Does formal attire mean LONG dress?

[kms8066]

I was reading the Patter that someone posted, and it said "formal" attire means floor-length dress -- is that true? or do many ladies wear cocktail-length (very nice) dresses?

[PescadoAmarillo]

Many ladies wear cocktail dresses, some wear slacks and a few wear floor length dresses.

[rdsqrl]

On Princess, not at all. Here, "formal" means anything from cocktail attire, to nice dress you could wear to an afternoon wedding or out to dinner, to black pants and sparkly top combos. Generally, you see all three in about equal numbers. There are usually very few long gowns, mostly on older women/prom-aged teens.

 

 

[Happy ks]

I haven't worn a long dress in years. You do see both long and short, plus some women wear pants. The interpretation of formal is office wear all the way to ballgown. Lots of black.

[Vanilla]

Just returned from the Golden (to Alaska) last week - not many long gowns. Didn't see any sparkly/sequins long gowns as we wore years ago. I also didn't see any men in Tux. Most women had on cocktail dresses, long pants with nice blouses/sweater/sparkly top. Men wore black suits or just pants and dress shirt - tie. The second formal night, most people were more in just casual attire. Our waiter even told us there wasn't a need to dress up - that casual attire was fine.

[Bowie MeMe]

Formal hardly means "formal" with high baggage costs IMHO. Lots of people don't participate but many do enjoy it. For me I usually take longish dresses or skirt with silky shimmery tops that weigh about nothing. For 3 formal nights I am taking a long red slightly beaded dress with matching coat that flows. A black skirt that is tiered (long) worn with the red coat and matching top and then the black skirt with another silky top. For the other 13 days I am thinking of taking 3 different sleeveless turqoise dresses that can be worn for sight seeing and topped with a turquoise silk coat which goes over black pants and black skirt and several tops that float over pants that are also worn during day with a sweater or blouse.

 

I believe that you can dress very nicely by mixing and matching. If I take 50 pounds of luggage I have about 7 pounds of "dressy clothes" and the rest casual or slightly better than casual (blouse rather than Tshirt over pants)/ I have bad feet so "dress shoes" are black Orthaheel MJ's which I can also do walking tours. I sometimes take pewter dressy sandles and pewter cloth small handbag (to carry pills to MDR. kleenex and key) and sometimes fancy turquoise leather thong shoes that match the dresses.

[Sydneyscott]

Sounds great but what does Barbs wear.......lost me on the ortho heals.

 

Scott

[susancruzs]

Great posts, things have changed with the luggage fees adding to it. When I went for 21 days in '05, I had 2 big bags with me! In 1986, on the Royal Princess, everyone dressed up. It was a big band cruise with Les Brown, fun to see all the dressy clothes.

 

I'm onboard for 27 days in '13, changed my thinking. Bowie MeMe has it right! I will do a long black skirt, silky black pants, nice tops. Some very dressy for formal (Kohl's just had a sale)! I'll take my big pullman suitcase with everything rolled up, no 2nd bag.

[5326jan]

I wear Black travelers pants with different dressy tops for each formal night. I love the comfort of the travelers line, but they are heavy, so I'm looking for a new brand that has the comfort with less weight. I take one dressy shoe, which is a flat shoe with a little "bling" on the toe. (It's the only part of the shoe that shows!)

 

DH wears a charcoal jacket and nice shirt and tie. We usually travel in Europe, so carrying big heavy luggage is not fun, especially in Venice! :rolleyes:

[amazinglife]

truly almost anything goes for women.....just do not wear jeans cuz the flames will show up....LOL :p

[Minoushka]

Airline baggage fees being rather high I now pack cocktail.kneelength dresses. I have a few with sparkles and stuff ...very elegant .remember a shawl or shrug ...some dining rooms can be very cold

For our next cruise because second bag is only 20$ I will pack a variety of long and short for 6 elegant nights .i am going with friends who really dress up ...gives me incentive...lol

 

Michele

[CruisinChris]

I don't understand how baggage fees are a rationalization to not pack a formal gown. You would bring an outfit to wear that evening anyway.

 

I have always worn floor length formal gowns on formal nights and I am neither a very senior lady or a high school girl on her way to prom. These dresses are comfortable and they probably weigh the same as anything else I could pack (or even less).

 

Why pass up a chance to look breathtaking?

[e71465]

I always bring one cocktail length black skirt and miss match glitzy tops for formal night. For shoes, I bring one pair of strappy sandles. My BF will be traveling with me this year and it's his first cruise. I usually travel with my Mom. Any suggestions on mens wear? He is not a suit or tux kind of guy but he will wear slacks.

[shofer]

I always bring one cocktail length black skirt and miss match glitzy tops for formal night. For shoes, I bring one pair of strappy sandles. My BF will be traveling with me this year and it's his first cruise. I usually travel with my Mom. Any suggestions on mens wear? He is not a suit or tux kind of guy but he will wear slacks.

 

He should at least bring a sport coat and plan on a dress shirt with a tie. That will make him fit in just fine.

 

 

Sue

[Pam in CA]

I bring a long, lightweight black dress that doesn't take up much more room or weight than a t-shirt and dress it up with sparkling shawls and jewelry. The additional weight and space is negligible. My brother-in-law used to wear a lightweight Madras jacket, dress shirt and tux pants, cummerbund and tie. He looked spiffy and these didn't add a lot of weight either.

[CELTICGIRLCRUISER]

Anything seems to go on some lines but by the book, formal etiquette is to the floor.

 

Let me explain my train of thought, I am "young" and stuffy about correct dress codes but this is because I mixed in those sort of circles and private members clubs and was lucky to be a member of the most exclusive private members club in the world (you can't buy your way in) and I have seen ladies turned away, yes really for being in the wrong attire. Very last century, maybe but these functions were very elegant and demanded the right attire.

 

However, I try not to worry too much about other people on the formal night on the ships as they are not "'real" formal occasions and as long as I feel presentable that's fine and anything seems to go.

 

If you go on some of the high end cruise lines you are more likely to see proper attire than you would say on Carnival on a formal night.

[beg3yrs]

I don't understand how baggage fees are a rationalization to not pack a formal gown. You would bring an outfit to wear that evening anyway.

 

I have always worn floor length formal gowns on formal nights and I am neither a very senior lady or a high school girl on her way to prom. These dresses are comfortable and they probably weigh the same as anything else I could pack (or even less).

 

Why pass up a chance to look breathtaking?

 

I agree with the desire to look breathtaking, it's wonderful, but ... formal wear doesn't mix and match well ;) for use on non-formal nights. Many passengers want to maximize the use of what they pack and it's difficult to do that with formal wear (true for both women and men). If one wants to look breathtaking, his or her partner may (should?) want to respect that wish and dress in a complementary manner, yet again increasing the inventory of clothing with limited use.

 

IMHO, the baggage fee rationalization is valid but only part of the issue. Having to lug around yet another bag in today's difficult airline travel scene is another related consideration (more bags equals more hassle).

 

Finally, this may not be an issue for the more fit, but less able passengers do consider having to manage more luggage when deciding what to pack. Yes, assistance may be available but one can not depend on it.

[2theship]

Not only do we not want to pay for the cost of extra bags or overweight bags, we don't want to lug the stuff around. I used to pack at least one fancy, beaded outfit. No more - a couple of pairs of dressy pants and some nice tops. I add jewelry and jazz up the makeup and I'm ready for formal nights.

 

Oh, and Sydneyscott - Orthoheels are great! Google it:D

[PunkiC]

I wear Black travelers pants with different dressy tops for each formal night. I love the comfort of the travelers line, but they are heavy, so I'm looking for a new brand that has the comfort with less weight. I take one dressy shoe, which is a flat shoe with a little "bling" on the toe. (It's the only part of the shoe that shows!)

 

I practically live in Chico's black Travelers pants. For warm weather travel I take one long pair and one cropped pair and will wear them for everything from walking around in ports to formal nights, if I am so inclined. I have never thought of them as being "heavy".

 

I also have a couple of long black skirts that weigh practically nothing and can be jazzed up with fancy tops, scarves and jewelry.

 

Nice cocktail dresses are also just fine for formal nights.

 

DH, usually just takes a tux, but if we are cruising with friends who like to dress up, he might take a white dinner jacket and a tux both, especially if we are headed to warm weather ports.

[RMM34667]

I don't understand how baggage fees are a rationalization to not pack a formal gown. You would bring an outfit to wear that evening anyway.

 

I have always worn floor length formal gowns on formal nights and I am neither a very senior lady or a high school girl on her way to prom. These dresses are comfortable and they probably weigh the same as anything else I could pack (or even less).

 

Why pass up a chance to look breathtaking?

 

I bought a beautiful full length dress for my upcoming cruise but was planning on having it hemmed to cocktail length (which is what I did with the last dress and it cost me more than the dress.) I love the dress but thought I'be more comfortable (and not feel out of place) with it cocktail. But... This thread has me rethinking.. Maybe I'll just leave it full length..

[Pam in CA]

I bought a beautiful full length dress for my upcoming cruise but was planning on having it hemmed to cocktail length (which is what I did with the last dress and it cost me more than the dress.) I love the dress but thought I'be more comfortable (and not feel out of place) with it cocktail. But... This thread has me rethinking.. Maybe I'll just leave it full length..

You will look and feel beautiful. Leave it as it is and don't make a decision until after your cruise. You'll have a much better idea of whether to shorten it or not.

[BratDet]

cause I feel like it.

I have never thought formal meant gowns.....on a cuise ship...but I find most people dress for formal night as if they were going to a wedding...any type of wedding....garden to ultra glitzy...

The two I brought to Europe for the 12 day Ruby this summer weighed less than any of the dresses I bought...My luggage was 47.5 pounds.

 

Souveniers went in my carry on....went for light weight stuff....as much as possible.....

 

49.5 coming home!!!

 

Bernadette

[Boomer 123]

I always bring one cocktail length black skirt and miss match glitzy tops for formal night. For shoes, I bring one pair of strappy sandles. My BF will be traveling with me this year and it's his first cruise. I usually travel with my Mom. Any suggestions on mens wear? He is not a suit or tux kind of guy but he will wear slacks.

 

The women can wear just about anything and call it formal. My wife hasn't brought a dress in years & simply dresses up a pair of black slacks with a sparkly to which suffices very nicely. On casual nights the same pair of slacks can still be worn with a different top.

The guys can get away without a suit jacket & just wear a pair of dress pants with a dress shirt and they'll be fine but if they fell out of place then a suit jacket would work. Many guys are beginning to not dress as formal as in years past.

[Aus Traveller]

I bought a beautiful full length dress for my upcoming cruise but was planning on having it hemmed to cocktail length (which is what I did with the last dress and it cost me more than the dress.) I love the dress but thought I'be more comfortable (and not feel out of place) with it cocktail. But... This thread has me rethinking.. Maybe I'll just leave it full length..

I suggest you leave your dress as it is. You obviously like it or you wouldn't have bought it. :)

 

Until now I have always worn full-length on formal nights, but I did buy a 'cocktail-length' outfit last week that will be one of my formals on future cruises - along with my other full-length dresses or skirts.

[beshears]

The "long length" looks very elgant for a lady, but it is not necessary. As long as the outfit whether dress/slacks/blouse are very dressy, it will look nice.