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When I learned that the Tropicana was getting rid of its Island Buffet, I was disappointed.  I used to enjoy the buffet, and I used to schedule visits around the Bird Man shows.

Since the Trop has been without an all-you-can eat venue for awhile, I was somewhat heartened to learn last week that their new Italian restaurant, Bacio, was instituting a new weekend “brunch” buffet.  Of course, I had to try it, and yesterday I did exactly that.

The new Bacio buffet is somewhat interesting from a logistical perspective.  You are seated inside, but in order to get your food, you have to go back out of the front entrance to the exterior of the restaurant .  Of course, this is the reverse of how most buffets operate.  It reminded me a little bit of wearing one’s clothes backward, like Kriss-Kross circa 1993.

Don’t even act like you weren’t down with the Migetty Migetty Migetty Migetty Mack Daddy.

Whatever happened to those guys?  Are they still alive?  I mean, one minute they’re everywhere, the next minute … anyway ….

Aside from the curious setup, the food itself was actually good.

Myself and my special date arrived for the breakfast portion of the “brunch”, which meant that all of the food was standard early-morning classics.  Eggs, waffles, bacon, sausage, croissants, muffins, fruit … what more could you ask for in breakfast food?  My personal favorite serving was the scrambled eggs with feta cheese and tomatoes.  I crushed some apple-cured bacon into the eggs, and I was good to go.  For “desert”, I downed mini-waffles with vanilla syrup.

For ten bucks, it was hard to go wrong.

As a serial “sampler” and the most impatient person on the face of the earth, I still prefer buffets to sit down restaurants where I have to get someone’s attention for every little request.  I like the DIY setup of high-quality buffets, and I always get more than my money’s worth.  Besides, buffets are a Vegas tradition.

Both my hostess and my waiter were extraordinarily nice, and the experience was positive.  Unlike the MGM, Excalibur, and Luxor buffets surrounding it, the Bacio buffet is a very small, quiet, intimate buffet.  It’s perhaps the smallest one that I have ever seen.  This is not a bad thing if you want to avoid the crowds, waits, and hassles of mega-buffets.  It’s good to have options, and Bacio is a solid one for a “first meal of the day” experience.

After getting my fill of breakfast food, I went downstairs to hang out by the pool for a little while.

By the time I got water-side, it was about 11am and 90 degrees, but the pool was not crowded at all.  This is not surprising given that it was the weird time slot after most people check out and before most people check in, and it gave me an opportunity to walk around and check everything out from all angles without wading through people.

Now, I don’t know if it is just me, but the “new” Trop pool does not look appreciably different from the “old” Trop pool.  The new one has a “cleaner” layout, but if anything, I might actually prefer the old version just slightly.  The older one was a bit more “tropical”.  You have to realize, however, that I have spent an entire decade … the last 10 summers … lounging by the Tropicana pool, and when I develop a familiar favorite, I tend to resent any change.  Hell, I taught one of my kids to swim at the Tropicana pool.  That’s how familiar the place was to me.

The biggest thing I miss from the “old” pool is the swim-thru waterfall.  I really enjoyed it.  Swimming through it, under it, behind it.  Where I’m from (which happens to not be a rainforest), there just weren’t many waterfalls, and this was a favorite feature of mine.

The “new” Tropicana pool is not bad by any stretch of the imagination (like I said, it’s not that different), but in my opinion … it wasn’t broken to begin with.  When something is already nearly perfect, making changes to it is probably not the greatest of ideas.  I guess pool parties are the wave of the future, though, and my guess is that the Trop pool is being scored to accommodate more of a beach club atmosphere than an alt.favorite tropical paradise.

Given that it’s the Trop, I may very well try the new “Nikki Beach Club” to see if I can get down with it.  I mean, I’m a jet-set hip and gorgeous person. Right?

I guess we’ll see.

As if it were not obvious, I’m really trying to go above and beyond to like the new and improved Tropicana.  My loyalty is theirs to lose.

The garden areas of the pool courtyard are looking very nice, but of course, there is also a great deal of construction going on at the Trop from front to back.  Nobody has found a way to invisibly remodel a property yet.

Now for a little bit of bad news.

In my quest to solidify my Tropicana vs. Golden Nugget decision, I decided to call the Trop this weekend to inquire about booking a room.  In particular, I wanted to ask about resort fees.  I didn’t think they had one, but I wanted to double check.  As it turns out, they do have one.  The fee is lower than most, but it is there.

The reservation agent informed me that a fee of $7.99 would be added to all room rates, and when I asked what the fee included, she informed me that it included use of the phone, fax machine, fitness center, pool, and “parking”.

This was a relief, because if there is one thing I am sick and tired of, it’s paying for parking in Strip hotels.

I later did some online research to make sure I heard her correctly, and I found the following on the site:

Incidental charges: Tropicana charges a $7.99 per room, per night resort fee, which covers the cost of access to gym, two free drinks on property, unlimited local and 800 calls and use of the pool and jacuzzi. Tropicana charges a $5.50 baggage handling fee for all group arrivals. The hotel requires a credit card or a cash deposit for incidental charges. The resort fee listed above does not include tax. Some resorts also apply room tax to their resort fee.

As you can see, there is no official mention of parking as an amenity, but the fee does exist, along with a baggage handling fee for “groups”, although the word “groups” is not defined.

After hanging up with the Trop reservation line, I called the Golden Nugget to inquire about resort fees, and was told there were none.

This is a very compelling deciding factor for yours truly.  It’s not that I cannot afford resort fees, it’s that I despise them on principal because they are dishonest and they prevent a direct comparison of room rates from one property to the next.  Properties should be able to compete based on their advertised rates, and resort fees are a cheap ploy where the fine print taketh away what the big print giveth.  Frankly, I’m not 100% convinced that these fees are legal in the method they are being applied.  They seem to blatantly violate unfair and deceptive trade practice laws.  They are legal landmines, and I’d like to see them challenged at some point.

In any event, I’m ready to book the Nug but I’m holding off for just a bit longer.  There is still plenty of time between now and August for someone to surprise or disappointment me.  It happens all the time.  As soon as I book the Nugget, they’ll announce some kind of “running water” fee for all new check-ins, and shortly afterward the Trop will announce topless french maid service beginning in late July.

If there is one thing I can guarantee, it’s that whatever you hold to be true about any given property will change when you least expect it.  Also, a new contender may arise between now and then.

Anyway, it was an overall nice Sunday at the Tropicana.

For the duration of my visit, not a single person asked me for a cigarette, spare change, nor did they solicit me to take a picture or buy club passes.  I almost got dinged by the escalators by what appeared to be time share drones, however.  They tried to stop me, but I just kept walking.

If the Trop can get rid of those guys, I can overlook the waterfall and call it even.

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