Rio- may 10-14

still trying to catch up, and fighting off the head cold i picked up in las vegas, so will try to post with details by the day, and hopefully get it all in in a timely manner.

alarm rang at 3am, 2 am las vegas time, and arrived at the airport about 430 for our 6am flight. just a 50 seat commuter plane to salt lake, so security is pretty easy to get through. made our connection in salt lake just as they were boarding, everything stayed on schedule. only a 5 minute wait at baggage claim, 5 more minutes at the shuttle stop, and the first stop for the shuttle was the rio. definitely the fastest time between the airport and hotel ever!

checkin lines at the rio were open, we were third in line. clerk was absolutely courteous and professional, noted that our first night had already been charged out, and that our next two nights were 29 dollarsplus tax, with the fourth night free. i know that was the offer we had accepted, but it was nice to know there were no hidden surprises to worry about.

my wife confessed to me later that she thought for 29 dollars a night, our room would be only adequate, she was very pleasantly surprised by our ipanema suite room. far was was floor to ceiling glass, great view of the palms, mountains, and further out the orleans. 15 foot long l shaped couch, big glass coffeee table, nice working table and chairs, minibar, and the king bed. bathroom had its own vanity sink and mirror, as well an another in the hall to the bath, across from the very nice closet. no coffee maker in the room. showere drained very slowly the first morning used, but a note to the maid was left, and everything worked well after that. maids in the hall never failed to acknowledge and say hello, and must say that cocktail waitresses, restaurant personnel, and everyone we met was very conscious of customer service.

after unpacking, made our way down to toscanos deli, had a quick sandwich, took a quick tour of the casinos, and agreed to meet back at the room at three. we both played some video poker, i wound up in the race book, i wanted to watch the races from pimlico, see how the track was there, and if it favored front runners...
natalie, the waitress from england, took a real interest in making sure my glass of merlot was kept full. by the time three oclock came around, i happily made my way up to the room. and my wife said that she could see i was taking this vacation concept to heart.

after some advil and a short rest, it was off to the gold coast to get a players card, we ran 150 dollars through the poker machines, and left 20 down, and the crossed to the palms. we had made dinner reservations at the N9NE steakhouse, for our fancy dinner of the trip. we gambled around the palms for a couple of hours, i lost, my wife won a couple hundred, so she got to treat for dinner.

the palms was impressive enough, the pool area looked great, it was windy and not a lot of people out there, but those that were looked like they belonged. for having a reputation for looser machines and as a locals place, i did not have very gook luck on the poker machines. we dont play slots, ever. overall, the palms was just ok. for staying nearby for another four days, did not ever really have any desire to return.

N9NE was a very impressive venue. metallic and glass, very modern, but very cold, both in ambience and in temperature. waiter team was very good, our meal was really fabulous, we only had a cocktail each, rather than wine, because the extensive wine list had very little on it i was familiar with, and those i did recognize had about a 500 percent markup.

for as wonderful as the meal and service was, i could not wait to get out of there! we had looked forward to this meal for weeks, and the food was as advertised. perhaps because we had been up for 17 hours before we got there, we had too high of expectations. THIS PLACE WAS LOUD. if you are the type who wants to make sure you are seen in the best places, this is it. if you are a person who thinks that if you are spending 150 dollars for a dinner for two, you ought to be able to have conversation with your companion, this is not it. very pretty people in the place, all yelling louder and louder at each other to be heard. the very modern decor doesnt soak up much sound. my bone in ribeye fabulous, french onion soup very nice, the lobster mashed yukon gold potatoes, we fought over licking the bowl! my wife had surf and turf, said the steak was perfect, lobster great, and a garbage salad that was very interesting. if only it had not been so noisy, becasue we would have lingered for dessert and coffee or drinks. bottom line, we will seek out an old school steakhouse next time.

back over to the rio, a little more video poker, the table games were crowded every time i looked, looked like a lot of continuous shufflers and 6/5 blackjacks. never played blackjack there our entire trip.

to bed about 11 pm, 21 hours was enough for us. have to attend trade shows the next two days, and need to be rested to make good buying decisions.

tomorrow, trade shows at mandalay, a trade show private function at margaritaville, a quick visit to the tilted kilt. wednesday, lunch at house of blues, the dueling pianos show at new york new york. hope this isnt too long, if you have questions or suggestions on the format of this trip report, fire away!

 

I like the trip report so far...

 

Ok I'm wondering, how did you get a room rate like that? Had you played there before?

 

Kitson, where do you live? That sounds like the flight from JAC or IDA to SLC.

 

bazootch, near Great Falls.

vegaskathy, just from joining the harrahs players club, as near as i can tell. we never had stayed at any of the harrrahs properties, and in my estimation we sure aren't high rollers, but we have been getting mailers from them for the past couple of years, and this one fit just perfectly for us, and we had had a lot of fun in the rio the one time we had been in there...
just goes to show that you should always join the players clubs. we probably played 6,000 dollars through the poker machines at the rio this trip, plus another 300 or so bet after card swipes in the race book. (didnt do that at the start, thought my size of bets were not large enough, but the personnel said i should). so we will see if we continue to get offers from them, and of what type.