Visitreno Forum Index Visitreno
Visitreno.com's message board
There's a lot of information on the
MAIN SITE
 
 FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 

One last Hurrah - not Harrah!
Goto page 1, 2  Next
 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Visitreno Forum Index -> Trip Reports
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
LilyJDragonfly



Joined: 03 Mar 2009
Posts: 425

PostPosted: Aug Thu 04, 2011 11:03 am    Post subject: One last Hurrah - not Harrah! Reply with quote

So summer comes to an end for The Dog and I on August 1 due to the children returning. We decided to jam in one last Reno adventure for the last weekend of July.

As noted in previous reports, Harrah’s is our “home” casino because they comp us rooms at any time and give us a little freeplay and some food, to boot. We even went so far as to sign up for their Visa rewards card and that’s where the problem started.

We’ve had the Visa card since May and they STILL have not posted the points we earned from the card. There’s only one person in corporate who deals with this and she is apparently WEEKS behind in straightening out problems and only available by email – and the Total Rewards person from your property has to email her. We had rooms booked with Harrah’s, but a week out, I called about the points not posting and told them I would cancel our reservations if the points didn’t post by Wednesday at noon. They couldn’t get it taken care of, so we canceled and called the Cal-Neva who happily comped our room for the weekend and gave us slot tourney entries, too.

After a bit of last-minute running about here in town, we got on the road around 3:30 on Friday afternoon. It was a smooth drive up, though on a part of I80 near Donner’s Pass, I spotted bales of what-appeared-to-be dynamite just dropped on the side of the highway. There were probably 50 or so bales along a two-mile stretch. Anyone know what these are?

We roll into the valet at the Cal-Neva. Tuan, our valet/bellhop, comes right out to take our bags and keys. The valet parking at Cal-Neva is not a glamorous experience – you drive in to a narrow drive that’s a bit grimy and have to be careful not to ding your door on the wall as you get out while reading the prominent sign stating that Cal-Neva reserves the right to not release a car to anyone appearing intoxicated. (NOTE: The hotel for the Cal-Neva is across the street from the casino and about a block from self-parking, but valet is free except for the tip!)

The hotel desk is right inside the door, just past the COIN-DROPPER slot machines in the lobby!! I kept my wallet in my purse as I passed these jingly relics, but planned to return as soon as we were checked in.

Check-in was painless and we were initially given a room on the 7th floor. “Non-smoking?” asked the clerk. “No. Smoking,” replied The Dog.

Tuan stayed with us and we all rode in the painfully slow elevator to the 7th floor. It is a small hotel and there are 17-ish rooms on each floor. We walked down the hall to our room and I noticed all the non-smoking signs on the room doors. When we stood in front of our room, a non-smoking sign greeted us. See above paragraph… no smoking.

Thankfully, Tuan was ready to help and made a quick call to the front desk, got us a smoking room on the 12th floor and said we could go trade out the keys after he let us in the newly-assigned room so we could avoid having to ride all the way back down to the desk and back in those rickety elevators and lose valuable gambling time.

The room: perfectly fine. The beds still had the delivery tags on them dated 7/8/11. The pillows weren’t great, but I’m fussy as hell about pillows. I didn’t care for the industrial hotel bedspread, but again, no big whoop. We had a view of the now-closed Virginian across the street. Bathroom came with shampoo, a nice bath soap, lotion… all with a trendy citrus scent. The best part of the hotel room? The real deal Do Not Disturb tags for the door that you flip over for Maid Please. So delightful. It filled me with joy to see those tags hanging on the doors. Also, the room came with a Cal-Neva notepad and matches with the Cal-Neva logo on them.

Enough about the room. We cruised downstairs, got the keys switched for the new room, and each dropped a Jackson into the coin-drop machines in the lobby. I went down ten on mine; The Dog was up by ten. Jingle!

We cruised over to the Cal-Neva and promptly each lost about $200 within an hour. What the hey? Ouch. I tried to tempt The Dog into eating Basque food with me at the Santa Fe Hotel, but he demanded regular American food.

So off to The Nugget we went for an Awful-Awful. Tasty and filling as always. They have a flatscreen in there now that runs the cookoff show between them and the other Nugget.

We cruised over to ElDo and SL to swipe our cards at their machines. I scored a coupon for a Spa Player’s Suite for $60 – not a bad deal. QUESTION: Does anyone know when they put in those machines? I think it was within the past three years, but The Dog says no way and thinks it was much longer ago.

And here it gets blurry. I know we went to Harrah’s and took out a marker, but didn’t stay to play there. I played craps and blackjack at Cal-Neva and wound up back in the room at a moderately decent hour. Other than our initial loss when we arrived, we were about even for the night.

Saturday morning arrives and I want coffee. Not that crap down in the lobby and I’m not a big Starbucks fan. So the valet/bellhop/concierge recommends the Java Jungle just down the street in the art district. We stroll down there and it’s a classic college town coffee shop, replete with mediocre overpriced art, light alternative music playing, and mix-matched furniture and décor. I ordered a café au lait and an egg sandwich for me and an egg sandwich deluxe for The Dog. It came to just over sixteen dollars. Two egg sandwiches and a coffee. What the hey? And they had sold off advertising for their coffee sleeves to Renown, the local hospital/healthcare system! The hippies have sold out in Reno, I must say.

Nonetheless, we enjoyed our egg sandwiches overlooking the river with a slight breeze in the air. We headed back to CN to get the car and go to Scheel’s for The Dog to get some new shoes. He chose the kangaroo leather Five Fingers. I selected some sporty houndstooth check reading glasses with built-in lights.

Did you know that you can only purchase a bicycle from Scheel’s if you’re over 18? Yup, that’s true. You have to sign a waiver to buy a bike. When I heard this, I thought for a moment we had somehow wound up in California again. And because of this, I would never purchase a bike from them, though they did have some mighty cool and interesting bikes for sale.

Lots of construction on the I80 back to the Cal-Neva, but we managed to navigate back and decided to go try the Top Deck again. (last trip, we tried to go but we couldn’t get a waiter!) We each ordered the $4.99 steak ‘n eggs. Decent enough. The steak was probably a five-ounce cut and cooked to order. A far superior deal to the breakfast situation we’d experienced earlier, though the view wasn’t as nice…

Time for the slot tourney! While waiting for our official start time, we bellied up to the bar and got cocktails using my drink tickets from the Keno desk the night before. A mind-numbing seven minutes of banging the machine with the promise of more banging three hours later. The Dog didn’t hit anything, but my score was decent.

The Dog wanted a nap so he went up to the room and I hit the craps table. NO ONE was at the table, but I figured I’d give it a roll. No drink service but they called for a waitress. She didn’t come. I was about to scoop up my chips and the pit boss came running over and asked me what I wanted (a Corona) and he went to bar and got it for me. He brought it back without a lime and I gave the beer the squirrely eye and he realized I needed the lime, which he promptly retrieved for me. A few other rollers came along and we all played for a bit. No big rolls, no big wins, but fun nonetheless.

I switched to the blackjack tables (note: there are some 6:5 tables there near the poker room and all the tables upstairs in the “party pit” are 6:5 – this does not seem to deter players…) The dealer was the sloppiest dealer I’ve ever seen. She accidentally flipped over cards as she was dealing, would hit on 18 and wind up with 20, tossed cards off the table and so on. She was pretty and I’m guessing she was supposed to be a party pit dealer as their dealing skills are less important than their looks. I played for a while and then lost a few hands in a row and eased back to the slots.

The Dog got up from his nap and we went back for the second-half of the slot tourney. I did well again (in the end, I was two from the money! Arg.) and then we played VP at the bar. All the bartenders at Cal-Neva can seriously make an excellent Bloody Mary. Each one was different but all were tasty!!

It was easing towards 5pm and there was the $10 poker tourney to play. We both bought in early and played slots for a bit. We found a pair of the Alice in Wonderland slots; they’re four-play, which I’m not crazy about, but it was only $1 to play all four hands. Kinda fun, but the only place to make money on it was the bonuses, which you have to build up by getting rabbits and then if you leave the machine, your bonus progress stays on the machine for the next player. Interesting. I just hit two bonuses and it was final call for the poker tourney. I cashed out and grabbed my seat. They changed the denomination of the chip colors and I was all screwed up. I was out by the first hand. I can’t play poker without taking my Ritalin and I forgot to pack it. O’well. The Dog played on, but didn’t place.

We eased back to SL to swipe and lose money in the slots over there. I swear I never seem to hit anything over there, but I keep going. I think it’s the swankiness of the seats and the cute outfits of the cocktail waitresses. Also, I love that they stamp the big ashtrays of sand with the SL logo. Tasteful. And they have a shoeshine guy.

Back to Cal-Neva for more slots and the like. I hit 75 points in a day and so we got a free spaghetti dinner in their Pasta Shoppe restaurant. It was time for dinner so we headed up. It reminded me of the Italian restaurants you used to find in the late 70s/early 80s – accordion music on the speakers, low lighting, checkered tablecloths. And they had a table pad under the tablecloth. You never see that in a bargain restaurant!

A big basic of garlic bread came right out and I ordered the mushroom ravioli with mushroom sauce and The Dog got the spaghetti dinner deal – cup of minestrone (thick and tasty), a salad (simple with Italian dressing), and spaghetti with garlic butter or something. All in all, a great deal and we used our comps to pay for what the free spaghetti dinner coupon didn’t cover. I think it was around $7 in comps we used.

Somehow, between dinner and me heading to the Skyway bar to play VP, I lost my stack of players cards. Arg. I went back down to the players club and scored their Limited Edition card celebrating 50 years of Cal-Neva (which doesn’t happen until 2012…)

I played some more slots and VP, hitting nothing big, but not losing my ass either. The Dog was down for the night so he went up to the room. I followed soon after.

Sunday morning and we went to The Nugget for their breakfast special - $1.99 for two JUMBO pancakes and one egg. Decent for the price, but the pancakes aren’t as good as the ones The Dog makes. We cruised SL and Eldo to swipe and lose more money at SL and then stopped in at Harrah’s to pay off the marker.

We played at Cal-Neva a bit more and then all the sudden, it was 11am and time to check out of the room. Oops. I stopped in at the desk and told them we had lost track of time and his response was, “No problem. I’ve got you down for a late checkout.” In general, I’d have to say Cal-Neva’s whole attitude is “No problem!” – they’re very accommodating to players. I really love them.

In light of the time it takes to get the elevator, we opted to just carry down our two bags ourselves. Checkout was painless and no charge.

Reno has no Sigma Derby so we decided it was time to head down to Lake Tahoe and play Sigma at the Montebleu. It’s about an hour drive from downtown.

We signed up for players cards at Montebleu and because it was Sunday, we could participate in the free slot tourney, too. A mind-numbing TEN minutes of machine banging for nothing. They also have the Win Cards promo - $30 in chips for $20, plus a tip for the dealer and strategy cards for you to use. We bought in and wound up about fifty bucks between the two of us playing 3:2 $5 blackjack.

But they had TWO Sigma Derby machines near the sportsbook and that’s what we were there for. Two rolls of quarters and the race was on! We hit the 137-to-1 and a few other decent hits to cash out up by $20. We screwed around and played the slots there and did really well on one of those Community Gaming Monopoly machines and continued to do okay on all their slots.

So Harrah’s has this new promo where if you visit three of their destinations (Reno counts as one, Tahoe counts as another) and earn one reward credit (ie, play through five bucks), you can get 150,000 reward credits. Now given that we are having a bit of a tiff with Harrah’s right now over reward credits, we still decided to jump on the promo and cruised over to Harvey’s, which we’d never been to before.

As mentioned earlier, I’d lost all my players cards so I had to go to the desk to get a new one. (Side note: Harvey’s had a vague aroma of cat urine when we entered) I explained I needed a new card and also mentioned my problems with Harrah’s and my Visa. The clerk was very concerned about me canceling reservations and immediately started calling various people to try and figure out who could help me. In the meantime, I noticed two PAPER Harvey’s players cards on the counter by her keyboard. I asked her about them. She said they were from the couple before us and they hadn’t been in the casino since those cards were used (early 1990s). I asked what she was going to do with them. She said they would probably just throw them away. I asked for them. She gave them to me!! Cool. The Dog noticed the Spin Wheel and you could win a mouse pad, but it was only for new signups. She graciously hooked us with a mousepad anyway.

All the supervisors who could help with the Total Rewards Visa fiasco were in a meeting, but she promised me she would have someone call me about it. Eh, sure.

We found a couple of slots, played through five bucks, and cashed out. We went back to Montebleu for more Sigma Derby and slots.

Finally, it was around 6pm and time for dinner. We ate at their Mexican restaurant – decent, but nothing special. During dinner, my phone rang and it was the supervisor from Harvey’s calling me to let me know she was going to figure out my problem and get it taken care of as soon as possible.

We finished dinner and realized it was really, really time to get back to the real world. Big Sigh. Summer was officially over.

We walked out up by $100 more than we walked in with, I think. Perhaps a few bucks more. Overall, down for the weekend, but that’s par for the course and I swear that Fortuna will smile on us for one of these trips and all these losses will become a distant memory….
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
JD



Joined: 18 Dec 2005
Posts: 956

PostPosted: Aug Thu 04, 2011 4:26 pm    Post subject: Lilly's TR Reply with quote

LOL on the elevators, Lilly...I could sworn I warned you. And I like the coffee in the room... easy to ask housekeeping for extra...."no problemo...".

Still, I'm so glad you got the "no problem" treatment. I've always prefered an older joint that WANTS your business, than a swanky new joint that could care less if you dropped dead.

And those PAPER club cards... I have paper Comstock, Riverboat, Asuaga's Nugget, Pioneer and a paper Sundowner card. I REALLY miss the Sundowner's prime rib special...GREAT onion soup and nice old fashioned mob kinda atmosphere...real shaved horseradish and was only like $ 10...less with a few 4 OK cards from video poker.

The River walk is kinda cool but over priced as you noticed. Nice place for a beer if you need to get away from a casino. I like to play in the skyway just East of the Top Deck...it has a bit of a view from the bar and you might have seen the fire & smoke on Geiger Grade. AND a few bucks for the bartender makes you the FAVORITE customer at the bar !!

Did you duece the bartender at the Little Nugget ? I passed quite a few there in May and they pretended to remember me in July.

Bill Harrah would NOT approve of recent events in HIS old Bingo parlor.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
LilyJDragonfly



Joined: 03 Mar 2009
Posts: 425

PostPosted: Aug Thu 04, 2011 5:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I agree that Bill Harrah would be quite unhappy with the direction of Harrah's...and especially that unflattering logo featuring his visage. However, just less than an hour ago, someone from Harvey's called The Dog here at the house and they had straightened out the points fiasco, finally! I guess when they looked at our account, noted the canceled reservations and the stop-in on Friday but less than $20 in play and then a Sunday stop-in with only $5 in play, they realized we were serious about not playing or staying there. Now that it's cleared up, we've got just about enough points to go swank out for dinner at The Steakhouse in Reno!

That being said, I doubt we'll stay at Harrah's in Reno again. We just dig the Cal-Neva. I did get in quite a bit of play at the Skyway Bar overlooking the vista (and yes, I did notice the smoke but not until we were en route to Tahoe). I didn't hit any of the progressives, but hey, there's always next time.

Side note: The Skyway Deli is completely shut down and emptied.

My general impression of Cal-Neva is that is reminds me so dearly of one of my favorite places - Tybee Island, Georgia. Tybee's tagline is "Arrogantly Shabby" and I think that sums up the CN perfectly. "Yeah, there's stains on the carpet, big deal. Need another Bloody Mary?"

Also, the Cal-Neva's ashtrays I did not note in my report above. When sitting at the bar near the tables, I would get an ashtray and all of them seemed to have a melted section on them - playing perfectly into my arrogantly shabby theory. Then, I noticed one with a melted area in the hotel lobby. I stopped to examine it and realized one of the little divots was actually just made larger to accommodate a cigar in each of these ashtrays. Nice touch!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Mammothgambler



Joined: 25 Dec 2005
Posts: 619

PostPosted: Aug Thu 04, 2011 8:07 pm    Post subject: nice Reply with quote

Hi LilyJDragonfly, thanks for the awesome detailed trip report! Glad to hear you all had a good time and it sounds like you really went everywhere - Tahoe is awesome and although everyone says it's the tightest in all Nevada, I've had 2 W-9's there. Thanks for the lowdown on the Cal Neva and also the Total Rewards Visa card...I was thinking about applying for one sometime down the road and even though they've been hooking me up with the comps I'm still checking out some other options for future visits. So, looks like you found the coin-droppers at the Cal-Neva! Did you happen to see any of them that had cactus plants and donkeys? I think they might be one of their house brands. We had the best time on those a couple years back but could never figure out why the top prize was only $100 or so? Stopped in the Indian casino in Bishop today on the way to KMart and came out $60 ahead after playing for 3 hours, but I still think I need to jump on the bus for another Reno trip! Thanks again for the report.

Mammothgambler
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
LilyJDragonfly



Joined: 03 Mar 2009
Posts: 425

PostPosted: Aug Fri 05, 2011 8:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think they do still have the cactus and donkey, but most all of the coin-drop machines were nickel only. It was cool to play them a bit, but no drink service, so no long-term playing there for me. As we were heading up to the room at one point, someone hit the top prize there and was whooping and hollering!

Fremont Street in LV has several casinos with banks of coin-drop machines and two of the casinos are coin-drop only.... and Sigma Derby is coin-only - you have to feed it quarters and it drops quarters. A few of the stations at Sigma don't even hold credits and drop the coins each time you get a hit. Jingle!

I also forgot to note about the Fitz. There are now big banners on the fencing surrounding the place advertising the incoming business saying No Smoking No Gambling No something else (maybe drinking??) Eww. It's all about extreme sports and health, I guess. I just hope it flies and brings more people to Reno.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
CaSwede



Joined: 28 Feb 2006
Posts: 866

PostPosted: Aug Fri 05, 2011 8:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Interesting read. I am amazed at all the different games you play. Let's see- slots, video poker, craps, Sigma Derby, Black Jack and even live poker. Speaking of Sigma Derby. You say they now have two at MontBleu? The second one is new. I remember when those were everywhere. I even remember the camel version at the Luxor in Las Vegas. I hope you got your free play for being at new sign up at MontBleu.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
john
Site Admin


Joined: 17 Dec 2005
Posts: 1181

PostPosted: Aug Fri 05, 2011 8:52 am    Post subject: yeah, right Reply with quote

LilyJDragonfly wrote:
I also forgot to note about the Fitz. There are now big banners on the fencing surrounding the place advertising the incoming business saying No Smoking No Gambling No something else (maybe drinking??) Eww. It's all about extreme sports and health, I guess. I just hope it flies and brings more people to Reno.
No smoking, no gambling, no drinking, no hookers, no cussing, no customers. Anyhow, I wish them luck.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
LilyJDragonfly



Joined: 03 Mar 2009
Posts: 425

PostPosted: Aug Fri 05, 2011 8:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oh yeah, we scored the freeplay at Montebleu... and as we were signing up for the cards, we asked about Sigma Derby and where it was... she pointed us in the direction and said they had just gotten the second Sigma Derby after a VICIOUS bidding war with several other large casinos....

I'd heard of the Camel one from Luxor, but it's not there anymore. I'd love to get it and have it as the Virginia City Camel Races somewhere in VC or Reno!

As far as my playing goes, yeah, I'm all over the place - probably has something to do with my hyperactivity and innate curiosity... years ago, back in South Carolina, I actually worked in a VP joint when they were allowed. I would play there once in a while and there actually hit a few of the progressives over the course of the last summer they were allowed in the state.

Now The Dog and I are considering moving to Reno when he's finished with his Air Force gig (four more years!) and becoming blackjack dealers....
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
remano



Joined: 20 Dec 2005
Posts: 717

PostPosted: Aug Fri 05, 2011 1:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for posting - very interesting and entertaining.

The signs on the former Fitz say "No Smoking, No Gambling, No Whining." That sounds a little too negative to me. Calling the place "CommRow" was bad enough without giving people even more reasons to dislike it before it even opens. It is supposed to have several different eating and drinking venues, mostly of the walk-up, serve yourself convenience type setting I've been told. Two balconies overlook the streets. The one over Virginia Street will be the starting point for the climbing wall. I don't know if it will have a bar or public seating. There is another overlooking the train trench plaza which will have a bar. The wall itself has been constructed by a specialty company off-site and is just now being put together. It is supposed to open this fall. The hotel will start out with only about half the Fitz's rooms being open. Signs on the building say the hotel will be opened next spring. For some pictures of the construction from a couple weeks ago, including a few shots from the roof looking down, go here ->

http://www.downtownmakeover.com/7-28-11-CommRow.asp

As for sloppy/inattentive dealers, I recall playing at a casino a few years back where the dealer hit a soft 17 when the rules called for her to stand. She caught a 2 and declared her hand to total 19. A player who would have beat the 17 called over the pit boss. When the dealer admitted the mistake (couldn't deny it, the cards were still on the table), he declared the total a 9 and said anybody who wanted to take their bet back could do so. A few who were standing short on the dealer's 6 up took their bets down. He then told the dealer to take a hit. She got a 10 for a hard 19, so he told her to take another hit. This time she busted and he told her to pay the table. That, to me, was a classy way to handle it. It didn't cost the casino much and made everybody feel like they got a fair shake.


Last edited by remano on Aug Mon 08, 2011 12:26 pm; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
JD



Joined: 18 Dec 2005
Posts: 956

PostPosted: Aug Fri 05, 2011 2:03 pm    Post subject: Fitzgearld's Reply with quote

Maybe no drinking, gambling, no smoking at the "NEW" Fitz.

But word is Leroy's sports book has an over/under line on when the first lawsuit from a "rock wall climber" injury will result in a lawsuit that'll close down the recent incarnation of the Fitz.

I'm going with 3-6 months after the rock wall opens.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
LilyJDragonfly



Joined: 03 Mar 2009
Posts: 425

PostPosted: Aug Fri 05, 2011 2:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If anyone's headed towards Reno, I'll take that line!

All things considered, I really do hope that it works somehow in the long run...

And what's with City Council cracking down on the open container law? There are large signs posted at all the casinos about open containers. If they repealed that, I bet more people would come hang in Reno...

Savannah, Georgia lets you cart your drink from bar to bar and most of the bars offer a conversion to-go cup at the door. There aren't loads of drunks laying about in the gutter as a result of this, as some might lead you to believe. The drunks will be drunk on the street regardless of the law.... kinda like Ron Paul saying that legalizing heroin won't make everyone start using heroin all the sudden just because it's legal.... http://youtu.be/ZJow2ALVirk
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
PEB



Joined: 26 Dec 2005
Posts: 97
Location: California

PostPosted: Aug Fri 05, 2011 5:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Lily,

I went through the same thing when I first got my TR Visa Card. When I discovered that my points were not being posted to my acct. I sent an email to customer service and asked them what happened. What happened was, my TR Player's Card number hadn't been recorded at the bank. Customer Service took care of this for me and sent an email to me when they got the error corrected, didn't take too much time.

Here is the link to the page so you can email Customer Service, the "Email Us" is on the right hand side of the page. Hope this helps.

http://www.totalrewards.com/CustomerService.do?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
LilyJDragonfly



Joined: 03 Mar 2009
Posts: 425

PostPosted: Aug Fri 05, 2011 6:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

PEB, thanks for the direct link - I was unable to find it when I realized there was a problem... but going in person to Harvey's got it fixed as they called me two days ago and said it was taken care of!

I'm still on the fence about Harrah's, though. After spending the past weekend gambling at Cal-Neva for the most part, I really think I like them better... however, I really dig that I can get rooms comped at most every gambling destination from Harrah's - in fact, we've got comped rooms at Christmas for Caesar's Palace in LV. We're still not sure if we want to go all the way to LV when Reno is so much closer and we just love it.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
PEB



Joined: 26 Dec 2005
Posts: 97
Location: California

PostPosted: Aug Fri 05, 2011 6:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Lily,

You're welcome. Glad they got it all worked out for you. I liked the idea of having the TR Visa card mainly because you only have to use it once in 6 months to keep your points from expiring. We can't make it to Reno every 6 months to play and didn't like the thought of losing points we'd already earned.

We're in the early stages of planning our Oct. trip and plan on staying at Harrah's, it will be a first for us. After our fav closed (the Fitz), we've stayed at Circus. But we now have comped rooms at Harrah's and I'm looking forward to seeing how the rooms are there. We had fun gaming there last year and even won a little $$$, plus, the drinks were coming rather quickly Smile

I get a little lost in Harrah's, don't even know where the front desk is to check in. And, do you know if the self-parking is free or do they charge you to park?
Thanks!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
LilyJDragonfly



Joined: 03 Mar 2009
Posts: 425

PostPosted: Aug Fri 05, 2011 7:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

There is no charge to park at Harrah's either with Self-Park or with Valet (though the valets do appreciate a buck tip!)

To check in to the hotel, you'll have to come up Center Street (the one-way street heading north; it's one block east of Virginia St) and go in to the self-park/valet parking. The hotel checkin desk is right inside from valet. Try and get a West tower room - the east rooms aren't bad, though the West rooms have been more recently renovated, but the East rooms are really on the backside of the casino... all the way past the Poker Room!

Mjames may disagree with me, but if you eat as Hash House A Go Go (which replaced Cafe Napa in Harrah's), SPLIT THE PLATE!!! The Dog and I got a burger and split it and I still couldn't finish it....

Have fun planning and make sure you give us a trip report when it's all over!!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Visitreno Forum Index -> Trip Reports All times are GMT - 8 Hours
Goto page 1, 2  Next
Page 1 of 2

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group