Children question again??

[charw20]

What do the children have to wear in the main dinning room. My boys are 10 & 12, do they need to change every night to go eat? What about formal/elegant night? Thanks for answers.......

[MrPete]

Same as adults. There is no separate dress code for any age.

[firefly333]

there are some rules in the FAQs, you can wear dress (long) shorts to eat in, tennis shoes, almost anything for regular nights.

 

elegant nights, a nice shirt and long pants is enough.

[3dashers]

We cruised HAL when DS was 8 and he wore a suit on formal nights, slacks and a collared shirt otherwise. I do think HAL is a bit more formal though, AND this was a Christmas/new Years 14 day cruise.

 

This year on Carnival he has worn linen pants and shirt. If you have a children's place,watch the sales bc you can get them dirt cheap. He doesn't wear a suit bc he is at that size which is between boy/men, is tall and lanky.

 

I do like him to dress up and we get a family portrait.

[CatlinSTJ]

They have the same dress code, not sure why it would be different for children? Our girls enjoyed dressing up for dinner on our last cruise. Also, I think it helps them understand that their behavior needs to be top notch as well.

[Seago2]

My boys wore khakis in the MDR, along with polo shirts or button down short sleeved shirts. They then changed right after dinner. That way I only needed to bring a couple of pairs of khakis (school pants) per kid. Kids can wear jeans or nice shorts. Formal night- you can opt in- a suit might be overkill but I've seen them on kids- or opt out and either go to the buffet or dress up a little more and stay in the MDR. Dressing up a little more might be a blazer, or a button down. You know how boys that age are- they always look a bit awkward so you'll see the whole range of dress. As long as they're not wearing beach wear or looking terrible they'll be fine on Carnival.

[AngAndBoys]

They can wear jeans or nice shorts on normal nights. On formal nights, do a pair of khakis at least. You can get dressy clothes for kids relatively cheap at JC Penny, FYI. Or see if they can borrow some from friends if you don't want to spend money on clothes they will wear one time in life. Or let them skip formal night all together. They usually do something in kids club that night anyway. I have run into the issue of buying them clothes to wear that night and then they want to do kids club activities instead.

[Warm Breezes]

What do the children have to wear in the main dinning room. My boys are 10 & 12, do they need to change every night to go eat? What about formal/elegant night? Thanks for answers.......

 

My DS usually wears dress pants with a collared button up dress shirt (no tie) on Elegant Night. On Casual Night he usually wears Cargo Shorts with a Collared Polo shirt.

[KatieCharlotte]

My son wore what he wears to church, khakis and a collared polo shirt and dark gray sneakers, on the elegant nights. On non-elegant nights, he wore cargo pants or long cargo shorts and a polo shirt or long-sleeve plain, black Under Armour shirt. I agree with the advice that JCPenney has very affordable clothes that will pass the dress code. And don't worry if they wear the same thing multiple times.

 

There is a wide-range of dress for children and adults in the mdr. My daughters love to dress up but boys tend to feel differently. We reached a compromise that met the requirements without making him feel tortured on vacation. :)

[Express Man]

My son 14 work khakis on elegant night with dress shirt and tie,rest the week nice cargo shorts with either polo shirts or decent shirts with no large logos. Our daughter 10 on elegant night wore a dress and rest the week capris or nice shorts and tops.

[Colorado Kat]

They can dress for dinner, and then change right after. That way the clothes stay relatively clean, and they only need a couple of outfits for the week.

[onegroundcafe]

Also if you don't want to take them to dinner in the MDR Camp Carnival serves them dinner at 6:00 and keeps them for the night. We like that option and use the MDR for date nights (which we don't get on land very often).

[coolcookie34]

I've seen adults in regular shorts and logo t-shirts at formal night many times across 6 sailings and I doubt anyone has been denied entrance to the DR due to dress. My 9 y/o wears a L/S shirt with tie and dress pants and usually a jacket. My 7 y/o wears a nice dress. On casual nights it's shorts/t-shirt.

[xitappers2bx]

What do the children have to wear in the main dinning room. My boys are 10 & 12, do they need to change every night to go eat? What about formal/elegant night? Thanks for answers.......

 

they need to be presentable... so like, dirty shorts and a stained shirt is just bad etiquette...

 

for formal nights they should be in slacks with a polo at the very least... my 8 year old (girl though) dresses to the nines for these, but i can see boys being more reluctant to do so.

[KatPem]

My boys wore khaki pants/dress pants/cargo shorts with nice T-shirt (Abercrombie, Hollister, etc)/3 button polo/button down plaid shirt, with and without t-shirt underneath on casual nights. We stayed away from tank tops and athletic attire.

 

I told my boys a suit and tie were required for formal nights.....so shoot me, they both have one and I wanted some nice pictures lol. I would definitely say at least khaki pants or dress pants with a button down on formal night.

 

We mixed and matched some since they usually changed afterwards.

 

 

Oh, and my oldest wore sperrys with his outfits...even the black pinstripe suit. The youngest wore Black Jordans with white laces. I wasn't going to bring extra shoes so we just made do with what they were going to bring anyway.

[arpie05]

My 12yo son weres dress shorts and a nice polo shirt mist nights and dress slacks and a button dress shirt on cruise elegant nights. As soon as dinner is over, races back to the room to get back into shorts.

My son wears the same things. I did quit bringing dress shoes because with a size 14 shoe, it took up more room than he had in his suitcase. I figured black tennis shoes would be ok and if anyone noticed they'd think he just forgot his dress shoes ;). (he will be 17 this cruise)

 

Now for a longer cruise I bring him one pair of dress shoes for all 7 nights; one white shirt long sleeve button dress, one pair khaki pants, 2 ties, 3 collared polos and one pair khaki shorts. He comes back to the room to change for dinner and usually leaves me at dinner to go change and go back to hang with his new friends. 2 hours in church clothes- I figure can be worn twice. With 3 polos. That is two to wear twice in case he got one covered in melting cake or buttery lobster ;)

 

If we were driving to port then i wouldn't have to worry about packing so light but our last Dream we only had one carry on each. On the Glory we had one checked bag (to share) but also a carry on. This Dream no carry ons but one checked bag (to share-40lbs weight limit) - It is not worth the money to check more luggage It is half a ticket$ to check a bag round trip! (Allegiant)

[littlechief]

Our last cruise, my boys were 7 and 10. In the MDR, they wore their polo shirts with khakis for the regular evenings. They wore a suit and tie on the elegant nights, but they LOVE to dress up. They also had suits on hand from a previous function, so it wasn't like I had to go out and buy a special outfit for the trip that they might not wear again. I did see boys dressed in nice shirts and pants that looked just fine for elegant nights, so I wouldn't force them to wear a suit if they don't want to. Have fun!

[AngAndBoys]

My boys wore khaki pants/dress pants/cargo shorts with nice T-shirt (Abercrombie, Hollister, etc)/3 button polo/button down plaid shirt, with and without t-shirt underneath on casual nights. We stayed away from tank tops and athletic attire.

 

I told my boys a suit and tie were required for formal nights.....so shoot me, they both have one and I wanted some nice pictures lol. I would definitely say at least khaki pants or dress pants with a button down on formal night.

 

We mixed and matched some since they usually changed afterwards.

 

 

Oh, and my oldest wore sperrys with his outfits...even the black pinstripe suit. The youngest wore Black Jordans with white laces. I wasn't going to bring extra shoes so we just made do with what they were going to bring anyway.

 

Agree with getting good pics of them in suits. I did it a couple of years ago on a cruise and have some beautiful pics out of the deal. However, 2 of my 3 are not adult sized and one is still growing, so the cost of buying the suit has gone way up. For the next cruise, they do have the outfits I bought them for Homecoming. I am crossing my fingers that they still fit.

[charw20]

Thanks everyone, I also have 2 girls ages 15 and 4 going. They will love dressing up, the boys.....not so much...haha!!!