Too old for what? July 10 to 17

Why separate. Just say no and walk on by.

 

Enjoy every minute of your trip. Flamingo Spa is fine, we have been many times and the convenience of having our room right up the elevator is huge in my opinion!

 

You're right, but after coming to Vegas for over 20 years, I am just tired of being harassed and pretty much chased after by these folks. I know they're just doing their job, but still annoying as hell. But you are right for sure, just say no is the best way.

 

Wishing you the best of times as your adventure continues to unfold, @jhpa!

RICHARD

 

Good luck the rest of the way!

 

Was up by 5 and headed down to start my (losing day at craps. Took a break about 7 for breakfast at Monami Gabi. Spent the rest of the day hitting up some nearby casinos. Ceasars was obnoxious: a $25 craps table at 10am on a Thursday Morning. Pretty much lost all day, but within budget. Got ready for the evening with a trip to Flamingo ‘s spa. No massage, just enjoyed the whirpool sauna and great showers. Then we headed to Rio

Wow!

If you ever want to hit a club in Vegas and have a uniquely Vegas experience, go to Voodoo at Rio!

We had a great dinner at the steakhouse on the 50th floor. Incredible views of the strip and all of Vegas. A “ seafood tower, filets perfectly done and a very good ceasar salad ( although-really - how can you mess up that ip). An apple martini, glass of Sauvignon blanc and merlot. Then some (losing) craps to kill time until about 10:30.

We hit the Voodoo Lounge about 10:45. We had a table reserved outside met our host and server and settled in. On the 51st floor you could see all of Vagas on three side. It was tge best $400 I ever spent. We had a lier of Kettle One with carafes of cranberry juice abd tonic. Buckets of ice and a tray of garnish. The DJ played club music and the dance floor was pretty full all night.

We made friends with the table next to us, about 8 people from London and a couple of others who we invited to join us at our table. At some point we got a couple of huge Zombi cocktails and split them with our friends. We drank talked and danced until losing time ( 2 pm. ). We Ubered back to the Flamingo and crashed.

This morning we have a cabana at Flamingo. We will see if any of our friends from last night take us up on our invitation to join us.

I just re-read this and saw.a bunch of typos. Not bothering to fix em- what else do you expect after a lot of booze and 4 hours sleep

 

Sounds like Vegas right to me!

 

I really love my solo Vegas trips but when me and son goes all bets are off. Once we hit the strip at 9 it is nothing but who can outdo the other partying and gambling. This old man can hang, on one of our trips all I remember was getting off the plane and getting back on, I had no clue what we did for 6 days. Enjoy the trip.

P

 

I have three flavors of Vegas trips: wife, brothers/friends, and solo. I only want more of each and I hope to be following in your footsteps ten years from now.

 

Well, this is my first update in a couple of days.

Friday cabana was great. A bit overpriced but the best way to hand at the pool. Met up with some friends and went to see Big Elvis at Harrahs. If you have never seen him, it is the best free show in Vegas. A quick Dinner at Carlo’s and Charles then it was was craps and slots Until after midnight. Gambling on Friday was not overly successful.

Saturday morning we wandered down and visited a few other casinos, Spending about an hour each in Harrah’s Paris and Planet Hollywood. By the way, stopped in to diamond lounges at Paris and planet Hollywood. Just had a couple of beers and some snacks but a really nice respite. Then headed over to Bellagio for my shave. I love royal shaves, it is one of the highlights of every trip to Vegas.

Saturday night he had planned a trip to the club jewel at aria. Things got a little screwed up, I got a lot pissed off, and we changed plans. Turned out a great decision. More on that later.

 

Can’t wait to hear more!

 

Glad the change helped!

 

Never apologize for where you stay in Vegas. The important part is that you are in Vegas
Hope you have a fantastic trip!!

 

Well folks, I am home and have learned one thing. I can never plant to write.a "live" trip report from.Vegas. Too much going on. But now that I am home I am already putting together My thoughts on an awesome week. Look for a new thread that talks about my experience.

 

Nice report, thanks! I’ve memories of being top of Rio at dusk enjoying cocktails and watching the helicopters lined up doing the “strip” tours circling almost at eye level. Keep up the fun trip!

 

Introduction – from my previous post

I’ve been planning this trip with my son in law for a long time. Spent hours on this board reading what others do and don’t do. Too often I see posts about what people used to do when they were younger, but they are too old for it now. I refuse to buy into that.

Well, I never went to Vegas when I was younger and did not have the money to do it right back then either. So, at 65 I have the time and the resources and the inclination to do Vegas the way I always wanted.

So here is the plan:

• Business class out of Philly Wednesday morning.
• Seven nights at Flamingo. I know - not high end. But I love the location and the pool
• Tables and bottle service at Jewel Saturday and Voodoo Thursday
• Cabanas at Flamingo Friday and MGM Monday
• Dinners at Costa di Mare, Voodoo Steakhouse and Center Cut. Breakfast at Mon Ami Gabi. Others TBD
• Royal shave at Bellagio and a spa day at Flamingo
• Plus, I figure that leaves over 40 hours or more for gambling. Mostly craps, a little slots, some other stuff here and there

All this accompanied by my son in law. ​

Now it is done I had attempted to do “live” trip report and I actually made a few posts, but I was having too much fun to spend time on my phone.


So here is a trip report that I am beginning to write about 48 hours after arriving home. You will find it is a little different than most. It will not be a day by day description of every meal and every roll of the dice. After my last trip, I did a “top ten“list of experiences during the trip. But this time, I am doing it this way:


I have identified a bunch of topics that I will compare and contrast. I will do a short (compare and contract) report on each topic with my experiences. Here they are:


· Flamingo Hotel vs. MGM Hotel
· Flamingo Pool with Cabana vs. MGM Pool with Daybed
· Caesars Rewards Casinos vs. MLife Casinos
· Diamond Lounges: Flamingo vs. Planet Hollywood vs. Paris vs. Rio
· Breakfast: Flamingo Buffet vs. Mon Ami Gabi vs. Carlos and Charlies
· Steakhouses: Voodoo vs. Center Cut vs CraftSteak
· Voodoo vs. Jewel
· Craps Vs. Slots. Vs. Let it Ride
· Cats Hats and Bats vs. Wizard of OZ
· Big Elvis vs. KA
· Kids in Vegas vs. Dogs in Vegas
· Taxi vs. Uber

Here goes....


Flamingo Hotel vs. MGM Grand Hotel

I can not complain about either. Both rooms were nice. Clean. Comfortable. The AC at the MGM was a little better, the bathroom at the Flamingo was a little nicer. But the experiences were completely different. We picked the Flamingo because we like to hope around from one casino to another. We could be at 5 different casinos within 5 minutes. It took 10 minutes just to get outside the door of the MGM Grand.

So, if you are happy staying at one place to sleep eat, gamble and play, pick the MGM Grand. If you like variety, stay at the Flamingo. But when I come back with my wife, we’ll do the Bellagio.

Flamingo Pool with Cabana vs. MGM Pool with Daybed

I like a pool but need the shade. I want a place to lay down. I want someone bringing me drinks, not making me wait in line at a counter. The only way to guarantee that is to get a cabana or a “daybed”. We had one of each.

Friday morning, we had a Cabana at the Flamingo. It was a pretty hefty price – a $700 rental (which included a bottle of vodka and unlimited mixers) and a $300 food and drink minimum. To be fair, Friday is a pretty big day at the pools so the process are higher than a Monday or Tuesday). We got there about 9 and all of the non-reservable chairs were already taken. Our cabana had 2 sofas, A TV a coffee table and the rights to two lounge chairs in front. We met our server who brought our vodka, mixers and ice. She was very attentive and – throughout the day – we ordered food, some beers, other drinks and water. We also had a few friends stop over for lunch and drinks so hitting the $300 food minimum was easy. The cabana was about 10 yards from the steps of the pool. And let me just say the view was outstanding! Lot’s of bachelorette parties. The music was blaring and many of the bathers were also dancing in the pool. The crowd was definitely on the younger side – probably 80 % in their 20’s. (No one under 21 allowed). We stayed until about 4.

Monday morning, we had our daybed at the MGM Grand pool. It was right next to the lazy river. It had an umbrella that we could move as the sun moved. The bed was very large (king size or more) and had a drawer for storage and a safe (very good idea). This one was had no rental price – you just had a $100 minimum. We also had a very nice server. Although there were kids allowed, they did not bother us. There was music, but it was not so loud as the Flamingo. I did buy a tube to float around the river. We had a few margaritas and some salads for lunch and easily exceeded the minimum. On a Monday, the place was not very crowded. If you plan to go to the MGM pool and plan on doing any drinking or eating, check the price of a daybed or cabana.

Bottom line – if I had to do it again, I would do the daybed at the Grand. I am sure it would be more expensive on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday, but it was a better experience and definitely worth it.

Caesars Rewards Casinos vs. MLife Casinos

I go to Atlantic City a lot and generally prefer to play on the Boardwalk. That means – for me – Caesars properties. I do like the MLife property there (Borgata) but once you are there, you are pretty much stuck there. We re both Diamond with Caesars but only gold with MLife

This trip we played a lot at the Caesars properties due to their Quest for Rewards promotion. We hit every property. My favorite to play was the Cromwell – small but great conditions for craps ($10 tables with 100 times odds). The crew was great. They also had a nice selection of slots. I also enjoyed playing at O’Sheas. Same with the Flamingo – great staff. The Flamingo seems to be pretty quick to raise the minimums, especially for the card games. And I was shocked to see the triple 0 roulette wheel. I was also very disappointed with Caesars. We went there at 10 am on a Thursday morning and could not find a $10 craps table. Bottom line, I played my usual levels for 7 days and added 16,000 tier credits to my score to climb just over 25,000. I cannot complain

My MLife play was at MGM, Excalibur and Bellagio. Had fun at them all. But the craps minimums on Sunday and Monday evenings were all $15 at least in the evenings. As a result, most of my play was on slots. MGM and Bellagio are both great casinos to play in. But with my level of budget, I’ll be playing at the Caesars properties.


TO BE CONTINUED

 

for those who want to read my post trip report, here it is:

https://www.vegasmessageboard.com/forums/index.php?threads/too-old-for-what-post-trip-report.164223/

 

Great report! I look forward to more. I agree with you about Cromwell - great place for craps! BJ, too. But please stop telling people or it will get crowded!

 

I mirror your experiences. My major play is CZR properties in AC. I'm just under 25,000 tier with CZR and gold with MGM.

I'm not a pool person. I do like to hit the pool, but after a short swim I get antsy sitting by the pool. After 10 minutes I've had enough and I leave. No cabana needed.

I find the same as you did with craps. Like to stick with my $10 pass line game. Did you notice that CZR properties short the payout on the horn/hop bets? They're already so far in the houses advantage and they have to zing it to you even more! Amazing. Caesars does not short the horn/hops and I think Cromwell doesn't either...but the rest do (Harrah's, Flamingo, Linq, Rio). 30 FOR 1 on the 12...pays 29 when you win. So, yes, I like the CZR game if I don't plan on playing any horn bets.

 

Love the heads up comparisons. Thanks!