I'll start with my usual disclaimer. My report is light on gambling detail. I play quite a bit on our trips, and because I do, I, like anyone with a lot of play, get many 4 of kinds, etc. Many times when I get these "great hands" I still have losing sessions. This is also known as the long run. So, I don't post much on the playing, unless I feel something is personally noteworthy. What I am saying is, if you are looking to read a trip report with a lot detail on gambling, and pictures of wins, stop reading now!
The Delay!
Now, I've flown many, many times, and have read many trip reports, but until now, never came across the issue we had with this flight! I was told that our flight was delayed due to an "equipment change". I had been tracking the inbound flight that would be on the same physical plane that we were to be taking. Well that flight was due in right on time! Okay, so maybe there was a mechanical issue with this aircraft that meant it would be out of service once it landed, and we couldn't board it? That would seem like a reasonable scenario, so I kept asking other agents for more details, not settling for the simple "equipment change, 90 minutes delayed" line. Well after talking to three people I got the real story. There was no issue with our physical aircraft which was coming in, and yes it was on time! Ready for the explanation?
There was another flight that was delayed earlier, and so the management decided to give them our plane, and switch our flight to another plane coming in that was on time (for that flight's schedule), but would not be landing for over an hour, making us 90 minutes late! Wow! So the passengers on our flight were less important than ones on this other flight! Now there were two delayed flights instead of one because of this decision! No apology was given to anyone, not by announcement or by people at the gates. No free food, drink, or airfare coupons were offered to anyone! We were all forcibly helping them out with their issue with another flight, yet there was not even a thank you for us! Why not? I say because they hoped that no one would question them as to details of what caused the "equipment change", and you know what, except for one person on the flight (me) they were probably right!
I wrote a letter to Southwest Airlines saying that I fully understand and expect that there can be weather delays, mechanical delays, crew delays, and I accept all of those as events that can and will happen time to time. But I had a problem accepting this delay because it was totally artificial, and was caused by a management decision!
Day 1
We arrived at our hotel room and discussed dinner since we missed the 6pm deadline for planned happy hour pizza. I remembered reading that there was a pizza of the month deal that had the happy hour pizza price all day, even for at the table diners (happy hour pricing is for bar seating only). Even though we were going to eat almost immediately, I decided to go onto opentable to make a reservation. It was 6:45pm and I made a 7pm reservation! We had booked Everclear comped tickets for the show in the Golden Nugget Showroom for 8pm, so we had just under an hour to eat. We went to eat, and as we were seated, we overheard that there was a 45 minute wait for walk ups without reservations, so my silly idea of making reservations 15 minutes in advance payed off!
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We asked what the pizza of the month was for the special, and the waitress had no idea, even though we were halfway through the month! Turns out it was chicken and arugula. We also ordered the "Ward" spinach salad which was very good and enough for two!
While waiting for the pizza, I went over to the box office to pick up our Everclear tickets. After ordering, the Grotto manager stopped by to chat, and we told him about our parking whirlwind that we just experienced.
After 30 minutes, we inquired about the status of our pizza, since it was 25 minutes to show time, and we were in effect told that our order was lost! Our waitress now expedited our pizza order. After we finished eating, and after we asked for the check, the same manager came by and apologized for the lost pizza order, and said there would be no charge for the entire check! This was a nice gesture, and we headed up the escalator where the showroom and buffet areas are situated. Our first sighting was this man ahead of us, with the tattooed scalp!
We quickly found our seats, about 12 rows from the stage, and shortly after, the concert began. This show was a bit of a departure from the typical Golden Nugget "52 Fridays" show series, as many of the acts are ones that were most popular in the late 60's/early 70's. So there was a bit more energy at this show, than their typical showroom shows, to put it mildly. The showroom at the Golden Nugget is very small compared to most LV showrooms, especially the low ceiling, which I'd day is only about 15 feet high. The stage isn't raised very high off the floor. So the end result is like seeing a band playing in a small club, rather than in a big showroom. If you listen to the audio on the video clip, note the sound of the drums. What you are hearing is pretty much the acoustic live sound of the drums on the stage, rather than from the amplified PA system.
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| Everclear at the Golden Nugget Las Vegas |
So there it was! A day! We woke up relatively early in the morning, flew cross country, were 90 minutes late, were nearly turned away from parking at our hotel, missed our happy hour pizza, but managed to snag a special anyway, dealt with a lost food order, and then ran straight to a concert just upstairs after dinner. What an eventful, hectic, start to the trip, with hardly any time for a break!
Day 2
We have experience being around biker week/weekends from prior April trips to Laughlin. They all have in common the presence of these signs around the casinos. And here we saw one in the Golden Nugget
We walked around a bit, and I snapped a couple of pictures of the new, "legendary" Four Queens triple zero roulette table, which caused an uproar on twitter and facebook. You see, the Four Queens reps posted about this table, and boasted that it "improves the customer's odds of winning". The uproar started since the opposite was true and the rep was basically lying to the public. The addition of the extra spot on the wheel, the triple zero, increases the house edge over the player, for most bets, by an additional 50% more! The rep then backtracked, removed most of their claims, and said in effect that other casinos were doing this, so that they were no worse than the other casinos in making this change.
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| "Progress" at the Four Queens |
At the Golden Nugget, we saw this couple walking through the casino in robes, with the guy wearing a fedora hat!
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| A stroll through the Golden Nugget in a robe and fedora hat. |
The lighting in the Golden Gate high roller area is pretty dim, so it was hard to get good pictures, but we managed to see the hundred year old fountain that they discovered in the latest round of construction
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| Golden Gate original wall from 1906 |
We viewed a history collection at Golden Gate, including a phone, guest books, and ledgers from 70-100 years ago!
We had a mini breakfast, and went to the Chart House for lunch at the Golden Nugget.
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| We ate a bit of this triple seafood dish before the pic was taken |
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| Some streets closed off for the Bike Fest |
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| $5 Leggings/fake jeans deal! |
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| How long do you think it took for them to come up with the "witty" slogan? In a prior trip report, I noted how little business and inventory the Downtown Market on Fremont St had, and questioned how they could say in business. https://deamonlv.blogspot.com/2016/10/september-2016-trip-report-killer_6.html#market Well, they found a way. Cut the size of the store to about 1/3 of its former size. By the way, the shelves were still pretty empty in some areas! The staff said this dividing wall was put in around early October.
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| Love the name! It probably came about like this: "Hey Tom, what should we name our beauty salon?" "You know what Laura, I can't think of anything other than 'Beauty Salon'?". "Wait Tom, how about instead we call it 'Salon of Beauty'". "Great idea, Laura! You're a genius! |
Day 3
A great moment at the Golden Nugget. In the early evening, we saw a woman, about 30, near the slot machines, trying to get a free drink, without playing. It went like this, the cocktail waitress told the customer that she couldn't serve her a complimentary drink because she wasn't playing at the machines, but the customer's logic was that the cocktail waitress was really only questioning if she had money. So, the customer went on to say, "do I look like I don't have money? Of course I have money! Do you see these jeans, honey? These are True Religion brand jeans! You think these didn't cost me serious cash?". She then proceeded to turn and move her ample butt back and forth toward the waitress, showing off her jeans. The waitress just calmly refused and walked away. This was just hilarious to watch, the idea that someone thought that she qualified for a free drink because she wore a certain status of jeans, yet to this woman, it was a story that she thought would work! My regret was not talking to the waitress about this later, and getting more of the story.
We ate dinner at Vic and Anthony's at the Golden Nugget. The side order of broccoli that we split was probably over a pound. It was the largest serving I'd ever seen. It was noteworthy in that this was by far the best tasting broccoli that I've ever eaten! Started off with a Caesar salad.
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| The mega-broccoli made the 8oz filet look like it was about 2oz! |
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| Brocolli and potato gratin shared side dishes. |
LAUGHLIN
We headed to Laughlin, and checked into the Aquarius. I had a prior offer that allowed a "Majestic Suite" upgrade. I was able to defer it to this trip. This suite had about 20 feet wide of floor to ceiling windows, right at the edge of the Colorado River.
We received our usual comp "VIP" weekend brunch vouchers, which you get for having a green or red level players card there. With this benefit, you get 2 complimentary brunches on Saturdays and Sundays. No points are deducted from your account for these meals. They set up an exclusive "VIP" section for seating the voucher holders, and in this area, they have a dedicated fruit table, and the entire area of tables have cloth napkins and tablecloths. The buffet there is so so, but it is hard to ruin breakfast. This time we noted, surprisingly, the shrimp were plump and are actually better than any shrimp I've had recently at any buffet, even quality buffets! They even have escargot at the Sunday brunch.
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| Sunrise looking toward Arizona over Colorado River. |
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| Winds blowing over Colorado River. |
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| VIP Brunch at Aquarius Laughlin - Omelet, shrimp, escargot |
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| VIP Brunch at Aquarius Laughlin Buffet |
We had a poolside cabana at the 1 year old Aquarius pool. The area has a TV, refrigerator with bottled water and ice, a covered cushioned seating area, 4 lounge chairs outside the cabana, facing the pool.
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| Poolside cabana at Aquarius Laughlin, with TV, refrigerator, lounge area. |
At Harrah's Laughlin they have a Pin Up Pizza shop, which specializes in super large pies and slices. The slices are probably 3x the size of a typical pizza slice, and a whole pie, which is 30 inches, sells for $65 a pizza! I didn't think until later to ask how many $65 pizzas they sell in a day, especially in this Laughlin, low budget environment.
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| Yes, the very large pizza sells for $7.25/slice and $65 for a 30 inch pizza! |
M Resort
I had difficultly getting a reservation for the M Resort room on the day we planned to be there. There was a convention that pretty much filled the hotel. Due to this, I booked a Caesars Palace room, and the plan was to play at the M the first day, and then go to Caesars after dinner and stay there for 2 nights.
Well about 3 weeks before the trip, after a dozen unsuccessful tries, I was able to book one night at the M, complimentary, with my offer. I guess a few rooms opened up. The idea was we would use the room at the M as a place to relax a bit, while eating and playing at the M most of the day, and then head to Caesars. Well, when I checked in, the rep mentioned how there weren't many room available. He then announced he was giving us his "favorite room".
Some background here. In all of our stays at the M, we've never had an upgrade, not even to their executive rooms, which are just a bit larger than standard. But, I've always had my eye on one type of room. You see, looking up at the hotel from outside, you can see that the two sides of the M hotel come to a point. You can see through the glass to the other side in the ends of those rooms from outside
In this pic above, you can see the two floor, end suites, and the one floor end suite about that, pretty clearly. I've always thought it would be amazing to have that view from inside.
While I did not get the two floor end suite, I did get assigned a one floor, 1,440 sq foot, end suite, a floor or two below the two floor suites.
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| Entrance on left, half bath door in back right. |
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| Glass just outside of suite, in hallway. |
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| Sunrise from suite. |
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| Seating cushion at the very point of the hotel. |
We ate at the M buffet, and it was pretty much my favorite meal of the trip. As veterans of the buffet, we hone in on a few select favorite dishes out of the 100+ choices. In the last year or so, one of their newer, unique items is a whole roasted pig, which is available only until the supply runs out.
Dessert is a highlight, and my favorite dessert of the trip is having a scoop of gelato with mini warm fallen chocolate cakes, and a cappuccino.
Palace Station Buffet
We ate a late breakfast/early lunch at the renovated Palace Station buffet. I was looking forward to it based on the reviews that I've read. Well to us, the buffet was very disappointing. The presentation of the dishes is much better than before, but there are really not any special or high quality foods. For example, is ordinary breaded fried chicken in a small basket any better tasting than fried chicken in a buffet tray? We've never noticed any issue with food temperature at any buffet before, but here we noted that most of the food was almost at room temperature! Almost every one of the 10 or so dishes we sampled had temperature issues. Besides unappetizing, this is a potential health issue. I'd even go so far to say for breakfast, I'd prefer the old Palace Station buffet with the old less expensive pricing! Another downside, there is no more toaster available to make toast for breakfast. We stayed a while longer than usual, hoping to see that the we'd see that for lunch, they would bring out some higher quality dishes, but no. I didn't see a single seafood item. This is a "macaroni and cheese in a cute sized dish" type buffet. A low end buffet dressed up in a nicer room and presentation.
For contrast and reference, I'd also say that I'd prefer the Red Rock or GVR buffet (other, older buffets from the same parent company) over this one, despite all the hoopla over it!
Caesars Palace
We moved to Caesars Palace, and I guess we haven't attempted to use the pool area in any October since the Augustus tower was built. I am always surprised how casinos don't seem to care if their additions end up shading their wonderful pool areas. This below is what the pool area looked close to 1pm in mid October, which is when the sun at its highest point of the day. The entire pool area was in the shade, as well as the seating area around it, with the exception of one small corner. I know before the Augustus tower was built, shade was never an issue here!
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| Peak sun at 1pm at Caesars main pool. Did you bring your suntan lotion? |
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| A rare, nearly empty main hotel lobby at Caesars Palace. (get out of there, guy in red shirt!) |
"Checked in" at Giada's "Pronto" with Yelp, and received complimentary Lemon Ricotta cookies. There were pretty good.
World of Wonder show (WOW) at the Rio
We received tickets to the World of Wonder show (WOW) at the Rio using our Diamond complimentary show benefit. I had read some positive, non professional reviews, and so was looking forward to seeing it! Unfortunately, we were disappointed with the show. Here are some of the reasons.
It really was a low budget show. All the vocals, except for the goofy character (who mostly makes noises), were pre recorded. We were in the front row, and could easily see the lip syncing of the dialog, as well as the musical parts! Why bother having the performers wearing fake microphones? To fool the audience?
In much of the advertising for this show, it appears that the image they want to give is that it is a water show, like "O" at Bellagio. The truth is, that for most of the parts of the show that use "water", it's basically a layer of water which is being sprayed over the stage. There is just a very small part of the stage (about 4 by 6 feet) which actually has a water tank (and it might just be a drain, not a tank), and there isn't any significant part of the show where the performers go under water! So, anyone expecting to see any significant water show is going to be disappointed. Performers kicking the 1/4 inch layer of water across the stage, or into the audience (which are the most common uses of the water) hardly qualifies for a water show, wouldn't you agree?
The Cirque shows have ORIGINAL music, played by a LIVE band of musicians! WOW has recorded sound, including most of the dialog of the performance (an exception is the goofy comedy character), and this, played over a so so sound system! There is no comparison between the quality of two shows, regardless of a persons taste!
(This paragraph contains a spoiler...) One of the "dramatic highlights" near the end involves a arrow-gun shooting woman, who for her finale, shoots an arrow into a target, which then, by machine, triggers another arrow into another target, and so on, for about 6 targets. Finally, the last target triggers an arrow which shoots an apple on the shooters head. The issue is, for this particular moment, what is the talent, as the automated target/arrow shooting machines are doing the work, and are pointed precisely. Are we to marvel at the machines? Applaud the positioning of the machines?
What am I saying? This is a poor man's attempt to rip off O, minus having an actual story line, minus 12+ foot deep stage wide tanks, minus the live band, minus the original music score, minus the high quality of the acts, and minus the highly skilled performers. I wasn't expecting this to be close to O, but I was expecting that even if it couldn't match O, it would be a quality show, and have significant water content. It's not, and it does not!
Since we received complimentary tickets, it wasn't a total waste, but I feel for anyone paying $60 and up for tickets. For just $20 or so more you could see a quality show like O or Mystere. Maybe many were doing that, as despite this being a complimentary show for Diamond card holders, the showroom was far less than half full!
This show is going to be like the revolving door series of shows that run for 6 months or so at Caesars properties, like Le Magique Fantastique at Bally’s, Circus 1903, and the "fire spectacular" INFERNO, all here and gone in the past year.
BConnected Sapphire Level Qualification attempt
I've been trying to decide what to do about the BConnected casino changes, as many others have as well. I decided to try to make the Sapphire card level for next year, maybe just one last time, and then go from there. Although I was 2/3 of the way to Sapphire level before the changes announced in August, I was now only 15% of the way there! Ridiculous!
We stayed at the Cal in a refurbished West Tower room. The room was okay, but carpet was already filthy, and the carpeting in the hallway hasn't been installed correctly, and so has deep wrinkles in it from luggage carts being rolled back and forth over it. The volume of the street noise below made it seem like the window was open, but it wasn't. I was shocked that they actually upgraded their standard definition cable TV in the room to HD!
I chose a machine that I felt had a good chance at having a (for slots) good payback percentage and played it. I feared a disaster about to occur, but I'd give it a shot. Relatively early on, I hit a medium nice hit, I think about 300 coins, which was enough to keep me going a while. I was doing well, and then surprisingly hit a 1000 coin win, which put me comfortably ahead. I ended up losing some of that hit, but in the end, I actually came out ahead while earning Sapphire, for at least one more year! Take that, Boyd!
Dinner was at Second Street Grill at the Fremont, which to me is the last remaining Boyd good food, great values restaurant. Had my usual blacked rare tuna there. Always a highlight of a trip!
MISC NOTES
While eating breakfast at Magnolias, some guy came up the stairs towards the podium, peeked over the wall and looked over at the table nearest the stairs. For some reason, one of the people at the table saw him, and offered him bread (maybe he asked?). He said he would like a piece. Reaching over the wall, they handed him a piece of bread from the table and the guy took it and left! The table had a big laugh.
Decided to give the Rio Diamond Lounge a try again. It was about an hour before closing time and there were just a couple of scruffy looking people inside. It looked like a glorified homeless shelter, including the scraps of food that were remaining at the buffet area.
At McCarren TSA, they had a sign up warning that there would be "100%" canine searches. They had a bomb sniffing dog trot around all passengers as we headed to the metal detector area. One wise ass older teen was whistling at the dog and the TSA rep snapped at him not to do that. The teen then made comments like "oh right, like this dog is going to keep me safe".
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