My first stay at Caesars Palace LV
My best gambling buddy and I were comparing comps and decided we had
enough in our banks at Caesars to take advantage of the low-roller
room offer he received: $89 a night, Su-Thu with a $25 dining comp.
I had an offer as well, but it didn't include the dining comp, so we
went with his. We especially wanted to clear out our comp accounts
before Harrahfication and the onslaught of Total Rewards.
When making the reservation, my friend requested the Palace Tower,
figuring there was no way we'd get into the new Augustus Tower. The
reservationist said the offer was only for a standard room and the
Palace Tower was available for an additional $50 a night, but then
suggested that we could see what we could "arrange" at checkin. We
booked three nights, arriving on Sunday and departing on Wednesday.
We were excited because neither of us had stayed at Caesars although
we played and ate there regularly. We both receive comp rooms from
smaller, less luxurious casinos, so we're not Caesars caliber players.
We arrived Sunday afternoon and decided to wait until late to check
in. There are many theories about how you can affect your room
assignment based on the time you check in, and they're all probably
flawed. I have one player friend who always checks in after 1:00
a.m., and he usually ends up with an upgrade to a suite. We decided
to wait awhile and see what happened.
First we drove to the Sahara to swipe our cards for the $ Million.
We didn't win that, but my friend won a comp buffet. Although it's
always the kiss of death to say the words, "How bad could it be?" we
said it and headed upstairs for dinner. I've never been there
before, and I actually like the décor. It's dark and very Arabian
Nights. The food was just fine with good variety. I stood behind one
woman at the carving station who kept asking, "What kind of meat is
that?" so I finally told her that was what a real ham looked like and
that they don't come in the little rounded can shape. She stopped
asking questions then. The beverages are self-serve, which I prefer
in a buffet.
After eating too much, we headed over to the Hilton to drain those
accounts of whatever was left. We played a little Pick `em at the
Spacequest Bar but left after being deafened by the sounds of the
late NFL game. I'm assuming the change in theo and comp squeezing is
generating the kind of crowd that was in the bar that night: twenty-
and thirty-somethings that actually pay for exotic drinks and sit in
front of and facing away from all the good machines. We headed over
to the player's club to get the last of our cash redeemed, which for
me wasn't much since I'd used up a bunch on the last trip. After
getting my slip, I told the boothling who was helping me, "Goodbye."
She said, "I hope you'll come back" and I said, "That's not likely"
and she said something like, "I know. It's unfortunate, and I hope
you know that there's not anything I can do but listen to and record
your complaints and keep smiling." She was very nice. I meant to
remember her name, but it's long gone. At least she acknowledged
there was a problem and sincerely apologized to me.
We pulled into Caesars about 10:00 p.m. and decided it was time for a
room. My friend went up to the desk, handed the clerk a twenty, and
said, "We'd like to see about getting into one of the newer towers."
This was after we'd had a long and agonizing discussion of whether
$20 was enough to do anything at Caesars, considered breaking the
taboo and getting a fifty just for the check in, decided $50 was way
too much, thought about getting two green chips instead, etc. The
desk clerk put the twenty in front of him and pulled up our
reservation. I decided I wasn't helping, so I wandered off. The
clerk then said, "In order to put you in the Palace Tower, you'll
need to pay an upgrade fee of $50 per night." Then the most amazing
thing happened. The clerk next to ours, who was helping a very
demanding (rude) lady who had grabbed his phone and was having a
loud, unhappy conversation with someone, looked at the twenty, looked
at my friend, and stepped in and said, "The Towers are running rather
high tonight. Let's see what we can do." With a couple of
keystrokes, we'd been assigned a room in the Augustus Tower and were
wished a pleasant stay.
We headed up to check out the room. Really terrific! We had an even
room number, so we faced south and directly over the Bellagio
fountains. The décor is ultra-modern and very trendy. Rooms are big
and comfortable with a nice shelf/drawer unit that holds the big flat
screen tv and the huge mini-bar. The sitting area had a dining table
with three chairs, coffee table, chair, and a velvet sofa. There's a
good size desk area with a round mirror and a framed full length
mirror in the hallway. The bathrooms are marble tile with separate
jet tub and shower and (for some reason, everyone seems enamored with
this feature, but I don't watch TV in the bathroom, so I didn't care)
a smaller flat screen TV over the dual sink area. Bathrooms are
almost identical to the ones in Venetian standard rooms, which I've
been in but never rented (never mind). The beds were really nice,
with down comforters and lots of pillows, and padded oversized
headboards. They were very comfortable and easy to sleep in.
I had two minor complaints. First is the quality of the towels. I
know that if they had nice towels they would be stolen regularly, but
these were standard hotel issue. The second is about the groovy high
tech phone on the desk. If you like a pitch dark room to sleep (or
do anything else) in, bring something to block the screen on the
phone. It's probably 6 X 9 and flashes images that constantly
change. I didn't really pay much attention to it, but I think you
can talk to Celine Dion or Elton John when their picture comes up.
Who knows?
The selection in the mini-bar is extensive. There are things in the
fridge and also on top of the shelf unit. We were looking at all of
the items until we noticed the sensors in each slot, so we put
everything back quickly and hoped we wouldn't get charged. More on
that later.
One other benefit to being in the Augustus is the accessibility.
There is quick access to the Strip on one end and the pool on the
other. The café is right there, and there is a porte cochere right
off of Flamingo with easy in and out.
It was time to play, so we hit the VP. I like to play in the big
area between the Colosseum and Bradley Ogden. There's relatively
good cocktail service and lots of traffic to distract you when your
VP session isn't going well. I stuck with JoB the whole time since
I've moved up to $.50 on single line and rely on the lower volatility
to keep me in the game longer.
My friend likes to play Fortune Pai Gow at Bally's so we headed over
there after an hour or so. I like Bally's and I wish they'd put in
more good machines, but at least some of them are playable. I've
become addicted to 5-Play at the quarter level. I know this isn't
mathematically correct, but I figure the multi-play decreases the
volatility enough to justify the increase in per hand bet IF I stick
to JoB and not play the available NSUD or Super Aces. Whatever. I
need a Royal!
Caesars has many good machines but I really hate the slant tops that
have the chairs bolted to the plate on the floor. You can move the
chairs closer, but there's a limit, and I can't ever get
comfortable. For this reason, I didn't play Super Times Pay, Multi-
Strike, or Spin Poker. I stuck to the machines where I could move
the chairs anywhere I wanted. I didn't find anything missing that is
listed in the database, but I didn't check the entire inventory.
My VP results were mixed, and I ended up down about $300 for the trip
with about $19K coin in. It's hard to estimate my coin in accurately
because I didn't keep track of how many points I put on at Bally's
vs. Caesars, and the points cost more at Caesars, but that's about
right. I had a GREAT second day: playing five play and being dealt
four kings, playing single line and being dealt a straight flush. No
Royals this trip, and I'm still waiting for the dealt Royal on the
five play. I won a little at Pai Gow which I finally agreed to play
(kicking and screaming).
Restaurant mini-reviews: My friend and I don't go for fancy dining
in LV. In my opinion, it takes too much time, and it makes me
sluggish in my VP play to have big meals. Yes, I think it decreases
my ER, unless we get a comp to a nice place. We were charging
everything to the room. We ate at Viale, the Augustus Café, and Café
Lago at Caesars, the Sidewalk Café at Bally's, and the Patisserie at
Paris. Viale is the restaurant outside Caesars near the escalators
to cross the Strip at Flamingo. It was windy, so we ate lunch
inside. Menu is moderately pricy but the food very fresh with good
service. We had great salads.
Augustus Café is the new 24 hour café at the base of the Augustus
Tower near check in. We ate breakfast there one day. It was very
good but really pricy (coffee-$3.00). There were lines most mornings
and no place for a line pass that I could see, but no line when we
ate there. I never saw any menu from there except breakfast.
I've always like eating at Café Lago, and they didn't disappoint me
on this trip. I order from the menu and don't eat the buffet (I miss
the Palatium). Breakfast has essentially the same offerings as
Augustus but cheaper. Lunch and Dinner has great pizza (one is
plenty for two people), salads, and appetizers. Café Lago is no
longer 24 hours since Augustus opened. We had a nice time with our
server at dinner so she sent the cafe manager over to talk to us.
Very pleasant. Breakfast was good, too, and served really fast.
We met friends from CA at Bally's Sidewalk Café and had really great
prime rib sandwiches, and the service (which is occasionally slow
here) was prompt and accurate with the three different checks. I've
always recommended this place since my first few visits.
I like the Paris Patisserie for breakfast, which offers hot entrees
of blintzes, French toast, or a ham, egg, & cheese croissant. They
have great coffee, the line moves quickly, and the baked goods are
always delicious. They also serve sandwiches and salads for lunch
and dinner. I've often cashed a comp there for sandwiches for the
plane when we fly. And don't forget to ask for the 10% discount at
Ballys and Paris restaurants with your Connection Card! It doesn't
apply in every restaurant, but it helps when it does.
On the last morning, we grabbed our cashback and headed to checkout.
We admitted to the clerk that there was a credit on our account that
we didn't know anything about. She looked it up and discovered it
was a credit for a mini-bar item: the Caesars Love Kit, which
includes condoms, lube, and flavored body paint. It was one of the
items we'd gawked at on the first day and quickly put back into the
slot. I assured her we hadn't used it, but that we probably
shouldn't have a credit for it, either. It was good for a laugh.
After applying our comps, the room charge was reduced to a total of
$8, so I stopped complaining about the price of all the meals we
charged at that point.
We really enjoyed staying at Caesars. I've always been ambivalent
about the Bellagio fountains, but they're really great when you can
see them at night from 30 floors up. I am concerned about what
Harrah's will change, but the employees we talked to seem to be
happier with Harrah's than they were with Park Place/Caesars
management, so maybe everything will be fine. There are magazines in
the rooms that describe the merger and list the hotels now owned by
the company (they left out Flamingo Laughlin!). They also say that
Connection Card members will not lose anything when we are converted
to Total Rewards. I'm hoping Harrah's is looking hard at same day
cash back, the one thing they don't offer in TR.
Since we drove to LV, we decided it might be fun to head down to the
El Cortez and try to win a jacket. We were wrong. It wasn't. We
did, however, get two ice cream bars for hitting slot jackpots over
$25 and I converted $5 freeplay into $12.55 on a nickel slot. For fun
(and in honor of my good friend Babe) I put $10 into a KBJW machine,
which I've never played and never studied. I hit a SF and cashed out
$65. Something about a blind squirrel comes to mind.
Thanks for reading. Sorry to all the digest people that hate these
long TR's and have to hit the scroll button to get through them.
Royals and triple cash back to everyone!
Drew