Formal night in the tropics?

[SoBaycruiser]

What all do the men wear for formal nights on the So Pacific and southern Caribbean cruises? Do they really wear coat and ties? I know the dining rooms are air conditioned but it just seems like a contradiction to the feel of the cruise.

[JimmyVWine]

Oh boy! Another "Formal Night" thread. We've been too consumed with food fights to have one of these in a while.:D I kid. I kid.

 

I either wear my black tuxedo or my white dinner jacket. My wife and my teenager love dressing up for Formal Night, and they need a gentleman to accompany them in attire that completes the look.

[hillslife]

In my experience, much more casual. Yes, there are some in tuxes and full suits, but you see many floral shirts, no jackets, floral, colorful ties, etc. many women are also in colorful, flowery dresses...more relaxed...but still you see all types.

 

Enjoy...

[AKman2495]

On our last Caribbean cruise, which was a 2 week B2B Eastern/Southern Caribbean cruise, I brought by Tuxedo and dinner jacket. We had 4 formal nights and I alternated between black tux and dinner jacket.

 

Oh...and I was not uncomfortable at all.

Edited October 14, 2014 by AKman2495

[JimmyVWine]

On our last Caribbean cruise, which was a 2 week B2B Eastern/Southern Caribbean cruise, I brought by Tuxedo and dinner jacket. We had 4 formal nights and I alternated between black tux and dinner jacket.

 

Oh...and I was not uncomfortable at all.

 

Your profile photo is exactly the right look for Formal Night in the tropics! :)

[satxdiver]

You will see men dressed in tux (few), suits, sport jackets, no jackets and quite a few with no tie. All they seem to require is dress pants (dockers will do but no jeans), shoes and a long sleeved dress shirt (have heard of men wearing short sleeved shirts though). Personally I wear my cotton khaki pants and a long sleeved dress shirt with sandals. I have never had a problem. The main thing is to go have fun and don't get hung up on the so-called dress code.

[PenguinLife]

Most of the time I will wear my tux on formal nights, although on a couple of occasions I have went less formal. Once I wore long sleeve shirt, tie and dockers for a second formal night after something was spilled on my tux the first formal night, and on another occasion I wore about the same thing as I was in a full turtle shell back brace a few months after falling and breaking my back.

[Thrak]

We have a 17-day SF / FLL cruise booked through the canal. Yes, the weather will be hot and humid. The ship has air conditioning. I will wear a dark suit for formal nights. See profile picture...

[Turbofun]

What all do the men wear for formal nights on the So Pacific and southern Caribbean cruises? Do they really wear coat and ties? I know the dining rooms are air conditioned but it just seems like a contradiction to the feel of the cruise.

 

Formal, the clue is in the name.

That said, I have worn a linen suit as an alternative to a dinner suit.

[travlnblueberries]

My husband wears a suit......and looks mighty fine in it, if I may say so myself.

[OCruisers]

Like it or not ... things have become way less formal than they once were. ;)

LuLu

[TM]

We just returned from the 15 day Island Princess full transit of the Panama Canal. I was amazed at the number of men that wore a tux or a dinner jacket. All the rest had on suits.

[pjrockman]

Oh boy! Another "Formal Night" thread. We've been too consumed with food fights to have one of these in a while.:D I kid. I kid.

 

 

 

I either wear my black tuxedo or my white dinner jacket. My wife and my teenager love dressing up for Formal Night, and they need a gentleman to accompany them in attire that completes the look.

 

 

Ditto on all accounts. I wear my black tux, but get the most comments when I wear my off-white dinner jacket, white tux shirt, black bow tie (aka Classic Bond setup). I do mix it up with a cummerbund that matches my DW's formal gown. We love it. It's one of our favorite aspects of cruising. The formal pics always turn out great.

 

Just my opinion. Paul

 

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

What all do the men wear for formal nights on the So Pacific and southern Caribbean cruises? Do they really wear coat and ties? I know the dining rooms are air conditioned but it just seems like a contradiction to the feel of the cruise.

 

Some guys feel comfortable in a tux or suit no matter where they cruise & others just want to vacation in casual clothing. Princess doesn't discriminate against the casual diners & still lets them eat in the dining room on formal evenings dressed in something as simple as a long sleeve dress shirt without having to lug along the jacket.

[loveJake]

Like it or not ... things have become way less formal than they once were. ;)

LuLu

Thank God, vacation is to relax. We stopped going to formal about 10 cruises ago, don't dress like that at home don't need to impress on vacation.

[RetiredNTraveling]

Ditto on all accounts. I wear my black tux, but get the most comments when I wear my off-white dinner jacket, white tux shirt, black bow tie (aka Classic Bond setup). I do mix it up with a cummerbund that matches my DW's formal gown. We love it. It's one of our favorite aspects of cruising. The formal pics always turn out great.

 

Just my opinion. Paul

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

Just like High School, I wear a Tux / Dinner Jacket (but back then there wasn't air-conditioning in the gym/hall). We agree that dressing to the "Nines" is our favorite experience while on the cruise ship. Tux's for formal nights and sometimes suits for special occasion dinners!

Edited October 15, 2014 by RetiredNTraveling

[thamesbarge]

Oh I do enjoy the comments from all of you. It makes for some very entertaining reading. My wife and I have been on a few cruises (30) and we always dress up (long dress and tux) for formal night. We pretend we are rich and are on the town for the night. So much fun. Being up in years now (78-77) it's good to look back on the very lean, hard, blue collar-work, years and imagine what it must have been like on the large ships years ago. Traveling to distant ports of call. We are going again on the Granduer in 40 days (last time 2009) and so look forward to 10 days at sea. Retirement is great and if you see me in my tux on formal night I'll be the one having a great time and laughing with an English couple. Love to all. Gerry and Grace

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Times Prince]

What all do the men wear for formal nights on the So Pacific and southern Caribbean cruises? Do they really wear coat and ties? I know the dining rooms are air conditioned but it just seems like a contradiction to the feel of the cruise.

Yes, they do wear suits or tuxedos, adding to the elegant feel of the Formal Night evenings. On all of the other evenings aloha shirts are in style, as well as other dress casual wear.

 

The feel of the cruise is for both comfortable enjoyment and romance, where casual evenings lend themselves to relaxation and formal nights provide a touch of elegance. Most people (86.1 % of Cruise Critic men per the most recent poll) choose to dress in the spirit of formal night during Princess cruises.

 

I have not noticed the same reluctance of women here on Cruise Critic to the idea of dressing up for a few formal nights. In our case, my wife enjoys the fact that I will dress nicely for a romantic evening with her.

 

Formal night can be a fun and special evening out of the norm for most of us. Why not join in?

[eandj]

What all do the men wear for formal nights on the So Pacific and southern Caribbean cruises? Do they really wear coat and ties? .

 

Yes a large majority of men DO wear at least a sport coat with tie, even in the warm weather.

Most that don't want to dress up for formal dinner, show up in the lido.

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

Most that don't want to dress up for formal dinner, show up in the lido.

 

Those are the guys who don't mind eating slices of roast beef or chicken while the others in the DR are feasting on lobster or Filet Mignon. ;)

[DougandEric]

Since we live in Florida we usually take the tuxes since we usually drive to Ft. Lauderdale or Miami. We will take tuxes if we have to fly and don't have to pay luggage fees (ie first class) for extra bags. We are going on the Tahitian cruise 11/18 and are not taking tuxes because of the luggage costs but will take a sport coat and tie that will suffice. We also tend to book the specialty restaurants on formal nights and they are casual all the time but we tend to follow the regular dress code even then. You will see everything from casual to formal on formal nights so wear what you feel comfortable in.

 

 

Doug

[Raring to go]

Just off the Coral Princess this morning...an 11-day partial transit of the Panama Canal. We had anytime dining. Some tuxes for men, quite a few suits, blazers, some long sleeved shirts and ties for the first formal night. On the second formal night, you saw the same number of tuxes, but it seemed that more men were in shirt and tie.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[shredie]

I know the dining rooms are air conditioned but it just seems like a contradiction to the feel of the cruise.

 

I guess it depends on your personal definition of "the feel of the cruise."