Las Vegas Spring Break Trip

My friends and I plan on going to Las Vegas for Spring Break. What would be the best hotel/casino choice for us on the strip? We are considering MGM, The Luxor, and The Flamingo. We are also considering the Hard Rock off the strip. Any recommendations would help! Also do all four of those casinos offer comp drinks? Thanks for your help all we appreciate it!

 

What's your budget? Do you know your dates? None of the resorts on the strip offer all inclusive drinks.

 

But if you mean does a cocktail waitress come by and give you free drinks, all the strip casinos I know of provide this. If you give them a $1 per drink or so as tip, you'll see them come around much more often.

Harrah's has a pretty energetic crowd and is easy on the budget. Kind of hard to give much suggestion without knowing your budget and what kind of things are important to you.

 

What dates are you planning to visit Las Vegas? If your visit is during the first week of the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament, you can expect to find higher room rates, more crowds, and higher table minimums. Especially in 2016, as it is one of the years when the first week of the tournament coincides with St Patrick's Day.

With that said, if you enjoy crowds and watching basketball, it's the most wonderful time of the year to visit Las Vegas!

 

Flamingo has a really nice pool and is an inexpensive option and is in a good location in terms of being close to other casinos. The hotel rooms aren't the nicest and the hotel needs a big renovation. MGM will be a clear step up but will likely cost more.

All casinos offer comp drink IF you are gambling. They don't just hand them out. If you purchase drinks from casino bars they'll be regular bar prices. Out at the pools the drinks will be night club prices, think stadium concession prices or higher. No comp drinks out here.

Since you mention spring break, I assume you're in college. Be aware that the 21 year old to drink and gamble law is enforced.

 

We plan on going between March 14th and March 19th. I'm a huge basketball fan, so I'm very excited we will be there during the first week of March Madness. We are not wanting to spend more than $800 per person on hotel and airfare, and each individual will bring their own spending money. And, yes, I was talking about comp drinks while gambling. Sorry, should have been more specific.

 

I would book a room now. The last couple days of your trip, the prices will increase because of MM. Other than drinking, you did not really indicate what you and your friends like to do. Of the places you listed, I would suggest Flamingo. Should be cheaper than the others (except maybe Luxor), it is centrally located, and while it does not have a good sportsbook to watch games at, it is close to places that do (Bellagio, CP, etc.). All the places you listed will comp you drinks while gambling

 

Well I have no idea how much your airfare is so can't really tell on hotel budget. Of the three you mentioned, MGM Grand king will be the biggest room. Also their pool area tends to open before most other pools. I can't remember if all the pools were up by March 14th if that's important.

How many people will be staying per room? Another option to look at is Venetian/Palazzo or Delano. Those rooms are all more expensive, but a lot bigger then standard hotel rooms. The V/P rooms have a sunken sitting area with a couch, and Delano have a couch in a separate room.

There are a lot of helpful,people around this board just let us know about how much for hotel and how many people per room. You will get a lot of responses.

 

I'm planning something similar for my old college buddies. Our dates overlap with yours, but on the tail end (March 16-21).

You may want to consider NY NY and Monte Carlo -- those hotels are at lower price points. It would also help if one of you has mLife/TR membership. mLife prices are considerably cheaper. (I don't stay at CET properties, so can't speak to them). Monte Carlo is mid-strip-ish, NY NY has a fun atmosphere (although I hear the sportsbook is meh).

 

Flamingo is a solid choice for a first trip to Vegas, assuming your first.

Rooms are cheap (approx $700 from 3/14-3/19), some are updated (Fab and GO Rooms), centrally located and low level gambling, if desired. I think this would accomodate your budget depending on plane flights. I have stayed here a couple of times and never been disappointed. Nicest room? No. Good value? Absolutely. I tend to spend 95% of my time outside the room, anyway.

All of this varies heavily on what you are wanting to do. Flamingo does not have the best option of pools, if that is a big draw to where you are staying. I would go ahead and cross Luxor off your list.

Be as specific as you can on your plans for the week and we can help guide you a little better.

 

Your budget is known, back out airfare then an internet search will give you prices across the board on hotels for your dates. Hotel is the key.

Are you cramming in as many as you can in one room? Then space is your friend. As would be an extra shitter. So a place like Delano which is a true suite hotel, with 1.5 baths, might actually prove more cost-effective person even as the unit price is higher.

I'm guessing gambling budgets and expectations aren't that high, so considerations as to available games and pay schedules is probably moot.

Unless you simply want the bacchanal scene of HRH's wonderfully bacchanalian pool scene, don't stay there or anyplace else off Strip.

Folks here make it sound like if you are near the intersection of Trop and LVB it will prove the Bataan Death March if you want to check out Venetian or TI or what not. It is not the Bataan Death March. It might take x sweeps of Mickey's big hand to hoof there, but it's still relative minutes, and you're young. And there are taxis. The monorail is actually somewhat functional for the long haul. Somewhat. It's Vegas, you'll be out and about on foot a lot. Choose hotel and hotel amenities over situs address.

What are your priority amenities/attributes? If it's pool that's one thing. If it's the lowest rock-bottom priced room, that's another. Most every joint has some type of cheap eats in/near if budget chow is the key. Do you want a place to easily congregate and watch hoops?

Booze and gambling FUEL Vegas. So it's not what you might think. Those folks are ubervigilant on underage drinking and gambling, so keep that in mind if your group isn't all majority aged yet all are thinking all-nighters of blackjack and "free" Red Bull/vodkas.

There is no definitive "best" in any of this, not given how we all value things so differently.

 

I also highly recommend getting a table at a bar/restaurant for one of the days of games. I've done this for both super bowl and march madness. If you purchase ahead of time you're typically reserved a table. Most packages will be $100 and up on the strip. Just make sure it's the minimum spend and not charged on top. I've seen open bar packages anywhere from $75 to $100+ depending on what type of alcohol is included. I did the super bowl at Double Barrel at Monte Carlo. It was worth the premium open bar. Don't expect to see any march madness specials until after the super bowl. But keep an eye out for super bowl specials to give yourself an idea of who charges what to figure out the best fit for your crew.

 

So our "tentative" plan is basically to have a typical first trip to Las Vegas. We want to hit up a few of the nightclubs, go to a few of the pool parties that they offer, and gamble. I am only going with three other people, and we won't be in the room that much, so it isn't that big of a considering factor for us. It sounds like the Flamingo may be our best bet so far. And no one in our group will be under 21, so we won't have that looming over our shoulders. Thanks for all of your recommendations so far!

 

I think answered the majority of your questions in my other post, but I left out an answer to one of them. We are all huge college basketball fans, so we would love for a place that would either be in our hotel or near by to watch the games.

 

If staying at Flamingo be on the look out for Carlos N Charlies to have some sort of March Madness special.

TheVegasParlay.com is where I got most of my info for the Super Bowl this past year. Here is a post about 2014's parties. Expect it to be similar this year: http://thevegasparlay.com/march-madness/las-vegas-march-madness-parties/

 

I haven't been to MM in LV, but from what I hear the sportsbooks are all going to be jammed and packed a couple of hours before the start of the games. So you're probably going to have to hit up a viewing party, as BayouBengal points out. Our plan is to book viewing parties for the Round of 64, then wing it for the rest. (I booked a suite with plenty of TVs so that we can use it as a last resort if nothing's available/everything's too packed.) You may want to join the March Madness in Las Vegas Facebook group.

I'd probably recommend TI over Venetian if you're talking about that part of the center strip. Granted, I'm a few years removed from college, but I don't find the Venetian very fun -- at least, not for your average twenty-something, and not over MGM, HRH, Cosmo, Wynncore, etc. TI's got a bit of rowdyness to it, and is more affordable, too.

Of the options presented so far, Flamingo is a solid choice for a first-timer in Vegas. If your goal is to go clubbing, you may want to see if there's a package deal where you can get admission as part of your package (I know MGM occasionally has a Hakkasan deal). You may also want to budget for bottle service, etc.