For the final two nights of the trip, I moved over to a Monaco Suite at the Monte Carlo in anticipation of the wife's arrival later that day. I worked it out that after spending 3 nights with Mom, I would fly her back to Orange County to look after our pets as Lisa flew out for the last two nights. I managed to keep them both happy while not having to do it at the same time! It worked out well and I will do it again for my trip in December.
Check-in at the Monte Carlo was painless with only a very short line and I was up to the room in a just a few minutes. Amazingly enough, we weren't looking at a wall for once! Though far from the best view in town being on the 6th floor overlooking valet, anything was better than the previous 3 nights. The Monaco Suite is a really a mini-suite with 1 and a half baths. It wasn't priced much more than a regular room and it was well worth the extra money. Since we enjoy hanging out in the room, having the seating area and extra bath was definitely nice. The room itself was nice enough though hardly 5-star luxury. The furnishings were in good shape and everything was clean except for some of the dirtiest windows I have ever seen. More on that in a second... There was a flat screen TV but bafflingly there wasn't HD programming. I can't fathom the stupidity of spending the money for new Hi-Def TVs then not provide HD! The TV also wasn't really big enough to enjoy from the bed. They made up for it by having a very comfortable couch. The bathrooms, like the room itself, were also in good condition but both toilets were fairly difficult to flush, which was odd. The master had a combo shower/whirlpool tub but we just used the shower.
Overall, we were both very happy with our stay at the Monte Carlo. I have never had a very high opinion of the place since it opened back in the 90's. It was one of just three places on the strip that I have never stayed since there is nothing to really draw you there and the casino has never been very good. However; between the room, a surprisingly fun casino (if you aren't looking for serious gambling) and a decent selection of restaurants, we didn't leave the place all that much the entire time we were there. I sold the Monte Carlo short and it turned out to be a nice mid-budget place that might be a better option than something like Luxor or TI especially once City Center opens next door in Decemeber.
A very interesting incident happened on the first day at the hotel. As I mentioned earlier, the windows were terribly dirty. Lisa was poking around and discovered to both of our surprise that the window fully opened! I don't think I have ever seen a window that opened in a Vegas hotel so we were both shocked. Since it was a smoking room, we decided to leave the window open to air out the room. No more than 10 minutes later, the phone rings and its security telling us that we have to close the window as its obviously a safety hazard. No problem. We close it then as we always do when we leave, hang the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door as we head down to the pool. We are in the pool for about 30 seconds before lightning rolls through and they close the pool. We head back to the room to find that they ignored the DND sign and busted in to put a stop plate on the window so it didn't open anymore. It was almost as if they were scoping us out and waiting for us to leave to get into the room. The speed at which they acted was breath-taking! I'm sure if I called them for something, they wouldn't have been so speedy. It definitely gave us a good chuckle. It also served as a reminder that we are just "guests" in the hotel and its THEIR room and they will enter as they please.
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