April 2015 Las Vegas Trip Report
This most recent trip to Las Vegas was a very special trip for several reasons. First, we were celebrating a wedding anniversary milestone of fifteen years. Second, this trip offered us an opportunity to see some family members that live out west. Needless to say, our decision to spend this vacation in Las Vegas turned out to be a very special series of wonderful memory.
In the weeks leading up to the trip, we had a lot to prepare for. We had always heard wonderful things about the Palazzo resort and even though we had visited the property on several occasions, we had never stayed there. So as we started our routine of finding deals and discounts for hotel rooms, we stumbled upon an offer via email from the Grazie Players Club (the player’s promotion club of the Palazzo and Venetian). We had signed up for the Grazie card on our last visit in October, and we are glad we did because the email promotion was for 3 nights complementary.
After reading several online reviews, we made the decision to take advantage of the three-night offer from Palazzo and booked our 22nd trip (as a couple) to Las Vegas.
DAY ONE
The evening before we travel to Las Vegas is always full of nervous energy and anticipation. We spent the evening getting all our last minute items packed up and went over our itinerary to see if it were possible to fit in any last minute things to do during our trip.
We arrived at the airport in plenty of time and fortunately were scheduled for a non-stop flight to Las Vegas. The airplane rides to Las Vegas are so much fun! There is always a buzz on the airplane from all the other passengers on flights bound for Las Vegas.
Las Vegas had been under several days of a wind advisory leading up to our trip and unfortunately we did experience a very turbulent landing. We were very excited and relieved once the airplane had come to a stop and we had safely arrived at the Las Vegas airport. We quickly moved to the baggage area to claim our luggage and jumped in the taxi line.
The weather this trip was very mild. Typically, the weather in early April is above 80 degrees, but this trip the temperatures stayed in the 70’s. It was the only disappointing part of our trip as we had packed our swimsuits for a day at the pool. A pool day is one of our favorite things to do in Las Vegas. We’re guessing that we will have to add an extra day on our next trip!
We arrived at the Palazzo and were immediately impressed with the design of their lobby and check in area. We had a nice young lady named Stephanie who assisted us with check in and we explained to her that we were celebrating our 15th year wedding anniversary. She was so kind to find a room on one of the higher floors with an amazing view. It was a nice touch for our three-night stay.
One thing that a lot of people do not know is that ALL the rooms inside both the Palazzo and the Venetian are suites! Ours was no exception. The room was beautifully appointed and everything was very clean and modern. The attached living room is sunken down and the floors to ceiling windows give way to a breathtaking view. The bathrooms have a full size tub and a glass enclosed walk-in shower. There is plenty of room in these suites and we highly recommend them for your next trip.
After we unpacked our luggage, we headed down to the casino level to try our luck. We had a $45 slot play credit on our Grazie card so we decided to give that a try. The good news is we won $250 on that $45 credit, so that kept us busy until it was time for dinner.
Dinner this first night was one of the highlights of the trip. We had made reservations at Buddy V’s restaurant, which is on the 2nd floor along the Grand Canal Shoppes inside the Palazzo. Buddy V’s celebrity chef is non other that Buddy Valastro from TLC’s the Cake Boss. We had noticed on Twitter the week before that he was actually in Las Vegas for the Easter weekend. So we secretly hoped we’d have a chance to meet him while we were there. One thing that we really appreciated was the variety of food that was offered and how affordable the menu items were.
Normally a celebrity chef’s restaurant can be a tad bit over priced, but this is not the case at Buddy V’s. We ordered the Salumi & Cheese Board as an appetizer as well as a Caprese Salad. Both were amazing. One item to note was the Mozzarella cheese on the salad. It had the consistency of whipped cream and was absolutely amazing! A must try.
For the main entrée, we split the Chicken Parmesan, which was garnished with a side of homemade spaghetti. The noodles had the taste of freshly made pasta and the Chicken Parmesan literally melted in your mouth.
After we had finished up our appetizers, we noticed a crowd starting to gather about 2 tables over from where we were sitting. Sure enough, Buddy himself was dining with family. He was kind enough to take a few moments and take his picture with us. This was the cherry on top to an amazing dinner and complete dining experience on our first night.
After dinner, we wandered through the Grand Canal Shoppes and were amazed at all the variety of shops and restaurants the Palazzo offered. You could truly not leave their property and it would take you 2 weeks to try everything they had. They do offer Gondola rides, but the wait was too long, so we decided against it.
As the night progressed, we tried our luck at the slot machines again and a few hands at the 3-card and 4-card poker table games they offer. The dealers and floor supervisors where more than friendly and accommodating. The minimum bet amounts were $10 at each of the tables, which is fine for such a nice place and sophisticated environment.
As the evening drew longer, we eventually made our way back up to the 42nd floor to our room. The beds are very comfortable and warmly awaited our travel wary bodies. Our first night in Las Vegas was a success!
DAY TWO
With the time change coming from the east, we found ourselves wide-awake at 7:00am local time on the second day. This is pretty normal for us when we travel and is not the worst thing in the world while in Vegas. After getting showered and dressed, we stopped and had breakfast at Espressamente Illy, which is located in the Waterfall Atrium of the Palazzo. This is a small Italian quick stop restaurant with limited seating. We split a sausage, egg and cheese bagel along side two black coffees. It was reasonably priced and the food quality was good.
Once breakfast was over, we headed out to the Strip and took a long walk since it was such a mild and sunny day. After walking for a few hours, we stopped in to the Mirage Hotel & Casino. This has been a longtime favorite property of ours. It’s not overly crowded and the staff has a reputation of superior friendliness. We stayed there for a few hours on some favorite slots machines and table games we have there before heading back to the Palazzo to get ready for a fun evening of dinner and a show!
We always like to eat dinner early (5:30 or 6:00 pm) in Las Vegas for two reasons. First, the restaurants are typically less crowded and the service moves a little faster. Second, our bodies are on East Coast time and if we wait too late to eat, then dinner puts us straight to bed (which is never fun in Vegas!). This evening we had dinner reservations at Allegro inside the Wynn Hotel and show tickets to FRANK the Man, the Music.
It is a very short walk from the Palazzo to the Wynn, which is the most impressive hotel we’ve every stayed in Las Vegas (see our August 2014 trip report). We love just how beautiful and elaborate the hotel, walkways, lobby and casino are at the Wynn. This property is second to none in our book. We had dinner reservations at Allegro, which is located right off the casino floor near the poker room.
This was our 4th time to eat at Allegro over the last few years. We’ve always experienced great service, delicious food and unique dinning experience each time and this was no different. We started dinner with a bottle of our favorite Chardonnay and two appetizers, the baked clams and calamari. We also split a Caesar salad and shared the Risotto Pescatora, which includes shrimp, scallops, mussels and clams. Our meal was exquisite and the service was first class as always.
After dinner was over, we were looking forward to a short walk back to the Palazzo to let our dinner settle. We didn’t have too long because tonight we had tickets to the show FRANK the Man, the Music. We had heard good things about this show and where excited to see it.
Over the past 20+ years, we’ve seen all sorts of shows in Las Vegas. We’ve seen several of the Cirque du Soleil shows, comedians and concerts, which have all been very entertaining. However, the FRANK the Man, the Music show was by far the most unique and in a category by itself.
Bob Anderson is the star of the show. If you’ve never heard of him, you’d really enjoy learning more about his background as we enjoyed doing. A 32-piece orchestra accompanies him during the 90-minute show and the performance eerily takes you back as if you are actually watching Frank Sinatra himself in the Sands Hotel.
This show is more than just an impersonation of Sinatra, it is the most unique way to tell a story of a true music legend. Bob reenacts Sinatra’s moves, voice, humor and style as he belts through 15 songs, all of which you sing aloud to. Within 5 minutes, you forget your watching an impersonator and find yourself inside the Copa Room back in the 1960’s. If you are a Frank Sinatra fan, this show is for you.
After the show was over, we were exhausted from the day and headed back to our room on the eve of our 15th year wedding anniversary.
DAY THREE – Our 15-Year Wedding Anniversary
After almost 2 days in Las Vegas, we finally were able to sleep in this morning. We had salmon and bagels for breakfast in the room, which is one of our all time favorite morning dishes. After getting ready for the day, we made our way to the Bellagio Hotel around 11:00am.
The Bellagio is one of our favorite properties in Las Vegas. There’s hardly ever a trip that we don’t stop by for a visit. We’ve stayed at the Bellagio three times over the last 15 years and have always enjoyed our stay. They have the most amazing architecture and attention to detail throughout the hotel and casino. The botanical gardens are always amazing and we spent almost an hour just roaming through the property enjoying everything they offer.
After a few tries at the 3-card poker table and a handful of slot machines, we strolled back to the Palazzo mid afternoon to get ready for our anniversary dinner.
We had made reservations at the SW Steakhouse inside the Wynn hotel for our anniversary dinner. We had eaten here once before and it is definitely one of our favorite restaurants in Las Vegas. Several members of our family who were also in town for this trip joined us and we had the best time reminiscing about the last 15 years as a married couple.
A few of our favorite things at SW Steakhouse are the appetizers. We all split a huge seafood tower complete with lobster tails, crab legs, shrimp and oysters. For dinner, you can’t go wrong with any of their steaks and the sides they offer are amazing as well. The staff there is first class and treat you like royalty. They even had a 15-year anniversary dessert for us at the end of dinner.
Once dinner was complete, we wandered back to the Palazzo for a fun night at the 4-card poker table. What was really neat about this evening was we got dealt four 8’s in the 4-card poker game. Interesting enough, April 8 (4/8) is our anniversary date. So we got the biggest kick out of the fact we got four 8’s on 4/8. It was so much fun.
We enjoyed our time all evening in the casino and wandered to bed a little after midnight. One very nice touch was the Palazzo had chocolate covered strawberries waiting for us in our room to celebrate our anniversary. It was so nice!
DAY FOUR
Today was our last day in Vegas, which is always a sad day. Prior to us going out on our trip, we had made arrangements to go by the Golden Nugget for a behind the scenes tour with a member of their Public Relations team.
We had visited the Golden Nugget on a past trip, but it was only for a brief moment. So it was a real treat that we got to see and learn a lot more about this downtown landmark hotel. During our tour, we got to see the newly renovated Gold Tower. They had spent $25 million to renovate this portion of their property. We are happy to share that these upgrades to the Gold Tower and the rooms are amazingly nice!
We also toured their conference center that they have onsite as well as the pool area. In addition to the fun pool environment that visitors of the Golden Nugget have enjoyed for years, they now have a 21+ pool area call the Hideout. We were so impressed on how nice this pool area was. We can’t wait to try it out soon.
Overall, the Golden Nugget was much more impressive and modern than we had anticipated. We’d highly recommend this downtown property for a future visit and we have added it to our list for a future Las Vegas vacation.
After our visit to the Golden Nugget, we took a short cab ride back to the Palazzo to get all our luggage and check out of the hotel. The staff at the Palazzo was amazingly courteous and they even had made arrangements for us to use their house limo for our ride back to the airport.
Our flight was on time however the lines to get baggage checked and through security was very long. Nonetheless, we made it to our gate and grabbed a few sandwiches for the plane ride. Leaving Las Vegas is always such a sad event because we always have the best time!
During the plane ride home, we reminisced about our trip as we flipped through the pictures we had taken during the week. We also look at our calendar to see when the best time would be for a return visit to our favorite city!
Overall, this was an amazing trip and a wonderful way to celebrate our 15-year anniversary. Both the Palazzo and the Golden Nugget we wonderful properties and if you have never stayed or visited either, we highly recommend that you do.
If you have any questions about an upcoming trip, you are welcome to email us direct at info@EverythingLasVegasNV.com.
Viva Las Vegas!
Matt & Brandy