TR 5/22-25 - Cosmo/MC - Best Trip Ever!!!

Solo trip for me. I took advantage of an offer from Kevin at the Cosmo for a terrace suite, $500 in free play and $500 resort credit. Plus an automatic bump to Platinum. Very glad I did as it was a great trip!

I also double booked the cheapest room at MC for 2 nights to get the $500 in free play. For the first time in all my trips to Vegas, I actually came home ahead. Not by much, $300 - but that has NEVER happened before. Now that I am “single”, I pay far more rent then I used to living with my BF, so can really only expect to be able to afford a trip once a year to be able to bring the bankroll I like to bring. Bringing home my entire bankroll on this trip means I can go back in the fall. So let's get started.

Sunday

My 8:00 a.m. Sun Country flight was fine and on time, landing around 9:30 a.m. Limo wasn't there, so grabbed a cab. Very nice driver from Wisconsin - no long haul. My host did apologize. Apparently there was an error when she sent the flight info through. No big deal.

When I got there I checked into the VIP lounge. The girl basically says – well you are a VIP so you are entitled to a higher floor, but I have a suite that is ready now on the 16th floor. I figured the 16th floor would still offer a pretty decent view. Kind of goofy though because after I agreed to that, she said I had to wait until it was verified to be ready, so I had to check my luggage anyway.

So I wish I had waited, which was completely my own fault. I should have been more aggressive and just said if I have to check my luggage anyway that I would rather wait for a higher floor. I could still see the fountains from the left side of my terrace, but the right had a building in the way (see pics). Beyond that, I didn't mind being in the West Tower at all (I know most prefer the East Tower).

The suite was really nice. I really enjoyed the terrace. Having stayed in the terrace suite at the MGM Grand, this was so much better. The terrace at the Cosmo is more intimate, and I don't know, I guess more comfortable. My only complaint is that I couldn't get the wifi to work out there. I most likely would have spent more time out there if I could have used either my iPad or Surface out there (yes, I know - I'm a geek ).

I really did enjoy having a fridge and a microwave. I had brought instant coffee (Starbucks via Instant - Columbia). It was really good and it was nice to have a few cups on my terrace in the morning before heading downstairs.

One of the most fun things about staying at the Cosmo is they don't penalize you for playing the specialty slots. I actually did very good on the newest Willy Wonka. I won't go into the gory details (mostly because I don't really remember them...do I have this trip report thing nailed, or what ), but by the end of the day I had 2 hand pays under my belt, both on Siberian Storm. One for $1,572, and one for $2,062. I can't remember how much I ended up actually, but I know I was up.

I was hungry by 11:00 a.m. or so after checking in so went to find the secret pizza place, and found the Wicked Spoon instead. It was pretty early so it was mostly breakfast stuff. I know this buffet gets really good reviews, but I just wasn’t all that impressed. Maybe my tastes are just too much like a 12 year old's. I was much happier with my dinner - which was room service. Grilled shrimp, potatoes, veggies and ice cream for dessert. As I type this, I remembered that I still had ice cream left in the freezer. That's not like me at all.

After dinner, I headed back downstairs until around 9:30. I enjoyed my terrace for a while and then went to bed.

Monday

I actually slept pretty good, only for about 5 hours - but I actually slept. Usually I wake up about a million times, but I didn’t this night (maybe it was the drugs ). You don’t hear much about the beds at the Cosmo, but it was REALLY comfy and the pillows were perfect.

Up at 3:00 – made my instant coffee. I had gotten milk, pop and some chips at the sundries shop the day before. I was probably downstairs by 4:00. I was playing Ultimate X - 5 hands, dimes. I saved 3 to the royal and was given the royal on one of the 5 hands - nicely enough it gave it to me on a hand that I had an 8x on. So another hand pay for $3,200. Unfortunately, my cell phone was charging in the room – so no pic of that one.

The rest of the morning is a bit of a blur. For breakfast I had an apple from the fruit basket my host had left. I did walk over to the Bellagio and played for an hour or so – mostly just to get outside for a little while. I left up around $150. Around 1:00 I walked over to Monte Carlo and was able to check in to my room. I headed up, left my tote - mostly with dirty clothes and a few non-essential toiletries. I messed up the bed (yeah, that'll fool them), and went to get my $535 in free play ($35 from myVegas).

I ended up with $465 playing VP. I only spent a few hours there, but they got all of the free play money, plus $600.

I headed back via Aria. Big mistake. Siberian Storm not friendly. Not friendly at all. Not really surprised. After 2 stays at the Aria, and many visits - still haven't won a plug nickel at the place. Really glad I didn't stay there.

I had dinner at the Wicked Spoon again – mostly because it’s easy and I was hungry and there was never a line. If I ate anything during the day besides the apple a few of the chips I bought, I really can’t remember. As I said, I wasn't really a fan of the buffet, but did like the fact that they had French Onion soup - and the desserts were very good.

I played a bit more at the Cosmo, but I was in bed by 7:00, as even though I had slept good the night before, I had still only gotten around 5 hours of sleep and was tired after a full day of slotting.

Tuesday

Going to bed that early meant I was up at 2:00 a.m. and downstairs by 3:00 a.m. I stuck great big gobs of money into a Siberian Storm machine (can you see a pattern here ) and finally hit my 4th hand pay for $1,281. I had another $300 in the machine, so cashed out $1,500. By now it was 9:00 a.m. and I had given Cosmo 6 hard hours of play, so didn't feel too guilty about heading out that early. Went over to the Bellagio, where I promptly lost the $1,500 - then hit my 5th and last hand pay for - you guessed it - $1,500. I do really enjoy the atmosphere at the Bellagio. It's so nice, and I just love the music they play. I mostly didn't recognize any of the music at the Cosmo.

I decided to take the tram to Monte Carlo. I played there for 3 hours or so and actually did really well. I had budgeted 1K for that time, but I couldn't seem to lose. According to the M Life site, I was up $700 for MC, and I know I lost $600 the day before so I must have walked out with about $1,300 on Tuesday. They have some Buffalo Grand machines with a wheel bonus. I did pretty good on two machines.

For the record though, I would never stay at the Monte Carlo again. I'm a gambler. They have most of their machines set so you can only bet like $2-$3 a spin. I am a $4-$10 a spin kind of a gal. I just don’t understand why they would do that. Like on the Siberian Storm machines, which were one of the few machines that let me bet $4 a spin, when you switched your denomination to 2 cents, the fifth button which is normally 250 coins for pennies, changes to just 200. Most all of the other Siberian Storm machines also let you play nickels - but not the machines at the MC. $4 was the max spin.

I did eat at the Monte Carlo buffet. It just goes to show that I am not a foodie. I far more enjoyed that buffet then I did the Wicked Spoon buffet.

I went up to the room, and it had been cleaned, so I messed up the bed again, left a tip, grabbed my tote and headed back to the Cosmo around 1:00. I gambled there until around 6:30 and then ate the buffet again. I do know at one point that afternoon, I was thinking I must have a horseshoe up my butt, because it seemed like whatever I touched, I won on. Stick $100 in a machine, cash out $600. I had a lot of fun. After eating, I planned on just heading up to my suite, but figured it was my last night, so I headed to the Aria, as apparently I'm a sucker for punishment. I didn't do too bad, I spent only $200. My total losses at Aria for this trip were around $1,700.

Wednesday Morning - going home:

Again, up at 2:00 and headed downstairs to have my last gamble before I had to leave for the airport at 8:00 a.m.

Again, I did very well. I went downstairs with the $800 I had in my purse from the night before, and when I went back up, I had $1,000.

Checked out, and the only charge on the bill was the gratuity for the room service, which you don’t have a choice on paying. Normally I tip with cash so I have no bill at the end. No big deal.

Random observations:

I loved the Cosmo and would definitely stay there again. The casino, while not terribly large, is far bigger than I thought it was. I was never bored gambling there. They had a good selection of machines. I played a LOT of Ultimate X. I really liked that they had the option to play nickels, dimes or quarters (Bellagio machines start at quarters) – even though I was winning enough that I mostly did play quarters. Like I said, it was fun to try some of the specialty machines. I played Ruby Slippers, the new Willy Wonka machines, Walking Dead machines, and every new variety of Buffalo machine that they had. As is evident by my hand-pays, I played a lot of Siberian Storm.

Drink service was very good, and the staff were all very nice. While drink service was good, I had a few drinks I didn't care for. A bellini - Yuk. And I thought I would never meet a margarita that I didn’t like – but I did at the Cosmo. Just way too tart. They did have really good Bloody Mary's though. I never did make it into Bond to have one of the fancy drinks. Oh well, next trip.

According to my host - my coin in was $82,793. I did end up cashing out $500 in point play, and had another 13,000 points - which I believe is another $130.

Beautiful weather for the whole trip. 80's and sunny. Probably the nicest weather I've ever had in Vegas.

Things I was going to do and didn't. Never made it to the front of NY NY to see the new area. Never made it to the Flamingo habitat - or even a CET property. Once again, didn't make it downtown.

For anyone cringing because I hit 5 hand pays and only ended up $300 ahead. I gamble hard. In 3 of those hand-pays, I was really just getting my money back. That was certainly true of 2 of the Siberian Storm hand-pays and the Day of the Dead hand pay.

The free play/point play/identity play at Cosmo was weird. I sat down at a $1 JOB poker machine to play my free play, and it doesn’t show you what you have left (It looks like some machines would do that, but apparently not these). So I pulled my card out and put it back in to show the identify info and now it was showing I had none left. I knew I hadn’t spent the entire $535. I tried it a few more times, and finally went to the identity window, and of course she took me to a machine and it worked.

I had this happen a few more times. The first time I had accumulated $200 in identity play, I converted $100 to free play, spent that, and went to convert the other $100, and now it was showing I had no identity play left. A few minutes later on a different machine I tried again, and it was there.

M Life – my trip last October to MGM Grand was NOT a good one, with very little play for my money. I only earned 91,000 tier credits. On this trip I earned another 60,000 – so I only ended up at 151,000. I thought about pushing for Platinum but decided my money would be better spent being able to go back in September instead.

I think that's it. Here are some pics:

Nice hit on Ultimate X



The next 2 are my $1,500 jackpot at Bellagio:


The next 2 are one of my three hits on Siberian Storm.


The bedroom:


Living room:


Kitchen: Loved having the microwave and fridge (which isn't in the picture). The fridge also had a freezer you could use.


The next three are of the bathroom.

The next three are day shots of my view - both from the left side of the terrace and the right size - which has the building blocking it.


A few nights shots. Let's face it - Vegas looks the best at night.

 

Thanks everyone for the very nice comments

Thanks much! Yes, I would agree about the Cosmo slot floor. When booking the trip I was a little concerned about if I would get bored. But as I said, it was larger than I expected - plus the freedom for me to play the specialty machines, opened up more machines for me to play. At M Life properties, I try not to play those much. So it was fun to try all those machines that you constantly are reading about.

 

Thanks much!

Yes, I really wish I had gotten a picture of that one. That was one of the true hand-pays for me - that wasn't just getting my money back

Thanks much! Yes, being able to take a cup of coffee out on the terrace in the early morning hours (for me, 3:00 a.m.), when it is still dark and I can enjoy the lights of Vegas - is awesome!

Thanks! Yes, a free vacation will be really nice.

 

Thanks much!

I'm there September 25-28.

 

Thanks. My favorite book May the odds be ever in your favor

Thanks much!

I know. Everyone always talks about how comfortable the Aria beds are. You never hear much about he Cosmo beds.