The
Orleans is my favorite place. I had checked in and was in my room by
9AM because Elizabeth was leaving early for her flight home and
needed to return the rental and get checked in.
No
early check in fee here.
No
resort fee for comped rooms.
I
had a good long talk with clerk at checkout, and she was surprised
that so much of our paperwork for comped rooms contains the note that
a resort fee will be required.
I
told her how many had worried about it on the Vegas Message Board.
See
this thread:
http://www.vegasmessageboard.com/forums/showthread.php?123913-Orleans-Resort-fee-on-a-Comp/page4
I
suggested that the paperwork might be costing them some business from
folks who took it at face value and booked other comped rooms rather
than pay a fee for a free room.
I
usually try for a room on a lower floor, to make an easier wet trip
back from the pool. This time I was given the ninth floor and found
it very convenient. It is the last stop on the 1-9 elevator, but the
first stop on the 9 and above. So either elevator accommodated me.
I like the quiet of this place and the view of mountains.
I'll
ask for 9th floor again.
I
found a microwave in the ice area of the Orleans. That is a nice
touch. If I stayed there and went to the Cortez restaurant, I could
microwave a hot steak breakfast the next day. This trip I would
have used it for my nachos. I did not buy food that second night but
just ate up the snacks left over from the week at the Gold Coast.
By
the way, cheese keeps pretty well in Vegas, especially a hard cheese,
like Manchego. Having fruit, nuts, and cheese in the room along with
a coffee maker is often fine for a quiet breakfast while writing.
There
is a coffee machine and pretty good coffee in all Orleans' rooms.
I'm not much for coffee and use it just to wake up and get my daily
dose of cinnamon. Cinnamon is really good in coffee especially when
not using sugar.
I
do carry tea and make that with one of those little immersible hot
loops. I carried my own little portable coffee pot this trip, but I
won't next time. I never felt like bothering to assemble it. I had
tea instead, sometimes iced.
Elizabeth
requires better coffee and there is a coffee place downstairs that
serves upscale coffees
just
at there is one with Starbucks coffee at the Gold Coast.
http://www.goldcoastcasino.com/dine/java-vegas-coffee
The
room coffee maker requires a plastic slide in that holds the small
one cup bags. Check and see when you get in the room if that slider
is there and ask for another if it is not. I'll add that to what I
carry in next time as well. I think I have one somewhere.
It
was an older crowd, especially on Young at Heart day. Still
there were some very pretty girls. Generally, the tone is more
local than tourist, but there are folks from all over. When I am too
old to care about being so frugal or to ride buses, I'll just come
and stay here or do as Turtleman does, hop easily between the Gold
Coast and the Orleans.
There
is so much to take advantage of on a Wednesday that I just could not
do all of it. I missed the cheap movie.
I
played the smoke-free bank of nickle Double Bonus 3 play most of the
day and for a few hours in the evening. I am sure to have cinched
up my next mailing.
No
royals. I lost $125 dollars on the video poker here chasing their
three progressive royals. I earned 3000 points to use later
downtown. I ate two free buffets. I got $20 in free food.
The
Young at Heart swipes gave me 5x points, a free breakfast, a
free late supper and a $10 I combined with my $10 food comp on the
offer for a good bit of Oyster chowder at Jack's.
The
lines for breakfast were very long. Next time I'll stand in the
line before the buffet opens.
They
took my buffet voucher with no look at Player's Card or ID and not
punching in the pin. They just took it. So, I guess I could have
been anyone my age.
The
Nite Kings did do their lounge act, and it was as wonderful as
always.
I
only caught 2 sets because I needed to be at the 4 PM drawing where
they give away $500 to one person and $100 to twenty people. I left
in time to eat and play some more.
I
did not win.
They
used to keep all the unclaimed money and toss it into the last of the
month drawing, but now they just call more names on the day of the
drawing. It is a much better system, and it was run fairly quickly
without all that needless banter I remember from other years.
At
the Nite Kings lounge act I bought a nice Merlot for each set at $6
total each including tip.
I
left to have my supper and swipe in for the new Young at Heart
evening deal which includes a chance multiplier (I got 5x, the
minimum I think) It can be up to 50X. Last visit I had 15X.
I
carried the second wine into the buffet with me and had it to
accompany the ribs.
There
were no crowds saving seats in a panic, but I saw the same faces from
other times. This time I did not dance or have interesting
conversation. I was tired, a bit blistered, and the clique crowd of
regulars was not very open to making new friends.
I
played off two match plays, the one that came with my check in and
the one from American Casino Guide. The ACG coupon was taken right
at the table with no registration at the Player's club. The other
required me to go to the Player's Club and have my name hand written
on a fancy matchplay which the pitboss then still studied for a few
minutes before letting me use it. Odd that it was issued by the
Player's Club in this very ornate and probably hard to duplicate
format, and yet he did not just take it. I lost the first matchplay
on the first roll.
Snake
eyes.
I
won the second matchplay when the guy next to me made his 6 point.
So that meant I was ahead $10. I love match plays. What an advantage
they have!
I
like the ease of finding my way around this casino. I know where
things are. I'm never disoriented.
I
like the buffet, especially the Cholula hot sauce and the Mexican
soup.
I
like that they enthusiastically extended my checkout time until 1 PM
with no charge. This time it meant I did not have to worry about an
early check in fee at Excalibur, my next stop on the MyVegas dime.
Excalibur said they did not have such a fee, but I liked being
covered just the same.
ORLEANS
POOL
I
always enjoy the Orleans pool, and this was no exception. However,
one day it did not open until 10 AM because the cleaner had not
finished getting out the leaves and the chemical guys needed time to
do their jobs.
I
was annoyed that I had to wait.
However,
there was compensation. They did a photo shoot for one of the Ms.
Olympia women. I don't know her name, but she was very attractive,
more so than most of the rather muscular women in that contest. Here
she is in 2012, the one on the far left.
http://www.vegasnews.com/wp-content/uploads/Ms-Olympia-Weekend-2012-570.jpg
That
morning she was dressed in a sparkle outfit with very attractive
black anklets which matched her long black hair. She took these off
and did poses around the pool in her ivory bikini. She was very
sexy; it was nice entertainment for a morning swim. The girl is the
one on the far left of this older photo.
One
night Elizabeth had ridden the shuttle from the Orleans to get back
to the Gold Coast, and she said it took 35 minutes because of the
stop at the strip coming first. If that is accurate and the usual,
it means that most days we could walk the distance just as fast as
the shuttle takes us. I would not do that after dark, but Arville is
easy walking during the day with sidewalks for the most part. Of
course, I would not have wanted to do that this trip because
temperatures hovered about 100 degrees.
But
in November it is much more interesting to walk that route than spend
time on a treadmill.
I
did not use the Boyd shuttle this trip. We had a car the first 6
days at the Gold Coast. I was picked up by relatives a couple times.
I did RTC buses to get from place to place and the Palace Station
shuttle and the WAX.
I
also played where I stayed more often this trip and did not do so
much bus wandering.
Walgreen's on Tropicana
just West of the strip is handy when staying at the Orleans.
For the beginning of this
trip we had a van and so we went up for bottles of water and assorted
odds and ends. I also bought a 15 day bus pass there and used it
after my wife left.
I had to pick family up at
the airport, so I had Walgreen's give me some quarters for the
parking.
The
people were friendly. Be sure to get the best prices by using a
Walgreen's card. I don't carry the card, but it is easy to access by
typing in my phone number.
Here
are the negatives:
The
poker room is struggling to get a balance in its bonus offerings. So
every hour on Friday-Saturday-Sunday they give a generous high hand
bonus to two people. This is a good promotion, but it is not every
day.
The
bad beat had terrible rules. The bad beat must be flopped until it
reaches a certain amount ($75,000 I think)
This
greatly reduces the chances of hitting.
I
did think the games were less tight and local dominated, but I don't
think I'll play again if the bonus awards are unequally distributed.
More
live poker discussion and narrative details of my live poker play
are included in this post:
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