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MDR dress code non formal nights

jbeth

By jbeth,
in Princess Cruises

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tobyt

tobyt

Posted
Posted

Husband was called out as a problem on our second formal night on Emerald Princess last week. He had on black dress pants, black dress shoes and a striped collar shirt....which was not button down. After a few moments of discussion we were seated in an area where we would not upset other guests....seriously that is what he said, he did not want complaints. He has plenty of button down shirts far less attractive than this collared shirt....guess they will make the trip next time since the lack of buttons were mentioned.

By the way, same dining room, same cruise, same outfit no issue on the first formal night. 

We will continue to travel light and what we wear should not impact anyone...kind of horrified but he did back down and allow us in. We will continue to wear what makes sense and I will continue to point out the lack of consistency. Same dining room, same night....shorts all around...

I had on a casual dress, nothing I would call formal. Princess needs to figure the formal nights out. Maybe one specific dining room dedicated to those who want to dress more formally. I immediately went back to the room after dinner and changed into my very casual shorts to wear the remainder of the evening.

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brisalta

brisalta

Posted
Posted
37 minutes ago, tobyt said:

Husband was called out as a problem on our second formal night on Emerald Princess last week. He had on black dress pants, black dress shoes and a striped collar shirt....which was not button down. After a few moments of discussion we were seated in an area where we would not upset other guests....seriously that is what he said, he did not want complaints. He has plenty of button down shirts far less attractive than this collared shirt....guess they will make the trip next time since the lack of buttons were mentioned.

By the way, same dining room, same cruise, same outfit no issue on the first formal night. 

We will continue to travel light and what we wear should not impact anyone...kind of horrified but he did back down and allow us in. We will continue to wear what makes sense and I will continue to point out the lack of consistency. Same dining room, same night....shorts all around...

I had on a casual dress, nothing I would call formal. Princess needs to figure the formal nights out. Maybe one specific dining room dedicated to those who want to dress more formally. I immediately went back to the room after dinner and changed into my very casual shorts to wear the remainder of the evening.

 

Button down collar shirts are definitely casual wear.

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Steelers36

Steelers36

Posted
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4 minutes ago, brisalta said:

 

Button down collar shirts are definitely casual wear.

But as the poster mentioned, her husband would not have been questioned had he been wearing one.  Must have been a particular HW for that evening they encountered as she had no issue on the first formal night.

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brisalta

brisalta

Posted
Posted
6 minutes ago, steelers36 said:

But as the poster mentioned, her husband would not have been questioned had he been wearing one.  Must have been a particular HW for that evening they encountered as she had no issue on the first formal night.

 

The point is that the HW as you say is clueless about formal dress.

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MissP22

MissP22

Posted
Posted
52 minutes ago, tobyt said:

Husband was called out as a problem on our second formal night on Emerald Princess last week. He had on black dress pants, black dress shoes and a striped collar shirt....which was not button down. After a few moments of discussion we were seated in an area where we would not upset other guests....seriously that is what he said, he did not want complaints. He has plenty of button down shirts far less attractive than this collared shirt....guess they will make the trip next time since the lack of buttons were mentioned.

By the way, same dining room, same cruise, same outfit no issue on the first formal night. 

We will continue to travel light and what we wear should not impact anyone...kind of horrified but he did back down and allow us in. We will continue to wear what makes sense and I will continue to point out the lack of consistency. Same dining room, same night....shorts all around...

I had on a casual dress, nothing I would call formal. Princess needs to figure the formal nights out. Maybe one specific dining room dedicated to those who want to dress more formally. I immediately went back to the room after dinner and changed into my very casual shorts to wear the remainder of the evening.

As he found out Princess is usually inconsistent with their dress codes interpretation.

My DH usually wears his buttonless Polo shirt on formal nights but has a guayabera shirt hanging in the closet just in case they give him a hard time. 

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voljeep

voljeep

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, brisalta said:

Yes we know that and the HW complained because he was not wearing a button down shirt, which happens to be a casual shirt. Dress shirts do not have button down collars.

my long sleeve white dress shirts, that I wear with my currently one and only black suit, most certainly do have button down collars ... old skool here ...

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Steelers36

Steelers36

Posted
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1 hour ago, Host CJSKIDS said:

Love reading formal night comments and opinions but.... the OP asked about Non formal nights so let's keep it on topic for them!

Correct.  A sticky for this topic (a.k.a. smoking) might eliminate the numerous threads around dress in general.

 

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dara90210

dara90210

Posted
Posted
On 9/9/2019 at 2:53 PM, jondfk said:

Oh, and I've been told repeatedly that shorts are permitted (not encouraged but permitted) first night / last night to accommodate those who may not have received their luggage / have already packed their luggage. I'll be testing this myself in a couple weeks on Royal. . . 

 

 

Our waitress on the Grand in March told us shorts are okay in the MDR on first and last nights, as well as port nights.  My husband was ecstatic.

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MissP22

MissP22

Posted
Posted
On 9/9/2019 at 10:02 PM, G&T Cruisers said:

We were on the Caribbean Princess July27th-Aug9th and we saw a real down grade on the way people dressed in the dinning room with men in shorts that were not even dress shorts and women wearing shorts where half there (trunks)were hanging out.It made me realize that the dinning room is not what it used to be.

We were on the CB in Oct/Nov 2018 and for some unexplained reason it was as you described. 

Not that my DH was complaining but he did enjoy wearing his shorts for dinner a few times. No one seemed to be upset with their decision about allowing them when we cruised. 

He only wishes the other ships would follow suit since the women can wear them all the times on casual evenings. 

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riffatsea

riffatsea

Posted
Posted

It is interesting to read the differences shown on each ship.

Last year we went on our first Princess cruise through the Panama Canal.

I had been under the impression that a collared shirt was required for dinner in the MDR so DH wore one each night. Now I hear that he might be able to wear his t shirts on non formal nights on some ships. He collects horse racing memorabilia and often wears Kentucky Derby t shirts from various years. He would not think of wearing shorts at night but will be very happy if he can wear his "horsey" t shirts on some nights!

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UT-Volsfan

UT-Volsfan

Posted
Posted (edited)

Got off the Caribbean Princess one week ago. Could not tell there was any dress code enforced on board for the Dining Rooms. Saw some passengers on non-formal nights there in t-shirts, blue jeans, and shorts. Both in line and seated. Never saw or heard one comment made to these people.

 

Most passengers make the effort to meet the dress code.  Too bad a small group think this does not apply to them.

Edited by UT-Volsfan
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MissP22

MissP22

Posted
Posted
8 hours ago, UT-Volsfan said:

Got off the Caribbean Princess one week ago. Could not tell there was any dress code enforced on board for the Dining Rooms. Saw some passengers on non-formal nights there in t-shirts, blue jeans, and shorts. Both in line and seated. Never saw or heard one comment made to these people.

Isn't it just great. A relaxing vacation without being forced to dress up to please other people. 👍

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KeepCalmBearOn

KeepCalmBearOn

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, MissP22 said:

Isn't it just great. A relaxing vacation without being forced to dress up to please other people. 

 

No, it isn't great. No one is forced to go on a cruise and no one is forced to eat in the MDR. There are many choices besides the MDR and Signature Restaurants for eating dinner on Smart Casual (non-formal) nights. When you sign up for the cruise Princess makes clear what the expectations are (click the link above if you don't know); like them or not, they are clear.

 

There may be cruises where enforcement is lax, but I don't find that an excuse to ignore the rules.

 

For the OP, slacks and open-neck shirts (meaning no t-shirts) is the expectation. I wouldn't dwell on what people say you can get away with, I'd just go with the expectations.....  and then make snide and catty comments about those who don't conform 🙂

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MissP22

MissP22

Posted
Posted
9 minutes ago, scottca075 said:

 

No, it isn't great. No one is forced to go on a cruise and no one is forced to eat in the MDR. There are many choices besides the MDR and Signature Restaurants for eating dinner on Smart Casual (non-formal) nights. When you sign up for the cruise Princess makes clear what the expectations are (click the link above if you don't know); like them or not, they are clear.

 

There may be cruises where enforcement is lax, but I don't find that an excuse to ignore the rules.

 

For the OP, slacks and open-neck shirts (meaning no t-shirts) is the expectation. I wouldn't dwell on what people say you can get away with, I'd just go with the expectations.....  and then make snide and catty comments about those who don't conform 🙂

Oh but it is great that Princess doesn't force people to dress up on any evening.

If you would only take the time to read the link you provided in your post. 

We choose the less formal route & it's worked very well on literally dozens of Princess cruises for the past 15 years including T shirts and jeans on casual evenings for the DH and jeans with my plain top. (even shorts on the CB every casual night) 😲

Yes people do dress up and if you enjoy making a dressy occasion out of a casual evening no one will stop you but stop trying to make the cruise line sound more formal than it is in real life. 

 

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The Mikado

The Mikado

Posted
Posted
46 minutes ago, scottca075 said:

No, it isn't great...

I agree, and there are MANY here who agree also, but after having been shouted down and having posts removed by the "how DARE you tell me how to dress on MY cruise" crowd, this is a useless battle. The concepts of "elegance" and "taste" have long-ago departed from our society. Just look at what passes for acceptable in music, movies, social media, and virtually anything else you can name that mirrors the cesspool our popular culture has become.

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