Paid for 6 nights but got 5 trip to Las Vegas

[afterdenon]

6 nights to become 5 (read below) at the Planet Hollywood, Las Vegas

This was our first trip to Las Vegas which we booked through Virgin Holidays. We normally book it all seperate but took advantage of not having an increased price for not staying a Saturday night.

Anyway make our way to Gatwick on Saturday night to take advantage of twilight check-in and staying at the excellent Trumbles. No 1 problem couldn't pick up the tickets as the desk was shut so no check-in!

So wake up Sunday morning and off to Gatwick at around 7 for a 10:45 flight. Got there check-in no problem, got exit seats, and wait for the Gate to go up. Oh no it's Gate 13!

Anyway board the plane and we're off about 30 mins late.

They start to serve the food and then about 2 hours into the flight, just getting to the Atlantic, the Captian makes an announcement... "Some of you may have noticed we're not flying as high or as fast as we should be... that's because we have a problem with one of the engines... we're dumping some fuel and heading back to Gatwick" Cue worried looks all over the plane.

Anyway about 15:00 about 20 minutes from Gatwick another announcement from our Captain "Ok we making it back to Gatwick however we've missed our flight slot to the US so you being put up in the Gatwick Hilton overnight...see you for a 05:30 check in" Cue total anger all over the plane :angry:

Back at Gatwick, with mechanics all over the engine, we exit the planeand have to go through immigration, pick up our luggage and make our way to the Hilton. Well that is us two and another 350 people which meant standing in queue for 1 1/2 hours to get a room at the hotel. So that's around 18:00 now and time to find the Virgin rep. But no they had gone to check our options.

Anyway up at 04:00 on Monday to join another queue, with our luggage, to check-in for the flight. They gave us some vouchers for breakfast and then make it to the plane about 09:00. Once on the plane the Captain makes an announcement "they fixed the problem quite quickly so we might have made it yesterday", glad as it is the same plane. We're in the air 10:00.

So we make it to Vegas. Wow fantastic views from the planes and just amazed how close the airport is to the strip.

Get through immigration quickly, seemed much more relaxed than Orlando, and get luggage quite quickly. Off to see the Virgin Holiday rep. No apology, just details of the Tuesday morning "lets make more money booking trips" meeting.

Anyway short taxi ride to Planet Hollywood and we're checking in hotel. Asked for fountain view (Bellagio) which they are happy to oblige and off to room. Again wow, we have a great room overlooking the Paris Hotel, Effiel Tower and the Bellagio fountains.

Quick change, we we're off exploring the Strip. What a place so many people, everyone drinking but all in good spirits. The sheer size of the place and hotels is just amazing.

Within a couple of hours we realised how spoilt we've been with the $2/£1 exchance rate. It's amazing how different the 50 odd cents makes.

So first night sleep and then off to the Virgin meeting. What a complete waste of time. No apology for the delay and any form of offering to re-arrange an extra day. Although they did offer the advice of "don't let the delay spoil you holiday". Didn't really matter to us but some people missed weddings etc. All they were interested in was selling over priced tickets to shows, trips to Canyon and Dam etc. Once they realised we weren't interested in buying a trip they become completely uninterested in us. So we left and off to explore Ceasars Palace, just massive, and the fantastic Forum shops. Off course it scores tops marks for having a Cheesecake Factory.

Next day we queued up for half price tickets and managed to get Phantom of the Opera at the Venetian. Amazing show. Please see it if you go to Vegas.

Wake up Thursday and it's explore the MGM, Luxor etc at that end of the strip. Again thought it wouldn't take long to walk but not it probably took us around 4 hours. Totally knackered we get back to the hotel to prepare for trip to heli Grand Canyon. But we have a message...it's cancelled due to high winds. So it's off to Freemont street... great overhead display screen, amazing, but not quite sure of the place its self.

So we book a trip to hoover dam for the following day, Friday. This was really good trip, very interesting. More explring hotels in the afternoon and then a final evening visit to the Spice Market buffet in PH.

So Saturday arrives and its soon off to the airport and guess what, just typical, there's no delay on our return flight! Smooth flight back to Gatwick.

Overall - Loved Las Vegas and would go back

High points - Eiffel tower, hoover dam, size of hotels, Phantom of the Opera, Monopoloy slot machines, Panet Hollywood hotel and it's location.

Low points - Outward journey, lack of Virgin assistance, of course the cancelled Grand Canyon tour and finally the $ rate.

Happy to answer any quetions.

[mr&mrslightyear]

oh dear! hope you get something else sorted

[Cabbie]

Glad you enjoyed Vegas, sorry to here about the trouble on the way out which was caused by an Oil Pressure warning and the eventual shut down of an engine.
Hopefully you will be able to claim a few £'s back from your insurance.

-Steve

[blighty]

good day!

[Guest]

Sounds like you had a great trip! A bit rotten msing a night tho.

[Guest]

a really great trip report,we were there last year,and agree its a great place

[florida girl]

What a pain loosing a day, glad you enjoyed the rest of your stay. We flew out on Monday 23rd had a brilliant time our Heli Grand Canyon trip was also cancelled on Thursday which we were gutted about but luckily managed to re-schedule on Sunday the day before we came back.

[Guest]

So sorry to hear you lost a day, it's such a disappointment, but don't expect an apology! The same thing happened to us last Easter before our flight to Orlando, we spent the whole day at the airport before they announced they were cancelling our flight...then they bused us all to Brighton ! Having been at the airport since 9.00am we finally got to the Hilton Brighton at 9.30pm. At the time we all went to bed Virgin were not even able to tell us what time we would be leaving in the morning - just that we would get a wake up call! Our 'compensation' was a few miserable airmiles...

[Guest]

A lovely trip report. What a shame about the lost day.

[DIBBadmin]

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