Wednesday, May 6, 2015

April 2015 - Saying Goodbye to the Riv, Service on a Silver Platter, and the Moving Bus Stop


Saying Goodbye to the Riviera, Service on a Silver Platter, and the Moving Bus Stop

DISCLAIMERS

More and more, I write these trip reports because I like to document the little trip detail tidbits that become memories so I can refer to them in the future.   In some of my past trip reports where I had a few pages of detail, spending hours typing it up, there were about 1000 views, and yet in one recent report, the most frequent topic of the comments was debating the model year of my car rental, rather than comments on the true trip related content.   That told me even more to write these reports for my own purposes rather than writing what might interest others more.

Another series of comments in my prior reports were asking for pictures of winning hands.   I play a lot of Video Poker.  When you play a lot you have many (hopefully) great hands, but is that really noteworthy?   You can have some great winning hands and still lose, as I did three days this trip where I hit four aces in double bonus video poker for 800 coins, an yet lost significantly for each of those days.   So, aside from some off the charts positive run, I question that value/entertainment people get from seeing winning hands posted.   Should I post a pic of the four aces, without the hundreds of losing hands that made those sessions losing ones?  So, you won't see any pictures of VP hands in in this report.  


FYI:  Clicking on a picture brings up a full sized view.


M Resort


One of my current pet peeves is the ridiculous overuse/misuse of the word "perfect".   It has become one of those trendy words, and with that has lost its meaning.  "Perfect" used to have to do with perfection.   When you ask me my address and I give you the information, "perfect" is not the word that should be used in a response to my simple, factual answer.   So, imagine how entertained I was when the early 20's female front desk clerk at the M Resort managed to give me no less than EIGHT "perfects" (we counted them, smiling after each one) during the check in process!   In all the things I have done in my life, I don't even any of them have warranted eight "perfects"..... until now.  I am SO GOOD at checking in!  /pats self on the back/

Upon entering the hotel room I found that there was no laundry bag inside, which was not typical.   Housekeeping was just across the hall so I asked her for a bag.  She didn't have one, and neither did the other housekeeper on the floor.   She said she would get me one.  I just assumed someone would bring them each a package of bags and housekeeping would then knock on the door and hand me one when they arrived.   There was a knock on my door, and when I opened it, I saw a man presenting a silver tray with a..... yes... a laundry bag on it.   I could not contain my amusement, and said to him, "on a silver tray? Really?", before thanking him and knowing I already had an amusing memory to document for the trip.   I wonder if I asked for more toilet paper if it would have had the same delivery treatment?  ;-) 

On Thursdays at the M there is a free slot tournament and you get one free entry, and can earn up to four more if you have about $1,250 in Video Poker play.  I was happy to see that at least for this week, instead of the boring slot tournament, they changed it to Triple Double Bonus Video Poker, which meant now at least some skill would help in the competition, instead of pure luck.   We went with an aggressive strategy of only holding pairs (and 3 of a kinds of course), or 2-3 cards to a royal, or an Ace.  This allowed us also to play a lot more hands,to try to hit a big hand.  You need to score pretty high to place.  Before we started, we watched one woman taking about 10 seconds to carefully hold four cards to an inside straight which if hit would have paid hardly anything in the big picture, and cost her the time of playing a couple of more hands in that time.  Each session is 5 minutes of play.  Our aggressive strategy paid off with a four fours with kicker win on one of the sessions.   In addition, all entries qualified for three drawings in the evening.   We first found that one of our entries was picked for a $30 win in the drawing, and then later on that our highest session score placed in the top 20 for a $50 tournament prize!   Certainly not life changing, but rewarding, and fun to know we cashed in both the contests.

I love the M, but there are a couple of issues I have with them.  One is that they act like their hotel pool is like the Hard Rock's Rehab club, and they have a security guard physically search (not just look inside) any bags you bring in.   There were two middle aged women ahead of us, and our "hero", the security guard, found a small bag of chips and nuts, and was proudly announcing that they would have to be held for them, and outside food was not allowed by at the pool.  Then he found a bottle of prescription medications she had in her bag and treated her like she was a drug king pin, asking for ID, etc.   Finally, the guests had enough of this search, and they turned back to the hotel, forgoing a day at the pool due to this search.   I have been to hotel pools at MANY quality hotels (note I said hotel pools, not pool clubs), and none of them search your bags except the M.   I voiced my displeasure to the policy and pointed out that none of the strip hotel pools search bags of hotel guests, but they insist that their pool is like a club pool.   On this nice weekday afternoon, there were about 20 people by the pool, the majority of them middle aged women hotel guests.  Just like club Rehab, right!  ;-)    I mention this in case anyone else has to deal with this.  I encourage you to voice or write them with your displeasure over this policy.  If enough people do so, maybe they will rethink this silly intrusive policy.


THE STRIP


We checked out a renovated room at the Westgate and were pleasantly surprised.   They did a nice job, and the beds were top notch!   There were quite a bit of smaller renovations around the property, some completed and some underway.   .


Westgate room




QUIZ #1

We saw these new super oversized pots which were part of the renovations on the way to the pool.  Take a look at the picture and take a guess the price of this pot. It was about 3.5 feet tall.  They left the price tag on the pot.   Post your guesses and I will post the actual price of the pot in about 10 days.










Here are a couple of pics of the refreshed (not enough change to say renovated) Westgate pool area.  They added some astroturf around the pool and they are painting the concrete leading from the hotel to the pool.




Path from hotel to pool.  The fences are there because they are coating and painting the concrete, similar to what was done at the FSE.


Refreshed cabanas near main pool





CAESARS

This was the first time staying in the Octavius tower at Ceasars.   The room was very nice, but really not much nicer than the Augustus tower, and after experiencing the long extra walk through a low ceiling narrow hallway to get there, I would pick Augustus over Octavius next time we stay there.   I should have clocked the walk from the parking garage to the Octavius tower.  It must be near a quarter mile and it gets very old, fast.

We went to Caesars Diamond lounge and I was glad to see that the real chicken wings were back, instead of the product they had last time that were some kind of processed chicken on a bone.   This was a Sunday evening yet I have never seen more people on line for the entry and buffet inside!  For at least the first 45 minutes there was a line of about 15 waiting at the start of the buffet, and when we left, there was a line of about 15 waiting outside to for people to leave in order to get a seat.

For our free Diamond Card show for the month, we chose tickets for a ride to the top of the Eiffel tower at Paris.   I liked the views from here much better than the High Roller Observation wheel.   A few of my pictures looked just like some postcard pictures!

















LAUGHLIN



We went to Laughlin just a couple of days before the dreaded River Run Bikers weekend so we could avoid the crowds and the requisite insanity, but the event still had an impact as many hotels had closed off much of their outdoor parking days early so that they could fence in huge areas for bikes to park.   A few places including Harrah's updated their signs on their doors to now specifically exclude "chemical agents" from the property in addition to "colors".  Gee, I never see signs like this at the Wynn! ;-)


Just your typical preparation for the bikers!  Make sure to leave those chemical agents at home!

A sign put up in advance of the biker event.

Every entrance/exit had one of these tables added to collect glass from bike run customers before leaving.  

Note the Lite Beer ad in black and white.

These flags with the "no colors policy" were on every post on the main driveway.  There were dozens of these!  Enough to get the message?




The measures that everyone has to go through to cater and avoid all the biker gang issues amazes me.   We saw several beer company advertisements on signs welcoming the bikers, and what at first looked odd was the fact that they were all in black in white.  Did you ever see a Budweiser or Lite Beer logo in black and white?   Why was this done?  To bend over backwards to avoid using colors in their ad which might favor one gang over another.  Ridiculous!  How about this beer companies?  Stand up and avoid advertising at events that have so much potential criminal activity that you have to alter the color of your ads!   No, you can't avoid it, because it's all about the money!


The first morning in Laughlin, being that my body was still on east coast time, I was up early, and happened to catch the sunrise just before it made it's way over the mountain.

Sunrise at Laughlin


On the ride back from Laughlin, close to where 95 joins 93.  There is a large flat open land area where we often see people running off road vehicles and running remote control planes, and the like.    Today there was a nice dust devil there spinning away, and we managed to get some good shots of it.  Way in the back is an electric solar plant.









Okay, in my last report I had some fun with the ridiculous spelling/grammar errors on the signs at the Harrah's Laughlin buffet, and my impact on the word became apparent again, as it looks like they became away of my report, and attempted to fix the signs.  But Harrah's being Harrah's, they of course did not fix all of them.

My favorite was the former "Fresh Fruit Display" sign, which I questioned in my last report if it was a "display" should we be eating from it?  Well the braintrust at Harrah's had them "update" the sign by what looks like rubbing off the word "Display" from the sign, instead of reprinting in.   The result is a monument to me and my prior report, and to the "quality" of the "resort"



On the plus side, they actually reprinted the Lo Mein sign since my prior report, correcting the spelling, but our old friend "Powder Sugar" sign (and some others) still remain in their original glory!

The shadow of the word "Display" still visible.    Maybe next month;s budget will allow the $5 for reprinting the sign?

Lo Mein sign has been reprinted with correct spelling.

"Powder Sugar" sign, still in discussions at Harrah's HQ on coming up with a plan to correct it!



Some news, an aside,  Harrah's Laughlin is now the first Laughlin Hotel/Casino charging a "resort fee"!   Insert your own joke here.



SAYING GOODBYE TO THE RIVIERA AND SOME RIVIERA MEMORIES


We stopped at the Riveria,  the first hotel we stayed at years ago.   Back then, they were one of the last casinos to continue to have "mini junket" programs which they called a "spree", where you played a certain amount at the table or slots, and then qualified for cash, reduced room rate, comp shows, and meals/food credit.   My first stay there was for a blackjack spree.   You had to play about 5 hours of $5 double deck (good rules) blackjack in two days to qualify.   What I remember most is that the pit I played at was right at the bottom of the stairs, just steps from the strip, and from my seat at the table, I could see he lights of the cars as they drove by and the lights of Circus Circus coming on.   During mild times of the year, like the time I was there, the doors were all folded back, so you had an open air, unobstructed view outside.   So there I was feeling the mild desert air coming in, playing $5 blackjack on the strip, something that cannot be done today anywhere (the Riv removed the pits that were close to the stairs and put slot machines in that area, years ago).

I found the Spree information sheet for Slots/VP, which I participated in later years..   You needed to play $9,600 coin in on your trip (2-3 days?) to qualify.  Once you did, you received (in addition to the normal slot cash back of 0.25%):
- $100 cash (which is twice your expected loss for $10k of 9/6 JB VP)
- $100 comp (in addition to the buffet and drink credits)
- $25 bar credit (back then drinks were cheaper)
- Comp admission to all 4 running shows, including Splash.
- 3 Comp buffets daily (I limited my meals there because I valued my health)

The Riv at one time in the late 90's had an entire row of coin based 9/6 25c Jacks or better machines, and when you cashed out the coins hitting the metal drop tray sounded like golf ball sized hail hitting metal because the trays were so far below the machines..

The buffet was pretty bad, home to the worst tomato juice on the planet for breakfast, but if you paid for the buffet at the slot club in slot points, breakfast was the equivalent in points to redeeming $2 in cash back, in other words, very cheap!   Caesars buffet charges about $25 for breakfast now, and you know what, a made to order buffet omelet pretty much tastes the same at a $2 buffet as at a $25 buffet.

The Riviera was home to the major annual spring billiards tournaments and conventions, which actually was running when I visited in April.   They will have to find another place.

I have to confess, I actually saw Crazy Girls on my first trip there, as it was comped on the Spree program.   I still remember the awful recorded "Girls, Girls, CRAZY GIRLS!  Girls, Girls GIIIIIIIRLS!", lip synced theme song that started the show.

The area of the North Strip in the late 90's was busy (not as busy as the Flamingo area) because you had the Stardust, Circus Circus, Slots of Fun, Westward Ho, and Silver City all within walking distance.  Westward Ho had the 9/6 25c progressive, and had about 30 9/6 machines tied to it (nearly a whole room), and the progressive was usually over 100% ($1250+)

I still have my Riviera denim jacket (I will add a pic in time) which I bought with slot points.   Now, suddenly, its historic.

As time went on I found that the video poker benefits were better than Blackjack.  And about $7000 coin in in a 4 day trip qualified you for 6 months of "calendar rates" which were about $30/night.   I continued playing VP there and remember one memorable night were they offered double slot points (which was rare) from 12am to 2am, which I took advantage of, and this being the Riv, not many others noticed or cared to participate.   So I was pretty much alone on this midweek night and the main sound I remember is the "Top Dollar" slot machine sounds, which was being played by one of the few other players that night.. (example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1G4t7SZmfw)  "First offer"  "Second offer"  "You're a winner", over and over again.   These machines are still around in many casinos, and when I hear them I still think back to that night.    We stopped playing/staying there after the one Purple upright 9/6 Jacks of Better machine, which was the only good  VP machine remaining, was removed in 2006,

Years ago we took in a free (2 drink minimum) show of the Lon Bronson band at the Lounge at the Riviera.   This was a show that started each Saturday night at 1 or 2am and featured some of the best musicians from all the venues/shows around town, who hung out there and played after hours, featuring an excellent brass section.

My negative memories of the Riv are led by their ridiculous check in lines, which were legendary in Las Vegas.   There were many times when the check in wait was over an hour.   I have no idea why they in particular had such issues with check in.

We took many pictures of the inside of the hotel and casino, although much of it looks very different than it did ten years ago, when we stopped staying there.    One of our stays was during the time they were filming the movie "Casino" there, which was filmed very late at night.  I was back counting at the blackjack tables when some over zealous guy from the movie production team came over and yelled at me thinking I was walking around the area in an attempt to be in the background of the filming, which was funny to me, as I was just trying to find a good count to sit down and play.   There were no scenes with non actor customers in the background in the final movie, so either that scene was edited out or it was just pure paranoia/power that made the production guy act like that.

What might be most unique about the Riviera is the old school pool, which, like many of that era was originally equipped with a deep end, and a diving board.  Of course the diving board is long gone, but the 9 foot deep end of the pool, a REAL pool, is still there!   Other than the possibility of the Sahara (now SLS) pool, it may very well be that this is the last deep pool in LV, and after this closes, we will be left with 4 foot deep kiddie pools around town.

With all the hoopla about the closing, the place was more full than in any of the 8 or so prior visits we had there in the past ten years.  Kind of ironic that it's closing now that business is picking up.   We spoke to a gentleman there who was seeing us take pictures and was telling us how it was his first time at the Riviera.   We spoke to a long time security guard who was thankful and seemed touched to hear our words of concern for his future, post closing.

What follows are many pics of the interior of the Riv, a way to preserve some memories.

The "dreaded" escalator to the dreadful Riviera buffet.  I am proud to say we only ate here a handful of times despite many days at the hotel.








Hallway of Monte Carlo tower where we usually stayed.

Elevator waiting area in Monte Carlo tower.

Ice machine in Monte Carlo tower. only noted because I used it so many times over the years.   I wanted to be the first person ever to put a picture of an ice machine in a trip report!

Monte Carlo tower room.  Somehow I remember them being nicer, years ago.

Main showroom where the show Splash was held.


This large empty room is the original "Nickeltown" area, which had it's own food area and bar.   The food area was known as "Hound Doggie's".  The room eventually became the sportsbook, until that too was moved.


They issued free wooden nickels at the end of the bar which were good for 5 cent popcorn, and lemonade when this Nickeltown section opened.

The former Nickeltown entrance, from the inside.

This was the area of the little gift shop inside Nickeltown.



High limit slots area.



Current Sportsbook area.


This more or less was the daytime view from the blackjack tables I used to play at.

A pit was in this slot machine area, right off the strip, where I played Blackjack on my early stays there in the 90's

View in front the strip sidewalk.












Main bar which surrounded the entertainment lounge.




This was the post where the one remaining 9/6 Jacks or Better Video Poker machine stood for years.













The cool part is they are holding up nine fingers for the new tallest in town, nine story Riviera Hotel which was being constructed!













NINE, that's right NINE foot deep pool!

9 Feet deep!



Former check in parking area which had misters on hot days.



Former bell desk when front desk was near casino.


Old front desk area is now hidden behind that back wall of the tournament area.



Unique escalators from middle of casino to underground valet parking area.



Underground valet parking area.














DOWNTOWN LV


We had our usual great meal at Hugo's at the Four Queens.  I typically get a glass of wine with dinner, usually the Shiraz, and although by no means am I an oenophile, but I noticed that it had a better taste than the previous visit, so I asked the long time sommelier, John, if he updated the selection.   He smiled and complimented me since he did indeed move to a newer vintage, and was impressed that I had noticed.


The last time I made it to the new downtown market, in October, the second day it was open, and posted the first pictures, someone mentioned that one of the signs in my pictures showed that they were going to be selling Stumptown coffee, and that it was rare as it was only offered in a few places.   So, this trip, when we walked by, I wanted to stop back in and try it to see if the hoopla about it was justified.   Well, after just over 6 months since the opening, they already, as of mid April, switched from Stumptown coffee to Peet's, so I passed.

At the Cal, it looks to me that they are starting a long renovation process.  The woodwork from the main part of the casino pit looks like it is going to be history.   They were working on one of the posts in the pit, and had transformed it from the wood look to a "modern" light colored painted look.   Outside, they were in the process of painting the red trim on the building signage that runs along the building, as the former red color was now bleached after years and looking very faded.


Old post near Cal pit.

New post near Cal pit.

Repainting red on Cal sign.




For many years the Boyd Gaming casinos had the many of the best value restaurants in Las Vegas.   Just like many things, that it changing.   After closing Pasta Pirate at the California, they have made some changes at the Redwood Grill there.   Salad is no longer included with dinner, a sneaky way of increasing prices.

I had the "pleasure" of playing at a bar at the California where a bartender, David, was working.   He proceeded to talk under his breath (but plenty loud enough for me to hear), badmouthing every person he came in contact with after he turned away from them.  Customers, employees, even people on TV.   At first it was entertaining, but after 15 minutes of his hateful, angry, insulting comments about everyone and anyone, I couldn't take it, and I left to head over to Main St Station to play at their bar instead.  



Long Saga - The Moving Bus Stop

This part is long and detailed, I fully understand many may just want to skip it.   It was much more annoying living it as opposed to reading it, I assure you.   

We decided to try something new and take the Westcliff Airport Express (WAX) bus back to the airport from downtown.   Since our trip was ending downtown, and I rarely even touch my rental car during my downtown stays, I figured that I could return my car just after arriving downtown and save a few bucks (more like $100) on the rental, while experiencing this amazing $2 bus fare value back to the airport.   I returned the car, took the car rental shuttle back to the airport, and then took the Westcliff bus back downtown, for $2, which leaves from level 0 at the airport.   I assumed that I could buy a bus ticket at the kiosk, and thought that it might even be mandatory, but the machine had no mention of WAX tickets.   Some locals there told me that the kiosk did not sell tickets for this route, and instead you just slide $2 into the bill acceptor on the bus, which was the case.    Something I still haven't figured out was that the schedule posted at the airport bus stop was slightly different that the PDF schedule which I downloaded from the LV transportation website that same day.  It turned out that the posted schedule was correct, while the PDF was not.   So it was a few more minutes of waiting.   I exited the bus at the end of the FSE, at LV Blvd, so it was a short three block walk back to hotel.

The bus back to the airport was much more of an experience though.   The bus driver who had dropped me off downtown warned me about a some sort of detour route.  I didn't comprehend it all due to his accent, but I knew I needed to check into this.  The day before our return trip, we decided to check out the return stop and watch the bus pick up.   The stop is right next to Binions, a very central location.  It turns out that there is a security guard who doubles as a bus information person who works at the stop.   So, we asked him about the return trip.  Sure enough, he told us that there was a detour due to construction in the area, and that this route would now not pick up here, but instead on LV Blvd, about a block from where I was dropped off, at the same place the "Duece" bus stops downtown.   He even pointed to a big orange detour sticker that was plastered on the route information sign at the stop, informing of a detour that would be continuing for four more days.   We spelled out our trip for the next morning, and he reaffirmed that we would have to wait further down at the detour stop to pick out up the bus.

This information was too important for us to just take one person's word for it, so I called the transportation company information line to speak with someone on the route detail.  Surely the company running the buses would know for sure!   Well, oh my god!   The "expertise" level of these representatives was stunning!   It was like talking to a computer.   All they wanted to hear from you was an address you were starting from, and where you were going to, and they would just type this information into probably the same website as the public would.    When I described my location as "downtown LV, Freemont St hotels" it was met as if the person I was talking to lived in Iowa (no, they were in LV),    She had almost no idea what I was talking about, and just wanted an address!   After giving her an address, she directed me to a local bus, which would have taken much longer than the express, and also did not stop close by.   I asked her why she gave me this bus when there is an express, the WAX.   She put me on hold and came back with some info on the WAX bus, which was still less information than I already had.   "Well what about the detour?   Is there one for this route?".   She then put me on hold.   Now, shouldn't the rep at the transportation center know about any detours and be proactive about giving that information?   What good would it be to give me the times my bus is running to the airport if you don't tell me that it's not stopping at the normal stop?    She came back to tell me that yes, she had found that there was a detour, still in effect tomorrow, but was only for the northbound route, not affecting me.   Of course, this information was different than what the person at the stop gave me, and also disagreed with the detour sticker on the bus stop.  Who should we believe?   Are we going to wait at one stop and then miss the bus back to airport when it turned out wrong?

A second call to the transportation company, with a different agent, gave similar, half competent results.   This just in, the RTC transport representatives are not "perfect"!     We then went down to the detour bus stop and asked one of the drivers of a different route about this detour, and she too confirmed that tomorrow's bus would be stopping at the detour stop.

I specifically did google searches on the route with the words "detour" and there was even a section of the transportation website that listed some detours, but this one, for the WAX bus, was not even mentioned on their own site!

The next morning, after breakfast, we walked by the original bus stop at Binions and noticed that the orange detour sticker was no longer on the route sign!   Did it fall off?  Did someone peel it off?   Yesterday's sticker said the detour was in effect for FOUR more days!

Our only hope for definite truth, it seemed, would be to each stand at one of the two possible bus stops earlier in the morning, an hour before our bus time, at the previous run, and physically see where the bus would stop.   Can you guess what we found?   The bus stopped today at the original, convenient, non detour, bus stop, which meant all the information we had gotten in our proactive attempt for correct information was not correct!  Had we listened to most of the advice, we would have missed the bus.  ( We did have back up plans of taking an airport shuttle or a cab.)

It's a long story, but what we can learn from it is that you should question the answers on important information even if they come from supposedly correct source for information!   Had we not done our own research, we would have missed the bus,   We did all we could do in advance, asking the on site rep, asking the transportation information line, asking a bus driver, and still the information was wrong!

With all that being said, the express bus is a great bargain, and is reliable once you know where it is going to stop.  We just happened to be there during this confusing detour.


FSE


The term "street performer" is giving these downtown people WAY too much credit.  There is no "performance" or talent in putting on a costume!  A new term needs to be coined for these people!

As far as the FSE goes, downtown is really going downhill.   In the "old days", you just had a few beggars.   Now there are many more.   Then there were a few "street performers" who would show up in the evenings in their costumes.   Now though there are many of these "street performers" and now many their outfits are eyesores at best, and are now even around in the day times.   Yes, maybe the idea of the old man in the Borat man thong is funny at first, but when you have to see it every time you walk by, it gets old, quickly.   The latest addition to the "performers" is the new trend of very overweight girls, wearing nothing on top but pasties, effectively topless.    This is happening even in the early afternoons!  I know LV is not a great family destination, but there are some cases where people take their children on vacation outside the casinos.   They are going to be exposed to this crap!

I know some of you are reading this and saying, come on this is funny stuff, they are just having fun.   Well do you have any family or friends that might be looking to plan a trip to LV?   Would you knowingly send them downtown to the FSE as part of their trip, knowing that they would be seeing this as an exposure to what Las Vegas is and expect them to like it?   


QUIZ #2


Post your answer.  Which casino do you think this picture is from?



SUMMARY

As usual, all nights were comped, including some nights where I was double booked in two hotels.   All meals were comped as well.   I used a 2/1 Delta airlines voucher that Delta Amex card holders are entitled to once a year to keep the airfare down.   As far as playing goes, it was probably my worst trip ever, and aside from two days with very small wins, the other days were significant losers.  The trip was net loss due to not having any royal flushes on this trip.  I would rather have won, but I knew one of these type trips was going to come sooner or later.  I had fun despite the losses.  We got to say goodbye to the Riv and have our first experience with the WAX bus to the airport.   My favorite day of the trip, once again, was the day we spent at the M Resort, and cashing in two of the promotions there just made it that much nicer.