Soooo, My wife and I are headed back to Vegas in June. We've been 6 or 8 times and always stayed in the "lower end" hotels (Excalibur, laxor, flamingo the last few times) and we typically enjoy those stays. We're not too high maintenance cause we're moslty gonna use the room to sleep anyways. We like day drinking at the pool, walking the strip and throwing some dice at night. This time we're considering Aria (wife thinks its pretty) and I've got a few concers: I'm not a "fancy" guy, I like wearing shorts and flip flops and drinking beer. Aria looks like your grnadmas house where you're affraid to break anything. Is this place gonna kill my party buzz? The rooms look really nice, are they as good as I expect? How is the pool scene? I'm not gonna go into the pool club but the regular pools seem really relaxed. How is the casino? Table mins mid week? Loud and fun? Thanks for the help guys and gals
Yes Aria is upscale but I dont think you would feel out of place by the attire described. I dont really consider it a "party" casino though. If anything the casino is more on the quiet side. However I do think their lounge areas are great. Rooms are very nice. Would be a huge step up from excal, luxor, etc. Most comfortable beds ever. Dont know about the pool. Like I said above casino is more quiet than others. Table limits are going to be mostly 15+ at night, but im sure you could find 10's midweek. Dont expect 5s here. Food choices are outstanding.
Aria is lovely, pool is great, drinks are pricey but good. Table minimums are high, but Cosmo is next door, killer drinks better craps there.
Aria table minimums feel like they're getting higher to me; on Monday and Tuesday of this week, I saw one $10 table during the day, but most at least $15, and by nightfall everything was $25 and up. And those were for the 6:5 tables; 3:2 will run you at least $50, and there were a couple times when I didn't see a single 3:2 table below $100. Craps you can find a $10 table relatively often, otherwise $15 and up (although, as I've mentioned before, I cannot for the life of me figure out the pattern to when they have $10 craps versus $15/$25 -- it's not just a midweek day thing). Otherwise, I don't think you'll have much of an issue with Aria. As with almost all casinos nowadays, there isn't really much of a dress code, either on the floor or in the restaurants/bars. And Aria's bars are some of my favorites in the city, in particular Lift Bar. If you want something more casual in terms of vibe, I highly, highly recommend Herringbone, which has an amazing outdoor patio and outstanding food. Pools are relatively relaxed, nothing too fancy, nothing too downscale. The one thing that bothers me about their pools is that the drink service is terrible (that and the Bell Desk are the two real problems I consistently see at Aria); there are often too few servers in the area, and the line at the Pool Bar gets horrendous at times.
Aria is great. While it is on the higher end of the spectrum, most any of the resorts can/will accommodate the shorts and flip flops. The food choices are really good and run the gamut in terms of cost, taste and attire. The standard rooms are very nice in my opinion. They are spacious with a nice bathroom. Separate WC, dual vanity, the tub/shower combo is a little awkward, the tub is in the same enclosure but separate from the shower. The beds are great as noted before. I really like the pools are Aria. They are quiet and pretty relaxed, but can get pretty crowded. I find the pool side service to be pretty good, but I am not a drinker so am pretty low maintenance down there. As for the table mins, I play craps mostly and a little bit of roulette. I would say that there are $15 roulette tables open almost all the time. Craps mins can be any where from $10 - $25 depending on how busy the pit is. That's where 44s comment comes into play. To the best of my figuring, if they have 3 tables or less open then min will be $25. If there are 4 or 5 tables open you should be able to get on for $15. If there are 6 or more tables open there will typically be a $10 table to play. I typically am there on the weekends and have always seen multiple $10 tables open Friday and Saturday evenings. Those same weekends I can go down Sunday morning and have to play $25. We love Aria here and are probably headed back in April I suggested maybe using some of the free teaser nights at Cosmo, Wynncore, or V/P and got that look. So it's back to Aria again, I've been beat up there the last couple trips and thought maybe a change in scenery might be in order. That was quickly shot down. Good luck in your decision making process, but I think the Aria would suit you just fine.
I love Aria, you wont feel out of place at all, I didnt once get the vibe that I was gonna break something or that I was in grandmas house, its a fun casino Hotel, the only bad thing about aria that has already been talked about is how high the table minimums are, and also the drinks are really over-priced if your not gambling
Sadly, I've seen plenty of exceptions to this. I've seen what you described, but I've also definitely been there numerous times on Friday or Saturday evenings where there were a couple $15 tables and the rest $25 and up (in fact, $15 floors are more common than $10 floors, in my experience). I've also been there on Sunday or Monday mornings/afternoons where there were two tables open and they were both $10. There has to be more to it. I need to start seriously taking notes on this, because staying at Aria for 9 trips in a row and not being able to figure it out is driving me up the wall.
i liked Aria. you would not feel out of place at all. pool is pretty relaxed... got to try their hot tubs... i loved them.... rooms are very nice. they dont have "strip view" room per say. i believe they call then city view as they are further back and they have that yellow building in front of them.
Not sure if the OP is asking about all table games or specific ones. Stayed at Aria about 20 times and there is some pattern. The craps games almost always have at least one $15 table.There are always at least 2 dice games open early morning and one is $15 min.(holiday and big event weekends are the exception) Shift change they open 4-8 more tables and the mins can be all over with some $15,$25,maybe one $50 and sometimes $100.Afternoons may have 1 $10 table. Black Jack mins are often $15 at the continuous shuffle tables close to the lobby. The shoe and DD games are $25-$50 and $100. Shorts and flip flops will be fine. I'm not a flip flops guy but stayed there with friends who are and they loved it. Walking around the casino with shorts and flip flops during the day is very common.
I like Aria. The rooms feel luxurious without being pretentious and there are great restaurants at all price levels. Plus, the Monte Carlo food court is steps away and nothing beats McDonalds fries at 4am. But I find the casino boring with terrible drink service.
Aria's regular rooms are good, but not great. Where the property really shines are the suites. Anything from a Corner Suite on up gets really excellent service from expedited bell desk service (bags to the room in under 10 minutes) to early maid service during the day and amazing turn down service in the evening. I've never found it to be a particularly snooty place. While I'm not a flip flop person, I'm still pretty casual and have always felt welcome. The pool is a relaxed environment. It may be a bit more crowded since they designated one pool for the Sky Suites, but I've never had an issue finding loungers. Honestly, the table limits are outside my comfort zone, but there are cheaper games at Monte Carlo and I'm paying for my rooms, so I really don't care where I play. ...and there are a lot of great restaurants, including the tasty and cheap 550 pizza. My suggestion is to book a Corner Suite and enjoy your stay.
Aria may look intimidatingly upscale, but it actually has a laid-back atmosphere, especially due to it having a generally younger crowd than some other upscale hotels. I would feel entirely comfortable wearing a t-shirt, shorts, and flip flops there. Honestly, I hate the layout of Aria's rooms because it feels clunky and isn't optimized very well. However, if you're used to the Excalibur, Luxor, and Flamingo hotel rooms, you should enjoy Aria's hotel rooms because they're a big step up. I've found the restaurants to be pretty lacking, in quality, quantity, and price. I've been to several Aria restaurants, and I've always came out unsatisfied, despite paying unreasonable prices. The good thing is, the Mandalay Bay is only 2 tram rides and a casino's walk away from Aria, and you can get better and cheaper food at the Mandalay Bay. Like many mid to upper tier casinos, expect morning minimums to be $10-$15 and late afternoons/nights to be $15-$25, depending on how many people are there (for blackjack).
Wife and I primarily do CET locations but did Aria through SW Vacations because the total for flight and hotel couldn't be beat for MDW. We are a flip flops and shorts type and no problems with that during the day. Regular pool is outstanding and one thing me and others were able to do was go up to the room and do refills and bring them back to the pool since they were in Aria labeled plastic cups. We did the regular room and no complaints here. It is definitely a step up vs Harrahs and such. As they say, happy wife, happy life and all was good on that trip.
I know the OP has already made his decision (a good one). For anyone else that comes across this thread, this comment is spot on.