BklynChick
08-30-2008, 01:39 PM
Since I’m going through serious withdrawal with no Disney trip on the horizon :(, I thought I’d share my recent trip to Las Vegas with everyone!
CAST OF CHARACTERS:
Me - early 30's , making her 4th trip to Vegas
DSIS - my sister, belatedly celebrating her 21st b-day and the inspiration for the trip
DSBF - my sister’s boyfriend, also recently turned 21, making his first trip via plane
DSM - my stepmother (and sister’s mom), early 50's, hasn’t been to Vegas in 10 years
We all met up in NJ the day before at my dad and stepmom’s house (me from NYC, DSIS and DSBF from Boston). After having breakfast together that morning (and saying goodbye to my brother, who was staying home to babysit my dad LOL), Dad drove us to Newark Liberty. No problems checking in, but the flight was full - they were asking for volunteers to take a flight that night, and while DSM was keen on it, the rest of us not so much (I only get so much vacation and don’t want to waste a minute in the airport, let alone 6 hours!). Flight on Continental was crowded (it was a 737, very small). Continental was OK, but I’m spoiled now by JetBlue and their TVs. The movie was hard to watch and the sound was terrible. At least they fed us (small personal pizza, salad with AWESOME ranch dressing and a mini candy bar).
We arrived at McCarran on time and headed for baggage claim via the monorail (?? I don’t remember this from previous trips, maybe they opened another terminal ??). I was expecting the worst from previous trips, but the baggage claim area was mostly empty and we had our bags very quickly (and yes, I got made fun of for my “lost baggage” phobia, which those of you who read my Disney trip reports will be familiar with). Before long we caught a cab, and 10 minutes later we were checking into our hotel.
This was my second stay at Monte Carlo and once again I was very satisfied. The hotel is beautiful and the renovations from last trip made it very elegant as well. It has all the amenities you would need, but isn’t so huge that you have to hike a half-mile from your room to get to anything. I recommend the breakfast buffet - we ate there almost every morning, and it is a great value at $11.99 - even if you just have fruit, cereal and pastries, it’s probably cheaper than eating in the 24 hour Café. The food court was updated since my last visit and has a good variety (Subway, Starbucks, Sbarro, McDonalds, Haagen Dasz, plus Chinese and Mexican chains). The only downside is the actual casino - it’s a bit on the small side. We usually saved this for when we came back late at night after visiting other casinos.
Check-in revealed the only real hiccup of the trip. Apparently Travelocity has been having problems with the “bonus packages” they’ve been promising to Monte Carlo guests. I spent nearly two hours on the phone trying to find out what was going on (wasn’t too bad, since we were all just settling in and resting from the trip). Eventually a really nice Travelocity rep in the US, combined with the hotel’s willingness to “make things right”, resulted in us getting an equivalent bonus package. Still, as I pointed out in my post in Vacation Planning, I’m soured on Travelocity now and would recommend that those who are supposed to be getting these bonuses check BEFORE their trip.
After we finished on the phone, we headed out to the Strip. We walked down to Bellagio (past the huge amount of construction at what will be City Center) and saw our first fountain show. I could stay there and watch for hours - it’s my favorite activity in Vegas. We walked a bit further down the Strip and realized that based on East Coast time, it was WAY past time for dinner. After some hemming and hawing, we settled on Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville. Burgers and drinks were good, and the atmosphere was fun. After dinner, we stopped at Caesars and looked around the Forum Shops. We then walked back to our hotel past the Bellagio (another fountain show - yay!). Everyone had the gambling bug so we stayed up until 2am (5am East Coast time!) to play, then dragged ourselves to bed.
CAST OF CHARACTERS:
Me - early 30's , making her 4th trip to Vegas
DSIS - my sister, belatedly celebrating her 21st b-day and the inspiration for the trip
DSBF - my sister’s boyfriend, also recently turned 21, making his first trip via plane
DSM - my stepmother (and sister’s mom), early 50's, hasn’t been to Vegas in 10 years
We all met up in NJ the day before at my dad and stepmom’s house (me from NYC, DSIS and DSBF from Boston). After having breakfast together that morning (and saying goodbye to my brother, who was staying home to babysit my dad LOL), Dad drove us to Newark Liberty. No problems checking in, but the flight was full - they were asking for volunteers to take a flight that night, and while DSM was keen on it, the rest of us not so much (I only get so much vacation and don’t want to waste a minute in the airport, let alone 6 hours!). Flight on Continental was crowded (it was a 737, very small). Continental was OK, but I’m spoiled now by JetBlue and their TVs. The movie was hard to watch and the sound was terrible. At least they fed us (small personal pizza, salad with AWESOME ranch dressing and a mini candy bar).
We arrived at McCarran on time and headed for baggage claim via the monorail (?? I don’t remember this from previous trips, maybe they opened another terminal ??). I was expecting the worst from previous trips, but the baggage claim area was mostly empty and we had our bags very quickly (and yes, I got made fun of for my “lost baggage” phobia, which those of you who read my Disney trip reports will be familiar with). Before long we caught a cab, and 10 minutes later we were checking into our hotel.
This was my second stay at Monte Carlo and once again I was very satisfied. The hotel is beautiful and the renovations from last trip made it very elegant as well. It has all the amenities you would need, but isn’t so huge that you have to hike a half-mile from your room to get to anything. I recommend the breakfast buffet - we ate there almost every morning, and it is a great value at $11.99 - even if you just have fruit, cereal and pastries, it’s probably cheaper than eating in the 24 hour Café. The food court was updated since my last visit and has a good variety (Subway, Starbucks, Sbarro, McDonalds, Haagen Dasz, plus Chinese and Mexican chains). The only downside is the actual casino - it’s a bit on the small side. We usually saved this for when we came back late at night after visiting other casinos.
Check-in revealed the only real hiccup of the trip. Apparently Travelocity has been having problems with the “bonus packages” they’ve been promising to Monte Carlo guests. I spent nearly two hours on the phone trying to find out what was going on (wasn’t too bad, since we were all just settling in and resting from the trip). Eventually a really nice Travelocity rep in the US, combined with the hotel’s willingness to “make things right”, resulted in us getting an equivalent bonus package. Still, as I pointed out in my post in Vacation Planning, I’m soured on Travelocity now and would recommend that those who are supposed to be getting these bonuses check BEFORE their trip.
After we finished on the phone, we headed out to the Strip. We walked down to Bellagio (past the huge amount of construction at what will be City Center) and saw our first fountain show. I could stay there and watch for hours - it’s my favorite activity in Vegas. We walked a bit further down the Strip and realized that based on East Coast time, it was WAY past time for dinner. After some hemming and hawing, we settled on Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville. Burgers and drinks were good, and the atmosphere was fun. After dinner, we stopped at Caesars and looked around the Forum Shops. We then walked back to our hotel past the Bellagio (another fountain show - yay!). Everyone had the gambling bug so we stayed up until 2am (5am East Coast time!) to play, then dragged ourselves to bed.