Best dressed cruisers?

[shipgeeks]

I've noticed a difference, in passengers' appearance, between Carib/New England/TA cruises, and also some differences depending on departure ports, cruiseline, and nationalities of passengers. Have you? What cruiselines/itineraries/departure ports do you think have the best dressed cruisers?

Let's not get into Worst; keep it positive.

And I know it's futile to compare current cruises with 15-20 years ago, when 98% of the men on HAL wore tuxes on formal nights and blue blazers every other night, and looked so good!

Any thoughts?

[JanineM]

I think that Europeans tend to dress better than Americans or Canadians (I'm dual citizen so I can get away with saying this), so departure ports from Europe would have my vote. I know too many North Americans who say they want to be "comfortable", which too often means sloppy. You can be comfortable and look neat and stylish without spending any extra money!

 

That said, the best dressed group I've sailed with were on Celebrity on a transAtlantic. Everyone was well dressed all the time, and by that I mean they took a bit of care with their appearance. There was one woman who wore the same dress every single night in the dining room, but it was always pressed and fresh looking, she wore her hose (it was a cold cruise!), her shoes were shined and her hair was combed. Not fancy, but well put together without spending a bundle. Of course I was really sick of seeing that dress by the end of the cruise, but I can't say that she was a slob ... unlike what we've seen on a lot of the shorter cruises.

[Happy ks]

I've noticed a difference, in passengers' appearance, between Carib/New England/TA cruises, and also some differences depending on departure ports, cruiseline, and nationalities of passengers. Have you? What cruiselines/itineraries/departure ports do you think have the best dressed cruisers?

Let's not get into Worst; keep it positive.

And I know it's futile to compare current cruises with 15-20 years ago, when 98% of the men on HAL wore tuxes on formal nights and blue blazers every other night, and looked so good!

Any thoughts?

 

Go back only 10 years ago and people dressed a lot nicer on cruise ships than they do now. Blame advertising, NCL Freestyle more than anything else.

 

The only 2 or 3 times I've noticed people dressing nicer than an average cruise in the past 8-10 years was: once on Queen Mary 2, it was ony a 4 night cruise to Baja and you should have seen the evening gowns/tuxes on formal nights and the smart casual nights, many men in sportscoats and women in dresses. Even during the daylight hours people were dressed in nice casual clothing, not many T shirts and jeans at all on that little cruise. Our one and only Celebrity cruise (Alaska), that was in 2004 and I think things have changed quite a bit since now I read how Alaska is more casual than other cruises.

 

Finally, our one Med cruise on RCI, evenings were dressier, no jeans on casual nights and lots of tuxes on formal nights. This in part I believe to be that quite a few men rented tuxes instead of packing a suit. Many cocktail dresses, few gowns as I suspect the packing thing again (it's why I prefer cocktail dresses to long). The crowd was predominantly American/Canadian according to accents I heard around the ship...not many European sounding people (Italian, English, French, etc...). It was also mostly adult, age range tended to be 50's - 60's, I wouldn't have noticed except I expected an older crowd in the month of October.

[Chigirlcruzin]

Go back only 10 years ago and people dressed a lot nicer on cruise ships than they do now. Blame advertising, NCL Freestyle more than anything else.

 

 

I think Freestyle gets a bad rep. In my 16 cruises, the two that had the best dressed passengers were my two Epic cruises. I didn't see the sloppiness that you can see on Carnival and what I witnessed on my one RCI cruise. Many people were dressed in gowns and tuxes on NYE. Other nights saw lots of cocktail attire. Shorts and tanks were not in abundance.

[Happy ks]

Our experiences were polar opposite!

[Kilnwood]

The best dressed cruisers, both men and women, I've ever seen were aboard the Hebridean Princess.....

[LindaM]

That is a good question, for which I have no answer! We were on Regent in the Caribbean. I expected the people to be better dressed than on Celebrity or HAL, but they looked the same.

 

I dress better in the Caribbean, because I don't have to worry as much about overweight luggage.

[Gathina]

Go back only 10 years and people dressed better, period. Men looked like men and women looked like women.

 

I have spent a lot of time on military bases overseas and sadly, it was easy to tell who the Americans were in the villages and cities where the bases were located. They were the ones without the ironed shirts, women wearing sweats to the grocery store, and the sloppy pants. It seemed that British and Italian woman always looked so "put together" even if just wearing jeans and a pretty coat to the market. Hair done neatly, simple makeup, ironed clothes.

 

But I think anymore, people don't have a sense of decorum in terms of what to wear for certain occasions.

 

So nobody flame me. You asked for an opinion and I gave you that, and an observation.

 

Go back only 10 years ago and people dressed a lot nicer on cruise ships than they do now. Blame advertising, NCL Freestyle more than anything else.

 

The only 2 or 3 times I've noticed people dressing nicer than an average cruise in the past 8-10 years was: once on Queen Mary 2, it was ony a 4 night cruise to Baja and you should have seen the evening gowns/tuxes on formal nights and the smart casual nights, many men in sportscoats and women in dresses. Even during the daylight hours people were dressed in nice casual clothing, not many T shirts and jeans at all on that little cruise. Our one and only Celebrity cruise (Alaska), that was in 2004 and I think things have changed quite a bit since now I read how Alaska is more casual than other cruises.

 

Finally, our one Med cruise on RCI, evenings were dressier, no jeans on casual nights and lots of tuxes on formal nights. This in part I believe to be that quite a few men rented tuxes instead of packing a suit. Many cocktail dresses, few gowns as I suspect the packing thing again (it's why I prefer cocktail dresses to long). The crowd was predominantly American/Canadian according to accents I heard around the ship...not many European sounding people (Italian, English, French, etc...). It was also mostly adult, age range tended to be 50's - 60's, I wouldn't have noticed except I expected an older crowd in the month of October.

[brooklynfc]

I've done RC, Celebrity and Carnival and found there is generally a mix of all kinds on cruises. I've seen one extreme to another. As long as their fashion choices don't affect how my cruise is going (can't think of a why it could) I don't care what they wear.

 

To answer your question, I think probably Europe cruises and maybe even Alaska. I think the Caribbean ones just say, "Relax Man." So that is how people dress. The Jimmy Buffet effect, lol. (Not that I'm harping on the Parrot heads).

 

But I do care what I wear. I had a friend tell me it was b/c I'm still single and want to look good to catch a guy. Well, that could be partly correct. But my grandmother (RIP) was a southern lady that although she was raised pretty dirt pour had high expectations of how a lady should act and dress. I'm glad that she passed that down to me thought I've found my own style out of it, I do keep the lessons she taught me close to my heart and wardrobe:D.