Vegas Trip Information for anyone looking to go this year.

[Pawprint]

Having had a good chat with Tighty and Tal at DTD on the weekend, they suggested a post on this thread might be a good way to go.

Don't need advice on flights or hotels, that's all sorted (well, flights are, and hotels are well in hand).

Paul Haycock (Pears27) and myself are heading out to Vegas for the first time this June.

Anyone got some general Do's, Dont's, Must Do's and Don't Go Near's for a couple of newbies spending a few weeks in Vegas ?

TIA

Leigh

[Marky147]

Do head down to Fremont Street for an evening, and do dinner/drinks etc.

Don't go to any stripclub that a cab driver tries taking you to.

If you're going touristy stuff, you've obv got Grand Canyon, and Hoover Dam etc.

[Woodsey]

Grand Canyon by helicopter
A Vegas show, one of the cirque du soleil shows is a good starting point
Check if there are any good concerts or sporting events that interest you on your dates
Suck up as much free booze as possible when gambling
A night downtown
Strip club if that is your thing, spearmint rhino always pretty solid

Don't do's....  

Be an arse and blow all your money when hammered   just take out your budget for the night and leave the rest in the room.

[vegaslover]

Ok a jet lag question for you.

Arriving on the 9th June and just planned to play a couple of wsop events later in the month, and had given up on the 1500 horse on the 10th cos of the jet lag etc.  However got a backer for that event now who is of the attitude just go play it and stop whining!,

So how do you guys cope with jet lag.  normally i hang on till around 10pm on the day of arrival but end up wide awake by 5am and suffering serious red eye syndrome by the early evening of the next day.

Have read somewhere that i should aim to go to bed around 9.30pm till about midnight.  Drag myself up till about 2.30am and then go back to bed but i dont know.   Any thoughts on how to cope.

Have yet to cash in the horse in 3 attempts and its got to be something of a weight needing to be lifted from around my neck as its my main game

I try to get straight into the time zone when I arrive. Grab a shower once I finally get the hotel and checked in, then go shopping for sundries and do some clothes/tourist shopping. Have a bite to eat and then a couple of beers while playing some cheap slots. Aim to be in bed before midnight. Always get up around 7am and have a decent breakfast.

[KarmaDope]

Having had a good chat with Tighty and Tal at DTD on the weekend, they suggested a post on this thread might be a good way to go.

Don't need advice on flights or hotels, that's all sorted (well, flights are, and hotels are well in hand).

Paul Haycock (Pears27) and myself are heading out to Vegas for the first time this June.

Anyone got some general Do's, Dont's, Must Do's and Don't Go Near's for a couple of newbies spending a few weeks in Vegas ?

TIA

Leigh

Fremont Street is a must.
If you're interested in poker history visit Binions for the Wall of Champions.
Adding to what Woodsey/Marky have said, shows are good. Penn & Teller always reliable as well as CdS.
Hoover Dam is worth a trip I'm told. Never been myself.
Ger & Paulie D swear by Pai Gow for cheap drinking.
One thing I like to do on one night when I'm there (bearing in mind I'm generally there for 2 weeks) is go to Fremont Street, then get the Deuce bus back from the first stop. Grab one of the front seats upstairs and enjoy the view when you hit the Strip. It goes so slowly cos of traffic/all the stops that it's like being on a tour bus but without the inane commentary.

As for Don't Go Near's...I have the following:

Dont touch a blackjack table that pays 6/5 for a Blackjack.
Dont play video poker. Not worth it unless you know the strategy.
Dont drink at a bar - you have to pay and its fecking expensive. If you just wanna get ratted - sit in a 2/4 Limit poker game. costs $3 every 20 mins if you play like the Rock of Gibraltar + beers for tips.
Dont go anywhere near Excalibur/Luxor/Circus Circus/El Cortez. They're all hellholes.
If a single woman approaches you at a bar - chances are she's a hooker.

[arbboy]

If you want to play proper budget blackjack go when you are down town to golden gate casino. The oldest casino in Vegas. It is very budget but the limits are tiny and the drinks are very quick and large. Tip big the first round and you will get shitfaced in an hour. All the dealers deal in outfits that strippers usually wear. It's old school Vegas. Pays 6/4 blackjack as well as per previous comment but you get all the tits as well.

 The cafe in the casino does awesome budget food and breakfast as well. Authentic old school usa diner style.

[hhyftrftdr]

I feel the need to point something out for the lowrollers here. This doesnt apply to those who are balla.

It concerns flights.  This will mainly be beneficial to those who live up North.

You can save serious amounts of money by starting your journey in Dublin.

As an example, I have just gone to the BA site and plugged in an economy return, for one person, leaving 22nd September and returning 2 weeks later, flying from Manchester Airport. I have specifically chosen this date as it is a random midweek day when the kids are back in school. My route will be Manchester - London then London - Vegas. The cheapest flight leaves Manchester at 6.45am and I have an 8hr wait in London outbound. This costs £750, which is about right for a direct flight from London itself.

NOW...I go to Kayak.co.uk. I specifically ask for a Multi-City flight, leaving Dublin to Vegas on the same dates as above, and returning from Vegas to Manchester. I then filter out all the other connecting cities except for London.

My flight leaves Dublin at 1pm, lands at Heathrow at 2.20pm and we're on the same flight to Vegas as above. My return flights are also the same as the ones quoted by BA. Total cost of flight? £565.

So I've saved myself £185 just by flying from Dublin. But...how do I get to Dublin? That's easy.

If you book well in advance for Vegas - wait for Ryanair's £9.99 sale. Add on one hold bag for £25 and you've spent £35 going to Dublin. Flight leaves Manchester at 7.50am and lands at Dublin at 8.50am. You leave slightly later than you would if you were flying BA and you've saved £150. That's a buyin for a cash game or a couple of tourneys.

Well worth it IMO.

This is very solid advice and something I always look at before committing to any deal. In the 3 times I've been to Vegas, twice the journey has started in Dublin and I've saved hundreds. Myself and a friend are going again at the end of May. We decided to splurge when we saw the BA biz class sale at the turn of the year; we got return Biz class flights (Dublin - Heathrow- LV and again in reverse), and a week at Monte Carlo for about £1300pp. Had we just bought the direct flights from London, they were north of 2k each. I'm not sure why the savings from Dublin can be so substantial, but I'm glad they are Only had to put down a small deposit to secure the deal too, alas my credit card will be taking the hit in the coming weeks to pay it off.

It's probably the only time in my life I'll fly in biz class (unless I can bink this Colossus WSOP event!) so I intend to make the most of it. Only regret was that we hesitated for a couple of days, and in that time BA had removed the 'no resort fee' offer, so that could have saved us even more $$$ over the course of 7 nights.

[redsimon]

I feel the need to point something out for the lowrollers here. This doesnt apply to those who are balla.

It concerns flights.  This will mainly be beneficial to those who live up North.

You can save serious amounts of money by starting your journey in Dublin.

As an example, I have just gone to the BA site and plugged in an economy return, for one person, leaving 22nd September and returning 2 weeks later, flying from Manchester Airport. I have specifically chosen this date as it is a random midweek day when the kids are back in school. My route will be Manchester - London then London - Vegas. The cheapest flight leaves Manchester at 6.45am and I have an 8hr wait in London outbound. This costs £750, which is about right for a direct flight from London itself.

NOW...I go to Kayak.co.uk. I specifically ask for a Multi-City flight, leaving Dublin to Vegas on the same dates as above, and returning from Vegas to Manchester. I then filter out all the other connecting cities except for London.

My flight leaves Dublin at 1pm, lands at Heathrow at 2.20pm and we're on the same flight to Vegas as above. My return flights are also the same as the ones quoted by BA. Total cost of flight? £565.

So I've saved myself £185 just by flying from Dublin. But...how do I get to Dublin? That's easy.

If you book well in advance for Vegas - wait for Ryanair's £9.99 sale. Add on one hold bag for £25 and you've spent £35 going to Dublin. Flight leaves Manchester at 7.50am and lands at Dublin at 8.50am. You leave slightly later than you would if you were flying BA and you've saved £150. That's a buyin for a cash game or a couple of tourneys.

Well worth it IMO.

This is very solid advice and something I always look at before committing to any deal. In the 3 times I've been to Vegas, twice the journey has started in Dublin and I've saved hundreds. Myself and a friend are going again at the end of May. We decided to splurge when we saw the BA biz class sale at the turn of the year; we got return Biz class flights (Dublin - Heathrow- LV and again in reverse), and a week at Monte Carlo for about £1300pp. Had we just bought the direct flights from London, they were north of 2k each. I'm not sure why the savings from Dublin can be so substantial, but I'm glad they are Only had to put down a small deposit to secure the deal too, alas my credit card will be taking the hit in the coming weeks to pay it off.

It's probably the only time in my life I'll fly in biz class (unless I can bink this Colossus WSOP event!) so I intend to make the most of it. Only regret was that we hesitated for a couple of days, and in that time BA had removed the 'no resort fee' offer, so that could have saved us even more $$$ over the course of 7 nights.

Air Passenger Duty rates are much lower in Ireland than UK?

[Woodsey]

I feel the need to point something out for the lowrollers here. This doesnt apply to those who are balla.

It concerns flights.  This will mainly be beneficial to those who live up North.

You can save serious amounts of money by starting your journey in Dublin.

As an example, I have just gone to the BA site and plugged in an economy return, for one person, leaving 22nd September and returning 2 weeks later, flying from Manchester Airport. I have specifically chosen this date as it is a random midweek day when the kids are back in school. My route will be Manchester - London then London - Vegas. The cheapest flight leaves Manchester at 6.45am and I have an 8hr wait in London outbound. This costs £750, which is about right for a direct flight from London itself.

NOW...I go to Kayak.co.uk. I specifically ask for a Multi-City flight, leaving Dublin to Vegas on the same dates as above, and returning from Vegas to Manchester. I then filter out all the other connecting cities except for London.

My flight leaves Dublin at 1pm, lands at Heathrow at 2.20pm and we're on the same flight to Vegas as above. My return flights are also the same as the ones quoted by BA. Total cost of flight? £565.

So I've saved myself £185 just by flying from Dublin. But...how do I get to Dublin? That's easy.

If you book well in advance for Vegas - wait for Ryanair's £9.99 sale. Add on one hold bag for £25 and you've spent £35 going to Dublin. Flight leaves Manchester at 7.50am and lands at Dublin at 8.50am. You leave slightly later than you would if you were flying BA and you've saved £150. That's a buyin for a cash game or a couple of tourneys.

Well worth it IMO.

This is very solid advice and something I always look at before committing to any deal. In the 3 times I've been to Vegas, twice the journey has started in Dublin and I've saved hundreds. Myself and a friend are going again at the end of May. We decided to splurge when we saw the BA biz class sale at the turn of the year; we got return Biz class flights (Dublin - Heathrow- LV and again in reverse), and a week at Monte Carlo for about £1300pp. Had we just bought the direct flights from London, they were north of 2k each. I'm not sure why the savings from Dublin can be so substantial, but I'm glad they are Only had to put down a small deposit to secure the deal too, alas my credit card will be taking the hit in the coming weeks to pay it off.

It's probably the only time in my life I'll fly in biz class (unless I can bink this Colossus WSOP event!) so I intend to make the most of it. Only regret was that we hesitated for a couple of days, and in that time BA had removed the 'no resort fee' offer, so that could have saved us even more $$$ over the course of 7 nights.

Air Passenger Duty rates are much lower in Ireland than UK?

Can't be any worse, recently booked a flight to Bangkok for about £570, only about low 200's of that was actual airfare, didn't know we had it that bad!!

[redsimon]

Yes, just got a flight using my air miles but the taxes etc are still a massive chunk and can't use them to cover it. Surprised EU lets such different rates be charged in different countries

[KarmaDope]

Yeah, UK APD is the reason why its a lot cheaper to fly from Dublin. Ridiculous really.

Another tip I would advocate for is that if you wish to fly on British Airways...book American Airlines. They dont charge you the ridiculous fuel surcharge that BA do apparently and you can still get your BA Avios etc.

[Omm]

Still havng a look round for my first Vegas trip, found an offer today wth a firm called Charter Travel (ATOL and ABTA protected), trip advisor shows a few unhappy customers but equally has a few good reviews as well about the firm. Anyway the details are

7 nights in November staying at Excalibur
Direct flight from Gatwick
Resort fee included

Price £646

seems decent to me, any good?

Are you travelling solo? Or is it £646pp?

Its pp with 2 people travelling.

Sounds very good with resort fee included. Do you know who you are flying with?
My only concern would be I have never heard of them

Travelling with Virgin from Gatwick, look like the same flights you get with packages from Lowcostusa, same concern with me about no hearing about the company before but I have checked both there ABTA and ATOL number and both check out ok. Trip advisor has got a couple of customers who were most unhappy with them and have really gone to town but there are also a few that have said they never had any problems and would use again so it sort of balances itself. They are only asking for a deposit and not full payment yet. Everything seems above board unless anyone else can add something.

As before my remit is just to have a place to crash in between playing poker, Excalibur may not be the best but does seem pretty central on strip with the Venetian being the furthest casino that we will probably play in at 1.7miles. Although there are ones that are closer. Gonna do abit more investigating before I commit to doing it on Monday.

Really been doing a lot of searching and have narrowed it down to a couple of options possibly

1) book a package with Lowcostusa to stay at the Mirage 7nights £818 inc resort fee. Quick walk to The Venetian.

Or

2) book the flights and hotel separate which will come to a few quid either way of £818 for the same deal as above, but I think I'm right in saying that I then get 10500 miles each with Virgin?

Or do I still get the miles even if I book the package with Lowcostusa? Also seems to be better protection for booking as a package then individually?

Really do appreciate all the help everyone has given me, I've done so much research that I feel like I've already been to Vegas. I've even emailed The Venetian to see what's the best price they would give me (poker room deal) but they haven't got back to me yet.

[scotty77]

The Mirage is a good deal.  I'd just book that.  Nice rooms and a great location. 

[verndog158]

my dad has found 10 nights at Gold Coast i think, 11th-21st June with flights from london for £980 i think. seems too good to be true. thoughts ?

[Marky147]

+1 Ryan

my dad has found 10 nights at Gold Coast i think, 11th-21st June with flights from london for £980 i think. seems too good to be true. thoughts ?

If the flights are good, that's not a bad deal, as it includes the EDC weekend.