Women - Formal nights dress poll

[Cruise Junky]

We don't participate much anymore, but when we do, I'm a mixed bag. Last cruise was 3 formal nights, I had the long sparkly gown, cocktail dress and a 3/4 gown and hubby was in his tux. Europe cruises I'm more of a black pant, beaded jacket and we'll eat in the specialty restaurants as DH won't have his tux.

[Kellie Poodle]

I'm guilty of being a single digit dress size. I have found that my local Salvation Army is a treasure trove of lovely gowns. Some of them are still brand new with price tags on them, so I have to believe that there is a local establishment donating them.

 

Let's face it gals, a woman will wear a formal dress twice. After that her entire social circle has seen it so to the thrift store it goes. I actually see more larger sizes in the thrift stores and consignment stores than single digit sizes. These days, the vast majority are synthetic knits that pack well.

 

I do have one full length gown that I bought new at Ross Dress for Less with my senior discount that cost me less than $30. My black gown was $5, but I had to pay $18 to hem it as it has a ruffle down the front and was hard to shorten. The lavender one, in my photo, was $10. I hemmed it myself.

 

When I tire of my thrift store gowns, I donate them back and get new ones.

 

On non formal nights I wear the floaty black pants with a black tank and pretty, floaty jackets or tunics over them. I also love those little dresses one buys in Ross Dress for Less for under $20 that are synthetic knit and pack like a dream. I'll mix them in with the pants outfits for evenings. I just got two knit dresses for well under $50 from QVC for both, shipping included.

 

I enjoy dressing for dinner. I think it's because we started to cruise in the 80's when everyone did. It makes a cruise special because it's so different than everyday life. It's like living in a fantasy world for a brief period of time.

[Silvery Seas Cruiser]

I'm in the black pants, dressy top or jacket or beaded sweater group. In winter the pants are black velvet. Other seasons they are sateen or crushable pants.

 

I have the one pair of dressy black pants on the cruise and then different tops. I use the same strappy sandals with 2-inch heels every formal night and carry the same black beaded bag every formal night. I do vary the jewelry to add variety.

 

As an aside, I sat and watched dozens of women walk by one formal night to see their shoes and what they wore just to see if I might try something different. I didn't see one pair of black "flyaway" pants which I have worn on many a cruise. Have they gone out of style?

[DivasDare]

I prefer to wear cocktail dresses, or beaded tops with flowing bottoms.

[GranthamMommy]

My first Celebrity cruise is still months away. I'll pack my Jones New York black dress that I'll probably wear twice with different jewelry.For the third night I found a knee length black dress with sparkly black sequins on the top on the clearance rack at Kohl's for $16.00 It was a steal. If I didn't grab it, my best friend would have. I would love to find a simple gown. I'm going to keep my eye out for something.....

[We're The Groupnors]

Floor length ball skirt and silk wrap blouse one night, evening gown the next (not pouffy). If there's a third formal night it's a cocktail dress in Murano's. They go in the same suit bag as DH's tux.

[dln929]

I always wear a formal long dress for formal nights. And on 14 nights and longer I just bring more. No big deal, easy to pack. I also take them when we do European cruises. And I do not check luggage it is all carry on.

 

Laura

 

Same here. There are lots of formal cocktail dresses and gowns that don't weigh a ton or wrinkle easily and fit into a standard 21" carry-on. My husband does carry-on too, and he wears a tux on formal nights. Neither of us has much opportunity to dress to the nines here at home, so we really like doing so on cruises! For us, it's fun.

[Can'tstopcruising]

I always wear a formal long dress for formal nights. And on 14 nights and longer I just bring more. No big deal, easy to pack. I also take them when we do European cruises. And I do not check luggage it is all carry on.

 

Laura

 

Please tell us how you do it! I am so impressed! We went to Europe for 3 weeks (not a cruise) and others on our plane, who were going for twice as long. had less luggage than we did.

[Tenn4ever]

Please tell us how you do it! I am so impressed! We went to Europe for 3 weeks (not a cruise) and others on our plane' date=' who were going for twice as long. had less luggage than we did.[/quote']

 

We went to Ireland for ten days a couple years ago each with one carry on and our personal item was a back pack each.:D

[jaybird from SC]

Ditto on the black with sparkly tops...

[Nebr.cruiser]

Long formal (not ball gowns which are for balls) dresses for the formal nights and mainly cocktail dresses for every other night. I am trying to decide if it is worth taking seperates...black pants/skirt and a few fancy tops.. they take up more room than a handfull of cocktail dresses and can be more constricting around my ever expanding waist. Dresses are cooler to wear in warm climates too.

Yes, I have dresses that are for the start of the cruise and others for the end; when I have eaten a few too many deserts and drank way too much wine :D.

Cheers,h.

.

 

Me too! Since we usually take 10-14 day cruises, I start out wearing the clothes that fit nicely at the beginning and save the, uh, 'roomier' outfits for the end. I do try not to go crazy with the eating, but there are just so many options and things to try.

[juju2454]

I wear full length formal gowns, on all formal nights and even a few non formal nights just cause I like to wear them!

Last cruise I had 4 formal outfits, three were gowns, one was periwinkle chiffon full length,with empire beading, one was black with chiffon over and strapless, one was black with chiffon overlay and rosettes(3) in the back with chiffon tails to the floor, and a back up of a long chiffon skirt with a chiffon top with rhinestone butterflies down the front.

DH had a tuxedo with 2 sets of vest and bow ties( hand tied) of different colors( one I made that matched his grandsons in their tuxedos and vest/bow ties made to match his by me), and his dark suit with a matching shirt and tie to my periwinkle dress.

 

Both DD wore gowns all three nights, and SIL wore dark suits and matching shirts/ties.... we all totally loved dressing up.

:p

[Kellie Poodle]

I wear full length formal gowns, on all formal nights and even a few non formal nights just cause I like to wear them!

Last cruise I had 4 formal outfits, three were gowns, one was periwinkle chiffon full length,with empire beading, one was black with chiffon over and strapless, one was black with chiffon overlay and rosettes(3) in the back with chiffon tails to the floor, and a back up of a long chiffon skirt with a chiffon top with rhinestone butterflies down the front.

DH had a tuxedo with 2 sets of vest and bow ties( hand tied) of different colors( one I made that matched his grandsons in their tuxedos and vest/bow ties made to match his by me), and his dark suit with a matching shirt and tie to my periwinkle dress.

 

Both DD wore gowns all three nights, and SIL wore dark suits and matching shirts/ties.... we all totally loved dressing up.

:p

 

 

Your family must have looked gorgeous! I hope you had lots of photos taken.

 

I bought my DH a new cummerbund and bow tie for Valentine's day. They have the Texas flag on them. He saw someone with it on a prior cruise a few years ago and liked it so I tracked it down.

[pamstravel]

The past few Celebrity cruises we skipped formal nights and have gone to a specialty restaurant. We always do a spring and fall repositioning cruise but will be changing from X to RC (Liberty) for our spring cruise and Princess for the fall in part because of formal night.

[VOLEYMOM]

Love to dress up. I wear a larger size dress, I'm 5'10 but manage to find long dresses that are easy to pack. We are from California and hardly anyone ever dresses up so on a cruise its so much fun to dress up. So first formal night tight long dress with Spanx, second formal night less form fitting dress with my tighter Spanx!!!!! Gotta love those things. My husband wears a tux and it's not fair his pants have these slides on the side that can make his pants less tight!!

[Texalana]

...I bought my DH a new cummerbund and bow tie for Valentine's day. They have the Texas flag on them. He saw someone with it on a prior cruise a few years ago and liked it so I tracked it down.

 

Aww, I wonder if that was my husband he saw. My hubby loved his Texas vest and bow tie so much! He was proud to be a Texan. :) When he passed away last year I even had him buried in it.

[Kellie Poodle]

Aww, I wonder if that was my husband he saw. My hubby loved his Texas vest and bow tie so much! He was proud to be a Texan. :) When he passed away last year I even had him buried in it.

 

 

We were on the Voyager TA in 2009 and that's where he saw it.

 

I'm so sorry about your husband. Kindly accept my deepest condolences.

[cottonball511]

Will be going on our 1st med cruise in May (12 nights) and looking forward to dressing up on the 3 formal nights as we seldom have a chance to do so back home.

 

DH does not own a tux so will be wearing a dark suit and tie. I'm thinking of wearing our Malaysian traditional dress, called the Sarong Kebaya on the 1st formal night . It has a long tight fitting sarong skirt with a long sleeved tight chiffon embroidered top. Because it's so fitting, can only wear at beginning of cruise before waistline expands!

 

On the other 2 nights, maybe a knee length Chinese cheong sam in embroidered brocade or a long dark blue sleeveless velvet gown which i had for years but still fits. On all other nights, plan to wear nice knee length dresses.

 

 

Would all this be appropriate? Advice welcome

[pamstravel]

Will be going on our 1st med cruise in May (12 nights) and looking forward to dressing up on the 3 formal nights as we seldom have a chance to do so back home.

 

DH does not own a tux so will be wearing a dark suit and tie. I'm thinking of wearing our Malaysian traditional dress, called the Sarong Kebaya on the 1st formal night . It has a long tight fitting sarong skirt with a long sleeved tight chiffon embroidered top. Because it's so fitting, can only wear at beginning of cruise before waistline expands!

 

On the other 2 nights, maybe a knee length Chinese cheong sam in embroidered brocade or a long dark blue sleeveless velvet gown which i had for years but still fits. On all other nights, plan to wear nice knee length dresses.

 

 

Would all this be appropriate? Advice welcome

 

All your clothing sounds lovely. Have a wonderful trip and don't worry about it...you will see a little of everything.

[middlehaitch]

Oh Cottonball511 you must wear your sarong kebaya for your first formal; they are such beautiful outfits.

I have friends from Labuan and their mother always wore traditional dress eventhough she had lived in Canada for over 40 years. I have a couple of sarongs, 4 of the cotton blouses and used to have one of the chiffon embroidered blouses but it was so fine it soon wore out. I love wearing the cotton blouses even though the patterns and colours never look as good on my pale skin. Please wear the outfit:)

Cheers, h.

[Redtravel]

For years I used to really dress up. tux and long fancy gowns were my style. Then we lost our luggage in 2004. We were on a 2 week Med cruise. It was more than a week before we got our bags. We didn't have formal attire. We went to formal night in ordinary clothes and boat shoes. Not only didn't anyone care, we noticed many other people dressed casually. When we did get our luggage, my good clothes were stolen. Now I leave the good clothes home and bring only old stuff. Nobody cares. Do what's best for you. Never bring clothes/jewelry that you would miss if it were lost.

[cottonball511]

After reading what pamstravel and middlehaitch said, will definitely give my sarong kebaya and cheong sam an airing.:)

cheers,

jo

[sollan]

As a answer to the poll:

On our three formal nights DH will wear a nice black suit and I will wear two long dresses, chiffon with embrioderies and bling-bling and also a flapper dress (think thats the name) from the twenties . It's not full lenght.

[Can'tstopcruising]

For years I used to really dress up. tux and long fancy gowns were my style. Then we lost our luggage in 2004. We were on a 2 week Med cruise. It was more than a week before we got our bags. We didn't have formal attire. We went to formal night in ordinary clothes and boat shoes. Not only didn't anyone care, we noticed many other people dressed casually. When we did get our luggage, my good clothes were stolen. Now I leave the good clothes home and bring only old stuff. Nobody cares. Do what's best for you. Never bring clothes/jewelry that you would miss if it were lost.

 

What a horrible experience!

 

Although I have never had anything stolen, I am afraid to take anything I value. Good jewellery goes into the safety deposit box and years ago, I bought Chico travel wear for formal nights. These are cruise only outfits that I rarely (some never) wear at home. DH has two tuxes and the old one goes on the cruise.

 

Having said that, we are flying to a destination wedding and I plan to take an expensive dress. We will be taking two planes each way. DH will take a good suit. I sure hope we don't lose anything.

[SFfranks]

Wow! Lots of responses, thanks everyone! Looks like i will bring a mix. Luggage is an issue but I'm ready to fork over some over weight fee's and extra baggage fee's if necessary! I usually bring one suitcase of shoes only! I like to have options! We usually get our first bag free for each of us anyway and always have a $200 baggage reimbursement with American Express so we should be ok.