Thanksgiving 2021

First time posting a TR, but appreciate everyone else’s and everyone's posts so much thought it was time.

First time back to Vegas since well before COVID- went Nov 23-28, 2021. Me + my husband & family member who never went to Vegas before & friends with older teens

Masks: so glad to see lots of excellent mask wearing indoors everywhere

Hotel: Stayed at Planet Hollywood- our fave due to location, good table limits (pre-COVID), great food options, always had excellent experience, free rooms with Total Rewards (despite not really gambling for a few years). No complaints at all. Great rooms, clean, housekeeping every day

Transportation: relied on taxis for the most part- no problems. Tried to take Excalibur tram to Luxor but it did not stop at Luxor even though it said it would?

Gambling: We are low-er rollers- prefer $5 tables but will play $10 tables (poker-type games- 3 card, crazy4poker, UTH, etc.) PH did have $5 tables every morning- EARLY morning - $10 tables most other times. Found a bunch of $5 tables at Flamingo, where my husband had a big win on Crazy4Poker. Sad to see what Cromwell has become- only a couple tables open during the day, total ghost town. VP/slotted around in Cosmopolitan, Caesars, PH, Paris, Ballys, Circa. Way too excited to see my fave slot, Bonus Bubbles still exists x2 at PH. Overall, did great and came home with 1k over bankroll.

NFL: Thanksgiving Day husband and I had Bears and Bills games to watch so that meant all day/night somewhere to watch both games. Chose Caesars- reserved VIP seats (chose over Linq and Circa which were other contenders due to price). Reserving seats at Caesars was the way to go- got 3 free drink coupons for each seat, each seat reserved all day, very frequent cocktail waitress, can use app to order food delivered to the seats. Was surprisingly not that crowded all day, but it was Thanksgiving. Great experience.

Food: Ate at Earl of Sandwich I think 3 times including a Holiday Turkey as our thanksgiving turkey (at sportsbook all day or Hells kitchen which had no turkey). Outstanding as always- longer wait times than the last time we were there- only one counter i.e. you do not order at front then pay at end- you just order and pay at end.

**Definitely recommend reservations everywhere you want to go! We were seated very promptly everywhere we went, while lots of people without res being turned away or waiting a long time.

China Poblano- one of our Las Vegas faves. LOVE Jose Andres and all of his restaurants. Excellent as usual! Twenty Vegetable Fried Rice and Salt Air Margarita are faves, but everything is amazing

La Creperie in Paris- very good- went early which worked out well as line got much longer

Bacchanal Buffet- my god-daughter wanted to do a buffet in Vegas, and we had a good experience there pre-COVID. It was excellent- made reservations for when they first opened- we got there at 4pm which was when they said they were open but many people already inside so you can try showing up even earlier. Mad rush/lines for the seafood (crab/lobster) station, but everything else was fine re: waiting. Overall, really enjoyed it again and got our $ worth

Vanderpump Cocktail Garden at Caesars- we are huge Bravo fans so this was a must. Very nice space, excellent cocktails. We were too full from buffet to do goat cheese balls but will have to go back for food.
Mon Ami Gabi- went for breakfast- 7am reservations before football day. Was seated inside by window- they offered outside but it was too cool for us. Everything was outstanding- faves were the bacon, hashbrowns and I loved my crepes. Would definitely go back for breakfast (have had good dinner there before also)

Hell’s Kitchen- this was on my god-daughter’s bucket list, I couldn’t care but off we went. This was a very pleasant surprise- really outstanding food and service. Again, need reservations- we were seated immediately and steady stream of people coming in with no reservations who were turned away or waiting. The lunch prix fixe menu is the way to go for sure- one of the best bargains in Vegas- get your (worth the hype) beef wellington + starter + dessert for same price other Ramset restarurants charge just for the beef wellington. Golden beet salad was so good! Had to order the coconut 3-ways dessert after seeing it at another table in addition to the sticky toffee pudding we were getting and it also was so good.

Gordon Ramsey Steak- not my choice but we wanted a steak dinner before seeing O and that is what was chosen. Food was very good- service was a bit lacking- we had a large party- but so did everyone in the room we were in. Not the level of service for the cost point. Would recommend Hell's Kitchen over this one- equally as busy (if not more) but service was much better at Hell's Kitchen and also if you go to lunch at Hell’s Kitchen you can get the same beef wellington + 2 other courses for the same price.

Saginaw’s Deli at Circa- excellent deli. Great service. Really good Rueben & onion rings- sandwiches are large and easily shareable. Looing forward to returning to try breakfast

Other activities:
Vegasknowsitall- Had an unusual situation with our travel- we were originally supposed to get there hours after my god-daughter, she was staying in one of our rooms so she couldn’t check in, she never had been to Vegas, wanted to find someone who could pick her up and give her some tour of Vegas- came across Heather- Vegasknowsitall on tik tok. https://www.vegasknowitall.com/ she does tours of Vegas and had lots of good feedback on tick tok . As it turned out, we changed our flight and got in first- but Heather picked us up at PH, went to airport to get god-daughter, then Heather drove us to Vegas sign, Walgreens & also took us up to Rio’s parking roof for skyline view. Heather then took my god-daughter to airport. Heather was great!! Highly recommend. She does not just do straight rides places, but if you need someone to go to Red Rock Canyon, Hoover Dam, Seven Magic Mountains or other tours or have a different request that involves longer driving needs, contact her. She was super nice! And also so reasonable- for us she changed only what Lyft or Uber would have- she relies on tips (tipped her very very generously).

O- second time seeing it- great, epic, nothing more needs to be said

Big Elvis at Harrah’s- Amazing! Epic! We started at the bar but then went outside to watch. Must-do in Vegas

Flamingo- Went to their holiday display outside by the flamingos- really cute, great photo ops

Fremont on Sat night- disaster. WAY TOO crowded. Horrible. Tried to escape in the D but it was boiling hot in there. Circa was fine.

My Vegas Limo Tour- https://myvegaslimotour.com/ Wanted a good overall strip tour for our group- this company was terrific- they have a photographer along and stopped at Vegas sign, across from luxor, by Tropicana, at Belagio and downtown for photo ops. Driver was also great. They provide champagne and other beverages. They provided TONS of photos a couple days after our tour.

Overall, amazing time in Vegas and looking forward to coming back in Dec!