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| - I'm not quite sure why, as the Palms is not the celebrity magnet it once was in years past, but Ghostbar is actually becoming more strict on the rules and making it less attractive for us normal people to visit. Wife and I are out to have dinner at N9NE at least annually, and prior to summer '17, we'd always have a fantastic meal at N9NE then head upstairs to Ghost for some booze, photos and incredible views of the strip at night.
Fast forward to '17, there on a Friday night, 10pm hits and we're wrapping up at N9NE. Dinner at N9NE usually (perhaps always) includes free access to Ghost. Ghost opens at 10pm that night, so we're thinking perfect, we leave the restaurant and there's not even a line to get in, where in the past there'd have been 50+ people waiting in general at that point. We walk over to go through security and up the elevator and get stopped short. Can't take our to-go bag from N9NE in there with us, nor am I permitted to bring my camera in, when we'd done this every year prior for the past seven years. Umm okay, we just spent $400 on dinner at this property but the tiny little Big Mac-sized to-go box with some left over lobster is going to create an unnecessary disturbance in the club?!
As far as the camera goes, apparently that stems from some 'celebs' not liking their photos being taken, but you can take a good low light photo with a cell phone these days, and those are still allowed. I guess it is what it is; hopefully they did the math and found that barring standalone cameras makes them more money than it costs them. We'd have spent a few hundred, but instead had to leave since we weren't staying at Palms and I didn't want to check my pricey camera at the bell desk since they take no liability for damage.
To his credit, the door man was very nice in explaining the new policies, and he even took some pics of my wife and I for me with our sad faces before we grabbed a cab back to the strip. I guess next time we'll have to come hungrier and sans camera, but maybe not.
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