TR 6/11-14 - Bellagio - My 50th

Me and my BF who I shall call “T” took a short trip to Vegas this past week, staying at the Bellagio. Pretty boring TR as we mostly just gambled on this trip. Hopefully no one falls asleep while reading it .

 

Bring it!

 

Tuesday 6/11

I worked half a day so we didn’t head out for the airport until Noon for our 2:50 p.m. flight. For those flying out of MSP, we parked at Terminal 2 and took the light rail to Terminal 1 for our flight. This worked pretty slick and didn’t take much time at all. Our Delta flight was just fine and on time, landing a bit after 4:00 p.m. Our limo was waiting for us and off to the Bellagio we went – via the tunnel. Boy, this method sure didn’t seem any faster to me. It seemed like we were driving forever. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t care which way we went – but I guess I though the tunnel was supposed to be faster and it just didn’t seem like it.

We checked in using the VIP lounge. I had a VIP offer, and my BF also had an offer for a suite. So they combined our offers and instead of us each getting a Salone suite, we had a Bellagio Suite. I was a little disappointed as before we left that morning, I was seeing both a Bellagio Suite Fountain View, and a Premier Fountain View Penthouse suite as available for our 3 nights there - and wanted to try for a paid upgrade to one of these. Upon checking in though I was told all fountain view rooms were sold out, but they said we could probably move the next day, but it wasn’t that big of a deal.

Especially when we saw our suite. We both just loved the Bellagio suite. I’ve stayed in many suites in Vegas and I think this was my favorite. We were in suite 30-056. I really liked the layout of the suite and the size was perfect. We had a “his” bathroom with a shower, a “hers” bathroom with a tub, and an extra bathroom by the entry way. The suite had 4 TV’s (bedroom, living room, and both main bathrooms). The only thing that would make it more perfect was having a fridge to use. We liked that the elevator needed your room key. The hallways to the room were beautiful and very clean. We heard NO outside noise at all. Our view was of the pool.

We were really hungry at this point so we headed downstairs to eat at the buffet. We didn’t wait very long to pay at all, being first in the invited guest (or whatever they call it) line, but then stood there for well over 10 minutes waiting to be seated, even though there were only like 6 people in front of us – all of us gazing at all the empty tables, wondering what the delay could be. The food was good. I love the variety that they have – although I still wasn’t brave enough to try the sushi.

After eating we played our free play on dollar VP, some on JOB, some on DDB. We actually turned $1,100 in free play into $1,080, so almost even money.

We played for a while, and with some small hits our free play money lasted us for the evening, and right before going up to the room – we saw a dollar Life of Luxury machine so we each decided to put $100 in and play $9 a spin. T’s hundred did nothing. I hit $150 on my hundred so we decided to keep playing. We hit a kick-butt bonus round and ended up cashing out $1,200. So we headed up to the room for the night $600 ahead each. Great start to the trip!


Wednesday 6/12

I was up really early, as I always am in Vegas - and this is where having the Bellagio Suite works so well for us. I can get ready in the bathroom by the entrance without having to disturb T, sleeping in the bedroom.

I headed down to the Bellagio Café and went in and sat at the “bar” where I got coffee to go each morning on my last trip, but no one was there to help, then I noticed the sign showing that the bar was closed. So, unsure what to do, I was getting up to leave when the hostess stepped in to help and got me a cup of coffee to go. Great Bellagio customer service!

After T got up, we went back to the Bellagio Café to get coffee and muffins to go and just kind of hung around the Bellagio for the day. I’ll admit it’s kind of a blur, but I believe we did OK gambling – not great, but OK. We only play slots – pretty much everything. While at the Bellagio, we mostly played Siberian Storm, Life of Luxury, VP in varying denominations from quarters to dollars, and $1 and $5 3 reel machines. One of our favorite things to play there is a bank of quarter VP machines that take 10 quarters and require hand-pays for pretty much everything. All of the 4OK’s are progressives. The royal flush was over $3,900 and according to a regular there – was the highest he’s ever seen it. We did out best to hit it, but when we left, it was still $3,9XX .

At around 3:00 we headed for the Flamingo, where I had a room booked for the night. I had taken them up on their upgrade offer so my room was a GO mini-suite – thinking that with the bed not being by the door – there would be less hallway noise. It was a nice room. I had heard complaints that the TV was too far away from the bed. Well, now they have a TV on the wall in the bedroom portion of the suite.

Check-in didn’t go that smooth, but that was my own fault. I attempted to use the kiosk, but the charge was showing as $75 and should have only been the resort fee plus the $20 upgrade fee, so I chose to wait in line – the wrong line. Last time I checked in there the Gold total rewards line was on the far left. Well, that was now the key line – duh. Once I found the right line, check-in went quickly. I was in room 23-001 which you used the spa elevators to get to.

I’ve stayed at the Flaming like 4 or 5 times in my life and I’ve been on the 23rd floor for 3 of those stays – the last 2 stays – and a stay many years ago. The reason I remember that stay is because there was an earthquake during our stay and we walked down 23 flights of stairs.

T was with me and we grabbed food from the fast food court – he had a Nathan’s hot dog and fries. I had a turkey sub and fries. The food was good. After dinner T headed back to the Bellagio, and I started gambling. I didn’t get much play at the Flamingo and my bankroll was disappearing pretty quickly. I finally settled in at the back bar, not sure of the name – not Bugsy’s - and played 50 cent VP for a few hours while having a few drinks. I hit a few 4OK’s, but eventually the bankroll I had brought was gone – so up to the room I went. I wasn’t too disappointed as I was really tired having been up since 4:00 a.m. and was just planning on watching a bit of TV, surfing on my iPad, and going to sleep.

I did head out to the habitat first and watched a couple getting married out there and spent about 30 minutes out there before going up to my room.

I was pretty disappointed when I got back to the room to hear very loud music coming from somewhere. I assumed it was coming from the pool, but when I checked out the window a while later, the pool was empty and the music was still going. I watched TV for a while and then tried going to sleep – and finally giving up - just packed up and left (I had only brought a tote with PC products and jammies) – heading back to the Bellagio, to my nice quiet suite.

I was a little disappointed. I love my mornings at the Flamingo. There is a bank of nickel 10 coin progressive VP that I like to play that I don’t spend too much money on – and I really enjoy my morning visits to the habitat. But I have a hard enough time getting a good night’s sleep in Vegas when it’s quiet. When there’s noise – forget it.


Thursday (6/13)

Up early again. I just headed for a bar this time to get some coffee. This turned out OK and I turned my $100 into $180 on VP before moving on. That would be the last thing either one of us would hit today as the slots were brutal. We tried everything, 2 cents, nickels, quarters, dollars, $5 – nada. It was like they had shut our cards off.

Around 9:00 I still wasn’t hungry so T headed to the buffet and I headed to the Flamingo to check out. When I got back we headed over to the Aria for a little while – but the gambling was no better over there. Back to the Bellagio where I grabbed a tuna sandwich from Snacks. It was very good. So were the 2 Bloody Mary’s I had – although REALLY spicy.

Gambling didn’t improve and we were both pretty tired and we were back in the room pretty early as we had pre-ordered room service for 6:30. T had the New York Steak, baked potato and mushrooms. I had the French Onion soup, New York Steak, and whipped potatoes with lobster. We weren’t impressed with the steaks. Fatty and tough. I’ve gotten far better steaks at my local Ruby Tuesday’s, for a lot less than the $40 that these cost. But the soup was very good and the potatoes were good too.

After dinner, neither one of us could work up the motivation to head back downstairs to lose more money, so we just watched some TV and went to bed. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Hmmmm. We never have to worry about that .

Friday – 6/14 – my 50th Birthday

Heading home day with a 1:30 p.m. flight. Up early again and headed downstairs to the bar again. This didn’t turn out as well as yesterday, as he said he would make me a fresh pot of coffee. I could go through a lot of money waiting for a pot of coffee to brew . Well, $30 later, I finally switched to Keno on the machine I was on but couldn’t figure out how to clear the previous players numbers – or how to change the bet – another duh! So I just played 50 cent keno until my coffee was ready.

All of the machines kindly wished me a happy birthday, which I thought was kind of cool!

We did hit a hand pay this morning for $1,200 on a dollar machine, but with what we were already down – it was mostly just making some money back. The rest of the day we stayed fairly even.

We ate at the buffet again. Very good breakfast buffet. But once again, getting seated was a challenge as we all just stood there while NO ONE got seated. I finally heard the hostess on the phone asking if another station could be opened up.

We headed up to the room and I got an e-mail from Delta advising that our flight was delayed an hour. Bellagio VIP was very nice, allowing us to check out an hour later at noon – and switched our limo time. The e-mail said we would need new travel documents so back to the business office to reprint our boarding passes – which looked exactly the same as the ones we already had.

We got to the airport, and the sign showed an estimated flight time of 2:25, but the plane still wasn’t there by 2:00. I think it finally got there at around 2:15 and we were taking off by 3:00 – so not too bad. I sure like that McCarran has free wi-fi. It makes the wait time far more enjoyable.

Final thoughts:

Once again, I was very impressed with my stay at the Bellagio. Nice rooms, great staff. OK the gambling, while better than our last stay, could have been better. But still a very nice hotel.

After 2 Vegas trips in the last few months, I’ve decided to give Vegas a bit of a break. My normal Vegas fall trip is now going to be changed to Florida (although, being female, I do reserve the right to change my mind). We haven’t done a Disney World vacation in many years and would like to see the theme parks we’ve missed. I’ll give Vegas a try again next Spring. Between me and my BF, we have like $1,600 in express comps, and our plan is to use these to stay in the Terrace suite at the MGM Grand, which goes for about $600 a night, so our express comps should cover most of it.

I did earn over 80,000 tier credits during my May trip that got cut short, and did earn another 135,000 tier credits during this trip – so I did hit platinum – which is something I wanted to do. I like that free cruise that platinum gives you. I have also recently read on this forum about delays in tier credits updating. I didn’t experience this at all, and had actually done an excel file before leaving showing me what my tier credits should be based on the point play and express comps that I was earning and the tier credits were always right on (yes, anal is my middle name).

This trip I did notice the Bellagio “people traffic” more – especially on the aisle leading to the lobby. Wow, people and kids and strollers, Oh My, and more people and kids and strollers, Oh My, and Lions and Tigers and Bears – OK maybe not – I just threw that in to see if everyone was still awake. Yikes. We just tried to avoid that area.

For the first time, I wasn’t freezing in the casinos. In fact, both full days I had tank tops on and was perfectly comfortable with no sweater on.

That's it. Thanks for reading!

 

Thanks for writing the report, I enjoyed it. I also get the "I'm tired of Vegas" syndrome, but it usually clears up in about two months.
PS-happy belated birthday!

 

Damn, I have just commented elsewhere on your TR! Time to cut and paste.

Congratulations on your birthday and thanks for the report. Seems like you had a good time although the gambling was not great. Shame to have to travel back on your birthday but I assume you had commitments.

I like the Bellagio Suites. The living area is not huge but the 2 1/2 bathrooms make up for it. It's been a few years since I last stayed in one but they used to have a full size fridge. Seems like they have been removed.

 

Happy Belated Birthday and thanks for taking the time to share your trip report!! I enjoyed it.

 

Happy Belated Birthday JosieCat and great job on your report! Also, congrats on getting to Platinum!

 

Happy birthday and thanks for the report!

I have to ask: Why would you book the flamingo, upgrade, and attempt to stay there when you had such a nice bellagio suite?

I have certainly booked two hotels to get the free play, but i always stay at the better one.

 

I guess I just really like the Flamingo, and I like to try and see new rooms. We go to gamble. I get really good offers from M Life, and we usually mostly play where we stay - which is fine. I usually start playing by 4:00 a.m. and we pretty much play all day. After playing at the B for an evening and a full day - a break was nice. Switching from the serious Bellagio to the fun vibe of the Flamingo.

It was really just going to be for an evening and a morning. I like the vibe of the Flamingo, and I love to be there for an early morning visit to the habitat, and to play my favorite nickel poker machines. The room was just fine, and if it had been quiet, I would have been perfectly happy to stay there. Oh and did I mention it was an escape from the "snore monster" that I travel with .

Thanks everyone for the nice comments and birthday wishes .

 

Belated Birthday Wishes! Congrats on reaching platinum. Have they remodelled the terrace suites at MGM? Would love to see photos of the remodel ( if it is) when you stay.

 

Thanks for the enjoyable trip report. And a belated Happy Birthday!

 

happy b-day.....I know how it feels turning 50 , mine was on the 13th ....at least you were in vegas ...

 

Happy Belated Birthday, JosieCat! Welcome to the 50+ club

 

Happy belated 50th once again. I always love your Tr's.

 

Great TR and a belated Happy Fiftieth Bday to you!!!

I'll be celebrating mine next month at Encore.

 

A nice trip report, I believe age is not a number but an attitude and outlook, today is the first day of the rest of your life. Happy birthday!

Give sushi a try, go for a few pieces of a roll where the contents within are cooked. Start with something like a crab, avocado and cream cheese. Is that a Philly roll? I had the same attitude towards sushi until I tried it, now I look for it. Same goes for raw oysters, I avoided them due to appearance and my ignorance, but I tried one a few years ago, now I love them! It was a brave man who tried the first oyster.

 

Happy Belated Birthday, and thanks for sharing a great trip report!

 

Thanks again everyone for the nice comments and birthday wishes.

breanna61 - I haven't stayed in the MGM Grand Terrace Suites yet - I have just been drooling over them based on the pictures on the web-site. Yes, they've been remodeled. Check it out.

http://www.mgmgrand.com/hotel/skyline-terrace-suite.aspx

A trip update. On our last morning, something kind of strange happened. I got an e-mail showing that we were being billed $420. I immediately called VIP services, and they said this must be a mistake, and they were showing that we owed nothing - and ASSURED me that we wouldn't be billed this $420. Well, of course a few days later, this $420 does show up on the credit card.

So of course I call VIP marketing again, and they assured me that this wasn't from them. So then I called accounting (after waiting on hold for at least 25 minutes, they were showing it was a room charge of $125 a night (plus tax I assume). So waiting for them to get back to us. I suspect this is coming from the "combining" of our offers into one room. This didn't go as smoothly as we had hoped, it was a struggle to get T's free play, him charging to the room (even though he had checked into the room), etc. So my guess is that this is where the issue is coming from.

And now I'm committed. Florida trip hotel booked for October - airfare will be booked shortly - no Vegas fall trip

 

Make sure that hotel booking is refundable. The weather in Vegas in Oct is wonderful!

 

Good TR Josie! Crazy that we are almost the same on so much. I love Bellagio, always get up early,go to Cafe Bellagio, and only play slots. We too are going to miss our late year Vegas trip so we can go to A Very Mickey Christmas in Florida!
I still might sneak in to LV in the fall! I am driving to Disney so I going to slip in to the Beau for a couple nights on the way!
Glad you had fun!