Even though Celine was supposed to be the highlight of the weekend (my dreams were crushed by her sore throat), the highlight turned out to be the cabana at The Cosmopolitan Bamboo Pool. After years and years of trips to Vegas, we finally took the plunge and got a cabana. We have always toyed with the idea, but with 7 of us on this trip, the time seemed right and we were all looking forward to a day at the pool.
Cabanas aren't cheap. We have been quoted $500 to $1750 at various hotels and we could never justify the cost. We would much rather be gambling. Cabana fees vary depending on the time of year, what hotel you are at, and of course how trendy the pool is. Bamboo Pool at The Cosmopolitan is the more "quiet" pool. The Boulevard Pool is mainly people standing in the pool staring at each other and getting drunk. Nothing wrong with that, but I'm not 25 anymore. We were looking to relax, play some cards, drink and eat.
Normally the fee is just for the cabana and your food and drinks are billed on top of this fee as an extra charge. The Cosmopolitan plays a little different than other hotels. Whatever fee you get the cabana for turns into credit that you use for food and drink. This definitely sweetened the pot and made this cabana a little more reasonable. I [Steven] like a good challenge and spending $750 over 8 hours on food and drink was definitely a challenge I was ready to take on. The $750 that we got the cabana for was not the original price we were quoted, that price was $1,250. But we went down in the morning and showed our concern that the weather forecast was calling for thundershowers and we weren't ready to pay for something we weren't going to use.
We ended up with cabana #5. After we heading over to the Boulevard Pool the next day we think we got the nicest cabana out there and we definitely had the most useable space.
The cabana was awesome. It had an enclosed room with a ceiling fan, couch, TV and mini fridge. On top of the fridge was an ice bucket that was continually being refilled by our attendant and in the fridge it was stocked with three each of diet coke, coke, and sprite. All of which were included to start.
Outside of the cabana we had four lounge chairs, two seating areas, one which was table and chair and another that was a couch and table. Perfect for playing cards and lounging around while eating.
We started to chip into our $750 by ordering pitcher after pitcher of margarita or daiquiri. Some of us switched to cocktails, others to beer. One of us moved onto diet coke which after the first three were finished from the fridge was billable. Midway through the day we all ordered food and occasionally our attendant would update us on how we were doing. Take note that even though you get $750 in food and drink you are still required to pay for the taxes and tip which is included at the end for you on the bill. As we neared the end of our day and we were about to settle up our attendant let us know that we had some money left so we got some coconut water, red bull and diet cokes for the road.
The staff was awesome. We had Kristin and she was extremely attentive and nice. She was always there to take our order or pour us another margarita. We could definitely get used to this.
Our only gripe the entire day was the water misters. They turned on at noon for about 20 minutes and then they never turned on again. Sadly as the day got hotter we asked the manager to turn them on but it seems if the temperature doesn't get high enough or it is too humid they won't (or can't) turn them back on. Lucky for us the weather was simply perfect but it would have been nice to have some mist at times during the day. First world problems.
The Cosmopolitan is definitely becoming our hotel and casino of choice and this experience has definitely made us look forward to our next summer trip to Vegas.
