Formal Nights

[SoCalCruiser20]

I have only cruised on NCL with the freestyle dining

What is the dining like on Carnival? WHat do you have to wear on a daily basis? On formal nights? If I dont want to dress up on formal nights is there somewhere I can eat without dressing up?

Thanks,

 

Brandon

[tef43]

I have only cruised on NCL with the freestyle dining

What is the dining like on Carnival? WHat do you have to wear on a daily basis? On formal nights? If I dont want to dress up on formal nights is there somewhere I can eat without dressing up?

Carnival did away with "Formal" Night some years ago. It is now "Cruise Elegant" Night.

 

Unlike NCL, Carnival does not enforce their wardrobe "suggestions."

[mephistoles]

We didn't attend either of the "cruise elegant" nights and ate at the buffet.

[SoCalCruiser20]

so when you eat the the main dining room its at the same time every night? unless you choose to go to a specialty restaraunt or buffet? and just need to wear collared shirts and slacks? and same on cruise elegant nights?

We dont want to dress up fany but polos and nice jeans and button up shirts and nice jeans will do maybe even slacks.

[tef43]

so when you eat the the main dining room its at the same time every night? unless you choose to go to a specialty restaraunt or buffet? and just need to wear collared shirts and slacks? and same on cruise elegant nights?

We dont want to dress up fany but polos and nice jeans and button up shirts and nice jeans will do maybe even slacks.

If you choose Traditional Dining, then yes, you eat at the same time at the same table every night. Carnival offers Your Time Dining as well.

[SoCalCruiser20]

What is your time dining?

are there seperate restaraunts that you can eat at free of charge?

[RuthlessBoss]

so when you eat the the main dining room its at the same time every night? unless you choose to go to a specialty restaraunt or buffet? and just need to wear collared shirts and slacks? and same on cruise elegant nights?

We dont want to dress up fany but polos and nice jeans and button up shirts and nice jeans will do maybe even slacks.

Some people here will say that's overdressed!

[tef43]

What is your time dining?

are there seperate restaraunts that you can eat at free of charge?

Most Carnival ships have two main dining rooms (Spirit-class only has one), and a specific area in one of them is reserved for Your Time Dining which means you can arrive anytime between 5:45 and 9 pm and be served. The menu is identical to Traditional Dining.

 

The only upcharge restaurant is the Steakhouse (on the ships that have them) and the Italian specialty restaurant on Dream-class ships.

[SoCalCruiser20]

Some people here will say that's overdressed!

 

WOW really???

So they went away with dressing up for dinner? sounds good for my group of 21 year olds, only downside is same time everynight...is there other places to eat at whatever time we want without extra charge?

[mephistoles]

What is your time dining?

are there seperate restaraunts that you can eat at free of charge?

 

We chose "your time" dining on our cruise. It gives you the option of going to dinner anytime between the hours of 5:45 and 9:30 and you will be seated on a First Come First Serve basis. We only used it on the first day (go figure) but I have not heard any complaints about it.

I don't know of any "free of charge" restaurants other than the buffet and MDR (shrugs)

[SoCalCruiser20]

We chose "your time" dining on our cruise. It gives you the option of going to dinner anytime between the hours of 5:45 and 9:30 and you will be seated on a First Come First Serve basis. We only used it on the first day (go figure) but I have not heard any complaints about it.

I don't know of any "free of charge" restaurants other than the buffet and MDR (shrugs)

 

thanks for the info, thats the one downside i see in my opinion with carnival, i loved loved loved NCL and the freestyle dining with a great amount of places to eat free of charge, want to try carnival but the dining options is the only downside right now.

Hows the crowd of people on these ships? Heard that its just a bunch of drunks??? is that true???

[kicia]

If you want anytime dining you have to request it before you sail. Then you can eat anytime within the time window listed. You must make a choice however and you cannot change between anytime dining and an assigned time. Anytime dining is gaining in popularity and it usually fills up quickly. If you don't get anytime dining you cannot use that instead of whatever fixed time you get.

 

Carnival still has two elegant nights on 7 day or longer cruises. We still dress formally for dinner in a tux and long gown on those nights. We certainly are not alone but there are more suits and even sport coats than tuxedos. Most people are dressed nicely and we have seen people turned away on formal/elegant night for not dressing properly but it is not uniformly enforced. Although suggested, men don't even really need any type of coat or tie. On non-elegant nights you can even wear the longer dress shorts in the dining room. Other than the dining room the other free places to eat are the buffet and room service. There is nothing comparable to the Blue Lagoon.

[kicia]

Hows the crowd of people on these ships? Heard that its just a bunch of drunks??? is that true???

 

We've done 32 Carnival cruises and have never seen a drunk person. We've done 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, and 14 day cruises at various times of the year including spring break and Christmas and have yet to see all of these drunk people. I don't know where they are but certainly not where we've been. Not in our hallway, dining room, Lido, show rooms, etc. Every cruise has a different demographic however so I suppose it could happen sometime, somewhere. We've done 9 cruises on other lines and have never seen any drunks on those either but the strangest story about a swinging couple was from our Disney cruise. Most people who talk about the drunk, hard partying people are those that have never sailed on Carnival. Please don't let that dissuade you from sailing with Carnival. You'll have a great time.

[Pellaz]

thanks for the info, thats the one downside i see in my opinion with carnival, i loved loved loved NCL and the freestyle dining with a great amount of places to eat free of charge, want to try carnival but the dining options is the only downside right now.

Hows the crowd of people on these ships? Heard that its just a bunch of drunks??? is that true???

 

Nahh, not usually. It's a younger crowd than, say, Holland America or Cunard, but there hasn't been much obvious drunkenness on the cruises I've sailed (granted, only two with CCL).

 

Carnival also usually has a good deli open 'til 11pm, 24-hour pizza (and it was reallly good on Liberty this past week), Guy's Burger Joint open 'til 6pm on ships that have it, and 24-hour room-service. In my experience the dinner buffet, if you opted to go there instead of the MDR, was really good -- lots of the same entrees as in the MDR, I noticed. ;)

[SoCalCruiser20]

If you want anytime dining you have to request it before you sail. Then you can eat anytime within the time window listed. You must make a choice however and you cannot change between anytime dining and an assigned time. Anytime dining is gaining in popularity and it usually fills up quickly. If you don't get anytime dining you cannot use that instead of whatever fixed time you get.

 

Carnival still has two elegant nights on 7 day or longer cruises. We still dress formally for dinner in a tux and long gown on those nights. We certainly are not alone but there are more suits and even sport coats than tuxedos. Most people are dressed nicely and we have seen people turned away on formal/elegant night for not dressing properly but it is not uniformly enforced. Although suggested, men don't even really need any type of coat or tie. On non-elegant nights you can even wear the longer dress shorts in the dining room. Other than the dining room the other free places to eat are the buffet and room service. There is nothing comparable to the Blue Lagoon.

 

"There is nothing comparable to the BLue Lagoon" is the ideal answer i was looking for! haha thank you so much, that was where i spent most of my time on my first cruise in the middle of the night. We are still waiting for summer 2014 to be released, we cant decide b/w NCL and Carnival, just trying to get the the Facts and details before we make our final decision!

thanks so much

 

Brandon

[SoCalCruiser20]

Hows the crowd of people on these ships? Heard that its just a bunch of drunks??? is that true???

 

We've done 32 Carnival cruises and have never seen a drunk person. We've done 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, and 14 day cruises at various times of the year including spring break and Christmas and have yet to see all of these drunk people. I don't know where they are but certainly not where we've been. Not in our hallway, dining room, Lido, show rooms, etc. Every cruise has a different demographic however so I suppose it could happen sometime, somewhere. We've done 9 cruises on other lines and have never seen any drunks on those either but the strangest story about a swinging couple was from our Disney cruise. Most people who talk about the drunk, hard partying people are those that have never sailed on Carnival. Please don't let that dissuade you from sailing with Carnival. You'll have a great time.

 

I understand what you are saying, thanks for clarifying, we are still mid decision b/w NCL and Carnival for next cruise, i went on NCL and loved it and loved the freestyle, my GF has only been on Carnival and she loves Carnival, both of us want to do our own cruise line lol Thanks for your input.

[SoCalCruiser20]

Nahh, not usually. It's a younger crowd than, say, Holland America or Cunard, but there hasn't been much obvious drunkenness on the cruises I've sailed (granted, only two with CCL).

 

Carnival also usually has a good deli open 'til 11pm, 24-hour pizza (and it was reallly good on Liberty this past week), Guy's Burger Joint open 'til 6pm on ships that have it, and 24-hour room-service. In my experience the dinner buffet, if you opted to go there instead of the MDR, was really good -- lots of the same entrees as in the MDR, I noticed. ;)

 

 

Thank you so much, I am looking forward to my next cruise, can never eat enough! still many other aspects that go into our decision but this has helped me with understanding Carnivals eating situation

 

thanks

[coevan]

Our one and only NCL experience was on the Star and all the restaurants except the MDR were for fee. we only had one meal in the MDR as it was mediocre. We ate at the pay restaurants every other night and they were very good. The Japanese tempiaki (sp) restaurant was excellent. No one dressed up on NCL, so there was nothing to enforce.

[Pellaz]

Thank you so much, I am looking forward to my next cruise, can never eat enough!

 

Oh, I dunno, I think I ate enough for three people on this last cruise. But dangit, I like to eat. :)

 

still many other aspects that go into our decision but this has helped me with understanding Carnivals eating situation

thanks

 

I think we all agreed after this last cruise that, while the service and sometimes the food was lacking in the MDR on Liberty, they have a wider variety of alternate restaurants and alternate hours than you'd expect. I think you'll be fine on the food aspect. :D

[SoCalCruiser20]

Oh, I dunno, I think I ate enough for three people on this last cruise. But dangit, I like to eat. :)

 

 

 

I think we all agreed after this last cruise that, while the service and sometimes the food was lacking in the MDR on Liberty, they have a wider variety of alternate restaurants and alternate hours than you'd expect. I think you'll be fine on the food aspect. :D

 

 

Well as long as there's a lot of options I think we'll be fine! Just waiting for itineraries to come out so we can check prices and book our next cruise:D