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Trip Report. Palazzo and Planet Hollywood

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by Blondie76, Nov 27, 2008.

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  1. Blondie76

    Blondie76 Low-Roller

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Midwest
    Trips to Las Vegas:
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    My Trip Report

    November 17th to 24th
    We woke on Monday morning about 3AM. We left for the airport at 5 AM to catch a 7:30 flight. Need to be there 2 hours early. Nice to have curbside check-in. I don't do the online check-in. Our check in bags were exempt from the new fees as we had purchased the tickets before the charge went into effect. Got the 2 RT fares for a total of $509. Two good scores before even boarding for Vegas!

    We boarded the plane on time and got seated together. When I originally booked our flight I had chosen seats together in row 10. Side by side. No 3rd seat. Then Midwest changed the plane to a different model with different seating configurations. By the time I got through to them we were separated. Luckily there were enough empty seats a few people didn't mind switching. All belted and getting excited for take-off. About 5 or 10 minutes later the pilot announces we will be delayed at least an hour. It will take that long for the mechanics to determine if the FUEL LEAK can be repaired for take-off or if they need to fly in another plane for us. We take all our belongings with us off the plane. Five and a half hours later we are taking off on another plane they flew in just for us. Nice to feel sooo special. LOL. They did present each passenger with a $75 voucher for a future trip. I would have hoped for at least a full one way anywhere we wanted to go that they flew to. Oh well. It's not like the old days of air travel now is it?

    We land in Vegas about 2:50 PM Vegas time. Not the 9:15 AM time we planned on. We got on the tram to go get our luggage. The carousel was rotating and our bags were in grabbing view. We went out to the taxi stand and got a cab. No wait there either. Our driver was an Armenian older gentleman. So very nice. He loves Brett Favre and he and hubby talked football the whole ride. On to the Palazzo for 3 nights. Nice joint!

    We have curbside bell service as we get out of the taxi. There is a door man as we enter to the lobby. Employees are stategically located to direct us to the check-in desk. Then there is a pleasant young lady standing near us to direct us to the next available checker- in- er person. All personel were highly couteous and attentive. I saw or felt no snobbish pretence. We were offered a Sienna suite upgrade for $100 per night. We passed. I did ask if a complimentary Strip view would be available. He didn't even hesitate in granting my request. We tipped him $20. No trick. I appreciate it when my request is given and without any hoopla.

    We get up to our room and took a quick look around. It was nicer than I expected even after seeing the pics on their site. It took about 20 minutes for our bags. The gent was very helpful in pointing out all the room's amenities and explaining where everything was located and how it worked.

    I freshened up and changed my clothes and shoes. Off to the casino we went. I liked the Palazzo casino. Floor people to tidy up regularly without getting in one's way. The lighting was just right. Not too dark or too light. People seemed to be having lots of fun at the tables. Floor traffic flowed nicely throughout even though very bustling most of the time.

    We played on the penney slots until about 8 PM. We then ate at the Grand Lux at the Palazzo. Their sandwiches were excellant. I think we had burgers. Good service too. After eating we took the short walk into the Venetian casino. We played some more penney machines. We got lots of great play but kept $0 in our pockets. It's so nice to walk outside at both the V and the Palazzo and just get some fresh air. Nice relaxing music and scenery.

    By 11 PM we were beat. We had an early wake up and all the stress of the 5 hour delay did us in for the first night. Hubby showered off his day and I soaked mine away in the wonderfully comfy deep tub. Not a shortage of hot water. And a loofah was provided! After my bath I sat at the desk writing some TR notes as hubby snored away. I ate both chocolates left at turn down and got into bed about 1 AM.

    Tuesday, Nov 18

    We awoke about 8 AM and threw some clothes on to get coffees. Coffee Bean is located just off the elevator entering the casino. Very close and convenient. We played a bit in the casino too while enjoying our coffee. At that time I also sought a 25 cent Wheel of Fortune game to play for Linda's birthday. It's her favorite game to play and she wanted me to play one today. Well that was a good call! I got about 12 bonus spins! One payed 200 credits ($50). Another line pay for $50. I cashed out there at $120 with a $20 buy in. Woo Hoo!

    I then went back to the room and showered. I did my hair and make up and off we went to the Wynn. We played there a bit. I soon went up to the red desk to ask about their current buffet promo. We needed too many points. As "old" members we needed 750 pts for 1 and 1500 pts for 2 buffets all within 72 hours. We play on one account there. I think we played 165 pts and called it quits there for this trip. He did give me $10 free play. I cashed that out at $20. We left and walked to TI. I just do not care for TI. We each played about $20 and left on the tram for Mirage. We were hungry by this time so opted for the Cravings buffet. I think it was around $53 plus tip. I thought the buffet was very good and would return again. I liked the way the salad chef mixed my selections for me in a nice sized dish. And the items were a good bite size too. Their dessert selections were adequate but nothing special. Their shrimp were nice sized and had some flavor. Prime rib was very good too.

    After eating at around 5 PM we played in the Mirage casino a few hours. We got some good play but no "big" wins. We then walked back to the Venetian and played a little. We went to our room and freshened up and I changed clothes. Hubby stayed in the room to watch NCIS and I went back down to Palazzo casino around 8:30 PM. Hubby found me later and we both stayed in the casino until around 2:30 AM. We stopped at Coffee Bean so I could get a decaf coffee. Got up to the room , relaxed and hit the pillows. Hubby did have a $350 cash out on a Cleo2 game this night. He had a bonus line pay of $290 in with his cash out.

    Wednesday, Nov 19

    We awoke around 9:45 this morning. Threw the clothes on and down to Coffee Bean again. We brought a little pot and some instant along. Never took it out of the suitcase this trip. LOL. We did throw a little money into a machine while sipping our coffee. We find out their computers are swithching over and it's ALL handpays when you cash out. It will be this way until about 5PM. Yikes! Then it's a yellow slip you have to take to the cashier to get your money. The Venetian is the same deal. What a PITA.

    We go back to our room with the rest of our coffee and get ready for the day. Got out of the room about 11:30 AM. We tried a few machine in Palazzo and then the Venitian. We soon tired of little action and hand pays we worked really hard to avoid. AKA we lost all our five dollar bills we were feeding instead of 20s. So off we go to Harrah's to play. I got some good play on a Tiki Torch there. I still love that game. Harrah's had a Zeus 11 that was a lot of fun. I cashed out ahead on that one too. After that we decided to eat at Outback Steak house by Casino Royale. It was really good but the service was a little flaky. Not bad servive. Just a little flaky. LOL. Back to Palazzo and up to our room early tonight. Time for a little "us" time as the hand payouts were still happining. It was our last night at the Palazzo then off to Planet Hollywood for 4 nights.

    Thursday, Nov 20

    I got up at 7 AM, showered and started packing. Hubby is still sleeping so I got dressed and went down for coffee. I got back with the coffee and he's still snoring. Rise and shine dear. Coffee is served. We are out of the room just before 11 AM and down to the lobby to check out. There is quite a line. But there is also a gent offering express check out cards to fill out. I could have done that in the room but I wasn't counting on the busy congestion then. We filled it out in a minute and out the door to get a cab to PH. We checked our bags at bell and went in to get our room. It was ready and we got a comp Strip view. Another $20 tip. Here we do get the 4 nights comped up front. We go up to the room and wait for our bags. Then it's down to check out the casino. Hubby stayed even during the day and had some nice pays that put him up about $125 at the day's end. Me......I lose every machine. But I did have a few goods pays that ended up right back in the machines. We ate at Spice Market buffet and it was very good. We stayed on property all night playing the machines and going out front to people watch. We were in bed by 1 AM. We also took time out to watch Survivor tonight. I never miss it!

    Friday, Nov 21

    We awake at 9 AM. Hubby get's ready and down to casino before me. I'm ready and out by about 10:30. I find him in the casino and we play some machines. I get a few tomato juices with olives and a few coffees. He gets his usual ( after his coffee) for the morning and the rest of the day........beer. LOL. We then walk over to Bellagio and go through the conservatory. It's a little different this year. Just slightly different. I love that spicy pumpkin smell through there too. We play awhile then walk over to Caesars to play machines. Up to now drink service has been great everywhere we had visited except Caesars and PH. Those two places just okay. Not great. Hubby did good on a Tiki Torch at Caesar's and cashed out $100. I lost $40 at C and probably $40 at B. LOL.

    Later tonight we are meeting friends for dinner at Pampas restaurant. Our rezzy is for 7:30. We get back to PH and go upstairs to freshen up and change for dinner. We meet in the Heart bar and walk over to Pampas. It's located into the Miracle Miles Mall and not too far a walk. It was a very good dinner. My only complaint is we two girls ordered seafood. It was served very very late in the meal. They did offer us the meat selections which we accepted as our seafood was not there. By the time it came we were mostly full and did not enjoy the seafood too much. I do not know if this is the custom or it was an oversight. Honestly... if it had been just me who ordered the seafood I would have told them to keep it and adjust the bill. I would definatly return for a meal there. It was that good.

    After we ate we four went into the casino. Three of us decided to try our luck at eBay game. NO luck. PH had the Transporter movie premiere and a red carpet arrival for Sly Stallone and some of the movie's stars and some other celebs. It was crowded. Drink service was non existant on the floor for the rest of that evening. Our friends called it an early night as they had been partying all week and had friends and family to entertain most of that month as they live in Vegas. What a party hardy life you two! LOL.

    After our friends left Don and I decided to walk over to Paris casino and play there awhile. Why?... I do not know as neither of us ever wins a dime there. We settle on a couple penney machines. I get on a Tiki Torch. There's a woman to my right. She has a younger lady friend sitting next to her. They are both still drinking and pretty wobbly sitting on the stools. They were both quiet at first. Then the lady next to me starts in with a loud dirty mouth. Every other word is F this F that. All of a sudden I look over and she has a $450 pay line. She and I at the exact same time yell out "Four hundred and fifty DOLLARS!!!" She and her GF got the biggest laugh out of that and all of a sudden she's my new best friend. But that didn't stop her worse than a truck driving sailor's mouth. Hubby said later she even made him feel a bit embarrased. I wasn't embarrased but I thought for sure security would be on her elbow anytime. They soon left and I think were headed to their rooms for the night. I hope they made it without a nap in the hallway first. I guess you had to be there but it was a riot and hilarious. We did get offered drink twice the short while we played at Paris. That was a plus. Then we were walking back to PH and in bed by about 1 AM.

    Saturday, Nov 22

    I'm up at 9 today. Hubby sleeps. I'm showered and dressed by 10 AM. We are both out of the room around 10 AM. We get our Starbucks coffee and go out front to enjoy it and people watch. Out front of PH is one of the best places to people watch. We hit the slots and played for over 4 hours. I ended that session down about $45 and hubby up around $100. Then we walked over to Paris for their buffet. We used reward points so only cost us the tip. The dinner was very good. Much better than last November. We decided to go back to PH and play slots. We played until around 1:30 AM.

    We got a lot of good play on the stacked wild games. IE: Wolf Run, Desert Spirit. Lil Lady Ladybugs. Those are the games we seemed to keep going back to and playing for hours at a time there. We both had some pretty good pay lines on 40 cent and 80 cent bets per spin. The bonus games seem hard to come by and don't usually pay very much either. But sometimes there would be a good bonus play.

    Sunday, Nov 23

    Today we are going to get a shopping certificate for Sak's 5th Avenue. We can go to the lobby and catch the round robin shuttle that runs from 9 AM to noon. Or the paper says we can use the certificate at any Sak's or online. We decide we will just collect it and do the online shopping when we get home. Yeah.... Right. We have to get our butts to Fashion Mall to get it! Just what I was trying to avoid.......spend half my day shopping. So instead we can accept slot or table play in lieu. But not until after 3 PM. We decide to forgo the shopping and take the free play. $370 worth. We turned that into almost $200 real dollars. I wish that could have been more. I really wish I could have gotten the voucher at PH and then shop when we got home.

    We went to see Stomp Out Loud this evening. Hubby won the tix by spinning that wheel. It was a good show again for the 2nd time.

    Monday, Nov 24

    Today we go home. We have a 6:30 PM flight landing home at midnight. It's very nice to get a late check out too. We had our room until 5 PM but we left for the airport around 4 PM. There was a little blonde lady waiting for the same flight going home. She was also on our flight coming to Vegas. We ended up hanging together at the airport. Our plane was mostly on time taking off and landed on time too.


    Added thoughts:
    The beds and pillows at Palazzo were heaven. I think I remember readin they use Sealy mattresses and Sealy pillows. I intend to look into the pillows.

    PH had a holiday gift shop sale going on up on the Mezzanine level. They had a huge variety of items. I bought a few perfumes for myself. We packed up our last day and then went souvenir shopping.

    PH is showing the wear and tear already after just a few years of new carpets, bedding and wallpaper. Our room was looking like it needed re-doing already. They seem to be a hopping busy place for sure. We enjoyed the 70 and 80s music that was played there quite a bit. They played other stuff and more recent stuff too.

    Vegas was busy and bustling. Especially on the weekend days but also very steady traffic during the week too. I'd say tables seemed to be busy a lot more than previous trips. I did not notice lots of tables not being played on in most of the casinos we visited.
     
  2. acesupmike

    acesupmike Tourist

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    Thanks for the TR. Wife and I are staying at the Palazzo Jan 1-4 and appreciate the comments. PH is one of our favorite casinos. Great atmosphere and overall fun place to gamble. Might look to stay there at some point in the future. Thanks again.
     
  3. jgates8

    jgates8 VIP Whale

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    Very enjoyable reading. Wish I were there..................
     
  4. LindainWI

    LindainWI Low-Roller

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    Great report, thanks!

    This was a great report. It's good to hear that you were pleased with Palazzo as we are staying there over Christmas.
     
  5. Blondie76

    Blondie76 Low-Roller

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    We were very pleased with Palazzo. The casino isn't overly large but big enough and really easy to navigate and remember were one wants to go without feeling off course. The Wednesday we were there they were switching the Grazie point system over. If I remember correctly you will get 1 point for every dollar played through the machines. I didn't see any literature on tiers or points needed for goodies. I do believe they will have a cash back rewards too.
     
  6. Blondie76

    Blondie76 Low-Roller

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    Another thing about Palazzo is all the restaurants seemed to be centrally located between V and Palazzo. Pretty sure it was between the two anyways. I thought the layout was really well planned out.
     
  7. ez369

    ez369 High-Roller

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    I'm glad to see that The Palazzo is starting to get the recognition is deserves. It's a fantastic property and as mentioned, things are fairly centrally located with being able to get just about anywhere in about 5-10 minutes from the room. All the discounted and comp offers Palazzo has given away this fall I guess has been great advertising since it's given a lot of people opportunities to try it out. With all that said, it's understandable why the reviews weren't as glowing in the first half of this year since lots of things weren't complete or opened yet. Palazzo would definetly have had a better first impression if the complete retail and dining infrastructure was there when the casino and hotel opened.
     
  8. Blondie76

    Blondie76 Low-Roller

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    I was thinking it hadn't been open much more than a year. Anyone know exactly when it opened?
     
  9. ez369

    ez369 High-Roller

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    It had been delayed several times however the hotel opened with a few floors just before new years on 12/30/07 and the "grand opening" was about 2 or 3 weeks after that.
     
  10. gotavegasjones

    gotavegasjones VIP Whale

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    Nice TR. Thanks for posting.

    later, GVJ
     
  11. Betty Boop

    Betty Boop Tourist

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    Hi Blondie!
    I loved reading your trip report. Sounds like you guys did a lot in your time there, and had a blast. Thanks for sharing!!
    :nworthy::woot:
     
  12. blackjacknut

    blackjacknut VIP Whale

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    Thanks

    Nice TR, I really enjoyed reading it, can't wait for my trip.

    :beer:
     
  13. Blonde_4_ever

    Blonde_4_ever LasVegas4ever.com

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    I adore Palazzo!

    Thanks for the report!
     
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