Memorial Weekend at the Palazzo!!!

This is my first trip report and first post, I have enjoyed reading everyone’s and thought I would add my own in. Little background on us – we are a couple in our early 30’s living in South Florida (Palm Beach), we have 2 kids (7 & 5) and we go to Vegas approximately 3 times a year (although hubby goes about 10x or more, as he works in the gaming industry). No, not with the kids, they stay home with grandma. Ok be prepared, because this is long!

Left Saturday morning bright and early around 6am to get to the airport for an 8:20 flight out of Ft. Lauderdale on US Air. Met a big group of friends at the airport and excitedly hopped on board. The flight left on time and we sat in first class - hubby has some sort of status because he flies so much for work. That was a nice start to the trip. Our flight attendant was really nice and took good care of us. After an uneventful smooth flight, we got to Vegas around 10:45 Vegas time which was actually early.

We had previously arranged for Presidential Limo to pick us up at 11:00, so by the time we got our luggage the driver came racing over “Your flight was early!â€. We went outside to get in our limo and the driver had champagne waiting. I had a couple glasses while we were on our way to The Palazzo. When we got to the hotel and walked inside, we both thought it was beautiful. I’m not sure why others are complaining about this place! I like nice things and consider myself pretty well off and I was impressed! I think there are people who are just never satisfied. Ok, off my soap box now. Went to the front desk to check in but our room wasn’t ready just yet so they took our luggage and cell phone number and said they would call us as soon as it was. We had booked the Fortuna Suite, which is a step above the standard suite, with 940 square feet and a strip view on a high floor.

By this time we were starving and wanted to head over to Pink Taco at the Hard Rock, which is our traditional “soon as we get to Vegas†lunch. I needed myself a Patron margarita and that delicious guacamole!! After that our friends were calling to come over to the Wynn and play some cards, as they were staying there. So we headed over to the Wynn. I like the Wynn, but have never stayed there. It seems too busy for me, I can’t explain it. Plus there are a lot of kids in strollers there and that drives me crazy…no offense and I’m a mom but I go to Vegas to get away from the kids. We all sat down at a $25 bj table and played for about an hour or so. Walked away Even Steven – exactly to the dollar. That was an interesting start. Had a really cool waitress who was joking with my husband. He ordered grey goose and soda and they said they didn’t have grey goose at those bars, only absolute. So he frowned (jokingly) and she was joking, “boy, you are whiny!†and all the guys started laughing and it turned into a big joke. If you knew my husband he is about the last person to be “finicky†and is very easy going so it was actually pretty funny. After we left there we went to check up their room since I had never seen a room at the Wynn before. It was a pretty standard room but it was nice.

That’s when we got the call from Palazzo that our room was ready so we decided to head back over there and check it out. It was BEAUTIFUL. Big and spacious, with a nice view of everything, just perfect. Again, I don’t know how anyone can complain about this place!!! So we just hung out there for a while, then decided to go walk around. The shops are nice, high end shops, and the mall area is pretty spacious and everything is sparkling clean. By this time it was time to go get ready for our dinner at 6:30 at N9NE restaurant over at the Palms. Every time we’re in Vegas I love going to N9NE, I just think it is terrific. So we got all dolled up and headed over to the Palms. The place was totally packed and crazy, just like I like it. I love the vibes at the Palms, in fact that is usually where we stay but this time we wanted to try something different. After a delicious steak and many many martinis, we headed up to the Playboy Club where some of our friends were waiting. We played black jack for a while, drank more, it was busy up there too but we were still able to sit down at a table, and again, Even Steven when we got up. Too crazy. I think the difference was that both of us were playing, usually only one of us plays at a time. That’s just a speculation anyway. There was a point during the night where they thought they were going to lose me, but I got my second wind, drank some water and was ready to go. We were waiting for our friends to call us, they were at the UFC fight and then we were going to head over to Hawaiian Tropic Zone for the after party that we were invited to.

Finally around 12:30-1 or so we get to Planet Hollywood (the strip was a mess!!) and meet up with everyone and get into the club. We were sitting up where some of the fighters were and everyone had multiple bottles of alcohol (like I needed anymore!) and we were all just hanging out. The place was totally mobbed…and you had to go outside to smoke which was kinda annoying to try to get in and out every 15-20 minutes to have a smoke. I think we stumbled out of there around 3:30-4, and went back to the Wynn to play some more. Well it was totally crowded at all of the tables, and I was getting really tired since I had already been up over 24 hours, so we called it a night.

Of course as much as I would like to, I can never sleep in Vegas, so I was up around 10am and we got up, showered and went exploring. Checked out Jay Z’s 40/40 club, which the second I walked in there, I was in love. That place is awesome!!! So awesome that even though it was dead in there, we decided to start drinking early and called some of the guys to meet us over there for lunch. They have interesting bar food there, and it is pretty tasty. Hung out there for a couple of hours and decided to come back later for the Lakers game. They have this cool stadium seating thing with couches, and a 250-inch tv screen! You pay $75 per person to hang in the cool area on the couches during a big game, which is basically $75 minimum for food and drinks, which is pretty easy to spend when the drinks are like $10-15 each. So when we came back later we stayed for most of the game but then went upstairs to get ready because we were going to the Bank at Bellagio for the evening. We had previously planned ahead to get a table and reserved 4 bottles. We met our friends over at Wynn and we were all going to take their car over there. I thought the strip was a mess on Saturday night, it was even worse on Sunday night!! And there is no back way to Bellagio, you have to take the strip. I think it took 40 minutes to get from Wynn to Bellagio. What a buzz kill!! Bellagio was totally hopping and crazy.

So fast forward a while later, probably around 11pm we get into The Bank. Well, it was ok. The music wasn’t bad, but I was not going to get near that dance floor…what a mob scene!! We had our own sort of dance “area†in the VIP lounge so myself and a bunch of girls started dancing and having fun. We danced the night away, drinking and having a blast , and the guys just sat on the couch and “conversed†all night. LOL We ended up being right next to some guys from the Chargers, but I don’t know who any of those guys are – the guys did though.

By around 4am it was time to call it a night and in a drunken stupor somehow made it back to our room. Crashed and woke up around 10am next morning, not feeling so hot. There is only so much alcohol a very small body can handle. But we got up and somehow got dressed and made it over to Delmonico for an awesome lunch – just what the doctor ordered. No drinking today – blech – I needed some ice tea and water to recooperate. We decided to walk off all of the alcohol and headed over to the mall. Did a little shopping for the kids, then headed back to the Wynn to play some. That’s where things got a little ugly. Craps was not our friend that day, and we were down a lot in about 10 minutes. Oh well. Decided to get some rest so took a nice long nap in the room. I was feeling so much better when I got up. Got ready and then headed back to the Palms for dinner at Nove this time…mmmm…love this place. If you’ve never had the experience of eating at either N9NE or Nove, please indulge yourself…it is worth every cent. After that we met the group over at Hard Rock and sat down at some bj tables…didn’t do so hot but not terrible.

After that headed over to Seamless for a while…it was ehhhh. Not too much excitement in there. The rest of the night ended with playing a little more and then ended up getting to sleep about 4am.

Last day I was having problems getting out of bed, but somehow made it up and checked out by 11. Dropped our luggage off and headed over to Grand Luxe for lunch. Is it just me or do they put butter on everything?? Blech!! I just can’t eat like that. After that we walked around some more, played some slot machines (have you seen the Wizard of Oz slot machine yet, its pretty cool), actually won some of our money back, and then waited for our limo, headed over to the airport and took the 4pm flight back to Lauderdale.

I’m exhausted, but had a blast!! Can’t wait to do it again, hoping to head back in November. My next gambling destination is Atlantis, Bahamas for my birthday in September, I love that place almost as much as Vegas!

Thanks for reading!
~Karen~

 

Great TR, and thanks for sharing!

Sounds like you guys had a blast, and I would like to thank you for leaving your kids at home

But I am surprised that there were strollers at the Wynn, I could swear that they are not allowed

 

Nice report, Karen.

I am so excited to see The Palazzo on our August trip. My husband and I are huge fans of The Venetian. Glad to read your favorable review.

Good luck on your birthday trip, and many happy returns- both for your birthday and your Vegas returns!

 

Pot, meet kettle! I don't know why there would be an abundance of strollers, since Wynn did ban them for all non-guest.

Anyway, nice trip report. Thanks for sharing.

 

Great TR and it sounds like you had a good time. The "Wizard of Oz" slot machine is fun to play, but I only saw a few last time . . . maybe I looked in the wrong places.

I have to add something about strollers . . . . it seems like each time we go to Vegas I see more and more of them. How much fun can you have with kids in strollers when you're in Vegas????

I think there should be a total ban on them in Vegas . . . . it's no fun getting your shin continually run over by people who don't look where they are going. i have kids myself but can't these people get a babysitter for a few days???

 

WOW Karen .. your trip report sounded like you had an awesome time, thanks for sharing with all of us.

 

I went back to reread your post and I now believe that Steve Wynn has pissed off your husband at one time. Now, if you mean "too busy" as in decor, then I will take this post back.

 

Glad you had fun. I love the Palazzo and I'm also not a big fan of Wynn -- Palazzo rooms are much, much prettier! I was at the Venetian over Memorial weekend. Couldn't get in the Palazzo, until the last minute they sent me an offer, but I decided to stay at Venetian. Nice, too! You kept getting run over by strollers, I kept getting run over by electric wheel chairs. Won't be doing a holiday weekend anymore...

 

Yeah we made it to the Wynn on Sunday and the place was crazy busy. Lines every where but won a couple free buffets on some wheel spin promotion they were doing and the food was pretty decent. There were kids every where over the weekend though

 

I'm glad to hear that no everyone doesn't like the Palazzo. I think some of the negative reviews occurred right after it opened and in all honesty it wasn't ready to be opened. I've always had a problem with small children on the strip. I've been to the Wynn several times and it never seemed busy. Of course, it was never a holiday weekend and there were no major events going on. I'm glad you enjoyed your trip; and, on a side note how is Atlantis? We've thought about going there but we do like the ability to gamble at multiple casinos especially if we're having no luck in any one of them.

 

Atlantis is TERRIFIC, BEAUTIFUL and GORGEOUS! I love the Bahamas, the whole vibe there is so laid back and chill during the day...but at night if you want action there is action! They opened a new club there (from the PURE group) and they have some of the best restaurants there as well. Of course it is waaaayyy smaller than Vegas, but that makes it good for celeb spotting, which I always see many there! The casino is beautiful and quite large. The plus for me is cheap flights and only an hour total plane ride...compared to the 5 it takes me to get to Vegas that is definitely a +++.

There must be a lot of people who stay at Wynn that have kids, because honest I saw SO MANY of them there...it was crazy actually! Some guy tried to cash in his chips at the cashier window with his kid in the stroller and they told him he had to come back without the kid, that she couldn't pay him with the kid there. That should tell you something!! No offense again, I love kids I have them myself but Vegas is really no place for them (at least, casinos aren't the place for them).

Didn't mean to contradict myself, I love crowds and busy, bustling places but when I was trying to find a table, busy just doesn't work. :evillaugh

~Karen