lilsonicfan

i carry, at most, a small crossbody bag while wandering the ship. i personally wouldn't bother with more than one water bottle (I'd make my kids share) and i don't carry around snacks since there's always something to eat. I basically carry a small wallet and my key card and that's about it - everything else, it's easy to get back to the room for.

We were on a trip of about 18 days total and I think I packed about 10 t-shirts and 10 shorts per kid, with the plan to do laundry after about 7 days or so. I brought a few pairs of long pants, and a couple of light hoodies/jackets. For a 12 night trip I'd probably do about 7 shirts and 7 bottoms with some long/short pants as needed. And yes, extra swimwear.

Frankly I find the DCL $12 per guest per night tip to be on the low end, it's certainly higher on NCL for my next cruise. As for the head server, I do find on DCL they are slightly more interactive, checking in on many tables throughout the night. I didn't mind paying his tip at all. You don't have to do anything with the tip envelopes if you don't want; they are just there in case you want to hand something to the servers, and/or put something extra in, but there's no obligation.