The main purpose of this trip to Las Vegas was to get married. We flew Virgin Atlantic out of Gatwick. No problems, was very impressed with Virgin they made a 10 3/4 hour flight as painless as possible.
Arrived Las Vegas 1.30pm. Sat on the tarmac for 40 minutes as US immigration were not ready for us. Finally they let us off and we join the queue. We were in the middle of it and it took approx 1 hour to get through. Luggage has already been taken off the carousel so we grab our bags and off we go.
I had booked a limo with presedential limos several months before. I was a little worried because I had read some negative reviews about them and as it turned out I was right to be worried. We were running late after the fiasco trying to get off the plane and through immigration so imagine my surprise when the driver is not there. I have my future in laws with me and the limo was really a surprise for them, I have to usher them outside with my hubby-to-be and try to make excuses that I am trying to sort a taxi. I grab one of their other drivers who was waiting for another client and he kindly called his office who said the driver would be here in 5 mins. When he finally turns up there is no apology. He takes us to the limo which was nice. He loaded our luggage and got in the car and started to drive. The package I had booked should have included 1 hour, champagne and a red rose. I asked the driver about the champagne to which he relpied he hadn%26#39;t got any for us as the previous guests had drank both bottles??? He seemed quite put out that I should even be complaining about it. Eventually he agreed to drop off a bottle at the hotel. I didn%26#39;t dare ask about the rose. It took 15 minutes to drive to the Imperial (never offered to drive us around a little). I would describe presidential Limos as a glorified taxi company. I would seriously recommend that you spend a little more and use a more professional company.
Anyway rant over. We arrive at the Imperial and check in quickly. Didn%26#39;t try for an upgrade as the hotel was fully booked. My in-laws had a slight hitch in that Virgin holidays had not faxed through their details. Took approx 30 mins to sort. I took this time to invest a few dollars in the slots.
I have read a lot of things about the Imperial Palace some good some bad. We arrived at our room. We were on the 8th floor with a view of Ceasars Palace. We had a standard room that hadn%26#39;t been renovated. The room was fine and compared to hotels in Europe it was large. The decor was dated but it was clean. The room itself was quite noisy I think due to the air conditioning units on the roof.
The bathroon was clean and the shower good, we didn%26#39;t use the balcony at all only to put my hubbies smelly trainers on. I asked for extra towels and got plenty. The bed was old but comfy and soft. When you go out and ask for your room to be made up do not leave any belongings on the bed as they are not allowed to touch them and will not make your bed.
I can%26#39;t really remember in what order we did things so I will just review each item.
PLACES WE ATE AT
Mon Ami Gabi - We ate here the first night had reservations for 7pm. Arrived 6.45pm requested a patio seat. Was told there was a 45 min wait. No problem accept they have no pagers. I was asked to come back in 10 mins for a pager so I did to be told they still didn%26#39;t have any and to come back in 15 mins which I did they still didn%26#39;t have any. At this point I decided to wait. Eventually got a pager and we were seated at 8.15pm which was actually a 1.5 hour wait. In hindsight we probably would have been better inside as it was quite windy and the patio isn%26#39;t the best place to be as it felt cold. I ordered a steak with red wine sauce and caramalized onions my partner ordered a different kind of steak and the in-laws ordered salmon salads. When the food arrived the order was wrong. My hubby-to-be had been given the same steak as me. At this point we were extremely tired and didn%26#39;t have the energy to say anything. We ate our dinner and the steak was lovely although the food was only luke warm. The salmon salads were good also. The fountains were nice to watch but overall I felt disappointed with this place. I would describe it as a good restaurant with great views but I do feel it%26#39;s a little over rated. The bill for 2 steaks and 2 salmon salads and 4 beers was 90 dollars with tip. 7/10
Paris Breakfast Buffet - What can I say excellent I have never seen so much food. This was my favourite breakfast and wanted to come back for a 2nd time but didn%26#39;t have a chance. Got there at about 7.45am and queued for 30 mins. 10/10.
Margaritaville - Were sat near the entrance, this place is loud and lively and we enjoyed it although we often couldn%26#39;t see what was happening due to our seat location. Ordered nachos (be prepared this is the biggest plate I have ever seen and you really need 4 to share them if they are appetisers) and burgers which were good but we couldn%26#39;t finish because of the nachos. 8/10.
Aladdin Spice Market Lunch Buffet - Excellent loved the choices. Ate at 11.30 no queue at this time. 10/10.
Paris Dinner Buffet - After the brakfast we had eaten here a few days earlier and having already tried the Aladdin i was a little disappointed. Still good though 8/10.
Hugo%26#39;s Cellar - What can I say - 9 of us ate here for my wedding dinner and it was everything I had hoped for. We arrived early and they had no problem seating us. The salad cart was great, eveyone loved the entrees they ordered. And the chocolate dipped fruit at the end was great. The mutant strawberries were so tasty. This is truly a first class restaurant. Everything was perfect and the service was out of this world. Be warned do not order starters and desserts as you will not be able to finish them. The salad cart, entree and the chocolate dipped fruit is plenty. The bill was 600 dollars for 9 entrees and 4 bottles of wine. 11/10.
Cheesecake Factory - We ate here twice both times very good massive portions. Be prepared for a wait if you go at peak times. 9/10.
Grand Lux Cafe - Ate here on our last day. Again very good I had the pot roast sandwich with horseradish and we shared a slice of cheesecake. 9/10.
Bamboleo (Rio Hotel) - Mexican restaurant. We went over to the rio as we wanted to go to the voodoo lounge. Ate here at 9.30pm was very quiet, food and service excellent. Bot has fajitas. 8/10 Very good value.
PLACES WE DRANK AT
Dueling Piano Bar Harrahs - This is a fun place and we went a couple of times. Cocktail service a little slow.
Voodoo Lounge - WOW what a shame we left this for our last night. Unbelievable view. We had two witch doctors obviously not realising the size 24 dollars each OUCH. They were very nice but one is plenty for 2 people.
Mai Tai Bar Imperial Palace - Very Small but one of the few places we found that we could chill and chat. Very cheap drinks.
Cleopatra%26#39;s Barge - Very loud not the sort of place to talk to each other, more for dancing. Didn%26#39;t like the cocktail waitresses in here.
Wynn - Lounge Bar - Can%26#39;t remember the name but was very nice amd comfy. Saw security removing some hookers from here.
Brew Pub - Monte Carlo - This was my favourite has live rock bands on was a lot of fun.
THE WEDDING
Little Chapel of the Flowers - We were married 5pm Oct 5th. Everything went perfectly. I used Debbie from lvhairdoers.homestead.com for my hair and make-up. She arrived early and took 45 mins to put my hair up and apply make-up. She was very professional. The limo%26#39;s picked us up and the two drivers were great. We were about 1/2 hour early so we had plenty of time to take photos outside. The people that run this chapel are very professional and extremely well organised and I cannot recommend them enough. The chapel is also very quaint. If anyone has any specific questions about this please feel free to ask.
LXOR SPA SUITE
As we were staying at the Imperial we decided to treat ourselves to one night in a spa suite at the Luxor. It was $169 + tax. With this we got a $30 dinig credit and loads of 2 for 1%26#39;s on the attractions. With room was great with a lounge area 2 tv%26#39;s but the main reason for booking this room was the jacuzzi. Whilst sat in the jacuzzi we had a view of the palms and the excalibur all lit up WOW and that%26#39;s as much info as you are gonna get about that.
SHOWS
Elton John - Fab, Fab, Fab. If you like Elton go and see this. It%26#39;s an excellent show. Very visual. 10/10
Mystere- Blew me away. Again excellent 9 of us went to see it 2 didn%26#39;t like it 7 loved it. I don%26#39;t see how anyone would not love this show. Loved the comedy aspect.
GRAND CANYON - We booked a sunset grand celebration trip with Papillon Helicopters. Cost was 289 dollars each. I was very impressed. They are very professional. We had a lovely pilot. The flight in the helicopter was out of this world. The canyon at sunset was truly beautiful and words cannot do it justice. This is a must. Was 4 hours door to door.
GAMBLING
I mainly played blackjack with a little roulette and slots thrown in. My favouite place to play blackjack was Harrahs. I seemed to have the most luck here. One session I was playing 15 dollar min put down 60 dollars and walked away with 600 dollars. Other places I won pretty big were freemont, four queens especially left over 400 dollars up. and the Luxor. I only played for 2 hours but left over 600 dollars up. I preferred to play single deck. Places I din%26#39;t like were Monte Carlo (the dealer I had in there was so miserable and litteraly threw the cards at you) and Bellagio.
On the last night I was playing blackjack my husband went to bed at 3am and left me to it. I had started off the evening with 100 dollars at the roulette table which I turned into about 300 dollars. I then moved to play BJ. I know at 6am I was sat with 1200 dollars in black chips. I%26#39;m not sure what happened after that but I went to bed at 7.30 am with nothing. Hmmm one too many beers.
Never mind for the whole trip I have returned with the same gambling budget that I left with so I fell that I have won.
A couple of things I did notice was that Friday - Sundays were a nightmare there were just so many people around. I preffered it a little quieter and that people are so busy looking at everything that they are constantly bumping into you and hardly ever apologise.
Anyhow we had a great trip. If I could have done anything differently
(1) Used a different limo comapny
(2) Stayed in a nicer hotel - only because we were on honeymoon though.
(3) Walked away when I was 1200 up playing blackjack.
I%26#39;m sure this is gonna be a really long read as it has taken almost 2 hours to write. If anyone has any specific questions please feel free to ask.
Clare %26amp; Graham
Trip Report Oct 2 - Oct 12 Imperial Palace, Little Chapel...
What a great report I felt sorry that certain things went wrong especially as it was a special occasion, we had a similar thing with a limo in New York. I was contemplating Mon Ami Gabi and Hugo%26#39;s cellar for meals, glad of an honest opinion. Would M.A.G. be ok inside? Also can you tell me did you do the helicopter trip which flew up the strip as Papillon go from from 2 different locations and Boulder City does not include the strip part? Thanks for any info.
Trip Report Oct 2 - Oct 12 Imperial Palace, Little Chapel...
Thanks for the report Clare. I%26#39;m glad the wedding went well. I%26#39;m sure i%26#39;ll have a load of questions for you, but have to go to work now. Will post again later.
lau
Brilliant report Clare and congratulations to you and Graham.
Hubby and I got married at the Aladdin 2 years ago and I hope you will be as happy together in your married life as we are.
Bet you%26#39;re saving for your next Vegas trip now!!
Me again - we saw Elton this July - he was brill wasn%26#39;t he!!
Too bad things started off poorly with the limo. The rest of the trip sounded great! Have a happy life together. Thanks for sharing.
Kathy
Mon Ami Gabi was a nice place if it is cooler or windy I would sit inside, it looked very nice. I wouldn%26#39;t describe it as a top restaurant though whereas Hugo%26#39;s Cellar was wonderful and I would take Hugo%26#39;s over MAG any day of the week. Hugo%26#39;s was very romantic very dimly lit with candlelight.
The helicopter trip was the one that flew down the strip, after the wonderful trip it really was the icing on the cake. The sunset trip is the best time to go as you see the canyon in all different colours as the sun sets.
Clare
Clare,
Congrats on the wedding! I%26#39;m glad you had a good time in Vegas despite a few minor problems. I have heard more than enough negatives about Presidential Limo, and wouldn%26#39;t consider using them. I know it%26#39;s possible, but to actually LOSE $1200 in an hour and a half would devastate me! I am going to see Mystere in three weeks, and was happy to her your positive review. Will you be returning to Vegas again next year for your anniversary? Again, Congratulations!!
I loved reading your trip report, congratulations on your wedding. We will be in Las Vegas in January and I will take on board your advice.
Great report, in particular I liked the %26#39;drinking places%26#39; review, and will make a mental note of it for my next trip.
where did you have your wedding meal?
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