TR. 10/7-10/10 Info for your trip

TR. 10/7-10/10 Info for you

Invited to a CET VP Tournament, so off to Vegas I went with the wife. Staying at Bally’s. We try to take advantage of every offer we can to make the trip cheaper. We are low rollers, retired and in our early 60’s.

First, I’d highly recommend if you like CET properties to get the new Visa card. No annual fee. You get $100 in TR credits if you put $2,000 on the card within 3 months. Obviously you pay the card off every month so there is no interest charges. You get two free passes to CET 24 hr buffet of Buffets. Most importantly you get instant upgrade to Platinum card for one year. I’ll go back to gold card after one year because I don’t gamble enough to maintain Platinum status. Benefits of Platinum card to follow.

Smooth arrival on SW airlines and off to pick up our rental car from Enterprise. Again, lets talk about saving money.
First the airplane ticket. Got a Southwest Airlines credit card. The promotion is similar to the TR credit card. Put $2000 on the card within 3 months and SW will give you 50,000 reward miles. My flight to LV round trip is about 11,600 reward miles. Wife’s is the same. So I get free flights(no black out dates) for the 2 of us for 23,300 reward miles. This leaves me 26,700 miles remaining for 2 more round trip flights to LV. Reward miles never expire. So airfare is free.
Car rental. 4 days in LV for $78. Regular rate is $118. $40 coupon from my Discover card reduces cost to $78. Think about it. Cab fare to and from the airport is about $20 each way. Getting from Bally’s to Freemont Street, other casinos, etc cost. Again we are in our 60’s. We are health and enjoy short walks. It might seem only a short walk from Bally’s to NYNY, Mandalay Bay, or Encore, but man it is a long way. Take the car and do valet parking for a dollar or two.

Arrive at Bally’s around noon. Line for check in is long. About 40-50 people in line. Wait, there is a Platinum only line. LINE IS EMPTY. Thank you Platinum card. Employee watching line does not want me to wait for next Platinum check in person. Tells me to go in Diamond lounge for check in. YES!! Diamond employee greets me with a nice smile and can she get me a water or cup of coffee. Two waters please. Proceed to check in. I tell clerk that last visit the clerk told me a Platinum player gets a free upgrade. No cost. No $20 trick. TY Platinum card. She agrees and asks me if I would like a new “Jubilee” room? Yes!!! Winner, winner, chicken dinner.

At check in they give you a bunch of coupons that can be used at different CET properties on the strip. Free slot Tournament at the Quad, free play at certain casinos. Discount food and show tickets at CET properties.

“Jubilee” room. These were the old South Tower rooms. The remodel was just completed in September. They have view of the strip. Not like North Tower which has view of Bill’s reconstruction. We had partial view of Bellagio water show and Caesars. Room furniture is all new. TV, refrigerator, coffee pot. Mattress and pillows are brand new. Shower was walk in, no tub. One sink in bathroom. Carpet new. Very nice room. A lot better than the remodel at Flamingo of the “Fab”rooms.

1st night when down to Freemont Street. No transportation cost because we had rental car. We like to do a lot of people watching and Freemont St. has some weird people. Park car for free at Golden Nugget self-parking. Get ticket stamped at main cash cage. Huge LED light canopy over Freemont St. Light and music show every ½ hour or so. Lots of fun. Tonight’s show was the band “Queen” music with light show. Also they have 1 or 2 live bands or some type of entertainment. We always stop for a greasy burger at Binion’s little café. Potato salad is good too. At Binions you can get your picture taken with a million dollars for free. Come back in 20 minutes and you can get your free 6” x 8” picture in a nice folder. Very enjoyable night.
To be continues…..

 

I'm loving your style Tahoejoe! I'm sure we'll learn a few tips from this trip report. Well done on the Bally's check-in! Looking forward to reading more.

 

Great read so far!

Like you, I'm using airline miles to fund my Vegas trips. I use American Airlines miles to take care of the flight and use some of my other Chase points to take care of the rental car. I love getting a deal.

I'm looking forward to the rest of your report!

 

I haven't stayed at Bally's in a decade (I'm a bit of a spoiled ass room snob) but I seriously have it on my radar with the addition of the Jubilee rooms because Bally's has a perfect location! I have enjoyed seeing photos of these rooms; hope you'll share some of the room and view. I may just book one for December!

 

TR. 10/7-10/10 Info for you

Tuesday 10/8
Breakfast at Mon Ami Gabi[/B]. Starting to be a must every trip. Never a problem to get seating on the patio for breakfast. They have heat lamps if it is a chilly morning. Nothing like breakfast outdoors on the strip. The quiet time for the strip. Lots of morning joggers going by. Very peaceful.

VP tournament at 10am and 2pm. Good machine in the morning, terrible machine in the afternoon. 600 people in the tournament. They are paying 400. Good chance to get paid. One more round at 10am Wed.

Julian Serrano for late lunch after 2pm tournament. Serrano’s has a great 3 course lunch special for $19. It is served from 11:30-4pm. Just as good as Milo’s which we will be going Wed. The lobster gazpacho appetizer is fantastic. The Rib-eye steak was cooked perfect.

Rocking the Vault show at LVH. I’ve seen it in past visits and had to go back. If you are in your 50’s and 60’s and want to hear great music from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s this is the show for you. These guys are from rock bands of that era. Here is a list:
Howard Leese -Guitar (Heart, Bad Company)
Tracii Guns -Guitar (LA Guns, Guns n’ Roses)
Robin McAuley -Lead Vocals (MSG, Survivor)
John Payne -Lead Vocals, Bass (Asia)
Paul Shortino -Lead Vocals (Rough Cutt, Quiet Riot)
Jay Schellen -Drums (Hurricane, Asia)
Andrew Freeman -Lead Vocals (Offpsring)
Michael T. Ross -Keyboards (Lita Ford)
John Payne is terrific.
You use to be able to get free tickets by signing up to the LVH players club. They stopped that Sept. 30. Best deal is Tickets2nite ½ price tickets. It will run you about $38 for the cheap seats. This show is like #4 on the LV “Things to Do” list. Again, car rental saves cab fares.

Wednesday coming….

 

Sounds like a great trip so far, save all the cash for gambling :banana:popcorn

 

Wednesday, Oct. 9
Last full day in LV.
Final round of VP Tournament. Ended up winning $75. I guess that is OK for a free Tournament. Met a lot of good people and had fun.
Milo’s @ Cosmo for lunch special. $23 for 3 course meal. 12 - 2:30pm. Just a great deal for LV. Sea Bass was delicious. Yogurt dessert was yummy.
Took the wife to the Fashion mall and Caesars Forum for some shopping. Again, glad we had a car. Cosmo to Forum to Fashion mall is quite a walk.
Level 107 happy hour at Stratosphere (4-7pm). Great 2 for 1 martinis and ½ price appetizers. So good. This lounge is at the top of the Stratosphere. Tell them you are going to happy hour and the ride up is free. You also get free admission to the observation tower. A great view of LV.
Headed back to Bally’s and spent the night watching the street shows and strange people in front of Bally’s. They had a dance group, Elvis, Stone statue guy and many unique people walking by. Talked to a lot of visitors. I think this is the greatest free show in LV.
I hope you got at least one good idea for your trip from my report. Any questions just PM me.

Gambling is gambling. The wife and I enjoy slots with good bonus rounds. We just play pennies. It is more for the entertainment than the winnings. For serious winning I play in the poker rooms late night. That is where the money is to be made. Why you say? Because you are playing against people, not machines or tables where the odds are against you. Most are not very good or drunk. If you play the game well and have patients you can win. For the little the trip cost me(Food, car rental, and misc.) I recovered and more at the Poker tables.
Next trip is the annual guys trip for Superbowl weekend. Can’t wait. 109days, 23hrs and 6 minutes.

 

Hey Tahoe. I just received my TR Visa card which upgrades me to platinum. I have received and already started using the credit card but will they send me a new platinum players card? Also thanks for the top on Julian Serrano..my wife and I did the lunch special at Milos, loved it and look forward to trying this one

 

We signed up for the TR credit card and enjoyed cutting to the front of the line for check-in and all the buffets.

Our SW credit card arrived this past week and looking forward to accumulating the miles.

Glad you enjoyed your trip.

 

what buffets can you cut in front with platinum? can you do it for bacchanal @ caesars? I thought the last time i went I only saw a diamond line, but i could be mistaken.

 

DanO
They won't send you a Platinum card. You need to stop at TR desk your next visit and get some cards. Don't forget to ask for the free room upgrade to Platinum players. Don't forget the Buffet pass is only good for 6 months from the day you got your card.

 

I can only tell you that at Paris there is a seperate door entrance to the buffet for Diamond/Platinum

 

platinum card benefits

All the buffets that are part of Total Rewards have a special line or entrance for Platinum cardholders. The Bacchanal Buffet at Caesars does not!!

 

TJ2: Thanks for the TR. I was beginning to wonder if you did any gambling at all! Glad to hear you were able to pay for you trip with your poker winnings. -- Lorna

 

Paris definately has a seperate DOOR for Diamond and Platinum.

 

Nice report! I did not know about the Stratosphere happy hour. I thought the only way to go up free was to eat lunch or dinner. Good tip.
What kind of pricing at happy hour? Just the martinis, or other drink specials?

 

I believe just the martinis. That is what I had. Appetizers are great too.
Just tell them you are going to happy hour and it's free. After drinks and food you can visit the observation deck for free.

Joe, happy birthday. Mine is Nov. 20th. But I'm younger(1947) and better looking.

 

I had that meal 2 or 3 times my last trip. Very good deal at only $5