South Point Oct 5-15

Trophywife and I try to make the pilgrimage once a year, although sometimes life gets in the way. But this year we went to the South Point. Last year you trip readers will recall we went to Sam's Town (not a second time!) We almost chose the Suncoast being in the B-Connected family, but opted for the South Point due to not charging a "resort fee". My attempt to standing on a soap box! I will break down by travel, gaming, activities and shows. In the words of the immortal Jackie Gleason "and away we go"

Flights: Southwest MHT to LAS via Midway. When I purchased the tix they were non-stop by the time we left SW discontinued the NS. For all of the reasons I wanted non-stop came to fruition (sic?) at Midway. Arrived at Midway @ 1:30 next fight scheduled for 1:50, arrived at the gate to find the flight has been delayed until 3:00. We went around the corner to Harry Carey's for a quick bite and a beer. Went back to the gate at 2:30, the plane had already left!! I ask the attendant WTF? (not in those words but same messsage). She said we called for Kent 3 times and you didn't show. MY NAME IS NOT KENT. On stand-by for the next flight, only one seat available. I let Trophywife go on ahead as I would have to fly stand-by later to LAX then back to LAS. I was not hopeful for the LAX to LAS leg as it was Friday night. We landed in LAX and I basically shrunk and looked down hoping I would not be noticed and bumped. Finally arrived in LAS at 10:30. Six hours late. Poor Trophywife had to find, (on it's way to unclaimed) shlep all of our luggage through LAS, shuttle and onto the hotel. She is awesome. Return trip was uneventful. But whoever says we are in a recession should see how full the flights are to/from Las Vegas!

Hotel: South Point. Can't comment on the check-in as I was not present. Rooms extra clean and comfy. Maid service very good. I forgot the Duct tape (dammit it was on my list too) but the ironing board up against the drapes did the job. Here is the only negative if the trip. We had both brought cashiers checks made out to the casino for our bankroll. The cage would not take them. I offered the name and number of the branch manager, teller who made out the check and the other teller who could vouch for us and our balance (we live in a very small town). No go. I went to see management. He was worse and basically accused me of "possibily" running some sort of scam. We did not part with nice words. Their loss, as the amount of the checks was a lot more than our daily ATM allowance. Check out very easy.

Gaming: We spent most of our time at the "Lobby Bar" playing VP, watching the games and yucking it up with the hotel's most impressive employees Steve, Sean and Dave. Played some craps 3 out of 4 very good sessions +$250 each. Hit VP DDBonus ACEs twice for $800. A little BJ (up) and some Pai Gow (up).
Wife did not have the same luck but we are under budget!! The sportsbook is very nice but every seat is filled early on Sunday.

Dining: We ate at the Primarily Prime Rib (very nice), Garden Buffet (OK), Steak & Shake (I thought it was overrated, would rather have In&Out), Big Sur Oyster Bar (OK), Del Mar Deli (very nice) and the Coronado Cafe (OMG!!! this place is a hidden jewel. Ok not hidden but overlooked. Please eat here)
We also ate at the cafe at The Orleans (had enough B-Connected points to comp) very good. Went to the Paris Buffet, I'm sure it's still great, but I was under the weather and could not enjoy. 2nd trip this has happened. Them free drinks catch up with you about day 3.

Activities: I went golfing at the Wildhorse and Rhodes Ranch, out freaking standing loved every minute of both. At Rhodes Ranch I was paired with 3 guys who looked like they were from "Jersey Shore" central casting. They were Vegas locals who all worked at one of them high dollar bottle service night clubs at the Bellagio. Don't judge a book by it's cover, through 18 holes not one of them cussed (what you heard was me) and none of them gamble. Outstanding productive citizens and fine young men. Wife did the outlet mall shopping extravanganza. She seemed really happy.

Entertainment: Dennis Miller at the Orleans. Paid top $ for front row seats. He did one hour exactly and bolted. He was good. But no opening acts? Can I get at least 2 hrs of entertainment for my money? Dam tour, spent more time on the dam bus than at the dam. I remember the tour being more in-depth. Now it's look at the diversion pipe, look at the generators. There's the gift shop!!! Picked up at 9:30, spent 1 1/4 hrs at the dam, arrived back at the hotel at 5:30. The Spazmatics at the South Point. Holy shit, I have never seen a bands' energy wear the audience completely out. This group literally played so hard and with such energy that by the time the last song was sung the dance floor was nearly empty due to exhaustion. Unbelievable and free with the Funbook. UNLV vs. Nevada football, suprised Trophywife with front row 46 yd line tix. I love how the UNLV does not try to seperate themselves from being Las Vegas and all that it entails. In fact they embrace it. From the band to the Rebel girls, it's like we are VEGAS and we are not ashamed. Best slogan t-shirts " Not in our house......and in Vegas the house always wins" (alas they did not) and my favorite "UNLV girls are just like you...only prettier". My goodness the eye candy at a UNLV game!

Comps: Because I know if you are a regular on this site, you value the comp. We were comped the entire hotel stay, all food + $250 and given a security driven Towncar to and from the football game. This gesture will get our return business.

We also met a new very good friend at the SP, but due to his high profile I will not name. But with him to be so down to earth to enjoy and seek our company. It really drove home "Only in Vegas"

Until next time (maybe twice next year?) Best of Luck to y'all

The Kid

 

Welcome to my favorite hotel! I love it there and my gambling $$ goes much further than the strip. Steak n Shake, I go for the milkshakes...you are right, the burgers are so-so. Hubby refuses to eat their buffet ever again and we loved Primarily Prime Rib. I can't get the dh to stay there more than a few nights ( he loves to walk the strip early morning). Glad to see others enjoy my favorite casino. Noticed you also fly from our favorite airport MHT! We are changing in Chicago for the first time this December. We chose a flight that gives us 2.5 hours to connect so hopefully no issues for us with SW. We always go in the spring and like you, choose SW with the nonstop from MHT.

 

Nice report, you left the day we arrived.

The cashier check fiasco is surprising.

The line to Steak and Shake always amazes me. They are all over the place here though.

 

Nice report!
We had a similar incident with SWA leaving LAS. Flight delayed, flight delayed, flight gone w/o us. We never heard any page.

As we are bitching at the gate, two others run up saying they just got a text that the flight is boarding. Trouble is, the flight left 45 minutes ago.

It really is the only bad experience we've had on SWA, but I no longer ever trust their delay times.

 

Duct Tape

Loved your report - very informative and we love South Point as well.

Just an aside - we bring clips (the ones you use to close bags) to use on the hotel drapes so the light doesn't come in and they stay closed. Much smaller and easier than duct tape or an ironing board.

 

I put my money in a binder clip (very easy to take out and keep together when getting the full body scan at an airport), then use the binder clip to keep the drapes closed while in the hotel.

 

Somethings up with cashier's checks. I'm assuming a lot of fraud. I sent a cashier's check to pay off a credit card, and they wouldn't release the funds for 21 days. Good thing I didn't need it. If I send a money order from Walmart or the grocery store, it gets credited and the funds are available as soon as they receive it.

Thanks for your report. South Point is on my list of places I will stay one of these days.

 

Hi Kid:

Great report! I can empathize with your flight woes in flying from a relatively small airport (Manchester NH) to anywhere if not non-stop. My wife and I have to fly out of Burlington, VT and it always involves a "hub relay." The furthest west we can go non-stop is Chicago.

Having said that, I believe that all airline travel today basically sucks. Mixed feelings about being able to purchase seat upgrades. I'm a tall guy, so I absolutely can't sit in a standard coach economy seat. Flying United, I was able to buy exit row seats for each of my four flight legs...but at an extra cost of $253. Then, of course, we'll have to pay $110 in baggage fees for our two suitcases. So I'm flying on free tickets from my Visa rewards program but still paying $363 in cash!

Anyway, we also love Southpoint. We'll be staying there the nights of November 19-21, and then back again November 26-27. In between we're taking advantage of a nice offer from Mandalay Bay for a Spa Suite at an average price of about $105/night including taxes and resort fees...and this is over a weekend. We've never stayed at MB so I'm looking forward to seeing something new.

Shame on you for forgetting the duct tape! I'm the original poster of that important tip. I'm now reading about people bringing some kind of "clips" to do the job, but I'm going to stick with my duct tape recommendation. As my college age daughter once told me, "if you can't duct it, f--k it!"

I'm assuming based on your TR that you didn't rent a car, and for the most part stayed at the hotel. My wife and I always rent a car, because they are relatively cheap in Las Vegas and we love to travel around hitting different sites and different casinos. Of course by spreading our gambling around, we fail to build loyalty to any casino and thus never receive any comp offers. I can live with that.

Anyway, glad to hear a fellow New Englander had a good trip.

John

 

Your comp of $250, was that your points cashout?

Also did you arrange for your room comp up front or before checking out?

 

Comp vs Cash Out

First of all thanks to everyone for the nice words regarding my trip report.

The $250 is a food comp (I hope it is still there for next trip), not a points cash out!!!

I sought out a host about 3/4 of the way through the stay, to see were our play had us rated. Quite good apparently.

Trophywife and I had always been quarter VP players this trip we bumped up to dollars about half of the time. It made a huge difference in comps.

Home one week and we are already planning the next trip!! (insert: "______ degenerates" quote here!!)

The Kid

 

I'm glad they treated you so well. My first stay was this past July which they comped my 5 nights.

They still treat their customers the "old vegas" way!

I wouldn't hesitate to stay there again.

 

Thanks for the report!

 

I'm telling you - don't trust the airlines!!! When we went via SW this last time, we had 3 flight delay notifications for the phoenix to Vegas leg while we were still at Minneapolis (final call was 1:10 late). By the time we got to Phoenix, the flight was on time again.

At Dallas last week (work trip) the gal at the desk told everyone via the PA system that they could go get something to eat as the toilets were still not repaired. Five minutes later she is announcing, oh they are fixed we are boarding. We knew a handicap lady we had been talking to had gone to get food (we were watching her stuff) - so my co-worker went running down the shop area until she found her or she would have missed the flight. We still had to wait a few minutes for a few other stragglers that went to get food to come back. (That one was AA, not SW).

Now I get my food & DO NOT leave the boarding area lol.

 

We were out there Oct 18-23 and had a blast. If you spend time at the tables I recommend you check with the pit boss the night before checking out , they usually do quite well by us, but ya gotta ask.......

 

Considering SouthPoint for our stay in March. Forgive my question if it seems dumb: Can you gamble using a credit card? I am thinking mostly of slots. The info about the cashier's check has thrown me for a loop. If I have to use cash or a debit card I will need to beef up my checking account higher than my normal balance.