I recently spent 5 nights at Excalibur with my husband. We knew that it wouldn't be the best hotel on the strip because of the price, but we certainly expected more.

The towels were good quality and the view from our room (Tower 2, 23rd Floor) was nice (overlooked New York New York). The hotel is on a helicopter flight path, so helicopters fly by constantly. The pool was nice and not very packed on the days that we went. The location on the strip is great.

The widescreen upgraded room that we booked was not very renovated - the fixtures, bathroom, etc. were all very worn. The carpet was awful too. There were crumbs on the floor when we arrived. The shower door came off and fell on me when I showered one morning and after reporting it to several people and getting no response, I figured nobody cared. I just called and spoke to a manager about it again today and all I got was "sorry". Don't look for impressive customer service at this hotel - I don't think they care if I ever come back again, or how many people I tell my story to. There are plenty of better hotels (even on a budget) on the strip!

The hotel doesn't have much of a casino and the food choices are not very enticing. The dinner at the Tournament of Kings made me sick, but the show was pretty good (Vegas corny). Valet parking was full every time that we tried to park (at various times throughout our 5 night stay), so we were stuck parking far away in the self park garage/lot.

Watch out for the timeshare vultures - they get you as soon as you walk in and every time they see you after that. Some of them were downright unpleasant when I told them that I was not interested in their promotions.

The spa left a lot to be desired as well. Okay, it was disgusting. The showers were dirty and littered with used sanitary products.

Lots of kids, but still plenty of partying adults. One night we had a lady screaming outside of our door for half an hour or more before security finally showed up.

After all this, the hotel didn't even offer to comp one of my cheap room stays, dinners, shows, or anything. Crappy Vegas service! They will promise you comps for visiting their timeshare property all day, but not to make up for a horrible experience that you had to pay for - BEWARE.

We stayed in a very clean tower room, which had been remodeled to a widescreen room. Very spacious and overlooked the pools. Pools were wonderful with the water slide open for the kids. My 7yo daughter loved it. Sherwood Cafe was ok but overpriced. Buffet was great but buy at $25 all day pass & save a bunch of money by eating your meals for the day there! The Tournament of Kings show was spectacular and worth the money. Gambling was so-so but enjoyed the walkways and monorail to Luxor and Mandalay Bay. Shopping was great. Only complaint? The time share people are everywhere and hassle you every chance they get! Would love to stay here again. Was so relaxed from the days by the pool that I didn't want to leave.

Dingy hotel!! This hotel offers discounts for a reason - they need people. It was dark and dreary. Rooms were dirty, wall paper in room was coming off, carpeting was lifted and the walls are paper thin. Deepest pool is 3 1/2 feet and it closes at 7:00. There is no micro, mini fridge or coffee pot in room. We booked through an agent so we did not do our homework. I recommend you do yours. At the end of the trip I needed to print boarding passes and we were charged $5.00 per pass to be printed. I do ot recommend this hotel.

Check in was pretty smooth, small line but went very quick. Our check in clerk would not even entertain the idea of an upgrade, so we didn't press. Maybe it is because I got the room for $29 on the weeknights and $57 on the weekend he didn't feel we deserved it - ha. We were immediately accosted by the annoying Time share folks, after six days of this we got very good at avoiding them. First appearance of the room reminds you of the 70's, quite outdated and even though I requested non-smoking I am not convinced that is what we got but we were not disappointed overall; especially for the price and location. The room started to take on a moldy smell but we were hardly in the room so we didn't let it bother us. I will tell you that you might want to pack earplugs like we did, the air conditioner is VERY loud and you can't control loud people in the hallways. The earplugs were a lifesaver.

The casino was fun and I made money there a few times. Cocktail waitresses are hard to flag down but it was like that at most casinos we visited. If you play poker like we do, never had any trouble getting drinks at the poker tables at Monte Carlo, Excalibur, Harrah's, Osheas, Venetian, etc. The Monte Carlo was by far our favorite poker room as the staff is very friendly, service is great and the bathrooms are right there.

The pool which I only made it to once is very nice and does have one adult only area, although most of the folks were very newly of age I believe. I am 37 and felt quite old as the twenty somethings challenged each other to handstand competitions.....but the pool area was nice and drinks were reasonably priced.

That leads to another topic - children. Why on earth would people think that Vegas is a good family vacation? I am seriously confused by this...most of the kids we saw were running without supervision, crying or yelling. Not to mention dodging drunks, smut cards advertising bill boards, gambling and go go dancers - how about Disneyworld or a cruise instead? Seriously I have children so I get the need to get away, but when I go to Vegas my teens get to hang with Grandma and when we do a family trip it is to the coast or a cruise.

As far as food goes we only ate McDonalds, Baja Fresh, Krispy Kreme and Starbucks and all those were fine for a quick grab. Also the Dog and draft at the bar for $2.50 made a great mid-day snack. We ate at the Luxor buffet several times and the one at Monte Carlo and both were very good.

All in all we had a wonderful time and the Excalibur was a great place to stay. The price is right and while not fancy it certainly serves it's purpose. I would stay there again. I think next time we might aim for the Monte Carlo just because we spent a lot of time there and it puts us further down the strip.

If you have any questions for me, feel free to ask!!