Thanks I love reading trip reports. Pat
In a message dated 11/26/2010 2:06:02 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,
bayfieldkent@yahoo.com writes:
Nice! Thanks for sharing.
JW
From: straub4 <_straub@shore.net_ (mailto:str…@…net) >
Subject: [vpFREE] XVP: Trip Report Las Vegas November 2010
To: _vpFREE@yahoogroups.com_ (mailto:vpF…@…com)
Date: Thursday, November 25, 2010, 9:16 AM
TRIP REPORTWEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 17, 2010 - OLIVE'S SQUASH
RAVIOLI/BELLAGIO FOUNTAIN SHOW/CHECKING INTO THE HILTONLeft from Manchester, NH via Southwest non-stop to Las
Vegas. Arrived about 1:15 PM and shuttled to the Rental
Center. Dollar has changed its procedure for Express
members. Now they have a pre-assigned and pre-inspected
vehicle in your specified size category next to the Express
booth in an assigned numbered parking spot . All the
paperwork is in that car and is assigned to that vehicle. So
from what I can tell, you no longer have your choice of
vehicles. Previously one could take any car in your size
category from a row of cars and before making your choice
you could check the mileage, accessories, condition, etc of
each car. We were assigned a silver Ford Focus. I had no
complaints other than there was no Satellite radio
subscription although the car was equipped with Satellite
radio (unlike previous automobiles I've rented that came
with the subscription in effect at no charge). Perhaps some
cars at Dollar still have it, but unfortunately this one did
not.Since my wife enjoys butternut squash ravioli and few
restaurants have this on their menu, I found out online
before leaving that Olive's had it on their lunch menu. So I
had made a reservation for lunch there. Our lunch bill,
however, without any alcoholic beverages consisting of two
lunch entrees, two soft drinks, two coffees and two desserts
came to $108 before tip. Despite it being only a lunch, that
was our most expensive meal of the trip even though it was
ordered from their lower priced lunch menu. The saving grace
(beside that the food and service were good) was by dessert
time it was 3 PM therefore, time for the first Bellagio
fountain show of the day. Since it was 70° we were sitting
outside directly in front of the fountain. So watching the
fountain show while having dessert, took some of the sting
off of the high cost of lunch. While we were there we also
checked out the Bellagio conservatory. The conservatory
still had the fall show and it was well done.From there we drove to Las Vegas Hilton where I had a four
day reservation based on a USPS mailer offer for $139 total
including a Friday and Saturday night. After being in our
room awhile we noticed that there was an ashtray and matches
on the desk and surmised that it was a smoking room.
Although I couldn't smell any smoke, my wife detected a
faint smell in the room. I called the front desk, and they
indicated that yes we had been placed in a smoking room,
even though I had requested a non-smoking room. I had no
issue with it except for the fact we weren't told about it
before accepting the room. Needless to say I was upset that
no one told us when we checked in. I called the front desk
from the room and the woman on the phone indicated that they
had no non-smoking rooms available that day, but they would
be able to move us to a non-smoking room for the remaining
three days of the trip.My also wife feels it's also important to point out that
she was also disappointed that there was only one bar of
soap and only one wastebasket in the room (none in the
bathroom) . I could care less, but apparently having two of
each was important to her. I rectified the one bar of soap
issue when I walked by the maid's cart in the hallway.After getting settled in the room, I went down to the
casino and played full pay Loose Deuces Wild VP. After about
an hour I lost $100. Since we had a late lunch, we decided
not to have anything further for dinner or supper and a
after long day of travel, we decided to go to sleep early.THURSDAY - FPDW VP AT THE RAINBOW CLUB
CASINO/STRIPBURGER/FREE PLAY AT TI/THE FAB/BAHAMA BREEZEThe next day, Thursday, I got up at 5:00 AM and headed to
Henderson to the Rainbow Club Casino. The attraction here is
the full pay deuces wild at the $0.50 level. After about 3
hours of FPDW video poker, with the help of four deuces, I
left up $400. From there I drove over to the Palms and
continued playing FPDW at the $0.25 level. After two hours
there, I ended up breaking even there. One benefit, there,
however, I did receive a $5.00 food credit from the
promotional booth. None of the other promotions such as VP
Bingo or Gift Cards apply to play at the FPDW machines.For lunch we decided to go to the Stripburger at the front
of the Fashion Show Mall. The fries were especially good. I
had the regular fries and my wife had the sweet potato
fries. The burgers were also very good. The check was
reasonable considering the prime Strip location (maybe
because it doesn't have many walls, and just canopies for a
roof, therefore the rent is more reasonable than if it were
entirely enclosed).After lunch, since we were right there, we (actually she)
decided to go shopping in the Fashion Show Mall. My wife
bought a few things that she "needed". I mostly hung out at
the Apple store and then did a quick walk across the
elevated walkway to TI to see if I could finagle some
freeplay there.Despite having an MGM/Mirage player's club card in the
past, (as a result of the new TI ownership) I was allowed to
resign up for their slot club and I got $5 of FP for sign up
and another $5.00 for providing my email address. I
converted the $10 of FP into $10 cash at a crappy paytable
BP VP machine.After my wife was finished shopping (meaning she did not
want to carry any more stuff), I convinced her also to go to
TI where she also got $10 of FP and converted hers to $10 in
cash as well (thanks Phil Ruffin).That evening for entertainment we went to the Brendan Pub
at the Orleans and saw the musical group, The Fab, a
Beatle's cover band (free I might add). They did an
excellent job both vocally and instrumentally and a good
time was had by all.Later, we went to the Bahamas Breeze restaurant at the
corner of Paradise and Flamingo. The food and service were
both very good as usual the prices reasonable. Before
heading up to the room at the Hilton I played some more FP
Loose Deuces VP but lost another $100.FRIDAY - PEPPERMILL BANANA BREAD/TERRIBLE'S LOSS
REIMBURSEMENT/CLARK COUNTY MUSEUM/CARVE/RAY ROMANOThe next morning, Friday, I went to the Peppermill and got
two coffees along with a loaf of warm banana bread to go. I
brought it back to our room for breakfast for my wife and
me.Afterwards, my wife hung out in the room and I went to
Terribles' to take advantage of the Las Vegas Advisors'
member's online freeplay reimbursement offer. The offer was
such that you will be reimbursed up to $100 of your machine
losses in the form of free play. My intent was to play $5 x
5 coin bonus poker and make a couple hundred and quit or
lose $100 and claim my $100 in freeplay reimbursement. I
signed up at the Player's Club Desk and after 4 hands I lost
$100 and I immediately went back to the players club to
claim my FP. They couldn't believe that I had lost $100 so
quickly. It was the case, however, and they then allegedly
set up my account with $100 in free play. I then attempted
to use the free play at their $1.00 9/6 jacks or better
machine. Unfortunately, these machines were excluded from
the free play/promotional offer. I then went to try to use
it on a number of other VP machines with no luck. In
addition to many machines being excluded, there seemed to be
a recurring problem getting my PIN to work. Messages at
various machines kept saying incorrect PIN or PIN on hold,
etc.After four trips back and forth to the players club desk,
they F-I-N-A-L-L-Y were able to get the free play to work
with my PIN at a machine with a lousy paytable. I ended up
spending almost two hours there (the vast majority waiting
in line at the Player's Club Desk numerous times and failed
attempts to get my PIN working at multiple machines) when
this should have taken about 15 to 20 minutes at most. I
recouped $80 of my $100 loss so ended up losing $20 on the
promotion. I assume others experiences will be better than
mine.Before leaving I figured maybe I can get my $20 back using
a $10 MP there, but on my roulette bet, black came up when
red was supposed to.After that long and frustrating experience, I went to Ellis
Island where I had $10 of free play coming to me from a
previous promotion I had done on my last trip. I quickly
turned the free play into $10 of cash, and a $10 matchplay
into another $20 of profit. From there I went to the Palms
where I played 25 cent FP deuces wild VP for about three
hours and essentially broke even there.Later, in the afternoon, my wife and I drove out to the
Clark County Museum in Henderson. The curator is
occasionally seen on the Pawn Stars TV show in which he is
called upon to authenticate items. We were hoping to see him
at the museum, however, he was not in that afternoon.
Nevertheless, we had a good time walking around the museum
and the grounds. We got to see many items and displays
relative to the evolution of Las Vegas. They also have a
number of buildings and actual houses on the site from the
early days of Vegas inclusive of original appliances and
furnishings etc., which were quite entertaining. After a
couple of hours there (for the very reasonable admission fee
of only $1.50 per person or $1.00 PP if over 55), we then
drove to the Green Valley District to buy some snacks at the
Whole Foods Market to tide us over until dinner. Before
going up to the room at the Hilton I played more FP Loose
Deuces video poker and lost another $20.Prior to leaving on the trip, at restaurants.com, I
purchased a $25 gift certificate for $3.00 for the CARVE
restaurant at Eastside Cannery. I had read a number of very
good reviews for the restaurant and prices were more
reasonable here than at similar Strip-located steakhouses.
When we arrived we found out they were even more reasonable
than I had thought: my wife was planning to get the 6 oz.
filet mignon, which is on the regular menu at $20 ala carte,
but unbeknownst to us they were having a special which
included the 6 oz. Filet along with a few fried shrimp (as
well as a potato and vegetable) for the grand sum of $16.She had the special. She indicated they shrimp were okay,
but the Filet was one of the best she's had in a very long
time. I had the New York steak, which was also very good.
The bill was ridiculously cheap and even more so after the
deduction of the $25 certificate which only cost me $3.00.After dinner we then went to the Mirage where we had
tickets to see Ray Romano and Kevin James. There was a brief
warm-up comedian (who was very good) and Ray Romano did a
solo routine which was funny followed by Kevin James doing a
solo routine which was also surprisingly very good. I had
seen Kevin James a couple of years ago and he was at that
time, just not very funny and gave a somewhat unenthusiastic
performance. This time he was energetic and funny and he's
lost a lot of weight. After James finished his solo act,
they then teamed up and did a combined act for about 20 to
30 minutes. Overall I thought the show was excellent
particularly when they got together and became more
improvisationalSATURDAY - RAIBOW CLUB CASINO/GVR/CAPRIOTTI'S/HARD ROCK MP/
PAWN STAR SHOPPING/GORDIE BROWN/PEPPERMILL DRUNKEN PATRONSThe next morning, Saturday, I again drove to the Rainbow
Club Casino in Henderson and after a couple of hours of 50
cent full pay deuces, lost $100.On the way back to the Hilton, I stopped at Green Valley
Ranch and played more FP Deuces and some Loose Deuces and
after abut 45 minutes lost a hundred.Since my wife had a sandwich in the refrigerator at our
room at the Hilton from the Whole Foods Market from the
previous day, she asked me just to bring her back some soup
to have with her sandwich in the room. For my lunch, I
picked up a turkey sub sandwich at Capriotti's at GVR and
brought it back to the room. On the way up to the room I
stopped at the Hilton coffee shop and picked up a cup of
matzo ball soup for my wife. We then had lunch in the room
together. The Capriotti's sub was excellent as usual.After lunch we went to the Hard Rock where my wife got $10
free slot play using an ACG coupon and I played a $25
matchplay that I had gotten from a mailer. She won $10; I
lost $25.From there, I drove my wife to the church on Las Vegas Blvd
next to the Encore. While she prayed, I headed downtown to
pick up tickets for the Gordie Brown show that night at the
Golden Nugget. I used the 2-for-1 coupon from the Las Vegas
Advisor's booklet. I then headed back to pick her up at
church.After church we spent some time at the adjacent gift shop
on Las Vegas Blvd. and then on the way back downtown we
stopped at the Gold and Silver Pawnshop (the location
of the show the Pawn Stars). My wife wanted to get T-shirts
for her two brothers from the store. I had been there
previously, but my wife had not, so she also wanted to see
what the store was like. As reported, it's relatively small
in a not-so-great location and in not-so-great condition.
Most of the merchandise is overpriced jewelry, watches,
coins, and t-shirts. Still there were some of the items that
were purchased on the show. None of the stars of the show
were there when we were there.From there, we drove downtown and parked at Binion's
garage. You are allowed three hours of free parking. Since
we still had time before the show, we went to the Fremont
and played FP $0.25 Pick'Em video poker. We both know this
game very well as we play it at home at the Mohegan Sun
casino. After about a half hour we each lost about $20 and
then headed over to the Golden Gate for a shrimp cocktail.
As usual they were excellent. I tried to use the Fremont
Street experience coupon for a 2-for-1 shrimp cocktail,
however, the most recent coupon they had had an expiration
date of October 31st when I printed it. So they would
not accept it. Still, it was a great deal for $1.99 per
bowl/cup and the shrimp were fresh and tasty.We then headed to the Gordie Brown show. I had seen it
before but my wife had not. She enjoyed the show immensely.
Gordie and his talented band put a lot of effort into the
show. His impersonations are not only accurate but
also funny (sometimes brutally so).After the show we headed to the Peppermill for a late night
supper. I had the club sandwich and my wife had a fruit
waffle. As usual there were a few loud drunken (but funny)
patrons providing a great Vegas atmosphere in addition to
the great service and food.At this point for the trip overall I was down about $55
overall from gambling activities.SUNDAY – BLUEBERRY HILL PANCAKES/RAINBOW CLUB/PALAZZO
CHECK IN/ GRAND LUXE & THE PATRIOT'S/ROD STEWARTIn the morning, I headed over to the Blueberry Hill
restaurant by myself to try some of their well-regarded
blueberry pancakes. I went to the one on Flamingo and sat at
the counter. The pancakes were a light, fluffy, abundant,
fresh and tasty. I particularly liked that the whole
blueberries were not only cooked within the pancakes but
also were on top. I also got to listen to the many grand
conspiracy theories of the waitress at the counter as she
explained them to a guy a few seats from me who couldn't get
a word in edgewise.After breakfast I continue east on Flamingo to I-515 South
and made my way back to the Rainbow Club Casino again. I
spent about four hours again playing 50 cent FP deuces wild
video poker and ended up breaking exactly even.Today was the day that we were checking into the Palazzo
for two nights. After check in upon entering the room my
wife was so happy with the room she was nearly in tears. In
the past, we have stayed at some decent hotels such as the
Bellagio, Wynn, Red Rock, GVR, and even the Venetian. This
room, however, was nicer than any other at which we have
stayed. I got a semi-deal @ $119 per night + resort fees
(via a smartervegas.com discount code saved $20 per night
off the regular room rate plus got a free upgrade to a strip
view room). We were on the 42nd floor which was actually
higher than the roof of the Venetian part of the complex. So
the strip view was the most spectacular from a hotel room
that I've seen since I began going to Vegas regularly 6 to 7
years ago.Prior to leaving for the trip my wife bought a $25 gift
certificate online for the Grand Luxe restaurant at the
Venetian/Palazzo. We were informed by e-mail that there was
a problem with the E-Certificate and to make up for it they
were going to Fedex us two $25 plastic gift cards. They
FedEx'd them to us at the Hilton the previous day. So Sunday
we went to the Palazzo Grand Luxe for lunch. Our $50 lunch
only cost us $25. We sat at the bar tables to eat so that we
could watch the second half of the Patriot's versus
Indianapolis football game. I had the chicken breast
sandwich with a side of salad and dessert. The food as usual
was excellent. What made it better was that the Patriots won
the game by three points and perhaps would've lost or tied
it had it not been for a last second interception off of P.
Manning.That evening we had tickets for Rod Stewart at Caesars
Palace (saved $100 on two center stage orchestra seats using
Travelzoo). Rod was energetic and entertaining. He ended up
doing only one of his Great American songbook renditions
(thank God) and the rest of the evening were his hits. The
musicians and backup singers were excellent and he really
put on a great show (for an old guy).After the show we walked back to the Venetian casino food
court and had sandwiches and salads, which we both enjoyed.MONDAY - RONALD'S DONUTS/FOUR DEUCES AT THE
PALM'S/MAGGIANO'S/GIFT OF LIGHTS/HUMAN NATUREOn Monday morning I decided to drive to the Chinatown
section to try Ronald's Donuts a highly touted donut shop. I
had their famous apple fritter. It was large as well as
crispy on the outside and soft and loaded with pieces of
apple on the inside. It was only $1.25. From there I headed
South on Arville to the Palm's to play some deuces wild VP.
With the help of four deuces I managed to end up with a $300
profit that morning. I also used the $5.00 food certificate
at the Coffee Bean in the food court and purchased a coffee
and a bottle of water with it.For a late lunch we went to Maggiano's at the Fashion Show
Mall where I had a $10 off e-mail coupon that was emailed to
us from Maggiano's for our anniversary. As usual the food
was excellent. I had chicken parm and my wife had gnocchi's.
The service was excellent and we had a view of the strip
from our seats. The prices were reasonable particularly
after deducting the $10 coupon.From there we drove out to the Las Vegas Raceway where they
were having the Christmas light decoration exhibit known as
the Gift of Lights. Previously this was in Sunset Park,
however, this year they've moved it out to the Raceway. We
arrived at 5 PM and we drove through it. It takes about 20
minutes to see all the exhibits. It was entertaining.After driving back to the strip we headed to the Imperial
Palace to see the Australian group, Human Nature. They sing
Motown songs and are produced by Smokey Robinson. Most
reviews have been exceptional. Despite our awful seating,
completely to the right of the stage in an awful room, the
show was still highly worthwhile.TUESDAY – WRONG ROOM SIR/PALM'S/BACK HOME
Unlike most previous trips, this trip I used very few
matchplays since I had used most of those coupons on a
previous trip. Tuesday was our last day and our flight left
about 2 PM. So in the morning I made a quick trip over to
the Palms to attempt to increase my winnings above $245
playing FP and LD Deuces Wild VP.Before leaving the Palazzo that morning, however, about
7:00 AM, I went to fill up the ice bucket so that my wife
would have ice in the room. She was still sleeping. Upon my
return to the room with the filled ice bucket, I put the key
in the door and opened the door. I noticed that the TV that
I had left on in the lower level of the room was now off. I
figured my wife must have gotten up while I was getting ice
and shut it off. Next I went to put the filled up ice bucket
on the tray where I got it. Weirdly, there was already an
ice bucket there. How could this be? Something wasn't right.
I looked over to the bed where my wife was sleeping when I
left the room about 3 minutes before and some old guy is in
the bed and whips his upper body upright from the bed and
says: "Who the f*** are you??" It then struck me that I had
entered the wrong room. Apparently, his door latch had not
completely latched and when I pushed the door open, it
opened without me needing the right key. The room was very
dark and I just said to him that I was in the wrong room and
that apparently his door wasn't locked. I got the hell
out of there as fast as I could. Oh boy! I could just see
security come running after me and arresting me. I felt bad
for the guy, but to some extent it was his own fault for not
making sure his door was latched before going to bed.Anyway I quickly dropped off the filled ice bucket in my
own room and got the hell out of the Palazzo as quickly as I
could. I drove over to the Palm's. From my perspective
nothing further came of it as luckily my wife and I never
heard another word about the incident.Unfortunately, however, at the Palm's that morning, after a
few hours, instead of increasing my winnings, I lost $200
and decreased my overall winnings to just $45 for the trip
overall. Since I still had not lost any money gambling and
actually made $45 overall, I was still not unhappy with the
overall outcome. Nothing else to report, other than we
made it home without further incident.That's all folks. Thanks for reading this.
SteveT------------------------------------
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— On Thu, 11/25/10, straub4 <_straub@shore.net_ (mailto:str…@…net) > wrote: