How dressy is the ventura

[jessie england]

Hi going to buy some evening dress, which is best short coctail,

or long dresses, any help or info will be great dont want to look out of place going in nov carribbean 14 nights ?

[tom_uk]

Well, I haven't done a Caribbean cruise on Ventura (or any other ship, for that matter). But I have cruised three times on Ventura, in 2008, 2010 & earlier this year. At that time I made this comment in my blog entry for the first formal dinner, of five (it was a 17-night cruise).

 

"Now for a topic of interest to CC’ers: dress code observance. Last night almost all the men were wearing dinner jackets, there were very few even in business suits, and almost no-one not conforming. if I had to put figures on it, I would say 95% were in dinner suits or the equivalent (I saw one elderly gentleman in a kilt), and about 99% in dinner suits or business suits."

 

That's specifically with respect to the men. As regards the ladies, that first formal night (the Captain's Reception) brought out a lot of full-length gowns. I would say that the later formal nights saw a bit of a switch to cocktail dresses - my wife, for example, brought two long dresses, two cocktail dresses, and pair of black 'dressy pants' which she wore with a white top for black & white night.

[Elaine0138]

I tend to stick to cocktail dresses on fly cruises, as my long dresses are beaded so quite heavy Buy what you prefer and remember the weight restrictions for flying

[jessie england]

Thanks for the help, do you think putting shoes in hand luggage is ok ?

[Elaine0138]

yes shoes in your hand luggage is ok

[CruiseLuvver]

I found it fairly dressy - pretty much everyone obeyed the dress code, and on the 'smart casual' nights, tended to err more towards smart than casual. I didn't notice any particular pattern to the dress length, other than the younger women (late teens/early 20s) tended to wear very short skirts, and the over-60s tended to be more likely to wear long gowns - those in the mid ranges had every length in between! I personally prefer wearing long gowns because I so rarely get an opportunity, but you won't look out of place whichever you wear, so pick the dresses you fall in love with!