Some 20, maybe 25 years ago, I did an all-inclusive vacation in Cozumel, Mexico, and the food was just horrible. Every morning we would wake up, walk past the line at the breakfast buffet and out to the front door to the taco stand outside our hotel. Then we would drink beer all day, get dressed for the evening and walk off the grounds again and go to one of the restaurants in town. Ever since then I’ve never really figured myself as a resortist.

A resortist is someone who spends all their time at the resort. They don’t venture outside the walls, don’t waste time running all over town exploring offerings beyond the confines of their compound. And I’ve heard of people doing this, especially at all-inclusives in Mexico, Jamaica, or other Caribbean destinations. In this sense, I didn’t become a resortist until just this last get-away at Mandalay Bay.   Whereas normally we check into our hotel, enjoy the room, and then the next day, we’re out and about, seeing the sight at other hotels, this time we did things a little different. This may have been aided by the fact that we did not drive and instead flew into Vegas. So without a car, we were less prompted to leave the Mandalay Bay resort. And for good reason. Mandalay Bay is huge, a true resort. All sorts of dining options, casino options, drinking options. You name it, and they have an option for it.

So for one of the first times ever, we stayed, for the most part, entirely within the confines of Mandalay Bay. Friday night we land at McCarran Airport and head over to The ‘Bay. We check in and are feeling a little snacky, so we stopped at the convenience store at the base of the hotel elevators. We pick up a bag of chips and some cookies to enjoy with our bottle of champagne that we picked up at the airport. Comparing prices here, there about the same as what we paid for the airport so we could’ve paid for the whole thing right here. Oh well, we have a quick snack and since it’s still relatively early, 11:00pm, it’s down to the casino tables.

The next morning  we wake up and head down to The Beach. This is one thing I truly love about Mandalay Bay, The Beach is one of three pools and the Mandalay Bay resort for folio. It’s an actual beach, a couple of million cubic feet of sand imported from Southern California to give a true beach feeling around a man-made lake with a wave generator. We hang out, cabana girl comes over, we order some beers, some Hamburger sliders and fries. That should hold us until evening.

For dinner we get dressed up head down once again to try our luck. We spend a few hours trying to find a hot slot machine, but it eludes us. Nancy is in the mood for Chinese food so we had upstairs with wander over to the Luxor Casino, which is connected to Mandalay Bay, and head to Chopstix, Asian fair on the second level. The restaurant is quiet, but I do like the fact that it is open to the walkway in the Luxor. This gives both a little alfresco feeling and a chance to watch people milling about. The food is just average is good for Chinese, but it gets the job done.

For breakfast Saturday morning, we head downstairs and Nancy wants to take a look at the offerings in the Mandalay Shops between Mandalay and Luxor. They have everything along the walkway: Burger Bar for fantastic burgers by Hubert Keller; Hussong’s Cantina for Mexican memories best forgotten (remember that time in Mexico and we were do shots and…); Boiler Room by Rick Moonen for classic comfort food; but we’re in the mood for breakfast, so I’m thinking the luck of the Irish be with us, and we stop at Ri Ra for breakfast. What could be better prior to heading out to Exotics Racing for one in the McLaren, then a good Irish breakfast with a nice cold Smithwick‘s? I order the Benedict, and it is perfect. Nancy has a Salmon Bagel, and she’s in heaven with it as well. The guys next to us order the Irish Bangers, and they can’t stop high-fiving each other as to how good their food is. That’s a good sign, looks like it’s a thumbs up.

After a hard day of racing, we make a stop back at the Cosmopolitan, and spend a couple of hours trying to find a hot slot machine. And we do! But of course as soon as it pays off, we feed the hungry little monster a good chunk of our winnings, so we decide it’s best to leave and head back to Mandalay Bay for dinner tonight before we lose it all.

For dinner Saturday night it’s Red Square, the Russian vodka ice bar that has a pretty tasty restaurant behind it. Where we sit down and are immediately greeted by the servers. I order nice the big tasty Gorba Chop, (a pork chop named after Gorbachov, get it?) and Nancy has the sirloin. Unfortunately, when the Gorba comes out and it seems to have spent a little too much time in the brine. The salt was too much for me and I had to send it back. The waiter graciously takes the plate and I order the SVO Chicken. The chicken comes up and it is quite tasty and a good replacement for the Gorba Chop. Nancy’s sirloin is just perfect, very tasty, and I’m kicking myself as to why I just didn’t order that. But when we go out dining, we always like to try different things, and this was Nancy’s turn to have steak since Lent was over!

It’s Sunday already, time to head home, but we figure one last meal before heading out for flight later in the afternoon. We decide to walk over to the Four Seasons and try the breakfast buffet at Veranda. The Veranda is advertised as the Italian restaurant offering, but since several people recommended it, we decide to see what it’s like for breakfast. After we walk in, we grab our plates, and are met with a disappointing array of heat lamps and chafing dishes. This is not the buffet I was expecting for $39 a person. There aren’t many times when I am truly disappointed by food offerings, but this actually was one of them. The food was very disappointing, although the restaurant itself is beautiful and the service is awesome. Very attentive in serving our Mimosa‘s. They just kind a left off the fact that they actually charge for the Mimosa‘s, not included in the $39 price tag. I tried the cute little skillets of Corned Beef Hash, and a little Chilaquiles, but  they look much better than they taste. This was unfortunately heat lamp food that comes across dry and flavorless. The one saving grace was the fact that they do have a omelette bar, but limited on the options. I do nothing more than order a Denver omelette: diced ham, onions, bell peppers, mushrooms and cheese. No crab, lobster, caviar, or any of the kitschy stuff that make Las Vegas buffets so spectacular. Oh well we had a great time every where else.

Before leaving we step outside to the Four Seasons pool, and bask in the sunshine. I look to Nancy and I realize this is our first trip being resortist. We spent pretty much 90% of our time in one resort location. And to be honest I rather enjoyed it. I’m looking forward to returning your June and being the resort is at the Aria Resort and Casino. They have such great offerings as Julian Serrano tapas, Javier’s for Mexican, Lemongrass for Asian, Carbone for italian, Bardot for French…oh my! And that’s not even including next-door at Crystal’s, where there’s Mastro’s Ocean Club, Wolfgang Puck has 2 locations, The Pub and much more. But that’s the point, as a resortist, I’m staying put in the Aria and enjoying everything within the confines of my castle.

To kick off the 2018 Chris and Nancy World Tour, we are heading to Vegas after receiving an invite from Mandalay Bay. Our first mistake, we are flying. Flying American Airlines. This means carry-on luggage, which restricts the amount of clothing options, so no Mega Packing. And as if this isn’t enough, our group is called to board, and we are stopped as the last of the the carry-ons, so they make us check our bags. And of course, we get on the plane and look at all the storage space we have, or would have had for our bags! Plus, if I wanted to check my bags, I could have at least packed a suit and more clothing options in case a dinner with Wayne Newton breaks out. Hopefully, the weather will turn out nice for early March and we will get some much needed pool time.

We get to Mandalay Bay to check in and I ask the clerk if any upgrades are available? The clerk responds that they are 90% capacity, March Madness starting and all, but they do have a junior suite available for just a mere $30 a night add-on. $30… let’s do it! After that stay at the Cosmopolitan, I’m all about seeing how the other side lives. We get up to the junior suite and if this is how the other side lives, stay on the other side. The clerk told us the room will be more quiet, because the previous room was an adjoining room, and that the junior suite has a very large bathtub. We thought that would be nice, but upon entry to the room, we see that the tub simply takes up half of the available space in the bathroom, therefore, making it a smaller bathroom, and…wait for it…yes, there is an adjoining door for this room. What? Well, it seems that all Mandalay Bay rooms are adjoining rooms.

Adjoining rooms are great when you’re with your family or friends, but when it’s little kids next door up and screaming at 7am, or party kids coming back to the room at 7am, not so cool if you’re a light sleeper like me.

The next morning, Nancy turns on the TV and a questionnaire pops up asking, “Are you happy with your room?” Nancy responds down thumbs down, and with that, we head to the pool. Today is going to be a wonderful 77°, but dropping 5° or so the next day, so let’s get our sunshine while it’s here. Perfect beach weather, and that’s one of my favorite aspects of Mandalay Bay, The Beach. Fun in the sun on the sand in the middle of the desert. On the way to The Beach, we get a call from customer service, a really nice woman, who offers us an upgrade to the executive suite. Executive suite! Oh yeah this is how we roll baby. Vegas baby Vegas!

We get up to the “executive suite”,  and it’s a beautiful room. Same sleeping arrangement, but with an extra space for an glass-topped executive desk and high-back chair, and an extra alcove area of about 200 ft.², enough for a full-size couch, two end tables and two chairs. What makes a really cool is that the space has a large floor-to-ceiling window looking up the strip. Daytime, the view is nice, but nighttime the view was awesome! The lights and colors of the strip starting with the golden Luxor, the color accents of the white Excalibur and Tropicana, the green of the MGM, and so on until you stretch all the way up through the blue balloon of Paris casino, it’s all is pretty cool. And just when we thought that view was nice, we head up to the Foundation Room on the 54th floor, and the view there is pretty spectacular. All this only made me wish I took the opportunity to do some Mega Packing so I could have my suit ready for this view. The polo shirt did not do it justice.

Waking up the next morning, I find the one fault, don’t I always, is that the building support takes up half the window space within the view from the actual room area. It would be nice if you could lie in bed and look out over the strip like this. But then, getting out of bed and sitting on the couch for the view is a nice alternative. But this also means that the room, even in daytime is still dark enough that you have to turn on the room lights. The entry foyer has only have one light so the entry is still kind of dark. And the room still has an adjoining door to the room next to it. So yes, when the college guys come home at three in the morning and are high-fiving each other for an awesome night, you get to live every moment along with them. And amazingly enough you get to hear them at eight in the morning get up to go grab coffee. Damn college kids, doesn’t anybody stay out until 6am and then sleep until noon anymore?

Overall the room is pretty awesome and we’re really enjoying it. We do like Mandalay Bay for it’s enormous size which has a variety of activities. Tonight‘s dinner is going to be at Red Square, and we realize that next time we stay here, or the Delano, we’re not gonna leave the building. Mandalay Bay has 16 restaurant inside the hotel! And that’s not including Charlie Palmer steakhouse over in the Four Seasons hotel, or spots like Ri Ra, I highly recommend the Irish Eggs Benedict for breakfast or the Lobster Burger at Burger Bar that are upstairs in the Mandalay Shops connecting it to the Luxor. Next time, it’s sit back and relax, and just enjoy the resort rather than casino hop all day long.