The Mirage

...On our honeymoon tour of the States we decided to only book rooms in the places where we were going to be spending more than one night and just wing it the rest of the way. Las Vegas was definitely going to be a two night stay so we started to have a look at brochures and online to have a look and see what was on offer. We wanted something luxurious but couldn't quite afford the Bellagio so decided on the Mirage instead.

There were ...
...quite lovely from the pictures we had seen and although it was pricey, it wasn't out of our league. It is also the home of Siegfried and Roy's white lions and tigers and to be honest we seen the spoof comedy series, Father of the Pride, and thought it would be quite something to see them for real. My hubby also has a big fascination for tropical fish and as soon as he heard about the 53-foot long aquarium that is situated behind the front desk, he ... more

***The Background***

On our honeymoon tour of the States we decided to only book rooms in the places where we were going to be spending more than one night and just wing it the rest of the way. Las Vegas was definitely going to be a two night stay so we started to have a look at brochures and online to have a look and see what was on offer. We wanted something luxurious but couldn't quite afford the Bellagio so decided on the Mirage instead.

There were a few reasons for choosing this hotel. It looked quite lovely from the pictures we had seen and although it was pricey, it wasn't out of our league. It is also the home of Siegfried and Roy's white lions and tigers and to be honest we seen the spoof comedy series, Father of the Pride, and thought it would be quite something to see them for real. My hubby also has a big fascination for tropical fish and as soon as he heard about the 53-foot long aquarium that is situated behind the front desk, he was literally hooked on the idea of staying in this hotel.

***The Location***

Las Vegas is quite literally the gambling centre of the world. By day it looks very cheap and tacky but at night, as the lights go on, it becomes a magical and beautiful walkway of model versions of cities within a city. The Strip is a four mile section of Las Vegas Boulevard and The Mirage is situated in a central position with Caesar's Palace to the left and its sister hotel, Treasure Island on the right.

Driving along The Strip is exciting but very busy and to be honest a bit of a nightmare with all the traffic lights, but approaching for the first time, it means you get to have a good look around at the hotels on the way. Signs for the car park into The Mirage are easy to spot and the traffic light system meant that we could easily pull in. I say easily but it probably took us around 30 minutes to get from the MGM end of The Strip to it. We arrived on a Thursday at the beginning of August and although the weekends are traditionally the busiest times, it was extremely busy then too.

***The Parking***

You can choose valet parking if you prefer but we decided to park up ourselves. The car park is very big and has security cameras throughout. There is also a security guard on the front but this hotel will let anyone park in the car park so be aware of this when leaving things in your car.

One thing that did surprise us is that parking is free to everyone who wants to park there. We had been warned that a lot of hotels charge for parking and it can be anything up to $20 per day so it was nice to know that something we had budgeted for would treat us to something else during our stay.

Getting to the hotel from the car park was relatively easy using the elevator for going to reception or the overhead walkway to get straight to the casino and rooms.

***Checking In***

I wasn't as tired, as when I arrived at the Westin St Francis in San Francisco so I immediately noticed the luxurious surroundings, as we entered the hotel. Reception was busy but due to high staffing levels, it was only a few minutes before we were standing in front of a very polite and friendly young woman who was ready to see to our needs.

As we were chatting, she asked us what had brought us to Las Vegas and after mentioning we were on our honeymoon, she immediately offered us an upgraded room with a pool view, which we of course accepted. She gave us the electronic door key cards and reminded us not to put them close to mobile phones or credit cards as this could stop them working. She also told us to be very careful with the mini-bar, as it was very sensitive and if you lifted or moved anything from it, you would be charged for it.

She then wished us a good stay and directed us through the casino to the room elevators at the back of the hotel. We could not have asked for a better start.

We soon realised that getting our bags through the casino area wasn't going to be that easy despite them being on wheels, as it was very busy and I did think that this wasn't the best organisation in the world. I mean I can see the point of having guests walk through the casino to get to restaurants etc but having to struggle through the crowds with luggage isn't the easiest.

***The Room***

Having battled through the casino we were delighted to find lovely clean elevators to take us up to our room. Different floors had different sets of elevators so it spread out the guests well and meant that you never had more than a minute's wait on one.

As we entered the room we could see that it wasn't quite as luxurious as the St Francis. It didn't have the beautifully thick white quilts but instead a padded flowery throw, which I think is pretty standard for hotels in the States. We didn't really mind this too much as it was a king bed and was very comfortable too.

The room was lovely but it just didn't seem to quite go together very well. The carpet clashed with the quilt cover and whilst the bedside cabinets were of a dark wood style, the bureau and television cabinet were of a redwood colour. The wallpaper and curtains were of a beige colour that sort of matched but not quite. I got the feeling that the décor hadn't really been thought out as well as it could have been and things had just been placed there.

The room was certainly spacious though and the full-length mirrors combined with the large windows really filled the room with natural light during the day. The bathroom wasn't the largest but did have lovely beige marble worktops and tiles. It was also lovely and clean and had some gorgeous freebies including bath and facial soap, shampoo and conditioning hair masque and body butter, all in a lovely lime scent and designed by Gilchrist and Soames in London. There was also a little beauty pack, which contained some cotton buds and cotton pads for cleansing. Available for use was of course a hair dryer and extra toilet roll, should we need it. I wouldn't normally mention the toilet roll but to my amusement it had hearts and flowers on it, which seemed very appropriate for our honeymoon stay, although hubby thought the sun had gone to my head by this point.

Near the bathroom there was a cupboard with hanging space and included a safe, iron and ironing board. This was one thing I really liked about hotels in the States, as the iron seems to come as standard and you don't have to specially ask for one like some hotels over here.

Also provided in the room was of course coffee making facilities along with glasses and an ice bucket. We ended up using the ice bucket for keeping soft drinks cool rather than for bottles of bubbly and this was made easy by the ice machine at the end of the corridor.

***The Hotel Facilities***

I'll start with the casino, as it is in Vegas after all. As any gambler would expect there are a wide range of machines and tables to go to in this vast area. There are high roller rooms available if you like to bet thousands or for those more cautious people you can bet a dollar at a time at some of the blackjack tables. There is also a large sports bar betting section where everything from soccer to chariot racing is shown on screens around the room. We aren't really gamblers but we were intrigued to watch people and it seemed quite funny to see that the happiness of the small time occasional gambler winning $10 gave more pleasure than those putting serious money down. I have a bit of a fear of getting a bit too carried away so we only had a go at some of the slots and stayed away from the tables. After all, we still had over a week left of the honeymoon and I wanted to keep enough money for LA.

Normally there is a full spa open for residents but this was closed for renovations at the time of our visit. This did not really bother us but I did overhear one guest complaining at the front desk, as she had specifically booked to use the spa and had not been told of its closure. She was told that special rates had been allocated for treatments to be done in her room instead but she seemed disappointed by this.

The pool looked amazing but again we just didn't manage to fit in time to go to visit it. Room keys must be shown for entry. There is also a private adult pool available with VIP treatment but this costs you for entry too so we weren't able to have a look at that one.

Concierge services and room service are also available and there is a menu with lots of delights to choose from. We did not actually try the room service out at the hotel or use the concierge service so can't comment on them.

The thing that did disappoint hubby was that the aquarium he had been so interested in seeing had been closed the week before for renovation and would not open again until November. Unfortunately we could not afford to stay that long for the reopening so he missed out.

What we did like though was that there were a number of different types of places to eat in the hotel and they ranged from reasonably priced pasta and pizza place to a highly expensive restaurant. We ate at the pizza place on the first night and thoroughly enjoyed both the service and the food, as well as the constant refills of coffee. After all, to survive Vegas at night you definitely need all the caffeine you can get.

The Cirque Du Soleil have a Beatles show on in the Mirage and I believe that special rates are given for residents but we didn't actually have time to catch this show, which was a little bit disappointing for us, as it looked very good. Other acts there that weekend were Jay Leno and Danny Gans.

If you are up for a night of dancing and partying, then Jet is worth a look too. My feet weren't up for that after spending two nights of our stay exploring The Strip at night but it has three different rooms to cater for everyone's musical taste.

The Tropical Rainforest is one thing that is hard to miss in the hotel as tall palm trees and tropical flowers give a heady scent as you walk past the casino. This area has waterfalls and a fine mist of water to keep the plants fresh so is the ideal place to come to cool down after the hot summer heat outside.

The viewing section for the white tigers is open to everyone who wants to visit and this large glassed area is a very popular viewpoint. They are only on view at certain times of the day though, as they have a much larger area to roam about in backstage in the Secret Garden enclosure. Whenever we passed this area they always looked very content and sleepy, just like normal cats really. The colours are really amazing with their black stripes really standing out against the white background of their fur. Their cool blue eyes and pink noses add a little bit of colour to them and they do look very cuddly although I'm not sure I would want to get too close to them, as their smile looked quite sinister.

The Secret Garden has lots of different animals to see that are part of an important conservation and breeding programme. There is really too much to talk about within this hotel review though so I'll be doing a separate one later on about it. This area does have a charge for both residents and non-residents.

The Volcano is situated outside the hotel and erupts for all passers by to see on the hour, every hour from 8pm to midnight during the summer months. It is open a couple of hours longer in the winter due to the sun going down sooner. This feature is a mixture of fire and light displays with water constantly changing colour throughout the display. It is really worth having a look at if you get the chance.

***My Thoughts***

The Mirage wasn't quite as I expected it to be, but that's not to say I didn't enjoy the experience. Obviously going to Vegas is mostly about gambling and although we're not gamblers ourselves, we did find it interesting to see how others reacted to winning and losing. This really opened our eyes as to how easy it would be to get addicted.

The facilities were gorgeous and the interiors of the hotel lobby and tropical areas were beautiful. It seemed a lot less tacky than some of the hotels that we had a look around whilst visiting the city. The Secret Garden was really worth the entrance fee and the Volcano was a little added bonus too.

The room was a little bit disappointing though despite it being an upgrade from a standard sized room. The colour scheme just didn't quite work and nothing matched, as you would expect in a top hotel. Saying that, everything was lovely and clean and we found no fault there at all. The view of the pool was ok but it wasn't as spectacular as the surrounding buildings like Paris and Caesars Palace at night. The corridors between rooms were spacious and decorative with large tables with flowers decorating them throughout.

Outside was beautiful with lots of pools surrounding the volcano area with stone dolphins and other statues within the lush area of palm trees and tropical flowers. There was also quite an impressive but strange bronze statue of Siegfried and Roy with a tiger.

Shopping is also impressive with lots of stores within the hotel including designer such as Donna Karan and there is also a store dedicated to buying souvenirs specifically designed to remind you of your stay at The Mirage.

One thing I was really impressed with was the number of places to eat. No matter whether you just wanted an ice cream or a full 3 course special dinner, there were outlets all over the hotel. The California Pizza Kitchen served up delicious food and the service was fantastic. It was really reasonably priced too and all of the eateries in the hotel can charge the cost directly to your hotel bill.

***Prices***

We stayed on Thursday and Friday nights at the beginning of August and paid through a travel agent along with our flights and other main hotels so I cannot give you a breakdown for this but I have done some checking and for a deluxe room at a similar time next year with a pool view or a volcano view would cost $199 dollars per night for two people. For a normal room it is $20 less. I have been told that booking in advance, especially at the weekend, is a great idea, as they often put prices up at weekends for people arriving on the off chance of a room. 

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