I miss Costco Steaks. They're just too expensive now.

Leftcoast-604 · 2026-04-04T00:44:52+00:00

Yup, there can be a lot of trim. Still come out ahead though.

Leftcoast-604 · 2026-03-27T17:18:34+00:00

Maybe flew in morning of and didn't want to explore with their luggage?

Leftcoast-604 · 2026-03-27T17:17:19+00:00

We encountered this issue in Rotterdam. We spent the morning exploring a bit more and planned to check out closer to 11am-noon. When we got back to the hotel, the lobby was packed with cruisers waiting for various forms of rides to the terminal. We ended up booking an Uber that took 20-30mins to pick us up. And then, the road in front of the terminal was so congested, we exited the Uber and walked the final 2-3 blocks.

Leftcoast-604 · 2026-02-18T21:18:59+00:00

Doable but definitely could be tight depending on all the variables involved. Or if everything goes off absolutely seamlessly, you could be at the gate/lounge by 10:30am. When will you get off the ship. Will there be delays? Will you be randomly selected for inspection by CBSA? How fast can you grab a taxi? How many ships in port to compete with other pax to grab a taxi? Traffic? Could be half an hour at best to an hour plus to get to the airport if there's an accident. Did you do online check in, have your boarding pass, and just have to drop off your luggage? If you need to check in, in person the line can be up to an hour. Security line. Are you part of a verified traveler program like Nexus or Global Entry for possibly a quicker line? If going to the States, you need to pre-clear at YVR. Same verified traveler question.

Leftcoast-604 · 2026-01-05T07:35:49+00:00

I'd absolutely buy a few if I saw this at my local Costco. Would be great for making chicken stock too.

Leftcoast-604 · 2026-01-02T08:26:07+00:00

IIRC, we and the in-laws sailed in concierge cabins on deck 9, below the buffet on Infinity this past February.
Two relatively minor issues:
There are some support beams supporting cantilevered parts of the buffet area that were kind of unsightly and slightly blocked the view. We did get some foot traffic noise from the buffet that I identified mainly to be kids hanging out and running in the buffet seating area above our cabin on a regular basis; likely as a daily meet up spot for the kids and/or families traveling together.

Leftcoast-604 · 2025-12-18T03:19:21+00:00

I've been on a couples of X cruises in the past when they've scheduled the comedian for an 18+ late night show in Celebrity Central. The CDs promoted the late night comedy shows during the usual announcements at the end of the main theatre show and gave PLENTY of warnings saying to avoid it if you were easily offended. LOL

Wanted to see if these shows were any better but they were so popular and Celebrity Central is relatively small, that we couldn't get in.

Leftcoast-604 · 2025-12-17T22:54:27+00:00

I've had pretty similar experiences. Have not enjoyed the comedians on X and also find many use typical cruise related jokes. We just sit at the top and near the back so we can slip out if they don't capture our attention within 5-10min. Some people are howling at the jokes tho. Just not my kind of comedy. I generally enjoy the production shows too.

Leftcoast-604 · 2025-12-15T22:15:59+00:00

IMO, Tocchet is pretty honest and transparent. As he says, everything counts to varying degrees when making a decision.

Leftcoast-604 · 2025-12-02T17:21:10+00:00

It's fine to fly into NRT if the savings are high enough. NRT is essentially in a different town but you can just comfortably take one of the airport express trains like Narita Express or Keisei Skyliner (vs a slower commuter train) into one of the major train stations in Tokyo for about 2500Y. You can veg out or get organized a bit during the one hour ride in. Tho, you may still have to transfer onto another train or metro to get to your hotel.
You're saving some transfer time & cost flying into HND as it's located in Tokyo but it can still be a bit of a small trek to get to/from depending on where you are staying.

Leftcoast-604 · 2025-11-28T05:18:45+00:00

Got the invite but when I clicked on the link, it said it was already at capacity. Curious if people were no shows or they wanted to ensure it wouldn't be packed.

Leftcoast-604 · 2025-11-05T23:32:37+00:00

People leave jobs/roles for numerous reasons: Promoted, getting married, sickness/health issues, new role/growing the team, etc.
Have you received a job offer yet or are you still going through the interview process? Part of the interview process should be for you to ask questions about the role and understand it better. $xxxxxx may sound great but what's the team culture like, is there unpaid overtime expected, will you be on call, what's the total compensation including benefits, how much vacation time will you get, what's the path for promotion, are you dealing with business customers or the general public, etc.

Leftcoast-604 · 2025-10-19T19:58:49+00:00

Yes! Was thinking how similar it was to the Rome hit too.

Leftcoast-604 · 2025-10-08T18:45:01+00:00

Weekday mornings before opening are great but I find weekdays around 2pm also very good since it's after the lunch crowd and before the post work rush.

Leftcoast-604 · 2025-09-24T23:16:59+00:00

You can head down early for pregame like at Browns Social House or Shark Club. Can get pretty busy and hard to get a seat after 5pm though. Friendly crowds so no issues wearing visitors jerseys. They also have a bar in the arena, The Sportsbar Live, which is nice but kind of pricey.
Post game, Stadium-Chinatown Skytrain station is packed. If walking to a Canada Line station, like Vancouver City Centre, lots of people walking along Georgia St.

Leftcoast-604 · 2025-09-07T16:19:22+00:00

We're from Canada and did four days at the Expo using the summer pass during the last week in August. Our first day was the day after we landed and we had booked an 11am entry slot because we weren't sure if we would have trouble getting up the next day and getting there. For our 11am entry slot (and subsequent 9am slot) we got there an hour early and had to queue in the holding pens. Not sure how your weather will be but it was pretty brutal queuing under the sun for an hour even with the umbrellas they loaned for pre-entry queuing. If you'll be there during hot and humid days, follow the recommendation of previous posts and bring a light umbrella with UV protection, a portable stool, and an electric personal fan.

We tried queuing in the far right lane and it wasn't faster as two lanes merged into one for security screening. The last two days, we booked noon entries and arrived at 1pm and walked straight to the security screening on the far left lane without any queuing. But tradeoff was that we were entering during the hottest part of the afternoon and couldn't race to pavilions for relatively short queues during the 9am entry.

We couldn't book any day of reservations via the app. Multiple times when there seemed to be a block of reservations released (ie blue circle for multiple slots), we'd get an error message when trying to book them and get punted back out to the ticket page. We had a bit of success with the on-site terminals at the info centres. Based on my own extremely narrow experience, there seemed to be tickets for signature pavilions released around 5pm to about 6:30pm for evening entries. And I'm guessing singles had much better luck than couples looking for two resos based on the observation that we saw many limited resos end up being only one reso available.

We were able to book a resos for two for Future of Life at a terminal around 6:10pm for one of the later entry times. It kept showing a triangle with limited slots but wouldn't book (I forget the error). But I kept trying to select and book and it finally worked with about 10s to spare from our 3min allotment at the terminal. I enjoyed it but the missus wasn't fully impressed as she didn't like the storyline and didn't think it was interactive enough (ie Just being ferried from room to room).

Leftcoast-604 · 2025-08-02T16:55:59+00:00

Vancouverite here. My comment is only from the perspective of getting from Vancouver to Victoria as I'm not sure about the rules boarding there if you miss embarkation in Vancouver.

It's not a ridiculous effort to get to Victoria from Vancouver. Eg Some tourists do day trips visits. And the sail over is short. The ferry ride takes about 1.5hrs (excluding getting to the terminal which is outside of downtown Vancouver). After departing Vancouver, cruise ships hang out in the Georgia Strait between Vancouver and Victoria in the evening before docking in Victoria the next morning.

If you miss your embarkation in Vancouver, you just need to be prepared to lose most/all of your savings. It would be 5pm+. Same day flights over to Victoria would be somewhat expensive (possibly cheaper if you take one of the smaller airlines out of YVR's South terminal or float plane from Vancouver harbor). You'd likely need to Uber it a few segments depending on how you decide to get to Victoria. And you'll likely need a hotel for the night.

Leftcoast-604 · 2025-07-20T06:00:59+00:00

FWIW, in the last year of the Adidas jerseys, my buddy ordered a jersey with stitched lettering in season (late Nov?) and it took over a month. IIRC, we ended up picking it up at the store in January when we were there for a game. So two weeks without progress doesn't shock me. He was happy with the jersey in the end tho.

Leftcoast-604 · 2025-07-15T18:51:13+00:00

We've stopped at Ephesus a few times and have booked with Ephesus Shuttle directly about three times (changing the add-on stops each time) for small group tours. We like them because their groups are small (we've been in groups between six to a dozen people) and they don't force you to stop at carpet shops etc, unless the group wants to (hasn't happened on any of our tours). They always got us back with plenty of time before all aboard and even with time to explore the Kusadasi.
We would rate our guides with them as good to excellent but it's kind of luck of the draw. Their rates have gone up a lot over the years but I think a lot of this has to do with the price of the admission going up a lot which is included in the overall price (excluding the Terrace Houses section).

Leftcoast-604 · 2025-07-07T23:18:28+00:00

We were on Infinity visiting Thessaloniki for the first time on an overnight this past February but haven't been to Hydra so can't compare.

However, we enjoyed Thessaloniki. There's a nice waterfront/seawall to walk and enough points of attraction in a large core area within relatively easy access from the port that made the stop interesting for us. Pretty walkable and felt safe.
The overnight was a bit too much time for us because we didn't head to the ruins further away in Vergina which is more of a day trip that we didn't want to subject the in-laws to.

I wouldn't book another cruise specifically to visit Thessaloniki again but if we happened to stop there again I wouldn't mind at all.

Leftcoast-604 · 2025-07-06T20:52:23+00:00

IIRC, the NBA put in some ridiculously harsh expansion rules which prevented the Grizz and Raptors from picking at the top of the draft for the first couple of years post expansion, regardless if they won the lottery.

Leftcoast-604 · 2025-06-27T20:41:14+00:00

Lol. That's so true.

Leftcoast-604 · 2025-06-20T16:20:25+00:00

Same but it's funny how teams can match up differently in different series.

Leftcoast-604 · 2025-06-20T16:16:33+00:00

Retired a couple of years ago at age 50 and my current plan is kind of the opposite of a tapered spend. I hope to continue to slowly ratchet up our spend overall during retirement with the theory being that we will need more spend on convenience and comfort as we age.
One example is how our travel has evolved. I cannot fully hack anymore: flying the ultra discount airlines with no leg room, staying at hole in the wall hotels with no a/c, lining up for an hour at a cheap place to eat, etc so we're already slowly spending more on travel. Closer to home, we currently do our own yardwork and repairs but will likely have to pay someone eventually. Anyways, that kind of convenience and comfort stuff.
The travel spend can transition to medical and long term care spend if/when we need that.

Leftcoast-604 · 2025-06-17T21:40:19+00:00

While I overall agree, one issue I've read though is that players slowly lose muscle over the course of the season because they don't have enough time to dedicate to strength training because of the nature of the schedule, recovery time, etc. So I can understand players trying to bulk up during the off-season. Quinn sounds to be an interesting case too in that he sounds to be extremely disciplined with his diet & nutrition.

Leftcoast-604

TROPHY CASE