxi to a different casino.
Summary:
We all had a fun time despite the rain during half of the trip. Vegas was really crowded probably due to several conventions going on at that time. The casinos didn’t appear to be hurting for business. I ran out of time and never made it to the Bellagio to look at the conservatory. I lost but still came home with some of my gambling money. The six days went by quickly and we were exhausted by the end of the trip. I don’t go to Vegas to sleep! Plane was delayed leaving Vegas Thursday afternoon due to weather but we got home okay. It was great vacation and I can’t wait for my next trip.

 

Wow sure sounds like you had a great trip--and you even came home with money .
I am leaving Monday for my Vegas fix and can't wait.

 

Thanks a lot! I laughed because last time I stayed at the Palazzo during Thanksgiving I watched some of the sumo wrestling too, very entertaining stuff!

 

Sounds like a great time you all had TY for sharing

I would have loved to have seen Lionel Ritchie , and Human Nature , nice they were all comp'd

 

I've done that too, forgotten things after their drinks...funny how that seems to happen a lot there.

 

Thank you for sharing. We leave in a couple days for Vegas and I was thinking about checking out the Human Nature show. Glad you had a good time!

 

Thanks for the report!! I enjoyed it!

 

Enjoyed your report. Nice that your Mom is able to travel to Vegas at 79. I plan to be doing the same for as long as I can when I am her age. Very surprised about resort fees at the MGM properties for comped rooms. That is just wrong. It just shows that they have money issues if they are charging that to players with comps.

I saw the Human Nature show at Thanksgiving. I agree it was excellent. I do hope they get a nicer venue because it doesn't do their show justice where they are performing. They need a decent sound system too. Nevertheless, my friend and I really enjoyed it and were dancing and clapping like everyone else. My friend said it is like seeing the Jersey Boys on steroids

Too bad about the gambling but bringing home some of your money is still a win in my book.

 

thanks for the very interesting report, that hit on Star Trek must have been SO EXCITING!!!! I might have to try that next time, noticed the sex and the city slots but didn't get to those yet either.

That is disappointing Mirage is sticking people with that resort fee. I bring my laptop so if it includes internet I have no problems with it, but I use the gym, water, paper and internet so thats a great deal, but usually it doesn't include gym OR internet, just paper that you never get, water, and some unlimited 800 calls or other useless crap, regardless it should never be mandatory. What's next? An involuntary carbon offset fee?

Again, great report, very enjoyable!

 

Thanks for the nicely done TR.

later, GVJ

 

Thanks for sharing, very nice report!

 

Nice trip report! Thanks for sharing!

 

If I leave Vegas and have any money at all then I consider that a very good trip. I have dropped my last $20 in the airport slots b4 boarding before. That is a properly planned trip.

Thanks for sharing. Enjoyed the read.