A bit of background: I received an offer for two comp nights at the Monte Carlo a couple of months ago, and so I jumped on the phone and reserved for Nov. 16th and 17th after asking hubby if he could get the time off to go. He said yes, but then his work situation changed and he couldn%26#39;t go, so I asked an old friend (who is pretty much a Vegas Virgin) if she%26#39;d like to do a quick Vegas trip with me just for the hell of it and surprisingly she said yes.
We%26#39;re both in our early 50%26#39;s and have similar tastes as far as enjoying our barley pops and margaritas, lol. I%26#39;ve known her since I was 14 (dang, we%26#39;ve been friends for almost 40 years now) and she can always make me laugh, so I%26#39;m very much looking forward to this trip!
(continued below as a reply)
TR Quick Monte Carlo Trip 11/16th-18th %26amp; Blue Man Group
Can%26#39;t wait to hear how the Monte Carlo was.
TR Quick Monte Carlo Trip 11/16th-18th %26amp; Blue Man Group
The drive from Arizona to Vegas went by quickly as we talked and laughed the whole way, catching up on stuff since we hadn%26#39;t seen each other in quite awhile. Like I said before, my friend Colleen (C) can always get me laughing about silly stuff so it was a fun drive. There wasn%26#39;t even much traffic at the dam so we just breezed on through (I%26#39;m still looking forward to them getting the dam bypass bridge finished though).
When we get into town I%26#39;m a little apprehensive about the parking situation for the Monte Carlo; I had read on this forum at one point that the parking lot near the registration lobby had been closed. Whomever wrote that piece of info was wrong. The parking lot was open but it was still a PITA to get from the lot to the registration area, having to wheel our luggage and cooler from the lot over a couple of curbs, across a busy side street, and around some construction being done near the entrance. We can see that the parking garage nearby is getting close to being done, but that doesn%26#39;t do us a lot of good at the moment.
This is the first time I%26#39;ve stayed at the Monte Carlo but I%26#39;ve always liked the smaller casino and have had fairly good luck there. After a quick check in we make the short trek to the elevator and up to our room.
I had asked the clerk for a room with a view, and she said the only rooms that had had maid service and were ready to occupy (it was before their ';official'; check in time) faced the Strip. I eagerly said, ';Okay, that%26#39;s fine,'; thinking a Strip view would be just what we wanted. Well, the room was on the 8th floor with a view of a long expanse of the casino roof and all its HVAC units a few floors below, lol. Oh well, so much for a good Strip view. A room higher up would have been better. Maybe if I%26#39;d slipped her a $20 we could have had a better view, but I%26#39;m saving my bucks to gamble with.
I am one of those cheap tourists that likes to bring her own cooler to the hotel. It%26#39;s great to stock a variety of the kinds of refreshments and snacks we like and it saves a few bucks as well. We crack open a couple of barley pops (C likes Coors Light, yuck, and I%26#39;m drinking a Black Dog Raspberry Ale, yum) and visit a bit more, then it%26#39;s down to the casino to show my old friend the fun of the slot machines.
She signs up for an MGM Player%26#39;s card and gets $10 freeplay, which she%26#39;s thrilled about, and I steer her toward some penny machines since she didn%26#39;t have a lot of money to play with. I%26#39;m anxious to play the VP machines but I sit with her at the penny machines and answer all her questions. She%26#39;s confused about how the freeplay money works and I explain it to her, but by the time she understands it she%26#39;s spent it all anyway, lol.
I move over to a VP machine and have a little bit of luck (I love the deuces wild game) while she explores and entertains herself on some of the other machines. We play for about an hour and decide to move on to the Venetian for dinner at the Grand Lux and then the Blue Man Group show.
Italianprincess, the Monte Carlo rooms were nice basic hotel rooms. The beds were comfortable, the room was clean, had a good-sized closet, and the bathroom had marble and was of a decent size. There was no honor bar refrigerator or snacks and the television was not a newer flat panel, but it was fine for our purposes.
We were near the elevators, but the room was soundproofed pretty well and we were never disturbed by any outside noises or other guests in the hallway. The a/c worked well, kept the room at a comfortable temp and wasn%26#39;t too noisy.
I have to say that this hotel room was more comfortable than some we have had at more expensive places. For example, at the Mirage we heard heavy doors slamming and voices from the hallway at all hours which woke us up several times. In a West Wing room at the MGM (I can%26#39;t believe they charge more for those smaller rooms than a Tower room) the A/C was noisy and blew right on my husband%26#39;s side of the bed, which he wasn%26#39;t happy about.
I would definitely stay at the Monte Carlo again. There is construction ongoing next door at the massive City Center project, but we were on the side of the hotel away from that area. Also, since it%26#39;s November we didn%26#39;t go down to the pool, which is right next to all the construction, so I can%26#39;t comment on that. The only negative I have about the Monte Carlo room is that it looks like they haven%26#39;t washed the windows in a couple of years, lol.
We cross over the boulevard to MGM and check out the lion habitat. There%26#39;s a young male lion in there but it%26#39;s a bit sad to see. C says she thinks that they%26#39;ve removed his large canine teeth, and after watching him continually lick around his mouth I think she%26#39;s right. They probably do this to prevent injury to the handlers, but it%26#39;s still sad to see.
Walking through the MGM casino I see a Fox %26amp; Hound machine that I just have to play. I make a few bucks on that and cash out because we need to catch the monorail north and head to the Venetian.
We take the monorail to Harrah%26#39;s and walk the rest of the way to the Venetian. C is impressed at the scale and grandeur of the place as we walk around the shops, waterfall, St. Mark%26#39;s Square, etc. We walk right in at Grand Lux, there was no wait at all and the place was half empty which surprised me since it was prime dinner time. We split a crab cake appetizer and a huge Manhatten Chopped Salad w/turkey, avocado %26amp; cheese, more than enough for the both of us. I love the Grand Lux%26#39;s large portions and quality of the meals and service. The only drawback is where we were seated, in a drafty area that sucked in smoky air from the casino and blew it over us. Kind of gross but I forgot about it after awhile.
I was buying C dinner for her birthday and was ticked off and embarrassed when my credit card was rejected. The server came back to the table and told me this, and then asked if we were from out of state. I said yes, and she said that this happens sometimes but I%26#39;ve never had it happen to me before. Just before I left on this trip I had gotten a notice from the credit card company that this account had been ';compromised,'; they were closing the account and issuing us new cards. I called and told them I was taking a trip to Vegas and was assured by their fraud department that I could use this card until I received the new ones. Uh huh. Had to use a different card and made a mental note to call the credit card company again. I didn%26#39;t appreciate this happening to me.
After dinner we played the slots for awhile. We had a couple of hours to kill until the Blue Man Group show which was at 10:00. We found a bank of penny Goldfish slots and had fun there for quite awhile. The cocktail waitress came around and I got a chocolate martini and my friend C got her drink of choice. The choco martini was excellent! I%26#39;ve had some good choco martini%26#39;s and some bad ones; this is one of the better ones I%26#39;ve had, made with the Dove chocolate liquer. Very, very tasty and very strong.
By showtime we were getting tired though, and our seats were off to the side of the theater. They weren%26#39;t bad seats though, in fact they were fairly close to the stage and we had a good view. I almost fell asleep waiting for the show to begin.
I was scooted down with my head resting on the back of the seat, had my eyes closed and was dozing a bit when I heard C laugh and poke me with her elbow. On either side of the stage they have a sort of ';news crawl'; red LED light board where they ask people to turn off cell phones, etc. In between this they say stuff like, ';It%26#39;s John Jimmie%26#39;s birthday everyone. Everyone say Happy Birthday to John. Okay, Go. Happy Birthday, John.'; And the audience says Happy Birthday, John. Well, I wasn%26#39;t watching it but my friend was. When she poked me and pointed up at the words, I saw, ';We understand that Susan Wagner is in the audience and that she has a headache.'; (That%26#39;s me.) ';Let%26#39;s help Susan get rid of her headache.'; What followed was some silliness about imagining a cow on top of my head and then getting rid of the cow, I can%26#39;t remember the whole thing right now. Guess they just pull names at random from ticket buyers to do this, but it took us by surprise and really woke us up. The show started a couple of minutes afterwards and we were still giggling.
I saw Blue Man Group several years before with my hubby when they were at the Luxor. My friend likes off the wall humor so I though she might like this show, and I was right. I won%26#39;t give away a lot of the show except to say we had fun and that the audience seemed to be having a good time. The theater was only 3/4 full though. I%26#39;ve never been to a Vegas show that didn%26#39;t have practically every seat sold, so I was a bit surprised to see this. It was the 10:00 show though. I don%26#39;t know if it was because it was alater show or because of a downturn in attendance due to the lousy economy.
After the show we made our way back to the Monte Carlo and hit the sack. It was by now 2:00 a.m. Arizona time, late for us. Good night.
Even though we got to bed late I still wake up fairly early, 7:30. Got up and showered and then went down to the casino and let C sleep in. Played the VP machines, got four deuces on a multi-hand play and cashed out for about $180, which made me happy. Called my niece who lives in Henderson and told her I was in town, but that we would just be here a short time and that I would see her in December when I would be back with my hubby.
Got a couple of Starbucks and headed back up to the room around 10:30 or so, hoping that C would be awake by now. She was, and was ready to hit the town. I asked her what she%26#39;d like to do, and she said two things: See the Bellagio and go to the top of the Stratosphere. Okay!
First we had breakfast at the Cafe in Monte Carlo as I had $30 in Monte Carlo Bucks to spend on food (part of the comp promotion). We walked right in and got a table - no wait. The food was good, but as we were eating we noticed that the restaurant was only half full and they had a huge line forming to come in. That%26#39;s when I realized that they were short staffed with only a couple of servers for the whole place. They weren%26#39;t filling the restaurant because they didn%26#39;t have enough servers. I had read that a lot of the casinos were laying off but it seems like a bad move to lay off wait staff in the restaurants. I mean, they only pay wait staff minimum wage because they make most of their money in tips, so how much money do the casino/hotels save by laying wait staff off? Maybe a couple of people called in sick this day, I don%26#39;t know. I hope it was that and not that they had to lay people off.
After breakfast we went back up to the room and got some drinks out of our cooler, since it was by now noon and officially happy hour in vegas (for us anyway, lol), caught the monorail north to the Sahara and walked the rest of the way to the Stratosphere. This end of the Strip is a bit seedy and rundown looking, with trash strewn about and dicey looking characters in abundance. We were hit up for loose change by a sad looking guy and I reached in my pocket and gave him what I had accumulated over the last few hours. I always feel sorry for people like that. Whether it%26#39;s a good idea to give them money or not, I don%26#39;t know, I don%26#39;t mind giving them my change though.
Up at the top of the Stratosphere the view was mind boggling, especially since from the ground the tower doesn%26#39;t really appear that high up. The whole time we were in Vegas the weather was perfect and the air was clear. I%26#39;ve never seen the sky so smog-free in Vegas, so it made for great viewing from the top of the tower. We hung around for a good hour or so taking in the view. On one side of the viewing deck they have cushy armchairs to kick back in. We sat in these chairs and enjoyed our drinks we brought with us and took in the view.
After we went back down to the casino level I signed up for their player%26#39;s card and got to play the super, giant, bonus slot machine - and won nothing, lol. Played for a short while and just lost money, so we decided to head back down the Strip. Took the monorail back south and got off at the Flamingo, crossed the boulevard over to Caesars and took the connecting walkway to Bellagio.
We had dinner at the Bellagio buffet and it was fine as usual. I enjoyed the crab legs and shrimp which practically every buffet in Vegas seems to have, but the Bellagio%26#39;s buffet is a couple of steps above other buffets in quality, in my opinion. Also had the seared Bluenose fish, veal with marsala sauce, sushi, tomato bread bisque, miso soup, everything was excellent, fresh, and tasty.
Played some of the slots after dinner, and C turned $2 into $70 on a two cent machine! Quite a lucky streak for her and she was quite happy as she didn%26#39;t bring a lot of money to spend on gambling. We decided to head back to the Monte Carlo and watched two Bellagio fountain shows on the way, both from the boulevard vantage point. We saw a lone duck swimming along the perimeter of the lake with a cockeyed wing. We speculated that maybe he was paddling along in the center of the lake when the fountains went off, thus the skewed wing, and that he stuck to the perimeter of the lake after that experience, lol.
Took the construction walkway in front of City Center and marveled at the huge project. They%26#39;ve made a lot of progress on it since my last visit. I%26#39;m really looking forward to when they open this place up. One, because I can%26#39;t wait to see what the finished product will look like, and two, because I%26#39;m sure it will prompt all the other casino/hotels to have great deals on rooms to compete with City Center since it will most likely create a room surplus. That%26#39;s what I%26#39;m hoping for anywyay. There are great deals on rooms right now as it is; what will happen when this place is up and running? I predict that MGM will close some of their smaller, less profitable properties like Monte Carlo, so I%26#39;m glad I have to chance to visit Monte Carlo now.
Just past the construction area we see a guy with two large parrots, trying to charge tourists $20 to take a picture (with the tourist%26#39;s own camera) of them holding his colorful birds. He actually had a couple Asian men who didn%26#39;t speak English to the point of holding the birds on their arms, but when they understood that the guy wanted $20 they said, No, No, No! Then the guy said, how about $10. We left at that point. Don%26#39;t know if they paid him $10 or not. I felt sorry for the birds.
Back at MC we play for awhile longer and C decides to go up to the room and call it a day. It%26#39;s about 9:30 by now. I quit drinking adult beverages before we got to the Bellagio, so now I have a wide awake hangover, coming down from the alcohol buzz. But, I still want to play and continue for another couple of hours before I call it quits. I lose too much at the stupid Wheel of Fortune machines (my nemesis slot machines!), play a little on Goldfish and lose money there as well, then an oncoming headache helps me decide to go up to the room. When I get there C is asleep with the TV on.
The next morning we get up and check out just before 11:00, then head up the Strip for a late breakfast at Peppermill%26#39;s.
On the drive home I%26#39;m sleepy and slightly hungover. C convinces me to drink a huge can of Rockstar, which I%26#39;ve never tried before. Ugh, didn%26#39;t help my headache but it did keep me awake for the rest of the drive home.
All in all it was a fun trip. I think I%26#39;ve converted my friend to Vegas fun, and when we parted ways in Prescott we were talking about taking another trip and bringing her sis along next time. I should start saving money for that trip now, lol.
enjoyed your trip report
Thanks for sharing..
So it seems as in other reports that the decline of visitors is really down. I am venturing out there in a couple of weeks for the NFR%26#39;s and like to people watch!
Not to worry, during NFR in Vegas there will be lots of people to watch, ;^)
shysue- enjoyed your TR and always enjoy reading about people%26#39;s experiences at the MC. DH and I always stay there and like it very much. As for the parking- since you have never stayed there before perhaps I can clear up something for you. If you had to walk over a couple of curbs and cross a busy side street then you were in the lot used by guests of the MC, but it is not the ';small lot'; that regulars are used to using. That lot is the one that probably still had some construction equipment and trucks in-it is just in front of the valet area and it is where the current underground approach to the large multilevel lot being done(near City Center side) DH and I were just there 2 weeks ago and it was the first time the small ';short term'; lot was closed in all of our visits.
We also noticed the smaller crowds and occasional short staff in some of the places. Our ';regular waitress'; in the cafe told us she is often asked if she wants to leave early as they are slow er than usual.
We%26#39;re looking forward to (me more than DH-LOL) returning again soon. We get all nights comped(suites most recently) as well as food and beverage so it makes it easier to want to return.
Janice
Hi Janice, I guess I didn%26#39;t see the other lot because it was overtaken by construction equipment, and before I always approached the MC from the front so wasn%26#39;t familiar with the west side of the property. In fact, when we first got there I pulled into the NY/NY parking area off of the boulevard instead of the MC side street. I am looking forward to the big parking garage being open though.
shysue,
This is a lovely TR. It%26#39;s so nice to read of a girlfriend trip with an old and dear friend. You may have just inspired me to do the same.
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