blonde poker forum

Hi all.... I've been granted the honor of being my friends best man - he wants his Stag in Vegas (Spring 2019)....Does anybody have any recommendations / tips for things like:
- places to stay
- flights
- things to do
....and anything else you can think of!

Please nothing too expensive as there is a group of 10+ and want to keep everybody included.

(Stag is 28 - if anybody has advice on how to stitch him up its welcomed  ;D)

Thanks guys!

If you give me a rough budget, I'll put some options together for you.

Do you have any firm dates, as those can impact on the costs quite heavily, too.

Edibles if you want to stitch him up :D

Hi Marky, appreciate it!

I think we'd look to be as strict with the budget as possible for things like hotels/flights.... activities I guess people would have an option but would want the group to do as much as poss together.

For dates we were looking end of March/April time (no earlier), however hes getting Married in the Autumn (being the terrible best man I am I don't even know the date they've set  ;whistle; I think its October time... will double check) so we could go over the summer / early Autumn too if there was a huge difference in price but I think spring suits better.


Righto I'll make sure its done :D

If you can go in the week, you'll be able to do a lot more, for a lot less money hotel wise.

Or are you just going out Friday, and then coming back Sunday/Monday?

Vegas is one of the best cities in the world for partying, in that it's busy every night, but you get proper walloped for tables/hotels at weekends.

I'd probably try flying out Sunday, then back on Friday. Get a good few nights in, avoid paying any double rate hotel nights, and have a weekend recovering when you get back.

I think everybody is pretty flexible so it would be possible to go during the week... Somewhere between 5-7 days (any less isn't really worth the journey imo)

Knowing a few of the people who would be coming they'd need the following week to recover ;D

If you're trying to budget, then Sun-Friday is perfect. You land on Saturday, and have a couple days to recover.

I'll have a flick through some March & April  Sun-Fri packages now.

I presume you'll mostly be just getting rinsed, so won't be doing much gambling?

If that's the case, then you can sometimes snag some decent deals through 3rd parties.

Awesome thanks Marky :)

Yeah thats pretty much it... maybe a bit of gambling but a lot of the lads aren't that interested

https://www.holidayusa.co.uk/

Just had a quick look there, at a couple weeks in April, and the middle week of the month looks really cheap for hotels.

7-12th April

Excalibur   £272 (Resort Strip View Twin)
Ballys       £581 (Twin Room)
MGM      £621 (Twin Room)



14th-19th April

Excalibur   £199 (Resort Strip View Twin)
MGM      £297 (Twin Room Strip View)
Mirage   £392 (Volc/Strip View Twin)
Palazzo   £434 (Standard Room)
TI      £471 (Deluxe Queen)
Cosmo   £623 (City Room Twin)
Bellagio   £844 (Fountain View Twin)

awesome thanks bud :) do you have any recommendations regarding flights? I think I remember somebody once saying something about going to Dublin first? Or was I dreaming?

You have to do a little bit of spadework and quantify just how low a budget you need to work to (otherwise Marky is going to be spending time on stuff that isn't ever going to happen.)

When you look at the dates, Ballys for £581 or Palazzo for £434 …. not only is 434 a smaller number, but it is a much better hotel.  But it isn't worth doing too much work if your group would just take the cheapest possible and do £199 at Excalibur.  Nothing wrong with doing that on a stag ofc, just easier to help if people can rule some things out.

A quick look on the 14th-19th shows that Virgin is ~ £1800 for a flight, so that's going to pretty much be a showstopper.  It would be a case of finding a week where the hotel price is right AND the flight is right, or the package is right.

As a guide, direct flights will go for £800 or so.  Is that on budget?  If it is, that's the best way for sure.  If the flight needs to be as cheap as possible, you can go "via Amsterdam via Houston" or you can fly from Dublin -- the price will go down but you will probably lose an extra day travelling - is the £ more important than the time off work?  Ofc that's a question only you can answer (on behalf of the group) and neither answer is wrong.  But when you give that answer (and any blackout dates) then I'm pretty sure someone on here (Marky most likely) will find a cracking deal at the right budget for you.

I also did a quick couple of searches, looks like Iberia (?) are taking the Gatwick slot vacated by Virgin next year, might be some cheap direct options with them.

Yes, Iberia, Spain's flag-carrier, is now part of IAG which includes BA, so they can be trusted. The spare slots at Gatwick arise because Virgin is moving it's Vegas flights to Heathrow & replacing it's ageing 747's with 787 Dreamliners.   

A stag I know got made to bungy off the Stratosphere tower. The best things I’ve done in Vegas are a helicopter ride up the strip at night and the gun store at east Tropicana ave.

https://m.travelrepublic.co.uk/holidays/hotels/beee2701-14be-48ab-ae4d-b5dccd40dce5

7th April - 12th April
Staying in Luxor, flying with Thomas cook from manchester
£628pp

Yeah, all of that ;D

I'd say if you allocate £1k pp for flights & hotels, you're gonna hopefully come in well under that.

You do that (firm up a budget), and I'll find you a flight/hotel package.

The other stuff you can sort later.

Flight prices might be bad from mid April for 2 weeks, that's the Easter holidays.

Starting in Dublin? How absurd ;)

Not wanting to tread on Marky's toes :)

If you can go early May...
Sunday 5th to Friday 10th

Non-stop returns on Thomas Cook from Manchester is £460
Excalibur or Luxor for 5 nights is £156 (free cancellation too)

£540 ish per person.

Early March....
Friday 8th to Friday 15th

Non-stop returns on Norwegian from Gatwick for £330 (no luggage or food included though)
Excalibur is £298 for a week, Luxor is £256

£480/£460pp

Haha, tread away :D

When I've done trips with mates, and I'm planning. I just say this is what we're doing, and this is what it costs.

Like it, or lump it.

Who can find me cheaper than £823 for 25th August to 1st September for flight and hotel
Is it likely to get cheaper? Black Friday?

If he's not getting married until October, you could go during the WSOP, and slip a bit of bracelet action in, too.

Are you proud of me? Did you see the words ''Manchester'' and ''Gatwick''?

Think I need to lie down.

Probably a bit early, and that's from someone that has their flight booked for June already.

Go steady, you don't want to cross over to the darkside aka direct flights ;)

We haven't done one of these for a while, so it would be fun (sort of) to see what the collective can dig up on this one.  A few years ago, they were happening all the time.  No matter how great a price you find, someone always manages to shave £100 off ~ and even experienced Vegas travellers often learn a new booking route in the process, or at least other websites to check in the future.

It has been tilting in the past though to spend time trawling through results only to find out "oh, must be from East Midlands" or "oh, needs to have a poker room" etc.  There's only any point in someone spending effort on a particular route/dates if there is actually any chance someone might book it, so whatever the needs are, dates, budget, room type, pool shape, whatever, great to have them on the table to work with.

As for organising a stag, agree with Mark ~ "it's £xxx.xx booking on this link staying at this hotel on these dates."  Book it quick, or make your own way there, but that's where we will be."

Found Luxor for £151 for 5th to 10th May so that's a fiver off  :D

I'll dig, when we know what we're digging for :D

It’s on travel republic for that price but only Thomas cook flights available atm
Going to Florida after Vegas, best place to book such a holiday? Manchester > Vegas > Florida > Manchester

A travel agent :D

I had a week in Breckenridge after the WSOP one summer, and booked a multi-city through Orbitz

London-Vegas-Denver-London was only about £500, which surprised me.

Really appreciate the help on here, thanks all :)

I've showed the lads the Stratosphere bungee... all in agreement that got to happen (the stag is shit scared of heights  :D )

Simon - I think £800 for flights is a tad out of the price range I was looking for but really wouldn't want to be losing a day by treking around Europe to save a couple of quid.

Marky - A £1k budget works for the flights / hotel but preferably would like to come in close to half of this as it may make the difference for 2/3 people

htrhdthgdjhgdh - Thanks I'll deff check these out.. exactly the types of prices I'm looking at :)

Theres none of that 'gotta be from here....etc' stuff Simon, happy to travel from / stay pretty much anywhere. We're located near Sheffield so if theres a £50 difference between East Mids and Gatwick we'll take the EM flights but nothings off the table.... ... I'm trying to get some dates sorted but everybody still seems to be recovering from the wedding we all went too at the weekend.... I'm gonna be skint soon with all these weddings  >:(

Just had a look now and those TC flights from Manchester have gone up slightly, now £520 return for 5-10th May.

Hotels still looking good price wise on those dates;

Budget - Excalibur/Luxor £156
Mid range (ish) - Linq £301
Higher end - Vdara £476

I'm Yorkshire so I like my shit cheap but even I'd draw the line at Circus Circus for £73  :D

I've stayed at both Luxor and Excalibur and they are fine. Luxor is slightly smarter, but Excalibur has the slightly better location (despite being next to each other and connected by a walkway). If you're just looking for a cheap crashpad in a decent spot on the Strip then you can't really go too far wrong with either of them.

If people didn't mind pushing the boat out a little, Vdara is a good option and slap bang in the middle of the Strip. No casino though!

If they're sharing rooms, it's a no brainer to pay £30pp a night more and stay at Vdara, imo.

Drinks at most strip casinos are now $30 for vat/ gin n tonic / Bloody Mary
indeed Bellagio at Easter was $27 n last week $32
Downtown or off strip same 2 drinks are $ 8/10
Downtown is somewhere to consider staying ?
Use Uber to get around maybe ?
There’s a new golf driving range at back of Bally’s
Helicopter strip flight
There’s plenty to do
Las Vegas .com we used for booking shows plus ideas
There’s a atv desert tour
Loads to do

Helicopter trips to the Grand Canyon as early in the day with a bit of breakfast included would be something to add to your list if you can. Probably better later in the trip to allow for body clock adjustments but it really is a must do if it fits in with the budgets.

The extra info helps a lot. Looks like it's a case of minimal pricing but a few comments. Note that you can't have it both ways....if you don't go direct then you ARE spending extra time travelling whether you want to or not. I'm not sure how much of a diversion is involved with budget flights but to beat 500pp I'd imagine it is hard to do without a time sink. And that still leaves ZEROpp hotel budget!

My suggestion would be to consider how many to a room you are ok with. If you book a hotel direct, it is the same price for one as it is for four. However, I could readily believe that 5 or 6 in the Venetian would be better located, more comfortable and lower cost than 3-4 in the luxor.  Obviously you aren't meant to have 6 in a room, but the room is twice the size of a std hotel room. You'd just need to be sensible about not drawing attention to yourselves and probably a well aimed $20 at the maid so she forgets to report you.

My personal view having read this is that some of the party are not rolled to do this.  Vegas is a horrible place to be on a very tight budget.  Why not consider another location and large it properly without the huge travel hours for just a weekend?

Sub £500 is definitely possible just depends on how flexible your dates are, we're going in Feb and had a late addition, direct Virgin was about £360 Economy Super Basic No Bag or whatever they call it

Cant find any £360 right now so cant quite get sub £500 .....

Direct Virgin 15/05 to 19/05 is only £462

Park MGM £305 for 4 nights on holidayusa.com

£615 per person 2 to a room
£563 if you squeeze an extra person into each room

Depends what they are after though doesnt it, and whether they are gamblers.

I love to gamble and like to eat at nice places so yes, i would never go if i was on a budget.

Stage Hotel ftw though after a losing session!
3 hot dogs & 3 coronas $20 including tip.
What a place!

Bungee might be a bit much for someone with a genuine fear of heights… zipwire over Fremont might be a little bit more compassionate :)

+1

If you're trying to do Vegas on a monkey for flights & accom, I'd probably say the lads suggesting elsewhere are probably right.

Don't forget you've got ~200 a room in resort fees on all those prices, too.

I think your best bet would be to go 3 per room @ Palazzo, or go to Benidorm :D

I don't really gamble either, but I'm not flying halfway around the world to eat hotdogs and drink corona :D

Funny thing is....over the years we've had quite a few questions on here or on DM, "how many guys do you think could sleep in the bathroom" "what's the best way to walk to the Silverton buffet, I have a $1 off coupon" and then in the next paragraph  drops $5k at the tables.


I did hear quite a good ( I thought) solution to rooming on a different budget.  Something along the lines of £1100 for the room for the trip.  £400 for bed 1, £400 for bed 2, £200 for rollaway bed, £100 for sofa.  Those that want and don't mind paying for a bit of comfort can stag with someone that is on a very tight budget. 

You obviously have never been to the Stage Casino!

How much is ‘rolled for vegas’ for the average person though

They can't even afford the rooms/flights on their budget so its not really rolled.  Why not just have a 4 day bender in Europe in a cheap city with a £40 flight (and 2 hours long) and do it in style where the booze is cheap and the birds are probably better looking as well?

4 nights/days?
$2k minimum
$4k about comfortable

Obviously some people win, but personally, i cant say i have ever experienced this.

He said 1k budget works for flight and hotel
Can get flight and hotel for £600 for a week then everyone can take £300 a day and ‘experience vegas’ instead of the usual European City yearly trip

Being rolled for Vegas is ofc subjective, but I'd think for the average pocket, the best way is to separate the flight+hotel cost (by all means hammer that down as low as you can, or splash out as you like.)

I'd think £200/day is ok?  $20-$25 would get you a breakfast buffet in a decent spot, $50 would get you your other meal of the day.  Some days that might be $10 in a food court, another day it might be $100 in a restaurant.

For drinks, you can get as loaded up as you want by pseudo-playing slots and drinking for free (+tip) in the casino, and then drinks money out and about is moderate.  A few Ubers, etc, could see fun being had on that sort of budget.


It doesn't get you private tables, long nights in titty bars, show tickets, gambling or tasting menu restaurants, but pretty sure I could have a good time on that.

Of course, with more money, you have more options while out there and with 9 months notice, there is no real reason why most people can't scrape together a decent roll for it, imo.

A lot of people seem to be able to eat for a lot less than that (but I like my grub) so they would have some extra to throw around.  Some people definitely get it wrong though.... for example, they might spend (for easy maths) £1400 on a week's stay with flights, i.o.w. £200/day to be in Vegas.  They then hang around the bus terminal downtown and work out how to spend all day getting 3 bus connections for $5 to save a $10 Uber, seemingly not realising that it actually cost them £200 that day to be there.

He also said that would exclude some of the party, who would be looking to do it for half that.

600 near enough half
Just hit them with the resort fee info upon arrival

Not even on Larry the Lobster?

By the time they go to Vegas, they can do - arguably - better than that, when the Zip Wire above the Strip opens. It's right opposite Caesars, & is, I assume, owned by LINQ/Caesars.

Personally, I'd not go near Stratoshpere Bunjee with a bargepole. Everything there is cheap,  run-down & badly maintained, & if you paid me £1,000 I'd not go on it.


(http://i.imgur.com/VOVniDO.jpg) (https://imgur.com/VOVniDO)

That would get things off to a good start.

Badly maintained hotel rooms, sure, probably, they’re cheap rooms.
I doubt they skimp on the rides maintenance

 :D


<3 Larry.



And Bopkin.

We went to the top of the stratosphere in June my Mrs loved it her first time my second
We had some Chinese food in the cafe it was fine
There was a huge q to check in so it’s popular
You now can dodge the walk past loads of tat shops n get straight in the elevators
There were wonderful views
The wire descent seems pretty safe
I was glad we went quite enjoyed it
Rolled for Vegas ? $200-400 a day as a minimum I’d suggest unless there’s a lot of walking about with hands in pockets

Closer to home is niagra falls
A 5 hour flight
3 casinos Brock plaza ,falls view and on the American side casino Seneca
Sundowner strip / lap dancing club
Plenty of other stuff too
But it’s not Vegas

Hey guys, sorry I've not been active in here been doing my brains at DTD this past week as per... need my main sweat piece to get me out.

£1k budget was just for flights / hotels, spendo is a completely different thing and will be down to the individual... want to do as much as we can together as a group but sometimes its not always possible and thats fair play, people have different likes / budgets.

Realistically I'm just trying to get the most bang for the buck as having looked at what was suggested we could do that at well under £1k. A few of the lads have been to Excalibur before and said its ok for our needs which would literally be sleeping.

I think the lads who have been before are saying around $400-$500/day spendo is required so thats what people will be shooting for... Trying to budget partly as everybody had a busy summer and are skint (so being tighter than usual) and partly to keep the total cost down.
@simon that brutality is part of the fun! Screw him its a stag  ;D

@tikay that looks incredible, really hope this opens up in time..... p.s. on the bungee, if he dies, he dies.

1st to 8th July.

Manchester return on Virgin (outbound via Atlanta, non-stop inbound), £269.
7 nights Luxor; £319

£429pp.

Scratch that ^

Sunday 7th to 14th July

Manchester - Vegas return on Virgin Atlantic, non-stop both ways; £253
Excalibur for 7 nights; £302

£404pp.

It's was £253 return, but these prices never hang around (understandably when its that cheap!) so by the time you posted, some 24 hours later, it was probably long gone.

If I see anything else that looks good I'll pop it in here, but any interested parties would need to act fast.

Do those kind of prices come back or once they’re gone they’re gone

Couple people I know just got a week at NYNY, flying from Manchester direct in August for £460

Yeah they will come back in one form or another, it's just a case of being on the ball to catch them, and then being in a position to proceed (be that financially, with work, family etc)

Black Friday is on the horizon and there are often very good flight/holiday deals kicking about that weekend. Sounds like your mates got a very good deal!

I'm a travel agent so I spend an abnormal amount of time looking at all things travel, so I'll usually stumble across cheap flights rather than actively seek them out. Sometimes it's just the luck of the draw.

It was with travel republic
Although BA flights and virgin flights return were both about £280 yesterday for 25th August - 1st September
Others are gutted they didn’t book so are now waiting for Black Friday
I’ll book through you if you fancy giving me those kind of prices ;)

Thanks hh, really appreciate that.
Can't believe those prices and Vegas could well be on the cards for next year now.

They were comfortably the cheapest non-stop return flights to Vegas I've ever seen. Was very tempted myself! And Virgin Atlantic are one of the better carriers crossing the Atlantic.

You can struggle to get a return flight to Spain for that price in the summer months, the value was incred. TBH I wish I'd snapped them up but I'm old and sensible these days, fml as the kids say.

These prices are back
£233 return flights etc

They aren't there now

 https://www.skyscanner.net/transport/flights/ncl/las/190824/190831/?adults=1&children=0&adultsv2=1&childrenv2=&infants=0&cabinclass=economy&rtn=1&preferdirects=false&outboundaltsenabled=false&inboundaltsenabled=false&ref=home#details/14585-1908241025--32480-1-13411-1908241920|13411-1908312130--32480-1-14585-1909011930

Stuff like this
£260 return
Newcastle > Heathrow > Vegas
Vegas>Heathrow>Newcastle

I’m a travelzoo fan. And get their weekly email. This on today’s:

https://www.travelzoo.com/uk/cheap-flights/rest-of-world/-266-Non-stop-flights-to-Las-Vegas-from-London-return--2679147/?utm_source=top20_uk&utm_medium=email&utm_content=2679147&utm_campaign=uk_top20_2018_42_deal%3a2679147

Limited dates but often see stuff like this

On my phone at work so can't link etc but Virgin have direct Gatwick - Vegas returns for 254 quid, various dates through to March.
13th to 20th Feb works if you wanna treat the missus over V day ;)