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Only a hour flight away from Las Vegas we visit frequently, sometimes once a month. I'll be sharing our trip reports, tips on making the most of your stay in Vegas, reviews of restaurants and shows we have seen, along with my thoughts related to our favorite place to get away from it all.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Cosmopolitan Las Vegas Trip Report-Winning!

My host at Cosmopolitan matched my offer I received from M-Life which comped me to a 1 bedroom terrace suite, $300 in free play, $200.00 in food&beverage and since I'm platinum level at Cosmo I also received limo service from the airport along with VIP checkin and lounge access.
When I arrived at baggage claim my luggage was there but I didn't see my limo driver so I called Cosmopolitan and they said he was there and would call me. We finally located each other and we were off to Cosmo. It was only 12:30pm so I checked my luggage and went to VIP checkin where I discovered Socalgirl also checking in. While they gave me the card key to my room which was on the 23rd floor they said I had to wait for the housekeeping check and it would be about 10 minutes.  While waiting I had a couple treats from the selection available and then wandered out to the casino while Socalgirl went up to her suite.
Ninety minutes later I'm still waiting for the call to tell me my room is ready so I call VIP services up again and finally they say I can go up.  The suite was lovely and the view from the 23rd floor was great, and since I was on a lower floor this time I could clearly hear the Bellagio fountain music.
The previous trip in February we had a few room issues but since Cosmo had now been open for more then 3 months and was calling themselves a 5 star resort I figured this trip would be flawless.
I was wrong, little did I know that my room had a few unpleasant surprised waiting for me.






But during the early afternoon I was very happy with my suite.
It was time to get my gamble on before meeting my friends Socalgirl and Claire for drinks and then dinner.
Excuse me, it was time to get my whine on since all I did was lose with a few minor exceptions. I was glad when it was time to meet my friends for drink at the Chandelier bar.
Claire, Socalgirl and I decided to drink at the Chandelier bar because I had read about these buzz buttons, or Szechuan flowers that were served with some of the drinks on the 2nd level.
We were soon seated and had a great server with a terrific personality and attitude!
The Verbena Drink with the buzz button/ Szechwan flower was fun. It made my mouth buzz and pop and it's a really cool sensation. The drink is made with Milagro silver, yuzu sour, ginger syrup, and lemon verbena leaves.


That started out as a fun drink that made me giggle a lot and I enjoyed it much more then my second drink which was called Fire Breathing Dragon and was made from Bacardi dragonberry, raspberry puree, lemongrass and Thai chili syrups.










After the drinks at the Chandelier Bar we went to Jaleo for dinner.

After ordering I started experiencing the worst heartburn of my life and I've only had heartburn a few times in my life and once was due to food poisoning. I excused myself and went to the ladies room because it was making me feel ill, but fortunately it passed in 5 minutes and I didn't get sick. I'm not sure if it was due to the icky Fire Breathing Dragon drink or the buzz button.
The meal and service was fine at Jaleo but both Socalgirl and I thought it wasn't as good as our previous times dining there so I'm not sure when we will return. Above is their version of a sandwich.
The lobster salad that I have ordered each time wasn't quite as good as the previous times.
The presentation of the white asparagus and cheese was both tasty and cute.
The date dish that Randy and I enjoyed so much on our previous trip was definitely not as good.
Shrimp with garlic sauce was the star of the evening for me.
The spinach with pine nuts, raisins and other goodies was excellent.
 Jaleo's version of cannoli with minced pork and Bechamel sauce was not my favorite.
Hanger steak was good but not outstanding that evening.
After dinner we went our separate ways for the most part and I continued to lose. Giving up on the gambling I retired about midnight and found my gift for being platinum level in my room. Nice but not too impressive. Unfortunately before I could go to sleep I hear this loud dripping noise. My bad luck continues,  I have a ceiling leak into my tub from the room upstairs. I call VIP services and they claim not to have any rooms to switch me too so around 1am I have a man from maintenance in my room trying to see what is going on. After working on it for 30 minutes and going upstairs to ask the couple in the room above me not to continue to soak and use their tub he tells me they will have to fix it tomorrow around noon.
What can I say the day has had it's up and downs but the leak was a bit much. Going outside to enjoy my view before trying to go to sleep I call Socalgirl who ended up with a room that is vibrating because the noise from the Cosmo nightclub is so loud. After complaining about it repeatedly to VIP services they found they had a extra room after all and upgraded her to a wrap around suite! I'm happy for Socalgirl that she can now have some quiet, but wondering why they fibbed to me about having no rooms available.

The next morning I leave the room hoping maintenance will fix everything because I also discovered the refrigerator isn't working.  Meeting Socalgirl we go to Palazzo to have lunch with our host there who wants to try and explain to us what's going on with comps now and the Sands group. While we had a nice lunch with him at Grand Lux, he couldn't explain anything because between the time we made the lunch date and the lunch management had changed things again on him. This might explain why a couple weeks ago I found out my favorite host had quit and was now moving back east. At the end of lunch I made Socalgirl wait for me to try the new slot Attack from Mars at Venetian but unfortunately being a new WMS game it didn't want to pay me anything when I finally hit a bonus, thankfully I wasn't playing Max Bet.
After returning to Cosmopolitan and continue to lose it was time for Socalgirl, Claire and myself to go over to the Napoleon lounge at Paris for the Blonde4ever board meet. We had a brief wait once we got there because Napoleon lounge decided not to open on time so here is some of us socializing outside their doors.
When we started to seat ourselves in the lounge we got a great surprise because due to Peath (who couldn't attend) and Bonnie efforts our group got a private room and 2 free drinks each. Thanks ladies!
It was a fun meet and I had a great time meeting with everyone.
Socalgirl, Claire and myself dragged Bonnie away from the meet to join us for drinks at the Cosmopolitan VIP lounge and also to see Socalgirl's wraparound suite before the four of us had dinner at D.O.C.G.
On the way out of Paris we stopped in to see the Sugar Factory.
We liked what we were seeing and Claire, Socalgirl and myself decided to return the following evening for dinner at their restaurant.
Socalgirl started a conversation up with one of the managers and next thing we knew we were at the Sugar Factory bar area being served complimentary chocolates.
More photos of The Sugar Factory.


After the Sugar Factory detour we made it to the Platinum VIP lounge at Cosmopolitan where we had a Cosmo!
We had a relaxing 40 minutes or so here enjoying the snacks and drinks.
Socalgirl takes a photo of Blonde, myself and Claire.
Claire and I doing our tweets to our followers.
After leaving the Platinum lounge we had a few minutes before our dinner reservation so we went to Socalgirl's wrap around suite to admire her view and while there I decide to go to my room to drop off the package I had acquired due to buying some candy at The Sugar Factory. The first thing I see when I arrive is a portable refrigerator in the middle of the room because they weren't able to fix the built in refrigerator. Second thing I notice is a handwritten note from maintenance that they weren't able to fix the leak. Last my room phone had messages from VIP services and maintenance as they had been trying to reach me all afternoon because they had finally decided there were too many things wrong with my room and they couldn't fix the ceiling leak during my stay. The annoying thing about this was after returning their calls they couldn't wait to switch me after dinner,it had to be right then for some reason and even though our dinner reservation was in 5 minutes I had to tossed everything in my suit case and have them move me to a new one bedroom terrace suite, making me late for our reservation.
When I fianlly joined Bonnie, Claire and Socalgirl at DOCG I discovered it didn't matter I was late as our table wasn't ready yet since they were behind with their reservations. In order to be seated sooner we accepted a table outside the main restaurant which was fine but I think we all would have preferred to be seated inside. As a tiny gesture of the inconvenience for making me move rooms right before dinner Cosmo VIP services treated the four of us to a glass of sparkling wine. I was a bit underwhelmed by their generosity.
I thought the food at D.O.C.G was good.  Above is the bread basket and the pizza Schiacciota we shared which is doubled layered ham and fontina cheese.
Claire ordered a side of Brussels Spouts that I really liked and normally that's not my vegetable of choice.
My scallops with cauliflower puree and artichokes was tasty.
I'm not sure whose pasta dish this was.
Claire telling us a story during dinner.
Bonnie I believe had the Pica which was hand rolled spaghetti with duck sauce and black truffles. I didn't take a photo of it but I'm sure there is one in blonde4ever's trip report. The photo above is of my cappuccino.

Our server recommended the carmael budino with salted caramel sauce to us and it was delicious, a stand out dessert.
The sorbet was good too.







Our tab for dinner for the four of us. 
After dinner we split up, though Socalgirl and I hung out in the same area of the slots mainly losing. While the following photos are my wins up until 1am that evening I was taking a beating and was down about $2500.00.
A rare Star Wars win, last trip they were my ATM but not this trip.
I very seldom get a pay off from Stinkin Rich so seldom play it, but I was trying everything at Cosmopolitan and was excited to get a decent hit.
It's 1am and I'm just losing so I leave Socalgirl and I'm thinking of heading to my new suite  which I pass the Cosmo high limit lounge. I decide to put a hundred in the $1 Da Vinci that treated Randy and me well last trip and call it a night. As I insert my money, one of the slot attendants comes up to me and introduces himself and tells me to let him know if I need anything. I thank him and commence to lose my $100. At this point I normally slink off in disgust but after the gentlemen making such a point of introducing himself I'm a bit embarrassed to leave so quickly so I put another hundred in the slot and play it down to my last $30. I push one last time as I'm not going to put another hundred in at this point and I have a win, another second and I get that I have a big win as it continues to ring and pay!

Sure enough the slot attendant was there quickly congratulating me as I'm busy tweeting my win. I send a text to Socalgirl and she comes to join me. I leave DaVinci and Socalgirl decides to see if it's still lucky and starts to play it and there's still some activity there. In the meantime since Socalgirl is playing I decide not to leave as I normally would do after my win andinstead I move 2 slot machines down and mention to Socalgirl one of her favorite slots is there which is Secrets of the Forrest and would she like to play it? Socalgirl decides not to play it and continues with Da Vinci Diamonds. Normally I don't play "Secrets of the Forrest" since when I have played the penny version of it I have never won a bonus on it, however my win has made me throw caution to the wind and I start to play it at $33 a push and almost immediately hit the bonus!
The slot attendant is once again immediately there with congrats and I decide after a celebratory chocolate martini to call it a night.
The next morning I wasn't too happy with my new room either, as I'm a light sleeper and I could hear the noise from the Chateau at Paris until 4am. When I called VIP services about it they said they had complained to Paris, but that Paris always complains about their nightclub too. Not sure what her point was other then each property is annoying the guests at both with their loud music from the nightclubs. 
Since I slept in I was waiting to eat lunch at Comme Ca with Claire and Socalgirl so of course I went to the high limit room again to visit my now beloved Da Vinci Diamonds $1 slot. Surprise, the machine had a lot of life to it still and I hit more bonuses before lunch on that slot then I have ever hit on the penny version. Most of the bonuses paid around $200 plus but I hit one good one for a bit over a thousand.
I finally cashed out before lunch another $2000.00 ahead.
Comme Ca wasn't busy for lunch so we were seated at a table on the patio which would have been great if not for all the street noise. After Claire ordered a delicious drink similar to a Mojito I had to have one too. It was both delicious and pretty.
I believe the above soup du jour was ordered by Claire, unfortunately I don't recall what it was or how she liked it.
My salad was memorable, cheese encrusted with pistachios, horseradish cream and beets it was fantastic!
I believe Claire's sandwich was their version of melted cheese.
Socalgirl ordered the omlet fines herbes with ham, mushrooms, spinach and gruyere.
I enjoyed my Scottish Salmon with polenta and oyster mushrooms, though the sauce was a bit rich.
In the background is their baguettes they serve with lunch and the star of the lunch the pot du creme.
After lunch Socalgirl and I went to Bellagio where I tried my luck and lost on every slot I tried.
Before we went back to Cosmopolitan we toured the Bellagio Conservatory.
I enjoyed the spring theme much more then the last one with the giant ants.
Socalgirl, Claire and I had plans to meet at China Poblano for a snack before we went on that evening to see the Australian Bee Gees but first I had to try my luck again on the $1 slots and there was a Kitty Glitter at Cosmopolitan calling my name. 
As difficult as it can be to hit the bonus on the penny Kitty Glitter I was shocked to hit it quickly on the $1 slot at $30 a push and then to have it retrigger for a hand pay of $3930.00. That was my 3rd hand pay in 24 hours!
I was in a great mood when I met up with my friends at China Poblano and celebrated with a  Pomegranate Margarita with salt form instead of salt rim and it was both unique and yummy.
Claire ordered slow cooked pork belly and pineapple tacos but I don't think she cared for them much.
My lemon tree shrimp with lemon, black pepper and celery was excellent.
The Happy Buddha Giggling Taking a Bath shaky belly Strawberry gelatin dessert at $10 was sort of cute but we didn't care for the taste.
The Chocolate Terra Cotta Warrior with caramelized bananas and sesame was very cool looking.
Better yet it tasted great and I look forward to eating it again soon!
The check presentation at Cosmopolitan was different.
In front of the Buddha display at China Poblano.
Claire climbing the display and putting her mascot among the Buddhas for a photo op. After she saw me taking this photo I got another photo of her giving me the finger, but I guess I'll keep that one private. ;)
Claire and me at the Sugar Factory at Paris.
We were soon off to Excalibur where we lost a few dollars and then it was time to see the Australian Bee Gee's. We had seats at a center table in the front row which were great. The guys were entertaining and it was a fun show. Everyone in the audience seemed to have a good time and at certain points in the show were up dancing. After the show ended and we were almost out the theatre doors I noticed my finger was bleeding on my left hand. I quickly went into the ladies room and while washing off my finger and wondering how it got cut from clapping I saw my main diamond from my engagement/wedding ring was missing out of its setting. I quickly went back into the now almost empty theatre and thankfully quickly found my loose diamond on the floor. I was really lucky because it looks pretty small and is hard to see out of its setting.
After the show it was time for a late dinner at the Sugar Factory at the Paris hotel. The place was mobbed and at first we were seated at a cramped table in the center of the room, but we soon asked to move and luckily a prime window table became available so we were overlooking the side walk area where it looks like they will soon have outside dining and we had a lovely view of the Bellagio Fountains going off.
The drinks were really fun and tasty at The Sugar Factory. I went with our servers suggestion and had the green apple martini with the green apple blo pop!
Socalgirl went with a chopped salad for her entree and enjoyed it.
I think Claire ordered a pizza but I don't have a photo of it. The above was my steak salad that was delicious.
I made a mistake when I ordered this lemon meringue tart with raspberry sorbet. It was good but the Cookie Jar Sundae that we ordered to share was large enough for 4 people and very rich and delicious!
Loved the Sugar Factory and plan on taking my husband there on our upcoming July trip. Tonight I said goodbye to Claire as I wouldn't see her again before she left for home. 

That evening in the casino my losing streak came back with a vengeance, as I couldn't win on any slot I tried. Thankfully when I went to bed that evening there were no nightclubs playing loud music. 

The next morning Socalgirl and I checked out and she drove me to M resort where I was staying for one night before leaving the next day around 8pm. I've stayed at M before and it's a nice place for one night but more then that and I miss the strip. This stay in addition to the comp room, free play and 2 free buffets,  I had gifts of 2 bottles of premium rum, M girls calendar and a tote. Unfortunately the 1 night and 2 days I was there all I did was lose on almost everything. Socalgirl treated me to a wonderful dinner at Veloce that evening and it was delicious and the service was great. I've now eatan at all the fine dining restaurants at M Resort and all of them are winners in my opinion.
Bread basket at Veloce with sourdough, crackers and raisin bread,very tasty. Photos aren't the best because lightning was very dim.
We were seated across the room from the kitchen at a table with a view of the strip in the distance.
The scallop appetizer encrusted with macadamia nuts with apple fries and blood orange beurre blanc sauce was delicious!
Socalgirl had the petite filet.
I loved the mixed vegetables.
Their Yukon gold mashed potatoes with homemade potato chips were terrific.


Sea bass, rice flake crusted, green tea soba noodles and coconut curry was wonderful.

The dinner at Veloce was the high point of my stay at M resort though I'm sure I would have felt differently if I hadn't lost so much money there. The next evening I was glad to be heading home and I did go home a winner of a few thousand despite the earlier losses at Bellagio and the last 2 days at M Resort!

Life got hectic when I returned home so my next trip isn't until July 7th. I'll be there for 6 nights and leave on the 13th right before my birthday on the 14th. The first 3 nights will be at Bellagio where we'll be participating in their $250,000 All-Star tournament. The last 3 nights will be at either Palazzo or Encore, still haven't made up my mind but leaning toward Palazzo due to them having the latest slots I want to play.

8 comments:

  1. Viva! Wonderful trip report, pictures, and jackpots. Glad the wins, cocktails, good food, and better friends were plentiful.

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  2. Love it! You're a lucky woman to have THREE handpays in less than 24 hours at the same resort!
    Congratulations!

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  3. Thanks Design8!

    Deann, I was incredibly lucky and would love to repeat that experience soon. ;)

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  4. I enjoy reading all your Vegas TR. I, too, am going to the Tournament at Bellagio and then 3 nights at the Palazzo. Hope we both have great luck.

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  5. Thanks iteachf, if you recognize me from my photos and see me at the Bellagio slot tournament or later at Palazzo please say hello. Good luck to you in the tournament, I hope we both are among the top prize winners! :)

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  6. Hi Diana- Great trip report. I don't think I got the Tournament at Bellagio offer...what all did it include? I did get an Aria 2011 Summer of Style offer...includes...1500 in slot credits!...or 1500 in Crystals Gift cards, cocktail reception, and a suite July 7-9. I also earn tickets for a $100,000 Prada giveaway. I am in the process of scheduling my birthday (July 14 too) trip as well. Take care.

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  7. Well look for me in Vegas 73aec66c if you schedule your birthday trip for around July 7th through the 13th. I come home the day before my birthday because friends are having a birthday party for me.

    The 250k All Stars tournament offers a first place prize of $75,000 cash.

    You can try clicking on this URL and then if it comes up for you click the 2 arrows to take you to the prizes. If it follows the usual formula Bellagio gives you a welcome gift and then there's a open bar and a lot of food and each tournament session in a private ballroom.

    I'm sure if you called Bellagio VIP services up and wanted to do the tournament they would put you into it if it's not full. Given your offer from Aria it sounds like you are in the gambling demographic they want. ;)

    Great offer from Aria by the way, much better then the one I received recently from them.

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  8. Oops, forgot the URL:

    http://www.bellagio.com/offers/2011/04_all_star_classic/site.html

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