Already posted on free side, but thought I would put it here as well.
Armed with the American Casino Guide and picking up the LVA Member Values book, we headed to Vegas on June 30 for our first trip in 3 years thanks to a father’s day gift from my self-employed son, who utilizes my free accounting services for his business.
We were flying Southwest and I had a Thrifty car reservation for the three days at $86 but I saw a deal on Hotwire for $60 so I switched assuming all of the reputable companies they listed were all at the Rental Car center so I was safe. Bad assumption (caveat 1) when we were given Sixt car rental, which required a second shuttle or a long walk in the heat to their location about a half block away but on a busy Gillespie Road. I was not happy but thought it wouldn’t be too bad. Flight on Southwest was uneventful but after paying the $8 for internet, I was unable to watch the World Cup match on Watch ESPN because the connection either didn’t allow it or was too slow (caveat 2). There was some free channels available but none showing the game. After arriving at the main rental car location we had to call for the Sixt shuttle and waited in 110 degree heat for about 10-15 minutes. I was cursing Hotwire at this point because the listing seemed to be worded that it would be within the rental car terminal. The other people waiting for the Sixt shuttle also used Hotwire. The staff at Sixt were friendly but seem disorganized. We were given a Honda Civic with only 10 miles on it and no license plate. They put a temporary tag in the window and noted there was only a half tank of gas and we could return it with a half tank because they didn’t want us to wait for them to fill it up. They assured me they noted it on the reservation and wouldn’t have a problem when I returned it, which I didn’t but we built in extra time in case the return and first shuttle to rental car center took too long. It actually didn’t and we arrived back in plenty of time for our return flight.
My son who footed the travel bill was staying at the Skylofts at MGM and was picked up in a Rolls Royce at the airport. My wife was jealous seeing the limo driver holding an Ipad with our last name but it wasn’t for us. While we waited for our luggage the female driver was very friendly and took care of my son’s transportation to Skylofts while we headed to the aforementioned rental car center. I should note at this point that if my son wrote a trip report it would be far more interesting than mine but would offend bargain seekers such as us on the free for all forum.
Our first stop is always In n Out burger on Tropicana and it was packed but they are very efficient. It was as delicious as we remembered and lunch for two was a little under $15. Next stop was Huntington Press offices to get our Member Rewards book. Easy trip from In n Out and I asked about Mojo and was told he was still around but didn’t get to see him. It was on to Caesars and decided to valet since we didn’t want to drag our luggage through the self park. Pull in only to see valet was full except for elite Caesars card holders, which we are not. My wife told me to stop to let her out with the luggage and meet her at check in. We moved our bags to the curb and a great bellman said he would take care of our bags so I returned to the car to take it self park. The bellman asked where I went and my wife told him valet was full so I was going to self park but he came and got me and said he would take care of it and have it valeted. Great service on his part and we gave him a $10 tip.
Check in was next and having explained the $20 trick to my wife, debated whether to try it having never done it before. I chickened out and the icy front desk woman told us we could pay $28 for early check in, upgrade to a $2000 suite for $200 a night or upgrade to Octavius tower from our Forum Tower reservation for $70 a night. Passed on all and was told we could our keys after 4:00 PM. We walked around Caesars for a bit and then decided to head to MGM to see the Skyloft room. I expected valet to take a while judging how busy they were earlier, but the car came around quickly. The Skyloft room was two stories and was very large. It was right up my son’s alley but despite its size and all the cool stuff, I don’t think it matched up to the Wynn Parlor Suite we had stayed in three years ago on a crazy comp offer we had received from Wynn from very small several years before.
My son planned on gambling pretty hard so I told him to get a line of credit with MGM so he didn’t have to carry cash. He was given a $5k line and I walked him through the process. Being the polar opposite of me, he wanted to take the whole line immediately to a blackjack table. I have learned just to let him go because he does what he wants anyway. So they give him the $5k at the table with a marker and he proceeds to bet the $300 minimum at the table. That is almost half the bankroll I brought for three days. So I’m watching him and he throws 3 more chips out there not knowing they were $500 chips. I don’t bother telling him anything assuming Mr. Know it All knows what he’s doing. He proceeds to win several hands in a row. I finally ask if he has a win goal and point out how much he was up. He then admits he didn’t know how much he was betting and tones it down to $300 a hand. He pays off his $5k marker in about 10 minutes and has several stacks of chips in front of him. I thought he was finished for that quick session but he decided to keep playing and my wife and I decided to leave. I checked on the Lion’s Share progressive and there was someone playing of course with 3 or 4 people waiting so we headed back to Caesars to get our room knowing the boy had a pretty hefty bankroll to lose over the next couple days. My wife ran a $20 through a slot with no luck.
We self parked back at Caesars and headed to our fifth floor Forum Tower room. Arriving it at the room to find it open with the dead bolt stuck so the door wouldn’t close. We went inside and everything seemed ok but we notified the front desk just in case. No view whatsoever and the furniture was very marked up and looked rough. TV reception was grainy and I wasn’t very impressed at all knowing we could have stayed at Aria for a similar rate or Wynn for about $25 more a night. Having earned several hundred reward dollars in the past at Harrahs thanks to the Great Race Promotion two years ago and always wanting to stay at Caesars I chose to knock it off my bucket list. Overall the room was disappointing. The bathroom was nice with separate toilet and large shower but the room itself was worn as mentioned earlier, but we were able to utilize our reward credits which was good since Caesars no longer has a St Louis presence.
Using the coupon book early we walked to Mirage for the bogo buffet. It was $30.99 which almost covered the $37 LVA membership. I thought the food was good but found it odd to get your own drinks, which I didn’t mind. I do not drink alcohol so the wine and beer that came with the buffet was lost on me. I didn’t feel the need to tip much at the buffet because they really didn’t do anything other than clear plates so I only left $2.
Having traveled all day we passed on seeing a show but walked to Cosmo to sign my wife up for an Identity card and utilizing the $100 loss rebate and planning to do it myself having never taken advantage. We signed her up only to find out they were no longer offering the promotion (caveat 3). No real reason to play at Cosmo so we walked around and left returning to Caesars. Ran $100 through a couple slots and lost quickly but had to spend our $35 food and beverage credit so we got two sundaes at Serinidipity 3. Good but way overpriced but had to use the free $ on something. After that it was off to bed after the long travel day.
Woke up on Tuesday and walked through the Forum Shoppes to check out Tory Burch since my wife will be a future employee. We wanted to see Le Reve so we headed to the Tix for tonight booth at Fashion Show Mall and saw tickets before fees at $124. We decided to check the box office at Wynn so we crossed the street and remembered just how much we loved the environment and overall atmosphere at Steve’s palace. Walking through the shopping area we passed the recently purchased Popeye sculpture and shocked my wife when informing her of the $28 million purchase price. At the Le Reve box office we were able to get seats right next to some friends from California who had told us their exact seating location. It was a little more than the half price ticket place but possibly not after all the fees. I opened my wallet to pay and while pulling out my credit card, the Wynn box office employee saw the edge of my AAA card sticking out and informed me that I could save 10%. I thanked her and told her how disappointed we were with Caesars and wished we stayed at Wynn. She smiled and said that was nice to hear and looked forward to our staying with Wynn in the future.
We headed over to Venelazzo to the other Tory Burch store and decided to have lunch at Grimaldi’s I asked to be seated near a tv so they put us in the bar. Our server was great and when he saw me watching the Argentina Switzerland game intently he tilted the tv in the bar in my direction for a better view. Nice touch and I remembered it at tip time. We each had a personal pizza and two soft drinks. I finished mine and was very full while my wife had a few pieces left to take back. Total bill was $29 which I thought to be very reasonable for a strip spot at Palazzo. Left $40 for the bartender/server thanks to that small extra touch of tilting the tv and being really friendly.
The Caesars pool awaited my wife and the US-Belgium game awaited me. Caesars sports book is undergoing massive construction and practically doesn’t exist (caveat 4) so I opted to head through the Forum Shoppes to Mirage. I was very happy to find a seat in the race book area and had a great view of the game. While watching the US eventually lose I noticed a stake race going off at Woodbine. Being a huge racing fan and knowing the horses in the 5 horse field, I plunked down a $20 win wager and $2 exacta box. Exacta finished 1-3 but the winner had my backing returning $147 so $123 profit while watching the soccer match. The book was rocking during the game but I was most amused with the 5 Belgian fans who were cheering deliriously in extra time with their 2-0 lead. After the US made it close they had to sweat the finish but despite Tim Howard’s heroics, it was the 5 Belgians who went home happy and the several hundred US fans were disappointed. I headed back to Caesars but didn’t want to wake my wife who was napping after her pool afternoon, where they got her for $54 for three drinks. $35 of that was food and beverage comped but I still found it outrageous. I put a $20 in a JOB game and doubled it to $40 so we were net up $23 after my good day of very limited gambling.
After getting ready we decided to wait to eat until after Le Reve. Arrived at Wynn and found great parking near the entrance, which is another Caesars problem of finding a place anywhere near the elevators. We’ve seen several Cirque shows and while we enjoyed Le Reve, we’ve decided we are pretty much over seeing anymore. Prior to the show we went to find the $5 slot which was great to us during our free Wynn trip three years ago. We must have owed it as it went through $105 quickly. We lowere our stakes but went through another $60 quickly and headed to the show now down $142 for the trip but still not bad after two days. We did sit with our California friends catching up and said our goodbyes after the show. We then decided to knock another bucket list item off and eat at Mon Ami Gabi on the patio. We expected a wait but were seated with a good view of the fountains immediately. It was still very warm at 9:00 PM but not too uncomfortable. I had the Classique and my wife had the Roquefort. Both were very good as was their special fries and free bread. Total bill was $75 with tip charged to our room. We took a quick run through the Cromwell on our way back and the change is very nice.
My wife wanted breakfast so we ate at Central which I assume is Caesar’s version of a coffee shop. Very expensive as I didn’t have anything and my wife’s meal was $28 with tip. Service was slow and poor. People next to us were so fed up they left (caveat 5). Next on the agenda was going to be the Secret Garden of Siegfried and Roy with my son and his girlfriend. He was obviously winning as he had a large amount of cash and dropped enough to make me sick in the Forum shoppes for his girlfriend. The Secret Garden was very cool as the dolphins were putting on a show when we arrived and then we got to be very close to the white tigers, panther and lions. The kids bailed on the outlet mall trip being hungover from their big and expensive night at Drai’s rooftop pool party. We were running behind schedule so decided just to grab In n Out again. Only $12 this time with my wife getting a single. I dropped her at the outlet center and headed downtown for my coupon run. I didn’t remember where you could park for free without validation so after circling awhile and being short on time I just parked at the Golden Nugget. First stop was the Four Queens where I turned the $10 free slot play into $12.50. Next stop was Binions where the $10 free slot play came out to $10. Up $22.50 for the coupon run. Las Vegas Club had two $5 coupons for slot play and match play in both my books. Slot play netted $10 but match plays lost the $10 so zero here but kudos for allowing me to use both sets of coupons. Next stop was the Plaza with the same setup and same result. Both slot plays netted $10 both match plays cost $10 so net zero and an oh fer on match plays. Time was getting short to get back to my wife but I had to $10 free slot play coupons for El Cortez. Drove over there to the free parking garage but was only allowed to use one coupon (caveat 6). Searched for a JOB machine and couldn’t find one so settled on deuces wild and got nothing in 8 plays. $22.50 net for the coupon run so down $120 for the trip and had to pay $2 at Golden Nugget for parking.
Picked up the wife so she had to get ready as we were seeing Absinthe at 8:00 and had plans for my son to treat us to a big dinner at Joe’s Seafood and Steak in the Forum Shoppes. Not being shocked at all, he cancelled at the last minute so we decided to eat at Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant instead to use some Total Rewards. We were seated immediately and I had a burger and my wife had shepherd’s pie, which she said was great. $47 for our meal and we told the waiter to charge to our room but he mistakenly charged our TR balance which was no big deal. Left a $10 cash tip. Received another text from the son saying they were bailing on Absinthe as well so he would be paying me back for the $200 of ticket cost that was wasted and also note that we couldn’t use TR points for Absinthe according to the concierge (caveat 7). His lack of concern for blowing money literally drives me insane. We had seen Absinthe before but thought it was just as fantastic the second time. I admit I have a thing for Penny Pibbets. Since the Gordon Ramsay dinner wasn’t charged to the room, we twisted our arms to go back to Serindipity to spend our $35 food and beverage credit on sundaes again. Very good and still overpriced. We bet some future NHL wagers for friends back at home and lost $20 in the slots so now down $140 for the trip, which is where we finished. I considered that a victory although we gambled very little having spent much more on shows and food.
Getaway day was here so we went down early to settle our bill with TR credits and to resolve an annoying problem of a charge of $32 to our room we didn’t make that had been going on for two days. They took it off but in such a way that it created an accounting problem. The first desk agent said we only had 70 cents of TR credits on my wife’s card. I said that was incorrect and she said we would have to go to TR desk. I was in a panic because we had to leave early but fortunately the TR desk opened at 8:00 AM. The boothling was very nice and explained that if we didn’t play much at the home property our TR balance may not show correctly and would have to be refreshed. He took care of both our cards and we went back to settle up. The annoying $32 charge haunted the front desk clerk and after 30 minutes she manually took off all but $32 of the bill using my wife’s TR points but having to use mine for the balance leaving her with $32 of credits which we may not ever use so we bought some $9 dramamine in the gift shop. The whole episode was an annoyance and did nothing to improve upon my impression of Caesars.
Got gas in the rental car leaving it only half full and only drove about 40 miles on it during the trip. Took the first shuttle to the main rental place and then took the second shuttle to the airport for the flight I just spent the majority of my time on writing this.
I apologize for the length but hope the takeaway caveats help some people. Please ignore any typos as I don’t have the desire to proofread.
Armed with the American Casino Guide and picking up the LVA Member Values book, we headed to Vegas on June 30 for our first trip in 3 years thanks to a father’s day gift from my self-employed son, who utilizes my free accounting services for his business.
We were flying Southwest and I had a Thrifty car reservation for the three days at $86 but I saw a deal on Hotwire for $60 so I switched assuming all of the reputable companies they listed were all at the Rental Car center so I was safe. Bad assumption (caveat 1) when we were given Sixt car rental, which required a second shuttle or a long walk in the heat to their location about a half block away but on a busy Gillespie Road. I was not happy but thought it wouldn’t be too bad. Flight on Southwest was uneventful but after paying the $8 for internet, I was unable to watch the World Cup match on Watch ESPN because the connection either didn’t allow it or was too slow (caveat 2). There was some free channels available but none showing the game. After arriving at the main rental car location we had to call for the Sixt shuttle and waited in 110 degree heat for about 10-15 minutes. I was cursing Hotwire at this point because the listing seemed to be worded that it would be within the rental car terminal. The other people waiting for the Sixt shuttle also used Hotwire. The staff at Sixt were friendly but seem disorganized. We were given a Honda Civic with only 10 miles on it and no license plate. They put a temporary tag in the window and noted there was only a half tank of gas and we could return it with a half tank because they didn’t want us to wait for them to fill it up. They assured me they noted it on the reservation and wouldn’t have a problem when I returned it, which I didn’t but we built in extra time in case the return and first shuttle to rental car center took too long. It actually didn’t and we arrived back in plenty of time for our return flight.
My son who footed the travel bill was staying at the Skylofts at MGM and was picked up in a Rolls Royce at the airport. My wife was jealous seeing the limo driver holding an Ipad with our last name but it wasn’t for us. While we waited for our luggage the female driver was very friendly and took care of my son’s transportation to Skylofts while we headed to the aforementioned rental car center. I should note at this point that if my son wrote a trip report it would be far more interesting than mine but would offend bargain seekers such as us on the free for all forum.
Our first stop is always In n Out burger on Tropicana and it was packed but they are very efficient. It was as delicious as we remembered and lunch for two was a little under $15. Next stop was Huntington Press offices to get our Member Rewards book. Easy trip from In n Out and I asked about Mojo and was told he was still around but didn’t get to see him. It was on to Caesars and decided to valet since we didn’t want to drag our luggage through the self park. Pull in only to see valet was full except for elite Caesars card holders, which we are not. My wife told me to stop to let her out with the luggage and meet her at check in. We moved our bags to the curb and a great bellman said he would take care of our bags so I returned to the car to take it self park. The bellman asked where I went and my wife told him valet was full so I was going to self park but he came and got me and said he would take care of it and have it valeted. Great service on his part and we gave him a $10 tip.
Check in was next and having explained the $20 trick to my wife, debated whether to try it having never done it before. I chickened out and the icy front desk woman told us we could pay $28 for early check in, upgrade to a $2000 suite for $200 a night or upgrade to Octavius tower from our Forum Tower reservation for $70 a night. Passed on all and was told we could our keys after 4:00 PM. We walked around Caesars for a bit and then decided to head to MGM to see the Skyloft room. I expected valet to take a while judging how busy they were earlier, but the car came around quickly. The Skyloft room was two stories and was very large. It was right up my son’s alley but despite its size and all the cool stuff, I don’t think it matched up to the Wynn Parlor Suite we had stayed in three years ago on a crazy comp offer we had received from Wynn from very small several years before.
My son planned on gambling pretty hard so I told him to get a line of credit with MGM so he didn’t have to carry cash. He was given a $5k line and I walked him through the process. Being the polar opposite of me, he wanted to take the whole line immediately to a blackjack table. I have learned just to let him go because he does what he wants anyway. So they give him the $5k at the table with a marker and he proceeds to bet the $300 minimum at the table. That is almost half the bankroll I brought for three days. So I’m watching him and he throws 3 more chips out there not knowing they were $500 chips. I don’t bother telling him anything assuming Mr. Know it All knows what he’s doing. He proceeds to win several hands in a row. I finally ask if he has a win goal and point out how much he was up. He then admits he didn’t know how much he was betting and tones it down to $300 a hand. He pays off his $5k marker in about 10 minutes and has several stacks of chips in front of him. I thought he was finished for that quick session but he decided to keep playing and my wife and I decided to leave. I checked on the Lion’s Share progressive and there was someone playing of course with 3 or 4 people waiting so we headed back to Caesars to get our room knowing the boy had a pretty hefty bankroll to lose over the next couple days. My wife ran a $20 through a slot with no luck.
We self parked back at Caesars and headed to our fifth floor Forum Tower room. Arriving it at the room to find it open with the dead bolt stuck so the door wouldn’t close. We went inside and everything seemed ok but we notified the front desk just in case. No view whatsoever and the furniture was very marked up and looked rough. TV reception was grainy and I wasn’t very impressed at all knowing we could have stayed at Aria for a similar rate or Wynn for about $25 more a night. Having earned several hundred reward dollars in the past at Harrahs thanks to the Great Race Promotion two years ago and always wanting to stay at Caesars I chose to knock it off my bucket list. Overall the room was disappointing. The bathroom was nice with separate toilet and large shower but the room itself was worn as mentioned earlier, but we were able to utilize our reward credits which was good since Caesars no longer has a St Louis presence.
Using the coupon book early we walked to Mirage for the bogo buffet. It was $30.99 which almost covered the $37 LVA membership. I thought the food was good but found it odd to get your own drinks, which I didn’t mind. I do not drink alcohol so the wine and beer that came with the buffet was lost on me. I didn’t feel the need to tip much at the buffet because they really didn’t do anything other than clear plates so I only left $2.
Having traveled all day we passed on seeing a show but walked to Cosmo to sign my wife up for an Identity card and utilizing the $100 loss rebate and planning to do it myself having never taken advantage. We signed her up only to find out they were no longer offering the promotion (caveat 3). No real reason to play at Cosmo so we walked around and left returning to Caesars. Ran $100 through a couple slots and lost quickly but had to spend our $35 food and beverage credit so we got two sundaes at Serinidipity 3. Good but way overpriced but had to use the free $ on something. After that it was off to bed after the long travel day.
Woke up on Tuesday and walked through the Forum Shoppes to check out Tory Burch since my wife will be a future employee. We wanted to see Le Reve so we headed to the Tix for tonight booth at Fashion Show Mall and saw tickets before fees at $124. We decided to check the box office at Wynn so we crossed the street and remembered just how much we loved the environment and overall atmosphere at Steve’s palace. Walking through the shopping area we passed the recently purchased Popeye sculpture and shocked my wife when informing her of the $28 million purchase price. At the Le Reve box office we were able to get seats right next to some friends from California who had told us their exact seating location. It was a little more than the half price ticket place but possibly not after all the fees. I opened my wallet to pay and while pulling out my credit card, the Wynn box office employee saw the edge of my AAA card sticking out and informed me that I could save 10%. I thanked her and told her how disappointed we were with Caesars and wished we stayed at Wynn. She smiled and said that was nice to hear and looked forward to our staying with Wynn in the future.
We headed over to Venelazzo to the other Tory Burch store and decided to have lunch at Grimaldi’s I asked to be seated near a tv so they put us in the bar. Our server was great and when he saw me watching the Argentina Switzerland game intently he tilted the tv in the bar in my direction for a better view. Nice touch and I remembered it at tip time. We each had a personal pizza and two soft drinks. I finished mine and was very full while my wife had a few pieces left to take back. Total bill was $29 which I thought to be very reasonable for a strip spot at Palazzo. Left $40 for the bartender/server thanks to that small extra touch of tilting the tv and being really friendly.
The Caesars pool awaited my wife and the US-Belgium game awaited me. Caesars sports book is undergoing massive construction and practically doesn’t exist (caveat 4) so I opted to head through the Forum Shoppes to Mirage. I was very happy to find a seat in the race book area and had a great view of the game. While watching the US eventually lose I noticed a stake race going off at Woodbine. Being a huge racing fan and knowing the horses in the 5 horse field, I plunked down a $20 win wager and $2 exacta box. Exacta finished 1-3 but the winner had my backing returning $147 so $123 profit while watching the soccer match. The book was rocking during the game but I was most amused with the 5 Belgian fans who were cheering deliriously in extra time with their 2-0 lead. After the US made it close they had to sweat the finish but despite Tim Howard’s heroics, it was the 5 Belgians who went home happy and the several hundred US fans were disappointed. I headed back to Caesars but didn’t want to wake my wife who was napping after her pool afternoon, where they got her for $54 for three drinks. $35 of that was food and beverage comped but I still found it outrageous. I put a $20 in a JOB game and doubled it to $40 so we were net up $23 after my good day of very limited gambling.
After getting ready we decided to wait to eat until after Le Reve. Arrived at Wynn and found great parking near the entrance, which is another Caesars problem of finding a place anywhere near the elevators. We’ve seen several Cirque shows and while we enjoyed Le Reve, we’ve decided we are pretty much over seeing anymore. Prior to the show we went to find the $5 slot which was great to us during our free Wynn trip three years ago. We must have owed it as it went through $105 quickly. We lowere our stakes but went through another $60 quickly and headed to the show now down $142 for the trip but still not bad after two days. We did sit with our California friends catching up and said our goodbyes after the show. We then decided to knock another bucket list item off and eat at Mon Ami Gabi on the patio. We expected a wait but were seated with a good view of the fountains immediately. It was still very warm at 9:00 PM but not too uncomfortable. I had the Classique and my wife had the Roquefort. Both were very good as was their special fries and free bread. Total bill was $75 with tip charged to our room. We took a quick run through the Cromwell on our way back and the change is very nice.
My wife wanted breakfast so we ate at Central which I assume is Caesar’s version of a coffee shop. Very expensive as I didn’t have anything and my wife’s meal was $28 with tip. Service was slow and poor. People next to us were so fed up they left (caveat 5). Next on the agenda was going to be the Secret Garden of Siegfried and Roy with my son and his girlfriend. He was obviously winning as he had a large amount of cash and dropped enough to make me sick in the Forum shoppes for his girlfriend. The Secret Garden was very cool as the dolphins were putting on a show when we arrived and then we got to be very close to the white tigers, panther and lions. The kids bailed on the outlet mall trip being hungover from their big and expensive night at Drai’s rooftop pool party. We were running behind schedule so decided just to grab In n Out again. Only $12 this time with my wife getting a single. I dropped her at the outlet center and headed downtown for my coupon run. I didn’t remember where you could park for free without validation so after circling awhile and being short on time I just parked at the Golden Nugget. First stop was the Four Queens where I turned the $10 free slot play into $12.50. Next stop was Binions where the $10 free slot play came out to $10. Up $22.50 for the coupon run. Las Vegas Club had two $5 coupons for slot play and match play in both my books. Slot play netted $10 but match plays lost the $10 so zero here but kudos for allowing me to use both sets of coupons. Next stop was the Plaza with the same setup and same result. Both slot plays netted $10 both match plays cost $10 so net zero and an oh fer on match plays. Time was getting short to get back to my wife but I had to $10 free slot play coupons for El Cortez. Drove over there to the free parking garage but was only allowed to use one coupon (caveat 6). Searched for a JOB machine and couldn’t find one so settled on deuces wild and got nothing in 8 plays. $22.50 net for the coupon run so down $120 for the trip and had to pay $2 at Golden Nugget for parking.
Picked up the wife so she had to get ready as we were seeing Absinthe at 8:00 and had plans for my son to treat us to a big dinner at Joe’s Seafood and Steak in the Forum Shoppes. Not being shocked at all, he cancelled at the last minute so we decided to eat at Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant instead to use some Total Rewards. We were seated immediately and I had a burger and my wife had shepherd’s pie, which she said was great. $47 for our meal and we told the waiter to charge to our room but he mistakenly charged our TR balance which was no big deal. Left a $10 cash tip. Received another text from the son saying they were bailing on Absinthe as well so he would be paying me back for the $200 of ticket cost that was wasted and also note that we couldn’t use TR points for Absinthe according to the concierge (caveat 7). His lack of concern for blowing money literally drives me insane. We had seen Absinthe before but thought it was just as fantastic the second time. I admit I have a thing for Penny Pibbets. Since the Gordon Ramsay dinner wasn’t charged to the room, we twisted our arms to go back to Serindipity to spend our $35 food and beverage credit on sundaes again. Very good and still overpriced. We bet some future NHL wagers for friends back at home and lost $20 in the slots so now down $140 for the trip, which is where we finished. I considered that a victory although we gambled very little having spent much more on shows and food.
Getaway day was here so we went down early to settle our bill with TR credits and to resolve an annoying problem of a charge of $32 to our room we didn’t make that had been going on for two days. They took it off but in such a way that it created an accounting problem. The first desk agent said we only had 70 cents of TR credits on my wife’s card. I said that was incorrect and she said we would have to go to TR desk. I was in a panic because we had to leave early but fortunately the TR desk opened at 8:00 AM. The boothling was very nice and explained that if we didn’t play much at the home property our TR balance may not show correctly and would have to be refreshed. He took care of both our cards and we went back to settle up. The annoying $32 charge haunted the front desk clerk and after 30 minutes she manually took off all but $32 of the bill using my wife’s TR points but having to use mine for the balance leaving her with $32 of credits which we may not ever use so we bought some $9 dramamine in the gift shop. The whole episode was an annoyance and did nothing to improve upon my impression of Caesars.
Got gas in the rental car leaving it only half full and only drove about 40 miles on it during the trip. Took the first shuttle to the main rental place and then took the second shuttle to the airport for the flight I just spent the majority of my time on writing this.
I apologize for the length but hope the takeaway caveats help some people. Please ignore any typos as I don’t have the desire to proofread.
