What clothes do we *really* need to bring for Crystal river cruise?

[dhmjdds]

With all the problems and changes due to the low water situation, I have not even thought about packing. But now the amended itinerary is firmed up, and we have decided to stick it out.

 

We leave in 6 :o days for a 16 day Mahler cruise in the Netherlands, northern Germany, and Belgium. We have no idea what excursions are going to be offered; we always choose the most active ones available—hiking, biking, zip-lining, river boarding (OK, that was a bad idea), etc.

 

I read through the “Before You Cruise” booklet today. Not particularly helpful, but they seem to indicate that we should dress up for dinner. But I’ve also read on these boards that people don’t actually dress up for dinner, even on Crystal.

 

If anyone is now or has sailed on these boats, what is the real story about dinner dress? And what, if anything, do you wish you had brought, but did not, or did bring, but realized you needn’t have bothered?

 

Diane

[MightyQuinn]

If you've read prior threads about dress on Crystal river cruises, you may have seen my comments. On Crystal Bach earlier this year, I was surprised at just how casual the dress standard was in the evening. The interpretation of Crystal Casual on the river boats was much less elegant than on the ocean ships. Many people stayed in the clothes they toured in during the day while others made some effort to clean up for dinner. I often saw jeans, khakis, sweatshirts and athletic shoes in Waterside (main dining room) and nobody seemed to care. I brought several nice dresses for dinner that I never wore since I would have felt overdressed. Similarly, my DH brought a dinner jacket that he wore only once, at the Michelin dinner we had ashore. We won't make that mistake when we sail again next year!

[sarasotascott]

I’m on the Mahler now and the dress in the main dining room is what I would call smart casual. The vast majority are changing clothes before dinner with a few but rare exceptions. The women are looking very fashionable and the men are wearing nice slacks and nice shirts in both long and short sleeves.

[dhmjdds]

Thanks for the responses! Interesting that the two were so different. Maybe on Mighty Quinn’s cruise the tours tended to run longer, into the dinner hours and people felt quite rushed?

 

Sounds like I should bring dresses, and tell my husband to pack nice pants and collared shirts.

 

Diane

[Lois R]

Hi Diane,:) I have never sailed Crystal but I do have 1 River Cruise on AMA. Yes, they are different lines but in my opinion, from my experience and from what I have read, river cruises are more casual. I did change my clothes for dinner but that was me. There were folks who stayed in the same attire and I don't recall anyone caring. I changed because after touring all day I like taking a shower before dinner. As for dresses? I am not a dress gal so a pair of slacks and top would be my normal dinner attire. I will say I never felt "rushed at dinner" and I am still researching my next river cruise for the spring of 2019:D. There are so many choices!!!

[gnome12]

In my experience with Uniworld before they went all-inclusive men generally wore collared shirts and women generally put on a nice® top for dinner. Dresses are more usual in summer, and aren’t very dressy.

 

 

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[Roz]

I've only done river cruises on Uniworld, but my experience mirrors Lois' and Gnome's. We always had some time to freshen up before dinner. I brought 2 pairs of black pants with me, and wore them every night with different tops. I wore some of the tops twice. On the 2 gala nights, I dressed up my outfit with jewelry.

 

You may find you're a bit overdressed wearing a dress every night. If it were me, I would allocate more of my suitcase space to daytime touring clothes than evening wear.

 

Roz

[YWW]

If you've read prior threads about dress on Crystal river cruises, you may have seen my comments. On Crystal Bach earlier this year, I was surprised at just how casual the dress standard was in the evening. The interpretation of Crystal Casual on the river boats was much less elegant than on the ocean ships. Many people stayed in the clothes they toured in during the day while others made some effort to clean up for dinner. I often saw jeans, khakis, sweatshirts and athletic shoes in Waterside (main dining room) and nobody seemed to care. I brought several nice dresses for dinner that I never wore since I would have felt overdressed. Similarly, my DH brought a dinner jacket that he wore only once, at the Michelin dinner we had ashore. We won't make that mistake when we sail again next year!

 

Your experience of seeing very casual wears in the evening on Bach may not be the norm. We were on the Bach in June and the passengers were quite dressy in the evening ranging from suits to sports jackets .... but collared shirt and dress slacks were pretty standard. Crystal calls it the country club casual. Morning breakfast and lunch were very casual with many wearing just t shirts, shorts and sandals. However, passengers who participated in dining at local Michelin star restaurants were advised to dress up a bit more including jackets. If people don't want to really dress up for these Michelin star restaurants, they can always opt for the in-house food and wine pairings in the Vintage Room which only holds about 12 people. The price is typically about 290 euros per person vs about 249 euros for dining in Michelin star restaurants.