My First Diamond Trip Report

Mrs. Q and I made our umpteenth trip to Las Vegas recently, BUT it was our first trip to Las Vegas as brand new Diamond Level members of the CET Total Rewards program.

CHECK-IN:

We had a Non-Stop flight, which is always nice, and checked in to our mid-Strip, mid-level CET property around noon (some nights discounted, a couple nights comped). We used the separate Diamond/7 Stars check-in room. That was also nice. The reservation was apparently a little screwed up, but the young man at the counter made a phone call to someone and straightened it out in a few minutes. OK, great, off we go.

THE ROOM:

The room was ready (it was a weekday, not the weekend), so we were able to move our luggage to the room. We got a strip view, but nothing spectacular. The room was fine, but do they still do anything with the mini-bar cabinets ? I didn't see any instrux for ordering stuff. Maybe someone had thrown out that information. If they don't use that cabinet anymore, it would have been good to have a small refrigerator in the room in that space. But no big deal, whatever. Who needs a mini-bar with a bunch of over-priced snacks ? That's what the gift shop is for !

WI-FI:

Wi-Fi is included in the Resort Fee. And the resort fee is waived for Diamond members. So that's nice having free Wi-Fi in the room. OR AT LEAST IT WOULD BE. BECAUSE IT ISN'T. Diamond members still have to pay for Wi-Fi. That's a little confusing, at least to me. That couldof/shouldof been explained when we checked in. It wasn't. Well, welcome to the world of CET. If CET wasn't doing so poorly financially, I would be even more disappointed.

DIAMOND LOUNGE:

I had been looking forward to lounging in the Diamond lounge. So we did. It opens daily in the late afternoon. While it wasn't exactly luxurious, the tables and chairs were nice enough, and it was nice to escape the noise and commotion of the casino for a break. There was a pretty decent spread of food which varied from day to day. I thought the salsa was excellent !

The drink servers were pleasant and fast, considering there were usually a significant number of folks there. As expected, drinks were free but of course we left a good tip. They have a pre-printed sign that they can put out, saying that the lounge is at capacity, but we always got in. I'm sure weekends are busier.

SHOWS:

Here is a list of the shows available to Diamond and 7 Stars members, 2 tickets per calendar month. We saw Jubilee at Bally's. Even though the fine print says the tickets are "GENERAL ADMISSON seating only", I was very happy with our seats, they were much closer to the front than they were to the back. But it was a weeknight and the showroom was only about 50-60 % full (?). I was hoping that ABSINTHE would be on the list, but it wasn't. But still, there is a good range of shows to choose from:

Flamingo:
- Vinnie Favarito
- Legends in Concert

Paris
- Eiffel Tower Experience

Linq
- High Roller
- Brooklyn Bowl, Events may vary.
- Jeff Civillico
- Frank Marino's Divas

Harrah's
- Menopause the Musical
- The Improv
- Mac King
- Million Dollar Quartet

Bally's
- Jubilee

Rio
- Penn & Teller
​
WRAP-UP:

All in all, we had a nice trip. We enjoyed the Diamond perks. We wouldn't mind staying at the same property again. We will play some at CET, but we will still venture out to other Casinos with nicer atmosphere and better game odds.

So, did the nominal value of our Diamond benefits cover my losses getting to Diamond ? Nope, not even close. Well, not yet. But we'll be back several times between now and March of 2017. I did decide to get to the Diamond level BEFORE this trip, even though I already had the 10K tier credits that would get up to Diamond level once the 50 % Winter Bonus tier credits are added to the account around April 15th.

Were you at Harrah's?

Thanks for the current list of Diamond Shows.
I was hoping that when Defending the Cavemen went back downtown and Menopause the Musical moved over from the Luxor,
that it would be included in the list of Diamond Shows. And now it is!

Vinnie is done now, so maybe Flamingo will get a new offering too.

Thanks for sharing.

CET must really be cutting back. Four years ago I was low to mid Diamond, and I was able to get a room for 5 nights free, including the weekend. And one of those trips I even managed to get Cesear's Palace for 5 free nights.

Quote: RaleighCraps

CET must really be cutting back. Four years ago I was low to mid Diamond, and I was able to get a room for 5 nights free, including the weekend. And one of those trips I even managed to get Cesear's Palace for 5 free nights.

I would call Total Rewards and inquire about them assigning a host to you. Particularly for Vegas, a host can comp properties and nights not available on the website. For example for my last trip to Vegas my host comp'ed room and a chunk of my room charges (e.g. dinner at Giada's) at the Cromwell for a three day Easter weekend stay at the Cromwell. (vs the website which would have only offered discounted hotel rates and doesn't offer the Cromwell.)

Basically, ask... the worst they can say is no.

PS - I am also just Diamond (no aspiration level).

PPS - RaleighCraps knows what he is talking about.

Wait - is this a separate report from the other one you just posted - or does this just cover different ground? If it is a separate trip altogether - then kudos to Mrs. Q and you for back-to-back trips!!!

Quote: aceofspades

Wait - is this a separate report from the other one you just posted - or does this just cover different ground?

Just different aspects of the same trip. I decided to break it up into a couple of posts, that seemed more manageable to me.

Quote: JohnnyQ

Just different aspects of the same trip. I decided to break it up into a couple of posts, that seemed more manageable to me.

Cool - trying to create a virtual timeline merging the two reports :-)