Fashions - First Timer just off Golden Princess

[wspatton]

Hi Fellow First Timers!

I was a first timer who just got off the Golden 5/16. Had a fantastic time and I thought I would comment on the fashions as I saw them - not give advice or my opinion, but try to tell you what I saw and what I did.

I will preface by telling you I was VERY nervous about my wardrobe before the cruise. I lead a pretty casual lifestyle at home but I know what nice clothes are - I think I have pretty good taste but am not used to dressing up. Going back on these boards you might find me asking many agonized questions!

Daytime - the ship and the excursions were VERY CASUAL. We had five stops with three water-related excursions; the other two were walking or riding tours. I had packed lots of nice linen shorts and capris with nice tops to go with them. I only wore them on the riding tours. For the water excursions you really need only pull on water shorts (over your bathing suit) and some sort of tank top or tee shirt, but MUCH more casual than I had brought with me. Also, all the snorkeling boats we went on had you remove your shoes for the duration of the trip. So don't worry about water shoes for these; we did need them in Aruba as the volcanic rock near the bridges and beaches was very sharp. After being in the water, you will get very nasty and you do not always have a place to clean up or time to go back to the ship to clean up before going shopping - shopping or ship? The choice is simple - you shop looking like a mess! You will not be alone. If you are not getting wet on your excursion, you can get away with a nicer outfit, but it is very hot and very windy almost everywhere. You will want a hat of some type; find one that will stay on. All of my pix have me holding on my baseball cap! We carried a back pack with all our stuff in it on excursions.

Smart Casual Evenings - After getting so messy, wet and hot during the day it was great fun and a great relief to clean up pretty for dinner. I wore nice sun dresses or skirts every night with a low strappy sandal. I found myself a small tropical "fun" bag to carry with all my outfits. I felt just right. Saw many nice, dressy capris and pants too. For the most part, the people I saw looked very tasteful and classy. I personally thought those dressed in what I would consider "formal" looked out of place and a little silly and over the top. I have heard it mention to dress like you are going to a better restaurant and that is true. Most people looked very resort-y, conservative and well-dressed.

Formal Nights - The people on our ship looked great! There were quite a few tuxedos amongst the mostly dark suits. Very few sport coat / khakis outfits on the men. The women looked beautiful! These well-dressed, classy women looked great in everything from short cocktail to long sparkly formal. All looked appropriate as they all took the time to put together their outfits, whether long or short. Just as many shorter as longer, too, I might add. There was a group on the ship for their high school senior trip and they looked darling in their prom dresses! Many older women were sparkly too, but you absolutely do not need to have that type of dress. Definitely cocktail and above, though, is what I saw. Satins, lace, silk, crepes, chiffon - many different colors. While some wore Sunday church clothes, they were very much in the minority. I wore a sequin top with chiffon/sequin skirt right at the ankle and higher, dressier sandals and nice cz jewelry the first formal night. Again, I felt just right. The second formal night I wore a tea length plain crepe spahetti strap column type dress and felt great. The first formal night IS more dressy than the second, whether it is supposed to be or not.

All in all, I was pleasantly surprised that I fit in so well! People were so nice and I did not see any raised eye brows on anyone dressing fancier than someone else. A very good experience! I wore every thing I brought for evening and almost nothing I brought for day! I will bring much more casual day clothes next time than what I brought this time.

If anyone has any more specific questions, I would be glad to help! If you are like me, you want to be comfortable but you want to fit in too. It IS possible!

Mary

[B]<FONT SIZE="4"><FONT COLOR="#000000">Bill & Mary</FONT></FONT>[/B]
[B]<FONT SIZE="3"><FONT COLOR="#FF0000">Golden Princess: May 9, 2004</FONT></FONT>[/B]

[B]<FONT SIZE="3"><span style="border:blue double 5px;"><span style="background-color:#000066;"><FONT COLOR="#33CCFF">~~~ Bummed Out!!! It's Over [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif[/img] ~~~</span></span></FONT></FONT>[/B]</p>

[gopackgo]

Mary,

I enjoyed reading your post. I am always worried about what clothes to bring on vacations, but cruises can be difficult for the first timer like me. So your experience was nice to read about. Sounds like you had a nice cruise.

We are taking our first cruise to Alaska in June with no formal nights on the Radisson Mariner. I am glad there are no formal nights. It is going to be difficult enough to figure out all the clothing to bring without having to worry about formal clothes. I am starting to organize my clothes already, 3 weeks ahead of time!

Ginny

[cruisincantwait]

[B]Hey Mary![/B]
Thanks so much for posting! We leave on Friday for our first cruise, & I am already packed but after reading your post I am off to repack the daywear differently! [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif[/img]
I was so nervous but you have helped relieve some of that!!
THANKS AGAIN!! [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

First time cruisin!!

[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=800080&cdt=2004;5;21;16;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/img]
until Carnival Fascination 5/21/04 Bahamas

[wspatton]

Hi again!

I am glad I could help - I know I was searching the boards for something to make me feel better before I went. It seemed like everytime the subject came up, people just posted their opinions and I really wanted to know what was out there, not what someone thought about what was out there. I scoured everyones pics looking for "normal" looking people to help me.

The formal night thing was very stressful for me too as I cannot remember the last time I got dressed up! I think I will stick with clothes similar to what I had with me on future cruises - after being there, I do not feel it neccessary to get one of those sparkly E-bay gowns that so many talk about on these boards. There were lots of those there, to be sure, but there was a lot of other choices as well and sparkly gown is not me! A cruise without formal nights sounds good to me too - do all Radisson cruises have no formal nights or only Alaska?

Have a great cruise! It was the best vacation I have ever had!

Mary

[B]<FONT SIZE="4"><FONT COLOR="#000000">Bill & Mary</FONT></FONT>[/B]
[B]<FONT SIZE="3"><FONT COLOR="#FF0000">Golden Princess: May 9, 2004</FONT></FONT>[/B]

[B]<FONT SIZE="3"><span style="border:blue double 5px;"><span style="background-color:#000066;"><FONT COLOR="#33CCFF">~~~ Bummed Out!!! It's Over [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif[/img] ~~~</span></span></FONT></FONT>[/B]</p>

[CementShoes]

I guess there's a "nice" casual standard people should go by, whereas if I saw someone dressed all gothic with black fingernail polish, the wide baggy pants or wearing a really worn fruit-of-the-loom pocket t-shirt, those people would really stand out like a sore thumb.

 

I will therefore leave my "F@%k Terrorism!" T shirt at home. Although I am tempted to bring that as my nightshirt to sleep in.

[Towanda]

Mary,

Thanks for your rundown! Very helpful. I'm off to shop...

[ca2ga2000]

Mary-

Thanks for the tips. We are going on the Caribbean Princess in 3 weeks, and I too, have been somewhat stressing about our wardrobes. DH and I both have "nice" clothes, but we've never cruised before, so I've been frantic about finding the "perfect" outfits!

I have two short cocktail dresses, one black and one red. Both are sleeveless, but classy. Is red weird for the Caribbean, or is it OK because it's formal evening wear?

As far as the men, my husband has one black suit. He plans to wear it both formal nights, with 2 different dress shirts/ties, of course. My question is for the "smart casual" nights.... my husband plans to bring khakis with short sleeved polos and (nice) hawaiian shirts. He also has a neutral-colored silk sportcoat. Is this typical attire?

Thanks a million from another first-timer!

7/10 Caribbean Princess
[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=000080&cdt=2004;7;10;17;0;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/img]
-----------------------------

Caribbean Princess (Western Caribbean) - 7/10/04
Diamond Princess (Mexican Riviera) - 4/9/05

[kitty9]

Radisson has casual cruises only for Alaska and the South Pacific cruises. I was on the Radisson Voyager and we had two formal nights. Oceania is an all country club casual cruise line.

Darcie

[xena]

We are doing Raddison to Bermuda in 10 days. Is any formal wear required? Please help. I keep getting different answers.

[maxtonio]

Terrific information. Just wondering, what did people wear to dinner the first night in the dining room? I'm getting the impression it's very casual (shorts,t-shirts?). PS I'll be on Grandeur 7/4

Thx

[smudge's mom]

You made no mention of dressy pants and tops as an alternate to formalwear. On our Celebrity Caribbean trip, I found a very large percentage of women wore dressy pants outfits - sequins with chiffon pants - that kind of stuff - as well as long skirts that were made of a more casual material.

The number of men in tuxedoes was less than 1/3 and there were men in very beautiful suits wearing turtlenecks - as well as men in other types of more casual suits with ties.

I feel that anyone who dresses nice can fit in on formal night without needing formalwear.

These boards tend to scare first time cruisers more than they help. Be yourself and act like a lady/gentlemen - it's more about behavior and deportment than it ever is about a particular style of clothing.

[dustyroad]

great post and some wonderful tips for us. i too was totally stressed before my first cruise as too what to wear to diner. other posts and the nice people here helped me as well and i looked smashing and fit right in.

i do not have to buy alot of clothes for my next cruise. since i am going back to alaska i have a whole closet full of nice things that will be perfect to wear and i will fit in perfectly and be totally comfortable. the only thing i have to pick up is a sparkly top or two to go with my long black skirt for the formal nites. i am very comfortable with the idea of mixing and matching to save the cost of buying things and cutting down on my packing. i will use different costume jewlery to jazz up the tops. i am a ''' sale rack''' shopper and im sure i will find the perfect things in my favorite store ( younkers ) for a dirt cheap price on sale.
everyone looks so nice and happy when they attend the formal nights. it is a fun event and something i look forward to going to again .

[CaribbeanCruisesRock]

[b][color=plum]Thanks for the reviews.[/color][/b]

[tlwaters]

Hi Mary, I'm off on my first cruise Sunday and I am glad I was not alone on stressing out about what to wear!! My husband and I are very casual dressers, so I was not sure about what to wear in the dining area(on the informal nights) I was wondering is a skort ok or is that too casual?? tlwater

[Coolmama_1]

We enjoyed dressing for dinner. On our 7/4 Southern Carr Cruise, we had 5 ports so we would usually get up and go. By the time we got back we were ready for a shower and clean clothes, so dressing for dinner was not a problem.

On formal nights you would see every thing from Sunday best to Tux and long gowns. Either way, people looked nice and were having fun.

I packed way too many clothes and next time will know better. Notice I said next time!:D :D

[jdaa]

Hi. Thanks for the run-down! I was interested in the comment that the first formal night is the dressiest. Is this usually the case? Of my two formal outfits, one is definately dressier...should I plan on wearing it the first night? Thanks for your opinions.

[2BCruising]

For the first night, I plan on wearing the formal outfit that's the smallest of the two that I bring. The second formal night will have to be the one with the elastic. Maybe that's why the first night is dressier. :)