Formal Attire on Royal Baltic Cruise

[ISLANDFAN]

Wife and I along with our travel companions from California are booked on Royal Princess Baltic Cruise in June. Because of the 11 day, port intensive itinerary, and traveling from the USA, I am wondering how formal do our fellow cruisers dress on "formal nights".

 

Long days on shore excursions and only one day at sea, I am considering backing down on the formal gear in order to conserve luggage space. At best, a sport coat and slacks.

 

For those that have cruised on this itinerary in the past, please share your views and experience relating to "formal nights"

 

Thanks,

 

Islandfan

[-Lew-]

We don't do formal nights anymore, but when we did I rented a tux.

 

Cruiseline Formalwear is the company Princess uses for tuxedo rentals. I have used them three times and have had nothing but good experiences. Check out their web site here.

 

If you do decide to go with a rental, be sure to try on your tux soon after you receive it in case a garment needs to be switched out or adjusted. See your cabin steward for any adjustments.

 

Lew

[sweetsleep]

Agree that the Baltic cruises are very port intensive and exhausting when I did it last year.

I did not see as many people dressing up to the nines for formal night like other cruises.

We were so tired every day getting back to the ship that many people just got back onboard and headed to the MDR without stopping to change clothes!

I would not waste the money renting a tux-unless this is a special anniversary trip,etc where you really want some formal pictures taken. I have really scaled back on any fancy clothes for "formal nights"-and I still go to the MDR dressed smart casual on those nights-no one has batted an eye. But we women have more options for clothes than the guys do,perhaps. You are not on board to please anyone but yourself and/or your spouse so don't worry about this. The ship wants to generate a lot of revenue from formal photographs so that's why they make such a big deal about telling you to dress up.

If you are not averse to doing laundry on your cruise you can save a lot of suitcase space and weight by just wearing things twice(or more!).

If you just bring a favorite sport coat,shirt and tie you will be fine. No one will refuse you entrance to the MDR.

[Pam in CA]

Formal night on a Baltic cruise is pretty much the same as any other cruise. I very rarely see any gentlemen without a jacket on any cruise, either lots of sea days or port intensive.

 

Our Royal T/A in October had a very port-intensive first nine days and then lots of sea days. We chose not to dress up and went to the buffet. The Royal's buffet is huge with a wide variety of food. Once you've gotten what you want, there's table service so it's almost like going to a sit-down dining room. We even kept our wine bottle up there that was brought out and poured for our dinner. On formal nights, most of the dining room menu items are available in the buffet. I don't like big slabs of meat and was able to get a nice, thin slice of Beef Wellington with all the fixings. We wound up eating dinner in the buffet almost every night on the cruise, the buffet was so good and it was such a great experience. Plus, we could get as much or as little, pace ourselves, etc. I think it's a great alternative to the dining room and I'll miss it on my two Sapphire cruises.

[sunsetbeachgal]

On our last few cruises my husband has taken a sport coat and worn it with nice slacks (the same ones he wears for smart casual nights) and either a mock turtle neck shirt or a solid color collared golf shirt.

[beg3yrs]

Long days on shore excursions and only one day at sea, I am considering backing down on the formal gear in order to conserve luggage space. At best, a sport coat and slacks.

 

For those that have cruised on this itinerary in the past, please share your views and experience relating to "formal nights"

 

Thanks,

 

Islandfan

 

On our last few cruises my husband has taken a sport coat and worn it with nice slacks (the same ones he wears for smart casual nights) and either a mock turtle neck shirt or a solid color collared golf shirt.

 

I agree with SunsetBeachGal. Sport coats and slacks coupled with something nice underneath will be just fine.

 

Don't let anyone guilt you into missing the MDR on a formal night because you aren't dressed to the nines.