What happens in Vegas…
Written: Oct 03 '09
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| seacow's Full Review: Las Vegas Tropicana Resort & Casino |
I had the chance to travel out to Las Vegas a few months ago. I’m a member of a site called Where’s George and a few other people were heading out there last March. It was the first time that I’d be traveling by myself and staying in a hotel. It was a learning experience, but I’ll get to that later.
I wanted a hotel on The Strip. I’ve heard stories about people wandering too far off The Strip and getting mugged or worse. Also, I don’t know the streets that well and I didn’t want to find that I was staying miles off of The Strip. It’s hard to tell from maps, so I decided to simply stay on the Strip.
I had chosen the Tropicana mostly for the price. (Yes, the Imperial Palace would have been cheaper, but I had heard stories about the elevators.) I also made the mistake of not making sure that the wireless Internet was free. (It turns out that many of the hotels on The Strip charge for access.)
The hotel wasn’t that bad. I booked online and had no problem checking in. I stayed in the Island Tower, which was a bit of a walk coming in and going out. It was probably a good five minutes between the main door and my room. My first problem was having been put in a smoking room when I had requested nonsmoking. If I recall, they had run out of nonsmoking rooms. The front desk offered to switch rooms on my second night, but I didn’t want to be bothered. There wasn’t much of a stench, so it wasn’t a problem.
The one thing I noticed was that the ceiling had mirrors on it above the bed. It freaked me out a little bit the first night, but I got used to it. One big problem was the walk to the main casino. Yes, there were some penny slots right out of the elevator, but to get to the bulk of the slots and all of the table games, I had to go down the elevator and walk down a corridor.
What was even more of a problem was that the corridor that had vendors on either side. They were selling things like clothes and jewelry. There was one guy selling some sort of those skin-enhancing things. He was kind of persistent. That’s not something I want to have in the hotel where I’m staying.
The room wasn’t really that bad. It took a call to tech support to get the Internet set up, it took a few tries to get the shower working and my view was of McCarran International Airport. Those weren’t problems so much since I wasn’t there to stay in my room and once resolved, weren’t issues again. There wasn’t any real noise from the planes and the Internet and shower worked fine.
I generally stay away from the room safes. I felt it was safer and found it was easier just to keep my cash on me. I didn’t really have many other valuables that I was really all that worried.
The casino had a pretty good variety of games. (It was the first time I had seen a Star Trek slot machine.) There were also a lot of penny slots, which was a good thing for me. I do like gambling and I like to make my dollar go a bit further. I quickly learned to stay away from the table games. I had always wanted to try 21 and roulette, but the lowest minimum for each was $5. You can go through a lot of money that way regardless of where you’re staying.
There were plenty of penny slots, which was something that I worried about. I figure I can get more play out of my dollar with the penny slots. Every casino I went to had them, though. I think for a casino not to offer them would cut out too many customers.
Another thing I learned was that I should have signed up for the comps right away. I signed up the last few days I was there and did get enough back to pay for a meal or two. I did get a few t-shirts and a deck of playing cards. Had I signed up the first day, I may have been able to pay for a night or two. Again, this goes regardless of where you’re staying.
The first couple of days, I was eating breakfast in one of the hotel’s buffets. (For the record, there are no more cheap buffets in Vegas any more.) I eventually switched to the Garden Café. I was paying a little less and getting better food. I found a few fast-food places nearby, but I decided it was worth it to eat at the Garden Café for dinner, as well. The one complaint I had was that they never asked me if I wanted desert after dinner and I would have ordered. They would usually just bring the check and I felt a little uncomfortable asking for desert at that point.
The Tropicana is pretty far south on The Strip. In fact, I don’t remember heading south at all. The Strip has a monorail that has it’s southernmost stop at the MGM Grand. The MGM Grand is right across the street from the Tropicana, which made access to the monorail a little easier. Unfortunately, the MGM Grand was a bit of a maze in terms of finding the entrance to the monorail.
Overall, the casino looked a little older than the others. If it weren’t for the current economy, I’d expect the hotel to do a major renovation soon if it hasn’t done one already. Also, don’t buy anything at the hotel gift shops. Things on The Strip will be at least twice what you’d expect, but things in the hotels will be at least four times what you‘d expect. If you need toiletries or aspirin, find a Walgreens or CVS.
I’d consider staying there again, but if I’m planning on doing things with other people, proximity to them will probably be an overriding concern. I’ll probably also read some of the other reviews here, as Vegas tends to change every few years. Right now, I need to worry about getting a job before I go back out.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
seacow
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 - Top 1000 |
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Member: Brian Kuhl
Location: Biscayne Park, FL, USA
Reviews written: 1179
Trusted by: 135 members
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I'm saving up for a D300.
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