Las Vegas - Any Comments on the Mirage?

Hi ,

I will be staying at the Mirage for three nights in June.

8-10th June in a Tower Deluxe Room ( Volcano view room)
19-20th June 1 bedroom Tower Suite ( Volcano room)

This will be interspersed with 3 night at the Mandalay Bay and a week in PHX/Scottsdale.

How is the Mirage generally? ( first time stay). Are the rooms overlooking the Volcano ( and I assume the Strip) noisy from the Strip noise and how is the pool?.
Is there also a hotel check in place at the airport? ( Park Place had one for the LV Hilton etc)

Thanks in advance for any information.

Regards

TBS

TBS,

I've got to admit. I'm prejudiced. The Mirage is my favorite hotel in LAS. The rooms are not as nice as the Venetian or Bellagio. The decor is not as nice as either of the above or Mandalay Bay or Paris. However, the service there is better than any other place in town (IMO).

The rooms are nice (all the rooms have been refurbished in the last year), but are not overly large; especially the bathrooms. I have not had any problems with noisy rooms. However, some of the rooms are a very long walk from the elevator (as is the case with any of the LAS mega-casinos). There is no airport checkin as far as I know.

Although the pool is supposed to be very nice (significant eye candy!); I've never visited it as I am usually gambling, eating or sleeping.

As with most large Vegas casinos, it has a variety of restaurants. I've eaten there at the California Pizza Kitchen (a chain, but reasonably priced), Moongate (nice Dim Sum), Onda (an excellent Italian restaurant that no one ever talks about) and the Samba Grill (a Brazilian-style steak house) and have been generally pleased with all. I'm still waiting for that comp to eat in the Renoir.

The casino has your basic variety of games and has a bit of a reputation for high-end roulette. Usually, I play Black Jack or Caribbean Stud. Additionally, I can be found spending time at the Baccarat Bar. Next to the Baccarat room, it is a video poker bar. What's nice about is that you get free drinks while playing video poker at the bar. These aren't just any drinks. They include things like single malt scotches, good cognac (Remy XO..) splits of champagne and what I think of as medium-level wines (as opposed to the plonk they serve at the gaming tables). Definitely a good value.

Here's a few links for LAS:
CheapoVegas (http://www.cheapovegas.com/)
RateLasVegas (http://www.ratelv.com/)
Best of Las Vegas (http://www.reviewjournal.com/bestoflv/index.html)

"I can be found spending time at the Baccarat Bar. Next to the Baccarat room, it is a video poker bar."

Be forewarned that all the VP at the Mirage bars are short pay (as is 99% of the VP in the casino). I believe it is 8/5 Jacks or better at the Bacc bar. Unless the progressive is up, you will lose $50 an hour on average at this game playing 5 coins. Something to consider.

I would suggest playing one coin at a time (slowly), which DOES make those top shelf drinks a decent value!

Enjoy. The rooms are quite nice since they've been remodeled. And the clerks have been known to hand out suites for a $20 "tip".

I don't think there is airport check for MGM/Mirage, but I could be mistaken on that point. The checkin at the hotel isn't bad. There's a beautiful aquarium behind the desk.

Enjoy. I agree with Bill. There's just 'something' about the casino at the Mirage. Unfortunately, there's no decent VP under the $5 level worth playing.

hockeystl

The Tower Suites are beautiful. There should be no noice problem at the Mirage (Mandalay Bay, however, has paper-thin doors and much hallway noise). Mandalay Bay has the best pool in town. Mirage was the first fabulous pool and it's still very pleasant.

Very tight on comps and paybacks on video poker. As HockeySTL said, nothing decent under $5. Of course, that's better than MB, which has nothing decent in any denomination!

Great location, nice people, good restaurants. If I was paying, that's probably where I'd stay.

QL

I agree with the statements above, as The Mirage is my favorite hotel/casino on the strip. There's just something about it ... even though it's the oldest of the Mega-casinos and really started the new Vegas, I think it was so far ahead of it's time when originally built, that it's still relevant and remains a leader today. I also think there's something to be said about the staying power of the former Mirage Resorts side of the house of MGM/Mirage. They just seem to 'wear' better than their competition on the strip ... for example, compare how Mirage and TI have worn with the Mandalay properties (Excalibur and Luxor) that were built at around the same time. There really is no comparison ...

As far as the gambling, I really enjoy the craps crews at the Mirage. They are efficient and friendly, and are gracious even when it's the player who has made a mistake. I've also been impressed with the availability of a $5 craps table, which to my surprise has been open on a weekend night! To me, this is an anomaly for a Mid-strip mega-casino on a weekend night.

FYI ... lately, I've been getting a few flyers from Mirage casino marketing touting their 'new' pool. Anyone have any comments on this and what the changes are?

Hi,

Thanks for all the good advice.

I'm not that much of a gambler ( nickel and quarter machies and the blackjack machines) but do appreciate the location of the Mirage in centre strip.

Regards

TBS