Review of Flamingo Hotel - Las Vegas, Nevada

Late December/early January we were talking about going to Las Vegas for a few days. Kind of a last minute travel decision, made easy by relatively cheap flights/hotel packages from Allegiant Air who fly out of Bellingham Airport in Washington.

It’s been years since I've been at the Flamingo and I was wavering between one of the newer themed hotels or the Flamingo or Imperial Palace even though I haven't been to either in many years. Neither hotel charges resort fees and both are in great Center Strip locations, across the street or within walking distance to Caesar's Palace, Mirage, Treasure Island, and the Bellagio. I finally decided on the Flamingo.

There were no line ups when we arrived at the Flamingo around 6pm on a Sunday night. Seeing as how I'd booked a package with Allegiant, my hotel was prepaid. Upon check in the clerk asked if I wanted to upgrade to a recently renovated room with a great view for an extra $10/night. Absolutely! Our room was on the 25th floor with excellent views of part of Caesar's Palace, the Mirage, Imperial Palace, and Treasure Island. When the Mirage volcano went off at night we saw it quite clearly. In fact could hear the whoosh from the fires. Very impressive. The view was what made the room. It was a decent, clean room but if this was a renovated room I'd hate to see what it looked like before! The floors were cheap laminate. The bathroom counter had recently been replaced and was nice enough, but the tub and tile area was older, not renovated since the 70’s is my guess. The toilet was running so we had to keep jiggling the handle. My husband used to be an assistant chief engineer at a Whistler resort hotel and worked maintenance for many years at other hotels and the toilet really bugged him so he fixed it! He was a little ticked because he said that housekeeping should have noticed because presumably they would have to scrub the toilet and flush it and should have notified maintenance. The bed was comfortable. No complaints. It was an average room.

The time share people have a desk set up near the guest elevators. They must have paid the Flamingo big bucks to rent that little piece of real estate. There are 3 or 4 of them working and they'll snipe you as you go in or come out of the elevators. You have to walk right past them. They are very persistent. Just tell them you already took the tour and they'll leave you alone and stop
offering you free shows and meals.

The Flamingo has a beautiful garden with flamingos, swans, and other water fowl. If you are a geocacher there is a virtual cache by the plaque to Bugsy Siegel. We didn't spend that much time in the hotel room anyway but all in all it’s a good price for an excellent location and an average room.

The Deuce bus has a pick up spot in front of the Flamingo by the doors to the Margaritaville restaurant. It’s a double decker bus and goes up and down the strip to the downtown Fremont Street experience. Cost is $7 for 24 hours. Definitely worth buying a pass and taking the bus down to the Fremont hotels and casinos where meals are much cheaper than they are on the strip.

Allegiant Air, Bellingham to Las Vegas

For a few years I'd been aware of a discount airline named Allegiant Air flying out of Bellingham, Washington - about 25 miles south of where we live in British Columbia. Its about as easy to get here as it is to get to the Vancouver Airport, barring any delays at the US border crossing that is. Allegian Air offers reasonably priced air or air and hotel packages to several destinations from Bellingham - Phoenix, Las Vegas, and several Southern California airports. The prices are much better than flying out of Vancouver Airport, mostly because Allegiant does not charge hundreds of dollars in taxes that we have to pay if we fly from Vancouver.

It had been many years since I last flew out of Bellingham Airport. I used to work for a company called SilverWing Vacations and staff got 2 free passes each year and I flew to Las Vegas in 1993 I believe, but I don't recall the name of the charter airline the company used. I remember we had to check in at the Alaska Airlines counter because they were affiliated with the charter airline.

The first thing one notices when parking at the Bellingham Airport is that the lot is full of cars with British Columbia license plates! No kidding! Cheap flights and only a few bucks in taxes!

We had prebooked our seats - cost about $9 per seat to do this - and checked in online so when we arrived at the airport all we had to do was go straight to security. Allegiant allowed 2 pieces of hand luggage and that's what we had.

**Note** Allegiant recently announced it now charges $35 per carry on bag. Might as well pay the $35 fee for checking your luggage. That is high end. It might be slightly less for carry on bags.**

Seeing as how we prepaid for our seat selection we were among the first people allowed to board. Allegiant lets all passengers who paid for seat selection board first and then everyone else is allowed on the plane for open seating. Grab a seat.

Then it got interesting. The pilot went to the runway but didn't take off. Then he announced he was returning to the gate to have the mechanic check something and do a reset. I'd rather the pilot find something not quite right with the plane while its still on the ground rather than up in the air. After an hour of being inside the airplane on the Bellingham tarmac the pilot announces we won't be flying this plane to Las Vegas. Fortunately Allegiant had another perfectly good airplane also at the gate and we would be disembarking, waiting inside the Bellingham terminal for the crew to ready the replacement plane, and then embarking again, similar to how we had just done it. Everyone in the open call seating were to take note of their seat numbers and take the same seat on the replacement plane.

We finally left Bellingham two hours late. This particular plane/crew were scheduled to fly from Las Vegas to Fresno, then back again, then the final flight Las Vegas back to Bellingham. So that meant everyone down the line would now be delayed and it was a longer day than anticipated for the crew.

When we arrived in Las Vegas, due to the delay there was no open gate to receive the plane. We were on the tarmac for 45 minutes before the plane was cleared to take a gate. So 3 hours late we finally arrived in Las Vegas.

No complaints about Allegiant Air. These things happen. The main thing is we all arrived safely. And yes, I will definitely fly with them again. Even with the baggage fees its still cheaper than flying from Vancouver.

I'm back!

I know its been awhile since I've blogged about anything.

Stay tuned for some posts about Las Vegas!

Photos taken on the bridge of Island Princess

Ultimate Shipboard Tour on Island Princess

Princess Cruises offers an Ultimate Shipboard Tour during the cruise, on an at sea day. Cost is $150 each and the tour lasts 3 to 4 hours and is a behind the scenes look at the cruise ship, going into areas not otherwise open to the public. The tour is usually limited to 12 passengers. Each cruise ship does things differently. Some Princess ships say first come, first served. Others have a lottery system, so if over 12 passengers sign up, they draw names.

At the end of the tour passengers receive approximately $150 in gifts, namely a plush bathrobe, a chef's jacket, stationery, and photos taken by the ship's photographer.

Cameras are not allowed on the tour. Probably due to persons holding up the tour's tight schedule while they snap away. However, I had read reviews by some passengers on Cruise Critic's forum and they said they brought their cameras and were allowed to take photos in the bridge.

I didn't take the tour, but Kerry went, and brought his camera along. He was able to take photos in the bridge and I've attached them here.

Some of the highlights on the tour (no photos to prove it) were backstage at the theatre and meeting some of the cast, visiting the kitchen areas, viewing the medical area, the laundry, and peeking through a window into the engine room.

Two security officers accompany the group and at each station they sign in and out. There is an opportunity to meet many officers and ask questions and at the end of the tour there are snacks set out in the boardroom in the bridge.

If you plan to do the Ultimate Shipboard Tour, its better to sign up soon after boarding so as not to be disappointed.

Geocaching on Panama Canal Cruise

We're geocachers and brought our GPS with us on the Panama Canal cruise hoping to make some finds while on vacation.

For more information on geocaching, check the website www.geocaching.com

The first thing I had to do was check the ports of call on our Island Princess itinerary through the Panama Canal. Once I knew the ports my next stop was www.wikipedia.com where I typed in the name of the city or country and the port. Wikipedia shows the GPS coordinates of the port and from there I typed the coordinates in at www.geocaching.com and searched for nearby caches.

Then I had to do a little more research because I didn't know how close some of the caches were to the port. Was it within walking distance or would I have to take a bus, hire a taxi, etc. Keep in mind that many of these ports are in the sub-tropics or close to the equator and its hot and often humid and long walks might not be an ideal solution for many.

A good place to do some research is on the forum boards at the Cruise Critic website. www.cruisecritic.com Ask questions and people who have travelled to that location may know the answer.

The ports of call on the Island Princess are not going to be the same as other cruises but this will give you some idea what to find in the ports I visited.

Our first port of call was Aruba. I found the GPS coordinates on Wikipedia and then searched the Geocaching website for caches near the port. There's not any. There are caches a few miles from the port, namely Palm Beach and Eagle Beach that caught my eye, but how to get there? I then looked on the discussion boards of Cruise Critic under Aruba. I discovered the Number 10 bus departs from a terminal near the port and goes to those beaches. For more information on our adventures of geocaching in Aruba, see my blog here.

One of our fellow passengers on the Island Princess who is a more avid geocacher than us did a virtual cache that was within walking distance from the cruise ship terminal. That had something to do with a webcam and coordinating with someone in Ontario. I'd read that one and it seemed a little more complicated for us than what we want to do.

Our next stop was Cartagena. Again I checked Wikipedia and Geocaching and learned there is a cache hidden within the confines of the port area. However I also noticed there was an earth cache at the mud bath volcano in Totumo. Perfect seeing as how I'd already booked a shore excursion here. Kerry and our new geocaching friend did try to find that cache hidden in the port but gave up after half an hour. It had a level 5 difficulty - the hardest rating.

Traversing through the Panama Canal is a virtual cache that you can check out on Geocaching. This one and at Totumo are take photos, answer questions type of caches.

In Fuerte Amador (Panama City) there is supposedly a cache hidden in the port, a short walk from getting off the tender. Both us and our friend tried to find it but it wasn't there. Muggled! However, we did get a find during a private shore excursion we'd booked with My Friend Mario. They parked the bus about 500 feet away from where the cache was hidden and Mario accompanied us to find it.

In Costa Rica we docked at Puntarenas. There aren't any caches hidden here or within 20 miles so Costa Rica was a bust for us.

We had 3 ports of call in Mexico: Huatulco, Acapulco, and Cabo San Lucas. Seeing as how we'd booked a private shore excursion in Acapulco, I only printed out caches in Huatulco and Cabo San Lucas prior to leaving. There is one hidden in the bay where the cruise ship docks, however it was missing when we searched for it. There is another one hidden on a nearby street but I forgot to print that one or bring it with us on the cruise so luck in this town. In Cabo San Lucas there are a couple hidden within walking distance of the marina where the tenders dock and we found them both.

Good luck and happy geocaching!

Getting Internet/Wifi while on Panama Canal cruise

Internet service is rather pricey on the Island Princess, or on any cruise ship for that matter, .75 cents per minute. It is also very slow. Like one click every two minutes.

We brought our laptop computer with us to download the photos from our camera but we also tried to find Wifi at our ports of call. Difficult or non-existent is the best way to describe that endeavor.

Aruba: When you disembark from the cruise ship and walk through the secure port area to get to the street, turn right. Walk down about a block or so, staying on the same side of the street. Look for a building where Dunkin Donuts is on the second floor. They have free Wifi here. To be fair go in and buy a snack. We bought 2 iced coffees, cost about $4. We were able to download our email but could not send out any emails. This was pretty much our last Internet Wifi opportunity for 2 weeks until we docked in Los Angeles.

Cartagena, Colombia: Nothing that we could find but we spent the few hours we were there on an excursion and had no time for finding an Internet cafe. A taxi driver may be able to help. There are also some shops at the port, notably Juan Valdez coffee shop. I recall someone saying there was a shop nearby that offered Internet.

Panama Canal and anchored off Fuerte Amador: This might be a good time to try to find free Wifi from a nearby ship that has unsecure Wifi. You'd have to be out on your balcony or on one of the upper decks to make this happen. If you stay inside your cabin the only thing your laptop wants to connect to is the Princess service. In the marina there are a few shops. I don't know that there was Wifi offered anywhere but there were some computers with pay as you go Internet service. I noticed that they were out of order when we walked past them. There are lots of taxi drivers in the marina and just outside the fence on the street. I'm sure any of them can take you to an Internet cafe. We were away for several hours on an excursion and didn't have time to look for Internet service.

Puntarenas, Costa Rica: We were gone for several hours on an excursion but our guide did tell us there were several places in Puntarenas to purchase Wifi or use the Internet and pointed out a couple to us on the way back to the wharf. We returned to the Island Princess to pick up the laptop and went out to find one. We chose the one that was just down the street straight from the wharf, a couple of blocks away. $2/hour. It appeared this little shop was pirating Internet from the two cruise ships in port, Princess and Carnival. Hit and miss. In my case, miss. I moved over on to one of their computers and got access but it wasn't much use to me and left well before my hour was up.

Huatulco, Mexico: this is a small town with only a couple of streets near the dock. We did see a shop with an Internet sign out front. It was closed. This was a Sunday in port so its possible its open the other days of the week. However its my opinion that at the end of cruise ship season and no passengers for several more months that most businesses should make an effort to be open for the few hours a cruise ship is in town.

Acapulco, Mexico: Inside the secure port area, in the building, upstairs there is Internet service. I walked up there and a few people were using computers. There was a desk where one would expect to see an attendant but no one was there. There was no one standing/hovering at any of the people using a computer as if providing assistance. I was unable to determine if Wifi was available here. However I did see several Wifi places around town, including about a block away from the port, while we were out on our excursion. There are many taxis lined up around the port so I think it would be easy to ask one of them to drive you to an Internet cafe.

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico: There were several restaurants around the marina that offered Wifi. But I would think that means you have to go in and buy drinks and nachos. Not such a bad idea!

Los Angeles, California: This was the best place to get Wifi. In the port its free. We all had to disembark and wait a bit and then embark again. We took our laptop off with us and while in the waiting area had no problem checking our email and surfing the Internet. There is also a shop in the port that offers Internet service on their computers if you don't have a laptop. The best thing is that back on the Island Princess we were still able to connect to the Port of Los Angeles free Wifi. Now, we had to go up to Deck 15 to pick it up but saw down at a table above the Lotus Pool and enjoyed Internet for awhile until it became slower and slower and we put it away.