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Tuxedo Rental or Purchase?


Grburkart
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I have a problem with height and was able to find a slightly used one at a local rental and then took it to have it tailored to fit me. Saved at least half that way and with two weddings and a cruise, it was payed for in 4 months.

 

I have added additional items I have found on line including Hawaiian print vest and tie etc.

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1 minute ago, Expat Cruise said:

Another option is to local tux rental shop and ask to purchase one. The shops will sell you a used tux at a very low price.  Years ago I had a transportation business and the drivers would purchase from these shops at a very low price.

 

Looks like we posted at the same time. As you also pointed out, buying used is one less expensive way to go.

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Just now, Expat Cruise said:

Anything the cruise line supplies you on the cruise is a rental.... the same could be said for your cabin.

 

Ewwww!

But!!! You have a good idea. I’ll even check with Cruiseline Formal Wear to see if they’ll deal. 

 

Glenn

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16 hours ago, Grburkart said:

 

Can I even get a nice Tuxedo for a thousand dollars?  

I don’t have a lot of use for one outside of cruising. But if I get the cruise bug, then I can justify it. Same story with a regular suit. I’ve thought of that too. 

Thoughts please. 

 

Glenn

 

Indeed you can. I bought my first ensemble from a tux rental house, jacket, pants and shirt and tie. Have since added many ties, pocket squares, couple more higher end shirts, jewelry, and such. Last year added a white dinner jacket to the collection that I got on-line. I accept Christmas presents of accessories, so I have a nice collection that I still have not put more than $500 into.

Good luck, and Good looks,

Jim

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1 hour ago, jeanandjim said:

Indeed you can. I bought my first ensemble from a tux rental house, jacket, pants and shirt and tie. Have since added many ties, pocket squares, couple more higher end shirts, jewelry, and such. Last year added a white dinner jacket to the collection that I got on-line. I accept Christmas presents of accessories, so I have a nice collection that I still have not put more than $500 into.

Good luck, and Good looks,

Jim

wow Jim I like the new addition.  I'm headin' the same direction 

Image result for white shawl collar dinner jacket

 

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My husband loves wearing his tux on cruises, and a cruise is the only time he gets to wear it. He bought a cheap one about ten years ago - paid about $100 for the jacket and pants at one of the men's discount places. He finds it easier to pack/wear a tux rather than a suit or sport jacket since he only needs to bring one and can change out the tie. Sometimes he's the only one in a tux, and he loves it - it's the men who compliment him the most! And he looks and feels great in it. His cheap tux wore out and last year (fabric balled from so many cleanings), and this time he bought a custom one at a men's chain store. The custom suit cost around $800 and he loves it. Wonderful fit. The nice thing about a custom suit is if his size changes, they will alter it at no charge, forever! We go on about two cruises a year, so he wears his tux 2-5 times a year. If you enjoy wearing a tux and plan on going on cruises, based on my husband's experience, I think you'll be quite happy if you buy one, even if it's a cheap one.

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16 hours ago, Colo Cruiser said:

I don't think Glenn is worried what others think about his attire.  

Glenn made it perfectly clear in a prior post about not sitting with you if you are not dressed to his standards ... but , then he did recant ... a bit

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1 hour ago, voljeep said:

Glenn made it perfectly clear in a prior post about not sitting with you if you are not dressed to his standards ... but , then he did recant ... a bit

Actually I’ll have to eat crow. Ep and I will be on a future cruise together. I promised him a formal dinner together with his black jeans and garb. 

 

Glenn

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This is one of those questions that do not have right or wrong answers.  I know that Glenn knows this and is just asking if there are viewpoints that he had not considered.  This deep into the thread, I have to believe that most options have been offered.

 

Here is my $.02 worth

 

The most compelling opinion is that if you rent, you don't have to pack it.

 

This is a nit, but, when you get home, you don't have to send it out for cleaning and, then, store it in your closet between uses.

 

Lately, we have passed on formal wear events on cruises--always, Mrs. XBGuy's call.  Also, in the last few cruises where we have "done formal," I have worn a business suit.  However, I have rented tuxedos for cruises.  If you do rent, I have two comments from my own renting experiences.

 

  1. Try it on as soon as you can the first day of your cruise.  If something is wrong or doesn't fit or is torn, you can work with your room steward to have a ship's tailor affect repair or correction.
  2. My experience is that they include two shirts for a "standard" rental.  Years ago there was a TV commercial that had the lines, "Some people perspire.  I sweat."  I am one of those sweaty guys.  Any cruise that has more than two formal days requires that I send dress shirts out to be laundered.
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2 hours ago, RSF Cruiser said:

My husband loves wearing his tux on cruises, and a cruise is the only time he gets to wear it. He bought a cheap one about ten years ago - paid about $100 for the jacket and pants at one of the men's discount places. He finds it easier to pack/wear a tux rather than a suit or sport jacket since he only needs to bring one and can change out the tie. Sometimes he's the only one in a tux, and he loves it - it's the men who compliment him the most! And he looks and feels great in it. His cheap tux wore out and last year (fabric balled from so many cleanings), and this time he bought a custom one at a men's chain store. The custom suit cost around $800 and he loves it. Wonderful fit. The nice thing about a custom suit is if his size changes, they will alter it at no charge, forever! We go on about two cruises a year, so he wears his tux 2-5 times a year. If you enjoy wearing a tux and plan on going on cruises, based on my husband's experience, I think you'll be quite happy if you buy one, even if it's a cheap one.

My original one is still in good shape, but as I stated before, I have added several items to it over the year. For our last cruise with 5 formal nights I also added some new studs and links as well as I got two new extra tall shirts (38/39 sleeve) to fit me. Took me 15 years to find a shirt that finally fits me in length. Here is the vest and tie I went with.

Tradewinds Vest and Bow Tie Set

Also got some blue studs to go with it. They will custom make these for very little. I had 3 inches added on to a 2x.

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3 minutes ago, XBGuy said:

The most compelling opinion is that if you rent, you don't have to pack it.

 

This is a nit, but, when you get home, you don't have to send it out for cleaning and, then, store it in your closet between uses.

 

Lately, we have passed on formal wear events on cruises--always, Mrs. XBGuy's call.  Also, in the last few cruises where we have "done formal," I have worn a business suit.  However, I have rented tuxedos for cruises.  If you do rent, I have two comments from my own renting experiences.

 

  1. Try it on as soon as you can the first day of your cruise.  If something is wrong or doesn't fit or is torn, you can work with your room steward to have a ship's tailor affect repair or correction.
  2. My experience is that they include two shirts for a "standard" rental.  Years ago there was a TV commercial that had the lines, "Some people perspire.  I sweat."  I am one of those sweaty guys.  Any cruise that has more than two formal days requires that I send dress shirts out to be laundered.

I have a suit bag I keep the tux in with the shirt so no problem on storage.

 

1. Unfortunately for me being in the below 0.01 percentile for size, renting a tux is iffy. For those that wear a standard off the self size, renting is a decent option. However, you can bring your own accessories. As XBGuy pointed out, try it on.

2. The two shirts are always needed and I send them out for pressing and cleaning if needed every time they are worn.

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36 minutes ago, TheRabbit said:

My original one is still in good shape, but as I stated before, I have added several items to it over the year. For our last cruise with 5 formal nights I also added some new studs and links as well as I got two new extra tall shirts (38/39 sleeve) to fit me. Took me 15 years to find a shirt that finally fits me in length. Here is the vest and tie I went with.

Tradewinds Vest and Bow Tie Set

Also got some blue studs to go with it. They will custom make these for very little. I had 3 inches added on to a 2x.

I like that, very festive looking. A Caribbean or Hawaii cruise coming up ?

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I've never worn a tux on formal nights mostly because I didn't want to buy something that may or may not fit me the next time I go to wear it.  I will be wearing a tux for the formal nights on our next cruise.  I went for the rental.  I won't need to lug it through airports, pay extra to an airline for the garment bag, worry that the airline will lose my garment bag.  I think the best part of renting the tux is the fact that it will be waiting for me on the ship and it will be taken away the last night of the cruise.  It makes getting to and from the boat more convenient and that's an important consideration for me.

 

So far, nobody is wrong on this thread - it's all about individual preferences and it's nice to see so many options for us.

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29 minutes ago, c-boy said:

I like that, very festive looking. A Caribbean or Hawaii cruise coming up ?

I wore it for the Hawaiian part of the 60 night Pac Rim cruise last year. Will save it for any tropical or party formal night going forward.

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Thank you, thank you, thank you to everybody for keeping this thread straight! 

There are so many options to consider and I just might make an impulse buy and get a tuxedo. But for the time being, I like the rental option the best for all the points that were made. 

You will never wear out a rental!

 

Glenn

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11 minutes ago, Grburkart said:

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everybody for keeping this thread straight! 

There are so many options to consider and I just might make an impulse buy and get a tuxedo. But for the time being, I like the rental option the best for all the points that were made. 

You will never wear out a rental!

 

Glenn

Don't overlook the buying used from a tux shop option. It saved me over $300.

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Tuxes are actually not overly expensive, especially if purchased online (although you will likely have to pay some extra for a local tailor to make adjustments.   While I agree with the OP that we do not need another debate on formal clothes I am going to add a personal observation.  Understand that I own my own Tux (and lots of very special formal ties) and have generally taken it on most of our cruises....even if I was in a minority when dressing formal.  DW and I enjoy getting dressed-up on a cruise and what others do is not our concern.   But our last couple of cruises have started to impact my thinking.  On most of our cruises (HAL, 'Celebrity, Seabourn, MSC and Princess has been our last few cruise lines) there are fewer and fewer folks who bother to dress formal...or even semi-formal.  At this point we would not recommend that any friend spend their money on renting or buying a new Tux....if it is simply for cruising.   For those that already own a Tux, it is still an OK option...but with the knowledge that you will be in a small minority (sometimes fewer then 20%).

 

By the way, there is another low cost alternative to buying a Tux online.  Telephone a few of your local formalwear rental places and ask if they have a sale of their used Tuxes.  Some of these places will sell-off very nice Tuxes at a fraction of their original cost...and you can often find stuff that has hardly been worn.  Why?  They often want to replace them with the latest styles..even though the basic Black Tux (or White Dinner Jacket) never really go out of style.

 

Times have changed when it comes to dress.  Perhaps the day will come when the pendulum swings back towards dressing-up...but for now it is still moving towards less and less formal.

 

Hank

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You can get a nice tux for $200 or $5000 dollars.  Depends on what is nice for you.  My guess is if you are willing to rent then $200-$300 will get you an equivalent tux plus 1 shirt.  Nice studs a little extra if you go the bow tie route. 

 

There really should be a complete and thorough discussion of bow-tie vs. regular tie.

 

In the US a regular tie (correct material of course) is considered acceptable these days while some may consider a bow-tie the only real option.

 

Don't get me even started about whether or not a cummerbund is required.

 

Personally, to simplify I just own a black tuxedo, regular satin tie, no cummerbund.

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