jensaintonge
None · October 20256/10
I decided to detour to Vegas before a conference, and this experience made me realize that maybe there are better places to go. Excalibur is regal-fun, and we loved the idea of staying in a "castle" i...I decided to detour to Vegas before a conference, and this experience made me realize that maybe there are better places to go. Excalibur is regal-fun, and we loved the idea of staying in a "castle" in Vegas. It was as campy as you can get at a casino, and I did like that part. I am a big fan of stained glass and medieval themes, so that was nice. We were happy with the slots. I was very happy with the water pressure in the bathroom, and it felt like Angel Soft and not Scott toilet paper, so that was a little better.
The biggest issue I want to raise is the signage to the correct elevator (there are two towers). For my first time there in this gigantic casino, it was very easy to overlook Royal versus Resort, and there's no color difference or much distinguishing the two. We spent 20 minutes in the wrong elevator at the wrong tower with all our luggage, to find we needed to walk 1/2 mile or more to the correct place. We helped at least 4 other families doing the same thing over the course of 3 check-in times. There was so much confusion and extra people in such a bottleneck spot. What would be most helpful is a light in the elevator that says "you are in the wrong elevator" when I used my 200 block key (Resort) in the 100 block elevator (Royal). But at the very least, just print a note on paper and tape it to the wall, even if you don't believe anyone will read it (I will, and I share knowledge!).
A big disappointment was that the room was supposed to be a newly remodeled Staywell room, and I paid an extra $30/night for the night we did pay for. First, the bathroom door didn't latch. Next, the bathroom got steamy just washing my hands. After a shower, everything was soaking wet. The entire bathroom was sweating. All the fixtures are rusted. The fan in there was so dirty that the air was not venting, so it over-steamed the bathroom. I think the solution was to make it so the bathroom door couldn't close to vent air in there.
In the middle of the night, the front of the a/c fell off, waking us both up. The filter looked filthy. We couldn't get the cover back on because the latches were broken. I wound up propping my laptop against it so it wouldn't keep falling off. We then checked the air filters on the Staywell unit, and sure enough, and they were also filthy and needed to be replaced.
Other things that really made it cringe-meh:
1. No coffee in the room. It took me an extra hour to get out of bed because I didn't want to have to walk 5 miles for my first cup of caffeine. Just make me pay for coffee in the room. I realize this is a vegas thing, but be the one to change.
2. The wifi was either non-existent or just awful. I couldn't log into anything work-related, and even ticketmaster wouldn't log in because it thought the wifi was not legit. We specifically did not get the tournament dinner or any Excalibur shows because of this.
3. We sat down at the bar before heading to bed to catch the end of the game. The bartender came up and said I needed to bet $1/game to get free drinks, put a piece of paper up so I could see a red light on the back of my machine, and then just walked to the other end of the bar. FIRST, if you wanted me to bet $1/game, DON'T OFFER THE OPTION FOR $.25. I would have paid the $1 if it were the option presented when I sat down, but I will not be shamed into it. Also, the night before was a different story and betting experience. Do I need to look a certain way or tip up front for service (which was the difference)? I'm out.
4. I may be one of 4 people that actually needed to use my laptop. There was only one underpowered outlet that couldn't charge my laptop at the desk, so I had to rearrange the staywell stuff so I could check my work email. The wifi was listed as unsecure, so I couldn't use it to purchase show tickets. I couldn't use my mouse because the desk is made of glass.
5. For a Staywell room, it was very loud. All the electronics and the road noise were awful.
6. The TV barely worked and reset each time it was shut off. It took about 45 seconds to get the volume turned up enough to hear... every, single, time. Just put a clown face in front of where the TV should be.
7. There is Sherwood Forest (...in Camelot) but no sword in the stone.
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Two of our nights were comped, and we paid for the third. Afterwards, I stayed at a Hampton Inn for work (albeit not in Vegas), and I was so relieved to have the creature comforts of working things, for less than the price of "comped". If I were 20-something and broke, this probably would have been awesome. But I'm 40-something and am rethinking what the value of comp really is to me. The next time we're in Vegas, we have a few more strip casinos to try, but I think we'll go outside of the strip and just make places like Excalibur a short excursion, not a destination.Show More
