Not participating in cruise elegant evening

[cruisescrapper]

Has anyone had experience in not participating in cruise elegant evenings? By not participating, I mean not dressing up and going to a main dining area. We have done many cruises and always dressed up and get nice pictures done and had a fun night however we are planning an 8 day this spring and are thinking of leaving home the dress clothes and just enjoy a very casual cruise. Has anyone else done this? Did you miss it once you were there? thanks.

[mayesq]

We skipped and ended up watching the Dive In Movie and getting food on the lido deck. It was a nice relaxing evening after a long day in the sun.

[zqvol]

Do it all the time. We always wear country club casual to dinner. You will find well over half of the dining room elects not to participate in the cruise elegant dress up event.

[cruising maniac]

We stopped dressing up years ago because we never really enjoyed the formality on vacation. We just eat in the buffet or on some cruise lines, you can order off of the MDR menu and they deliver it to your room. This is extra nice eating on the balcony under the moonlight. Whatever you decide, enjoy your cruise. There are many dining options.

[ladygal4.4]

People do it, but I would feel awkward wearing casual clothes when surrounded by people all dressed up. A simple collard shirt/dress slacks or a dress would be better than going super casual. Some ships on Carnival still enforce the dress code - a cruiser a couple of months ago was turned away since he was wearing shorts.

 

Or just eat-in at the Lido :)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[kerryincork]

I did by accident, I miss read fun times and thought it was casual dress so we turned up to dinner in ordinary skirt and top. It was fine, no body said anything. I just dressed up the next time when everyone else was casual 😀

But that sort of thing doesn't make me uncomfortable at all. I even had my photo taken. I still enjoyed myself and went to all the shows.

[riffatsea]

Hi,

You can wear quite casual clothing for Carnival's elegant nights so you can still enjoy them and not dress up much at all.

For men all you need are long pants and a shirt,even a golf shirt is fine.

For women really any slacks or dress would be OK.

I think the only thing that is just not allowed is to wear shorts that night into the MDR.

IF you still don't want to eat in the dining room you won't be alone at the Lido or anywhere else on the ship.

There are usually plenty of people that just don't feel like sitting through a long dinner so please yourselves!

It is your vacation!!

[firemanbobswife]

DH and DS did it when we were on the Conquest because I had food poisoning and stayed in my room. They didn't feel like getting dressed up without me and went to the buffet. They said it was OK. Luckily it was on the 2nd elegant night and we had done the family pic on the first one. We enjoy elegant evenings.

[CRUZBUDS]

I had to go back to make sure I was on the Carnival board.

 

We're just off the Miracle for a 15 Hawaii. Some people dressed on the elegant nights, very many did not. I wore a sport coat over a golf shirt on the first night with slacks. That put me about in the middle of dress levels.

 

The next two nights, I didn't bother with the jacket. No need to eat in the Lido unless you want to. Carnival isn't HAL or Celebrity when it comes to formal dress.

[waywyrd]

I've worn everything from a full-length sparkly dress to a nice sundress on elegant night and always felt comfortable. DH wears nice slacks/shirt and occasionally a tie.

 

This last cruise we had a late day and skipped the second elegant night, grabbing some food from the buffet...I sorta did miss going. But I'm probably an oddball in that I like dressing up...I wear jeans and t-shirts every day at work, so I enjoy the occasional dress-up nights.

[summersigh]

Hi,

You can wear quite casual clothing for Carnival's elegant nights so you can still enjoy them and not dress up much at all.

For men all you need are long pants and a shirt,even a golf shirt is fine.

For women really any slacks or dress would be OK.

I think the only thing that is just not allowed is to wear shorts that night into the MDR.

IF you still don't want to eat in the dining room you won't be alone at the Lido or anywhere else on the ship.

There are usually plenty of people that just don't feel like sitting through a long dinner so please yourselves!

It is your vacation!!

 

I agree - IMHO the "casual elegant" nights on Carnival are not too elegant.:D Many folks will be dressed exactly as described above. Cunard, HAL and RCCL are a bit more dressy than CCL

Edited November 3, 2015 by summersigh

[maldenmusic]

We did one elegant night (first cruise) then decided it just wasn't for us. We have to get dressed up for our jobs and would rather spend the time in our shorts or bathing suits up on deck or enjoying the lido dining when its not crowded.

[skittl1321]

The bar for elegant was is so low, that we were able to eat in the dining room without actually packing specific clothes.

 

But on our most recent cruise we skipped it entirely and ate in the Lido in shorts and a t-shirt. The only downside was the selection on the lido was really really small; but since the dining room hadn't been that great all week, and there was nothing of interest on the menu that night; it probably ended up being about the same.

 

Elegant night has never added much to our cruise experience.

[Athankfulheart]

My husband and I have skipped many formal nights. When we cruise with our kids we always skip the second one. We allow them to decide whether they want to go or do casual dining someplace else. So far, they have all dressed up and gone to the MDR. Our favorite thing to do on our rebel-non-elegant night is to grab some pizza and hang out on the ghost town of serenity deck. To us, there are few times more enjoyable than some time together, apart from the crowd. Its fun when half the ship is in the theater and the other half is in the dining room and you have the quiet deck and your sweetheart :)

 

We never eat dinner in the buffets. So, if we skip formal dinner, then we get room service "to go" or grab pizza or something. Its not that I don't enjoy dressing up on occassion, but the "real" me is casual and I like to be her 99% of the time.

[BallFour4]

Has anyone had experience in not participating in cruise elegant evenings? By not participating, I mean not dressing up and going to a main dining area. We have done many cruises and always dressed up and get nice pictures done and had a fun night however we are planning an 8 day this spring and are thinking of leaving home the dress clothes and just enjoy a very casual cruise. Has anyone else done this? Did you miss it once you were there? thanks.

 

2/3 of the postings so far didn't read or understand your question. You didn't ask about going casual on Cruise Elegant nights in the dining room, you asked about going casual for your cruise. Yes, and No. There, I answered them both.

 

We've walked aboard the Triumph before with a 22" rolling suitcase and backpack or small bag riding on the handle, shorts on, casual clothes all the way. It was the perfect vacation.

 

We lived in swimsuits all day at sea, wore workout clothes to breakfast after a morning run and then switched to khaki shorts, a madras or Tommy Bahama style shirt and leather sandals for dinner. My wife wore shorts or a casual dress and sandals. For the Cruise Elegant night we skipped the dining room and watched the sunset with a variety of food from the buffet.

 

Carnival has no problem with casual clothes ship wide on any night except the dining room. We ran late one night and went to the show in the theater with workout style gear on prior to our gym visit.

 

After waiting for luggage for the first half of our cruising vacations, then discovering self-assist and now walking both on and off this might become a trend.

 

Have a great vacation!

 

.

Edited November 3, 2015 by BallFour4

[wemjam]

Here is my rule of thumb for the main dining room....

 

On elegant night if we feel like it we dress to the 9's... otherwise my husband will wear dockers and a nice button up shirt and I will wear a maxi sun dress or skirt and nice shirt.... felt comfortable in either.

 

Other nights in main dinning room we have worn the dockers/button up and maxi/skirt all the way to nice shorts and polo / shirt... and again felt completely comfortable.

 

I too have seen them turn people away on elegant night on many ships for the shorts/tank tops, etc... so at least wear "resort" style for elegant night.

 

PS: On our last two cruises, my husband took the opportunity of formal night to wear his full dress kilt outfit in his clan tartan (kilt/Irish tuxedo jacket/ vest/ tuxedo shirt/ bow tie/sporan, the socks and little sock garter thingys (forgive me I am not Irish and can't remember what it is all called)... the whole kit and kaboodle)... he was a TOTAL hit!!! 99% of the people we passed smiled/stared/complimented him or had to talk to him.... It was hilarious... He loved it. He wanted that outfit for the last 20 years and finally bought it while we were on vacation this summer. As he was trying it on he said "I know exactly where I am going to wear it."

 

I will say it is fun to see all the pretty dresses and handsome men walking the promenade that evening. :D:):o

 

Rule of thumb rest of cruise:

 

Shorts and bathing suits.

 

We have gone on cruises with small carry on suite cases only and vegged out the entire cruise and just did the more casual wear the entire cruise and ate in the main dinning room like once (in resort casual like I mentioned above) and the buffet or room service the rest of the time... and other cruises we have gone shorts during the day and formal (I mean dress and heels and shirts and ties) to dinner in the MDR every night.

 

It is your vacation... do what makes you happy.

 

PS: Often I will unpack 1/2 the dress clothes I packed the night before I leave because I decide the day before I just need to lay around with a umbrella drink in my hand for 7 days! lol!~

Edited November 3, 2015 by wemjam

[uprivermama]

We hate dressing up for any occasion--it just is not our lifestyle. I don't enjoy the MDR experience on any night, let alone elegant night! We tend to eat a late lunch, with all the activities on board and ports excursions on port days, so instead of eating in the dining room, we tend to grab pizza or deli food later in the evening. Bonus is that we miss a lot of the crowds at the lido because we don't go during peak times.

 

I dragged my DH and 2 sons to the MDR on elegant night on our first cruise because everyone on Cruise Critic seemed to make such a big deal out of it. We were all pretty miserable the whole time and swore never again! I'm glad we tried it once; for us, it just wasn't how we wanted to spend our valuable vacation time. Other people love it and that's great. My point is, do what you want to do, it's your vacation. Enjoy your next cruise!

[summersigh]

I'm not sure I understand all the drama of folks bemoaning "formal" or "elegant" or "dress up" nights on Carnival being so awful to the idea of a casual cruise. (Yes, there are some lines that actually do have "real" dress up nights ,.... but it's Carnival we're discussing here on this thread)

 

It's a far cry from a tux :D to the long pants and golf shirt (all on an air conditioned ship) acceptable on Carnival for the guys.

 

Equally, for the ladies - a sun dress, or capris, or slacks or a casual skirt don't exactly compete with gowns and fancy jewelry.

 

Bail out on "casual elegant" night if you want - no big deal -BUT ,..... lets not get carried away talking about dressing for those nights on Carnival as being anything more than one might wear to an air conditioned casual bar or chain restaurant at home. :rolleyes:

[Sweet Dutch Girl]

Only the MDR actually has a published dress code so casual attire is not frowned upon at other places on the ship. If someone chooses to dress very casually on "elegant" night they may or maynot be turned away from the MDR but I've never seen it happen. Cotton slacks and a shirt (doesn't seem to matter as long as it isn't a Tee) for men, and anything other than beach wear or sleep wear for a woman seems to be the casual norm.

[Boozebabe]

I used to take beaded dresses and hubby took his tux. But the last 6 or 7 years I take black dressy pants and several tops that will go with them for about 4 nights. The other nights I take white pants that I pair up with less dressy tops. Hubby takes dark dress pants and several long sleeved dress shirts for 4 nights and less dressy clothes for the other 3 nights. No one has given us that sideways glance yet. We are comfortable and we look appropriate. Comfy enough to wear those clothes all evening and not change after dinner like some do.

 

One time we decided to eat dinner in the Lido buffet and we were greatly disappointed. Never again.

Edited November 3, 2015 by Boozebabe

[Towel Critter]

We often skip at least one of the two "elegant" nights. I've never really missed that second one. If memory serves, on at least one cruise, we didn't attend either. It really just depends on how busy the day has been, and whether we are in the mood to dress up or not. I've never attended in casual clothes (shorts or jeans, and a non-button up shirt, no tie) and wouldn't be comfortable doing so. I'm sort of of the "if you are going to do something, do it all the way" school. But that's just me.

[tea4ular]

Has anyone had experience in not participating in cruise elegant evenings? By not participating, I mean not dressing up and going to a main dining area. We have done many cruises and always dressed up and get nice pictures done and had a fun night however we are planning an 8 day this spring and are thinking of leaving home the dress clothes and just enjoy a very casual cruise. Has anyone else done this? Did you miss it once you were there? thanks.

 

We just disembarked the Magic on Sunday, and this trip we had decided in advance "no cruise elegant" - the first night we opted for going to Cloud9 (we had a spa cabin so that was included) and a light supper after. Then we "rented" a pay-per-view for $5 and after sat on the balcony and watched the stars. The second one we didn't even know it was "cruise elegant" night! As we'd been in port all day, and we're just wanting to "chill out" we opted for a pizza dinner with some salad from the buffet and watched the dive-in. After the movie we started noticing that some people were dressed very nicely. THEN we learned it was cruise elegant.

 

Didn't miss it, didn't even notice. Maybe bring one nicer outfit and miss the first one, if you find yourself pining for it, you still can catch the second one! :p

[Raring to go]

We disembarked the Magic last Sunday. Maybe because it was a cruise out of Galveston, but neither cruise elegant night was especially elegant. On all nights we saw people in shorts and flip flops, including the elegant nights. On the second elegant night we saw a man in what I call a muscle shirt, a sleeveless t shirt with deeply cut sleeves. If you don't want to go to dinner in the MDR, that is fine, but many people dressed the same every night, so you wouldn't have been out of place in whatever you chose to wear.

[InspireLiberty]

Who are we kidding here? I wore basketball shorts and a t-shirt one night. I'm on vacation and I'll dress how I feel is appropriate.

[coevan]

not for elegant night you won't, enjoy the buffet