Has anyone done it? We wanted to do this last time we were in Vegas but failed to find the road leading down to the marina...well if we passed it we certainly wont going back to look for it (time was an issue with the schedule of the tour), so we wound up just walking around the dam and snapping pics like happy lil' tourists.

But we want to do something that will be enjoyable for all three of us, that will get us off the strip for a bit. I wish we had time/money to spend a full day going to and from the Grand Canyon (next time!).

Its pretty inexpensive compared to some things to do. I think it will wind up being like $50 for the three of us and its like an hour and a half long. I thought our daughter would get a kick out of the big "Mark Twain" style boat.

Our to-do list includes:

The Fountains

The Tiger Habitat

The Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat

Stratosphere Tower Observation Deck (again, last time it was windy enough to shut the rides down and ya got blown around so we couldnt go outside!)

Fremont Street Ex. (although we've it enough, I could skip it personally)

The Forum Shops (never been must go MUST GO! hehe)

Our definates are always M&M World and the Coca Cola Store (hubby works for CC and only for my lil' booger will I pay $8 a lb. for purple and pink M&Ms!)

I think all that is enough to fill our days! Our daughter really wants to see the dolphins so I know we cant get away without doing that this time.

So anyway, if anyone wants to chime in and let me know if they've taken the lake tour, is it worth it or should we skip it for the other things on our list?

Jen (who always has 800 questions hahaha)

I have been on the Desert Princess three times. Once on the late night dinner dance cruise, not recommended for kids, but highly recommended for adults, it's a three hour tour.

Twice we have been on the early dinner cruise with the kids and it was an hour and a half long cruise. Better cruise with kids than the late one.

All times were very enjoyable both with the kids and without them.

Note that the location of Lake Mead Cruises has moved over to Horsepower Cove next to Las Vegas Boat Harbor. It is no longer in the cove that Lake Mead Marina is currently located in.

The best way to get to Lake Mead Cruises is to go through Boulder City, like you would go to the dam, and turn off at the Alan Bible visitors center. Follow the road down through the entrance station and then take the first right after the entrance station. Continue down the road toward the lake and turn off at the first right, dirt road, and follow it around to the parking lot. You'll see Las Vegas Boat Harbor on the left and Lake Mead Cruises on the right. There are signs along the road that direct you to Lake Mead Cruises.

And if you happen to be there on a weekend when we are out on our boat, we might meet up with you. We keep our boat in a slip at Las Vegas Boat Harbor, next to Lake Mead Cruises.

Thanks Ralph! The directions help and I will be printing them out and making sure they make the trip with us, just in case we do decide to go. If we do, it will probably be one of those afternoon cruises. No chance of shaking the kiddie for a nice adult evening cruise just yet. But thats ok, she's young and I really get a joy out of seeing everything through her eyes. Now when she is 12, 13... and gets tired of hanging out with ol' mom and dad then we'll talk adult trip and fun in Vegas...haha.

Thanks again! You made it sound worth it to do it. I just thought it would be neat to see the lake and the dam from a different perspective this time! And she's never been on a boat so it's sure to be fun.

Jen

Have a great time, it's a nice cruise no matter what time you go. If you go on one of the day cruises on a weekend, there's a good chance y'all will see us going around the Desert Princess with the lil' Cajuns in tow on a tube showing off to the tourist.

Let me tell you about seeing things through the kids eyes. We just got home from a concert at Sunset Station, Grand Funk Railroad. The last time I saw them was 29 years ago when I was 17. We took the lil' Cajun's, 13 & 16, and watched them act like we used to act when we were their ages.

Maybe I should borrow the lil Cajuns ..so I can see Las Vegas through teenage eyes.

LOL Cajun sounds like your teens had a grand, funky time..hehe!

Im definately looking forward to the boat tour now...although I love the strip and all the glitz and excitement, our last trip out to the dam was a nice break to slow down and regroup, so Im hoping taking the boat will do the same!

Jen

Daisy.....You can borrow the lil' Cajuns as often as long as you desire. That would be a nice break for Mrs. LVC and I, heck we may even pay you to borrow them for a night or two. :p

Jen.....If you know ahead of time what day and what time y'all are going on the cruise, drop me a line and let me know. If we are at the marina at the same time we might see you.

The lil' Cajuns are also going to the Eagles concert in August with us, that should get their teenage hormones rock 'n' rollin' too.

Hey Cajun, I know our dates are 8/11 - 8/14...arrive on Monday, leave on Thurs. Im trying to think back the cruise we tried to catch last time..I think it was like noon or 12:30. Have to check their websites for times again. Ya'll probably wouldnt be down at the lake during week though, huh.

Im sure the kids will love the Eagles. Im disappointed again, our chosen dates, nothing is going on really..unless we wanna catch Tom Jones..cough cough. Mandalay has like the Go-Gos and Pat Benetar lined up but not when we are there

Oh well..just means spending more time siteseeing and losing money in the slots! :p

Jen

YEP....You gonna miss us, my days off are Fri-Sun, sometimes I do go down to the marina in the evening after work, just to make sure the beer is still cold in the fridge on the boat. :p

You'll miss the Eagles by two days, they will be here on the 9th. I'm sure y'all will still have a great time sightseeing. There's plenty to see and do around here outside the casino.

Have you considered Wet 'n' Wild also. My kids have their season passes for the place and they go 2-3 times a week. They are old enough that we can leave them alone. We give them enough money for food and drink, and they spend the day there while we are at work.

Hehe gotta check on that precious cargo huh! lol

Our friends talked about Wet N' Wild but our daughter is 5 and she isnt fond of the water just yet, so as far as that goes expense-wise and time-wise, its not a good value for what she would do..and I can guarantee she wouldnt do anything. Now their son, of course he would..he's 6 and all boy. But for us, for her...thats something she'd probably be interested in when she's a bit older. She only barely likes to get into shallow ends of pools. So I think our water adventures are limited to the hotel pool..lol

But either way no doubt there will be fun to be had!

Jen

Wild Angel, the highlight of every trip for me, is the side trips to the natural sights. I do it early in the trip to make sure i get it in. But i agree, it can also be a good break from the casinos in the middle of a trip.

What you'll see on a map as a very easy to follow loop, starting at Boulder Highway and driving East on Lake Mead Drive, is a really enjoyable side trip for a day or half day.

I stopped at Lake Las Vegas, then drove down Lakeshore Rd., the scenic route along Lake Mead and stopped at Cajun's marina where i was looking forward to having a beer and watching what was going on at the marina.

I went in the aftenoon on a Wednesday, it was about a half hour before nightfall and the stores were closed at the marina, so no beer lol! But it's a great place in a beautiful setting and interesting walking around checking out the boats.

There were a couple of families on the floating walkway leading to marina and the kids were feeding the fish. The fish looked huge to me, for being that close to shore, and i asked one guy if he knew what kind of fish they were and what they might weigh. He said they were carp and the bigger ones were about five lbs. Just a thought, but your daughter might get a kick out of feeding the fish while you're there.

From the marina, i went to the Hacienda casino nearby, got some bottled water, checked the Red Sox World Series line (6 to 1, anything under 12 to 1, no way) and drove East through Boulder City towards I-215 and the Strip, at night.

Maybe, the most often asked question about Vegas is, what are the "don't miss" sights. IMO, one of them would be the natural sights. But for everybody, if you haven't done what might be the least mentioned "don't miss" Vegas sights, next trip, don't miss driving on one of the elevated interstate highways in Vegas at night. The Valley lighted up, The Strip, absolutely spectacular.

Ed.....You need to plan your trip to the marina when I'm there, I always have cold beer on the boat. :p

Jen.....Ed has a good point about feeding the carp at the marina. The kids love it, they cannot get enough of watching the carp go into a feeding frenzy when you toss some popcorn in the water. Plan ahead and pick up some bags of popcorn on your way to the lake. They have popcorn at the marina store, but it also has marina price tags on it.

Last year when we had one of our BIG dock parties at the marina, I popped 40 pounds of popcorn at home. Took it all out to the marina and gave each kid their own 13 gallon bag full of popcorn. They threw so much popcorn out there that the carp got full and actually stopped eating. No kidding, there was left over popcorn still floating on top the water, that was the only time I had ever seen the carp stop feeding.

I can understand your position on Wet 'N' Wild. If you do want to consider some kind of water park for the little one, other than the hotel pool, there are the county rec centers too. One that my kids go to is just off I-515 and Russell Road, Whitney Ranch Center, they have a small scale water slide park area more suited for smaller kids and the cost is ony $3 per person to get in.

Wow Cajun, thanks for the info! $3..excellent price..haha. Really, I mean right now I cant see spending $60 for us to get into Wet N' Wild when I probably wouldnt participate (me and swimsuits dont mix hahaha), our daughter wouldnt do much and well, her daddy would quite enjoy himself though.

Well since Vegas is your home, is it pretty mellow mid-August? I mean Vegas always has visitors I know that, but considering school will be starting back up around that time, I would think its certainly not going to be too bad.

Jen

Schools around here will be starting up around the last week of August. Most of us look for air conditioned places to stay in, kids usually don't seem to be bothered by the heat and will play out in it all day if you let them.

I spend more time on the boat in the slip in Jul/Aug. With only a 50 foot power cord, I'm not going to far away from that 110 volt outlet that powers my air conditioner and my fridge full of cold beer.

Since y'all are going to be here Mon-Thu, the crowd factor and the August heat usually tames the place a little more. But there are the die hards that can bare the heat and will be out there with you.

Well, Im not a fan of heat but considering we live in Southern/Central California, what can ya do? We've had a week or more (or so it seems) of triple digits..I think it reached 105 the other day..woowee we've cooled down to a whole 97 today haha, only to be back at 100 for the 4th. I already know our daytime activities in Vegas will be indoors for the most part (unless we are lucky and catch some decent weather! anything over 95 and I'll be inside until dark haha). Its really gonna depend on the weather how much we get out and about WALKING. I dont mind driving place to place and taking full advantage of valet parking though! hehe.

You're so right about kids being oblivious to the heat! But I used to be too, I think its all part of being a kid...just as my mother used to say, one day they'll know what its like from a parent's perspective! when their kids are begging them to go outside when its 100 degrees or driving them bonkers about bedtime..haha. (which is exactly what my daughter did..she was wide awake until 2am!!! Oh not a fun night.haha).

Jen

Ralph, sounds great!

Jen:
We've been on the Lake Mead cruise two or three times in the afternoon on non dinner cruises. It was fun....think you would enjoy either the dinner or non dinner cruise. Ours lasted around an hour 1/2 also.

Susan

Thanks Susan (and everyone else for responding!)..we are definately looking forward to it. I had found some pics on someone's webpage of the boat on the lake and all. Our daughter got all excited and wants to go on the boat "in the ocean" too..haha. Of course we had to discuss the difference between lake and ocean but hey, she's interested, so we're sure to have fun. Ive bought her her own inexpensive camera for this trip too, so she is sure to take plenty of pics from a 5yr old's perspective. Should be interesting. And it sure beats her throwing a fit to use mine and it will be good for her, to have her own photos of her trip.

Anyhoo...thanks again, sounds like this is a must do on our trip!

Jen

Jen.....The lil' Cajuns infomed me of another new rec center that opened up across the street from Green Valley Ranch Station (I-215 & Green Valley Pkwy). They say it's even better than the Whitney Ranch Center I mentioned in a previous post, and the cost is $2-$3 per person to get in. It's right across the street from GVRS, you cannot miss it from the freeway. Might be worth taking the little one there for a few hours some day and there is a casino with a movie theater right across the street.