American Knights,Minstrels, kings and queens with a twist. (Excalibur Hotel and Casino)

Member Name: andycharger

Product:	Excalibur Hotel and Casino
Date:	05/07/01 (117 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good hotel, Lots of amenities

Disadvantages: Tacky

As some of you know, I just got back after a 2 week honeymoon to USA and Vegas was one of our ports of call.
We stayed at the Excalibur hotel on the vegas strip and here I will tell you about it and what and what not to do there.

Location.
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Like I said its right on the end of the vegas strip. Its about a 10 minute taxi ride from the Airport ($10-15) and is situated with some very nice hotels.
its on the corner of the Strip with New York/New York to its Left, Tropicana opposite and Luxor Nextdoor. Luxor is connected to the Excalibur by a monorail.

Exterior.
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Looks like a cross between the Walt Disney Palace and the Kremlin! Lots of dome type towers with a big moat outside.
At night, A monster rises in the moat. very tacky. Its brightly coloured and unmistakable. Its every Americans vision of what an "English Castle" must look like!
How wrong they are.

Reception/Services.
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you walk in through the long air conditioned tunnels and arrive to the front of the casino. Air conditioning is everywhere and you soon see why in this 110 degree heat! The Casino is in the middle and everything else surrounds it.
Reception or Registration as they call it is off to the left. The Bell besk is on the corner.
There are about 10 receptionists on at any one time to deal with guests in this huge 4000 room hotel. You still have to queue for about 10-15 minutes to be seen though. Not what you need after a long flight.
They are very efficient but rush you through to deal with the next person. A bit inpersonal I thought.

Rooms.
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very nice but still in the "castle" type theme with murals on the wall and room decoration to match. Basic but functional. 2 Double beds, TV, Air conditioning,
Private bathroom.
They are located in 2 "Towers". We stayed in Tower 1 and had a lovely view of a concrete Wall.

Casino.
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Every Hotel in Vegas has a Casino. The hotels are just built around them. All variety of slot machines, Card games, Dice, etc are available with A bookies and Keno available too!
Once you have been in one, you have been in them all in Vegas. Very similar wherever you go.

Eating.
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You have many choices in the hotel. There is a Burger bar/Coffee shop to one side of the casino. 2 Alcoholic Bars on the Casino Floor. Upstairs there is a donut shop, a MacDonalds, a restaurant and an all you can eat buffet.
Sounds good but if you do want the buffet, go next door to the Luxor as it is a much better buffet for your money.
This is all provided to keep you inside the casino. You would never literally need to leave the hotel in vegas if you did not want to. I did not like this, being inside all of the time. I felt trapped.

Amenities/Entertainment.
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They have a gym on site as well as a nice outdoor pool. This is located near the entrance to Tower 2 rooms.
They also have a travel desk to arrange local tours. We arranged a trip to hoover dam from there and it was a superb day.
Shopping for souvenirs can be done from the shopping centre upstairs too.
they have live shows nightly with Jousting and all sorts of "Knight type" things going on. Check for availability if you choose to do this.


Conclusion.
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If you want to stay in Vegas, one place is as good as another but I could not fault the hotel. Just be prepared to stay inside a lot and get lost as navigation around the building is hard due to the sheer size of the place.
Its also very tacky.

Summary: