nequine

Thanks for the explanation over the hotel - I keep getting those offers but only for Spain! How awful is the spiel you have to listen to? Do you get the really hard sell to buy/invest?

wakesetter93

Not really, it was different from many of the things that you hear about timeshare pitches. It was just us and the sales guy and we listened to his pitch, he showed us the rooms and then asked out thoughts. We basically told him we weren't interested, and he asked if there was anything that was holding us back or if there was anything that would change our minds. Once we said no, they dropped it, did a quick survey on how everything was and let us go with a $100 Marriott gift card.

So all in we were at $149 for 3 nights in Las Vegas.

offerendum

Sounds not too horrible. Nevertheless, the implementation of these events does not improve my reputation for Marriott.

wakesetter93

Apparently if you buy in enough, you can still get Lifetime Titanium. Which seems strange given you can only earn Lifetime Platinum through actually staying in their hotels

subinf

I've enjoyed perusing your various trip reports. I agree with your thoughts on the Marriott. It is generally my go to hotel when I'm in LV because its generally a good value if needing connecting rooms and is relatively convenient if there is a need to go to a casino. And it is less of a zoo (relatively speaking) than the other hotels. If I wanted a "traditional" Vegas experience I'd skip it and find something directly on the strip.

wakesetter93

Appreciate it subinf! They may not be to the most exotic locations, but I'm glad people enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them!

wakesetter93

For Mrs. WS93’s birthday dinner she wanted a restaurant with a view and, since our show that night was at Caesars Palace, we chose to go to the Eiffel Tower Restaurant at Paris. The restaurant is located above the strip, inside the replica Eiffel Tower with some great views of the strip and Bellagio fountains.

I made our reservation online and requested a table along the window. Our reservation was for 7:45p which would give us plenty of time before our 10:00p show.

Upon arrival, we were shown to our table which was located in the corner, providing 180-degree views of the strip.




We started with drinks and an amuse bouche, which was accompanied by some bread and house made butter.


After that, the Casco Bay Sea scallops with cauliflower and citrus bercy.


Followed by the Mediterranean Seabass for my main and the Beef Wellington for Mrs. WS93.




Finally, a birthday dessert and some assorted sweets.



Completely stuffed, we finished dinner around 9:30p and made our way across the street to the Spiegeltent at Caesars Palace for Absinthe. The show debuted years ago (I saw it when I was here for my 21st birthday) but still gets amazing reviews so we decided to check it out. There was a small courtyard space which was used as a waiting area for the doors to open.



The doors opened at 9:50p for a 10:00p showtime and we were in our seats in the third row, with drinks in hand, by 9:55p.




Pictures won’t do it justice, but it was another fantastic show and included many new performances that weren’t in the lineup during my last visit.





After the show, we expected to be tired but we caught a second wind, so we decided to take a walk through the Caesars and Bellagio hotels where we were able to check out their Christmas decorations.




We kept walking to the Aria before hanging a left and heading across Las Vegas Boulevard and back to our hotel for the night.

wakesetter93

For our last night in Vegas, we made reservations at Din Tai Fung, a well-known Taiwanese restaurant chain that specializes in xiaolongbao. The company has locations around the world and their Hong Kong location was awarded a Michelin star.

The Las Vegas location was conveniently located inside the Aria Hotel and Casino, so we made the short walk over from our hotel, arriving a few minutes before our scheduled reservation.


We were greeted at the hostess stand and, after confirming our reservation we were shown inside to a waiting area with views of the chefs hard at work in the kitchen, churning out a mind-blowing number of dumplings. After a short wait, another host came and led us over to our table.



The restaurant floor was located in a large atrium, just off of the reception area and had large, floor to ceiling class windows which made the space feel huge, almost like sitting in an airport lounge.


After being seated, we were provided with two menus, one explained the dishes while the other was more of an order card where we marked down our selections.





We started with a round of drinks and an order of the cucumber salad.


Followed by multiple orders of the xiaolongbao in both the pork and crab and pork varieties.


Then an order of the pork steamed buns.


Followed by the noodles with spicy sauce and spicy wontons.



Though we didn’t need any more food, we couldn’t help ourselves and finished with an order of pot stickers.


Finally, for dessert, we had the chocolate and mochi xiaolongbao and they even brought out a surprise treat for Mrs. WS93.




By the time we left dinner it was around 8:00p on a Thursday night and the 4line to get in and waiting area were packed. So, I highly recommend a reservation and trying to find one earlier in the evening when the place is less crowded.

All in all, it was delicious, and we left feeling extremely full and satisfied.

wakesetter93

Four days is a long time to spend in Vegas and, finally, it was time to return “home”. Our Uber driver picked us up in front of the Grand Chateau around 1:30p and we made the short drive over to Harry Reid International (It’s going to take me a while to get the name change correct in my head). We entered the airport property 5 minutes after leaving the hotel and were curbside 5 minutes after that.





Mrs. WS93 wanted to check a bag so we first made a trip to the check-in counters before heading upstairs to security and the tram for the D gates.


Slot machines in the airport is always an odd sight


The D gates are home to both the American Express Centurion Lounge as well as The Club at LAS, which is great if you are departing from this terminal, not so great if you are leaving from others. We managed to hit the trifecta on this trip with an afternoon, holiday departure, from Las Vegas meaning a long line was waiting for us at the lounge.



It took about 15 minutes for us to get to the front and I reminded myself that the new entry requirements go into effect in February. Also, thanks to one of the infinite partnerships, there was a CLEAR representative signing people up for the service as well.

CLEAR agents working in the background

The lounge was somewhat pie shaped. It was narrow at the front entry area and expanded out from there. There were a variety of seating areas scattered throughout with some reserved for Centurion card holders, which was well enforced. In the back was the bar as well as the buffet.






We managed to find a table in the bar area and, after dropping our bags, headed over to the bar for a drink.

LAS Centurion Lounge Drinks

From there, we made our way over to the buffet and grabbed a quick snack.

LAS Centurion Lounge buffet



Finally, a few minutes before leaving, I went out to explore the rest of the lounge which had a small coffee and beverage station along with some additional seating areas hidden away.





We got close to boarding time and left the lounge and headed towards our gate. The Centurion Lounge used to be one of the nicer lounge options you could have available in an airport, but the crowding has seriously hampered the experience. I will acknowledge the fact that AmEx is trying to fix the crowding issues and hopefully they work. It would be nice to see them rethink the Platinum and either position it as more of a premium travel card or, keep the current coupon book style, limit lounge access, and introduce something between the Plat and Centurion that is more travel focused.

wakesetter93

We left the confines of the cramped Centurion Lounge and made our way over to Gate D43 for our flight to Los Angeles a few minutes before boarding was set to begin. As we walked up, I saw the dreaded ‘Boarding Closed’ sign which short circuited my brain for a second until I realized that they hadn’t updated the overhead signs for the previous departure to Atlanta.



Delta Air Lines
DL 2385
LAS-LAX (Harry Reid International – Los Angeles International)
Seat: 16C (Economy)
A320-200 (N378NW)
Scheduled: 4:04p-5:18p
Actual: 4:09p-5:13p

Boarding was chaotic with lots of First Class passengers and people who thought they should be First Class passengers, but we were onboard and in our seats after a few minutes. I had booked us in the exit row, Seats 16A and 16C, and thankfully the middle was going to be empty for our short hop over to LAX.



A320 Exit Row legroom

We pushed back next to a Hawaiian A330 bound for Honolulu and taxied out to 1R, past the FBOs on the west side and the Las Vegas Sands hangar.




Las Vegas Sands hangar

Once airborne, we made a hard left and passed over the top of the Wynn which gave us some great views down Las Vegas Boulevard.


Las Vegas Strip on departure




Unfortunately, the live TV at my seat wasn’t working so I watched another episode of Succession. I was able to pull up the live TV on the seatback of 16B and managed to watch the Wake Forest/Mizzou bowl game.




With a short flying time there was no service in Economy, but we were treated to a nice sunset as we chugged West.


Sunset en-route to LAX

We landed at LAX on the south runways and taxied around TBIT over to T2, passing a number of widebodies heading to more exotic locations, as well as another Hawaiian A330.


Taxiing LAX



We pulled up to Gate 25B 5 minutes ahead of schedule and were released into the madness that is LAX T2. A delayed WestJet flight to Vancouver (that cancelled as we were stepping off of our plane) and a delayed flight to SFO at adjacent gates made the whole scene feel chaotic.


Chaotic T2

Instead of trekking to the T3/Headhouse SkyClub, we popped onto the hidden elevator and headed up one level to the T2 SkyClub which, thankfully was practically deserted.


Not so super-secret lime green elevator

Given the madness that was down below, I was happy to have some peace and quiet and space to spread out. Mrs. WS93 and I found some seats near the back of the lounge by the bar before I headed off to explore.


LAX T2 SkyClub

LAX T2 SkyClub bar



LAX T2 SkyClub buffet


LAX T2 SkyClub views

While the food wasn’t amazing, it was good and allowed us to fill our stomachs before our flight to Dallas.



They even put a picture of Mrs. WS93 in the lounge

With the chaos in the terminal, I waited for the push notification that boarding had begun before making our way down to gate 25B where we boarded the same aircraft from our LAS-LAX flight with the same crew from before.




Delta has figured out time travel

Delta Air Lines
DL 661
LAX-DFW (Los Angeles International – Dallas/Ft. Worth International)
Seat: 16C (Economy)
A320-200 (N378NW)
Scheduled: 6:55p-11:49p
Actual: 6:52p-11:37p

Tonight’s flight was almost completely full but, once again, the middle seat (16B) remained open, which was great on an almost 3-hour flight where all I wanted to do was sleep. Mrs. WS93 was out before the plane left the gate. I made it through the beverage and snack service before dozing off myself and woke up as the plane hit the runway in Dallas.




It was a short wait for bags and soon we were in the Uber to Mrs. WS93’s parents house to pick up Gumbo.

Thanks for coming along on this quick birthday adventure! Next up, I’m off to Breckenridge for a couple days of skiing with the guys.

gaobest

what did you eat at sky club at lax before las? I know the wait isn’t fun. I think I could wait 20-30 minutes in queue if I knew that I had a 2-hour window. I used to also wait 5-30 seconds to enter LH SEN and the less-good UA RCC while then spending 4-6 hours at the lounge so that’s why I’m willing to tolerate these queues.

I assume you eat dim sum and DTF style food in texas and when you travel. How did you like DTF and will you return to DTF at any location when you can? I’m asking because I live in San Francisco and have yet to go to DTF. I’ll still eat dim sum at both high and low brow places. I just never went nor requested to go to DTF. Dim sum / dumplings are all over San Francisco - more than ever.

which gambling games? I’m nosy.

did you go to Secret Pizza? Corky loves it.

Awww I’m in zero rush lol and I’m happy for you.

I find these useful for the pricing although an hour usually stretches to 90 minutes. We own 2 weeks with hyatt in carmel highlands CA which is perfect for me.

ymmv - as we own 2 weeks, we sometimes still do it for a $100 cert which we then use at the timeshare restaurant. Sometimes we want to stay 3-4 nights for $500 (or whatever it costs) and of course attend the sales pitch. Sometimes staff gets too aggressive and sometimes staff is ready to GIVE US the timeshare for only $18 on a payment plan for the balance and it’s the same “we are not yet ready for this” response. Since these sales people are trained to sell a $15-20k product with bonus $2500/year fees, they’re very well trained AND THEY ARE NOT OUR FRIEND.

It’s ymmv and it works if one can say a polite negative. It’s all business - none is personal. If they get too aggressive, just imagine them getting the Deash holiday treatment like a water spa or an isolation tank or a personal bbq.
one can get these offers anywhere. Marriott / bonvoy sell them for westin as well. There are timeshares everywhere. With our 2 weeks, we are set for life.

JAXPax

Thanks for another great report!

Your last photo arriving at DFW reminded me... during my stint in DFW, I generally avoided American. Flying DL/UA was like its own little airport with the quick security with Clear/Pre, the Clubs that never seemed crowded, and best of all always arriving back to where your car was located.. and I never had issues finding parking right on the departures level.

ExpatSomchai

The room was tired looking Hello 1970s

wakesetter93

I love it. I flew DFW-DEN on UA every week for 6 months, it was like flying into a small airport (except for Monday mornings when the pajama wearing Spirit/Frontier flyers would head off to Vegas).

The worst part was the tower was built in the 2000's