Travel FanboyI don’t always need a fancy or high-tech room during my Vegas adventures. Typically, I’m just looking for a place to lay my head for a few hours a night. I don’t log many hours in the room, so a place to shower and sleep will suffice. This may be a product of staying in less than extravagant resorts. One place I guarantee I will never stay at again is the castle on the South end of the Strip. There are a few positives to be found on the property, but not many.
There was a hiccup with my reservation. I booked a basic room using a myVegas discount, knowing that I’d have an opportunity to upgrade to a contemporary room later on. They always send emails a few weeks after the booking. The email came and I accepted the upgrade. I was given a confirmation email in return, though was never charged for the room. My trip was split between NYNY and Excalibur, so I was checking in on a busy Friday. The line actually moved pretty quickly. This was good because I was in a hurry to get to the room, change, and make a family function. I got to the room and it turned out to be their basic room, not the contemporary upgrade I was expecting. At this point, I really didn’t have time to go back down and take care of it (I called and this is what the front desk asked). Since I wasn’t charged for the room and in a bit of a time crunch, I sucked it up and stayed in the brown nightmare.
Excalibur is a bottom tier hotel in the MGM Resorts lineup, likely on par with Circus Circus. There are no standards here. The furniture was incredibly worn. Decorative pieces were broken.
The shower featured extra hairs and a shampoo bottle left from the previous occupant. I’m actually thankful I didn’t have a blacklight; it’s probably better that I just didn’t know.
I try to keep an open mind and I was truly hoping Excalibur would surprise me, but this room is absolutely terrible. I’ve stayed in motels that were more comfortable. Don’t stay here. It’s not worth it. For a few extra bucks, hop over to the Luxor if you need a healthy helping of theming. Really, if you want to stay on the south end of the Strip, I’d suggest Tropicana. Rates are fairly low, a bit more than Excal, but it’s a better property overall. Plus, there is no charge for parking at the Trop.
Excalibur has the amenities expected for a “resort”, but they’re at the level expected for a hotel of this tier. The gym is suitable, but small. The pools, there are four of them, are acceptable but boring. There’s a place called the Fun Dungeon. This is either an arcade or diorama of the Buffalo Bill scene in Silence of the Lambs.
The food options are options, to be sure. If you’re feeling incredibly unadventurous, eat anywhere on the property. Chain Italian and an underwhelming steakhouse are the two culinary high points. You can also pay a waiter to be rude to you at Dick’s Last Resort. Hey, at least the food is bad. The remodeled buffet may be worth a visit if you really need to go to a buffet.
The place isn’t all bad, though. The casino and can be downright fun. It’s usually fairly crowded. Low limits will do that. There’s no playable blackjack, but there are plenty cheap craps tables to be found. The 24/7 shop is nice and an amenity that is lacking at many other hotels. Seriously, am I blind or do very few Vegas resorts have decent 24 hour stores? And…that’s about all the positivity I can muster about the property. I’ve had good times here in the past. Unfortunately, it looks like associating Excalibur with positive vibes is something that will remain a memory for me. It would take a lot for me to return in the future.
What are your thoughts on the Vegas Camelot experience?
Brown Sorrows
-
room
-
casino
-
service
-
location
-
low roller friendly
VFB Takeaway
Excalibur’s ‘3’ rating is due solely to its low roller friendliness. The basic rooms is terribly dated and worn. The casino can be fun, but the lack of decent dining options amenities make this a truly lackluster resort.
We’ve stayed there twice and are doing so again on our upcoming trip… (purely for financial reasons of course… flights from the UK are EXPENSIVE!). Anyway, sorry to hear you had a bad experience… I think it was probably down to the room more than anything. We have always had the more up to date rooms and they aren’t bad at all… definitely good enough for somewhere to lay your head at night. It certainly means the limited facilities elsewhere through the hotel aren’t that much of an issue.. I don’t think that other than at the now defunct sherwood cafe we have ever eaten there and the pool is good enough for a relaxing few hours. The room you got looked bloody awful though… will make sure I insist on a contemporary room when we check in at the end of the month 🙂
As always, love hearing your thoughts. I think had I received the contemporary room, this would have been a very different review. I actually think the casino is in a good spot. You have really quick access to Mandalay Bay and it’s not hard to get to center Strip. I’m confident you’ll have a much better room…I’m not sure it can get much worse. Keep me posted as to the room you get and your experience. I want to be sure to give Excalibur the full consideration it deserves!
So, we are back home now after spending two weeks in Vegas and I thought I should follow up on my previous comment. We stayed at Excalibur and it was everything we expected. We checked in late but got the room we asked for… a renovated contemporary room (not the nightmare room you received). Within ten minutes of being in the room the shower door and frame had collapsed onto my wife, the standard lamp in the room was broken/inoperable and there were one or two other issues to deal with. After nearly 24 hours of travelling we decided to deal with the problems in the morning. The front desk were kind enough to move us to a ‘newly renovated’ room in the old tower. Newly renovated really just means they have put a new carpet down and shoved some old furniture (from Mandalay Bay) in there. The room was fine for us (although the hallways…. bleurgh… I just closed my eyes and ran for the room every time we got out of the lift!). I must say that the staff at the hotel were exemplary… indeed customer service seems to have improved a lot over previous years. With the exception of the racist misogynistic homophobic driver that picked us up at the airport, even the taxi drivers were friendly (something to do with the threat of Uber perhaps?). MGM’s penny pinching was very notable… their hotels are definitely showing signs of wear and tear… even the Bellagio looks scruffy in places. Still, we had an awesome time and the Excalibur hotel served us well. Hopefully next time we visit our budget won’t be as limited so we can stay somewhere a little better, but on checking out we did get a little emotional as we really did enjoy our stay… and thats to the credit of the employees at the hotel.
So, we are back home now after spending two weeks in Vegas and I thought I should follow up on my previous comment. We stayed at Excalibur and it was everything we expected. We checked in late but got the room we asked for… a renovated contemporary room (not the nightmare room you received). Within ten minutes of being in the room the shower door and frame had collapsed onto my wife, the standard lamp in the room was broken/inoperable and there were one or two other issues to deal with. After nearly 24 hours of travelling we decided to deal with the problems in the morning. The front desk were kind enough to move us to a ‘newly renovated’ room in the old tower. Newly renovated really just means they have put a new carpet down and shoved some old furniture (from Mandalay Bay) in there. The room was fine for us (although the hallways…. bleurgh… I just closed my eyes and ran for the room every time we got out of the lift!). I must say that the staff at the hotel were exemplary… indeed customer service seems to have improved a lot over previous years. With the exception of the racist misogynistic homophobic driver that picked us up at the airport, even the taxi drivers were friendly (something to do with the threat of Uber perhaps?). MGM’s penny pinching was very notable… their hotels are definitely showing signs of wear and tear… even the Bellagio looks scruffy in places. Still, we had an awesome time and the Excalibur hotel served us well. Hopefully next time we visit our budget won’t be as limited so we can stay somewhere a little better, but on checking out we did get a little emotional as we really did enjoy our stay… and thats to the credit of the employees at the hotel.