Venetian/Palazzo and Cosmopolitan 2/19-2/23

I’m surprised that all your food arrived at the same time. That has never happened to us when we have eaten there. Maybe they were really busy? Still, not good.

 

I believe that the Prime Rib dinner was $16.99, and the French Onion soup was $4.99. All before tax and tip.

 

In terms of advancing tiers at Cosmo, remember you do get 5 points for each dollar of spending. It doesn't help with gambling offers, but will help you get to the next tier faster, and tiers at Cosmo have concrete value.

 

^ Yep, was about to mention the same. You get tiers at Cosmo waaaay faster through resort spend. Treat yourself to some really nice meals.

 

OK, woke up, puttered around the room and then went to Jerry's Nugget. Spent about $100 there, just to give them some play.

Went downtown and hit the Plaza first. Picked up another two Silver Strikes. One of which was new, one of which I didn't have

Went to Golden Gate, where I parked (and forgot to leave the key). Play my $50 Free Play and got $15.00.
Sat down to a Fabuluous Dragons machine and got a big bonus, which covered my spend at Jerry's and put me up $100 for the day.

From there, it was time to go to Circa and meet with Jason and @44inarow .

I'm getting pretty good at this "making comps work", or my guests are being nice. I told them the first $110 is on me (monthly comp at Club One)
All of this . . . .
#1 Corned Beef Reuben

#2 - Club sandwich - @44in a row, correct me if I'm wrong

Matzoh ball soup

Steak and Eggs

#2 Corned beef and Pastrami

We all had drinks and it all came out to $109.46

How's that for precision????

Lunch was great and since Jason had lived in New York for many years, he and @44inarow had a lot to share.

We all split up, Jason declined my invite to Area15 later today, and I gave @44inarow a ride home.

I went back to Cosmopolitan to get an explanation of making "tier". So, as it goes, you DO NOT get a Multiplier for Tier Credits TOWARDS TIER) once you make an accelerated level. It appears that paying for meals and things might be the most cost effective way to make Gold level. I'll have to remember that when I take FGF Vegan Jenny to Beauty and Essex.

So I redeemed my level up cards for $30 in free play, and sat down to a machine that I usually play at Golden Gate, Unity Wilds. The way this machine works is that if you match two wilds on the outside reels, they become a Wild character and move across the screen, left to right, or right to left. When WILD characters get on the same square, they become 2X. The outside reels also give you a jackpot id 1, 2, 3, or 4 Jackpot symbols fill the entire column.

Just to add fuel to my hypothesis about slots being 100% luck, and it's picking the right machine at the right time, with the right bet level, and the timing of pushing the PLAY button, on the second pull, I got the Free Games bonus, and in that Bonus, on the second game, I got the Minor Jackpot (2 jackpot symbols)

After that pull, I pulled three more times, and got a second round of Free Games, with another Minor Jackpot

Cashed out for $425 up, take a little "sting" out of the trip.

Went to the Milk Bar on the second floor and bought some cookies, based on a cousin's recommendation.

Compost, Corn, and Confetti cookies.

Need to make a better strategy for making level at Cosmopolitan. Perhaps one paid meal each trip??

2:30PM, gambling is just about done for this trip. Gonna go downstairs and browse the shops, then over to Area15 to finish shopping. Dinner is at Shabuya with BFF tonight.

 

Used $109.46 of $110 food credit. Well done sir!

 

BLT (without mayo) but close enough! Fantastic lunch and thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

 

Cosmo tip:
Store cookies in your room - cabinet in sitting area, where the refrigerators are located. Nice soft warm cookies! Don't store chocolates in there!

 

I was within 500 points of Gold when I left Cosmopolitan last trip. I bought a gift card for $100 to get 500 Identity tier credits.

Buy a gift card if very close. Fees are excessive when buying online, shipping card - I assume lower fees if purchased on property.

Understand that no tier credits or points when redeeming/ "spending " the card.

 

Will you be going to Omega Mart at Area 15? I am so curious about that place.

 

OK, my second trip to Area 51 and I think I* finally understand how it works.

As I was pulling out of the garage, I noticed that the car was driving "off", it was only as I reached Las Vegas Blvd, than a man was kind enough to point out that I had a flat tire. It was VERY flat.

At this point, my options were:
1)call roadside service (and wait anywhere between 30 minutes and 2 hours), or
2)roll up my sleeves and change the damn thing myself.

I've changed enough flat tires that I can get it done in about 15 minutes, if all parts are ready and available.

One of the things that I will make SURE that my son understand is how to change a flat tire.

If you have a child that is preparing to drive, IMHO, they should understand how to change a flat tire. They should not only understand how to do it, but they should be able to demonstrate how to do it on a car of their own, or a rental car.

I pulled into a coned off lane of Las Vegas Blvd. and fortunately, it was the passenger's side front tire that was flat.
15 minutes later

I was back on my way to Area 15.
There was a line outside Area 15 at 3:53, 7 minutes before they opened. Here's a dinosaur sculpture from the parking lot.

There was a separate line for Omega Mart (more on that a little later)

We entered right at 4PM, first stop was the washroom, as my hands were still dirty from changing the tire.

I went to the store and picked up some knick-knacks, and wandered around. I went to the second floor, and took a picture of Omega-Mart.


There is a $40 charge to go to Omega Mart. Why??? Because it's an Art Exhibit as well as a grocery store. There is no "grocery store only" price. So, caveat emptor.

I looked at all of the exhibits on the second floor, there is an aerial ride and apparently for all of the "pay for" exhibits, you must pay in advance on the website. Haley's Comet (the aerial ride is) $16 for seniors, and I will definitely commit to riding that on my March visit.

Stopped at "Rocket Fizz", the soda shoppe and bought a Cotton Candy soda.


It seems like a cool "date place", and I'll keep it in mind for one of my dates.

Anyway, I made it back home to write this up, and it's almost time to leave for Shabuya.

 

Many thanks for the review and pics of Area 15. I was on the website for about a half hour last night but it's pretty confusing in terms of what you would actually see if you walk through. I very much want to dine at the Todd English restaurant The Beast. It's gotten great reviews. Not including the time for dining, how much time do you think should be allocated to exploring the place? an hour and a half or so?

 

Nice report. Sorry about the flat tire.
Let us know how your Cosmo strategy goes. I'm also just at sterling and was wondering how much "work" it would require to get to gold. I'm thinking several paid meals per trip, actually paying for the room or at least an upgrade, plus spa treatments might be the quickest way.

 

Supplemental Cosmo tip: text me and I will take your cookies, and then eat them. We're trying to reduce waste here in Vegas!

 

I think this is about right. My gf loves it there, and 1.5-2 hours takes care of not just exploring, but doing multiple photoshoots (sigh... Instagram...). I think it might be a bit busier right now given that Omega Mart just opened, but that sounds like a good window, and it should calm down in a couple weeks.

 

Thanks!

 

OK,dinner at Shabuya. I guess I didn't read the menu close enough, but this is strictly a Shabu-Shabu (Japanese for swish-swish, what it takes to cook the meat in the hot broth) place. No sushi at all, which was a little disappointing (to me). However, BFF made the most of it, eating several kinds of beef, and figuring out which ones he liked and ordered seconds on those. I stuck with seafood for the first course, mussels, salmon balls, clams, shrimp. Later on I ordered lamb shoulder and short rib.
US Wagyu Cross Rib
US Wagyu Blade Meat
US Wagyu Sirloin Tip
US Prime Beef Toro (belly meat)


Vegetables

1/2 the seafood platter
Spicy Miso broth
Condiments and banchan

All in all, IMHO, it was just OK. I liked Nabe better, and we will go there next trip.

Went down to QQQQ to pay off a marker, which was the right thing to do because I hardly played there. Drove home and probably will go down to the Mikl Bar to get more cookies to take home and a cold bottle of milk for the ones that I'm going to eat.

OK, back from Milk Bar. I got a birthday shake, three of the other cookies that they sell, Blueberry and Cream, Cornflake Chocolate Chip Marshmallow, and Chocolate Confetti, also a compost cookie for me to eat before bedtime.

BFF and I are eating breakfast at Silverton.

I used my $25 food comp at Sundance for breakfast with BFF.
I had an onion bagel with salmon and creamed cheese

BFF had egg whites, bacon, sausage, and hash browns

Next, my summary of the (IMHO) three premier properties and how I rank them.

 

This is just my first run at this, so I reserve the right to add/amend, and delete as necessary.

This is with regards to picking a "premier" property to spend my time and money with.

My regular properties remain mLife, CET (Reno/Tahoe), and Club One (downtown)

OK, so in the past few months, I have stayed at Venetian (twice), Wynn once and Cosmopolitan once. I will be staying at the Wynn next month on another three day comp.
Let me go through my personal history which will give you some insight as to what played into my rankings.
1)I am 65 years old, so a "spring chicken" I'm not. I also have osteo-arthritis in both knees. I can still walk, but less is better than more. I cannot stand for a long time. Steps are a slight problem, and more on the downhill than the uphill
2)I don't drink alcohol, so bars and things like that have no factor in my decision
3)99% of the time, I drive, so with regard to #1, proximity to elevators is a must. I do have a handicapped placard, which gets me a little closer
4)I am almost 100% a slot player, so table games don't figure into my rankings.
5)Dining does play a factor into my decision, but since I have a car, I can drive "anywhere" to eat
6)My budget doesn't allow me to spend at a required level at More than one "premier" property. To do so would kind of defeat the purpose of having a "premier" property.

Right now it's
#1 - Cosmopolitan
#2 - Wynn
#3 - Venetian
Note that dining is a tie between all three properties. A wide variety of restaurants with regard to price/cuisine. Slot type and denomination is also a tie

Cosmopolitan
Pros - distance between elevators and parking. Very close
gaming vs. spend irrelevant with regard to tier (unlike MGM, where gaming vs. spend makes a difference)
generous TC for hotel/dining spend (5X)
Rooms are nice, spacious (I'm told that I was in the next level "up" with regard to room)
Cons - Tier Credits not multiplied to make tier
A single property

Wynn - note that this information may be old since I haven't been there since they rolled out their new program
Pros - slightly closer between self park and room elevators, but not as close as Cosmo
Rooms are nice and spacious and one level (As I recall, the Encore rooms are split level)
A second property in Boston

Cons - Spend is not counted towards making tier

Venetian - Although I was in love with this property in previous years, the closure of Palazzo makes this property really hard to choose
Pros - My host is nice, and part of Asian Marketing
Currently, levels made are good until 3/31/2022
Comps "appear" to be easier to get
Dining gets credit towards Tier.

Cons - Everything at Venetian/Palazzo is a "hike". Just getting to the casino from the Venetian tower is agonizing.
Palazzo is slightly better, but is closed until . . . (March?)
A single property (The Macau properties are not associated at the player level)

However, I think I'll wait until after my second stay at Wynn to make a decision as to my choice of premier property. I want to see:
1)How is Wynns new slot program?
2)What kind of offers will I get from Cosmopolitan after this last trip?

Well, we'll see how it goes. Time to hit the sack. Another trip in the books.

 

FWIW, Encore rooms are one level as well, like Wynn.

 

I was interested in your rankings as I have the exact same limitations. Bummed out that I was moved to Delano so running up to the room for something is not an option this trip. Once I’m out, I’m out all day, the hike isn’t worth it. My knees are screaming today, some days not as bad. I’m doing my first Wynn stay in a few days so will see if I agree. I don’t rent a car so will take that into consideration.

Sorry you didn’t finish in the money. I actually came in 2nd at the Labor Day tournament, but that hike from Venetian to Palazzo just for the rounds was annoying.

I’m down record amts this trip after 2 days and hope to crawl back toward the top of this hole. Best of luck to you.