We just returned from a 5 night stay at Mandalay Bay (5/28 - 6/2/06). We were quite excited to stay there, as this hotel is higher-rated and more expensive than where we usually stay, but got a good deal on Travleocity by booking months ahead. We have always wanted to stay here, but what a disappointment!
Check in was an absolute ZOO. We arrived around noon and the weekend crowd was lined up all over the counters (checking out) and signs said no check ins until 2:00. We had to wait in line to check our luggage (although the bell staff was pleasant and doing the best they could in the midst of hoards of people). We decided to wait until later to come back and check in, so we returned about 3:30 to find lines as bad as they were in the morning. We went back around 5:00 p.m. and the lines were much reduced, but we still had to wait. The check-in guy was nice, but didn't give us any of the maps or other things our friends got when they checked in the next day. We did get the non-smoking room and bed choice we picked, which does not always happen. We were given the last room at the end of the hall on the 17th floor. After check in, we called the bell desk and the luggage as brought up in less than the promised 30 minutes. The bell dept. was the only one that stood out as far as good service during our entire stay.
The room was OK. On the plus side, it is bigger than most we have stayed in and has double closets, "regular" hangers and plenty of them, an in-room safe, and a spectacular bathroom. On the minus side, the carpet was disgusting - burned, stained and dirty, the top drawer in the dresser would not stay closed unless the door to the armoire was closed (making it difficult to use the other drawers as well as just being annoying), and the housekeeping was below par.
The pools were nice, but everything I saw posted in prior reviews was true, true, true. If you want a chair, you MUST be in line when the pool opens at 8:00 a.m. The line starts forming about 7:15 - not a fun way to spend your vacation. Many people ended up spreading their towels right on the concrete - not enough room on the beach to put a towel as all the room is taken up by chairs. Heeding reviews, we brought our own innertubes for the lazy river. $5 for two at WalMart and a little lung power saved us big bucks - we gave them to kids on our last day. We also stayed away from food and beverages - a guy from England told us that one hamburger from the pool grill cost $20. Our smartest move was to buy baguettes at Paris and carry them with us (the day before), then buy coffee from the Red, White and Blue place inside before we got in line for the pool. Even then, 2 cups of coffee (just plain coffee - nothing fancy) cost $7. The pools themselves were nice, the wave pool was fun, but like everything else at the propery, were dirty - lots of things floating in all the water (pools, wave poll, lazy river) - cigarette butts (lots), cellophane, other human trash in addition to the normal pool items like sticks and bugs. The chairs were not well maintained, either. Many were missing slats and our first day we got one that could only be used flat. The chairs and pool grounds also were dirty - chairs were stained, cigarette butts and matches).
The service was bad - not indifferent, but actually rude at times. I ordered a drink from a cocktail waitress. When she came back with other drinks, but not mine, I ordered again. When she came back without it again, she simply stared at me like she had never seen me before. I would have filed a complaint if I could have found any other hotel/casino employee anywhere near the entire section I was in, but couldn't. Beverage service on other occassions was spotty - sometimes good, but other times, not a waitress to be found.
Also, the housekeeping in the common areas was not good - dirty ash trays and empty glasses everywhere and many slot machines had ashes covering the screens - gross. Absolutely not what we expected from what it supposed to be one of the better properties around. Luxor next door was much better, even though under common ownership, but Excalibur has been allowed to degenerate to the point that it is disgusting. The landscaping is beautiful - they need to spend as much time on cleaning as they do on working on the grounds. And their employees all need customer service training. The people at the pool were uniformly rude.
As to restaraunts, we at the breakfast buffet one morning ($30 for 2) and the parade of incompetance continued. We got there at 7:10 - it opened at 7:00. When I went to get in line to have an omlette made, the guy said that he had no pans, so no omlettes. When I asked him when the pans would arrive, he said he had no idea. So I walked around the rest of the buffet and got some fruit (which was wonderful). About 10 minutes later, I went back and there were people in line for omlettes. The guy only had 2 pans (most places run at least 4) and he was terrible - while cleaning out one pan, he caught his rag on fire and SLOW. The omlette was not worth the 30 minutes it took to get and breakfast was not worth $15 per person. Another day we tried House of Blues for breakfast - much better! Still not cheap, but we had a 2-for-1, so it was a good deal. The stuffed french toast was awesome! And the check stub was another 2-for-1 for the next day.
We also ate dinner at Mon Ami Gabi (Paris) on their patio. We both had steaks that were good (nothing stellar, but reasonable - $22 each, and it came with more fried potato shreds than most people can eat). The bread was delicious and the view of the Bellagio fountains was nice, but the traffic noise is extremely load and we had the misfortune of being in the restaurant at the same time as two increadibly LOUD, obnoxious women from New York. The staff did nothing to ask them to keep it down, even when comments were made by people stitting at several surrounding tables. One of our party has hearing problems and missed pretty much all of the dinner conversation.
One night we ate at Chin Chin (NYNY). We had eaten here last year and it remains excellent. The portions are HUGE, so definately spilt your entree with someone else. Everything (steamed rice, white rice) is a la carte here, but you get tons and tons of food and if you spilt your entree, you can eat for $30-40 for dinner for 2 people (not including tip) - and still have leftovers (money much better spent than on the MBay breakfast buffet).
We did the video check out as we normally do and had no problems. I got a receipt in the mail less than a week later.
Bottom line is - we will not be back! New York New York, MGM Grand, Mirage, TI, Paris, Aladdin - we would stay again at any one of these other places before we would return to MBay, much less pay a premium to do so. Also, their comps were stingy. We played less money and less time at NYNY last year and got much better service and more free stuff. I doubt that we will ever play much at any of their properties. Perhaps Harrah's tightness is spreading to others, but we got fewer comps for more cash through the machines than we ever have. Also, when I went to get comps credited to our bill, the lady was rude and neglected to mention that we had cash back on the account even though she was told we were checking out. I had to think of it myself and go back to ask specifically to get the money we had coming to us.
