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Good ending to a not so good year

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by KazooTom, Jan 10, 2014.

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  1. KazooTom

    KazooTom Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Sep 23, 2010
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    Location:
    Michigan
    Trips to Las Vegas:
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    My Trip Report

    A bit of history, 2013 was not such a great year for us. In late June our 37 yr old son passed away suddenly. He is a single parent of a now 14 year old son, our grandson, who is now living with us here in Michigan. Since July we have been busy working on settling his estate. As the holidays were approaching we decided to go down to North Carolina to spend Christmas with our daughter and her family.

    We decided that we needed a getaway, and what better place than Las Vegas. I was able to get round trip air from Charlotte for points and a $10 charge per ticket, so round trip for $20 cash and points. Found a deal at Red Rock for three free nights and the 4th night at $89 including all taxes and fees. The final piece was a rental car through Alamo at $143 for 5 days. The grandson would stay with his aunt and cousins while we were gone.

    Our outbound flight on 12/26 arrived on time at around 3:00 on Thursday afternoon. By 4:00 we were in our rental and on the way out to Red Rock Resort. This would be our first stay at Red Rock, and we'll be happy to return in the future. The room as very nice, in fact as nice as most anything on the strip.

    We'd like to offer our sincere thanks to those that donated coupons to us for our trip. They came in quite handy allowing us to never have to pay full price for any meals, and of course a few nice match plays to go aloong with that.

    After settling in the room we headed downstairs to the casino and the buffet. It was nice to see that they have a seperate line for higher level players AND hotel guests. The regular line was rather long, but the hotel guest line had only a few people waiting. Using one of our LVA coupons dinner was half price for us. We found the buffet to be very good for the price, not gourmet, but good.

    After stuffing ourselves we headed out to explore the casino. I quickly discovered the Willie Wonka machine. Put in a $20 to get started and soon hit an Oompa Lumpa bonus. That 40 cent bet hit for $150, what a great start to the trip. Played my total down to $150 and cashed out $130 ahead. Walked over to the $10 Pai Gow Poker tables and had a lucky run of good hands. Played for several hours before calling it a night and walked away at +$200. If only every session would go this well.

    Friday was our day for exploring the strip and cashing in a few MyVegas rewards at Aria. We slept in a bit later than planned and got to Aria just a bit after 1:00 and headed straight to the Mlife desk. We both had Aria lunch buffets through MyVegas that we wanted to redeem. The booth put them on our cards and we headed off to the buffet line at around 2:30.

    After waiting in line for about 1/2 an hour we got to the cashier. My card went through with no problem, the wife's card didn't show the buffet. We paid cash for hers so we didn't have to go through the line again. They were running "holiday prices" so the buffet cost $40 in round figures.

    Our highest compliments to the Mlife staff. After eating we took our receipt back to the mlife desk and explained what happened. The Mlife people got on the phone to the buffet and arranged for us to get a cash refund for the buffet we paid for. We would have been quite satisfied with that resolution, but they went the extra step and added two addition dinner buffets to my wife's card for Saturday and gave us a line pass for the entire weekend. Of course we came back on Saturday to take advantage of that.

    All in all we had a really good time. Explored the sights on the strip and made it downtown for a day on Sunday. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Red Rock and will return in the future. We had a red eye return flight that left just after midnight on Tuesday getting back in to Charlotte just before noon on New Year's eve day. Back to reality.

    Got back to Michigan on Jan 2, just in time to clear the snow out of the driveway one day before the Arctic blast hit us. Found myself out in -30 something wind chill blowing snow out of the driveway for the next several days. It's now back to normal with temps in the mid 30's today and rain this evening. Wish we were back at Red Rock.
     
  2. Red&BlackSmoke

    Red&BlackSmoke Low-Roller

    Joined:
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    So glad you had an enjoyable trip. Thank you for the read.
     
  3. sybgal

    sybgal VIP Whale

    Joined:
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    First, I am so very sorry for your loss. I can't imagine what you have gone thru.

    Really enjoyed your TR...thanks for posting. Sounds like you had a great get-away!
     
  4. RAWDAWG33

    RAWDAWG33 Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Mar 21, 2012
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    Condolences for your loss. Thanks for writing up this report. I'm impressed by your customer service from Aria, sounds like they went above and beyond IMHO and that's great to hear. Cheers to a better 2014 for you and your family
     
  5. breanna61

    breanna61 Super Moderator

    Joined:
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    I am so sorry for your loss! Sounds like you enjoyed a much needed get away! Great service mLife! Sorry you arrived back to the ridiculous deep freeze!
     
  6. pebbles

    pebbles Micro Roller.

    Joined:
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    Cumbria, UK and Alicante region, Spain
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    So sorry for your loss. I'm glad your grandson is with you.
    It sounds like you had a good time, I'm glad about that too.

    Thanks very much for posting.
     
  7. RedRiverRose

    RedRiverRose VIP Whale

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    So sorry for your loss and happy you had a good trip.
     
  8. KazooTom

    KazooTom Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Sep 23, 2010
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    Location:
    Michigan
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    Thank you all for your replies, you thoughts are appreciated.

    We did have a wonderful time, and hope to be able to find a way top continue our once a year trips in 2014. Fortunately the deep freeze is now over with temps back in the seasonal range. Had a warm weekend, by Michigan standards, and lost a good deal of the snow. At least I haven't had to fire up the snow blower in several days.

    I give very high marks for the customer service we received from the Mlife desk at Aria. They did go above and beyond what was expected in our case, and it was appreciated. That's the kind of customer service that will continue to bring customers back.
     
  9. MissKitty

    MissKitty Newbie

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    So so sorry about your son, Life is very hard sometimes. Glad you were able to pull yourself together and be happy just a little out in Vegas. Thanks for your story to read. I will be heading out this coming Sunday for nine days. Working hard and having some much needed fun also. I have been a guest at the Aria before and it is a beautiful place to stay.
     
  10. Buddha

    Buddha VIP Whale

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    So sorry to read of the loss of your son ... Our son is 38, and I can't begin to imagine how we would be able to deal with a loss like yours. My wife lost her brother very unexpectably at the beginning of November, just a couple weeks after we saw him in October, and he was having absolutely no problems.

    Glad you were able to get away to Vegas, and clear your mind of life's troubles. Hang in there ....

    "Buddha"
     
  11. Sam in Ut

    Sam in Ut High-Roller

    Joined:
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    Thank you for sharing your trip report but more for sharing your loss which we all are so sorry to hear. We here at VMB are in a sense, a big family with Las Vegas our common bond so that is why you are getting heart felt condolences from so many. Glad you got a chance to come to Vegas!
     
  12. LaRae

    LaRae Low-Roller

    Joined:
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    Twin Cities/Western Wisconsin
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    Sounds like a nice getaway for you two! Hope you get to go back soon. So sorry to hear about your son.
     
  13. KazooTom

    KazooTom Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Sep 23, 2010
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    Location:
    Michigan
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    I would like to thank everyone again for your thoughfulness. We did have a good time and look forward to our next opportunity to get out there again. We would generally like the time period between the rodeo and Christmas when things aren't so crowded. We haven't had the issue of dealing with a young teenager for some time :confused2: He's too young to be left alone for a trip like this, and too old for most babysitters. Maybe by the time we're ready to go again we'll have found a good house sitter / baby sitter for him.
     
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