2026 March Break Trip
March 22nd, 2026 at 4:26:04 PM
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My wife and I just completed our March Break Trip to Las Vegas. I’ll cover the themes of the trip rather than a blow-by-blow chronological recap. The plan was to stay our usual Sunday to Thursday trip which was March 15th to the 19th.
Flight Out
We booked Porter Airlines for cheap way back in September for $600 CDN per person which is a pretty good deal these days. The flight out was supposed to be at 9:35AM, but they updated the flight time to 10:05AM. That meant we could sleep in that much later. Unfortunately a snow squall blew in early morning and all through our drive to the airport turning it into the worst drive to Toronto airport we’ve ever had on our March Break trips. Snow packed down such that there was only 1 lane with clear tracks to follow out of three lanes. I took it slow sometimes as slow as 60 km/h on a 100 km/h highway, but we made it to the airport without sliding off the road. We passed several vehicles on the trip that had slid into a ditch and saw the aftermath of a serious multi-car accident on an off-ramp on the other side of the highway. The trip was starting out nervous and tense. I guess this was foreshadowing of how the trip would end.
Weather
We drove to the airport in a snow storm, but the weather in Las Vegas was fantastic. The lowest daytime temperature was 29C (84F) and it hit 33C (91F) by Wednesday. I wore shorts a bunch of times and we even got to the pool on Tuesday afternoon the weather was so good.
The Venetian
We grabbed our rental car and headed over the Venetian. We’re usually Wynn customers, but there was some convention going on Tuesday and Wednesday so the Wynn never offered us much of a deal. I think the best it got was $1260 USD for the 4 nights for a Wynn Panoramic King Suite. I’d gotten a players card for Venetian/Palazzo last year and their prices mirrored the Wynn’s for most of the time, but about 4 weeks before the trip the Venetian lowered their prices such that we got 4 nights for $760 including tax and resort fees.
The room was their standard King suite and it is largely on par with the Wynn’s King suite. I got a King suite in the North tower on the 8th floor.
I believe the square footages between the two are roughly comparable, but the layout and use of space is different. The hallway into the Venetian suite is narrower than Wynn’s.
The bathroom layout is smaller, but still has a nice shower and tub. There is a nice large double sink area too just like the Wynn. The toilet is separated into its own closet-like area like Wynn, but the door to the toilet area opens into the bathroom area covering one of the two sinks. Wynn’s door opens into the small toilet area so both sinks at the Wynn are always available. The Venetian bathroom features a nicely lighted vanity area with a seat away from the sinks that I think is new with the recent renovation. My wife liked this feature of the Venetian. The Wynn’s vanity is gone after their renovation and been replaced with a multi-tiered shelf area. My wife says that a man must have done the Wynn renovation given that redesign feature. Our toilet smelled of urine the whole time we were there and we had housekeeping in every day. I suspect they need to use an enzyme solution to get rid of the smell.
The bedroom is next with the closet beside the bed. We thought the bed in the Venetian was larger than the Wynn’s which meant the bed area feels more cramped especially with the closet there. There’s a bench at the foot of the bed which was nice to be able to sit at to get socks or shoes on. Against the wall is a credenza which duals as the spot to put your suitcase to unpack. Wynn has two of those foldable suitcase stands stuck in the closet. The credenza also has motion sensors so that a light comes on underneath when you’re walking around it. I found that feature annoying when getting up to get cleaned up in the bathroom while my wife tried to sleep in. I try to play a bunch of craps and blackjack early in the morning so that light would come on as I tried to navigate the room. My wife didn’t like the mattress in the Venetian as she felt it was too soft. I also found it soft which is strange since presumably there would have been all new mattresses put in for the renovation last year.
Next there is a railing area and steps down into the living room. There’s a night light that I couldn’t see how to turn off on those stairs and that annoyed me when I was trying to sleep. I get that they’re trying to prevent falls on those steps at night, but still annoying. The living room features a large corner couch that I believe can be folded out into a bed if multiple people are staying in the room. There’s a small table by the window and another credenza that contains the for-purchase snack items and beverage fridge. However the other side contains another fridge for your own items. This is a much appreciated feature as we bought water, yogurts, and other items to keep there.
There are two TVs in the room. One in the bedroom area and one in the living room. We briefly turned on the Academy Awards on Sunday night, but quickly turned it off. The award we watched was for sound editing and score and the delivery was so wooden and the jokes so forced that it sucked any interest we had in watching.
The view out our window was terrible. It featured concrete pillars and building walls. You could sort of see a chunk of the strip if you went to one side, but that view was equally unimpressive.
Diversions – Food
We ate at Denny’s beside Casino Royale on Monday morning and both had the traditional Grand Slam breakfast with juice and coffee. I believe I got one extra item in my breakfast. It cost $67.17. Inflation has really hit hard.
We went to Marche Bacchus on Monday night. I believe it has changed hands to a more corporate outfit back in late 2024. They’ve put their stamp on the restaurant now and you can see it the moment you walk in. Gone are the quaint wooden racks of wine with review clippings stapled beside each option. All the wine’s been pushed to racks that flank a large seating area of tables for 2 to 4 people. It looks very sterile to me. Luckily the patio area beside the lake is largely unchanged.
We shared the charcuterie board and my wife had the trout and I had boeuf bourguignon. We make Julia Child’s boeuf bourguignon and the Marche Bacchus take was different. It’s a solid chunk of beef that’s braised and served with carrots and mashed potatoes rather than as a stew. We both though the food was a solid 7 out of 10. We’ve had better meals there, but this was still good.
We chose a Spanish Rioja called Gran Faustinol 2004 as our wine largely on our own. Gone are the little tasting notes and reviews to help you. We stopped one of the staff to help, but he re-directed us to the manager who was unfortunately so busy that we never got a chance to flag him down to help pick something. Serendipity entered the picture and the bottle turned out be a very good all rounder. It was good just by itself, very good with the charcuterie, good with our mains despite them being fish and beef, and even good with dessert.
Overall I think Marche Bacchus should find its footing with new owners and staff in place. At least I hope so.
Tuesday at lunch we stopped by Tacos El Gordo. We were there early – about 11:40AM – but it’s here where it hit us that the strip isn’t as busy as it has been in our prior trips. I know it’s a lull before the NCAA basketball tournament, but the north strip just seemed emptier overall than in previous years. There was no lineup to get in and half the stations had no line or just one person in front of you. The food at Tacos El Gordo never disappoints. We had the spicy pork tacos, the beef, and I had a chorizo too. 7 tacos and 2 drinks cost $37 and change. Again inflation seems to have crept in everywhere.
Ditto Walgreens pricing on the strip has crept up. I’ve often grabbed a couple yogurts, two bottles of juice, and a muffin or fruit cup for a cheap breakfast for two after morning gambling activities. That cost me $19.86.
Diversions – Vegas Golden Nights
We went to the Buffalo vs. Vegas Golden Knights game on Tuesday evening. We drove down to the Aria self-park and paid $20 for parking during the game. Unlike the north end of the strip, it was busy in the south end. We went into Park MGM and grabbed supper and did a little bit of gambling before the game. It was St. Patrick’s Day so the cheerleaders were dressed in green, and he PA announcer would sometimes use an Irish accent. The trivia contest was also a true/false questionnaire about St. Patrick’s Day lore.
My wife wore her Mitch Marner Toronto Maple Leafs jersey. Marner now plays for the Golden Knights. A few people did a double take and razzed her about the jersey, but it was all in good fun. There were a ton of Buffalo fans down for the game too. We’ve had a bad winter up around the Great Lakes so I’m sure those Buffalo fans were all glad to get away from Winter just like us.
We were seated very close to what’s called “The Fortress” where the live drummers and cheerleaders perform. They also do their fan contests and other entertainment from there. There’s some down time in a hockey game for TV commercial breaks and they do a good job of entertaining during the lulls. We’ve been to several Toronto Maple Leafs games too and Las Vegas does the entire game entertainment better overall.
The game itself was OK. The players didn’t have a lot of jump. Shots were 25 to 29 for the Knights, but the score was 2-0 for Buffalo. The first goal was late with just 1:58 left in the 1st period where the Golden Knights goalie stopped the hard around, but then bobbled the puck and just as he was getting back in the net Buffalo’s Josh Doan banked the puck off the back of the goalie from behind the net. The last goal was an empty netter as the Knights tried to press for the equalizer with 6 skaters.
We had fun at the game and next time we’ll probably look to see the Maple Leafs play there.
Diversions – Shopping
We didn’t do much shopping this trip. I bought a couple V-neck shirts from Macy’s for Men and some Jack Black body lotion that’s hard to find in Canada. The purchase of note was my wife wanted to go to Hermes. Last year on our European Cruise we went on a bus trip to Milan and I purchased her a scarf from Louis Vuitton for our anniversary. She suggested that I buy her a scarf every year for her birthday which is how we ended up at Hermes. She picked a green scarf called “Please hold the line” in the 100cm square format. I let her wear it to dinner at Marche Bacchus, but it is now safely in its box awaiting her birthday in May.
Gambling – Craps and Blackjack
During this trip I called Craps “Des” and Blackjack “Troy” and together they destroy. I had exactly two sessions of craps and one of blackjack where I came away up. Two of the three were the first gambles on Sunday night at TI. I played a very short session of craps and came away up $15 and switched over to a nice $15 minimum blackjack table and walked away up $10 after a half hour.
I played craps and blackjack each morning of the trip and lost. The morning sessions were split between craps at Venetian with a $15 minimum and blackjack at TI with either a $10 or $15 minimum.
Monday craps was a lot of back and forth switching between don’t pass and pass line to no avail. Blackjack it was lose 2 hands for every 1 I won.
Monday afternoon was my only other winning session of craps. I played at Red Rock Casino and played pass line exclusively and rolled out the Small/Tall/All bet. I won the Small side and was a 9 and 11 away from the Tall/All before the 7-out. I walked away up $100.
Tuesday morning I stuck to don’t pass the whole way and it was choppy where I had a 7-out on 4 or 10, but made the point on everything else which meant I slowly bled chips away. Tuesday blackjack was a little different in losing. Here I held my own on straight up hands, but splits in particular were brutal. I was playing with an older woman who said she’s been playing blackjack for 50 years and in one memorable hand I had a pair of 2s against a dealer 4. I split and got another 2 so I split again. I then proceeded to get three face cards for three hands of 12. Unfortunately the dealer had a 5 behind and drew an 8 for 17. The woman who had played for 50 years exclaimed, “That was brutal!”
I also got in a session of craps at Park MGM. I played don’t pass with two other fellows beside me and for a while we were up as all three of us never made a point, but then the dice moved to the other end of the table and things turned such that I ended up down $200 for the session.
Wednesday morning sessions were split. I broke even at craps after an hour and a half playing don’t pass. Blackjack was a different story. I rolled out $300 at a $10 minimum and proceeded to lose 2 hands out of 3 and pushed a lot of the hands where I wasn’t losing. Doubles were particularly brutal here too. I wasn’t getting 10s on my doubles which left the dealer to string a bunch of small cards into 20 or in many cases 21. Ugh!
Wednesday afternoon we were downtown and I played a short session of craps at the Circa at a nice $10 minimum. I quickly lost $200 with no points made in 4 shooters.
Thursday morning the losing continued. I played pass line the whole time and also rolled out the Small/Tall/All bet in the middle looking for the long shot and managed a point of 4 with the Small side only missing a 6 before I had the 7-out. After that nobody could make a point and I quickly washed out from there. Blackjack was a little better in that straight up hands I won 2 for every 3 I lost, but I had better luck with splits and doubles. I pushed a bunch of the splits and finally started winning doubles with a fair amount of dealer busts. This meant I only lost $100 Thursday morning at blackjack. Moral victory I guess given the trip results.
Gambling – Video Poker
Video poker was a bright spot in an otherwise dark landscape. I had decent luck, but my wife (who doesn’t like to play craps or blackjack) had great success playing 9/6 JoB.
Venetian and Palazzo have $1 9/6 JoB Spin Poker games in their high limit rooms. We’d mostly play a single line, but when we were having a good run we’d switch to 3 lines.
We had a short session Sunday evening where I was even, but my wife made $20.
On Monday, I’d lost $700 in my morning sessions of craps and blackjack, but my wife won $400 at video poker and I won $100 after breakfast. Nothing special seen in the video poker session. We’d hit a straight, flush, or full house before getting down too far and we’d cash out any small wins that were $25 or more above our starting point of $100.
We also played at Red Rock on Monday afternoon for $0.50 on the 9/6 JoB machines and here we also had good luck. My wife won another $100 and I won $50. She had the bigger win on the back of two 4-of-a-kinds during the session. Again we wouldn’t get down very far before getting a flush or full house to bring us back.
Combined with the craps at Red Rock win we were actually up $95 for the trip.
Tuesday my luck turned on video poker, but my wife got even hotter. I lost $300 in the after breakfast session at Venetian, but my wife hit two straight flushes on the $1 JoB Spin Poker machines that morning. Between my losses at blackjack at TI and craps at Venetian and Park MGM plus my video poker play I was down $1100, but my wife managed a $500 win so we were only down $505 overall.
Wednesday our video poker luck turned. My wife lost $200 in the after breakfast session and I lost $100. This session featured a lot of low pair holds that never amounted to anything plus far fewer big hands like straights, flushes, or full houses to get you back in it.
Wednesday afternoon we went downtown to play the $0.50 9/6 JoB machines at Four Queens. Here my wife’s luck really turned. She lost $400 in three hours. She did manage to hit a four-of-a-kind in queens at Four Queens though. 8-) I held my own based on 3 four-of-a-kinds that Wednesday afternoon, but I was only up $60 after that session. By the end of Wednesday we were down $1,645 overall.
Thursday I lost $300 playing video poker at the Venetian after breakfast, but my wife managed to pull out of her slump and won $125. She played a mix of 1-line and 3-line doing it and managed a four-of-a-kind in the 3-line play that led to the session win.
Overall Gambling
We were down $2,120 for the trip by the end of Thursday morning. I do have two sports bets outstanding though. I put $20 down on the NY Jets to win the AFC championship at 100 to 1 and $20 for the Jets winning the Super Bowl at 200 to 1. Those that know the history of the NY Jets will know the likelihood of my 2026 gambling losses climbing to $2,160 are high.
Flight Out – A Different Kind of Gamble
The flight out from Las Vegas to Toronto was supposed to leave at 12:40PM on Thursday. We got to the airport and onto the plane by 12:30PM. We then start taxiing for takeoff when the pilot comes on the PA and says, “We’ve got a error in the cockpit we need to go back to a gate”. We head back to the gate and get maintenance onboard and they actually have to shut down the entire plane. Someone yelled out, “What is this Microsoft Windows?” The re-boot didn’t work so they had to de-plane everyone to work on it. We wait two hours and re-plane only to taxi out and have the same thing happen again. We de-plane for the second time, but this time we’re told to exit the secure area and go to the ticket counter and await further instructions. We wait another hour by the ticket counter where we’re told the flight’s been cancelled and they re-book us for Friday at 2:00PM.
They offer us the Hampton Inn Hotel, but I’ve already booked the Wynn through a deal I have with them while I was waiting. They’ve booked us on a flight out at 2:00PM on Friday.
Bonus Round – Compare and Contrast the Wynn vs. Venetian
We taxi over to Wynn and check in. This time we’re put on a strip facing room on the 25th floor with a nice view.
Here are the points of contrast between the two rooms:
- Wynn’s view was obviously nicer, but that just a function of the location of the Venetian room. I’m sure there are rooms with a nice view at the Venetian, but we’ve stayed multiple times at the Wynn and never had a bad view.
- The outer doors at Venetian are lighter i.e. the door to the hallway and the door to the adjoining suite. This means more noise comes through these doors vs. the Wynn.
- The toilet door in Wynn doesn’t cover a sink in the bathroom unlike the Venetian
- Nice vanity in Venetian vs. a vanity mirror on the stupid shelf thing or shaving mirror attached to the wall at one sink at Wynn
- Bigger bed in Venetian vs. Wynn
- Worse mattress in Venetian vs. Wynn
- Bigger living area and a couch in Venetian. Wynn now has two swivel chairs and a small steel and glass table by the window. No couch.
- Small round sitting table at Venetian vs. larger round sitting table at the Wynn
- Guest fridge at Venetian. No guest fridge at Wynn.
- Toilet smell at Venetian vs. never having had that at the Wynn. We did have a leaky toilet at the Wynn once though.
- My wife found the carpets thicker at the Wynn vs. the Venetian. Again I find that odd given they just had a renovation at Venetian
- Stronger water pressure at Wynn vs. Venetian. The shower was particularly noticeable for water pressure difference.
Gambling Bonus Round – Masochism at Its Finest
I’d used the rest of the gambling budget cash to offset the cost of the Venetian room so I wasn’t expecting to have an opportunity to gamble again. I got out $600 USD from the ATM Friday morning and we both tried our luck at the Palazzo’s $1 9/6 JoB Spin Poker offering. Needless to say our negative energy soaked into the machines and we each lost $200 in fairly short order. Starting out with 3-line and dropping back to 1-line when we saw our fate coming. Oh well. Easy come. Easy go…or not since we hadn’t flown home yet.
Flight Out 2 – If at first you don’t succeed. Try, try, again.
Our flight was booked for 2:00PM Friday, but things started out poorly for Porter Airlines when I got a text notification at 10:30AM saying it was delayed to 2:45PM. We called Porter’s help line to get some confidence that we’d actually be able to fly out that afternoon and got no such assurances.
We headed out to Harry Reid Airport just after checking out at 11AM and when we got there they refused to take our checked bag. They said they’d be able to take it at 12:00PM. We went back to check in and again they refused saying the time’s been stretched out to 12:45PM. Things are starting to look dicey. There’s a group of us waiting and at 1PM a manager comes out and says that they’re having logistical troubles getting crews and a plane to fly us out and that he’ll know more at 2PM. Supposedly a plane was available in Phoenix to replace our doomed plane from yesterday, but they needed a crew to fly it. Also they were hoping flight attendants would be available for us from an incoming flight from Toronto. It was not to be. There was freezing rain overnight in Toronto which delayed all flights out.
They agree to take our bags at 2PM, but over the course of the afternoon delay notifications come in regularly. A delay to 4:00 PM, then 7:00PM, then 8:45PM, and finally 10:45PM. Meanwhile an evening flight is due in from Toronto which will turn around and become a red eye back to Toronto. They cancel the people on the red eye and basically give the flight to all of us waiting thereby angering a completely new set of passengers.
We finally board the plane at 11:05PM and land in Toronto at 6:10AM the next day. Now my next gamble will be to try to pry compensation from Porter Airlines for the 9+ hour delay on Friday. I wonder about the Thursday flight, but the legislation is such that “safety reasons” get them out of jail free as far as compensation goes. I suspect I’ll have a fight on my hands.
Conclusion
We enjoyed the official part of our trip which was Sunday to Thursday despite all the gambling losses. The weather was great. We got to check out the Venetian for the first time. Entertainment and food was good despite inflation really showing up on the strip. I got my wife’s birthday present squared away early.
I did not enjoy the bonus time in Las Vegas and it really sapped my energy for Las Vegas. It’ll take me a while before I’ll be ready to return.
The one interesting thing to come out of the gambling was that we made Sapphire tier at Venetian and Gold tier at Red Rock. It’ll be interesting to see what offers come to us as a result.
I think I prefer the Wynn over the Venetian, but really they each have their points. Ultimately which ever hotel is giving us the best deal will be the one we’ll go with in the future. Speaking of the future…
This is the Last Time
This will probably be the last March Break trip report from me (although never say never). I’d booked this trip as our usual Winter getaway in September of 2025 when my wife was still working. Unfortunately she had a tough situation teaching through the Fall and she came home one Friday in December and said, “I’m fed up! Run the numbers and see if I can retire.” I ran the numbers (as I have been for a while) and told her yes indeed she could retire. We’ll have to slow down some home improvement projects we’ve got planned, but overall we’ve got more than enough saved.
This means we’ll no longer be forced into vacations or travel at those times open to teachers – summer, Christmas break, and March break – and instead we can travel when it suits us and it’s cheaper in flights, hotels, etc. I won’t miss getting squeezed by the NASCAR race or the NCAA Basketball tournament at March break or a big convention like CONEXPO-Con/Agg.
I’m sure there will be more Las Vegas trips in my future. They just won’t be at March break.
--helpmespock
Flight Out
We booked Porter Airlines for cheap way back in September for $600 CDN per person which is a pretty good deal these days. The flight out was supposed to be at 9:35AM, but they updated the flight time to 10:05AM. That meant we could sleep in that much later. Unfortunately a snow squall blew in early morning and all through our drive to the airport turning it into the worst drive to Toronto airport we’ve ever had on our March Break trips. Snow packed down such that there was only 1 lane with clear tracks to follow out of three lanes. I took it slow sometimes as slow as 60 km/h on a 100 km/h highway, but we made it to the airport without sliding off the road. We passed several vehicles on the trip that had slid into a ditch and saw the aftermath of a serious multi-car accident on an off-ramp on the other side of the highway. The trip was starting out nervous and tense. I guess this was foreshadowing of how the trip would end.
Weather
We drove to the airport in a snow storm, but the weather in Las Vegas was fantastic. The lowest daytime temperature was 29C (84F) and it hit 33C (91F) by Wednesday. I wore shorts a bunch of times and we even got to the pool on Tuesday afternoon the weather was so good.
The Venetian
We grabbed our rental car and headed over the Venetian. We’re usually Wynn customers, but there was some convention going on Tuesday and Wednesday so the Wynn never offered us much of a deal. I think the best it got was $1260 USD for the 4 nights for a Wynn Panoramic King Suite. I’d gotten a players card for Venetian/Palazzo last year and their prices mirrored the Wynn’s for most of the time, but about 4 weeks before the trip the Venetian lowered their prices such that we got 4 nights for $760 including tax and resort fees.
The room was their standard King suite and it is largely on par with the Wynn’s King suite. I got a King suite in the North tower on the 8th floor.
I believe the square footages between the two are roughly comparable, but the layout and use of space is different. The hallway into the Venetian suite is narrower than Wynn’s.
The bathroom layout is smaller, but still has a nice shower and tub. There is a nice large double sink area too just like the Wynn. The toilet is separated into its own closet-like area like Wynn, but the door to the toilet area opens into the bathroom area covering one of the two sinks. Wynn’s door opens into the small toilet area so both sinks at the Wynn are always available. The Venetian bathroom features a nicely lighted vanity area with a seat away from the sinks that I think is new with the recent renovation. My wife liked this feature of the Venetian. The Wynn’s vanity is gone after their renovation and been replaced with a multi-tiered shelf area. My wife says that a man must have done the Wynn renovation given that redesign feature. Our toilet smelled of urine the whole time we were there and we had housekeeping in every day. I suspect they need to use an enzyme solution to get rid of the smell.
The bedroom is next with the closet beside the bed. We thought the bed in the Venetian was larger than the Wynn’s which meant the bed area feels more cramped especially with the closet there. There’s a bench at the foot of the bed which was nice to be able to sit at to get socks or shoes on. Against the wall is a credenza which duals as the spot to put your suitcase to unpack. Wynn has two of those foldable suitcase stands stuck in the closet. The credenza also has motion sensors so that a light comes on underneath when you’re walking around it. I found that feature annoying when getting up to get cleaned up in the bathroom while my wife tried to sleep in. I try to play a bunch of craps and blackjack early in the morning so that light would come on as I tried to navigate the room. My wife didn’t like the mattress in the Venetian as she felt it was too soft. I also found it soft which is strange since presumably there would have been all new mattresses put in for the renovation last year.
Next there is a railing area and steps down into the living room. There’s a night light that I couldn’t see how to turn off on those stairs and that annoyed me when I was trying to sleep. I get that they’re trying to prevent falls on those steps at night, but still annoying. The living room features a large corner couch that I believe can be folded out into a bed if multiple people are staying in the room. There’s a small table by the window and another credenza that contains the for-purchase snack items and beverage fridge. However the other side contains another fridge for your own items. This is a much appreciated feature as we bought water, yogurts, and other items to keep there.
There are two TVs in the room. One in the bedroom area and one in the living room. We briefly turned on the Academy Awards on Sunday night, but quickly turned it off. The award we watched was for sound editing and score and the delivery was so wooden and the jokes so forced that it sucked any interest we had in watching.
The view out our window was terrible. It featured concrete pillars and building walls. You could sort of see a chunk of the strip if you went to one side, but that view was equally unimpressive.
Diversions – Food
We ate at Denny’s beside Casino Royale on Monday morning and both had the traditional Grand Slam breakfast with juice and coffee. I believe I got one extra item in my breakfast. It cost $67.17. Inflation has really hit hard.
We went to Marche Bacchus on Monday night. I believe it has changed hands to a more corporate outfit back in late 2024. They’ve put their stamp on the restaurant now and you can see it the moment you walk in. Gone are the quaint wooden racks of wine with review clippings stapled beside each option. All the wine’s been pushed to racks that flank a large seating area of tables for 2 to 4 people. It looks very sterile to me. Luckily the patio area beside the lake is largely unchanged.
We shared the charcuterie board and my wife had the trout and I had boeuf bourguignon. We make Julia Child’s boeuf bourguignon and the Marche Bacchus take was different. It’s a solid chunk of beef that’s braised and served with carrots and mashed potatoes rather than as a stew. We both though the food was a solid 7 out of 10. We’ve had better meals there, but this was still good.
We chose a Spanish Rioja called Gran Faustinol 2004 as our wine largely on our own. Gone are the little tasting notes and reviews to help you. We stopped one of the staff to help, but he re-directed us to the manager who was unfortunately so busy that we never got a chance to flag him down to help pick something. Serendipity entered the picture and the bottle turned out be a very good all rounder. It was good just by itself, very good with the charcuterie, good with our mains despite them being fish and beef, and even good with dessert.
Overall I think Marche Bacchus should find its footing with new owners and staff in place. At least I hope so.
Tuesday at lunch we stopped by Tacos El Gordo. We were there early – about 11:40AM – but it’s here where it hit us that the strip isn’t as busy as it has been in our prior trips. I know it’s a lull before the NCAA basketball tournament, but the north strip just seemed emptier overall than in previous years. There was no lineup to get in and half the stations had no line or just one person in front of you. The food at Tacos El Gordo never disappoints. We had the spicy pork tacos, the beef, and I had a chorizo too. 7 tacos and 2 drinks cost $37 and change. Again inflation seems to have crept in everywhere.
Ditto Walgreens pricing on the strip has crept up. I’ve often grabbed a couple yogurts, two bottles of juice, and a muffin or fruit cup for a cheap breakfast for two after morning gambling activities. That cost me $19.86.
Diversions – Vegas Golden Nights
We went to the Buffalo vs. Vegas Golden Knights game on Tuesday evening. We drove down to the Aria self-park and paid $20 for parking during the game. Unlike the north end of the strip, it was busy in the south end. We went into Park MGM and grabbed supper and did a little bit of gambling before the game. It was St. Patrick’s Day so the cheerleaders were dressed in green, and he PA announcer would sometimes use an Irish accent. The trivia contest was also a true/false questionnaire about St. Patrick’s Day lore.
My wife wore her Mitch Marner Toronto Maple Leafs jersey. Marner now plays for the Golden Knights. A few people did a double take and razzed her about the jersey, but it was all in good fun. There were a ton of Buffalo fans down for the game too. We’ve had a bad winter up around the Great Lakes so I’m sure those Buffalo fans were all glad to get away from Winter just like us.
We were seated very close to what’s called “The Fortress” where the live drummers and cheerleaders perform. They also do their fan contests and other entertainment from there. There’s some down time in a hockey game for TV commercial breaks and they do a good job of entertaining during the lulls. We’ve been to several Toronto Maple Leafs games too and Las Vegas does the entire game entertainment better overall.
The game itself was OK. The players didn’t have a lot of jump. Shots were 25 to 29 for the Knights, but the score was 2-0 for Buffalo. The first goal was late with just 1:58 left in the 1st period where the Golden Knights goalie stopped the hard around, but then bobbled the puck and just as he was getting back in the net Buffalo’s Josh Doan banked the puck off the back of the goalie from behind the net. The last goal was an empty netter as the Knights tried to press for the equalizer with 6 skaters.
We had fun at the game and next time we’ll probably look to see the Maple Leafs play there.
Diversions – Shopping
We didn’t do much shopping this trip. I bought a couple V-neck shirts from Macy’s for Men and some Jack Black body lotion that’s hard to find in Canada. The purchase of note was my wife wanted to go to Hermes. Last year on our European Cruise we went on a bus trip to Milan and I purchased her a scarf from Louis Vuitton for our anniversary. She suggested that I buy her a scarf every year for her birthday which is how we ended up at Hermes. She picked a green scarf called “Please hold the line” in the 100cm square format. I let her wear it to dinner at Marche Bacchus, but it is now safely in its box awaiting her birthday in May.
Gambling – Craps and Blackjack
During this trip I called Craps “Des” and Blackjack “Troy” and together they destroy. I had exactly two sessions of craps and one of blackjack where I came away up. Two of the three were the first gambles on Sunday night at TI. I played a very short session of craps and came away up $15 and switched over to a nice $15 minimum blackjack table and walked away up $10 after a half hour.
I played craps and blackjack each morning of the trip and lost. The morning sessions were split between craps at Venetian with a $15 minimum and blackjack at TI with either a $10 or $15 minimum.
Monday craps was a lot of back and forth switching between don’t pass and pass line to no avail. Blackjack it was lose 2 hands for every 1 I won.
Monday afternoon was my only other winning session of craps. I played at Red Rock Casino and played pass line exclusively and rolled out the Small/Tall/All bet. I won the Small side and was a 9 and 11 away from the Tall/All before the 7-out. I walked away up $100.
Tuesday morning I stuck to don’t pass the whole way and it was choppy where I had a 7-out on 4 or 10, but made the point on everything else which meant I slowly bled chips away. Tuesday blackjack was a little different in losing. Here I held my own on straight up hands, but splits in particular were brutal. I was playing with an older woman who said she’s been playing blackjack for 50 years and in one memorable hand I had a pair of 2s against a dealer 4. I split and got another 2 so I split again. I then proceeded to get three face cards for three hands of 12. Unfortunately the dealer had a 5 behind and drew an 8 for 17. The woman who had played for 50 years exclaimed, “That was brutal!”
I also got in a session of craps at Park MGM. I played don’t pass with two other fellows beside me and for a while we were up as all three of us never made a point, but then the dice moved to the other end of the table and things turned such that I ended up down $200 for the session.
Wednesday morning sessions were split. I broke even at craps after an hour and a half playing don’t pass. Blackjack was a different story. I rolled out $300 at a $10 minimum and proceeded to lose 2 hands out of 3 and pushed a lot of the hands where I wasn’t losing. Doubles were particularly brutal here too. I wasn’t getting 10s on my doubles which left the dealer to string a bunch of small cards into 20 or in many cases 21. Ugh!
Wednesday afternoon we were downtown and I played a short session of craps at the Circa at a nice $10 minimum. I quickly lost $200 with no points made in 4 shooters.
Thursday morning the losing continued. I played pass line the whole time and also rolled out the Small/Tall/All bet in the middle looking for the long shot and managed a point of 4 with the Small side only missing a 6 before I had the 7-out. After that nobody could make a point and I quickly washed out from there. Blackjack was a little better in that straight up hands I won 2 for every 3 I lost, but I had better luck with splits and doubles. I pushed a bunch of the splits and finally started winning doubles with a fair amount of dealer busts. This meant I only lost $100 Thursday morning at blackjack. Moral victory I guess given the trip results.
Gambling – Video Poker
Video poker was a bright spot in an otherwise dark landscape. I had decent luck, but my wife (who doesn’t like to play craps or blackjack) had great success playing 9/6 JoB.
Venetian and Palazzo have $1 9/6 JoB Spin Poker games in their high limit rooms. We’d mostly play a single line, but when we were having a good run we’d switch to 3 lines.
We had a short session Sunday evening where I was even, but my wife made $20.
On Monday, I’d lost $700 in my morning sessions of craps and blackjack, but my wife won $400 at video poker and I won $100 after breakfast. Nothing special seen in the video poker session. We’d hit a straight, flush, or full house before getting down too far and we’d cash out any small wins that were $25 or more above our starting point of $100.
We also played at Red Rock on Monday afternoon for $0.50 on the 9/6 JoB machines and here we also had good luck. My wife won another $100 and I won $50. She had the bigger win on the back of two 4-of-a-kinds during the session. Again we wouldn’t get down very far before getting a flush or full house to bring us back.
Combined with the craps at Red Rock win we were actually up $95 for the trip.
Tuesday my luck turned on video poker, but my wife got even hotter. I lost $300 in the after breakfast session at Venetian, but my wife hit two straight flushes on the $1 JoB Spin Poker machines that morning. Between my losses at blackjack at TI and craps at Venetian and Park MGM plus my video poker play I was down $1100, but my wife managed a $500 win so we were only down $505 overall.
Wednesday our video poker luck turned. My wife lost $200 in the after breakfast session and I lost $100. This session featured a lot of low pair holds that never amounted to anything plus far fewer big hands like straights, flushes, or full houses to get you back in it.
Wednesday afternoon we went downtown to play the $0.50 9/6 JoB machines at Four Queens. Here my wife’s luck really turned. She lost $400 in three hours. She did manage to hit a four-of-a-kind in queens at Four Queens though. 8-) I held my own based on 3 four-of-a-kinds that Wednesday afternoon, but I was only up $60 after that session. By the end of Wednesday we were down $1,645 overall.
Thursday I lost $300 playing video poker at the Venetian after breakfast, but my wife managed to pull out of her slump and won $125. She played a mix of 1-line and 3-line doing it and managed a four-of-a-kind in the 3-line play that led to the session win.
Overall Gambling
We were down $2,120 for the trip by the end of Thursday morning. I do have two sports bets outstanding though. I put $20 down on the NY Jets to win the AFC championship at 100 to 1 and $20 for the Jets winning the Super Bowl at 200 to 1. Those that know the history of the NY Jets will know the likelihood of my 2026 gambling losses climbing to $2,160 are high.
Flight Out – A Different Kind of Gamble
The flight out from Las Vegas to Toronto was supposed to leave at 12:40PM on Thursday. We got to the airport and onto the plane by 12:30PM. We then start taxiing for takeoff when the pilot comes on the PA and says, “We’ve got a error in the cockpit we need to go back to a gate”. We head back to the gate and get maintenance onboard and they actually have to shut down the entire plane. Someone yelled out, “What is this Microsoft Windows?” The re-boot didn’t work so they had to de-plane everyone to work on it. We wait two hours and re-plane only to taxi out and have the same thing happen again. We de-plane for the second time, but this time we’re told to exit the secure area and go to the ticket counter and await further instructions. We wait another hour by the ticket counter where we’re told the flight’s been cancelled and they re-book us for Friday at 2:00PM.
They offer us the Hampton Inn Hotel, but I’ve already booked the Wynn through a deal I have with them while I was waiting. They’ve booked us on a flight out at 2:00PM on Friday.
Bonus Round – Compare and Contrast the Wynn vs. Venetian
We taxi over to Wynn and check in. This time we’re put on a strip facing room on the 25th floor with a nice view.
Here are the points of contrast between the two rooms:
- Wynn’s view was obviously nicer, but that just a function of the location of the Venetian room. I’m sure there are rooms with a nice view at the Venetian, but we’ve stayed multiple times at the Wynn and never had a bad view.
- The outer doors at Venetian are lighter i.e. the door to the hallway and the door to the adjoining suite. This means more noise comes through these doors vs. the Wynn.
- The toilet door in Wynn doesn’t cover a sink in the bathroom unlike the Venetian
- Nice vanity in Venetian vs. a vanity mirror on the stupid shelf thing or shaving mirror attached to the wall at one sink at Wynn
- Bigger bed in Venetian vs. Wynn
- Worse mattress in Venetian vs. Wynn
- Bigger living area and a couch in Venetian. Wynn now has two swivel chairs and a small steel and glass table by the window. No couch.
- Small round sitting table at Venetian vs. larger round sitting table at the Wynn
- Guest fridge at Venetian. No guest fridge at Wynn.
- Toilet smell at Venetian vs. never having had that at the Wynn. We did have a leaky toilet at the Wynn once though.
- My wife found the carpets thicker at the Wynn vs. the Venetian. Again I find that odd given they just had a renovation at Venetian
- Stronger water pressure at Wynn vs. Venetian. The shower was particularly noticeable for water pressure difference.
Gambling Bonus Round – Masochism at Its Finest
I’d used the rest of the gambling budget cash to offset the cost of the Venetian room so I wasn’t expecting to have an opportunity to gamble again. I got out $600 USD from the ATM Friday morning and we both tried our luck at the Palazzo’s $1 9/6 JoB Spin Poker offering. Needless to say our negative energy soaked into the machines and we each lost $200 in fairly short order. Starting out with 3-line and dropping back to 1-line when we saw our fate coming. Oh well. Easy come. Easy go…or not since we hadn’t flown home yet.
Flight Out 2 – If at first you don’t succeed. Try, try, again.
Our flight was booked for 2:00PM Friday, but things started out poorly for Porter Airlines when I got a text notification at 10:30AM saying it was delayed to 2:45PM. We called Porter’s help line to get some confidence that we’d actually be able to fly out that afternoon and got no such assurances.
We headed out to Harry Reid Airport just after checking out at 11AM and when we got there they refused to take our checked bag. They said they’d be able to take it at 12:00PM. We went back to check in and again they refused saying the time’s been stretched out to 12:45PM. Things are starting to look dicey. There’s a group of us waiting and at 1PM a manager comes out and says that they’re having logistical troubles getting crews and a plane to fly us out and that he’ll know more at 2PM. Supposedly a plane was available in Phoenix to replace our doomed plane from yesterday, but they needed a crew to fly it. Also they were hoping flight attendants would be available for us from an incoming flight from Toronto. It was not to be. There was freezing rain overnight in Toronto which delayed all flights out.
They agree to take our bags at 2PM, but over the course of the afternoon delay notifications come in regularly. A delay to 4:00 PM, then 7:00PM, then 8:45PM, and finally 10:45PM. Meanwhile an evening flight is due in from Toronto which will turn around and become a red eye back to Toronto. They cancel the people on the red eye and basically give the flight to all of us waiting thereby angering a completely new set of passengers.
We finally board the plane at 11:05PM and land in Toronto at 6:10AM the next day. Now my next gamble will be to try to pry compensation from Porter Airlines for the 9+ hour delay on Friday. I wonder about the Thursday flight, but the legislation is such that “safety reasons” get them out of jail free as far as compensation goes. I suspect I’ll have a fight on my hands.
Conclusion
We enjoyed the official part of our trip which was Sunday to Thursday despite all the gambling losses. The weather was great. We got to check out the Venetian for the first time. Entertainment and food was good despite inflation really showing up on the strip. I got my wife’s birthday present squared away early.
I did not enjoy the bonus time in Las Vegas and it really sapped my energy for Las Vegas. It’ll take me a while before I’ll be ready to return.
The one interesting thing to come out of the gambling was that we made Sapphire tier at Venetian and Gold tier at Red Rock. It’ll be interesting to see what offers come to us as a result.
I think I prefer the Wynn over the Venetian, but really they each have their points. Ultimately which ever hotel is giving us the best deal will be the one we’ll go with in the future. Speaking of the future…
This is the Last Time
This will probably be the last March Break trip report from me (although never say never). I’d booked this trip as our usual Winter getaway in September of 2025 when my wife was still working. Unfortunately she had a tough situation teaching through the Fall and she came home one Friday in December and said, “I’m fed up! Run the numbers and see if I can retire.” I ran the numbers (as I have been for a while) and told her yes indeed she could retire. We’ll have to slow down some home improvement projects we’ve got planned, but overall we’ve got more than enough saved.
This means we’ll no longer be forced into vacations or travel at those times open to teachers – summer, Christmas break, and March break – and instead we can travel when it suits us and it’s cheaper in flights, hotels, etc. I won’t miss getting squeezed by the NASCAR race or the NCAA Basketball tournament at March break or a big convention like CONEXPO-Con/Agg.
I’m sure there will be more Las Vegas trips in my future. They just won’t be at March break.
--helpmespock
March 22nd, 2026 at 11:20:41 PM
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Quote: helpmespock<snip>We ate at Denny’s beside Casino Royale on Monday morning and both had the traditional Grand Slam breakfast with juice and coffee. I believe I got one extra item in my breakfast. It cost $67.17. Inflation has really hit hard.<snip>
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helpmespock,
I really enjoyed reading your trip report! Thanks for taking the time and effort to write such a detailed account.
I had a question about the quote above: is $67.17 a typo? I haven't been to a Denny's in quite a while, but I recall their breakfasts cost about $15 each.
Dog Hand
March 23rd, 2026 at 5:34:49 AM
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Quote: DogHandQuote: helpmespock<snip>We ate at Denny’s beside Casino Royale on Monday morning and both had the traditional Grand Slam breakfast with juice and coffee. I believe I got one extra item in my breakfast. It cost $67.17. Inflation has really hit hard.<snip>
link to original post
helpmespock,
I really enjoyed reading your trip report! Thanks for taking the time and effort to write such a detailed account.
I had a question about the quote above: is $67.17 a typo? I haven't been to a Denny's in quite a while, but I recall their breakfasts cost about $15 each.
Dog Hand
link to original post
I believe the breakfasts were $16 each plus I had an extra item for $2 plus two juices @ $5 and two coffee @ $4 for $52 plus tax plus we gave an 18% tip which worked out to $67.17 USD. That worked out to $94.62 CDN for Denny's at $1.40 CDN to $1 USD in exchange.
I think the above and the other prices quoted in the trip report are a big reason why many folks are saying, "No" to Las Vegas resulting in a 7.5% drop in visits in 2025.
--helpmespock
March 23rd, 2026 at 6:37:51 AM
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My wife told me I forgot a very important compare and contrast between Venetian and Wynn:
- My wife says the shampoo and conditioner at Venetian makes her hair frizzy. The Wynn products do not.
--helpmespock
- My wife says the shampoo and conditioner at Venetian makes her hair frizzy. The Wynn products do not.
--helpmespock
