Long Luxor trip report - 8/26-8/28

Just got back from a quick two night stay at the Luxor. Left from Atlanta with brother and dad in the early a.m. We flew Northwest via Minnesota. Long flight, old planes definitely not worth savings of $30 each. Arrived in Vegas about 11:00 am. Staying at Luxor $59/night special. Took a cab to the Luxor, cabfare was cheap, less than $15 and beat the heck out paying more to wait for a shuttle bus to fill up. Limos were available for $35 a trip.

Arrived at Luxor 11:30 am, long lines due to checkouts and were told we could check our bags, but couldn't check in until 1-1:30 pm. Signed up for players card and told no table rating on tables unless average bet was $25 per hand. Gambled til we could check in no big wins or losses. Checked in 1:00 p.m. lines were long but moved relatively quickly. We had booked two rooms and were able to get what we requested, adjoining rooms, but no door between them, in the pyramid, high up (26th floor). Room was plenty big enough, very clean and new. Bathroom shower, no tub, was spotless and plenty big enough. Room was on par with a Hyatt or Hilton room in any other city.

Went to Luxor buffet for lunch. Had a buy one get one free coupon. Buffet was ok but nothing special.

Went to Excalibur to check it out. I had stayed there 10+ years ago and not much has changed except the clientele. Hotel/casino is pretty rundown and the super cheap rooms have definitely attracted a bargain seeking crowd. (Bikers & families with kids whose regular homes have wheels on them.) Played some craps and carribean stud. Nothing special of note. Decent 5X odds on craps. Watched a craps dealer abuse a non-English speaking Korean betting $150+ a roll. The Korean didn't really know what he was doing but any casino that abuses a dumb better betting $150+ a roll deserves to end up like the Excalibur has. Rundown with a super low/non-rolling trailer trash crowd. I wouldn't recommend the Excalibur to anyone.

Spent the rest of the night wandering down the strip and pretty much checking out most of the casinos.

Notes from our wanderings the first night:

New York, New York:

Beautiful hotel & casino. Very unique on the strip and has to be seen in person. Casino minimums $5.00.

Boardwalk:

Pretty dumpy looking and rundown casino. Played a little wheel of fortune with my senior citizen dad, definitely no loose machines. If the roller coaster and rooms are maintained like the casino, I would avoid both. $5 mins on tables were kindof high for such a dump.

Bellagio:

Fountain show is pretty cool if you're into that kind of stuff, hotel is beautiful and didn't make it to the casino.

Mirage:

Went so Dad could see the volcano, he wasn't impressed. Didn't hit casino, but know its great from previous trip.

Casino Royale:

Best surprise on the strip. I'm a craps player and was looking for a low minimum high odds table so I could make all the bets you shouldn't make without losing a fortune. $2 minimum with 100x odds. Dealers were rough around the edges but pretty friendly. Crowd at table was a mix of old timer craps players and young and quickly broke college students. Drinks kept coming and I left up a couple of hundred dollars. Definitely coming back here. Brother & dad enjoyed it also.

Headed back to hotel via cab. Once again less than $15 and well worth not having to walk. Gambled at Luxor for a while with nothing special to note then gave it up for the night.

Next morning took cab to opposite end of the strip and planned on wandering and gambling all day.

Notes from wanderings:

Circus Circus:

Pretty rundown, nothing much has changed in past 10 years. Didn't gamble. Circus shows start at 11:30 am. Excalibur type crowd.

Westward Ho, Stardust, New Frontier:

Old vegas hotels, lots of old farts, $5 min tables, nothing special to note at any of them.

Treasure Island:

Nice hotel/casino. Construction everywhere. Pirate show dead in the water and being remodeled.
Didn't gamble and moved on to the Mirage.

Mirage:

Great hotel/casino. A must see while in Vegas. Played Carribean Stud with Dad & bro. $5 min with great dealer (Joe from Ill.) He actually had a personality and talked some good natured smack with my heavy betting brother. I lost a quick $100 and decided I'd just lurk and watch. Dad proceeded to hit a flush and a full house, both within a half an hour and with the progressive bet. Talk about beginners luck. He bought in with an embarrassing $25 and left 2-3 hours later up around $400. Casino is a great place to play and its the only place we went where the noise from the slot machines didn't drown out the play at the tables. Only complaint was that we ate a snack bar and paid $15 for a crappy cheeseburger, fries and a coke. I knew we should have went to the buffet. Headed back to Luxor to clean up-rest up for the night. Took a cab and once again well worth the money.

About 5pm headed out for more strip wanderings.

Notes from evening wanderings:

New York, New York:

Went back to ride the roller coaster. $10 each with coupon and $5 for re-rides. Rode in the front with brother, dad wasn't going near it. Great, if a bit pricey, roller coaster. Only complain was the shoulder harness, I'm 6' and bro is 6'2 and we both left ride feeling like we went a couple of rounds with Mike Tyson. Every twist and turn caused you head to hit the harness under your jaw. Don't ask me how or why, but I was surprised that my brother experienced the same thing. It was a lot of fun, but I wouldn't do it again. Ate dinner at the pizza place, decent price, decent food. Gambled a little and moved on.

MGM Grand:

Really nice hotel/huge casino. Saw the lions, no big deal except some idiot trainers were in the housing with them. Couldn't see that they were doing anything and didn't really care. Gambled a bit $5 minimums, Crappy live music coming from stage in the casino. Huge dome casino had great acoustics but it was pretty painful with such terrible music.

Showcase Mall:

Mid-life crisis, semi-drunk brother decided to climb the 75 foot high rock wall. Cost $10 and I guess it worth it if you're the Grizzly Adams type. He made it to the top and, despite my prayers, didn't puke. Definitely killed his buzz, though.

Alladin:

Wandered in and out. Nothing special/old vegas except they had some kind of terrible, like its never not, karoke going on out front.

Barbary Coast:

Old place, nothing special, $5 minimums. Moved on quickly.

Flamingo:

Hasn't changed in 10 years.

Paris:

Great hotel/ok pretty but loud casino. Dome casino looks nice but amplifies the slot machines to a pretty intolerable level. That combined with snotty dealers and mostly high limit tables made our stay there pretty short. The replica Eiffel Tower is pretty cool though.

Casino Royale:

Finished up the night there. Great action on craps table. Actually saw a player get hit square between the eyes with a ricocheting die. Dad played low min. caribbean stud and bro played everything. 2+ hours later I left $150 up, dad left even, bro lost big time. Bro doesn't believe that when your luck goes south you go home.

Cabbed it back to Luxor and called it a night.

Woke up early and had to check out today for 3pm flight. They let us check out early, so we avoided big lines, but we didn't have to leave room until 11 am. Shopped for junk for family until 11. Check luggage with bellman and spent the morning gambling/drinking at Luxor. Bro's luck turned around big time. Hit two consecutive straight up 23's on Roulette, (he has some motto about repeaters but I can't remember it even after he said it about a thousand times) and then a straight flush progressive on 3 card poker. He still ended up down $500 for the trip. No carribean stud tables open until 7pm Dad decided to play sucker slots for a fancy car, lost over $100. I played $5 5X craps, drinks kept flowing, dealers were pretty fun and ended up even after 2 hours of heavy betting.

Cabbed it to airport for Northwest flight to Atlanta via Memphis. Once again long flight, old plane - noisy no tv/radio - not worth cheap fare.

General trip observations:

Luxor: Great hotel and great rate. Would definitely stay there again. Its down a ways on the strip but if you don't mind cabbing or walking its a great place to stay. Casino is pretty good and they keep the drinks flowing. Only complaint is the players card $25 minimum requirement. I avoided using the card because I was afraid I'd end up playing for comps rather than betting the way I like to bet.

Shows: We were there to gamble and didn't see any shows. One note about shows is that there is a Coke ticket outlet at the mall that seemed to offer some pretty good deals on show tickets.

Transportation: Cabs were the way we got around when we didn't walk. Fares were between $10-15 with tip and well worth it. Traffic on strip was heavy and loaded with rent-a-car tourists who drive like maniacs. Never took a bus, there a better ways to save money than waiting at a bus stop. Monorails/walkways/bridges connect a lot of the hotels you just have to look for them. Midweek at the airport is not terribly crowded, it took us around a half hour to get to the airport, through security and to the gate.

Gambling:

Slots: Only played for fun and never won.

Video poker: Play nickles if you got time to kill and want free drinks. $10 lasts forever.

Blackjack: If you ask me its pretty boring and attracts every type of gambler from pro to virgin. Sure you can play almost even odds with the house, but isn't gambling supposed to be a gamble.

Let it Ride: Boring and pure luck. I played a couple of hours and broke even but mostly ended up pulling back first two bets every time. Not enough action for me.

Carribean Stud: Used to like it, now I hate it. Pure luck and the dealer not qualifying gets pretty frustrating when you have a good hand. The only game other than slots and video poker that I consistently lost at. Also, there are not many open tables for some reason.

Pai Gao: Cleaned my brothers clock, nuf said.

Roulette: Big winnings for bro., doesn't interest me in the least.

Three card poker: Ditto roulette comments.

Craps: My favorite. Lots of action, hit a hot roller and make some money. Most people who I saw lose were either under bankrolled or didn't understand that making the odds bets were where the moneys at. You will lose at craps it you don't understand the basics or if you try to buy in with too little money. Also, for gods sake, learn how to roll the dice. I've played craps for a long time and at a lot of places and I've never seen dice fly all over the place like I did on the strip. I saw players, dealers and stacks of chips being nailed consistently. It breaks the momentum of the game and its bad luck. Last note on craps: many bets can be pulled of the table at any time. If you think you should pull your bets, do it, I hesitated doing it once and lost a bunch of money.

Well that's the end of my report. I found other reports to very helpful and hope all this is useful to someone.