I arrived in Las Vegas at midnight on the Thursday evening flight from Toronto delayed by
more than an hour due to high winds. The plane was jammed and the flight very long and
boring. I took a taxi to NYNY and checked in quicky enough. The casino floor was quite
busy. I was on a 2 night comp with $200.00 Free Play and $100.00 food credit. I went to
the Players Club to get my free play activated and went back to my okay but now dated
room to go to bed as the flight had done me in and it was four hours past my bedtime.
Not a great night's sleep (the beds are NOT comfortable) but breakfast at America was
surprisingly good. When one is on a comp everything tastes so much better! I was
disappointed to find that the $1.00 Picke'm Pokers were now no longer FP. I decided to
just have some fun and play non-vp games on the free play and some table games as I
was reserving my real play for the Palms and the Southcoast. There really is nothing
playable at all at NYNY and it really is past its prime. Unless sensational offers come to one
there is little or no reason to stay there more than one night.
I managed to convert the freeplay into real money and then got lucky winning several
hundred dollars at Monopoly.
I had a grand lunch at Il Fornaio and made major damage to the bulk of my food credit
(the lobster stuffed ravioli are amazing!), collected my cashback ($ 30.00) and then
proceded to check out at about 3.30pm. I took a taxi to the Palms where I was on a one
night comp (I could have had two) and invited to an event where a draw was to be held for
$10,000.00 in Free Play and where everyone who attended received $250.00 in Free Play.
My room was very nice and the bed made the NYNY bed feel like an army cot.
I dropped my bag and went down to play. All my NYNY gains vanished quickly and by the
time 7pm rolled around I was four hundred down.
The event was held in the "Lounge" space which was very pleasant. The crowd was small
but very amiable. A finger food buffet had been set up with shrimp,crab legs,chicken
spears,egg rolls,fruitÂ…etc which was all quite tasty and more than enough
to snack on and make one forget about eating dinner. The draw was held and prizes of
$500.00,$1000.00 and $2000.00 in Free Play were doled out. I was not fortunate this time
however my tablemate was,and his joy at hearing his name being drawn more than made
up for my disappointment at now being drawn. The event was classy and fun and to top it
off everyone received a quite great pure silk Palms bathrobe as a parting gift. I went back
to play DDB at the .50c and $1.00 level with again no luck. The casino was jumping it
being Saturday and the noise level was quite high. I felt the fatigue and jet lag kick in at
around 10pm and gave up trying to improve my losing situation. I was now down $850.00.
I woke up at 5am (courtesy of my thoughtless neighbours in the hallway returning from
their all night carousing as they screamed and laughed and banged the door shut to their
room next to me). The bed at the Palms was wonderful and gave me a great night's sleep
nevertheless but now I was wide awke so I jumped into the shower and decided to go
down and have breakfast on my points.
The coffee at the Palms was wonderfuln and soon after another good breakfast I resumed
playing $1.00 DDB. I went down three more hundred dollars before finally hitting quad
fours and an ace kicker for $800.00. Check out time was 11am and it was now 10.15am.
I decided I had had enough and went back to my room to pack and check out. I was happy
to see the do not disturb sign on my neighbours door and to hear the sounds of snoring
coming from the room. I opened my door and returning the favour, I banged it shut with
unbridled delight. I packed,checked out on the video screen and again made sure to bang
my door shut with the greatest of gusto as I made my way to the elevators.
A $25.00 cab ride (including tip) got me to the Southcoast (7 miles from Mandalay Hotel)
where I would spend my next two nights comped with full food and beverage.
Check in was hassle-free and very pleasant. The casino is a dead ringer for the Suncoast
but seemingly roomier. I went to my room on the 23rd floor and was quite impressed. It is
very new but the room was big and bright with a huge plasma TV screen and a great
bathroom with a raindrop showerhead. And the biggest surprise of all was the bed! So
comfortable it made the NYNY bed feel like a rock pile and the Palms like a Futon.
I was joining a friend who was there on just a room comp. Since my RFB comp was good
for 2 people, he could join me for all the meals. I spent my first day exploring the
property.which found to be very agreeable. It has a major equestrian centre where a
Cutting Horse competition was being held which explained why the majority of the people
there were dressed in full cowboy regalia (including spurs that jingled as they walked). I
went to visit the arena and was duly blown away by hy how big it is. They can have a rodeo
there and room to accommodate hundreds of horses! It was quite a revelation. I remember
that years ago Sam's Town was the "cowboy casino", well not anymore!Yeeha!!
The restaurants are all quite very good. The Italian restaurant was delicious and
much,much better than its Southcoast counterpart. As was the Steak House. The food and
quality were topnotch and yes even though a comp makes everything taste better,I must
admit that prices were reasonable enough that had I had to pay for my meals I would have
done so with no complaint. Especially at the Oyster bar. The lunches there were just
delicious!
On Sunday I took the shuttle (20 minutes) to the Barbary Coast to sort out my comps at
Ceasars since the conversion to Harrahs. I had several hundred dollars back in January and
now I showed $26.00! To Ceasars credit they rectified everything and re-instated my
comps even though the system had managed to lose me completely! I did notice however
that my online account registered zero comps and action,even though I spent a couple of
futile hours playing multi-strike poker. I found the atmosphere at Caesar's was so frantic
and touristy that I decided to curtail my visit. Harrahs casinos are a frustrating experience
at best and I realize I am getting to be too impatient to put up with it. My friend and I had
lunch there at the Café Largo on our comps and were not impressed with the quality of
the meagre buffet. I was honestly glad to get back on the shuttle to the Southcoast and its
easy laid back atmosphere.
My play ended up being successful overall with DDB at both the .50c and $1.00 level
resulting in quite a few regular quads over the period, culminating with a 4 aces and a
kicker for $2000.00 and four deuces and a kicker for $800.00. The end result was that my
entire trip cost me only $100.00 plus airfare and as I had booked on a seat sale my airfare
was $300.00.
My cab to the airport from the Southcoast was $21.00 with tip. Overall I had a great time
and with proper planning (like renting a car or planning ahead when I know I need to use
the shuttle to go on the strip) I would definitely stay at Southcoast again with no
hesitation. The Palms would have to make it attractive to me to make me do so again like
they did this time and NYNY would have to REALLY make it worth my while to stay with
them again, though to be fair,this time they gave a good inducement and I was too tired to
care where I stayed for my first night.
My return home was on time and uneventful. My flight was at 3.15pm and the Southcoast
extended my check out time to 2pm without any fuss. My bill was $10.95 for a one day
internet charge, after having charged approx $400.00 in food bills to my room.
Had a great time and can't wait to return!