Trip report (long): Caesars 3/29-4/02

Here's my trip report on my first Vegas experience. It's long because I tried to provide many details. I went with my wife and my brother-in-law ("BIL").

Day 1 3/29/02
Got to Reagan National airport at 6:00am for our 8:20am flight. All the check-in lines were empty except for America West, which was the one we were flying in. There were about 20 families in front of me and there were only two people working at the check out counter. I finally got my boarding pass at about 7:30am. We encountered a lot of turbulence on the way and the pilot tried different altitudes, but nothing worked.

Got to Vegas at about 10:40am and headed for the shuttles. Followed the signs for the shuttles and looked for the Las Vegas limo shuttle but never saw it. I took the Showtime shuttle and headed to Caesars Palace to drop off our bags. When we got to Caeasars, there was no line at the check-in counter and decided to just go and check if the room might be ready. Got to the counter and gave the lady our reservation number. She asked if I requested two double beds and I said "Yes, two double beds in the Palace Tower". She said that my reservation wasn't guaranteed in the Palace Towers. I said I was shocked, since I had been told that I would be placed in the Palace Towers overlooking the European pool (which was a lie). She said that she would be happy to upgrade us for $60 extra per night. I asked was there any other way to get into the Palace Tower and put a $20 on the counter and she declined. I then put another $20 on the counter and she declined again. So I just told her to give me the regular room I was assigned. She told me that she could give me a room on the Roman Towers on the 5th floor right now, or I could come back in about 4 hours and get one on the 14th floor. She explained that they were the same room, just in different floors, so I went ahead and took the room now.

Got to our room in the 5th floor and it was nothing special. Two standard double beds. Small 19' inch Zenith TV, a table and two lamps. The bathroom had no separate shower from the tub and wasn't big at all. Then, I opened the window curtains and saw we had a fabulous view! We could see the entire air conditioner! Not just one end of it, but we could see the entire thing. I was willing to go and pay the $60 per night upgrade fee, but my wife didn't want to and convinced me not to.

We got settled and then went to the Mirage for our lunch buffet courtesy of Wagerworks. We were starving by this time since it was about 3pm east coast time. We got our buffet passes with no problem and headed to the buffet. The buffet line was HUGE, but we got into the complimentary line and only one person was ahead. He didn't have any line pass and was just a regular customer, but he still used the comp line with no problem. The family behind us did the same thing and had no problem either. The lunch buffet at Mirage was great. I got a huge chunk of prime rib, shrimp, grilled chicken, rice and bread. Desserts were very good also.

We decided to play a little slots after lunch to see how our luck was in Vegas. Those machines ate my $100 in about 10 minutes. My wife only lost $20 and my BIL won $200 in one machine and $60 on the other. Off to the Venetian to lose $40 more and my BIL lost about $10. We then saw the Canal Shops in the Venetian and then walked out to the other casinos. We passed by the Casino Royale and they were announcing free margaritas in the main bar and we went in, got the margaritas, and came out. Off to Caesars to rest before our night out. On the way to the hotel, some guys were giving out some fliers and I decided to take one. Then, I had about 6 others throwing fliers at me. One flier said "Pamela" was on special for $69, the other said "Alexi" had a 2 for 1 special for only $99 and she could be in your room in 20 minutes or less, and so on. I just thought it was funny at first, but it was kind of annoying getting these fliers every block down for the rest of our trip.

After resting for a while, we headed off to Bellagio for our Wagerworks buffets. Had no problem picking them up from the Club Bellagio. We weren't hungry at all since we stuffed ourselves at the Mirage. We went out to see the fountains and was really impressed with them. Very nice. Then went to the Barbary Coast for some low limit table games. Wife and BIL hit the slots and I found a $10 Paigow table. I was MONEY. I won about $500 on Paigow and the only reason I stopped playing was because we had that free buffet at Bellagio to go to. Got to Bellagio and saw the buffet line. It was ridiculous. There were easily 100 people in line to get in. We got into the comp line and only 5 people ahead of us. We got seated and the service was horrible. They didn't bring any drinks until 15 minutes after we sat down and we never saw the waitress again. The food at Bellagio buffet was excellent. I can eat there for the rest of my life and never complain. The desserts were out of this world.

Day two, 3/30/02
I could hardly sleep at night because I wanted to go out and play. Got up at 4am and quietly left the room without waking up the wife and went downstairs to play some more. The table limits are real high at Caesars, especially the Palace Casino. All I saw at 4am were $25 BJ tables, $20 Let it Ride, and $50 Paigow. Over in the Forum casino they had some lower tables, but not that lower. The only one $10 BJ table was all full. Went over to the Barbary Coast again since I had won there the previous night. I had no luck this time. I lost $100 in Paigow, and $100 in BJ. Went back to Caesars and my wife couldn't figure out why would I get up at 4am to lose $200.

We then headed to the brunch buffet at Caesars. I think it was close to $20 per person and I charged it to the room. I was entitled to two free breakfasts and one free dinner with my room reservations. The food here was very good and the service was excellent. This was the best serviced we'd ever had at a buffet.

Then we went to Ballys, Paris, Aladdin, Monte Carlo, NYNY, and MGM. A lot of walking. Won $40 at MC and gave it back to NYNY. Next was a visit to the pool at Caesars. Took the monorail from MGM to Ballys. I think this monorail is useless and it's easier to walk from MGM to Ballys. It is a very long walk in the MGM to get to the monorail and it leaves you at the back of Ballys.

Went to the pool and noticed the signs said Euro bathing is allowed in the Venus pool. I didn't expect to see any topless ladies there, but to my surprise there were about 20 topless beauties in the Venus pool. Wife didn't like it there so I had to leave, but my BIL stayed for about two hours.

After relaxing in the pool, we headed off to The STRAT . We started walking and it seemed close by so we kept walking, and walking, and walking. This thing is FAR. I run 5 miles each day, but walking from Caesars to the Strat felt awful. Went inside the tower, but was too chicken to get in any of their rides.

We then headed to Hoover Dam in a limo. Smooth ride to the dam in about 45 minutes. In my opinion the Dam was a damn disappointment. Wife liked it, but I would rather be playing in the casinos than going there. It was nothing special to me. The limo dropped us off at the Golden Nugget. I loved downtown. All the casinos are close by and the atmosphere was great. Played a little BJ and only won about $20. My BIL lost about $100. Got a huge Piña Colada at La Bayou and it was loaded. We then got a cab to go to Caesars and got the cab driver from hell. This guy got us into some freeway and was going 95mph. I was afraid to say anything because this guy looked like bad news. The fare came to $18.30! Gave him a $20 and quickly got out. Watched the Maryland game on the big 19 inch TV in our room and was very happy because I had placed a $200 bet on Maryland.

Day three 3/31/02
Got up at 5:30am for our Grand Canyon tour. Nothing special at the Grand Canyon, just a big hole in the ground. Wife loved it though. Got back to our hotel at about noon. Went to the pool again and again saw many topless ladies in the Venus pool. We ate at Planet Hollywood in Caesars Forum shops and then we headed to Harrah's to play this evening. Played $10 Paigow for about 3 hours and came out with $20. My BIL lost $200 here, and the wife was playing nickels, but won 1,000 nickels. We headed to the Flamingo and Ballys to play for the final time since we had to leave the next day. Lost about $500, wife lost her 1,000 nickels, and BIL lost about $300. Went to Caesars to eat at the buffet for dinner with only $14 in my pocket. Charged the dinners to the room. They had lobsters and cheap champagne this time and the service was okay.

Day four 4/1/02
Awful day since we were going back home. We ate at Caesars buffet and the service was excellent again. Food was just average breakfast buffet food. I also charged this to the room. Went to check out and had no additional charges. I was only supposed to get a total of 4 breakfasts and 2 dinners, but I charged 6 breakfast and 3 dinners. No complaining here. Got a cab to the airport and went through check in and security with no problem. We were at the airport with about 2 hours to kill. Put $10 in the airport slot and lost it all. We then went to the gate to wait for our plane to board. I thought I heard on the PA that they were offering a $300 voucher to anyone who volunteered to stay for another flight, but I thought that was just wishful thinking and payed no attention to it. With about 30 min. until boarding time, I went to BK to get a whopper to take on the 5 hour flight. I noticed that the America West monitor said that they had overbooked our flight. Then I heard that they were giving a $400 voucher to anyone who stays. I rushed over and told my wife, but she refused to stay another day. She complained that we had lost so much money and that we both had to work the next day, blah, blah, blah. I was angry because I wanted to stay another day. Then, 15 min. later, they announced that they were giving a $500 voucher to anyone who stays. That did it! I told wife she could go home by herself if she wanted, but I was staying in Vegas another day. She had to stay also and the BIL also stayed.

They gave us the $500 travel voucher and booked us first class on the next day flight. We had to look for a room for this extra day and decided to stay at Bellagio for $159. Got to Bellagio and smooth check-in line. Asked for a fountain view room, but no luck and I wasn't willing to try the $20 trick for only 1 night. We got a room on the 28th floor overlooking the pools. I loved this place! I never want to stay anywhere else but Bellagio.

We then went to the Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Excalibur, and Tropicana to check out these places. MB and Luxor are very nice. Wasn't impressed with Excalibur or Trop, but the Trop had very nice cocktail service. Since I had a travel voucher, I was planning on coming back on May 4th for the De La Hoya-Vargas fight. Went to MB and asked if any tickets were available for the fight and only ringside $1,200 were available. No thank you. Good thing because the fight was cancelled the next day. Next we went to the MGM to see if any tickets were available for the June 8th Barrera-Morales fight and they had plenty of them. Brought two tickets for $200 a piece! I was so excited that I would be coming back pretty soon. Went back to Bellagio for our final night. Did no playing and just relaxed in our room.

Day five, 4/2/02
Woke up at 9am wishing they would overbook again. Went to the Bellagio café for breakfast. Used the video check-out at Bellagio and left the hotel at noon. I only had $14 in my pocket and decied to give them to Bellagio and played $1 slots. I hit $300 on my third spin and quickly cash out. Got to the airport and went straight to security since we already had boarding passes from AW. First class started boarding at 12:50pm and we all boarded. I never want to fly coach again after being in first class. The seats and the service is first class all the way. Got back to Washington, D.C. and I am already planning my next trip in less than two months.

 

What a great trip! I agree with you whole heartedly on two points:

1. I want to stay only at Bellagio from now on

2. I only want fly first class

hahahahahaa!! (man, I hate reality sometimes)