Observations from Las Vegas

[fredjr82]

How often do you go to Vegas? Just curious why the regret.

I would just like to have a winter home and NV is close enough to where I prefer to settle. FL was until I couldn't care less if it floated away.

In a perfect world it will be Phoenix area for Winter and Duluth, MN/Door County, WI for Summer home. Kids still have a couple years until they're adults and gone though so Iowa is where I'm stuck now

 

[SolarHawk]

Courtesy and manners weren’t in full force when I was there a few years back either.
The smoking is just too annoying because we just aren’t around it anymore.
And I honestly hate to say this but we got to town on a Wednesday and the people there were just okay. Friday night all the young women from SoCal took over and honestly it was straight up
just trashy. They were trying too hard, not everyone was a looker and the result was a lot of sleaze.

If I was an elderly person, this is exactly how I would feel lol. Did you visit Fremont? That is way more chill, although the smoke thing is inexcapable unfortunately.

 

[joelbc1]

I've been traveling around the US on business for over 30 years, but have never been to Vegas until last week. Went for 4 days. Most of the experience didn't surprise me, and will be no surprise to my fellow posters. We stayed at the Paris Hotel.

Visited Caesars Palace, the Bellagio, and Venetian hotels. Also visited Planet Hollywood, Horseshoe, and MGM casinos.

No surprise but smoking is still allowed and prospers in the casinos and nearly everywhere.
Very few buffets left. Lots of celebrity chef places have sprung up. Food is relatively expensive.
There were very few homeless people on the strip.
The city overall is cleaner than most medium sized cities.
In general, the tourists have no clue, or else don't care, about simple manners or how to act in a crowd.
The Paris Hotel didn't meet expectations for a hotel on the upscale side. No coffee machine, fridge, or microwave, and the TV had problems that never got fixed after 4 attempts.
The food was good everyplace. Notable was Carmine's for dinner, and Planet Hollywood twice for breakfast. Service was spotty, but mostly good.

Saw the Eagles at the Sphere. They are still good, and the Sphere is the best venue I've ever been to, hands down.

Airport is just OK. Pre-Check was closed, but the cattle line moved fairly fast, and security only took about 30 minutes. Of course most of the passengers were tourists, and didn't have a clue about much, such as not stopping after getting off the escalator.

Oh, and Fremont Street is amazing. I liked it much better than the strip. If I go back, I'll spend more time in Old Vegas.

Upscale and the Vegas Strip are hardly synonymous. Common and a little bit on the trashy side is a much more accurate description, I believe. Crass, cheap and tawdry describe the Vegas experience best. Fun to go there and observe…no place like it in the USA for sure.
Vegas does a nice job of “reinventing” itself regularly.
Vegas is still all about drinking, gambling and whores. Always has been and always will be. Just nowadays, girls play almost as hard as the boys do.

 

[SolarHawk]

I would just like to have a winter home and NV is close enough to where I prefer to settle. FL was until I couldn't care less if it floated away.

In a perfect world it will be Phoenix area for Winter and Duluth, MN/Door County, WI for Summer home. Kids still have a couple years until they're adults and gone though so Iowa is where I'm stuck now

If you don’t care for the beach or ocean that makes sense. I always wanted to live on the beach so Florida made the most financial sense at the time. I’m glad I did move here as St Pete/Tampa Bay is pretty fvcking awesome. I’ve only been to Phoenix once but it seemed pretty decent in February. Nice Art scene popping up as well.

 

[SolarHawk]

Upscale and the Vegas Strip are hardly synonymous. Common and a little bit on the trashy side is a much more accurate description, I believe. Crass, cheap and tawdry describe the Vegas experience best. Fun to go there and observe…no place like it in the USA for sure.
Vegas does a nice job of “reinventing” itself regularly.
Vegas is still all about drinking, gambling and whores. Always has been and always will be. Just nowadays, girls play almost as hard as the boys do.

This is the first thing you’ve posted that wasn’t batshit crazy!

 

[goldmom]

If I was an elderly person, this is exactly how I would feel lol. Did you visit Fremont? That is way more chill, although the smoke thing is inexcapable unfortunately.

Then lots of visitors to LV must feel like I do. The retired demographic was pretty prevalent.
BTW I was in my late 50’s at the time and not at all “elderly”.
😉

 

[fredjr82]

If you don’t care for the beach or ocean that makes sense. I always wanted to live on the beach so Florida made the most financial sense at the time. I’m glad I did move here as St Pete/Tampa Bay is pretty fvcking awesome. I’ve only been to Phoenix once but it seemed pretty decent in February. Nice Art scene popping up as well.

The ocean is the only thing FL has going for it. I can always rent a VRBO in California and get to the beach. I avoid hurricanes, large insurance premiums and dickhead GOP government too (AZ tends to lean that way at times too but less than FL)

 

[jonesy5960]

Son lives in Vegas so I imagine we'll be regulars for as long as he's living there. I like the craps tables and you're less likely to be surrounded by smoke at them. I wish more casinos would ban smoking.

 

[joelbc1]

This is the first thing you’ve posted that wasn’t batshit crazy!

Probably because we were not talking about a “batshit crazy” politician. I like Vegas…but I think I understand it for what it is…nice place to visit and a better place to come home from! About 3 days is enough…I gave an old HS schoolmate who lives there and like he says, you can do anything you want in Vegas short of murder, as long as you agree to pay for it.

 

[goldmom]

Son lives in Vegas so I imagine we'll be regulars for as long as he's living there. I like the craps tables and you're less likely to be surrounded by smoke at them. I wish more casinos would ban smoking.

I think some have separate smoking and non-smoking areas now. I saw one two years ago in Biloxi and I thought Luxor had one in Vegas?

 

[jonesy5960]

I think some have separate smoking and non-smoking areas now. I saw one two years ago in Biloxi and I thought Luxor had one in Vegas?

Yeah. Still very rare on the strip.

 

[joelbc1]

I think some have separate smoking and non-smoking areas now. I saw one two years ago in Biloxi and I thought Luxor had one in Vegas?

Yeah…. The “non-smoking” areas are on the other side of the aisle! Closer to the $5 machines…😉

 

[SolarHawk]

The ocean is the only thing FL has going for it. I can always rent a VRBO in California and get to the beach. I avoid hurricanes, large insurance premiums and dickhead GOP government too (AZ tends to lean that way at times too but less than FL)

If you don’t live in a flood zone the insurance thing isn’t an issue. Florida also has the best winter weather hands down. Summer sucks ass, but the winter here is the best weather I’ve ever experience. And if politics are a factor, St Pete is ultra progressive and very liberal. Not trying to start a debate, just wanted to give my experience.

 

[MitchLL]

As someone already mentioned, the Cali folks kind of invade on Friday/Saturday.

We like to stay off strip and I'm a bit of a cheap ass when it comes to gambling...$5/10 BJ, so Old Vegas has appeal to me. Also spend 1/2 days in Laughlin.

Gonna to go to Sphere in March.

 

[hawkirugged17]

 

[jdw10224405]

I've been to Vegas 7 times for work conferences and I hope never to go back. Have stayed at the Palazzo 3 times, Venetian, Encore, Harrah's and once got stuck at the Luxor, and the latter two were miserable dumps.

I'm not much of a gambler, so drinks are expensive. Lines for about everything. Food is expensive and mostly medicore to average. Everything is super fake and made to look high end. Scammers and solictors all around. Anywhere outside of the strip or Fremont is an absolute dump too.

Been around a lot and hard to find anything good in that town. Finally found a couple decent restaurants on the strip and found Fremont street to be a lot more fun.

 

[SolarHawk]

I've been to Vegas 7 times for work conferences and I hope never to go back. Have stayed at the Palazzo 3 times, Venetian, Encore, Harrah's and once got stuck at the Luxor, and the latter two were miserable dumps.

I'm not much of a gambler, so drinks are expensive. Lines for about everything. Food is expensive and mostly medicore to average. Everything is super fake and made to look high end. Scammers and solictors all around. Anywhere outside of the strip or Fremont is an absolute dump too.

Been around a lot and hard to find anything good in that town. Finally found a couple decent restaurants on the strip and found Fremont street to be a lot more fun.

If you’re paying for expensive drinks in Vegas, that’s on you.

 

[fredjr82]

If you’re paying for expensive drinks in Vegas, that’s on you.

True but also kind of false. Two bloody marys without tip were $40. I have to be betting enough on slots/games to qualify for a free drink. You can find cheap drinks but it's not even close to our parents Vegas or before COVID. It's expensive but that just comes with the territory

 

[MitchLL]

True but also kind of false. Two bloody marys without tip were $40. I have to be betting enough on slots/games to qualify for a free drink. You can find cheap drinks but it's not even close to our parents Vegas or before COVID. It's expensive but that just comes with the territory

You just highlited the reason, or main reason, everything has gotten more expensive.
Covid shut down the city for nearly a year and when things reopened, things went crazy.
The less expensive food options/buffets disappeared and table games increased betting limits.
Rental car companies sold off inventory, airline prices increased and add ons skyrocketed.
It is definitely more expensive than pre Covid.

 

[kkhawk]

I’ve only been for convention stuff but the wife and I are going to see Garth end of February. I can’t stomach the prices at Caesars so we are staying at Linq. We have about a full day and a half to see stuff and I don’t know if we will leave the Caesars palace Bellagio area

Garth was amazing btw

 

[goldmom]

Vegas actually has a reputation for some pretty amazing restaurants but like fine dining everywhere you have to open your wallet.

 

[seminole97]

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