Feb 08-16 Westgate & Luxor

Hey ya'll,
I was in Vegas just before it closed. So here is the report to hold you over until it opens again. I will try to do daily installments.

The trip was a combo rugby event and vacation. I do some contract work with the match official group for Major League Rugby (if you're not familiar, check out the product during this sports downtime. Many matches are easy to find on Youtube). I was planning a trip anyway, and the league decided to run a few games at Sam Boyd in a tournament style event to avoid bad weather in the cold weather regions. So, I called the boss and asked to be put on the stadium crew. This got me a few extra days in Vegas, with my hotel (Westgate) covered and I got to watch the games from the sidelines or the press box. Win/win. I booked the remaining hotel days at the Luxor on an MLife comp for a one bedroom tower suite.

Flew in on Delta nonstop and arrived in Vegas at 11am on Saturday Feb 8. Had a cheapo basic seat purchased with points. My husband also had a basic seat, we gambled that we would be able to get seats together. We've been married 16 years so, I don't think we would have cried if we hadn't been able to sit together, but we won the gamble. Checked in at 24 hours and scored seats around row 24 middle and aisle. Easy flight. The pictures below aren't from this trip but they seemed to fit into this narrative, so here are plane pictures.

 

Hit the ground running at about 10:30. Got an Uber to the Wesgate. Checked in. Paid the 20$ early check in fee becuase Westgate has terrible lines at check in and I didn't want to fool with waiting in the bag check line and then waiting in the line again for check in. They seem very inefficient there or slow or something. We always stay there for rugby stuff and every time the lines at the front desk and the slow elevators kill me. I now ask for a low floor so I can use the stairs.


I got the blue room. It was nice. I haven't stayed in this room type before. No complaints about it and I'd stay again if it was free. The rain shower was TO DIE for. I've never really been impressed by these before bc if I don't want to get my hair wet they are annoying. But this has a handheld thingy attached with a slider and you can switch between that and the rainshower. The pressure was great. The towels were nice. All in all, a nice bathroom experience here. . . I travel too much so the little things are a big deal.

Here is a terrible photo of the night view from my room. It was a nice view.


After getting settled in the room which has a safe, and a useable mini refrigerator and fantastic black out curtains, we caught an Uber over to the venetian for brunch. We had reservations at noon at Buddy V's. We had lunch here during restaurant week and we were so impressed I could not wait to try it for brunch. Here is a tour of the brunch from youtube . If you have not tried this (and it survives the Coronavirus) GO. GO. GO. We did the all you can drink Bloody Mary bar option. It is an added fee, but considering how expensive drinks are in Vgas, it was a good deal. ANd the waiter graciously offered us one to go.



Bloody Mary Bar was full of good things to try. All of my favorite fixings and then some.


There was live music during brunch. I can't remember the band, but it was a nice touch.


Dessert.


The best Boston cream donut I have ever eaten in my entire life. It's kind of crazy to take a photo of a donut. But here you go.


We were absolutely stuffed after this. We tried to go to Emeril's stadium to watch the MLR game, but it was being broadcast on something they couldn't show. Kinda annoying. Wandered aound the Venetian real fast and lost a quick 200$ on a slot and VP. We ended up going back to the Westgate and watching it in the main lobby bar with a bunch of other fans on iPhones. Lame. But at least we were together and had some beer.

After this we went upstairs to get showered and cleaned up for dinner. More of the crew was arriving and we had plans to meet up for a later dinner. I ended up going back to the bar to play some VP. I was down to my last 25$ for the day when I hit the big one! I've been playing VP for YEARS. I've been going to Vegas since 2003 (I have to be over 30 trips at this point) and I have NEVER hit a RF. So there I was just sitting at the bar, minding my own business, killing time, losing like usual. And lightening struck! My husband had just come down to the bar and was standing next to me. I gave his arm a squeeze and pointed and he had a look. He did a double take and then gave me a high five! First hand pay for us.


Then I got my picture taken with Elvis - cause I was a big winner.


After this we met up with the crew. Had a few beers in the lobby and decided to hit Uno Mas at the Sahara for dinner. It was solid food. The chips and salsa were a small portion. But other than that I'd say the food was very good. I'd eat there again if I was in that area. Nothing to report after this. Called it a day bc we had been up since 4am EST. Fell asleep to the lights of Vegas (and got up about 5am and closed those black out drapes).

 

A virginal Trip Report! You will surely be rewarded in heaven.

 

Congratulations on the Royal! Looking forward to the next instalment of your trip report.

 

Congrats on the royal and that Boston Creme donut does look awesome.

Mark

 

Congrats on the Royal! Sounds like you had fun. I'm guessing MLR is different than the Rugby 7s they have down there from time to time. Some friends of my kids play 7s for Canada.

GG

 

3 to the RF and you hit it. Well done!

 

MLR is fifteens rugby. There is a team in the league from Toronto. The other teams are from the USA. https://www.majorleague.rugby/

 

Amazing, right? I'm sure I am overdue several RFs by now, all the same it was unexpected and amazing. I hold my breath when I hold 4 to the royal. . . didn't even blink with this, knew it wasn't going anywhere! Made the trip.

 

Sunday Feb 09

This was game day #1. The match was RUNY v Freejacks, and it was played at Sam Boyd Stadium. I met up with the crew for breakfast at the buffet. The Westgate does a very nice breakfast buffet. I'm not really a fan of this style of dining. However, when you are with a group, it is efficient. We chatted a bit and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast. The server was great and the coffee refills were timely. Not sure what they charge for this breakfast, but I guess I'd gladly pay 15$ for it. There's tons of food and it was all hot and good. I think it's probably a small buffet compared to many of the big hotels. I know you can't tell based on this report - but I've never been to a buffet in Vegas other than this one, Buddy V's yesterday, and Verandah at the Four Seasons.

I headed back up to the room to change and get my stuff together for the match. I stopped by the .05 triple play VP on the way upstairs. It was a positive session, but I didn't win or lose anything significant.


We packed all of our stuff because today was moving day. I headed down to meet the guys to go to the stadium. My husband took all of our stuff to the Luxor and checked it with the Bell desk. He then did a walking strip tour and came to the stadium to watch the game as a fan and drink beer. I "worked".

Game Highlights are here:


A few pictures from the stadium:









The game was fun. The weather was cool and a bit windy. We went to Luxor and checked in. For some reason I had a comp suite on my MLife account, so I had booked that. Asked nicely for a strip view at check in and was given that. We loved the one bedroom Tower suite set up. The room was located on a short hallway right near the elevators, so the walk was easy. There were max 4 rooms on this hallway, so it was always really quiet, no traffic or door slam noises. I also never noticed any sounds from the elevator itself. That might be because of the room configuration the actual bedroom portion wasn't near the hallway. The "strip view" was more of a "side of the hotel" view, but I could see some lights, so I was happy. The room has a fridge, a coffee maker and a separate soaking tub.












The room was great. The furnishings felt new, nothing was beat up. The safe was up high on a shelf in the closet area, which I found annoying for use. I'm not short either, but this wasn't a good place for a safe. The room had real glasses for drinking, which I prefer to plastic.

View at night:

 

For dinner we decided to go over the MGM to hit Happy Hour at Emeril's. We arrived only to discover that the fabulous HH that we have been going to for 10 years is no longer being offered. We usually get oysters, clam chowder and a few specialty cocktails. Anyway, in lieu of HH specials, we ordered a few things from the bar menu. We Paid WAY too much money for it, were dissatisfied, and moved along. Cross this off our list, we won't ever be back.





We wandered over to Juniper lounge and had a cocktail. This lace is worth a stop. Everything is fresh and the bartenders are very skilled. I don't mind paying an arm and a leg for a cocktail of it is also a work of art! Strangely enough, here we had our second discussion about Coronavirus. The bartender had family in Hong Kong and he was telling us about how things were going there. We all had a good laugh about how it wouldn't come here and we can never imagine the USA being shut down.


I have no idea what either of those were called. But they were fantastic. Here are the Gins that were used. Pretty bottles. Included here because you don't have anything else to look at from Vegas. . .




After this we wandered out in the Park and played VP for awhile. I got my birthday Freeplay with no issues and ran that through. No pictures, so I guess no wins. Met up with a friend and had another drink in Juniper Lounge. Then we decided to go and play Blackjack so we went over to NYNY and played terrible 6:5 game. But we only lost 40$ and had some fun as well as a few beers. After that we wandered back to the Luxor and to bed with the curtains open to the lights of the strip (sort of).

 

OMG thank you for this report. It keeps the dream of returning to Vegas alive.

 

Monday Feb 10
This was another day that I needed to get some work done. We woke about 9 and enjoyed coffee in the room. I had purchased some pods to bring with us that fit the coffee maker. They never give enough coffee in the room. I travel with pods everywhere. Also good if the in room coffee is bad!

Once we had gotten ready for the day we decided to go over to The Park and have breakfast at Primrose. We've eaten here several times now and been very happy each time. It is a little pricey for breakfast, maybe, but it is consistently good service and is not a typical greasy breakfast. I think they have some unusual choices on the menu. I also think they have really adorable touches in the restaurant. I just like the space, it is pleasant.

We've always had a great time there, the outdoor seating is especially relaxing and beautiful. This time we got seated next to an angry group. They were in some kind of fight with the hostess about getting another table added to their group. She wouldn't let them take the table and sat us at it. SO we are at this table and these people keep making passive aggressive statements and the hostess keeps jabbing at them. It was pretty bad behavior by the hostess. It was pretty dumb because the table on the other side of us was empty too. We asked out server to have that table cleaned and we moved to it, offering our table to the already seated squished bunch of angry folks. In return, they ended up buying our meal! WIN. I would have ordered another mimosa if I had known that was going to happen





On our way back to the Luxor we stopped by the box office at the Tropicana to pick up tickets to the comedy club for the 10pm show. We are talking to the attendant and he says, if you want to throw a tip my way I can give you 2for1 discount. I agreed to this. It just seemed kinda weird. But whatever, tossed him 10 bucks and got cheaper tickets.



It was pretty cool this morning but it didn't stop these two. The absurdity of this always surprises me, so photo!

The day was pretty uneventful since I needed to spend time in the room breaking down film from the matches over the weekend. My buddy staying at the Westgate ended up coming over because his internet was so bad he couldn't work. Mine in the suite was great. The space was a nice size for two. We had a pretty chill morning doing our stuff in tandem and getting to pick brains on the interesting bits. Meanwhile my husband had another walkabout on his own. We met up with him at about 2pm for lunch and beers. From the board I had learned about the Original Chicken Tender place in the Luxor, so we gave it a go. pretty tasty!

I got my birthday Freeplay and burned through it on some slot. I also got my Konami Freeplay and my MLife Freeplay loaded. Didn't win anything notable. I will say that the VP machines at the Luxor are generally in poor shape. I don't really enjoy playing there, but it is where we always get the best offers so we stay there.


After playing for a little while we got cleaned up and headed over to Mandalay Bay for dinner at Charlie Palmer Steak. We had a great experience there last time for restaurant week and we were excited to check it out on a regular week. Unfortunately, we did not have a great time. Our server was lame, and I didn't not enjoy my meal very much at all. The live band is a cool touch.




I had the Branzino. Skip it friends. After dinner we were headed out of the Four Seasons and there was a big group taking photos on the staircase. We had to wait for them. The women were really drunk. A guy told us they were all cocktail waitresses at the Bellagio and they were partying for someone's wedding party. They definitely looked like they could be cocktail waitresses! Once we finally got up the stairs, I lost 100$ very quickly in a Mandalay Bay slot. This always happens to me at MB. I don't think I can win there. We walked over to the Trop and played a bit before going to the show. I do not remember anything about the comedy. We did think one of the comedians was funny. The venue was really small and not very crowded. After the show we gambled a little bit more and then called it a night.

 

Great report!

Branzino, or what I would call a European Sea Bass is a naturally tasty fish. The key word here is "naturally", if caught wild.

Around the Aegean or Mediterranean seas, you can find wild caught ones that weigh around 1.5-2 kg each (think 4 pounds), some even more. These are usually shared between 2-3 people, because they're huge; and they are extremely tasty.

Unfortunately, just like salmon, this beautiful fish too is widely farmed. Farm sizes are around 1 pound per fish, and they're mostly fed crappy feed and they taste pretty bland. Not to mention, most restaurants serve this crappy, farmed fish. I pretty much stopped eating this fish, unless I find a good size wild caught one by the sea.

 

Great room at Luxor - I'd definitely be happy with that. Those drinks at Juniper are SO pretty!

 

Enjoyed your report, congrats on your Royal Flush they are few and far between. Again Thanks

 

Nice report! That Westgate room looks nicer than I would have expected.

Congrats on the royal! Looks liked it was hit at the sportsbook?

This was my first ever hand at Westgate, quad 5s on Deuces Wild. Doh. But for that royal amount I had to try it.

 

There are a few different room types at the Westgate. That blue room is very nice. I'd stay there again with no qualms if it wasn't for the miserably slow elevators.

The royal was hit at the handicapped seat at the lobby bar. There are two of them. This was the machine to the right as you belly up to the bar!

 

Tuesday, Feb 11

Today we slept in for a bit and enjoyed a nice relaxing morning with lots of coffee pods consumed. A quick video poker session netted me a quad


We headed down the strip around noon for food. We ended up passing The Crack Shack. Someone had posted about this place so we went in to take a look. We got a nice seat at the bar and ordered a round of spicy margaritas (i think). The food here was so good. We would stop in again. I realize deviled eggs are a strange thing to order, but you have got to try these. That's candied bacon on top. So, so good.



We wandered through the Park and over to the Bellagio where we checked out the conservatory.






Back to the room after a successful wander around. I took a bath and got ready for my conference call. I really enjoyed being in Vegas and chilling in that nice suite with a glass of champers knowing I was going out after the call!



For dinner we had reservations at Bazaar Meat. This is our third time eating here in 15 months. We cannot get enough of this restaurant. The service is impeccable. Every time we have requested the same server, Can Turkmen. If you go, ask for him. He's excellent. From making menu suggestions to pairings, timing of courses, amuse bouche, etc. We've hands down had our best restaurant experiences here with Can. We were greeted with Champagne when we were seated.



I always start with this consume. I know, it seems weird to order consume. But this stuff is to die for. There is a beautiful qual's egg in the cup. The cup is lovely. I don't know. It makes me feel like a princess. And it is piping hot and the flavor is so delicate but strong.



We had the salmon Tartare. Killer.It doesn't look great in this photo. Don't skip it. You will regret not eating this. It comes with these puffy seaweed crackers that really make it.


Olives and cured meat



Ham and buratta


I don't know what else we ate. We always pick random things off the menu and Can brings us various tastings of things. It's always a culinary experience. This trip was no different. We were too full for dessert, but they brought some little bites to end the meal.

Did a little gambling at the Sahara. Their VP machines are so nice and new. I really like playing here.

Two night shots from the trip back to the Luxor.

 

We always order the deviled eggs at Yardhouse. We go to Yardhouse specifically for that. We will have to try the ones at The Crack Shack.