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Casino Royale Room 236 

The rooms at Casino Royale were quite decent, ours had a bit of a fresh paint smell when we first got there, but it faded pretty quickly. They bathroom was stocked included a mending kit, shower cap, soap, shampoo/conditioner and lotion. Room had a small wet bar area that housed the coffee pot, the "mini-bar" or what ever you call those small vending machines in the room, and a sink.  The air conditioning was annoyingly loud, and I couldn't sleep with it on. There was also a lot of other noise, banging, fans, and other noises I couldn't really place. We were in room 236, and had a view of Harrah's loading dock. Odd number rooms would have views of the parking lot and the back side of Venetian. Windows do open all the way, 1st floor rooms would be possible to crawl into, so was glad I was on 2nd.   Pool was full of water, but the concrete around it was demolished, and was taped off. Only took the elevator once, as you enter the room areas, the first floor is down a slight ramp, second floor is about 12 stairs up. You can also take the stairs to the 3&4 floors. Bed was ok, sheets felt like they'd been starched. People at the front desk were amazingly nice, the dealers were fun (especially when we tipped) and the cocktail waitresses kept us very drunk for $1 tips for 2 people.  For me, it was worth it on a busy weekend when everyplace else was very expensive, and the location can't be beat - they've got cheap games, some of the newer slots (reel em in, and monopoly both in nickels), and you're close to Venetian, Harrah's, Mirage and TI.  
Index

Casino Royale Room: 239 posted 7/30/2003
Smoking:         Yes
Day:             Sunday Monday Friday Saturday
Dates:           July 25-July 28
Rate:            $69 Weekend $49 Weekday
Recommend:       Yes
Agency: Made a reservation by phone. No deposit required.
Amenities: The hotel area has understated and tasteful decor. An open closet and minibar area are to your side when you first enter the room. The safe is in the open closet. You can enter a password of your choosing or use a credit card to open and lock the safe. There is no charge to use it and I appreciated the fact that you didn't have to carry a key around. They appear to no longer stock the little fridge so you can use it however you like. It is small, but I had no problem fitting a pint of milk, a jug of water, and a few beers in there. Beyond the minibar/closet area is the restroom. The sink is in the restroom at least in the two queen rooms. I had a friend next door in a king room and noticed that they had a sink outside the restroom where our minibar was. I did not look in their restroom so I don't know if they had two sinks or if the outside one was the only one. The bedroom seemed pretty normal. Paint on the walls instead of wallpaper like at the more expensive resorts, if this bothers you go ahead and pay more to stay somewhere else. Pretty big dresser with flimsy drawers. We had 3 rooms in a row and a fourth, one room down. None had the connecting doors. It was a smoking room but there was no smell. Windows do open all the way and have no screen. The air conditioning is strong and keeps the room nice and cool. It isn't too loud. The television isn't huge but it's good enough. You get the basic channels and cable. The cable is pretty good as that you get channels such as HBO, ESPN, and MTV that you almost never get anywhere else. I've heard that some of the larger resorts don't have that many channels since they want you to leave your room and go gamble. That is not the case here. No video on demand. The only major complaint about the room is that the remote control is tethered to the nightstand. You need to use to room key to open the doors to the hotel area. My room was the farthest from the casino and was not a long walk since each floor has only about 40 rooms. The parking lot entrances are in the middle of the building next to the ice and vending machines. There are outside stairs near the middle entrances, but they can only be used to get out, because only the door on the first floor can be opened from the outside. If you enter from the parking lot you must use the elevator. It is has mirrors on three sides and made us feel a little self conscious. The end closest to the casino has elevators and stairs. My end had an emergency exit. The pool is small and plain, but looked clean. The dining options are limited to Denny's, Subway, Outback Steakhouse, and Noble Roman's Pizza. There is a McDonalds and Chipotle next door. There aren't any great $4.99 steak and eggs type deals to be had, but the Noble Roman's does have a $6.99 pizza, bread sticks, dipping sauce, and a drink meal that is cheaper than almost anything in the Venetian food court. There is no room service, but you can can call the Outback Steakhouse and order take-out. There is a menu in the room. I believe that the meal can be charged to the room but I am not 100% sure. Parking is in a small outdoor parking lot that can be seen from odd numbered rooms. A small portion of the lot is reserved for hotel guests with parking passes that are handed out at check-in. There is also a small parking structure. The first floor is for hotel guests and the other floors are for employees. There is a guard in the parking lot. If all the spots are full and you have a parking pass, the guard will allow you to park in the employee areas of the structure. There was, however, always plenty of parking. I parked in the structure to begin with since I thought that it would get really hot, however most of our stay was overcast and I eventually just parked in the main lot since it was closer and I could see my car from my room. There is no gift shop, but there is a vending machine that sells toiletries on the first floor. I did not notice this machine until later in my stay. I had forgotten to bring toothpaste and had gone to the Aladdin gift shop where it was $2.19  for a small travel size tube. I decided not to buy it and got a small tube for about a dollar at the much more reasonable Plaza downtown (yes I am plugging the Plaza gift shop, I think some of their items were cheaper than the off strip liquor stores). French milled soap, Pantene shampoo/conditioner, name brand lotion that I can't remember, and a shower cap. It appears they no longer include the sewing kit :(  Overall, I liked the room and felt it wasn't too bad of a value. I've had better rooms for much cheaper at motels and then again I've had 250+ a night rooms at beachside resorts that weren't as nice.

View:

Even number rooms have a view of a driveway and Harrah's loading docks. Odd number rooms have a view of the parking lot and an unthemed side wall of the Venetian. You can see the Venetian tower and the Tresure Island over the wall. I would prefer the North view (odd numbers) to the other. At checkout, I overheard the guy checking in next to me asking how his view was and the clerk telling him that the North view would be more quiet.

Other:

Most of the hotel staff I encountered were really nice and helpful. The front desk clerk gave me an extra hour to checkout (1pm instead of 12pm). I think that a later checkout may have been possible, but I didn't need anything too late. They don't have a main entrance so if you want a taxi you need to either call or take a walk to Harrah's or the Venetian. If you take a taxi to the Casino Royale, you will most likely be dropped off in the parking lot. There is a bell staff of sorts. Since there is no main entrance, there are no bellmen waiting to help you with your bags. There is someone at the registration desk that will help you with your bags. Check in and the slot club are handled at the front desk so the slot club people can slow down the line. My only bad experience was with a member of the housekeeping staff. We got on the elevator together and he pushed the button for his floor and then kept his hand over the buttons without saying anything. When I went to push the button for my floor he rudely told me to just tell me what floor I wanted. I can't say this was really a bad thing, since he meant well, it was just handled really weird. The casino staff were not as friendly as the hotel staff. Not nearly as bad as some that I encountered at Mandalay Bay (the Mandalay properties seem to have some of the worst staff, though there have been some nice ones), but they just didn't seem too friendly and looked somewhat rushed. My friends reported being followed to their room by a security guard for no apparent reason. The bar has $1 MGDs (bottle) and $1 margaritas (lime or strawberry). I prefer Buds myself, but the price was right. You get one free if you join the slot club. I even had a few of the margaritas. They aren't that strong, but they taste good. I just think of them as a slightly alcoholic Slushee. The cocktail service is incredible though the waitresses are not ;) This place is small and has single deck 21 and $1 roulette. It gets busy in there and a spot at the tables was hard to find. They really should consider adding more tables since there was almost never an open table, but the slots tended to be mostly empty, even during the busiest periods. On Sunday night there were two $5 roulette tables open at the Golden Nugget, both were empty except for our group of 4. After roulette we moved to an empty $5 double deck, handheld 21 table. This was around 2AM. The Palms was only slightly busier at 4AM. We returned to the Royale at 5AM and the table were still packed. I had no luck at the slots except the penny slots, which seem to be pretty loose (my 200 penny jackpot wasn't all that fulfilling though). The slot club has a nice funbook that is slightly hard to use since it is so hard to find an open table. I didn't earn any comps but I have heard that cheap room offers are mailed out during the slow season. Comps can be redeemed at all restaurants except the Denny's. There was also one of the time share booths in the casino that offered tickets to a magic show (I forgot which one, it wasn't Lance Burton or Siegfried and Roy) and a booth that books tours. If you want to get free tickets to a show, I would suggest going to the Venetian where the time share people offer two tickets to Lord of the Dance if you sit through their presentation. If you watch a TV pilot at the Venetian you get a dice keychain. As mentioned before, there is no gift shop. There where temporary booths in two parts of the casino that were having a "blowout sale". The booths looked temporary and were always mobbed. It sold t-shirts, polos, jackets, and other clothing items for $5-20. All the items were touristy "Las Vegas" shirts. There was nothing that said Casino Royale. The clothes appeared to be higher quality than most other touristy shirts and that may explain why it was always so busy. At night, we could see truckloads of new shirts being brought in. While the decor of the casino is nothing too spectacular (mirrored, disco style ceiling was somewhat impressive), the casino restroom was very nice. Not as fancy as the Bellagio, but you will be surprised. One of my friends came to Las Vegas at the last minute with his girlfriend. They were unable to get a room at the Stratosphere, but got one at the much smaller Casino Royale. One last little observation: On Sunday morning, I was walking down the hall to find the maid. I had overslept and my room had been skipped. I wanted to ask the maid to clean my room. She was only about 3 rooms down, but was in the room so I waited outside for her. During this time, an employee and a security guard came over to one of the nearby rooms and knocked on the door. An elderly lady opened the door and the employee asked very rudely why they had not yet checked out. The lady did not speak English and looked very scared. They threatened to charge her an extra day. The maid came to her defense and convinced security that she would make sure they checked out. Literally 2 or 3 minutes later, a younger woman (I assume the older lady's daughter) came back from the lobby where she just checked out. This was around 12:15PM, just fifteen minutes pass check out. I do not know the whole story and the hotel staff could have been completely justified, but it just struck me as odd. The next day, I missed my late check out of 1PM by 30 minutes and had no problems, not even a phone call. Overall, the hotel is very nice and I would recommend it if you are on a budget weekend trip. You can usually find comparable prices at the mega resorts midweek, but for the weekend, the Casino Royale prices can't be beat for the location. The rooms are nice, most of the employees are great, and the location is awesome. The Travel Channel said that this was the best place in the world to gamble, it was the only Las Vegas casino to make the list. While the gambling was good with good rules, low minimums, and good cocktail service, the crowded nature of the casino put me off. Perhaps if I was by myself it would have been OK, but it was impossible to find a table with 2 open seats, much less 4. The casino does not smell and is not as tacky as some places downtown, but I would probably choose gambling at the Golden Nugget or Plaza over this location. However, I believe that the hotel is a great deal for Las Vegas on a budget. Index

Casino Royale Room: 412 posted 1/7/04
Day:             Tuesday Wednesday Thursday
Dates:           12/30-1/1
Rate:            139.95
Recommend:       Yes
Agency: http://www.thereservationcompany.com/
Amenities: I wrote the room description for room 239. This time I had a non-smoking room. It was about the same. However, I will probably request a smoking room next time. The smoking room I was in on my last stay did not smell bad and was much quieter. You can hear street traffic and any loud people on the non-smoking side of the building.

View: We saw a blank side wall of Harrah's. If you stick your head out the window and look left you can see Harrah's loading dock which was used as a staging area for police during New Year's Eve. Looking right, you can see the Strip. This was useful on New Years Eve to gauge how busy it was.

Other: -While I would recommend a smoking room for the extra quiet, I should note that during New Years Eve they place port-a-potties in the parking lot. While they are as far from the guest rooms as possible, you will see them.

-No one under age 21 on New Years Eve unless a guest or accompanied by one.

-Alcohol prices were raised for New Years Eve. Go next door to Harrah's gift shop to save money.

-The shop by the hotel entrance is now open. It is not a gift shop as I thought it would be. Rather, it is a shop similar to Glow. It sells glow in the dark merchandise and lights.

-The blow out sale is still going on.

-Still no sewing kit or stocking of honor bar. Lotion is Oil of Olay. Shampoo/conditioner is no longer Pantene. It is now ProTerra herbal shampoo/conditioner. Index

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