Brad and I had a wonderful visit with our family in Columbus, GA. It was great to forget about fuzzy casino promotion details and complex Free Play schedules – and I barely touched a computer keyboard.   We mostly just plugged into the family’s busy routine.   It was fun to celebrate Zachary getting his driver’s license, which Angela and Steve viewed with mixed emotions – help with the family taxi duties, but a little more worry too. And they won’t get a break from worry - Kaitlynn is counting the days until she gets her learner’s permit in August. 

Their household is rich in friends who stop by, from Angela’s work and especially Steve’s old military buddies. And I especially enjoyed the teenage friends who hung around. They can run up a grocery bill big time, but Ang and Steve have always wanted their house to be a welcoming haven for their kids’ friends.   So when Steve fires up the grill, you never know how many will show up!    It was always fun bedlam.    

But after a week of living in “Grand Central Station,” we were ready to come home to a quieter environment, albeit almost as busy. I had a stack of mail to go through – lots of August casino offers coming in already so there is intense calendar work to be done. (I like it when casinos plan ahead because I like to plan ahead!) Advance planning and organizing is probably one of the most important keys to successful gambling. Although I imagine most gamblers now make up their schedule on a computer calendar, I do mine the old-fashioned way – on a hard copy monthly DayMinder. I do it in pencil and go through a lot of erasers as things change throughout the month. I guess I’ve just been doing it this way too many years to change. 

Brad had a busy day today, with 6 casino stops to pick up free play that would be expiring tonight. And then came a quick stop at our nearby Food For Less, the store (along with Wal-Mart) with the overall cheapest grocery prices. Contrary to what many people think, we don’t eat in casinos all the time, so grocery trips are a part of our routine. 

We plan to go swimming in our condo pool tonight, unless predicted showers interfere. 

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Just spent 3 nights at Harrah’s in the Big Easy. Some people we talked to on our trip thought it was pretty funny that people who lived in Vegas would make a trip to New Orleans to gamble. One joked about carrying coals to New Castle and a busman’s holiday. Although we do just like the atmosphere in New Orleans, to tell you the truth, we went this time because Harrah’s made us an offer that we just couldn’t refuse, one to the tune of $2100. 

Brad is regaining his strength, albeit slowly, but took the travel very well, his first trip since he “died.”   It was his first time to cope with security measures since he got his pacemaker. Although he can go through the security arches (just no security wands), on his way home they insisted on a hand pat down instead – but they didn’t find any weapons except a big fat bankroll with which to fight casinos. This was thanks to his 20k dealt royal on a $1 Five Play machine plus two more singles. 7 royals in two days – I guess he has his game back on! 

However, I am sad that I must bring some bad news from Harrah’s New Orleans. On April 1 they changed the Reward Credit redemption schedule for their partner restaurants. Although you can redeem your RCs on a one-to-one basis for all the restaurants in the casino and in the hotel (Gordon Biersch, Ruth’s Chris Steak House, and Grand Isle), the redemption for other partner restaurants is now on a two-to-one basis. That means it takes $2 in Reward Credits to pay for every $1 you spend at “outside” restaurants.

Reducing benefits is a sign of the tough times casinos are facing. And don’t be surprised if there is going to be a lot more of this. On the other hand, some casinos are ramping up the promotions to get more customers into their properties. So, cherry-picking is the name of the game, as it always is whether good times or bad!

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For many years now cruises have been a popular casino give-away. Some of these can be a benefit anyone could have if they earn a specified number of points during a specified period. Others can be “comps” given to a casino’s “best” customers, with the exact requirements unknown. 

However, if you can earn or are offered one of these “free” cruises, the definition of “free” is something you must investigate. Some include “everything,” including airfare to and from the casino city and the embarkation port, tips, ground transportation, port charges, government taxes and fees, and even on-board credit for such things as alcoholic drinks. On the other hand, some of these comped cruises don't cover any of these things and your “free” cruise might cost you more than it is worth to you. Or, you might be able to book a cruise at some online bargain rate that would be cheaper in the long run. 

Brad and I have been on 14 cruises since we met in 1984 and 5 of those, in the last 7 years, have been sponsored by casinos. It has varied considerably how much the casinos provided beyond the basic cruise cost, but one thing every experienced cruiser knows is that you better plan on extra expenses. There are shore excursions that sound so interesting, photographers at every turn who want to sell you expensive pictures, and daily specials on cute tropical drinks that look so refreshing.  

One frugal hint for cruisers: I just read in the newspaper today that ships make most of their profit through gambling and alcohol. It helps to be a non-drinker and able to shun the bad-payoff machines that are so common in shipboard casinos.

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Well, I'm finally back here in Blogville after surviving the last three weeks: 

A Wii-filled holiday with the Frugal Princess family in Columbus, GA. The Wii game Brad and I gave as a family gift this year was a wonderful way to bring together family and friends of all ages, not only for group fun but healthy exercise at the same time - I can't believe how winded you can get virtually bowling! (I read that Wii is becoming THE thing in nursing homes and I can see why.)   Below is a photo of grandson Zachary and me giving Brad some encouragement in virtual baseball.

The backyard trampoline didn't get as much action as the Wii, but Brad and I wanted to show the young whippersnappers that we still had some adventure and energy left!

A family reunion in New Orleans, where I arranged hotel accommodations, meals, and/or entertainment options for up to 13 people, from babies to seniors. It kept me so busy I forgot my shock and dismay at turning 70. Besides people said I didn’t look that much older than my 60- and 65-year-old sisters, left to right, Starr and June.

When Brad and I flew back to Vegas on the 30th, we hit the runway at top speed, phoning to make plans before we even deplaned and organizing to be sure none of our bounce-back expired, stopping at Ellis Island to collect some on the way home from the airport.   On the 31st there is no time to unpack completely or unwind. In the morning free play awaited us at NYNY and Hard Rock, and we did some play at the former. Then the annual New Year’s Eve Huntington Press party was our next stop in the afternoon. By 5 o’clock the Strip was being closed so we had to use the Desert Inn Arterial under it to get to the Eastside and pick up more bounce-back cash at Ellis Island, an every-year extra offer for after 4 p.m. to lure customers to spend New Year’s Eve in their casino. 

However, we were bushed so picked up our $25 apiece and immediately headed back to our west-side-of-the-Strip condo, again via the DI Arterial.   There will be plenty of time to play at EI another time when it is not so crowded and smoky!   And then it was to bed early to sleep the new year in as we were still suffering major jet lag. We had invitations to parties at almost every casino we had ever played in during the last 10 years or so (casinos are desperate for warm bodies so are digging very deep in their databases). However, we had tired of that comp long ago after we had our own place in Vegas and weren’t staying in casinos very often anymore. At our ages sleeping in our own bed is high on our Best Activity in Vegas list.

January 1 didn’t bring a rest day - holidays in Vegas never do for us. Bonus point promotions are still one of our best techniques for extracting money from casinos. We don’t have the stamina to play as many hours in one day as we used to do but we managed to max out the 9x points at Silverton (they only gave the bonus on 10K earned points) and do the 10K points at South Point that would be doubled and qualify us for the $30x4 mailer in March. There is a higher mailer there - $50x4 –that requires 45K points, but we usually opt for the second level down because we like the more comfortable playtime length. And it does have a higher EV.

The busy schedule continued on January 2 and 3rd: To the Palms to use comps in the Salon – haircut and style, fill for acrylic nails, pedicure – so I looked presentable at the infamous Blackjack Ball on Friday night. A tournament at Excalibur, with free play pickup and some major play. Pickup and play at NYNY. Bounceback pickup and play for 5x points at Hard Rock. Pickups at Palms and Green Valley Ranch.

On the 4th and 5th we crashed, the first days in a month I didn’t have to comb my hair, put on makeup, get dressed, and go out among people – I call them my nightgown days . We finally got completely unpacked and I could attack the stack of paperwork that had accumulated while we were out of town.     

Today, after I finish this blog entry, I am reviewing all our past-year casino play, double-checking the EV (game plus extras), and looking for casinos to drop since I am resolving – for the umpteen time – to cut down on our busy schedule. Although all of our plays are over 100% - that’s what being an advantage player means – I am going to drop some where the edge is lower and step up play where the edge is better. I will take other things besides EV into consideration: whether I like the game we have to play or it seems more like a duty, or whether the casino has good air circulation or is very smoky. 

A big issue is travel time. Although we like to play Multi-Strike at Green Valley Ranch, our January mailers (Brad and I just can’t get the same one although we play about the same amount of time on the same machines) require 14 trips to do all the play on bonus-point days and pick up all the free play. 14 trips of 25 miles round trip. Even with gas prices down, the expense of this play and the time involved cut down the hourly rate and/or EV to an unacceptable level. So out it goes – and I feel more relaxed already!

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I'm not a "picture person": We have trouble finishing one 27-photo throwaway camera on a two-week European vacation.  But I just learned how to insert pictures here in my blog and I want to show off my new computer skill!

The first two are in Venice, the one showing the entrance we used when the water taxi stops at our hotel.

The second one proves that finally, on our third visit to Venice, we paid to ride in a gondola.

This next is my favorite sign on the whole trip.

And this last one was taken by the ever-present ship photgraphers, this time on Italian night in the dining room.

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I promised you a report about the gambling adventures on our European trip but it is not a long report because our idea of a vacation is a change from our normal routine – and that means a rest from our gambling “work.” 

Our first stop in Europe was Venice, and one of the attractions listed in the guidebook was the Casino Municipale (pictured below). We didn’t expect to find any good gambling there, but our friends agreed that it would be fun to at least look around. The men had to put on their sport coats (a requirement at most European casinos) and we had to show our passports and pay 10 Euros for admission, but they gave us each a 10 Euros slot machine ticket.

It was early afternoon when the four of us visited so we only got to see the part of the casino that had machines. The separate table game part did not open until later that afternoon. We wandered around, noticing that slot machines were abundant, but we did finally find a few video poker machines. And much to our surprise, we found familiar IGT machines, with Triple and Five Play, that at first glance seemed to have amazingly good paytables. The Jacks or Better were 9/6 and they had the Not So Ugly (NSU) deuce version. But a closer look at the WHOLE paytable – always a must – we found the fly in the ointment: The royal on all the games was a measly 1500 credits (instead of the usual 4000). 

We tried to use our free 10-Euro tickets on the VP, but found it only worked on the slot machines. So the four of us played through our 40 Euros and pull out a tiny profit for us to split. We decided to throw a few Euros at the VP machines, but soon found that it wasn’t any fun and quit – we were afraid we would hit a measly royal!! 

The only other gambling we did on the trip was in the ship’s casino. The video poker schedules were horrendous, just as we expected, but the blackjack rules were better than we had found on other ships. The game was dealt from an eight-deck shoe, but the dealer did not hit a soft 17 and you could double down on any two cards, split to four hands, and double down after split. 

So most evenings you would find us at a BJ table, meeting old friends or making new friends from the Treasure Island contingent. We no longer count cards – rusty from a lack of practice for many years – but on cruises we depend on basic strategy and $5/$10 limits to keep our losses low on this negative-expectation pastime while we just relax and enjoy the game and the camaraderie.   However, on this cruise there was an extra that turned this blackjack game into a positive-expectation gamble. Treasure Island funded a drawing every evening with nice prizes of $250-$3000 free play for when we got back to the TI casino. So it was fun to celebrate with the table every time someone got a blackjack and earned a ticket for the drawing.

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And very happy to be home. We had experienced about all the fun our old bodies could endure! 

If this blog entry is disjointed, blame it on jet lag after an exhausting 24-hour travel day yesterday from a Rome hotel to our comfortable bed in Vegas. I hope our grandchildren never move to Europe – Brad and I have said we will never go back to Europe again unless it moves between Las Vegas and Pahrump. 

Venice – we loved the city – no cars – friendly residents – beautiful Murano glass - and we finally took a gondola ride, something we were too overly frugal to do on our previous 2 visits there. 

Cruise – Seas were astoundingly calm most of the time, but even when there was gentle rolling I did not get seasick. A welcome surprise since on our previous 13 cruises I got queasy when I looked at the lapping water at the pier before we even sailed. At first I took my ginger pills but soon realized I didn’t need them. 

Cruise Tours – Our favorites were in Turkey, especially Ephesus, an outstanding “city” of amazingly extensive ruins. We enjoyed seeing the evidence of Istanbul’s rich history but were disappointed in the Grand Bazaar. Instead of it being the colorful open-air market I saw in wild adventure movies, where spies lurked and chased, it was a huge indoor “mall” of small shops, where the only “danger” was aggressive salesmen trying to pull you into their lair. I must confess I fell prey to a “Genuine Fake Prada” purse. 

Rome – After 10 days of exhausting sightseeing, and since we had already “done” Rome in depth on our last two visits here, the high point was finding a McDonalds for some good old American fast food. 

After I get caught up on some pressing paperwork that piled up during our two weeks away, I’ll tell you in my next blog entry about the gambling we did on the trip. 

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