Ah, the Sweet Smell of the Treasure Isle, 01/17-01/19

First time writing a trip report for the T2V forum board, however I have written trip reports for the LVTrip.com board in the past, in fact several. I suppose that is neither here nor there, isn’t it…I digress. This trip was provided by Casablanca Express as a result of attending a timeshare presentation last summer. We paid and extra few bucks for the “upgraded†flights and the like, and it worked out pretty good. Rooms were booked on marketing comps, as the package included 2 nights at Plaza and we had zero intention of making the trek D/T this trip. I will break this report up into sections rather than a timeline as I couldn’t remember the events in order if I tried. Anyways…long report…

Flights –

Outbound, flight 663 @06:25 AM, B-boarding pass, so that meant we were up and out of the house by 0430 AM, brutal yet we managed to arrive at the gate with a nice hot Starbucks and still had 20 minutes to spare. Flight was probably less than ½ full. Smooth uneventful and I only had 3 Miller Lites with tomato juice, and we landed at McCarran right on time.

Return, flight 2723 @20:50 PM, B-boarding pass, left the hotel around 18:45 or so and made it to the terminal by 20:00. Side note here, we (well the wife) decided she was hungry and needed sustenance. She insisted on that little “Mexican†joint in the C-terminal. The place was about 1/3 full of people, with plenty of wait staff. The first thing I notice about the restaurant – it is frickin’ waaay too hot in here! Must be at least 75 degrees Fahrenheit! Not good for a guy battling the casino crud, w/a slight buzz from the Heinekens at the Flamingo. We ask our waitress if we could sit on the “patio.†No problem she says. Yet as soon as we sit down out there, a different waiter says, “The “patio†is closed.†Humph, grrr, alright, so we move back to our original table. Sue, the waitress, “Says what’s wrong?†I point at Mr. Waiter and say “He says No!†Sue, “Don’t sweat him, go ahead and sit out there, as it is hot in here.†Ok, we pack up again and move out to the “patio.†A different waiter comes this time and says, “The “patio†is closed.†I begin to explain what our waitress told us and he get all huffy and flips a piece of paper at me that states the “patio†is closed for the evening. I flip it back at him and tell him to take it up with Sue, as we are not moving again. “Fine, I’ll go get the manager,†little Mr. Waiter snaps at me. WTF? Anyhoo, Sue stops by soon thereafter with our food and beer and notes that it is all good and to enjoy our meal. Needless to say I don’t think we made too many friends at that little joint, other than Sue, who I tipped at a nice 30%.
Other than that the flight was uneventful, with the exception of my nose dripping continually. Ugh.

Transportation –

Not much to say here, took a cab from airport to the Treasure Isle, asked for no tunnel and got it, trip was $13+ $4 tip. Good driver, quick route.

Walked to the Wynn from TI for the Parasol Up M’n’G on Wednesday evening.

We used the TI – Mirage monorail to save the walk on the way to Caesars for the Celine show on Thursday night.
Hurricane Mikey provided shuttle service in the new Dakota to GVR on Wednesday evening following the Celine Dion show my wife attended. Nice quick trip out to Henderson, with little to zero traffic. Nice ride and thanks so much for sportin’ the ride Mikey!

Cab’d it over to Flamingo upon checking out of Treasure Isle on Thursday afternoon. Ride was short and easy, $7+ $2 tip.

Cab to airport, no issues, $13+ $4 tip, ran into a bit of traffic, but the driver was swift with lane changes and got us to the airport in a very timely manner.

Hotels –

Stayed at Treasure Isle for two nights and checked into the Flamingo for about 6 hours. At check-in went to the Invited Casino Guests line and hand over the passport, cc and $20, ask for a nice quiet King Petite suite. Daniel the check-in representative gave me the look and immediately got his fingers flying, and made a phone call. He said he had a suite but it was only for the first night. I told him, no thanks, as I didn’t want to have to move room’s mid-trip. So he gave us room 31010, King Bed, with an excellent south Las Vegas Blvd. view. The room was nicely appointed and clean. Maid service was great as well, left $4 a day. Had room 27016(?) at the Flamingo, not a GO room but had a great view of the pool area. Only used it to eat lunch and shower for the a/p ride home.

Shows –

I bought one ticket to the Celine Dion A New Day at The Colosseum At Caesars Palace on Thursday, Jan 18, 2007 08:30 PM. The seat location was great, according to her: section ORCH3, row NN, seat 312. And damn well should have been considering the total charge was: $249.81! She said she was brought to tears a couple of times and thoroughly enjoyed the entire show. She also bought some CD right after the gig was over; I have zero intention to listening, so I couldn’t tell you which one she bought.

We also caught the Sirens of TI “show†from our window at the Social House on Wednesday evening. The Social House is the new Asian restaurant at the Treasure Isle, installed where the Buccaneer Bar used to be. I’d never seen the “show†before, so I found it mildly entertaining.

Restaurants, food, & bars –

As I am certainly not a restaurant/bar critic, I will keep this very short; we ate or drank at the following:
Kahunaville – TI – breakfast 1st morning, about $20 charged to room

The Coffee Shop – TI – lunch 1st afternoon, 1 free meal-comp from the High Roller Lounge, and about $16 bucks for the other meal.

Social House – TI – dinner 1st evening, $145 charged to room, good food!

Parasol Up – Wynn – drinks 1st evening, T2Ver.com M’n’G, $30, they included the gratuity-cause we had like 10 or 12 peeps there, however I still left $6, I think our drink total was $24, as the waitress was pretty hot, felt the extra cash was a was, ha.

Breeze Bar – TI – drinks throughout the trip, $40 in tips, as I was playing VP every time we were there, Tommy is a great bar tender.

ISLA: Mexican Kitchen & Tequila Bar – TI – drinks, $15 in tips, again playing VP and enjoying a couple of shots of Cabo Wabo Reposado and Dos Equis drafts. Nice wait staff and bartenders, oh how I enjoy the fine Latinas!

Starbucks and Krispy Kreme – TI – breakfast 2nd morning, $15, espresso and donuts to cure the hangover from the night before. This has become a staple for us on every single trip, although the staff at Starbucks at the TI are amateurs as far as I am concerned…

Planet Hollywood – Caesars – dinner 2nd evening, $20, used a $40 coupon from Casablanca Express – part of our trip package.

Dishes: The Buffet at TI – TI – breakfast 3rd morning, Free+ $5 in tips, this was part of the comp room package, +plus I got a line pass from the China Town pit boss – bonus! Had to get it, as the comps were not written, just included in the package with the charges taken off the bill at the end of the trip, so no official line pass and man was that line long that morning.

Room Service – Flamingo – lunch 3rd afternoon, $40-used Harrah’s Total Rewards credits, club sandwich and sausage/mushroom pizza, not too bad.

Table games / VP / Slots – TI, Caesars, Flamingo – Overall I thought the service was really good this trip, very attentive cocktail waitresses. I usually tip $5 on the first beverage at the tables and $2 on the floor, and then a $1 or $2 per drink thereafter, don’t know why, I just do. The waitresses at Caesars and Flamingo were literally blown away by the $5 tip to start out with, kinda made me giggle, but sure made them come around quite a bit thereafter!

That’s all that I can recollect, I think my wife might have had room service at the TI on the 2nd day and charged it to the room, not sure.

Gaming –

Most of my play was concentrated at the Treasure Isle as I love the casino and the staff are generally pretty friendly. My play floats b/t Fortune Pai Gow, BJ, a bit of Craps with VP and few slot hit and runs thrown in for good measure. I generally bring $500 walking money to start the trip and then play on markers.
• $25 to $50 on Pai Gow w/$5 on the bonus, and buy-in from anywhere b/t $200 and $1K. Generally make a $5 bet for the dealer right away and continue to do so as play continues, even if the cards are cold – makes for a better table and encourages the others to not be cheap. Didn’t hit any huge hands, caught one Envy Bonus when a gal hit a straight flush, and I pretty much made money if not doubled up on every session with the exception of the one at GVR, where the dealer(s) busted me in about 10 hands. Flamingo Pai Gow does not offer the Dragon Hand, otherwise same rules apply. Did well here too, and I told the dealers that if they dealt me a 7-card straight flush, I’d tip $5K. Alas, didn’t happen this trip…
• $25 to $75 on BJ, usually 2-spots if available, buy-in usually the same as Pai Gow. This is where I made the most $ on the trip, never had a losing session. I also really like the High Roller Lounge at the Isle, the dealers are great and the pit staff are very accommodating. +Plus, the private restroom right inside the lounge is a major bonus.
• VP and slot runs here and there throughout the casino. No huge hits, mostly losses, although I did hit the Rocky the Contender penny machine at Caesars for 12000+ pennies, not bad for $20 in. Never did get a spin on Wheel of mis-Fortune, not on .25, $1, or $5. Thought that was very strange, as I usually get a least one spin on each, every trip. So overall VP and slots were not so good to me, lost the bulk of my cash on’em, I suppose if I had better $$ management skills, ah, heck, that ain’t gonna happen…
• Lots of VP at the Breeze Bar (mainly because of Tommy the barkeep), best session was a buy-in for $60 cash out $300, hit 4-Aces no kicker followed 2 hands later by 4 – 4s, no kicker. Flopped or drew 4-Royal 5 or 6 times, but no magic this trip.
• One Craps session, 1st night, dropped $200 in about 20 rolls, very choppy and it pretty much soured me on the whole thing for the trip. Usually bet $25 on the line with minimum odds, increasing as the rolls happen – if they are good rolls that is, $5 on the Yo on the Come Out, and Place the 6 & 8 for $10 a piece. Just couldn’t get anything going…

All in all it was a great trip. Lots of time on the casino floor and got to meet some T2V’ers, won’t try to name ya’ll, you know who you are. Thanks Hurricane for the trip out to GVR, probably wouldn’t have made it out there otherwise. Great talking with you and Sticky, both at the Parasol Up and on the car trip over to GVR, Pai Gow table, etc. Too bad we bugged out early, as I am sure the buffoonery started shortly thereafter.

Aloha – CU4MM…at least the 1st round anyways…

T-rev

 

Sounds like you had a pretty good time albeit a short one. I haven't been in TI in a couple of years; do they still have that small restaraunt that you have to take an elevator up to? Unfortunately I can't remember the name; but, it overlooked the Pirate show.

 

Nice Report Trev... It was cool to be able to hang out with you guys a bit. Maybe next time we can actually win a hand or two.

GMoney--Social House has taken over that spot.

Mikey

 

How were the rooms at TI? What type of room did you stay in?

 

I think the rooms are great. As stated I asked for a Petite Suite and got a King Deluxe with a great south L.V. Blvd. view. The bed was extremely comfortable, revivaled our Select Comfort bed at home, and the linens were fresh and showed no wear. Shower / Tub combo, good water pressure from a high mounted shower head. Lots of goodies on the countertop, and even more after I left the gratuity for the housecleaning staff on the first day. LCD tv in the cabinet, probably a 25 or 30 inch model. Nice little sitting area with table and two chairs.