Happy new year to you and to everyone.
I was at Caesars, and yes I was at Katy Perry concert. I was right at the end of the runway, literally eight feet from her.
Here is some more info: The dinner that Caesars put out for its "special invited guests" was mediocre at best. In fact, it was disappointing. At Caesars table limits were lower than what I expected -- craps was at $25 and in years past the table minimums were 50 or 100. We did go outside for the fireworks show on the strip -- it lasted the usual 10 or 15 minutes but maybe I'm just getting older and am not impressed easily anymore, but I thought it was better the last time I was in Vegas for New Year's about six years ago.
And as I expected maid service was lacking, literally. The funny thing is when I called down for extra towels and soaps and tissues and shampoo they were promptly delivered, but the next morning the maid who came to clean the room for the day REMOVED all of the extras that were delivered the night before.
There was no New Year's gift. For year's Caesars delivered a gift to your room. It was usually something nice worth maybe $100. In the casino at midnight, there was no champagne for the players, no party hats, no countdown... unlike years past.
Perhaps the funniest thing was that on the side of Harrah's on the Strip there was a countdown to midnight. And as the seconds counted down to midnight... ten, nine, eight... a sign promoting the new Linq project moved up the electric sign. And then as the countdown hit zero for midnight did the sign flash happy new year? NO. At that moment the Linq promotion reached the top of the sign.
Gambling report: I won money playing craps. I even hit four points on the Fire Bet. I ran into Ahhcraps who I have known for years and he recently joined our Forum. Ahhcraps passed by the table as I was working on my fifth point -- but I didn't make it.
Video poker sucked. I played Bonus only and NEVER got quad aces, twos, threes or fours but I did get multiple quads of 9s, Ks, Js, 10s. How ironic that I never got a quad of the big payoff cards.
The casino was not especially crowded during the New Year's celebration time -- Dec 30 through noon today, New Year's day, and some of the dealers told me it was not as busy as years past.
By the way, I was late going to the New Year's eve dinner which preceded Katy Perry's concert. So I walked thru the casino at about 8pm and it was DEAD. There were four players at one craps table and at the other six tables the dealers stood with their hands clasped behind their backs. At the blackjack tables and roulette and carnival games there were maybe a total of half a dozen players. The slot machines nearby were empty as well.