Niki
05-03-2008, 01:47 AM
As everyone goes to Vegas at some point, I will just give a little review of the good and bad of what I did, gamble, golf, eat and spa.
Gambling - Although we lost $185 bucks during our 5 days there, I feel we came out ahead. Gambling on the strip was a pain. Both foot traffic and vehicular traffic are terrible. Staying at the far north end of the strip made things more difficult, but traffic was bad all around. If you want to beat the traffic in your car, go east to Paradise Rd. or west to Industrial Drive. Both of these run parallel to the strip, and most casinos have entrances to their parking garages from these roads. It really saves alot of time on the road and on your feet, as well as outrageous cab fares. The first night, we played at Bellagio, where we found really nice, persoanble pit bosses and dealers. We also found nice dealers and waitresses at New York New York. At each of these, the staff was helpful and drinks were re-filled promptly. These two also still paid 3-2 on blackjack. I was suprised that so many of the big boys on the strip now pay 6-5. Crummy odds, IMHO. A couple little strip gems were Slots-o-Fun (great 99 cent hot dogs) and O'Shea's. While I liked these two low-key places, DH thought that the classless people there were a bit much. He is classier than I am LOL. Even I admit that the O'Shea's crowd was a little rough. The games were good, and the slots might be a little bit looser (but no slots are really loose.) Particularly rude staff was at Circus Circus and Treasure Island. I also don't like the continuing shuffler. I swear that 8 -- 2 of hearts came out within a couple of hands, even though it was only a 5 deck shoe. It is just not right. Our best gambling experiences were off the strip at Gold Coast and Decatuer Charlies. The people were really nice. Low limits. Different games. I played a table game called Ultimate Texas Hold-um. Like the regular poker, only you play against the house. Lots of fun. Our dealer was retiring after 30 years. We were her last gamblers. It was really special for us, so I hope it was for her.
Golf - I was really looking forward to golfing in Vegas, after the horrible winter here. We played courses that were in the $50-$75 range, as we are hackers. I can't see paying $250-$550 :jawdroppi for a tee time when we are weekend warriors with 15+ handicaps. We played three courses. Two were wonderful. Alliante was a beautiful course. Lots of sand, as it was in the middle of the desert. It was set in a valley between some mountains. It was odd to be in shorts, yet see snow on the mountain. Just beautiful. Nice course. Wide open fairways. A few trees. Relatively long, depending on which tees you played. It is so beautiful, in fact, that Golf Magazine was there on a photo shoot the day we played. We wondered why these people were following us, taking photos. When they caught up to us, I asked and was told that this will be a featured course. I will play this course again, as well as at its sister course Legends. I looked it up and it looked really nice. Sand traps shaped like hearts, spades, clubs and diamonds. "The other course we played that we liked was Boulder City. This is a BEAUTIFUL municipal course. It is located near Hoover Dam. You could tell, too. The closer you get to Hoover Dam, the more grass and trees you see. The fairways and greens were just lovely and lush. The course was very well maintained. This was our least expensive course, at $50 including cart. Twilight started at noon, as opposed to 2 or 3 p.m. most places. This was a challenging course, but pace of play was a little slow at first. Alot of locals play here. One of the locals ahead of us complained, and a ranger was dispatched immediately to remedy the situation. I found that, at all of the courses, they wanted 4 hour rounds. 4 1/2 hours max. This is just fine by me, as I really hate slow play. The course was set amongst beautiful homes with equally pretty fences. I look forward to playing here again. The only bad course we played was Desert Rose, just east of the Strip. It had recently been arrated and was in really poor condition. The fairways and greens were very sandy. It wove around a trailer park, where windows had pizza boxes and cardboard instead of windows, gang grafitti was everywhere, and slacker-ass men were standing on the edge of the course just staring. It was a really short course, too. Play was extremely slow. This wasn't even the worst part, though. It smelled. On the right side of the course ran a shallow creek. Many courses have such a hazard, so we thought nothing of it. When we got close to there looking for a ball, we saw lots of garbage. Two super gross things. Femenine hygiene products, used, were tossed into the creek. In the middle of the Course! :bugeyed: One waterfall had a shopping cart sitting in it, and something that looked and smelled like raw sewage. YUCK! I should have known from the beginning when they told me I had to pay again for something I had already paid for on-line, even after I showed them the receipt. Walk away, Niki, Walk away. I didn't, but wish I had. This is the crappies golf course I have ever played. The Unofficial Guide to Vegas said this was a nice municipal course. I have played many nice municipal courses. Boulder City was a nice municipal course. UFG didn't even mention that one. This was totally disgusting. Whatever you do, you are better putting your money in the slots, or buying a $99 Tequila Goddess Margharita at Isla (also bad), than paying 2 cents for this place. Truly disgusting. Deplorable. I will e-mail UFG to take this off its list. Hopefully someone will listen to me.
OOPS! Gotta go. Coming up next Food, Spa and Cirque du Soliel.
Gambling - Although we lost $185 bucks during our 5 days there, I feel we came out ahead. Gambling on the strip was a pain. Both foot traffic and vehicular traffic are terrible. Staying at the far north end of the strip made things more difficult, but traffic was bad all around. If you want to beat the traffic in your car, go east to Paradise Rd. or west to Industrial Drive. Both of these run parallel to the strip, and most casinos have entrances to their parking garages from these roads. It really saves alot of time on the road and on your feet, as well as outrageous cab fares. The first night, we played at Bellagio, where we found really nice, persoanble pit bosses and dealers. We also found nice dealers and waitresses at New York New York. At each of these, the staff was helpful and drinks were re-filled promptly. These two also still paid 3-2 on blackjack. I was suprised that so many of the big boys on the strip now pay 6-5. Crummy odds, IMHO. A couple little strip gems were Slots-o-Fun (great 99 cent hot dogs) and O'Shea's. While I liked these two low-key places, DH thought that the classless people there were a bit much. He is classier than I am LOL. Even I admit that the O'Shea's crowd was a little rough. The games were good, and the slots might be a little bit looser (but no slots are really loose.) Particularly rude staff was at Circus Circus and Treasure Island. I also don't like the continuing shuffler. I swear that 8 -- 2 of hearts came out within a couple of hands, even though it was only a 5 deck shoe. It is just not right. Our best gambling experiences were off the strip at Gold Coast and Decatuer Charlies. The people were really nice. Low limits. Different games. I played a table game called Ultimate Texas Hold-um. Like the regular poker, only you play against the house. Lots of fun. Our dealer was retiring after 30 years. We were her last gamblers. It was really special for us, so I hope it was for her.
Golf - I was really looking forward to golfing in Vegas, after the horrible winter here. We played courses that were in the $50-$75 range, as we are hackers. I can't see paying $250-$550 :jawdroppi for a tee time when we are weekend warriors with 15+ handicaps. We played three courses. Two were wonderful. Alliante was a beautiful course. Lots of sand, as it was in the middle of the desert. It was set in a valley between some mountains. It was odd to be in shorts, yet see snow on the mountain. Just beautiful. Nice course. Wide open fairways. A few trees. Relatively long, depending on which tees you played. It is so beautiful, in fact, that Golf Magazine was there on a photo shoot the day we played. We wondered why these people were following us, taking photos. When they caught up to us, I asked and was told that this will be a featured course. I will play this course again, as well as at its sister course Legends. I looked it up and it looked really nice. Sand traps shaped like hearts, spades, clubs and diamonds. "The other course we played that we liked was Boulder City. This is a BEAUTIFUL municipal course. It is located near Hoover Dam. You could tell, too. The closer you get to Hoover Dam, the more grass and trees you see. The fairways and greens were just lovely and lush. The course was very well maintained. This was our least expensive course, at $50 including cart. Twilight started at noon, as opposed to 2 or 3 p.m. most places. This was a challenging course, but pace of play was a little slow at first. Alot of locals play here. One of the locals ahead of us complained, and a ranger was dispatched immediately to remedy the situation. I found that, at all of the courses, they wanted 4 hour rounds. 4 1/2 hours max. This is just fine by me, as I really hate slow play. The course was set amongst beautiful homes with equally pretty fences. I look forward to playing here again. The only bad course we played was Desert Rose, just east of the Strip. It had recently been arrated and was in really poor condition. The fairways and greens were very sandy. It wove around a trailer park, where windows had pizza boxes and cardboard instead of windows, gang grafitti was everywhere, and slacker-ass men were standing on the edge of the course just staring. It was a really short course, too. Play was extremely slow. This wasn't even the worst part, though. It smelled. On the right side of the course ran a shallow creek. Many courses have such a hazard, so we thought nothing of it. When we got close to there looking for a ball, we saw lots of garbage. Two super gross things. Femenine hygiene products, used, were tossed into the creek. In the middle of the Course! :bugeyed: One waterfall had a shopping cart sitting in it, and something that looked and smelled like raw sewage. YUCK! I should have known from the beginning when they told me I had to pay again for something I had already paid for on-line, even after I showed them the receipt. Walk away, Niki, Walk away. I didn't, but wish I had. This is the crappies golf course I have ever played. The Unofficial Guide to Vegas said this was a nice municipal course. I have played many nice municipal courses. Boulder City was a nice municipal course. UFG didn't even mention that one. This was totally disgusting. Whatever you do, you are better putting your money in the slots, or buying a $99 Tequila Goddess Margharita at Isla (also bad), than paying 2 cents for this place. Truly disgusting. Deplorable. I will e-mail UFG to take this off its list. Hopefully someone will listen to me.
OOPS! Gotta go. Coming up next Food, Spa and Cirque du Soliel.