How Casual is California Coastal on Sapphire?

[EatPrayCruise]

We are pretty casual folks and just booked a Spring 2013 California Coastal cruise on the Sapphire. We have only cruised twice before on the Island and Coral Inside Passage Vancouver to Alaska. We wore mostly jeans on both cruises and chose not to dress up on formal nights.

 

Just wondering how gussied up people get on the coastal cruise and wondering if we need to pack a few more dressy clothes. Don't get me wrong, we dress up when needed, but we go on vacation to let our hair down and relax.

 

Just curious...

Sue

[Astro Flyer]

We are pretty casual folks and just booked a Spring 2013 California Coastal cruise on the Sapphire. We have only cruised twice before on the Island and Coral Inside Passage Vancouver to Alaska. We wore mostly jeans on both cruises and chose not to dress up on formal nights.

 

Just wondering how gussied up people get on the coastal cruise and wondering if we need to pack a few more dressy clothes. Don't get me wrong, we dress up when needed, but we go on vacation to let our hair down and relax.

 

Just curious...

Sue

I've sailed on two Coastals & two Alaskan cruises and would say they're about as casual as your Alaskan cruises...have a great cruise! :D

[EatPrayCruise]

Thank you so much. What a relief, lol.

 

Sue

[pris993]

Jeans are fine for day time.

 

We are going on our 21st Princess cruise in September from SF to Mexico. Plan to do a coastal when the Grand starts do them. We pack clothes for formal nights for all cruises. That is why they have formal nights.

 

Princess has lots of options -- the buffet is available 24/7 for example if you don't wish to dress for dinner in the MDR.

 

I am sure you will find folks who feel jeans are okay for evenings. Jeans are work clothes not dress clothes in my book. We only wore them on the farm. That tells you were I am coming from, things have changed a lot. Folks idea of smart casual borders on sloppy today. I don't care what others wear actually. But since you asked I thought I'd share my opinion.

[cellyml12]

Luckily passengers aren't the ones to enforce MDR dress. If you are comfortable that's all that matters. I'm sure if the outfit is inappropriate they'll let you know at the door. I read so many reviews for the various itineraries and it seems that super dressy is on it's way to a Once Upon a Time story.

[davekathy]

What does the itinerary have to do with the recommended evening dress guidelines for the MDR or other venues?

[capriccio]

We did a Coastal in May (Sapphire repositioning to Vancouver) and just returned from an Alaska cruise on the Coral Princess. We dressed the same on both. We do the specialty restaurants on formal nights since we don't bring fancy clothes. Dockers and polo for my husband, slacks and sweater/blouse for me were fine.

[cellyml12]

What does the itinerary have to do with the recommended evening dress guidelines for the MDR or other venues?

 

Because people always say that Alaska is more relaxed then other itineraries, but when you read the various reviews from all over, they ALWAYS talk about how it wasn't as dressy as they thought it would be The point was, it's not just Alaska that's relaxed.

[PunkiC]

We dress up whenever we get the opportunity because we really enjoy dressing up and looking nice, or even extra nice on formal nights, but if you don't care how you look, I can't imagine why anyone else would. Just stay out of the MDR in casual clothes on formal nights. That kind of take the shine off the evening for everyone.

[geoherb]

I'm getting off the Sapphire this morning after a southbound cruise from Alaska to Vancouver. The current maitre d' and head waiters were not that fussy when it came to passengers' dress on formal nights. I saw a few men without jackets in the dining room. I did not see anyone in jeans on formal nights. On other nights, jeans were fine.

[1 HappyCruiser]

Because people always say that Alaska is more relaxed then other itineraries, but when you read the various reviews from all over, they ALWAYS talk about how it wasn't as dressy as they thought it would be The point was, it's not just Alaska that's relaxed.

 

Most people tend to carry less formal clothing on an Alaskan trip simply because they have to pack so many other things that are really needed & the extra clothing is just to much to carry.

 

Princess makes things as formal as any person would like & won't turn anyone away from eating in the dining room dressed casually unless they go to extremes. Don't feel that you have to dress to impress your fellow cruisers that you'll never see again. A quote from Princess's Facebook page concerning dress in the DR is "Smart casual is perfectly acceptable. It is paramount to Princess that her passengers are relaxed, enjoying their vacation and not judged".

[sashas_mom]

We did this itinerary this past Spring and loved it. The ports were fun even though we live in So.Cal. and have been to them many times. It was a very relaxing enjoyable cruise, casual as you want it to be within Princess guidelines. The Sapphire was a beautiful ship and now has the new features in the Piazza such as the new pizza restaurant, which we really enjoyed.

 

Have a great cruise!

[Astro Flyer]

What does the itinerary have to do with the recommended evening dress guidelines for the MDR or other venues?

 

Because people always say that Alaska is more relaxed then other itineraries, but when you read the various reviews from all over, they ALWAYS talk about how it wasn't as dressy as they thought it would be The point was, it's not just Alaska that's relaxed.

I agree & it can also be more relaxed on Hawaiian cruises with many Aloha shirts being worn. Many of us from SoCal wear relaxed clothing & also enjoy the round trip cruise to Hawaii from LA without having to fly anywhere. Although for me, if I don't have the clothing requested on formal night I'll dine elsewhere out of respect for those who follow the recommendations.

[davekathy]

Because people always say that Alaska is more relaxed then other itineraries, but when you read the various reviews from all over, they ALWAYS talk about how it wasn't as dressy as they thought it would be The point was, it's not just Alaska that's relaxed.

 

We'll always adhear to the recommended dress guidelines listed in the brochures. We don't care how other Cruisers choose to dress no matter what the itinerary is.

[EatPrayCruise]

We dress up whenever we get the opportunity because we really enjoy dressing up and looking nice, or even extra nice on formal nights, but if you don't care how you look, I can't imagine why anyone else would. Just stay out of the MDR in casual clothes on formal nights. That kind of take the shine off the evening for everyone.

 

 

We DO care how we look, and by me asking my original question in no way implies that we don't! We have only cruised to AK, and were just curious. We have enough common sense to stay out of the main dining room if we choose not to bring our formal wear for formal nights and we don't need YOU to tell us to stay out, lol! Just because we like to dress a little bit more casual, perhaps than you, certainly doesn't mean we're stupid!

 

Thank you to the other posters who were kind enough to reply with your experiences and suggestions. And thank you to cellyml12 for explaining the possible difference with bringing extra clothing, etc. for the Alaska cruises.

 

We plan to enjoy ourselves and are really looking forward to our cruise.

[WpgCruise]

We DO care how we look, and by me asking my original question in no way implies that we don't! We have only cruised to AK, and were just curious. We have enough common sense to stay out of the main dining room if we choose not to bring our formal wear for formal nights and we don't need YOU to tell us to stay out, lol! Just because we like to dress a little bit more casual, perhaps than you, certainly doesn't mean we're stupid!

 

Thank you to the other posters who were kind enough to reply with your experiences and suggestions. And thank you to cellyml12 for explaining the possible difference with bringing extra clothing, etc. for the Alaska cruises.

 

We plan to enjoy ourselves and are really looking forward to our cruise.

 

Well, now we have that off our chest...............hope you have a great cruise. Seems like you need the stress relief.

[sasset]

OK...how many formal nights on the seven day spring California coastal cruises on the Sapphire? Not looking to judge, justify or argue. Just want to know.

[Pam in CA]

OK...how many formal nights on the seven day spring California coastal cruises on the Sapphire? Not looking to judge, justify or argue. Just want to know.

Seven day cruises on Princess have five "smart" casual and two formal nights.

[sandthrush]

We took the California Coastal cruise on the Sapphire 2 years ago. It was wonderful. We don't travel with formal clothing anymore. We dress smart casual, every night, and stay away from the main dining room on the formal nights. We rarely go to the shows, so that is not an issue on formal nights. We are booked on the Grand for a coastal cruise for 2014 and have no plans to take formal clothing for that either.

[kayelbee]

We did the Californian Costal in October 2012, DH didn't take a jacket but did take formal slacks, long sleeve shirt and tie which he wore on formal nights however we didn't use the MDR on formal nights. We were unexpectedly invited to the Captains Reception which was Formal dress. DH wore as above but spoke with the staff member checking the invites asking him if it was OK to attend without a jacket, we were let in without worry. Yes he was only one of a couple of gents without jackets but not the only one. On formal nights most ladies dressed well, dress slacks or dress, but not ball gown, much diamante/sparkle, guys generally had suits/formal trousers and jacket and some, but not many, tuxes.

Generally during the day the dress was very casual, I am not a clothes snob but would not take well worn clothes on holiday with me, some did. During the non formal evenings smart jeans/slacks with a collared T-shirt/shirt or blouse/sparkly T-shirt were generally worn.

All in all it was a much more casual cruise than those with mainly europeans on board during which 90% of men wore tuxes.

Hope this helps a bit.

[sasset]

Thanks to all of you that got back so quickly. Been doing Celebrity the last few years and haven't been on Princess since about 2001 and that was a longer (16 days) trip. We like formal and since this would be a no-fly trip a few extra pieces aren't a problem.