Trip Report 4/23-27 Day 4/5

Our last full day in Las Vegas. Woke up early and went to San Remo's again for breakfast. Can you tell we like this place? LOL. We went shopping along the strip. Stopped at Grand Canyon store and a few others. Took my husband's picture at the Harley Davidson cafe next to Elvis's motorcycle. He thought that was cool. We walked, and walked and went into the Flamingo. We were handed a flyer going in for Bottoms Up. We sat at the bar and had a drink and played some VP. I put a dollar in and won $4.75 - ooohh big winnings then I decided to go looking for my favorite machine (Black Cherry). I found a Triple Wild Cherry. Put $10 in and within 2 minutes was up to $40 I then cashed out, it was $30. We were going to the show at 2pm. Had to run around to get the tickets redeemed. They don't tell you that in the beginning but we finally got in line and was seated. I didn't think our seats were bad. We were at the table in the middle to the right side (I think my husband tipped a $5). I thought the show was good. Of course I'll laugh at anything. After the show we started to go up the strip and the guys are getting thirsty again. We hear music and realize we are at the Carnival Court next to Harrah's. What a hoot that was! This is a must see. The bartender's do juggling acts with bottles and people just let themselves have a good time. Drinks are expensive though but hey you're having a good time. The bartender's whistle and sometimes you get free shots - so golf fanatic and I did this a few times. Yummmy Then golf fanatic and I decide we need to do some shopping. So we left the guys there and off we go to Treasure Island (where I bought my son a pirate playset), we go to the showcase mall and we see the outside of the Venetian but we didn't go in, we wanted to go back to the guys and get some dinner. Well, our dinner consisted of a hot dog and chips. Finally we leave and go back to our hotel room at the Tropicana.

Saturday morning we get up and leave for the airport. Our flight is suppose to leave at 11:40am but it is delayed until 12:10 - I think because of the weather in the central part of the U.S. We arrive back to Albany, NY a little before 9pm and we still have a 3 hour drive for home. We stopped for a bite to eat and made it home by 12:30am on Sunday.

We had a great time and look forward to going back again. I think this time I would stay at the Flamingo. It just seemed like everything was happening down there at that end of the strip. I liked the Tropicana but I would like to be more central next time. As for using Playsys.com - I wouldn't use them again. We had that deal where you play .75 a spin for 4 hours a day and it just didn't work out. Our hotel rates were good though so I might do it again just for that aspect of it. Like someone said on here, don't go chasing comps. And I do realize that people generally make their money on the tables, not the slots but hey I like those machines.

 

Interesting sidenote to my trip that has something in common with yours...

There were two people bitching about the amount of play they had racked up. They were off by like two hours or so. They called the slot manager up and he said,and I quote, "Playsys isn't the greatest way to get hotel rates, you should have called the slot club directly..."

I have always been skeptical about playsys, and this just confirms my thoughts... lol

 

Yes. We were not sure so we thought we would try it. Rack it up to experience I guess. I'm glad though that I read a thread at this site that said "Don't chase comps". We did get one night paid so I was happy with that but in the future I will not do playsys again.

 

I for one am pretty happy that you guys gave feedback on playsys. Alot of people were skeptical about them and your experiance confirmed what alot of us knew. I even got a call from them not to long ago and I tried to question them but they chose to turn it around on me and my decision to pay full price for a room instead of using them. Based on simple math and the need to "not chase comps" I will book my own room.. play at my rate and then ask for what I qualified for.. never hurts to ask... I guess we can call it a lesson learned, right?

 

Yes, a lesson learned but I mean our rates were still very good. $39 for Tuesday, Wed. and Thursday and $75 for Friday through playsys.com at the Tropicana. The Trop was offering something like $45.95 so we still saved money and got 1 room comped. I don't believe that we would have had a room comped otherwise because we didn't gamble that much there because (my personal feelings) the slots were cold and we went elsewhere to play. Did that make sense?

 

I too was glad to hear about your experiences with Playsys. I wasn't surprised - it did seem like a big question as to how they define an hour of play. I booked directly with the Tropicana back in February for a rate that at the time was about $100 less than their web site rate. This is for a 6 night stay. I actually wrote the casino a letter and told them my wife and I were planning to celebrate our seventh wedding anniversary in Las Vegas in May and gave them a rough idea of our expected play at their casino, myself playing blackjack and my wife hitting the slots. I explained that we were hoping to get a rate somewhat less that the rate listed on their web site. They signed us up for the slot club over the phone (joint account) which was supposedly the only way they could give me that particular rate. I've been monitoring their web site and although the rates for the 6 nights we'll be there have been slowing going down, they were still higher than the rate we were given. Plus, I still expect to get some of the nights comped based on our play. Well, I hadn't checked their web site for maybe two weeks now and just checked it for their listed rates for 6 nights starting May 15th. WOW!!! The rates almost doubled since I lasted looked at them. They did charge me already for the first night (it hit our charge card) so I'm not sure if they would or even could comp us for that first night. We're not going to chase comps but play at a rate we're comfortable with and sometime during our stay, I'll probably stop by and talk to a host to see where we stand based on our play up to that point. We're planning to go back to Vegas around the first week in October and we might stay at the Tropicana again if we have a good experience. 8 days to go!!!

 

Good Luck to you! It was my first time to Vegas so I know a little bit more now. I liked the Tropicana but thought the slots were very cold. We didn't contact our slot host and I know we should have. Again, experience needed. I hope you have good luck and a safe trip.

 

It's hard to play at the same casino especially when your not hitting there. Sorta depressing!! lol.... We played at the Trop just to get the free shirts (slot club sign up) but would not

 

play there again. When we go on the 19th I dont think I am even gonna swing that way.. I may stay more towards Gold Coast and the Palms. I read an article that said they have like a 97% payback on their nickle slots.. If we dont start hitting within the 1st $20 we move on and tend to not go back to that casino.. Do u ever do that??

 

Yeah, we heard about the nickel slots at the Palms. I hope to do most of my blackjack playing at the Tropicana and my wife will try the slots at the Trop. We will also try the video poker (FPDW - Full Pay Deuces Wild - 100.76%) at the Trop, and several other casinos. We found that the Palms, Barbary Coast, Orleans, Gold Coast, and San Remos all have FPDW machines. I may also play some blackjack outside of the Tropicana but that will be decided by the BJ rules at a particular casino and whether or not they have some free FPDW machines. Darn, still 8 days to go...