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Evening Dress for River Cruise


katz
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I normally wore a black merino dress with flats or boots or black pants and a sweater.

 

We were on Avalon. I ALWAYS travel with dresses as I wear them year round for work & leisure. I was pretty much the only woman on board who wore a dress during the day, and there were maybe 2 or 3 others I saw in a dress or skirt at night. I'm not talking fancy - it's a sweater dress, packs great, merino is fantastic for travel.

 

My mom & my MIL wore pants & a sweater. The guys wore pants & shirt, sweater as well. No one wore jeans in the evening (none of our group - there might have been a few others on board who did, but in general - corduroys or cotton casual pants).

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Not AMA, but Uniworld. I wore black pants every night with a nice top, black flats for shoes. Don't sweat or overthink the evening dress. Think nice casual and comfortable. Can dress up with jewelry and accessories on gala nights.

 

Roz

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We cruised in late November, and on our cruise (Viking) most of the women were "smart casual" in dresses or dark slacks and a nice top. There were a few women in cocktail dresses. For me personally, I took a pair of slim black slacks (that I could wear with flats, heels or boots) and a few different tops (wore some more than once).

 

My husband wore the same gray flannel slacks each night and button down/long sleeve shirt (again, a couple of his shirts he wore more than once). So he alternated the diff shirts and wore a blazer a few times too.

 

I really like to pack lightly and use items that can have multiple roles. So I may have worn a cashmere cardigan during the day w/jeans if it was chilly, but then wore it at night with a silk tank, black pants and a necklace etc

 

Not many people wore jeans to dinner on our cruise.

Edited by CutieKakes
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What about during the day? Was it really cold? I am planning on a heavy woolen long jacket and woolen gloves. Woolen hats too.I ordered rain/shoe boots from LLBean. I plan to get some hiking or some kind of super warm socks.

 

We live in a mild winter climate. My TA, who is in Florida, says his Christmas Market Cruise was horribly cold.

 

We have never cruised or travel in a cold climate before. I am a little nervous about choosing clothing that will keep us comfortable.

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What about during the day? Was it really cold? I am planning on a heavy woolen long jacket and woolen gloves. Woolen hats too.I ordered rain/shoe boots from LLBean. I plan to get some hiking or some kind of super warm socks.

 

We live in a mild winter climate. My TA, who is in Florida, says his Christmas Market Cruise was horribly cold.

 

We have never cruised or travel in a cold climate before. I am a little nervous about choosing clothing that will keep us comfortable.

 

Loved our first AMA river cruise to the Christmas Markets. So beautiful and nice to have cold weather. We were lucky to have almost no rain. Definitely take many layers... we are from S. California and not accustomed to the very cold. We had snow one day but other than that it was in the high 30's and low 40's. One day it was a bit colder and we had wonderful snow flurries while we were out walking. I had jeans, a fleece with a t shirt under and a Lands End down type long jacket and it was very comfortable. Also, a hat, scarf, and gloves. Easy to take off a layer if you get warm.

 

As for inside the ship, I wore nice jeans and my daytime fleece most of the time, even to the dining room. I didn't feel out of place at all. There were, of course, many who were a bit more dressed up but I am big on comfort and don't worry about it.

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While we haven't been on a Christmas Market cruise, yet, we did do the Paris-Normandy cruise this past March, and knew before we left that the weather was going to be cold, with snow in the forecast. For outerwear, I prefer the lighter weight Columbia/Northface types of coats. Mine kept me plenty warm. Earmuffs for my head. If I'm not driving, I prefer mittens to gloves. We both wear the thin, but warm, long underwear. Uni Qlo's heat-tech product is excellent, we have turtlenecks and pants. We also each have some LLBean base layer medium warmth products, which worked well. I took some Clark's privo suede shoes, and warm hiking socks. While I wear plenty of boots in the winter at home, I knew I'd be walking too much to want to wear them in Europe.

 

Robin

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What about during the day? Was it really cold? I am planning on a heavy woolen long jacket and woolen gloves. Woolen hats too.I ordered rain/shoe boots from LLBean. I plan to get some hiking or some kind of super warm socks.

 

We live in a mild winter climate. My TA, who is in Florida, says his Christmas Market Cruise was horribly cold.

 

We have never cruised or travel in a cold climate before. I am a little nervous about choosing clothing that will keep us comfortable.

 

You live in Northern Virginia and are worried about being cold in December??? Even if you have since moved, you must have once lived there. I doubt that it will be all that much colder at the Christmas Markets than it would be at the same time in Virginia. I did Christmas/New Year last year on the Danube. It never got below freezing and I'm from a place that generally has mild winters.

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Where and when you'll be there will impact the weather. We cruised NUE-BSL the first week+ of December and only had one day with any winter weather - that was Frankfort, but it was just a little cool but more clear when we got to Rudesheim (as soon as we drove over the pass) Then we had a little rain later but it was warmer. I would say our temps were mostly upper 40s, low 50s. I was fine, my MIL froze. Even though we warned her for a YEAR what clothing to bring, she ignored us. So I gave her one of my merino tee shirts and she did have a scarf and gloves at least. Layers work well for me - we also love uniqlo heattech tees. I brought one pair of fleece tights but I only think I wore them once - honestly regular tights were fine for me. I have lived in NC for 20 years but have lived in all sorts of climates and I don't feel the cold as much as others, apparently ;-)

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What about during the day? Was it really cold? I am planning on a heavy woolen long jacket and woolen gloves. Woolen hats too.I ordered rain/shoe boots from LLBean. I plan to get some hiking or some kind of super warm socks.

 

We live in a mild winter climate. My TA, who is in Florida, says his Christmas Market Cruise was horribly cold.

 

We have never cruised or travel in a cold climate before. I am a little nervous about choosing clothing that will keep us comfortable.

I have never done a cruise in November, but I would never recommend a heavy woolen long jacket. It will be very heavy, and likely too much during the day. There is not much that you can do with a heavy jacket to adjust the temperature. You are better to have a lighter jacket over a fleece, where you can wear each one alone or both together depending on the temperature.

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I agree about re thinking the heavy wool coat. A down filled coat with a waterproof outer layer will be much more practical. Think ski / snowboard attire. With a hood.

Earmuffs are handy to keep in your pocket unless the hat you are thinking of actually covers your ears.

RB

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I agree about re thinking the heavy wool coat. A down filled coat with a waterproof outer layer will be much more practical. Think ski / snowboard attire. With a hood.

Earmuffs are handy to keep in your pocket unless the hat you are thinking of actually covers your ears.

RB

 

Agree on nixing the wool coat. But instead of buying a waterproof down coat [which may not be useful once home], I would recommend layering: a down 'puffer' jacket and a hooded goretex outer shell.

 

https://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/82557?page=primaloft-packaway-jacket&bc=&feat=PrimaLoft%20Packaway%20Jacket-SR0&csp=a&searchTerm=PrimaLoft%20Packaway%20Jacket

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Thanks for the suggestions on the coat. Just got a good coupon from LLBean today too

 

Thanks, Robin for the long john suggestion! I have some from my skiing days.

Edited by katz
misspelling
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Agree on nixing the wool coat. But instead of buying a waterproof down coat [which may not be useful once home], I would recommend layering: a down 'puffer' jacket and a hooded goretex outer shell.

 

https://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/82557?page=primaloft-packaway-jacket&bc=&feat=PrimaLoft%20Packaway%20Jacket-SR0&csp=a&searchTerm=PrimaLoft%20Packaway%20Jacket

Jazz, just have to laugh, what is the difference between a down coat and a down puffer jacket? And waterproof layer and a gortex outer shell? 😊

RB

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Jazz, just have to laugh, what is the difference between a down coat and a down puffer jacket? And waterproof layer and a gortex outer shell? 😊

RB

 

It wasn't clear [to me, anyway] that you were speaking of two separate garments.

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Jazz, just have to laugh, what is the difference between a down coat and a down puffer jacket? And waterproof layer and a gortex outer shell? 😊

RB

 

It wasn't clear [to me, anyway] that you were speaking of two separate garments.

 

To me, a "down coat" is probably heavy and best for SUPER COLD temps. Down puffer might be a light(er) weight stuffable jacket. Husband has a "down sweater" we got at Costco a couple years ago, super cheap, easy to pack if he thinks it might be cold. I almost never travel with down as I just don't get that cold.

 

Another option would be a 3-in-1 jacket where you have the fleece or down inner jacket, exterior waterproof layer and can wear in any combo. We have those for skiing - they're a little "sportier" than I prefer to use for non-athletic leisure travel, but that's just my personal style issue - for weather variability, the concept is spot on.

 

Husband (who shaves his head and wears hats daily, year round) has a couple of lovely hats he brought on our Christmas Markets river cruise - one wool winter Tilley and another goretex flat cap with foldable ear flaps. Worked great!

 

[we tend to travel in wet/cold seasons and places, therefore we have a lot of seasonally appropriate clothing - it's not necessary to go out and buy a new wardrobe! But if you don't have goretex shoes, it's not a terrible idea to use a little waterproof spray ;-)]

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We have done three long river cruises totally with carry on size luggage. My bride had various dark/black pants, a few fancy tops and accessories. My uniform was khaki pants, one pair of khaki shorts, and several solid polo shirts in various colors. One dress shirt for the welcome and farewell dinners. Never got hot enough to keep me from being able to wear a shirt more than once. Traveling in summer time we need more shirts but did not need to pack or carry winter gear. Our previous cruises were early April and late October. Very cold on both. So, we had some bulky clothing to pack. Still did it all with a carry on suitcase each plus my backpack and her tote bag.

 

Don't overthink it. Don't over pack. No one will notice, or care, that you wear something more than once.

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