RobInMN

Did you skip over the entire patent discussion after the initial question? This. When you invent something in the course of doing your job you don't "assign away" your rights to your patent, you are only the inventor. The company owns your patent. It is their "IP" (Intellectual Property). If you invent something on your own time not pertaining to your job, then you can fully own your patent, but you will have to prepare it and file it yourself. You may need to hire a patent agent/attorney. The patent lists: Applicant, Inventor, and Assignee. You will note that on every one of the related patents, Royal Caribbean is listed as the Applicant and the Assignee. Nick is only 1 of 3 listed inventors on most of the related patents, but not all of them. Nick may have had a hand in the invention, but Royal Caribbean prepared and filed the patent. It is their IP. This is the same for the company I work for. Individuals, working on behalf of the company will be the inventor, but the company will prepare and file the patent. We have at least 2 in-house patent agents/attorneys.

Hmm.. I swear I saw something on the Ama site that said 2 twin beds or queen, but now all I am seeing is "Option A: Two twin beds Option B: One large bed (larger than queen size)" But while there are some Google results reference a Queen, yes, 2 twins make the same width as a King. However, a King is longer. Nope. RC is Ocean only. But we do both ocean and river cruises. As our only river cruise references are GC and AmaWaterways, it was the only comparison I could make. https://www.gct.com/about/leader-in-river-cruising/our-fleet/ms-river-chanson I believe the picture is of a main deck cabin. The description says: "Main Deck cabins 2-15 feature double beds that cannot be separated". No description of Lower deck cabins https://www.cruisemapper.com/cabins/MS-River-Chanson-1271 Says that the lower decks have 2 configurations. 2 singles that can become a double. or a permanent 2 singles. It's a smaller ship that most. Only 86 passengers, 43 cabins.

To the best of my knowledge, all the GC cabins on all their river ships have the same bed configuration, with the exception of the newer M/S River Chanson. In this picture, the left side is in the daytime configuration and the right side is the sleeping configuration. Both sides fold down. Call them pullman, or twin bunk, or what have you, they are both of the size "twin" (~ 38" x 75"), only large enough for 1 person each. Again, to the best of my knowledge, all AmaWaterways cabins (other than the few designated solo cabins) have 2 twin beds that convert to a queen. In a queen configuration, they have been much nicer than the Royal Caribbean beds in queen configuration. In both cases, there is a thinner queen size mattress or pad that sits on top. But Ama's is much nicer than the very thin one that Royal Caribbean uses. I don't even recall being able to tell that I was on 2 twins pushed together, where as on RC it was very obvious.

To add to that. Like many companies, the company I work for has at least 2 full time patent agent/attorney, whose job it is to prepare and file the patents created by our engineers on behalf of the company. One of them is a friend of mine.

So, you asked in the Nick Weir thread, and while 2 people were answering you over there, you post the same question in this thread? What I posted there: @smokeybandit beat me to it. When you work for a company, while you may be the listed inventor of a patent, the applicant and the assignee will be the company that you are employed by. BTW, apparently there are 6 or 7 related patents, and I count at least 7 different individuals, no more than 3 on any 1 patent. Nick is not even listed on one of them.

@smokeybandit beat me to it. When you work for a company, while you may be the listed inventor of a patent, the applicant and the assignee will be the company that you are employed by. BTW, apparently there are 6 or 7 related patents, and I count at least 7 different individuals, no more than 3 on any 1 patent. Nick is not even listed on one of them.

= Speculation The fact that he was immediately replaced the way that he was (actively posting Friday) makes it seem like this RCI's choice, not his. If this was his move, there might be an intermediate or temporary replacement until they make a decision on a permanent replacement, but they already had his replacement lined up and ready to go. RCI has made their official statement, at this point, I doubt we we know much more until Nick posts his side. But the theory that he left because he was not happy with upcoming budget cuts isn't necessarily a bad theory. Just that until we see something official, or even hard insider info, it's nothing more than social media speculation and needs to be labeled as such and not reactionary pseudo fact.

Don't know where you are getting your information on imminent budget cuts, but the fact that Nick Weir has parted ways (by his choice or theirs wasn't announced) was already being covered in this thread: Didn't really need to start a new one Still on page one

Yes you should get an email either way, which can come anytime up until about 9 PM embarkation night (99% likely to be a denial at that point).

At the doctors office, if you're 30m late, you will still probably wait another 30m 🙂

I've been on cruises where we had an all day excursion and were not going to make it to the MDR by our early seating time. When telling our servers that we would not make it the next night, we've been told that there is a 30 minute window, and if we get there in that 30m, then no problem. They did add that after that window, please go to the WJ. When this has come up on other threads, other people have reported 15 minutes. So I suppose it's ship dependent. When we have done that, I am pretty sure that we were still out of there at the same time, so it's not like you push everything back, they just condense your visit, which is fine by me. So, there is a window in which they happily accept passengers. You don't have to be there by your seating time.

Only been on GC and AMA, and I couldn't disagree with you more. I would completely agree that GC is a budget line. We Hated GC, love Ama. My parents love GC and didn't really like Ama. We can't stand the GC cabins, especially the pullman beds (we spoon). Ama cabins are so much better. Love the excursion options you get on an Ama. Don't like that GC only has a single excursion. Love the small groups they break the excursions into, even if there's many people doing the same thing. Love that they will break up walking tours into easy, normal and active. GC you are with the same 1/4 of the ship for everything, and your pace is limited to the slowest person. Love that Ama uses local experts. Don't like that GC has multiple CMs that act as tour guides at every port (unless you are doing a specific venue that has their own). Love that Ama has 2 & 4 top table options. Not a fan of how every table on GC is 8. I will say that I found the crew of GC just as friendly as the crew on Ama.

Nope. Not at all. I was just saying that the quote from the Vexillologist that "All state flags can be flown at the same height as the US flag" was a bit simplistic. The actual Flag Code has a couple different situations. Then added some additional interesting parts.

That's a bit simplistic. Full Flag Code: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/4/7 to me, e & f has a slight contradiction. 'e' says that in a group of states or localities, the US flag should be center and higher. But 'f' says that no state or locality flag can be to the right of the US flag (or higher, but that's the same). Only really implying that state flags can be at the same height. So maybe group vs. just a single state or locality? Moving on from just state flags. The only place where it's explicitly stated "same height" in the code is in reference to 2 or more nations. It further says that In a time of peace, all nations flags should be at the same height.. The code differentiates between states, localities, and societies versus flags of other nations. One last note, the UN flag can not be higher than the US flag anywhere in the US except at the UN.

Not sure if you consider Uber private or public, but from what I can tell, Uber does operate in Bucharest.

Ah! Thanks! I see it now. This answers the question on the interesting note from the list I found. The ships that are listed twice (with & without "of the Seas") are all ships that were sold to Pullmantur. RCI owned that. All those ships are listed in the ship list as "brand":"P". BTW, "PG"s attributes match Grandeur, which was in the process of being transferred when COVID happened, and scrapped those plans. So "PG" - "Pullmantur Grandeur" maybe.

I'm not finding what @smokeybandit is looking at, but what I found is found here (Chrome instructions): Go to Royal Caribbean's web site right-click 'Inspect' Applications Tab Expand Local Storage Select https://www.royalcaribbean.com Select ga/ships in the list of keys Expand the values This doesn't require you to be logged in. smokeybandit indicated that you could see the info he's looking at after you sign in. I was and still couldn't find it. Also tried going to different pages, no luck. Interesting that Legend is still showing in the data as a OA, even after the announcement of it being an IC

I'm not sure what @smokeybandit was looking at that specifically linked 'TR' to Icon3, but I found this as ga/ships in local storage. Some interesting notes: Azmara ships are still in the list, but not SIlverSea Some of the older Vision & Sovereign class ships (but not all of either) are listed twice, with & without the "of the Seas" Legend is the only "of the Seas" ship missing, and LE is 'TBA' Viking Serenade is listed, but nothing older. CocoCay is listed as a "ship" 'TR' is the only 'TBA' listed as 'TBA OF THE SEAS' 'PN' & 'PG' are also 'TBA', hmm.... [ { "value": "AD", "name": "ADVENTURE OF THE SEAS" }, { "value": "AL", "name": "ALLURE OF THE SEAS" }, { "value": "AN", "name": "ANTHEM OF THE SEAS" }, { "value": "JR", "name": "AZAMARA JOURNEY" }, { "value": "ON", "name": "AZAMARA ONWARD" }, { "value": "PR", "name": "AZAMARA PURSUIT" }, { "value": "QS", "name": "AZAMARA QUEST" }, { "value": "AW", "name": "AZAMARA WORLD CRUISE" }, { "value": "BR", "name": "BRILLIANCE OF THE SEAS" }, { "value": "AX", "name": "CELEBRITY APEX" }, { "value": "AT", "name": "CELEBRITY ASCENT" }, { "value": "BY", "name": "CELEBRITY BEYOND" }, { "value": "CS", "name": "CELEBRITY CONSTELLATION" }, { "value": "EC", "name": "CELEBRITY ECLIPSE" }, { "value": "EG", "name": "CELEBRITY EDGE" }, { "value": "EQ", "name": "CELEBRITY EQUINOX" }, { "value": "FL", "name": "CELEBRITY FLORA" }, { "value": "IN", "name": "CELEBRITY INFINITY" }, { "value": "ML", "name": "CELEBRITY MILLENNIUM" }, { "value": "CP", "name": "CELEBRITY PASSAGES" }, { "value": "RF", "name": "CELEBRITY REFLECTION" }, { "value": "SI", "name": "CELEBRITY SILHOUETTE" }, { "value": "SL", "name": "CELEBRITY SOLSTICE" }, { "value": "SM", "name": "CELEBRITY SUMMIT" }, { "value": "XC", "name": "CELEBRITY XCEL" }, { "value": "XP", "name": "CELEBRITY XPEDITION" }, { "value": "XE", "name": "CELEBRITY XPERIENCE" }, { "value": "XO", "name": "CELEBRITY XPLORATION" }, { "value": "NB", "name": "CHINA NEXT CRUISE" }, { "value": "CC", "name": "COCOCAY" }, { "value": "EP", "name": "EMPRESS" }, { "value": "NE", "name": "EMPRESS OF THE SEAS" }, { "value": "EN", "name": "ENCHANTMENT OF THE SEAS" }, { "value": "EX", "name": "EXPLORER OF THE SEAS" }, { "value": "FR", "name": "FREEDOM OF THE SEAS" }, { "value": "GR", "name": "GRANDEUR OF THE SEAS" }, { "value": "HM", "name": "HARMONY OF THE SEAS" }, { "value": "IC", "name": "ICON OF THE SEAS" }, { "value": "ID", "name": "INDEPENDENCE OF THE SEAS" }, { "value": "JW", "name": "JEWEL OF THE SEAS" }, { "value": "LB", "name": "LIBERTY OF THE SEAS" }, { "value": "MT", "name": "MAJESTY" }, { "value": "MJ", "name": "MAJESTY OF THE SEAS" }, { "value": "MA", "name": "MARINER OF THE SEAS" }, { "value": "MN", "name": "MONARCH OF THE SEAS" }, { "value": "NV", "name": "NAVIGATOR OF THE SEAS" }, { "value": "OA", "name": "OASIS OF THE SEAS" }, { "value": "OY", "name": "ODYSSEY OF THE SEAS" }, { "value": "OV", "name": "OVATION OF THE SEAS" }, { "value": "QN", "name": "QUANTUM OF THE SEAS" }, { "value": "RD", "name": "RADIANCE OF THE SEAS" }, { "value": "RH", "name": "RHAPSODY OF THE SEAS" }, { "value": "SR", "name": "SERENADE OF THE SEAS" }, { "value": "SO", "name": "SOVEREIGN" }, { "value": "SS", "name": "SOVEREIGN OF THE SEAS" }, { "value": "SC", "name": "SPECTRUM OF THE SEAS" }, { "value": "SP", "name": "SPLENDOUR OF THE SEAS" }, { "value": "ST", "name": "STAR OF THE SEAS" }, { "value": "SY", "name": "SYMPHONY OF THE SEAS" }, { "value": "LE", "name": "TBA" }, { "value": "PN", "name": "TBA" }, { "value": "TR", "name": "TBA OF THE SEAS" }, { "value": "PG", "name": "TBD" }, { "value": "LM", "name": "TEST SHIP" }, { "value": "UT", "name": "UTOPIA OF THE SEAS" }, { "value": "VS", "name": "VIKING SERENADE" }, { "value": "VI", "name": "VISION OF THE SEAS" }, { "value": "VY", "name": "VOYAGER OF THE SEAS" }, { "value": "WN", "name": "WONDER OF THE SEAS" } ]

Add Minnesota to that list

AmaWaterways AmaMagna has a variety of table sizes including 2-tops & 4-tops. It also has a secondary option (Al Fresco) that's all 4-tops (different menu than MD). You can also have dinner at Jimmy's Wine Bar. It serves the same thing as the MD, but family style at longer tables (not what you are looking for) AmaDante is one of their older ships, and I think they were most 6-tops, but some of them were half booths that could be split 4 & 2. We will be on AmaSiena (one of the newer ships) next spring and looking at videos, it looks like the MD is mostly 4-tops, with a few 2-tops and only a few larger. I would assume all her sister ships are the same? They all have a Chef's table. Not sure if that counts for what you are looking for, but depending on the ship, there's some to plenty of 4-tops.

Refundable makes sense to me if: There is a high chance that you won't be able to make it If you can't make it, you have no plans to sail on RCI in the next 2 years If the chances are low, and you have every intention to book another one in the next couple years, the $100/person change fee makes more sense to me than paying the refundable upcharge. You'll be ahead in the long run.

This is the one we travel with. It's USB, very quiet, and surprisingly powerful: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B9B1SVHD

We did Vantage with my parents back in 2005. I've only done Grand Circle and AmaWaterways since. Not a fan of Vantage or Grand Circle, but a fan of Ama. The president or owner of Vantage is/was the brother of the president or owner of GC. Pretty sure GC is nearly identical to Vantage, down to the ship floor plans. For comparisons with other lines, search/peruse this forum for threads asking for comparisons Here's a few recent ones:

You tell them. Probably more important to tell them when you don't want a voucher used than when you do, as I think many bartenders will typically use one if it's available.

"Pending" doesn't mean it will definitely go through. I had a pending once, that never happened. Got the denial about 9:00 PM embarkation night.