Aria, Bellagio and Palazzo, July trip report (part 3 of 3)

We left Bellagio for Palazzo around 11:00am since we intended to eat breakfast at Grand Lux. We arrived quickly and since I'm Platinum level this year we went to Palazzo's VIP services to check in. I love this VIP room where there's never a line and it's also part of the platinum lounge so while I'm checking in Randy is ordering a cappuccino to drink. We were given a suite on the 48th floor and above was our view. After unpacking we had a quick brunch at Grand Lux where Randy had the egg sandwich.

I had the lunch special of the Sonoma Chicken salad which has fruit, pecans, bacon and goat cheese.

This was Randy's last day in Vegas as he needed to return to work to make up for my earlier gambling losses at Aria, so it was time to see if our luck for this trip was going to change. While we had lots of play and fun at Bellagio, and our losses weren't as bad as my earlier ones at Aria, we had lost there too and we were still hoping for a good win at some point to at least break even for this trip.

We started out playing all the new penny slots like WMS Alice and the Mad Tea Party that I had luck on earlier in the trip and old favorites like Kitty Glitter and Wolf Run and we were losing on everything. Finally decided to go see if Palazzo's,  $5 Wheel of Fortune wanted to be kind and we did hit a spin on it, but it only hit for $200 which basically broke us even for what we put in to get the spin. Decided to walk over to Venetian to see if luck was better there and it started to get exciting when we hit a bonus on  $1 DaVinci for $760.00.

Aria, Bellagio and Palazzo, July trip report (part 2 of 3)

Check out when smoothly at Aria on the TV screen in the bedroom since of course the one in the living room wasn't going to be repaired by my request until after I checked out. I was eager to move to Bellagio  for my slot tournament because I was sure I was due for a change of luck.  Terri who lives in Las Vegas checked out at the same time and drove me to Bellagio. Since we were going to eat at Bellagio Cafe she came in with me while I tried to check in.  The desk clerk claimed that Bellagio was full and my host was not working so I ended up with a room with a pool view. The first room they wanted to give me was on the 9th floor which I refused so when we went off to brunch I was still waiting for a room and couldn't charge food yet. This wasn't a problem since Terri had a lot of express comps and wanted to treat me to brunch, however when it came time to pay our bill it turned out that their computer system was down and she couldn't pay using comps and had to use her charge card. So be warned you may be enjoying what you are expecting to be a comped meal at a M-Life restaurant only to find at the end of the meal you can't use your express comps due to computer issues.

For brunch I ordered my usual at Bellagio cafe which is the crab salad. Terri ordered the eggs which looked fine but when you cut into it the cheese wasn't melted and frankly wasn't a very good omelet so she ended up not eating much. Due to the problem with the express comps we asked to speak to the manager to find out if this was a ongoing problem and he did admit this wasn't the first time they had computer issues and couldn't express comp meals. The manager did the best he could though and since Terri's eggs were mainly uneaten he comped that part of the meal off.

Terri and I said goodbye after brunch as she was going back home to get some rest before meeting another friend that weekend for a slot tournament they were in at M Resort. We would see each other again for my birthday celebration on Monday.

While waiting for my room to be ready, I admired the 4th of July theme at the Bellagio Conservatory.

Aria, Bellagio and Palazzo, July trip report (part 1 of 3)

I arrived in Vegas Tuesday, July 5th around 2:30pm after the longest security line (45 minutes) for me ever at San Jose airport due to them having very few security machines running. About the time I went through security someone finally got a clue and opened up 2 more security lanes. On the flight to Vegas with me was my adult son who was going on to Fort Lauderdale to visit family. The flight itself was almost full but we got lucky and had the middle seat between us empty. Flight was smooth and took about a hour and 15 minutes. After a short farewell to son, I was down in baggage claim where I quickly got my luggage and was about ready to get in the cab line when my friend Terri called and said she was in the area and would pick me up.

It was sweet of Terri to give me a ride to Aria where she was also staying but darn if she didn't long haul me! Yes, we took the freeway but let me tell you it's not always the quickest way regardless of what the taxi's drivers will tell you. Traffic was backed up and it took at least 20 minutes or so to get to Aria using the freeway. Fortunately it gave us a chance to catch up on things and as it turned out any time this trip spent doing other activities then gambling was a good thing.

Check in was quick because by some miracle there was no line at the invited check in desk. My Aria host had arranged a corner suite with a strip view for me and I ended up on the 22nd floor. Terri ended up with a mountain view even though the registration man was trying to give her a strip view they kept disappearing which was puzzling as the other lines only had one person in place so who was grabbing those rooms?

I loved the corner suite, it was a fabulous room. The first photo is the view from my bedroom. The second is also the view out of one of the bedroom windows, the 3rd the living room and above the entry way.

Off the entry way is this half bath which was much roomier then for example the half bath you get with the suites at THEHotel at Mandalay Bay.

Above is a hallway that separates the living room, bathroom and bedroom.