Don't you just love Vegas taxi drivers? A 43% tip and still they are not happy!!!

I must admit there is some major jealous vibes at the moment with your pending Cheesecake Factory visit TC. I'm pleased there are other people who find it a bit of a ritual as well, I mean who wouldn't with food that good?

Was that £77 or $77 for the meal at Bill's btw? I am guessing $77 which is good value when steak is involved. Craftsteak does look awesome but the prices have put us off each time, it really is a special treat kind of place. The sarnies are good in Witchcraft though!!!!

I can't believe it's nearly over for you, it seems to have gone very quickly from here but I would reckon it's gone at a nice pace for you? So you are going to try for Vegas again in 2009 then?

Enjoy your final day and the journey home (if you can!!!).

Cheers
Ju

I've still never been to a Cheesecake Factory and I think the closest one is about 20 mins away. Would I be criminally negligent in not going, given the cult like status it has achieved on these boards?

We finally tried CPK in Fashion Show Mall this year, and really quite liked it! Definitely somewhere we'd go to again. Only at at Cheesecake Factory once - in Caesars. Didn't much like it, but it was my own fault. Ordered the pizza bread starter with tomato, then tomato pasta. I like tomatoes but I felt like I was turning into one! It was all diced fresh tomatoes rather than sauce, and it was coming out my ears!

Ju -
Nope, was £77. It's the 'signature' restaurant for Bills and is a very nice restaurant, not exactly one you'd just 'pop into' for a quick bite. The prices were something like this - $25 for the bottle of wine, $89 for the steak - remember, this is a 26oz Ribeye, on the bone, a real quality, huge piece of steak and $7 each for the mash and baked spud. We left the waiter a $20 tip. Craftsteak is more expensive than Bills still.
Cheesecake Factory - I can understand why some people may not like it, I think it's kind of like TGI Fridays in that the food is always good and you normally get quite a bit of it, in fact in the CF you get a mountain of food and we have learnt to share dishes in there now. (I love TGI's by the way....their ribs CANNOT be beaten and their steaks are excellent)!
It's 6pm here and I was about to check in online when I realised I had made a bit of a faux pas......I've got my days and dates mixed up. I was convinced that tomorrow (Sunday) was the 29th, when we fly home but it's not, Monday is the 29th so we've got another day in Vegas!! I don't know what made me think Sunday was the 29th but I'm not complaining!! Only thing is I need to find more gambling money! Anyway, back to the report.....now a bit longer than planned.............
FRIDAY NIGHT:
As ever, best laid plans and all that, we changed our mind about going down to Wynn. I found a good review on Frommers guide for the Dragon Noodle restaurant in Monte Carlo so we walked over there. I have to say it is one of the worst meals I have ever had in Vegas! Awful. I had a Kirin beer and Linda had a Singha, we had pork and vegetable spring rolls to start, which were quite reasonable and then Linda had a 'Hong Kong Chow Mein' and I had Beef Chow Fun which was beef and veg in a black bean sauce with thick noodles. Total price was around $47. First time I've tried Japanese Kirin beer though and it's really nice! Definitely WON'T be returning there ever. Monte Carlo is a bit of a state really, Andres restaurant is closed and it looks dirty around the entrances. The work on the City Centre project next door goes on 24hrs a day by the looks of it so I definitely wouldn't want to stay there until that's finished. We stayed there a couple of years ago and quite liked it but it looks like it's gone downhill since.
After the meal, had a very quick gamble with no luck and walked down to Bellagio. Had a gamble in there for 40 mins or so, again I couldn't win a bean but Linda won $250 on a slot for an initial investment of $20 - her best win ever. She was only betting 25c a time too......there's me doing max credits trying to win back some of my losses, it just shows you that you don't have to bet big all the time.
Thought the atmosphere in Bellagio was not good, not sure what is different but just didn't feel right so we left Bellagio and walked back up to Tropicana. Being a weekend, minimums are up everywhere but Trop had $5 tables still as expected. I played some Let it Ride Poker/3 card poker whilst Linda played some slots. I held my own for a while but eventually lost it all but the guy next to me had the biggest single win I'd ever seen whilst at a table. You are dealt an initial 3 cards and that is your '3 card poker' hand, basically the guy was dealt three 3's! That meant that he got paid out 30/1 on his 3 card bet of 5 dollars. Then, the dealer turns over two more cards that he has and you have to make a 5 card poker hand out of your three plus his two. First card he turns is a king then the last card is a 3!!! The guy next to me is almost dancing. He now has four of a kind, first time I've seen it and the dealer said it's the first one she'd ever dealt. He gets paid 50/1 on his three bets and a $400 bonus. All in all he won $2000 on the one hand. I'm not a jealous person but....................
We left when I was skint and walked over to MGM. Got in around 2:10am.
Of course we got up today for our last day round the pool....NOT! It was very hot again today. Have started charging some food and drink to the room hoping that we can get it comp'd as quite a bit of our gambling has been done on MGM players cards - never done this before so will be interesting to see what happens! Came up from the pool around 4:30pm thinking that was the last time I'd see it this year.....wrong again.
So, tonight we're not sure where we're gonna eat. We will pop down to Cesars Palace to go to the Abercrombie and Fitch store because Linda loves that. We're also gonna ask the concierge tonight if he can get us some tickets to a preview show tomorrow night at Luxor of 'Believe' by Criss Angel and Cirque du Soleil, evidently they have a couple of previews going on this weekend which were postponed from last week. Hope we can get tickets but I doubt it now.
We'll eat at Cheesecake Factory tomorrow night, so it is our last meal here and it should be less busy hopefully.
So guys, you have another report to come yet!

Cheers,

TC

What a bonus!!! Finding you have an extra day. I've been loving your day by day reports. Thanks very much.

We stayed at MC for a few days in May this year, and while it was OK for the price, there was far too much construction outside and too much refurbishment inside. Didn't help that I wasn't even slightly lucky there either.

Thanks TC, still enjoying it. What a bonus finding you had an extra day in Vegas!!

luci

SATURDAY:
Down by the pool during the day, another very hot one with little or no cloud. I think I may be the brownest I've ever been from a summer holiday
Ok, we checked with the concierge about tickets for 'Believe', they are sold out all weekend, thought that would be the case but worth a try. We jumped in a cab from the Signature and went down to Wynn. Interestingly it only cost $10 by cab, the same it would do by Monorail only by cab it's door to door! Lesson learned there I think, the monorail is no longer a cheap means of getting from one end of the strip to the other! Had a brief look round Wynn and watched the 'Lake' show which is an attempt to have a show not unlike Bellagio but it's nowhere near as good as the fountains. Had a quick gamble and lost, then walked next door for our first look at Palazzo. We quite liked it, would definitely think about staying there if there was a decent deal on. Had a gamble on the slots - I won $100 on a 1c slot called 'Sun and Moon' by hitting a bonus whilst playing a bonus and getting 52 free spins, it was a good little machine, haven't seen it in any other casino.
Frpm Palazzo we walked over to Treasure Island. We haven't been in there since we stayed there about 5 years ago. I still quite like it. They had some $5 tables in there, even though it was a weekend so we both sat down to play some Pai Gow poker. We must have played for three hours in the end, most enjoyable. I walked away $50 up and Linda was $8 up. It was a really good atmosphere with nice dealers too. Got a cab back to Signature around 3am - cost was just over $10 due to traffic on the strip I guess.
SUNDAY:
Definitely our last full day!
I struggled up at 08:20am despite not getting in till 3am. Sleep is for wimps
Spent the day by the pool, was VERY cloudy until 1pm, the cloudiest day all holiday, still hot though. After that it finally cleared to leave beautiful blue skies..........last time we'll see them for a while (after tomorrow morning possibly).
It's now 5:30pm. We're just packing now, and I've checked in online - another bonus of having the laptop with us. Just need to drop the bags off tomorrow and pick up our boarding cards. I have priority passes to the US Airways lounge at McCarran thanks to one of my credit cards so we should have a bit of comfort before we get on the cramped plane!!
Plans for tonight may have changed again, Linda wants a steak again so we'll probably give the Cheesecake Factory a miss for the first time in a few years. we'll still pop into Cesaers though to go into Abercrombie and Fitch. Other than that, I'm looking forward to a late night with some more Pai Gow and Let it Ride/3 card poker. Not sure where yet - will try to make it one of the MGM properties to see if we can bump our players card points up a bit more, have stuck lots of drinks on it in the last couple of days and want to see if we can get all, or at least some knocked off for free! We haven't actually got that much on our cards, probably about 4800 points in all so we'll see if we get anything.
I thought I'd end this report by just listing a few pointers I've got from this trip -

1) We still love Vegas!
2) It is VERY quiet compared to the last few times we've been. Takings are well down in the casino's according to the
press
3) There's also issues with new construction. I've read that 'Echelon' the new resort down by Trump tower due in
2010 has been put on hold with part of it built, because of concerns over financing.
'Plaza' - the new resort from Boyd Gaming next to Wynn due in 2011 has been postponed, due to restart in 2010
according the the LVRJ paper.
City Centre project is ongoing, due to complete in 2009, although there are concerns around financing that as well.
4) The monorail is no longer a cheap travel option - a cab seems a similar price or cheaper if travelling the strip
5) More casino's keep lower limits even at weekends, to try to get more people gambling
6) Construction on the strip is leading to some hotels being 'dirty' and 'noisy' and really not very enticing. It's worth
considering before booking a hotel - is there any construction nearby and is it worth the hassle, even at a good
price?
7) I have to praise Luxury Suites International, who, having used them for the first time, we have loved our time here
at the Signature, our room has been cleaned regularly, communications have been fast and helpful and most of all,
they saved us around 40-45% off the price asked by MGM! Finally, the staff at the Signature, all of them say hello, even when passing in the corridors and walkways, they are
all so polite and helpful. The pool areas are uncrowded, not too noisy and are very relaxing with pool drinks and
food service being excellent. Yes, there are cheaper strip hotels (although remember this only cost us £60 a night
for 10 nights of our stay), it really is worth the money for an extra bit of luxury which helps make the holiday that
bit more special and memorable.

I sincerely hope we come back to Vegas next year (finances permitting)! and if we do, there is a very good chance we'll do the same again with the Signature if we can get a similar or better deal.
I now look forward to reading other peoples Vegas reports to get my fix until next year!!

Cheers,

TC

Good work TC, thanks for the updates, it has been great reading

I still think the 24hr Monorail ticket is a good deal especially if you can get it for $9 with the vouchers that are available on eBay and you intend to use it quite a bit during that period. I am surprised by some of your taxi fares, I can remember getting a cab from the Luxor down to the Fashion Square Mall back in 2002 and it was $13 back then!!! Have taxi fares reduced in 6 years? Not sure, but $10 down to the Wynn from the Signature/MGM is a great price.

With regards to your steak meal at Bills, it seems that you like spending a lot more on meals than we do (life would be dull if we were all the same after all). Our budget normally is $50 for the two of us for an evening meal and we never have a problem sticking to that in Vegas. I think it is worth mentioning that because there are obviously a lot of people interested in going to Vegas who read these forums and some may be put off by the thought of a meal for two coming out at $150+. Whilst Vegas is no Orlando, there are plenty of places to eat on a budget.

I have to agree with your sentiments about the construction. The area near the City Center project really is a blot on the landscape although it will be amazing when it is complete. What this leads to is a lot of people walking the other side of the road and it can get very congested. I certainly wouldn't consider the Monte Carlo at the moment for that reason alone, and of course you also have to take into account the construction inside hotels of which the NYNY was a total mess when we were there back in August.

Still, it is good to hear you are still in love with Vegas. It is a great city after all, but for me there is so much more of the world to see and I think Vegas will have to wait for a few years yet.

Ju

Many thanks for all the reports Teecee. I like to keep up to date with what´s happening in Vegas and it looks like they will be dropping room rates to pull the punters in. A bit worrying that most of the construction is concerned about financing.

Thanks again and hope you had a good flight home.

luci

feels like Ive been reading a good book and reached the last page!really enjoyed it thank you
jeanie

Ju,
Agreed on the monorail daily pass being a good deal, if you plan to hop on and off up and down the strip it's well worth it. A cab looks a very good choice if you want a one off trip for a couple of people or more. I was surprised by how good the taxi fares were, I guess they need to adjust to the fact that custom is down to!
I also understand what you're saying about how much meals cost. We don't 'like' spending lots on meals as such, I'd love to eat for free! But when we go on holiday we do tend to live unlike we do at home, ie: we will tend to pay more for our meals out as we want the holiday to be special and not the same as we might do at home, hence we do tend to eat better when we are away. There are certainly plenty of places to eat well and still eat cheaply and there's nothing wrong with that. I do think that there is a marked difference in quality all the way up the scale though - ie: you pay $7 for buffet at Sahara and you get very poor quality and choice, pay $25 at Mirage for the buffet and you will eat quality food and have a lot of choice. But that's the good thing with Vegas - we all have that choice

Thanks all, glad you enjoyed reading the adventure! Here's the last segment now we're home....

SUNDAY NIGHT:
We did eat at the Cheesecake Factory in the end! Only had to wait 15 mins for a table. Did a quick bit of shopping in Abercrombie then went in. Skipped starters as we know how bigh the mains are! I had Louisiana Chicken Pasta and Linda had the Jumbalaya chicken pasta, both were delicious and huge portions!
Unfortunately Linda started to feel unwell during Sunday and seemed to have picked up the bug I had earlier in the week so wasn't feeling 100%. We had a cheesecake to go and set off back to the Signature to drop off the shopping and the cheesecake before having a gamble.
Decided to pop over to Excalibur for a gamble, to make sure we got $5 table minimums. I played some Let it ride/3 card poker and Linda played the slots. She won $250 on the 'Blazing Sevens' slot and was well happy! I had 40 dollars left when I was dealt three 3's! Yippee! Then the dealer turned her first card over....a king......there's me shouting "pair 'em up, pair 'em up"......and she turned the second card to reveal another king, I had hit a full house!! This was the hand I'd been waiting for all holiday. I got paid 30/1 for the three 3's on the three card hand and 11/1 on each of my bets on the Let it ride hand with a $200 bonus. All in all I won $500 on the hand. I ended up losing $100 by continuing at the table but what the hell, I was happy!
We went across to the Tropicana to play some Pai Gow poker and played for about an hour and a half.....both lost unfortunately so we decided to call it a night around 02:00am. Our flight left at 4pm on Monday so we could have a lie in.
Set the alarm for 09:30, then got up and went down to the MGM players club to see if we could get anything for our points. Gutted, because MGM cannot access the Signatures computer system they cannot comp us on our room. Looks like we would have got our $115 pool drinks/food bill wiped otherwise. He went and spoke to his manager but apologised and said they couldn't do anything. Ended up giving us two buffet comps and line passes as that's all he could do. We got our bags and checked out, then left them with the bell boys, and went to have breakfast in the MGM grand buffet. As it was 10:58am as we went in, they were just putting out the lunch items. The woman said that if you go in after 11am you have to pay more (for the lunch buffet) so there's a tip......if you're hungry, go in right before 11am and you'll pay the breakfast buffet price but get the choice of a full lunch out of it. I ended up having Steak au poivre, mash, carrots, broccoli and gravy for breakfast! Followed by pancakes and fruit. (We thought it best to stock up as the food was inedible on Virgin flying out).
As it was still early we thought we'd pop over to the Trop' and have one last go at Pai Gow poker. We both lasted about 40 minutes with the trainee dealer getting unbelievable hands and wiping the floor with everyone.
Back to the Sig.....jumped in a cab to the airport. Because I had checked in online we avoided the enormous queue to check in, and was about 5th in line for the bag drop. Took about 7 mins to get our bags in and get the boarding passes. Asked where the US airways lounge was and it turns out it's in terminal 1 not 2 where we were, so we didn't bother going over. Found out also that the flight was delayed 1.5 hours to 5:30pm because of the plane being late in.
Flew throuh security, was in departures in no time, excellent!
Grabbed some duty frees and sat down with about 3 hours to kill. After an hour or so, the seating area was pretty full. They announced on the tannoy that they had some 'upper class' seats on offer - obviously hadn't sold out. There was about 10 people went shooting up to the desk obviously thinking that they might get upper class for a couple of hundered quid! Most just turned and walked away but a couple of people looked like they did upgrade. Because Linda wasn't feeling great I said to her go and ask how much an upgrade is, she went over and came back a minute later saying a guy in the queue said it's £850 per person. TOO much money! Maybe if I'd won more! However, the longer we sat there the more I thought - I wonder if I can bargain with them if all the seats haven't gone? Linda thought I was wasting my time but I wnet up and asked how much the upgrade was.........the woman said £1325 per person! Gulp........maybe not. But then she said they could do a Premium upgrade for £300. Now first of all, Premium had all been sold, I had checked that online but a couple who were in Premium had upgraded to Upper so they had two available, secondly, Premium is normally just over £400 per person each way..........it got me thinking. Finally I thought what the hell, that's what credit cards are for!! and went for the Premium seats.
I've got to say it is a different world flying Premium. You get treated TOTALLY different, the seats are MUCH better and service is great and food is much better. It made for a very pleasant trip home and Linda felt a lot better than she would have done in a cramped ecoomy seat.
Only problem now is we will have to save extra hard for Premium seats next time!!
Got home 3 hours after we should have but I'm not back at work until Friday so a bit of time to recover. Am missing Vegas already...........can't wait for next September!!

Cheers,

TC

Some great wins there TC, you certainly had better luck this time then we did.

Gutted for you about the MGM not being able to access the Signature computers, with the amount of play you had they could have easily wiped out any drinks/meals charged to the room, I mean we are very low rollers and they still comped nearly $50 worth of drinks from our final bill. Still 2 buffet and line passes was a good deal. It does make laugh you mention the 11am thing because there were a lot of people doing this when we went. I can sort of see the point and you get a much bigger choice but I found the sight of a 30 stone American guy tucking into ribs at 11.01 in the morning pretty disguisting, especially as his Size 0 daughter had a salad!!!! Maybe I was just jealous because I'd filled up on Eggs Benedict and didn't have room for the ribs!!!

Good effort on the Premium seats btw. The best offer we have ever had was Virgin back to London from Washington DC when they moved all Premium Economy passengers upto First Class (lucky gits) and then sold Premium Economy for $40 per person. That wasn't a hard decision to make at all.

Thanks for your trip reports, they have been fun to read and has got me thinking about a possible return to Vegas sooner than imagined but currently it looks like we are heading for the beauty of Washington State and Oregon next year.

Cheers
Ju

Fantastic report .
Cant wait to go back to Vegas,hopefully in the next year or two.
Mark.

Great report TeeCee. Can't believe your holiday is over....considering your dates overlapped our it seems like it was long then! I feel like I've been home for ages...but also for us there's next September to look forward to. We're taking some family with us next year, looks like there's going to be 6 of us, or maybe 9 if the other rellies join us from Canada.