Hunny and I were planning on a cruise from Ft. Lauderdale to 3 islands that begin with "Saint". But she mentioned she was kind of wanting to go back to Vegas and I said we can look into how much the cost would bem as that would be one of the deciding factors. Needless to say, we ended up in Vegas. These are merely my thoughts on our trip. I'll break this down into categories so, if you prefer, you can read about just what interests you. Any similarity or differences to your thoughts or opinions is purely coincidental. I will offer my ratings on a scale of 1 to 5. GETTING THERE Southwest from Nashville, connecting at PHX on the way there and non-stop on the way back. We used their EBCI and were in the 20s to PHX, late teens from PXH-LAS and in the 30s on the way back to BNA, We got exit rows on both flights on the way there, not on the way back. Typical Southwest flights, as per our past experiences...friendly staff and a full flights (all 3). Only the LAS-BNA flight was late, about 45 minutes...we landed shortly before 1:00am. Penalizing for the late arrival back home, when we were SO ready to come home, I'll have to rate this 4 dings. I noticed all passengers at LAS going through the full-body scanners...in Nashville, only a select few did...most went through the normal metal detectors. GETTING AROUND Because of the NASCAR race on Sunday, the rental rates on even the most teeny of vehicles was quite high. Instead we figured we could live one day without one and managed. We booked a car to pick up the next day. Cabbed it to Paris from the airport when we arrived. Asked the cabbie to not take the tunnel and he complied. Fare just over $15...we gave him a $20. The next day, we cabbed it from Paris to the rental car centre. As we waited for the light tu turn, I noticed we werein the lane to turn right so I questioned the driver about that. He said I-15 wa quicker. He was going to long haul us to the rental car centre! I told him to turn left and lake LVB. There was hardly any waiting as we made most lights. The fare was just over $16...again, we paid with a $20 and told him to keep it. Now on to our rental car.... I had so many cars booked...but I'd keep finding one a little cheaper, so I'd go with it...and the next week, another would be a little less...etc. Well, a couple of weeks before our trip, I found what had to be a mistake made by Enterprise...$7.49/day, if we picked it up on Monday. This was on their website, and good for a economy, compact, mid-size or full-size car. I booked a full-size and did a happy dance just before cancelling all my other reservations. So we get there and the guy at the counter seems shocked at the rate, but it's legit. He wants to upgrade us to a Premium, for an extra fee of course...no thank you. Then we go to pick up the vehicle and the guy in the garage seems shocked about it too. And the guy who ckecked it in when we returned it. Enterprise employees don't get a rate that low...they pay $20/day. Anyway, there were no full-size cars available. "Sir, would you like to have this 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee with satellite radio?" 5 honks. HOTEL There was no line to check-in at about 3:00, and the process itself was painless. We were told our room number was 3155...I'm thinking, we were comped all 5 nights, so we can't complain about being on the 3rd floor. But it wasn't the 3rd floor. We went up to the 31st floor and found our room not far from the elevators. No strip view...but we had a nice view of the HRH, Terribles, Ellis Island, a couple of parking garages, the top of the Miracle Mile Shops and part of McCarran. The room itself was clean and worked out just fine for us. They lost a little for the elevators being so far from the entrance (I have 2 bad knees and a bum leg in general)...4 snores. FOOD (in no particular order...maybe) Flavours Buffet, Harrahs We thought it was good. It wasn't great. What we didn't care for was that it was, in our opinion, over-priced for what it was...we paid $24.99 each. The fried shrimp was good. 3.5 burps. La Salsa Cantina, Miracle Mile Shops I saw an advert for a complete breakfast for $3.99, so we figured we'd give it a try. This special includes 2 eggs, choice of meat, breakfast potatoes and a coulple of tortillas. The also offer 99-cent Bloody Marys. Those are about the size of the drinks you'd get from the casino cocktail waitresses, IF you could ever get a drink from them, but more on this later.The drinks were tasty but semi-week...but what do you expect for under a buck? Both of us ordered eggs scrambled, soft scrambled for me. The eggs were cooked identically...for too long and from a liquid egg carton. My "soft scrambled" eggs had some brown to them. I didn't want to complain, so we asked for some salsa and made little burritos and enjoyed them. The bacon was...bacon. The potatoes were very good. Next time I'll order the eggs over easy. The breakfast was very good but because of the over-cooked egg-like substance they gave us, only 4 burps. Noodle Exchange, Gold Coast I had planned on not eating anywhere we ate last year, mainly just because I wanted some variety. This happened to be the exception. We happened to be at GC and Hunny wasn't hungry, so she found a machine and I sat at the counter and ordered one of their lunch specials. The beef and broccoli was served with fried rice, egg drop soup and a spring roll. I remember from last time that this is the only place where I have had egg drop soup with corn in it. Anyone who knows...is this the traditional way of doing it, a regional thing or a GC thing? Regardless, I cleaned my plate. A deduction only because the beef and broccoli was not as spicy as I would have wanted it (I specified "extra extra spicy hot")...4 burps. Buffet, Silverton We signed up for their players card and got a free buffet for each of us. The line at this buffet was huge, but 35 minutes later, we redeemed our coupons and waited to be seated. I'm trying to remember what all we ate here, my memory sometimes isn't that good. I remember liking this place, though. 4 burps. Buffet, Green Valley Ranch Sorry, but once again my memory fails me. I remember we enjoyed this buffet as well. 4 burps. Grand Lux Cafe, Venetian A late supper after a show...we were immediately seated. Hunny ordered a reuben and I had the Buffalo chicken sandwich. The reuben was ok. My sandwich showed no sign of Buffaloness. Our server was also quite slow. 2 burps. Buffet, Terrible's Ok, we all know this buffet is hardly one of the best in Vegas. They recently lowered their prices, breakfast is $3.99. We had a 2-for-1 ACG coupon. I'll say this about this buffet...if you're looking for a buffet where everything is fresh and great tasting, go somewhere else...ANYWHERE else. But for basic sustenance, and for both of us eating for $3.99, this did the trick. Oh, and the service here is good. One standout here were the fried chicken wings they had on this day...they were quite great. 3 burps Panda Express, Red Rock Had a bite here for lunch. Typical food court Chinese offerings, nothing special. 2 burps. Barbecue Restaurant, Ellis Island The wait wasn't too bad, about 20 minutes. We spent that time at the bar having our 4 free drinks each and playing some VP. I don't know how it normally is, but on this night there was no menu...there were three choices: ribs, chicken and combo. We both ordered the combo. I should say we could have shared one and been most satisfied. The ribs (8 bones on my plate) and chicken (half a chicken) were both fall-off-the-bone tender. Accompanying were corn on the cob, beans and slaw. Hunny didn't care for the beans, said they tasted like chili...I liked the beans. I didn't care for the slaw...I prefer sweeter and more creamy, and this slaw included green pepper in it. Each plate was $9.99, and we had a 2-for-1 ACG coupon. The slight criticism we had on the sides do not warrant any deduction in points. 5 burps. Nora's Italian Cuisine, W. Flamingo (about 1.5 miles west of GC) I had read about this place and was intrigued enough to check it out. We went for lunch, just soon after they opened, and it was a good thing...they filled up about 11:30. The menu has on it many of your favourite Italian dishes. Hunny, normally an eggplant parmigiana kinda girl went with the spaghetti carbonara. I did not stray on my chicken parm. The service was superb. They offered garlic bread about the time we ordered. I am not a bread person. To me bread is nothing more than something to put around real food (ie. sandwich). I thought seriously about having the server cancel my order and just bring me more of this bread. On, the carbonara, Hunny said, was "the bomb". The chicken parm I had was not the best I've ever had (I prefer the chicken breaded and fried) but it was very good. One warning...the portions, even for lunch, are HUGE. This easily gets 5 burps. Dinner show, Fitzgerald's We went to see "Marraige Can Be Murder" at the Fitz. The show included dinner...your choice of chicken with some sauce I don't remember, roasted tri-tip (they claimed) with mushroom gravy and salmon with tarragon sauce. Accompanying each entree were roasted potatoes and steamed veggie mix. You're also served a salad and cheesecake. Hunny had the salmon and said it was pretty good. I had the alleged tri-tip and found it was no different than what I may find in a school cafeteria. The sides were nothing special. The cheesecake was from a box. This may be generous, but I'm in a good mood...2 burps. Burger Bar, Mandalay Bay Lunch at one place I've been wanting to go for a while. Hunny ordered a peppercorn burger with skinny fries. It also comes with a peppercorn sauce. I went with the American Kobe (Wagyu) burger with cheese and skinny fries. Nothing to say other than it was Hubert Keller, so it HAD to be awesome. Slight deduction for fries being only warm when served...4 burps. ENTERTAINMENT Marc Savard Comedy Hypnosis, Planet Hollywood Monday night we saw Marc Savard's hypnosis show at the Miracle Mile Shops. Got tix from a discount outlet. The show was hilarious. It was about 90 minutes long and was one of the funniest shows I've seen in Vegas. When I go back, I will see him again. I'm not concerned about it being a rerun, as it will be different enough with different people. Easily, 5 claps. Blue Man Group, Venetian Tuesday night we got tix from the same discount broker for BMG. We got the cheap seats, but didn't have a hard time emjoying the show. We've both seem the blue dudes before. It was what we expected. A deduction for the show not being any different than when I saw them at Luxor a bunch of years ago...3.5 claps. Marraige Can Be Murder, Fitzgeralds Hunny thought this would be a cute show, and I agreed, so we got VIP tix from the same source for it. The show is cute. The acting is semi-bad. The jokes wish they were only semi-bad. But youknow what...it was kinda fun. The service was good and friendly...3.5 claps. Fontana Bar, Bellagio One place on my list to not miss was this spot. It's a shame they'll be closing it. We went in on Wednesday night and sat outside and sipped a couple of drinks while enjoying an awesome view of the fountains. We spent about an hour and really enjoyed ourselves. Wait service was good enough and the hostesses were snooty as hell...but that's not why we were there. And why we were there gets 5 coins. (get it?...coins in a fountain?) MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS One of the boss dudes at the Mandalay Bar poker room, Jinho...certainly not Mr. Personality...but he did his job, I suppose. Drink service basically horrible everywhere we went. The exceptions were the poker rooms at GVR and MB. So now they have these people dressed as characters on Fremont Street...note to the person dressed as Homer Simpson: Homer is fat, you're not...hit some buffets! Redeemed an ACG coupon at Silverton for $10 in free slot play. I really like that place...it's warm, and inviting...that's how it felt to me. It didn't hurt that the $10 free play turned into $48 in real money. I had one celebrity sighting. Many people I know are possibly starstruck by athletes or musicians. I know several who are into poker players. I guess I know what gets to me...I saw Rick Moonen at MB. I thought of approaching him and (respectfully, of course) asking if he'd take a picture with me, but he was in a hurry and with my bum legs, there was no way I'd have caught up to him. But I was happy I saw him. I still don't like City Centre. In fairness, I have to say we never went in there. But I just don't like it. It's too much...too much...........just too much. I have two slot machines I really like. One is Reels o' Dublin. The other I do not know the name of. I saw it in only 2 places, and I don't remember one. There is one in Paris, near the main entrances and the LE CABARET sign. It has 3 reels and involves red and green dragons. If you hit a bonus round, the thing the reels are on spins left or right, then spins back when the bonus period is over. I liked this machine a lot. Porn slappers are still there, but it seems to me there aren't as many of them. I actually find the timeshare people much more bothersome. We told ont at the FSE that we weren't interested and he kept following us, still yapping at us. Didn't get to do a couple of things on my list, that have also been on my list for many years...but I'll get to Mesa Grill and The Steakhouse at CC next time. That's about it folks. If you made it this far, thanks for reading. If you didn't, maybe I can't blame you...this WAS kinda long, wasn't it?
We probably walked past each other about 12 times........................ I did play the dragon machines one evening at Paris - they had them at Flamingo last summer but I didn't spot them this tiem. Never got the bonus. We only had a few random people pulled to go thru full body at LAS on the way home. I went thru in MSP on the way out.
I like your ratings that you did. That was very creative. It also gives me an opinion about what is good and what I should stay away from.
Love your TR style...detailed and to the point. Last year we felt the timeshare people were much worse than pornslappers also. They are rude and follow you.
Yeah I hate it when you tell the timeshare ppl that you are not interested and the continue to follow you Great trip report - thanks for sharing with us!
Great TR loved the style and the way you review the food joints Even more annoying are the kiosk folks who sell various wares in the middle of the Miracle Mile and other shopping areas ..... with various face/hand creams etc grrrrrrrrrr
Thanks for the TR. Great job and love the rating system. Sounds like you scored a win on the car rental I was sad to hear about the Fontana bar as well. It was on my list of places to see, but never got around to it. Nightclubs are a dime a dozen on the Strip, but not many places like Fontana. Do you think the 20-somethings will enjoy the Bellagio Fountains
So you can use the 2-1 at Ellis Island for the BBQ also? Cool. I really like the MB poker when I played there a couple years ago, I think I may return.
Thanks for the trip report it's just what I need to get me thru until we go to the Paris on Sunday I'll have to try to find the dragon machine
Thanks for the trip report. I too am needing these to get me thru to Sunday. Glad you had a good trip.
Nice report, I enjoyed Marc Savard's show too, if you keep an eye on Goldstar.com before trips there are times when the tickets are only the price of the service fee ($7). Definitely a good price for that amount and I'd probably even pay 1/2 price for his show if I was looking for something to do.