Trip Report – 12 June to 23 June 05 Part 1

Trip Report – 12 June to 23 June 05 Part 1

Sorry for the delay in posting this TR. I got back to work last week and all hell had broken loose when I was off. I’ve been working solidly from 06:30am through till late in the evenings since I got back in order to clear some of the back log of work and it almost feels like I never had a holiday. The only reason I’ve managed to get this written is because I’m off work today as there are a lot of marches and potential riots happening in Edinburgh due to the G8 summit that is happening here at the moment.

I’ll try not to bore everybody with a step-by-step run through of my trip and I’ve tried to give a little bit of information on some of the elements of my holiday that I thought people might be interested in, such as the quality of the hotel, etc. I’ve broken the report down in to a few sections and posted some pics. I apologise for the quality of the pics as I’m not the greatest photographer in the world. I've also had a bit of bother working out how to compress my pics and put them in to this report so I hope I've done it properly.

If anybody has any specific questions about my ramblings then please ask.

Monte Carlo – Mini Review

I had booked the MC back in February and got a really good rate that worked out at about $1000 for the eleven nights. Lesley (my wife) and I were really impressed with the hotel and think that it is definitely the best value hotel on the Strip. I admit that it’s not as flashy as some of the larger hotels (Bellagio, etc.) and the fixtures and fittings are more understated than most but I actually felt more comfortable in the surroundings. I also preferred the casino floor as it was easy to navigate and the Wheel of Fortune Machines were easy to find, which was our preferred slot machine of choice during my stay. It also didn’t take a whole fifteen minutes to get from our room to the pool as was the case with the MGM. The location is ideal and I found the proximity to CV’s was really useful for buying all the essentials, such as sun cream, water, etc.

The Fridge

As I posted previously, I had been told that a fridge was going to cost $15 per night ($165 in total). On my trip over, which took about twenty hours, including a short stop in NY, I had been rehearsing my plea of ‘I really need a fridge for breast milk and insulin,’ and even thought about having a mini insulin attack on the floor if the need arose. However, when I went to check in I gave the clerk a really big smile and I just asked if we could get a fridge for the room. He began by saying how much it was going to cost and I just kept smiling and then he leaned forward and said that I looked like a guy who needed to store medicines (he probably thought I was heavily medicated due to the stupid grin on my face) so there wouldn’t a charge. Result! It’s a shame that I didn’t get a chance to do my ‘Breast milk and Insulin,’ routine as I think I would have got an Oscar for my performance but I may bring it to Broadway next year as part of a series of small plays on how to get freebies.

I tipped the clerk $20 and thanked him very much. I also gave the guy who delivered the fridge $20 as I was happy about the good start to our holiday.

The Room

Deluxe with Two Queens (sounds like a drag show)

There were no rooms directly overlooking the strip available but the check-in clerk did give us a room overlooking the pool and part of the strip. If you stood on one leg, tilted your head and squinted you could also see a bit of the Bellagio fountains.

The room was on the fifteenth floor, right at the very end of a long corridor, which was good as you didn’t hear all of the other guests walking by. The room was a good size and fixtures and fittings were well maintained. The beds were really comfy and I thought that everything was very clean.

The bathroom was a reasonable size but quite basic and my only negative comment is that the shower head was designed for nobody over five and a half feet tall. I did a lot of limbo-ing under that shower during my stay.

I’ve read previous posts where people have complained about the paper thin walls and noisy plumbing. I have to admit that I could hear the odd noise from the room next to us and the plumbing was quite noisy but only when you were in the bathroom. The odd noise never bothered me and I would say that you would have to be quite a light sleeper or of a ‘sensitive,’ disposition to allow the regular neighbour and plumbing noises to really annoy you. Anyway, when we got back to our room most evenings we were that tired they could have started demolishing the place and we wouldn’t have known.

Room 15-136: http://www.travel2vegas.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=19&stc=1

Spot The Fridge: http://www.travel2vegas.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=20&stc=1

View From Room During Daytime: http://www.travel2vegas.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=21&stc=1

The Pool

I was a bit anxious about whether the pool area was big enough as I had read a number of reports saying it was too small. I never found this to be the case even on really busy days. I spent most of my time in the lazy river, which was conveniently located next to the bar that sold cocktails by the yard for about $10. We normally sunbathed up the back next to the tennis courts and mono rail as there were a few trees to hide under when it got too hot. It was also quieter there as most families with young kids stayed close to the pools.

You can rent rubber tubes for the lazy river but we just bought a couple out of CVs for $5.99 each.

Wave Pool: http://www.travel2vegas.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=22&stc=1

Lazy River: http://www.travel2vegas.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=23&stc=1

Staff

All the staff at the hotel were very helpful and courteous apart from a couple in the Café, which I’ll go into in more detail in a later TR.