Start Spreading the News - New York-New York Hotel & Casino Is Worth A Visit
Written: Aug 06 '04 (Updated May 02 '08)
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Pros: Fairly inexpensive - good location, casino, restaurants, and nightlife, comfy beds
Cons: Some hotel elevators require you walk through casino, small pool area
The Bottom Line: From comfortable rooms, a large casino, great restaurants to nightlife that will make you’re head hurt the next morning, NY-NY is a Vegas resort that is a worthy destination
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| jps246's Full Review: New York New York Hotel And Casino |
It’s definitely not the worst hotel-casino resort on the strip, but it’s not quite the best either. New York-New York Hotel and Casino straddles the line between a really great place and just an okay place to stay and play while you’re in Vegas.
Located at the southern end of the Las Vegas Strip near the MGM Grand, Excalibur, Luxor (and a little further, Mandalay Bay), New York-New York Hotel and Casino is located in a fairly central location that provides access to many of the hotels up and down the strip. In addition with the recently opened monorail with a station at MGM Grand, it is easy to travel to the northern end of the strip without too much effort from NY-NY.
Hotel Basics
NY-NY is what I would consider a slightly above average hotel on the Las Vegas Strip. It’s a nice hotel, but it’s not that nice that you would be paying hundreds and hundreds of dollars for a night’s stay. The hotel rooms are basic and provide everything you need, considering for most people in Vegas, they spend less time in their hotel rooms than anywhere else. However if you want the nicer ambiance of Vegas, NY-NY can take care of you there too – they do offer premium rooms for higher rates.
The hotel rooms are located in skyline of the hotel – there are replicas of skyscrapers from New York City and each replica includes hotel rooms. Therefore you could be staying in the Chrysler Building or perhaps the Empire State Building. All of the towers are interconnected on the 3rd floor and this is also where you will find the fitness center (a gym with a large selection of equipment and the ability to have trainers and personal instruction), the spa and access to the pool, should you not want to walk through the casino floor in a bathing suit.
There are several different “levels” of rooms available at the hotel, from the basic “Skyline Room” with either a king size bed or two queens, along with a good size bathroom and room to stretch around to the class of the “Marquis Room” with a Jacuzzi, marble countertops and more. As you can probably expect, the price for a night in a room goes up significantly as you go from room type to room type.
Guests at NY-NY also have access to the pool, which is located in the back of the hotel and while it’s not a huge pool, there’s plenty of room to enjoy the water or lay out in the sun. For those of us looking for more privacy, you can rent out the small private cabana tents that are located around the pool area’s back edges.
Room prices vary by night, by type and by the time of the year. When conventions are in town, room prices tend to be very high, along with holidays and other busy times of the year. If you join the player’s club at NY-NY, you’ll receive mail and email offers with discounted room rates. Without any specials, our rooms were $120 a night for a Sunday through Wednesday night stay.
Check In & Check Out
Unlike some strip hotels, Check-in at NY-NY is fairly painless. The hotel registration area is located on the casino floor, but slightly removed from the main playing areas. The bellhop services desk and ticket desk (for shows) is also located next to the hotel registration area.
Depending upon the time of the day and the amount of people checking, there’s from 2 or 3 stations open to about 10 stations at the busiest times.
Check-in itself was easy. I had reservations based on a package deal from Delta Vacations, so when I arrived I simply told them I had a reservation, gave them my name and provided a credit card for room charges. I got my keys, along with a map of the hotel and casino and directions to the hotel room. All in all, it took about 5 minutes for me to check-in. At the time that I was checking in, the wait in line was about 5 minutes.
The area around the registration desks can get confusing and very crowded though, especially considering the casino floor is right there. During busy check-in times, the crowds can make getting through the area difficult and the set-up for organizing people into the check-in lines leaves something to be desired. The problem is that there really isn’t that much room to play around with in the area – so large crowds just make a mess.
Finding Your Room
You’re going to need that map that the registration person gave you!
There are 4 different banks of elevators that bring you to the various hotel towers and the amenities on the 3rd floor. The furthest is the Chrysler Tower bank (the one I stayed at!), which is located all the way to the rear of the Casino, and it’s food-court area. To reach the room from the main entrance to NY-NY, you had to walk right down through the middle of the casino, through all the restaurant areas and through the food court to the back of the place. In addition the Zumanity Theater was next to the elevator bank and before or after performances, it would get very crowded and make it difficult to get to your elevator.
Once you get on the elevator, you need to use your room card to activate the elevator and choose your room’s floor. If you don’t put in the card and activate the elevator, it won’t allow you to choose a floor and will just sit there (another good reason not to lose your card).
Most floors are of a modest size, but some hotel rooms are located some distance from the elevator. While the room that my partner and I had was literally about 10 steps from the elevator, my parents (who stayed at the same time) was about a 2-minute walk from the elevator through winding hallways.
Room Quality
Both my partner and I and my parents had the basic “Skyline Rooms,” which are the most basic of the room types. My parents had a room with a single king bed that was located lower down in the hotel and provided in addition to the bed, a small desk, an armoire that held the TV and provided closest space for two different people and several different drawers. The bathroom was good sized and provided a tub/shower combination. The view from the room was okay – but looked out across I15
Our room had the two queen beds and was located on the 35th floor of the Chrysler Tower – one floor below the top. It was smaller than my parents because the higher you go in the tower the smaller the entire footprint of the hotel area and there were only about 6 rooms on the floor. We had three windows since we were in the corner of the building. One looked out across the highway and the other up the strip, which was nice. Beyond the two queen beds, we had a sitting chair and the same armoire that my folks had. We didn’t have a desk because there simply wasn’t enough room in the room. The bathroom though was a good size and had the shower/tub combination.
The rooms were kept very clean. We had a smoking room and you’d be hard pressed to notice any smoking smell. The bathrooms were clean in both rooms and housekeeping each day kept the rooms very clean (even through our best efforts to mess them up). You’re provided with basic amenities like shampoo, conditioner and skin lotion, in addition to hand soap and mouthwash. Extra pillows are available in the drawers of the armoire.
Casino
NY-NY has a fairly large casino that includes a variety of different slot machines and table games. Denominations run from a penny to $5 and above on the different slot machines, but the majority are nickels and tables are generally $10 and up, though I did see a few $5 tables in off-peak times. NY-NY offers instruction on the table games for those who are interested in learning how to play.
The casino is modeled after the New York City theme and includes various NY landmarks modified to feet the gambling motif (NY Slot Exchange, Gambling on the Green, etc…). The gaming area is kept very clean and slot attendants are scattered throughout and quickly take care of any hand-pays or machine malfunctions. Cocktail waitresses are also very prompt and are constantly going through the casino should you want a drink.
Eating
There are plenty of options should you want to eat at NY-NY, from fancy sit down restaurants to quick service hamburger stands.
Restaurants include:
Nine Fine Irishmen is an Irish pub that for lunch and dinner offers full-service dining and in the evening provides a pub atmosphere with live entertainment.
America is NY-NY’s 24-hour restaurant that serves breakfast all the time and also includes various typical American meals like hamburgers, steaks and seafood.
Il Fornaio is a nice place to get a really good Italian meal. They have breakfast, lunch and dinner and serve a variety of entrees along with handmade pizzas.
The Chin-Chin Cafe offers Chinese food and a morning breakfast buffet featuring breakfast with a Chinese twist (it’s interesting, I’ll give it that).
At the ESPN Zone you can get typical pub food like burgers, sandwiches, steaks and more while enjoying your favorite game on the many large screen TVs. You can also browse through the ESPN shop and pick up some ESPN merchandise.
There’s Gallagher’s Steakhouse and Ill Fornaio, two nicer restaurants at NY-NY. Gallagher’s focuses on steaks, while Ill Fornaio features northern Italian meals. Both places really require reservations in order to get a table.
If you’re looking for Mexican food, there’s Gonzalez and Gonzalez where you can get a number of different Mexican meals including fajitas, tacos, burritos and more.
Finally if you just want something quick, there’s the Village Shops, where you can browse through the village and find several different quick service type shops including ones with seafood, burgers, hot dogs and more.
Activities
You’ve got the room, eaten a meal and gambled a bit – now what else is there to do at NY-NY? There are plenty of choices for those looking for a bit of excitement.
Zumanity, a new Cirque de Soleil production plays nightly Friday through Tuesday, with two shows most nights. Rita Rudner, a comic also has a nightly show at NY-NY, if you’re looking to catch a laugh.
If you’re looking for some drinking and dancing, visit Coyote Ugly, which just like the movie and the bar in New York City features bartenders dancing on the counters, alcohol freely flowing a good time for all.
There’s a dueling piano bar in the Bar at Times Square and plenty of space to sit back and enjoy your drink and a show at the Big Apple Bar.
For those of us who enjoy a little heart-pounding experience, take a ride on the Manhattan Express, a roller coaster that runs around all of NY-NY and includes loops, corkscrews and more. It’s an excellent coaster and how many times can you say you rode around NYC on a coaster?
There are also plenty of shops and stands throughout NY-NY if you’re looking to shop or just pass some time browsing. In addition to the typical gift shops, you’ll find a Harley Davidson store, an oxygen bar (you can breath pure oxygen), a crystal shop, a NY style pretzel stand and you can enjoy ice cream from Schrafft's Ice Cream shop.
Experiences
I liked NY-NY and didn’t mind staying there. My biggest issue was that I had to go through the entire casino and food-court area to get to my hotel room, which I discovered I didn’t have to do almost at the end of the trip (since you can go to the 3rd floor on any elevator and then walk to the other bank of elevators you need and go to your room).
The room was nice, basic and utilitarian and what we needed for our stay. I will have to say though, the bed was incredibly comfortable – I don’t think I’ve slept in such a comfortable bed in a hotel before.
The pool area was a bit of letdown, after staying at Mandalay Bay – I wanted a pool that was going to impress me. NY-NY’s pool didn’t. It wasn’t that it wasn’t a good pool, the water was clean, there was plenty of room in the pool, and there were enough lounge chairs for everyone, but it was simple and it wasn’t a place I ended up spending that much time at – as opposed to Mandalay Bay where I was out at the pool as much as possible.
NY-NY is in a good location for people looking to stay at the southern end of the Strip. MGM Grand, Excalibur, Luxor, Mandalay Bay and even the Monte Carlo are all within easy walking distance. Slightly further is the Aladdin and Paris and if you’re really gung ho, it’s not that much further to Treasure Island and the Mirage. However with the new monorail open and a station at MGM, getting to the northern end of the strip is easier, or cheating on walking and taking the tram back makes NY-NY a great place to stay even if you’ll be visiting casinos further north on the strip.
The food at the restaurants was excellent, I had a chance to eat at America, Nine Fine Irishmen, the ESPN Zone, the Chin-Chin Café and several of the food court places. Service was excellent and the food tasted great. I drooled over the steaks aging in Gallagher’s every time I walked by, but with all we had to do, we never had a chance to eat there – which I definitely will do next time.
All in all, I had a great time at NY-NY – from sleeping in one of the best beds I’ve ever been in, enjoying a night at Coyote Ugly, and gambling in the large casino, NY-NY was a good place to stay on my latest visit to Vegas. However the lack of a really nice pool area and the funky locations of the elevators did turn me off a bit and will probably make me consider going back to Mandalay Bay next time I’m in Vegas.
Final Thoughts
NY-NY is a reasonable priced, well-rounded hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip that anyone should take a look at. From comfortable hotel rooms, a large and comfortable casino, restaurants that will tickle your taste buds, to nightlife that will make you’re head hurt the next morning, NY-NY is a full-service Vegas resort that is a worthy destination.
My guide to the Las Vegas Strip - hotels, attractions, food and more!
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THEHotel at Mandalay Bay / The Mirage Hotel & Casino / The Monte Carlo Hotel & Casino - TI - Treasure Island Hotel & Casino / Buccaneer Bay Pirate Battle at Treasure Island / New York-New York Hotel/Casino / Red Rock Canyon Recreation Area / Mandalay Bay Hotel/Casino / Excalibur Hotel/Casino / Circus Circus Hotel/Casino / Q Vegas Magazine (LGBT) / The Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay
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