My first Princess Cruise - How Formal is Formal Night ?

[downundermatt]

After many cruises on Celebrity and Royal looking forward to 54 nights on Diamond Princess next year.

This is part of a much bigger (round the world trip celebrating retirement).

 

How strict is the formal night dress code, I don't really want to cart around a suit or tux for the longer trip ?

 

Coming from Celebrity I know they have relaxed the dress to 'Evening Chic'

Just enquiring what would be the minimum required on Princess.

 

What other dining options are available if I can't go to the Main Dining ?

 

Gonna miss my Celebrity Perks - anything I can look forward to on Princess ?

[cruzsnooze]

You can get by in a button down shirt with a tie. No need to pack heavy suits or tux. There will be a mix of everything, tux, suits, polo shirts and anything short of shorts!

[Torfamm]

If you choose not to pack a tuxedo or suit you will not be alone. As I recall there were many men without jackets on formal night on our last cruise. One positive of Princess for a longer cruise is self-service laundry!

[franktown]

Evening Chic is fine on formal nights. Its all that is required.  I bring along a sport coat if my wife wants pictures.  

Edited August 12, 2021 by franktown
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[MishelleMcc]

I love to dress up!  But you may not think so if you see me...  Wearing a dress or skirt & jewlery is "glam" for me and cruising is the only time I get to do it...  That said, Some folks really like to dress up and I admire them!  I love the term 'Evening Chic' because that is what I've observed...  Dress up or not, enjoy your cruise!!!

[Thrak]

35 minutes ago, cruzsnooze said:

You can get by in a button down shirt with a tie. No need to pack heavy suits or tux. There will be a mix of everything, tux, suits, polo shirts and anything short of shorts!

 

This was a reasonable and non-proselytizing answer. Some will tell you to "dress however you like and screw the guidelines". Others may tell you to adhere to the guidelines. My experience has been what was posted above. It holds true for Alaska, Caribbean, Trans Atlantic, Norway, Barcelona... Some will tell you that "Alaska cruises" or "Caribbean cruises" are more lax.  The truth is that all Princess cruises are the same guidelines. You will see various forms of dress in the dining room. However, as far as I can tell (I only have 14 Princess cruises so not the most experienced by any means) the vast majority of those who mingle on the inner decks after dinner are dressed "smart casual" at the very least. Most are more dressed up than that.

 

If you mosey on up to the Lido deck you will find folks in any kind of garb you might imagine for a cruise ship. Heck, if I put on a suit for formal night in the dining room I'm not going to keep wearing it up on Lido deck for Movies Under The Stars. No... Freaking... Way!  However, if I'm down in the Atrium area after dinner (where the champagne waterfall and social gathering would be in non-COVID times) I will still be wearing the suit. Mostly. I may have removed the jacket or the tie or both. It really depends. (Actually I'm a "fuddy duddy" and will likely still be wearing both.)

 

Bottom line is that the generalizations in the post above by @cruzsnooze is correct. Maintain decorum and you will be fine. Show up in shorts and flip flops and and a tank top (wife beater, singlet, whatever) and you will not fit in and "may" be denied seating in the dining room. We did sail on a cruise where a gentleman in shorts was denied seating in the main dining room and it wasn't on a formal night. There are "official" guidelines posted. Some feel free to ignore them. Others adhere.

 

Over the years this has been one of the most hotly contested subjects on Cruise Critic and I cringe every time someone brings up the subject.

Edited August 12, 2021 by Thrak

[Kay S]

I've seen everything between pajamas and a speedo on formal night.  We just try to look civilized like maybe going to a church wedding.

[satxdiver]

For men collared shirt (short/long sleeve) and pants or black jeans.  Ties and coats not required.  Leather shoes or athletic shoes will suffice.  For women about anything will suffice including flip flops on the feet.  

[trishh]

4 hours ago, downundermatt said:

After many cruises on Celebrity and Royal looking forward to 54 nights on Diamond Princess next year.

This is part of a much bigger (round the world trip celebrating retirement).

 

How strict is the formal night dress code, I don't really want to cart around a suit or tux for the longer trip ?

 

Coming from Celebrity I know they have relaxed the dress to 'Evening Chic'

Just enquiring what would be the minimum required on Princess.

 

What other dining options are available if I can't go to the Main Dining ?

 

Gonna miss my Celebrity Perks - anything I can look forward to on Princess ?

My husband and I also cruise out of Australia and really don't like to get too dressy any more-just our choice. On formal nights we make that that is the night we go to the speciality restaurants for dinner, enjoy Movies under the stars and just snack on food from the buffet, or just eat pizza and burgers on deck. We all pay a fortune to cruise so we should enjoy it however we choose to. I hope you enjoy your Princess cruise. I've done 25 with them but I'm looking forward to trying Celebrity one day.

[K.T.B.]

On 8/12/2021 at 12:49 AM, satxdiver said:

For men collared shirt (short/long sleeve) and pants or black jeans.  Ties and coats not required.  Leather shoes or athletic shoes will suffice.  For women about anything will suffice including flip flops on the feet.  

 

That'll be a problem for me if the require a collar, I have dress banded collared shirts that I wear with a jacket.  I have not worn a tie in over 10 years.

 

On the non-formal nights on Celebrity, I do tend to wear jeans (mainly black or dark blue) and collared shirts.  Though my shirts tend to be of the Hawaiian variety.  Acceptable on Princess?

[Kay S]

43 minutes ago, K.T.B. said:

 

That'll be a problem for me if the require a collar, I have dress banded collared shirts that I wear with a jacket.  I have not worn a tie in over 10 years.

 

On the non-formal nights on Celebrity, I do tend to wear jeans (mainly black or dark blue) and collared shirts.  Though my shirts tend to be of the Hawaiian variety.  Acceptable on Princess?

I think the "collared" idea is to suggest a button up dress shirt rather than a "collarless" tee shirt.  You should be fine.  On Hawaiian cruises, you see a lot of Hawaiian shirts because that can be formal dress in the islands.  

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, K.T.B. said:

 

That'll be a problem for me if the require a collar, I have dress banded collared shirts that I wear with a jacket.  I have not worn a tie in over 10 years.

 

On the non-formal nights on Celebrity, I do tend to wear jeans (mainly black or dark blue) and collared shirts.  Though my shirts tend to be of the Hawaiian variety.  Acceptable on Princess?

Just because you wear a collared shirt doesn't mean you have to add a tie, but that would be fine to do. 

 

Your Celebrity comment... my understanding is Celebrity got rid of formal night a long time ago.  They have Evening Chic.  Whatever you wear for that is fine for Princess.

[wowzz]

Do Princess observe the tradition that white tuxedos should only be worn on warm weather cruises? 

[satxdiver]

1 hour ago, Steelers36 said:

13 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Do Princess observe the tradition that white tuxedos should only be worn on warm weather cruises? 

 

 

There are very few tux wearing men net alone a white or black one.  So feel free to wear your tux white or black anytime you want. 

[satxdiver]

1 hour ago, Steelers36 said:

Just because you wear a collared shirt doesn't mean you have to add a tie, but that would be fine to do. 

 

Your Celebrity comment... my understanding is Celebrity got rid of formal night a long time ago.  They have Evening Chic.  Whatever you wear for that is fine for Princess.

 

RCCL, Carnival and from what I have read X changed formal night to a less formal evening attire with each calling it something different.  Princess is the only holdout insisting on calling it formal night that is no longer enforced.  Carnival calls it elegant night and loosely enforces it. 

[Esprit]

2 hours ago, satxdiver said:

 

RCCL, Carnival and from what I have read X changed formal night to a less formal evening attire with each calling it something different.  Princess is the only holdout insisting on calling it formal night that is no longer enforced.  Carnival calls it elegant night and loosely enforces it. 

Celebrity have chic nights. On our Silhouette cruise the other week around the UK people dressed up so it was no less formal compared with Princess.

Regardless of what people may claim on CC about percentages wearing Tux's it will never stop me. It's not that difficult surely to dress smartly for a change to compliment your wife/partner's attire!

[SargassoPirate]

I usually pack one black sport coat for land tours and cruises.  When some decorum is required, I wear black slacks, a black or red T-shirt, and slip on the sport coat.  When I wear the red T-shirt, I slip a red pocket square into the breast pocket of the sport coat.

 

This has worked on dress up nights on Cunard, Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, Viking, HAL, and Princess so far.  

 

The sport coat adds about 20 ounces to what I am already packing.

[K.T.B.]

10 hours ago, Kay S said:

I think the "collared" idea is to suggest a button up dress shirt rather than a "collarless" tee shirt.  You should be fine.  On Hawaiian cruises, you see a lot of Hawaiian shirts because that can be formal dress in the islands.  

 

Thanks!

 

9 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

Just because you wear a collared shirt doesn't mean you have to add a tie, but that would be fine to do. 

 

Your Celebrity comment... my understanding is Celebrity got rid of formal night a long time ago.  They have Evening Chic.  Whatever you wear for that is fine for Princess.

 

Celebrity did, but I still got dressed up.  For Alaska I wore the jacket, for the Caribbean I did not.  For my upcoming cruise, I definitely plan on getting dressed up.  Unlike many, I actually enjoy getting dress up on occasion.

[Steelers36]

8 hours ago, Esprit said:

Celebrity have chic nights. On our Silhouette cruise the other week around the UK people dressed up so it was no less formal compared with Princess.

Regardless of what people may claim on CC about percentages wearing Tux's it will never stop me. It's not that difficult surely to dress smartly for a change to compliment your wife/partner's attire!

 

4 hours ago, K.T.B. said:

 

Celebrity did, but I still got dressed up.  For Alaska I wore the jacket, for the Caribbean I did not.  For my upcoming cruise, I definitely plan on getting dressed up.  Unlike many, I actually enjoy getting dress up on occasion.

 

And that's just great that for you guys to get dressed up if you enjoy doing that.  The beauty of the "elegant" or "chic" evenings - and the way Princess does it in practice - is there is a range of flexibility to go from the 9's to something less, and hopefully not the bottom of the barrel, LOL.

[memoak]

I stopped packing a tux many years ago.  For formal nights just wear slacks, long sleeve shirt and sports coat no tie

[KeepCalmBearOn]

After many cruises on Princess, I'd say you see fewer and fewer tuxedos and suits all the time.

 

Not sure the term in Australia, but I take a "sport coat" with me, which is an unmatched dress jacket. It is usually Navy Blue and rather than pack it and take up room, I wear it for boarding and hang it up as soon as we get into the room

 

I wear it on formal nights with a dress shirt (usually Brooks Bros or Ralph Lauren Polo), long pants and no tie. On a 54 day cruise I might pack a tie in case there is some place onshore I want to eat that requires one.

[jennybenny]

Princess has an official policy on formal nights, but they don't do much in terms of requiring it to be formal, in my opinion. It's as formal as you want to be, as long as it's not bathing suits, jeans, t shirts, etc. 🙂 My husband and children still pack their tuxedos regardless of weather of the cruise. Depending on the itinerary you will find more or less people "formally" dressed. I feel like woman have it easier, a dress or a nice top and pants are usually acceptable. I've even seen fancy sandals that look like flip flops be allowed on women. As long as you aren't in jeans and a t shirt they don't usually send you away. I've not seen the coat or tie requirement ever enforced for men, but I've only cruised from a USA port with Princess. You don't need a suit or tux. I have on one occasion seen jeans on formal night in the dining room, but I've heard many people share on this board that jeans have been sent away, and I've also seen some MDR's ask people to change and come back when in jeans and a Tommy Bahama shirt on formal night (maybe twice in my life). I suspect Dockers and that same shirt would have been acceptable on formal night.

If you don't want to dress up, save the luggage space and don't bring the suit or tux, and if you don't want to deal with the possibility of an issue, book specialty dining or go the buffet for dinner where the formal requirement is not enforced. 

Edited August 20, 2021 by jennybenny

[mina]

My husband wears a nice Cuban guayabera shirt on formal nights with dockers.  No need to wear a tie if you do not want to.  Many cultures do not view a tie as formal wear.  Love those guayabera shirts.  

[Kay S]

Does Princess still have a tux rental service?  I haven't see that sign in the shops for a long time.

[memoak]

1 hour ago, scottca075 said:

After many cruises on Princess, I'd say you see fewer and fewer tuxedos and suits all the time.

 

Not sure the term in Australia, but I take a "sport coat" with me, which is an unmatched dress jacket. It is usually Navy Blue and rather than pack it and take up room, I wear it for boarding and hang it up as soon as we get into the room

 

I wear it on formal nights with a dress shirt (usually Brooks Bros or Ralph Lauren Polo), long pants and no tie. On a 54 day cruise I might pack a tie in case there is some place onshore I want to eat that requires one.

I can't imagine a restaurant I would want to eat in that required a tie.  Here in Oregon we say the only times you can't dress in jeans and t-shirts are weddings and funerals