Just got back from our annual first part of December trip. This time of year works out great as it is half way between our birthdays and falls during Cirque week. Although it is getting to such a busy time in Vegas. It was more crowded than summer time.
We arrived late (7:00 pm ish) on the Sunday of the marathon which was a big mistake. Las Vegas blvd was shut down and made is very hard to get to our first destination that was the Mirage. Our taxi ride cost us about an extra $5-7. I'm not sure if we got screwed by the taxi driver with so much being closed. His radio was going nuts with drivers calling into dispatch letting everyone know what was backed up, blocked and alternative routes. Our room was not available when we arrived. King/non smoking. They had over booked. We could get the room we wanted tomorrow. Told the girl at the front desk to never mind just as long as it was non smoking, after some looking she finally found us a room. In this day and age of computers I will never understand overbooking. Our room was average. We had never stayed at the Mirage and was disappointed with the room. There was nothing wrong with it, but expected more out of "The Mirage Resort". Our next stop for rooms was 2 night stay at Ceasars. Again we had never been there and we were booked in the forums towers. Hubby headed over there early in the morning hoping to get out of the Mirage as early as we could. He call me and said our room is ready but we are not in the forum towers and your not going to believe our room. This sparks my interest. At first they told him they had bumped him to the Augustus tower and then the girl at the front deck made a call and someone on the other lined told her to put in a Octavus tower with a pool view. The room was beautiful and if you take the back hallway past the buffet not that far from the casino. Room had a L shaped couch, oh so comfy bed, a bath tub big enough to swim in (LOL). Forgot to put the do not disturb sign out the second night a came back to turn down service with chocolate and water by the bed and robes and slippers laid out as well as the radio on to elevator music. We just giggled like a couple of school kids on that one. After being spoiled there we headed over to 3 nights a Paris. We had a nice upgraded lux room. Very nice but hard to compare to the last stop. Bed was comfy. Only complaint is that the hallways were loud in the mornings. To finish up our hotels were 3 nights at MSS were we scored a suite. Nice double sized room with a living room and bathroom double the size of a normal room. All in all for 10 free nights I can't complain to much. Will go back to 3 out of 4 of the places.
Entertainment:
We saw 4 of the shows for Cirque Week. Also took part in 4 backstage activities. The shows included: Love which we weren't sure about seeing. We are pre-Beatles and not real sure if we would like it, but ended up really enjoying it. You don't have to be a Beetles fan for this show. Played alot of songs I didn't know were Beetles songs. Saw KA for the second time and was in awe again of it. We had front row seats (well 3 rows back). It was really different sitting that close and you see different things. Zarcanna was ok. Not the best show I've see, but not the worst either. Final show on our list was Zumanity. I laughed so hard through the show my stomach hurt at the end. Hubby started the show being attached by the twins and getting fed strawberries. Not what I expected and not a show for the backwards type. Our backstage activities including going to a Chinese pole demostration at Mystrere, a comic book intro for KA where we also got pictures with the cast members (the 2 bad guys are really tall guys when you stand by them), a Q&A with the Zar crew while they were having practices and trying new tricks in the background and the best was at Zumanity were we got to go up in the cat walk while they did one of the scenes and see how the lighting and mechanics work which was then followed up by a Q&A with the cast. Every place we went was giving out backs, pens, ect of things you can get in the gift shop. Really cool.
Food:
No special meals this trip but was able to eat the entire trip on comps, points ect for all but 1 meal. Only on a Vegas trip.
Gambling:
Gambling pretty much sucked at Mirage. No good VP and couldn't hit a paying at on slots. Also they wouldn't let us use our free play that was with our offer as the deemed it a black out period due to it was during their Christmas gift time. This was not in any of the small print in our offer or was mentioned when we booked. We were told it was a company policy they changed to recently. We were not happy. I did hit a royal and got hand paid at Ceasars. Only reason is was a hand pay was it was on a progressive, but not over $1200. Whoo-hoo first hand pay. Also whoever posted a while back about when they hit a 4oak they bump up to the next level for 10 hands--thank you. Hubby got on a nice back to back 4oak and at one point I did too. In fact I went from 25 cents to 50 cents then to $1 VP as I kept hitting 4oak. I was so nervous I was praying not hit and have to bump to $2. LOL. It does add to the excitement. I came home up a few hunnies and hubby came home down a bit, but neither no us were ever down a bunch.
Other:
I did check out the spa at Ceasars and it was wonderful. The artic room felt great, staff was very friendly and nice, no tea though?? This time of year is getting so busy though. Between the marathon, Cirque Week, the rodeo and several large conventions--just to much going on.
All in all another fun trip. Where else can you go on vacation, win money, not pay for food or rooms, have resort style rooms and have a great time?
We arrived late (7:00 pm ish) on the Sunday of the marathon which was a big mistake. Las Vegas blvd was shut down and made is very hard to get to our first destination that was the Mirage. Our taxi ride cost us about an extra $5-7. I'm not sure if we got screwed by the taxi driver with so much being closed. His radio was going nuts with drivers calling into dispatch letting everyone know what was backed up, blocked and alternative routes. Our room was not available when we arrived. King/non smoking. They had over booked. We could get the room we wanted tomorrow. Told the girl at the front desk to never mind just as long as it was non smoking, after some looking she finally found us a room. In this day and age of computers I will never understand overbooking. Our room was average. We had never stayed at the Mirage and was disappointed with the room. There was nothing wrong with it, but expected more out of "The Mirage Resort". Our next stop for rooms was 2 night stay at Ceasars. Again we had never been there and we were booked in the forums towers. Hubby headed over there early in the morning hoping to get out of the Mirage as early as we could. He call me and said our room is ready but we are not in the forum towers and your not going to believe our room. This sparks my interest. At first they told him they had bumped him to the Augustus tower and then the girl at the front deck made a call and someone on the other lined told her to put in a Octavus tower with a pool view. The room was beautiful and if you take the back hallway past the buffet not that far from the casino. Room had a L shaped couch, oh so comfy bed, a bath tub big enough to swim in (LOL). Forgot to put the do not disturb sign out the second night a came back to turn down service with chocolate and water by the bed and robes and slippers laid out as well as the radio on to elevator music. We just giggled like a couple of school kids on that one. After being spoiled there we headed over to 3 nights a Paris. We had a nice upgraded lux room. Very nice but hard to compare to the last stop. Bed was comfy. Only complaint is that the hallways were loud in the mornings. To finish up our hotels were 3 nights at MSS were we scored a suite. Nice double sized room with a living room and bathroom double the size of a normal room. All in all for 10 free nights I can't complain to much. Will go back to 3 out of 4 of the places.
Entertainment:
We saw 4 of the shows for Cirque Week. Also took part in 4 backstage activities. The shows included: Love which we weren't sure about seeing. We are pre-Beatles and not real sure if we would like it, but ended up really enjoying it. You don't have to be a Beetles fan for this show. Played alot of songs I didn't know were Beetles songs. Saw KA for the second time and was in awe again of it. We had front row seats (well 3 rows back). It was really different sitting that close and you see different things. Zarcanna was ok. Not the best show I've see, but not the worst either. Final show on our list was Zumanity. I laughed so hard through the show my stomach hurt at the end. Hubby started the show being attached by the twins and getting fed strawberries. Not what I expected and not a show for the backwards type. Our backstage activities including going to a Chinese pole demostration at Mystrere, a comic book intro for KA where we also got pictures with the cast members (the 2 bad guys are really tall guys when you stand by them), a Q&A with the Zar crew while they were having practices and trying new tricks in the background and the best was at Zumanity were we got to go up in the cat walk while they did one of the scenes and see how the lighting and mechanics work which was then followed up by a Q&A with the cast. Every place we went was giving out backs, pens, ect of things you can get in the gift shop. Really cool.
Food:
No special meals this trip but was able to eat the entire trip on comps, points ect for all but 1 meal. Only on a Vegas trip.
Gambling:
Gambling pretty much sucked at Mirage. No good VP and couldn't hit a paying at on slots. Also they wouldn't let us use our free play that was with our offer as the deemed it a black out period due to it was during their Christmas gift time. This was not in any of the small print in our offer or was mentioned when we booked. We were told it was a company policy they changed to recently. We were not happy. I did hit a royal and got hand paid at Ceasars. Only reason is was a hand pay was it was on a progressive, but not over $1200. Whoo-hoo first hand pay. Also whoever posted a while back about when they hit a 4oak they bump up to the next level for 10 hands--thank you. Hubby got on a nice back to back 4oak and at one point I did too. In fact I went from 25 cents to 50 cents then to $1 VP as I kept hitting 4oak. I was so nervous I was praying not hit and have to bump to $2. LOL. It does add to the excitement. I came home up a few hunnies and hubby came home down a bit, but neither no us were ever down a bunch.
Other:
I did check out the spa at Ceasars and it was wonderful. The artic room felt great, staff was very friendly and nice, no tea though?? This time of year is getting so busy though. Between the marathon, Cirque Week, the rodeo and several large conventions--just to much going on.
All in all another fun trip. Where else can you go on vacation, win money, not pay for food or rooms, have resort style rooms and have a great time?
