Part 1
Hubby and I just returned from a very interesting trip to Sin City. Even though we live in NJ we got a GREAT DEAL on JetBlue Airlines which fly?s out of JFK so at $215 per ticket it was hard to pass up. If you have never been on this airline they offer roomy leather seats and has Direct TV at every seat. We ended up flying standby on the 7am flight because friends were arriving early that day. We ended up with seats together in the first row! This was such a smooth flight no problems at all. JetBlue encourages you to bring your own food, but they do offer unlimited snacks like Terra Blue Potato Chips, Frito Lays Munchies snack pack, oatmeal chocolate chip cookie and even animal crackers for the little ones. They also offered two drink services as well as a cheese/cracker snack. Fearful of serious jetlag I purchased NO -JET- LAG. We both thought it worked very well. You chew one tablet at take off and one per two hours in the air and then one when you land. We did find that we were not falling asleep at 9pm every night so yes it did seem to help. We were also prepared with Melatonin, which is an all natural aid in helping you fall asleep.
We arrived on Saturday at 10:00am and waited for our friends who arrived at 11am. I had a reservation for a Dollar Rent a car. We got a great deal for an Intermediate car for $16.99 per day until Monday. Great thing about Dollar was they had a desk at the Monte Carlo where we would end up on Sunday so we had an easy drop off. The best thing about Dollar was signing up for a FREE fast lane account. You do have to give them a credit card but the benefits were well worth it. Having a reservation we went outside door 11 at McCarran Airport and there was a sign across one lane for the Dollar shuttle bus. While there was a line, we did get a bus quickly. As we entered the Dollar lot, the driver went over who the fast lane members were. We were dropped off and told to take any car in that row and the keys were in the car. This was a HUGE timesaver as after forgetting a bag in the bus I had to run to the office where the line was out the door! They returned the bag very quickly and we saved a huge amount of time. While our car was going to be a Dodge Stratus there was only Ford Taurus?s left. A worker came over and said don?t worry I will get you a nice car. He came back with a luxury Continental and we tipped him a couple of bucks!

Part 2
We drove off to Valley of Fire which was $5 per car load and a great place to visit and we took lots of pictures. After Valley we drove to Primm, NV where we were staying on Saturday night. Since we had the car we decided to stay in Primm as we had gotten a cheap room rate of $50 bucks on Expedia at the Primm Valley Resort. Because room rates were so high on Sat night we and I wanted to check out the shopping mall anyway it was a good move. We got to the hotel around 6pm and the line was about 7 deep and it took us over 30 minutes to check in, well sort of. We were told there were only smoking rooms left and as I have allergies, there was no way I would survive in a smoking room. We were told to come back after 8pm. So we hit the coffee shop which had a nice Prime Rib for $5.95. Thank god we had our luggage checked with the bell desk so it made moving around a lot easier. After eating we went back to the front desk and we were able to get non smoking rooms. The room was fine, very basic but worth the $50 bucks for the night. On Sunday morning we hit the Buffet and it was a decent spread for $9.95, as they even had an omelet station. Hubby hit the blackjack table and enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere as he won about $50 bucks. I checked out the outlet mall as it was attached to the Hotel but did not find any great bargains. After checking out, we drove to The Hoover Dam which I felt was no big deal. Too much traffic and for the $5 parking and the $10 walking tour it was just ok. After that we drove to The Monte Carlo and checked in. Huge lines at 4pm but it was smooth. The $20 trick would not work because they were trying to get everyone to upgrade by showing them pictures of the higher priced rooms. Our rates were $65, $75, $99, $99, $99 which I felt was a great deal. We had room 9136 which was the last room down the hall but we had a nice view of the tennis courts and the pool area. Showered and changed quickly, as we had 5:30 reservations at Emerils Delmonico Steak House at The Venetian. There were 4 of us and we took a cab. The driver used Frank Sinatra Drive, which runs parallel to LV Blvd and is less crowded. The ride was about $10 bucks. This was our most expensive meal but was well worth it! 3 adults having appetizers, entrée and dessert (an amazing chocolate souffl&eacute without alcohol and the cost was about $250 with tip. After dinner we walked around The Venetian as we had a late O show at 10:30pm. Since we were touring and driving all day, we had no idea that the Bellagio had lost power until we were passing through the overpass from Caesars, and saw a sign that O was cancelled. So without having any time to find another show, we walked back to MC and stopped by a 24hr CVS which is right next door to the MC. You no longer have to cross the street to get to Walgreen?s, so we got some bottled water, about $3 bucks for a six pack of 16oz bottles for the room. We walked around MC did a little gambling while our friends saw Mama Mia at Mandalay Bay.

Part 3
Monday ? We ate at the Breakfast Buffet at MC, mainly because of limited time. We dropped the car off first. You had to drive it into the parking garage and find against a wall the dollar signs and leave the car there and then give the keys at the desk in the hotel. A little confusing since we had picked the car up at the airport but the cost turned out to be only $45. The MC Breakfast Buffet seemed to have gotten negative reviews on some sites, but it was fine. For $10 there was an omelet station, and the basic offerings, nothing fancy but the bacon was crisp so I was happy. After breakfast we headed off to the Tennis Clinic. You pay $25 (an extra $5-$10 if you need a racket) and you got an hour and a half with an instructor. Of course this was there busiest day as over 23 people showed up but since we were new to the game, we still found it was worth it. Since we had a 3rd friend with us we found that a private lesson was $75 and rackets inc so we signed up for private lessons for the next two days even though it was only an hour it was a great deal! Misha was our instructor and was a very good teacher. He said I had a natural serve but I am still trying to find it. After tennis and getting cleaned up we took a cab to The Hilton as my friends were all Star Trek buffs. The attraction has two rides for $30. It was something new and different and everyone had a good time. We had lunch at the Quarks Bar and the onion rings were to die for! Dinner we ate light at FatBurgers which is across the street from the Monte Carlo. This is the BEST place for burgers as it does not compare to In and Out Burgers! The FatBurger is 1/3lb and the King Burger is ? lb both of which can be doubled! The fries were steak or thin and the onion rings were homemade with a light coating and the shakes are yummy. They are open 24 hours a day and sometimes they can get a little crowded. We ate there at 5:30pm and by the time we left at 6:30 it was getting crowded. The show for the night was David Copperfield at MGM. I thought we had a great table up close but we were seated in the back. As we began to talk to the couple next to us we all thought it was a little strange. They checked our tickets and had put us in Row E instead of B as the letter was cut off on the ticket. So 11B was the far left end table where David was a lot as he would invite guests onto the stage. While he has gotten old, we thought it was a nice show even though at times he seemed to go though the motions. But it was still hard to figure out how he did certain tricks, so he still has it!
Tuesday we got breakfast at The Paris Buffet which was great. We walked from MC and got there around 8am and a line was beginning to form. The cost was $14 but the offerings were amazing. Great crepes, I did a plain one with caramel sauce on it and it was heaven! The croissants, buns and pastry were all first rate, and the lyionese potatoes were great and of course crispy bacon. After breakfast we had another tennis lesson. In the afternoon we walked over to the M&M store as I had lots of gifts to bring back for my nieces and nephews, and I could not pass up the Ethel M?s as well. The best chocolates you will ever have! The only mistake we made was going to Madam Trousseaus was museum at Venetian. Friends had seen the one in London and said it was amazing. For $20 it was not worth a visit. Lunch ? we did dim sum at the Royal Star in the Venetian. While you ordered off a menu the food was amazing. The offerings ranged in price from $3 to $6. While you could find cheaper in a Chinatown, this was a great light meal and was worth it. Dinner we stayed at MC and ate at the Brew Pub. We had a few beers, very good and did appetizers. While all were fried, we both thought the seafood ones (calamari and clams) had no taste. But the chicken fingers and jalapeño poppers were very good. The show that night was Zumanity at NY NY. For those of you who don?t know, this is a sexy Cirque Du Soleil show for those over 18. We had great seats on the end of the 2nd row. We both thought the show was funnier than any other Cirque show and it was a unique experience. There were the two twins walking around who were in fishnets but weighed over 300lbs giving out strawberries to the audience. And then there was Antonio, the leather clad gigolo, he did surprise me by coming over and putting my hand on his butt, I laughed and played along and told hubby he needed a pair of those pants!
Wednesday - Our tennis lesson was 8am so afterwards we had brunch at Fatburgers another great meal. We checked out Caesars as I had to pick up my Celine tickets and we found a nice place for dinner. We went over to the Mirage and checked out the Dolphins Sig/Roys secret gardens as my nephew loves dolphins so I had to get some video for him. For $12 it was a nice setting and worth the price, even though it was more of a walk thru and did not have set times for when the dolphins performed activities. We had dinner at Chinois, a Wolfgang Puck restaurant in The Forum shops at Caesars. Chinois is an Asian/French cuisine and it was pretty good. The show that night was Celine Dion and while these tickets were very expensive, we sat in the 3rd row center stage. The show was amazing and my hubby, who was not a big fan, did have a nice time and thought she was an amazing singer. While I do not think any show should be over $200 this was worth it for the special effects alone. The Bellagio fountains finally were back on Wed night so we were able to see them! Of course any of the Bellagio restaurants would not open till Friday so we missed out on O and the restaurants. This just gives me another reason to go back!
Thursday - I checked out the spa at MC as I really needed a massage! Jessica was very good and the spa was nice. If you have a treatment done you can use the facilities, all day which include a workout room, sauna and whirlpools. The only down side was they did not offer a lot of different treatments. And you can book three days in advance. The pool area of MC was nice but did always seem very crowded. Since the MC is a sister hotel of Mandalay Bay, they have a wave pool as well as a lazy river. Our flight back left at 4:40pm so the entire plane watched The Apprentice on Thursday night thanks to JetBlue. Even the pilot was very happy to announce this and had the plane choosing their favorite Bill or Kwame. I went to college at UNLV and while a lot has changed since 91, overall we had great weather and a great time.

Very nice report...

Too bad about the Belagio and missing "O"

How did you like the Monte Carlo? Would you do the Primm side trip if you had to do it over?

For the price, you could not beat the Monte Carlo The room was basic but had enough room for the two of us and I think since the toilet had all the water pressure, as it left none for the shower.. The employees were very friendly and we did not have a bad meal. As for location I think there is no hotel anymore that has a prime location. But having the CVS right next door as well as Fatburgers across the street was a plus. You have to walk or taxi to almost everything as the hotels keep expanding. To have had the monorail to Bellagio would have been another bonus of staying at the MC. I hope the monorail will help, although now that I see how it will behind the strip everyone is still going to have to walk through someones casino or shops but at least the price will be less than a taxi.
Oooh another tip, make sure anyone who takes a taxi to or from the airport, tells the driver to take Paradise Road and NOT the I15 expressway. While it might be a smoother ride it is still longer and will cost you more money. As for Primm, since we were out driving around and going to attractions, it was nice only having to pay $50 bucks to sleep vs $149 for the hotel room. However after a long day in the sun, I would have enjoyed just checking in on the strip. So no the only reason I would have gone back was if there were some great deals shopping and I did not feel there were any.
Thanks for your help placeu2

Sounds like a fun time. Thanks for writing.

I am so happy to read your report. My husband and I are going for our 1st Vegas trip on May 7th. I am very nervous as all my trips the last few years have been regional (southeast US). And of course, I know nothing about Vegas. So far we have decided to "walk" Vegas. I see I've already made a mistake by planning our time in Vegas for Saturday - Monday. I could not believe the hotel prices for Saturday! Monday we will pick up a rental car and head for the Grand Canyon. We've never been there either. I took some notes from your report and I'm sure they'll help us have a wonderful time in Vegas. Thank you. I'm glad you had a wonderful trip.
Sherrie Allen