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Paris - Southpoint - Like two totally different trips

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by lithelady, Oct 8, 2010.

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  1. lithelady

    lithelady Low-Roller

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    My Trip Report

    Just got back from a 5 day Vegas jaunt - normally I like to stay in one hotel. Once I'm there, I don't want to hassle with repacking and moving. But I'd heard so much about SouthPoint that I decided to do two nights at Paris and then move to SP for two nights. This time I also signed up for the Text messages from Harrahs to see what offers I'd get.

    Great start to trip - at San Jose airport, not a single person in front of me at security (what a rarity!!) and then at Vegas, not a single person in front of me at Taxi line (even bigger rarity!).

    The New Tunnel pitch
    Got in cab, said "I'm going to Paris" and cabbie says - "Do you want to go the fast way, or would you prefer surface streets?"

    Me: "So are you asking if I want to take the tunnel? I mean really, it should take 7 minutes to get to Paris this time of day. How much faster is the "fast way"?"

    Him (backpedeling fast): Sometimes there are faster ways.

    Me: "I come here every month on business for the Taxi Cab Authority" (well, ok, that was,uh, a uh - well, it was a lie) "What's your license number? (I take out my camera and shoot a picture of his license - I am apparently emboldened by my good luck having encountered no taxi line. ) "I know exactly what it should cost me this time of day to get to Paris. So I'll tell you what. You take me the way you recommend as fastest. But if it's more than $2 over what I know I should pay, I'm calling the Authority before I get out and before you get paid."

    Him (he was driving all this time, btw): What do you expect to pay?

    Me: I expect to pay what anyone who gets in your cab should pay for this ride. I can't believe you do that nasty offer to take people through the tunnel.

    Well, the upshot is when we got to Paris ($13.80 including the airport drop fee), I said thank you, I tipped him very nicely (I always tip very nicely). I asked for a receipt (mostly just to keep up the myth) and went into the casino.

    Paris - the hotel
    Not a person in line. I love the people at Paris. Always really nice front desk people, maids, etc. I had a Red Room and it comes with Coffee maker with Starbucks coffee, mini refrigerator, nice make up mirror in bathroom plus great views. I like overlooking the pool and Eiffel Tower, with the Bellagio fountains across the street.

    My favorite things about Paris: that the elevators are not a mile away from the restaurants and casino, great staff, very comfy (Beware - some of the mattresses in Paris are old! The rooms were redecorated but the mattresses not replaced. However, all the Red Rooms have newer mattresses and are comfy). Good selection of restaurants, and good location for going to all of center strip. And I didn't notice it on my past two trips (I had better casino experiences in those trips) but the Plasma TV has a number of HD channels, and an onscreen tv guide that actually told me what shows were on.

    The Casino

    And the benefit of having good tv is clear when I say that I had a horrible casino experience. I just lost, and lost and lost. VP, slots, craps, blackjack. Those who know HET point system will understand how bad it was when I say I ran $3000 thru the machines and got fewer than 1000 base points. From first coin in to last minute when I checked out, I was never ahead. I never hot any play for my money. I fed the money to the casino. I got zilch.

    Meanwhile, a side note: it was a tuesday/Wed last week in September and the casino was jammed. It's hard to believe Vegas is hurting. The casinos (Bally's/PH/Paris) were all really busy, and at night busy enough to be festive. There were no big events in town. Just lots of vacationing people.

    I played at Planet Ho for an afternoon, the rest of the time at Bally;s about half the time and at Paris half the time. I just poured through money, which was miserable and depressing. This is the first trip I've ever had when I wasn't bringing in at least 1500-1900 points a day. I couldn't even reach 400 points in a day. I don't even want to think what it did to my ADT, much less to the fact that next year I'll never get any kind of offer at all based on this type of play.

    I actually stopped gambling to go upstairs and watch tv. I was very happy it was a comfortable room. I also did the spa - the Paris spa isn't as nice as Caesar's, but it's ok. When I'm bummed about the gambling, it's hard to have a good experience anywhere. I think I noticed someone saying that in another thread earlier tonight, and it's really true. I go to Vegas to gamble and when it's a lousy gambling experience, well, it's just lousy all around.

    Harrahs Text offers
    This is the first time I've done the Text offers - I signed up Vegas Offers and Paris.

    Anyway, I signed up on Monday (I was arriving on Tuesday, and the offers come for 3 days, and are good for four days). The offers were a free drink w/purchase of a burger at Burger Palace (IP), 20% off Le Village Buffet at Paris (up to six people), Free Feather Boa with $40 purchase at La Voga Bridal Boutique, $5 off a hamburger at Le Burger Brasserie, 2 for 1 tix to XBurlesque @ Flamingo, 15% off the Paris Steakhouse. 2 fir 1 git digs at Bills, free snickers bread pudding at Hash House at IP, 2 for 1 tix to Eiffell Tower Ride, $5 off retail apparel at Vince Neil 11 am to 2 pm
    Food and stuff
    Didn't do any of the nice restaurants - I was alone and mostly into food that would provide quick comfort to my losing streak.

    Sorry, but I miss LeNotre and feel that new patissiere that Paris installed in the LeNotre location Le Belle?) to have more commissary-type food of lower quality. Moderately acceptable.

    my luck was so bad even after just a few hours that at 7:30 pm Tuesday I decided to grab a crepe from La Creperie and go up to my room to watch the season premier of Glee. I left Bally's at 7:30, waited in a short line at Creperie, had my order in by 7:40 but then it was 7:55 before I got my crepe. I got up to the room just as the show was beginning.

    Le Burger Brasserie - still one of my favorite Paris restaurants. I like their burgers, I like that I can choose fat, skinny or waffle fries. The service is usually top-notch but this time was a little below average, and I got some real attitude from the waitress - her loss.

    Planet Ho Buffet - I did breakfast buffet at Planet Hollywood - hit it so there was no line (though about 10 minutes after I got there it was lengthy). Great service. Good selection. I stuck to bacon, eggs, bagels, a couple of kinds of juices. Oh, and stewed prunes, which I really like but don't fuss with making at home.

    JJs Boulangerie - did a couple of quick snacks here - maybe an egg sandwich and something else? As you can tell, it was forgettable.

    Frankly, by the time it was time to move to South Point, I was really ready. I'll do that in a later post. I didn't realize how long this was getting.
     
  2. jpw711

    jpw711 Is that your cat?

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    Don't leave us hanging! I can't wait to hear what you have to day about the Southpoint, esp since I was just there myself.

    Nice report so far, 3 grand through then machines and not getting any play or points sucks. Hope you make up for it at SP.
     
    No reason to go home yet.
  3. lithelady

    lithelady Low-Roller

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    The SouthPoint portion - slots like they used to be

    I said earlier that SouthPoint was like a totally different trip from Paris, but unfortunately, that was only partially true. I lost and lost at SouthPoint too. Let's just say this trip was a loser all around.

    But at least at SouthPoint, I got some play for my money. The difference I refer to is that Southpoint is a slot players haven. It's slots like they used to be when, sure, the machines ate your money, but at least they give you play along the way. Plus, there were several jackpots happening around me at SP. One man hit $22,000 on a keno machine, and there were a number of slot wins and VP wins. The casino just has that feeling you used to get when you first got hooked on slots.

    I loved the atmosphere and realized how much I'd been missing that at the Strip places over the past 8 or 9 years.

    I played a whole variety of slots that I never played before - mostly because I could count on not getting killed if I played the maximum - and it was kind of fun to just explore different machines. Plus of course they have all the hot new machines - Star Trek and Sex/City and Press Your Luck and Monopoly and oh, really, all of them.

    I got a lot of $70 to $100 hits on them, so I actually played more slots than I do on the Strip. I like their craps tables too. And their $5 black jack. The video poker (of course, since it's a locals place) is what's really popular. I lost all my winnings from other games on VP. It was very cold for me.

    Below are pics of some of the penny slots which I would normally never play but I had some really good luck on...not quite good enough to pull me out of the doldrums, but enough to amuse me quite a bit.
    [​IMG]
    [[​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    The room[/B]
    The room at SouthPoint was certainly ok. It was clean, it was roomy. But after the Red Room at Paris, it was a come down. Yes, there was a coffee machine. But the view was ho-hum, the furniture was a little scratched, the tv was flat panel but no HD channels, and no TV guide. I tried to take a picture of the view, but you'll see below, the reflection back into the room was pretty bad. It overlooked the pool, the freeway, and in the distance, the mountains.
    [​IMG]


    Here's the TV wall

    [​IMG]

    The Spa
    I went into the spa, and the prices were the same as the spa at Paris. The hotel just didn't have the vibe so I passed.

    The food

    The food was fair - I did the Silverado Steak house one night - which was good, not fabulous but very tasty and very nice service. Fair price - about $75 (before tip and alcohol) for two people.

    The SouthPoint Buffet - some folks like - but if you are sensitive to MSG it's a nightmare. Lots of stuff that comes from restaurant supply places with MSg in it. The waitress offered to bring the chef over to give me an overview - and I should have taken her up on it. Despite the fact that I was concerned about a lot of the food, I actually went back twice - once for breakfast/brunch and once for lunch. At check in, I got a free lunch buffet but normally I think it's $9 or $10. The waitress was great - she saw me come back Saturday for brunch, waved at me, and motioned the hostess to sit me in that section. Anyway, the buffet has asian, mexican, American (carving station for lunch - omelettes for brunch, seafood, desserts. Pretty much what you'd hope for, as well as a salad bar.

    Hot dog cart - cheap, pretty good hot dogs, a great "grab a snack" - I did it once when hunger hit.

    Coffee place with the fruit smoothies I like.

    Del Mar Deli - Really good sandwiches and a half sandwich was enough for two meals for me. I also tried their chicken soup with matza ball - a disaster. I couldn't eat it. But the salami on rye was cut right and a really thick sandwich. The chicken fingers looked pretty good too.

    The casino
    As a whole, the casino was really busy at night. Days were slow. But every night, especially the weekends, were very busy. The hotel looked fairly full on the weekend. There were also a lot of local events going on, including a retreat for the UNLV football team. There were groups of them in the meeting room areas a couple of time - they were VERY sedate for college football players. I stopped a few of them and asked them if I could take a picture. It's pretty fuzzy - but they were nice and obliging. (heck, why should all the men on the board be the only ones who can ogle young bodies...)
    [​IMG]

    I'll go back to SouthPoint, though I didn't like the feeling of being so closed in and away from other casinos. It would be a lot more fun if I had a car and would have gone to M and Silverton.
     
  4. lithelady

    lithelady Low-Roller

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    Paris pictures

    And finally - here are some of the pictures of the Red Room at Paris, which I found after I posted the first notes:

    The TV wall

    [​IMG]

    The view

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    The room
    [​IMG]

    And guess what picture is missing - I must have deleted it: The picture I took of that poor taxi driver's license when I told him I worked for the Taxi Cab Authority. Good grief. I hadn't even started in at Vegas yet.
     
  5. VegasDiva

    VegasDiva VIP Whale

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    Great Report :)

    Glad you tried out the SP , sometimes we get into our hotel *comfort zone* and don't try new places to stay ......
    Hope your HET comp's are still viable after this trip! Yikes
     
  6. jpw711

    jpw711 Is that your cat?

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    wow, look at that carpet at Paris.

    Great Report!
     
    No reason to go home yet.
  7. sailor53

    sailor53 Tourist

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    Sorry about the losses. We've all had trips like that! Thanks for the report and the great photos.
     
  8. blackjacknut

    blackjacknut VIP Whale

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    On the bright side YOU WERE IN VEGAS BABY!!!!! Thanks for the report better luck next time! :thumbsup:
     
  9. luvvp

    luvvp Tourist

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    I also live in the southbay and went to LV last Thursday, also stayed at Paris and Southpoint, what a coincidence.

    I'm sorry you didn't have any good hits this trip. :grrr:

    This was the first time staying at Paris for us. We usually stay at Caesars but my hubby has been having difficulty walking so I thought maybe Paris would be alittle better. I'm so happy we did, as you said, elevators are very close to the casino. I really don't care for the vibe of the casino but I do have to think of my other half as well.

    I only play vp and bj, well sometimes a sports bet if it's football season. I did hit two royals and many bonus paying hands but since I do play alot, this just kept me about even. :eek:

    I had my reservation at Paris for 5 nights comped but decided to go ahead and use my reservation for Southpoint which I had for two nights. Only needed one night but our plane wasn't leaving till 9pm so we didn't have to check out till we were ready to leave for the airport.

    We did have a car so went over to "M" a couple of times, love this place. I did hit a royal and a few bonus 4oak. I do hope to get on their "radar" with this play. Since they were just sold, I hope the new firm doesn't make comps unreasonable. I don't think so since they are so far off strip but you never know.

    Sue
     
  10. Lovegas95

    Lovegas95 Too much work...need more play.

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    Thanks for the graphic account of what it feels like to just lose, lose, lose :grrr:. For what it's worth...you're not alone in that respect. However, we live to plat another day. Hang tough! :peace:
     
  11. techie223

    techie223 High-Roller

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    Good job with the taxi driver. The worst ones seem to be the ones that "seem" to be helpful/nice:grrr:

    Great report but sorry about the losses.
     
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