Men's Dinner Dress Code & Embarkation on Lirica?

[LuvBNatC]

On April 11, I'm sailing with my parents on Lirica (our first cruise with MSC) Anyway, my father is up in arms because he read somewhere that men are expected to wear a jacket and tie in the dining room EVERY night. Is this true?

 

Also, what's the embarkation procedure? I was surprised to find no instructions for advance registration, nor any registration paperwork at all in the ticket package. Do they really take your passport at the pier when you sail in the Western Carib. to the Panama Canal?

[czechmate]

Reassure father that he most certainly need not wear a jacket and tie every night. There will be 3 formal nights and the remained he will be fine with just a shirt and trousers.

 

Yes they will take the passport and keep it till just before immigration formalities pre disembarkation. You will find embarkation pretty straightforward and problem free with few formalities. Our T.A. requested passport info in advance and passed this thru to MSC

[LuvBNatC]

Thanks for the information. My father will be relieved.

 

I seem to recall that other cruise lines have sent a form with the tickets that you present at embarkation, completed with your address and phone number, passport info, whom to notify in an emergency, etc. I also thought that ships sailing out of the U.S. had to provide passenger lists containing certain info to Homeland Security (or the Coast Guard or the TSA? one of those, anyway) prior to sailing. Why would MSC be exempt from all that? Just taking passports at the pier wouldn't give them the data they should have. If anything bad should happen, MSC has no way of notifying passengers' next of kin. Am I right?

[Turtle Derf]

Embarkation was a breeze. For an 8:00 pm sailing we were on board and eating lunch by 12:30 pm. I thought the passport thing was odd but I heard that if you really wanted to hang on to it they would return it to you. As to formal night, I took a tux but never wore it because the others in my group of six didn't have them - a blue blazer, tie and dress slacks were fine for the 3 formal nights.