DrProfessor

Good point - and yet another that makes any such study useless.

This is an interesting part of the hidden data here. This survey report is also misleading in that it hides the true numbers behind percentages. Germany's current population is around 83 million people. If we take 69% of that as "tippers", that is roughly 57 million. The American population is round 330 million and 57% of that is roughly 188 million. Even if you account for the fact that those numbers include children, there are still way more American tippers (more that 3 times as many) than German tippers on vacation. This, in addition to the point you bring up about the amount of tip pretty much makes any such study useless. Beside that, 84.3% of all statistics are made up on the spot (I just made that up myself so I know it is accurate). 🙂

Our last trip was on Mariner and we had a great time as well - until we got back. It was the first time, they didn't park the boat at the same terminal in Port Canaveral and we never knew that you couldn't just walk from terminal to terminal. We parked at the port, but were really confused when getting off the boat because it all looked really different. Then we had to figure out where we were, wait in a huge line to get on a bus which didn't stay a line as soon as the bus pulled up. It probably took us 1.5 hours from the time we got off the boat to get back to the terminal where our car was when every other time, it was 5 minutes and we were on the road. I wonder how often that happens? Anyway, we still had a great cruise and Mariner is a nice ship. This was back when there was a huge gash in the back of the ship because another ship had crashed into her while she was docked.

I know you are asking about the appetized and main course, but the bread/roll at the beginning is absolutely amazing. The tenderloin is really good, as handbellplayer said and don't forget to save a little room for the fried cheesecake. It's not too big, which is good, if you even like cheesecake. It's hard to imagine, but some people don't.

Shakes are not included with the UDP - but they ARE included with the Refreshment package or above! So, for us, we had the UDP and the Refreshment package (non-alcohol specialty drinks), so we could eat at Johnny Rockets for lunch and get shakes for dessert with no extra charges.

Killtheump was responding to the free breakfast comment. Breakfast is free at Johnny Rockets on Oasis class ships only - for anyone (no dining package needed). If you have the UDP, Johnny Rockets is included for any meal if it is open. Last time we were on Mariner, JR wasn't open for breakfast.

Chops and 150 are our favorites - so good choices there. Wonderland is worth doing once - definitely get the chocolate globe desert. Giovannis is really good Italian food and pasta, so you can't go wrong there either.