gmoney590
VIP Whale
Mirage/Paris June 15-21
Transportation:
We took SWA from Seattle. Little did we know that our plane would be coming out of Chicago and because of all the bad weather and so we were delayed 2 ½ hours until the plane could arrive, disembark its passengers and load us up. Usually the flight to Vegas is very boring; but, not this time. We didn’t realize that our flight crew moonlighted at the Second City Comedy Club. Our stewardess while giving the safety brief decided to ad lib and here are but a few of her lines:
“In case we loose cabin pressure an oxygen mask will fall please place it over your head and breath slowly. The first three minutes are free but we charge you a dollar a minute after that.â€
“If you’re traveling with a small child or someone who acts like a small child…you know…your husband or boss. Put your mask on first and then attempt to help them.â€
“There is no smoking allowed on this flight; however, if you must smoke we have a smoking section over each wing. If you can light it out there you can smoke it.â€
“I’m required to tell you that federal law prohibits the tampering with smoke detectors in the bathrooms and is punishable by a $2000 fine. Let’s face it if you had an extra $2000 you wouldn’t be flying Southwest.â€
Then it was the pilot’s turn:
“Ladies and gentlemen I’d like to direct your attention to the front of the plane. We have an eighty year old gentleman who is flying for the very first time. Eighty years old and this is his first time flying. His name is Captain Mike and he’ll be your pilot.â€
The whole plane was rolling. It definitely took our minds of the delay.
Presidential Limo.
We’ve used them our last three trips and it’s a great way to start and end a Vegas trip.
Places we stayed:
Mirage
This may become our second home. We had received an email offer for 30% off rooms or suites. We graciously took them up on their offer and booked a tower suite for three nights. We were impressed with how we were treated and the overall friendliness and cleanliness of the casino. One example of how we were treated was that we informed one of the staff that the refrigerator in our room didn’t have an ice tray so we couldn’t make ice. He immediately took our ice bucket and filled it. Every evening when we returned to the room our ice bucket had been filled. We were always greeted by housekeeping and other staff when we were in the hallway heading either to the elevator or to our room. When the cocktail waitress served us our first drinks they came often and the drinks were strong. We just really enjoyed the ambiance and the feel of the casino.
Paris
This is where we usually stay thanks to Harrah’s offers. When we checked in we asked for a room high up because last hear we got a room on the 4th floor and were awakened to the booming bass of the DJ at the pool party. They gave us a remodeled room on the 27th floor. The room was nice and it came with an individual coffee maker. I don’t know how good the coffee was because I never trusted myself(sober enough) to try and make coffee. The only issue I seemed to have was with the water pressure in the shower. To me it seemed weak.
Gambling
We actually had a lot of fun at the Mirage playing Monopoly slots, slotto, and busting barrels slots. I think if I’d just kept playing theses with my wife I would have left the Mirage a winner. However, I’m a sucker for VP and it wasn’t kind to me. I only had one winning session at the Mirage and finished down 50. We spent a lot of our time playing the Goldfish game at Paris. This is my wife’s favorite game and I can see why. We would have actually finished profitably on this game if we hadn’t got greedy and decided to play $340 at max credits. We never hit a bonus and never got ahead but we were stubborn and played it out until the $340 was just a memory. VP here was worse to me than at the Mirage. I like playing JOB and usually I can play for awhile and walk away with a profit. This trip I was on the other end. It seemed that a twenty didn’t last very long and the only place I was getting money from was my wallet.
Food
We actually got to eat at Delmonico which has been on our list for sometime.
Burger King: What can you say…it’s fast, cheap, it tastes ok and it soaks up the alcohol. We ate here our first night and one other night it’s just a little hazy as to when.
Samba Brazilian Steakhouse: This is in the Mirage and the best thing I can say about it is the service was excellent; unfortunately the food left a lot to be desired. It was bland, fatty, and dry. I had the Rodizio so I got to sample different meats, pork and chicken and in all honesty I should have just eaten at Burger King.
Delmonico: What can I say. The service and food was excellent. We each had the fillet mignon(medium rare) and we shared a side of fingerling potatoes done in herb, garlic and butter and a side of asparagus. We each had a drink and I had the individual pecan pie. My wife fell in love with the food and thinks we should eat here whenever we’re in Vegas. The bill including tip came to $220. Well worth it IMHO.
Emeril’s: I went there for lunch. I had New Orleans BBQ Shrimp and a Po’Boy.
The shrimp had a nice little kick to them and the underlying sweetness that comes from Emeril’s BBQ sauce compliments the spices. A warning to all who would order this. This is just an appetizer and you get six smallish shrimp laying in sauce with what they call a petite rosemary biscuit which could best be described as a minimalist’s attempt at a biscuit. It was so small I thought my thumbnail dwarfed it. The Pol Boy had fried oysters and baby greens on a French roll with Creole mayonnaise. In all honesty I’ve had better Po’Boys at Commander’s Palace. Unfortunately they’re not around in Vegas anymore so Ill have to get my fix somewhere else. I like Emeril’s and the next time I’m there I’ll get something different.
Margaritaville: We went here our last day after consuming much alcohol so my review may be tainted. We had the volcano nachos and the peel and eat shrimp and some frozen alcoholic beverages. The nachos were good but not as large as I thought they would be. The shrimp were boiled with some nondescript cocktail sauce. Now, in all fairness we do enjoy Margaritaville it’s kind of laid back and all the Buffet tunes doesn’t hurt either.
Le Burger Brassier: We each ordered an American Burger and fries. If the French had a sports bar this is what it would be. The burgers were good as were the fries. Burgers run about 10.50 to start and fries are 2.25 and up. This definitely isn’t Burger King and that’s probably why we like it and didn’t go there after drinking but before we started.
Room Service: We had room service at both the Mirage and Paris. We ordered breakfast at both and in head to head comparison and cost analysis the Mirage wins. The food tasted the same(after all it’s hard to screw up breakfast), but the Mirage’s arrived hot and stayed warm longer it also came with your choice of juice and a six cup coffee urn. They also threw in the Review Journal for good measure. Unfortunately at Paris the food arrived warm and didn’t stay warm for very long. The breakfast did not come with juice or coffee; that was separate and if you wanted ice water you had to ask for it. No paper.
The cost of the Mirage breakfast was 20 before tip; at Paris it was 45 with juice and a six cup coffee urn. We abused room service; especially at the Paris where at one point we had three carts in the room because we were tired and drunk and when we went to the room to relax breakfast always sounded good and BK was too far away to walk.
Just a few things I noticed this time in Vegas.
There were definitely fewer people on the strip then there was when we were here last summer.
Until Friday I didn’t see one person selling water or asking for a handout.
I never saw a timeshare hawker.
I say plenty of $5 tables even though most of the tables weren’t BJ; I even saw some $5 craps tables at the Mirage and Paris. I saw single deck $5 at the Mirage and Paris during the week. There were still $5 tables on Friday night. The Bellagio had plenty of $10 tables on Friday night. The only place that didn’t have a $5 table and didn’t have many $10 tables was Caesars.
Even with my beat down at VP we came home with more that half our original bankroll.
We are already planning the December trip.
Here’s a link to some of the photos I took. Click on it and then click on MirageParis08.
I hope the link works.
http://photobucket.com/gmoney590
Love Seattle, we're in Vancouver (WA) next to Portland and travel there frequently for fun! Going to a Mariners game next month, haven't seen Safeco yet! 
