Recent DEN-RNO trip

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Casinocim

Lead Service Attendant
Joined
Aug 16, 2008
Messages
295
Location
Colorado
Hello all.

After being fairly cooped up with the pandemic my mom(79) decided she wanted to go on a trip to Reno, for gambling.
I was a little leery but I'm always ready for fun.

I booked us a bedroom both ways. I had a $400 voucher that really needed to be used so we paid about $1300 roundtrip for our bedroom.

Our train was held in Denver until 10:00AM due to work being done. We arrived at 8:30, took our bags to check them in and then could board right then. The nice guy in baggage offered to take my mom to the train so we wouldn't have to wait in the station for another ride to the train, not enough room for me so I walked, it felt good, I always need it.

We headed to the dining car for breakfast. Every other table blocked off for seating, staggered on the other side, no shared seating. We had the Flexible dining, not much to offer for breakfast or other meals. I had already eaten at home so I ordered a blueberry muffin and blueberry yogurt. I thought the prepackaged muffin to be super sweet and did not eat it, the yogurt was Chobani Greek. There wasn't anyone else in the dining car, attendant was nice.
I'll put this here, we found upon sitting at a table to eat, the tables were not wiped off. So much for extra cleaning.

Our bedroom was fairly clean but really thinking it would have been scrubbed down and it was not. I wiped everything down with my disinfectant wipes. Was surprised our bedding blankets were not in plastic, hoping they were clean and not used. Pretty sure we had the same male attendant on a previous trip and remembered he was a little lazy. He did bring more water when asked and made our beds down, he was friendly.
Our room was on the cold side, I brought gaffer tape, which is much nicer than duct tape, and taped a towel over the vent and that helped. I ended up covering the whole vent in tape and every crack and cranny we could feel air coming out, the tape was bright pink. My mom stays really cold on trains. Thankfully I did not get hot with everything covered up which tells me it was super cold in the bedroom.

For lunch we both chose the chicken fettuccine. I thought it was tasty but I don't mind frozen dinners at home. It was served with a mini salad, warm roll, drink and dessert. Dessert choice was the same on both legs, blondie toffee brownie with chocolate chips, super chocolatey brownie or sugar free vanilla pudding. Both brownies were good. I thought we had plenty of food but I think if you were a really big eater it might not be enough.

We saw a lot of trees changing colors, not sure if we were in the peak season though, you would think we would know being from Colorado. Some areas and the colors were beautiful. We got several 'moons' on the river 😄.
My mom could not get comfortable in the bedroom during the day or night but she did lay down to take a nap which I was then able to get in my zone with music and watching the scenery go by. I don't think my mom understands just sitting and watching out the window, for almost the whole trip.

For dinner we had braised beef, it was okay, served with mini salad, warm roll, drink and dessert.

I slept fairly good, I think our attendant turned on some heat for the night. He said the heating controls work in the bedrooms, I have always assumed they did not. I really didn't check that the heat came on since turning the dial to warm. But anyways, it did get warmer later on.

For breakfast I had the breakfast sandwich with no cheese, I didn't like it, the sausage was a little spicy and had a yogurt. I can't remember what my mom had but you don't have much choice.

I think we arrived in Reno about 10:30ish. I ordered an Uber to take us to our hotel, in the past there have been taxis waiting, not this time.

Reno was fun, we stayed at the Grand Sierra. As we walked in the casino we headed straight to check in and that is where our temperature was taken. This made no sense since anyone could come in to the whole check in area and casino and not be checked. Our room was ready which was nice. We played the slots all day. I don't think their machines were distanced enough, some were super close all over the casino, most people wore masks here, I rarely saw someone with the mask under their nose. The casino became super busy at night. Sanitizer and wipes available around the casino.
On Sunday(our arrival day)they had some of the machines shut down, they were updating for a new players card. Didn't think much of it until our second morning and I noticed most were still off and they had shut down about half of the rest of the machines in the casino. Since that is what we do, play the slots, we chose to check out and stay at the Atlantis. On Monday we had gone over and played at the Atlantis for most of the day so when I called to move over there my mom had played enough so we were able to get free rooms in the Concierge Tower. I love those rooms, you have access to the lounge which provided a continental breakfast and snacks in the afternoon and evening.

Difference in hotel rooms, at the Grand they were not going to come in at all to the clean the room, at Atlantis it was everyday and could have been just in our tower but not sure. I don't need everyday but on a vacation it sure is a nice treat.

We visited the Peppermill, Nugget in Sparks and downtown at the Row. All of the casinos were clean, people were fine and few people during the day. At the Nugget and it was not busy at all so I didn't see a huge issue with it but there were several people who were not covering their noses and mouths with their masks. I didn't see anyone asked to cover properly by employees there. At all of the casinos but the Grand, they had plexiglass in between the machines which was nice.

The best meals we had were at the buffet at Atlantis, all of the stations were set up but the employees filled your plate. Limited menu at the cafe in Silver Legacy. All restaurants had distanced seating.

We mostly used Uber to get around, all had masks on. One car had a plexiglass shield in between the seats.

I had a great time and it was really nice to be able to have fun. I was not ready to come home.

Our trip home was about the same. The train was about two hours late. In the station we chose to sit upstairs closer to the restroom for a while. My mom has trouble breathing in her mask so once in a while she would take it down, get some good breaths and then put her mask back on. She was told quite a lot in the casinos to put her mask back on, she said she was really tired of being told what to do. Anyway back to the station, sitting upstairs, very few people coming in, a man in overalls came in, no mask on and went down the stairs. Probably 5 minutes later a conductor came up and told my mom to put on her mask to protect his employees. I understand the why's about wearing masks but I wondered if the overalls guy was the engineer for the train and he is the one who told on my mom, if it was, wasn't very cool since he wasn't wearing a mask. And there was a man downstairs who never had his mask on. A note here about train employees wearing masks, anytime going through the diner when it was not meal times the employees did not have their masks on, they put them on when you came in, same in the lounge.

Our bedroom attendant was nice. The room seemed clean but still wiped down. Our blankets were in plastic. I actually slept very well.

Meals were unappetizing this leg. Dinner out of Reno, everything was luke warm, the salad, salad dressing, and entree. I had the chicken fettuccine again and not good this time, it was not hot. Kind of gross. Chicken marsala was edible, the attendant said to put pepper on it which helped. I had the breakfast sandwich again, not sure why), this one was made with a biscuit and a little better than the english muffin one on the way out. The attendant sure was super nice but again, we would sit down and tables not wiped down.

3 hours late getting in to Denver. Redcap to ride to the station was available.

It was a nice trip, I'm glad we went. Not sure if it was the greatest idea with the virus but I have mixed feelings about it. We don't go out much and don't see many people so are just keeping a distance from them. I had a dentist appointment I cancelled and will wait a couple weeks to go in, thought that was only fair.

We have decided no more trips until we don't have to wear masks. I did fine in them but my mom struggles.

Thanks for reading.
 
So, did you leave Reno wealthy or in debt?😃 Been a while since I have done any gambling, but it sounds like you had a good time!
 
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