Restaurants and formal nights

[jimbo1683]

We have a 7 night scandanavian cruise on Sky booked for May 2023. I also have a short cruise this November with Cunard - which I know is more formal. As I am buying suitable evening clothing now for the November cruise I want to make sure that what I buy is also appropriate for the Princess cruise.

 

We are a male couple in our late 30s. We would like to take the opportunity to dress up a bit. We have Club Class dining.

 

My questions for the Princess cruise are:

- the website suggests there are 2 formal nights on a 7 night cruise. Is this the reality?

- How formal is formal - what will be appropriate to wear?

- Which nights will be formal - seadays?

- What happens on formal nights - is there a special menu (in club MDR?) Im trying to figure out which nights we might want speciality dining.

 

Thanks

 

Edited August 13, 2022 by jimbo1683

[Lady Arwen]

Formal on Princess is whatever you decide is formal. You will see far more jeans and dress pants than suits or tuxes.  Unless you’re wearing shorts or a bathing suit, you don’t have to worry.  My DH will wear a nice jacket, dress pants and shirt and tie on “formal” nights and he’s usually overdressed compared to everyone else.  That being said, wear what you enjoy!  You want to go all out, then by all means do so.  Usually there are two of these nights on a seven day cruise and tend to be on sea days if possible.  The menus usually offer some special items such as “lobster” (this is not Cunard), but don’t expect anything lavish.  Just be yourselves and have a wonderful cruise!

[waltd]

You will see a range of dress on formal night on Princess.   For men a few tux.   More dark suits,  a few sports coats and even a few short sleeve shirts with dress pants.   Please no shorts or base ball caps on formal.   Princess no longer enforces their suggested dress code.   Wear something that you would to a nice sit down restaurant and you will be fine.  

Formal menus don't wow but they have some nice selections.   

[Steelers36]

18 minutes ago, jimbo1683 said:

We have a 7 night scandanavian cruise on Sky booked for May 2023. I also have a short cruise this November with Cunard - which I know is more formal. As I am buying suitable evening clothing now for the November cruise I want to make sure that what I buy is also appropriate for the Princess cruise.

 

We are a male couple in our late 30s. We would like to take the opportunity to dress up a bit. We have Club Class dining.

 

My questions for the Princess cruise are:

- the website suggests there are 2 formal nights on a 7 night cruise. Is this the reality?

- How formal is formal - what will be appropriate to wear?

- Which nights will be formal - sea days?

- What happens on formal nights - is there a special menu (in club MDR?) I'm trying to figure out which nights we might want specialty dining.

 

Thanks

 

There are more upscale MDR menu items such as lobster once (usually the second Formal Night), beef wellington, etc.  Some guests will go to Specialty Dining as they think they need to dress up all formal for the DR (no necessary).   Other folks do it based on the nightly menus.  Hard to know these pre-cruise or which night is which.  You can ask on board to see all the week's menus at the start. 

 

They will never have a formal night on the first night or the last night.  Look for the first one ASAP after night 1 and the second closer to end of voyage.  If you don't have two open sea days, look for one with an early port departure.

[jimbo1683]

32 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

There are more upscale MDR menu items such as lobster once (usually the second Formal Night), beef wellington, etc.  Some guests will go to Specialty Dining as they think they need to dress up all formal for the DR (no necessary).   Other folks do it based on the nightly menus.  Hard to know these pre-cruise or which night is which.  You can ask on board to see all the week's menus at the start. 

 

They will never have a formal night on the first night or the last night.  Look for the first one ASAP after night 1 and the second closer to end of voyage.  If you don't have two open sea days, look for one with an early port departure.

Thanks. Our itinery is day 1 embarkation day, 2 sea day, 3,4,5&6 port days, 7 sea day, 8 disembark. Day 6 departs Oslo at 4pm so assume formal nights will be evening 2 and 6?

[Steelers36]

1 minute ago, jimbo1683 said:

Thanks. Our itinery is day 1 embarkation day, 2 sea day, 3,4,5&6 port days, 7 sea day, 8 disembark. Day 6 departs Oslo at 4pm so assume formal nights will be evening 2 and 6?

That seems the safe bet to me.

 

ETA:  The second night may be billed as "Dress to Impress"  (DTI).

Edited August 13, 2022 by Steelers36

[jimbo1683]

3 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

That seems the safe bet to me.

 

ETA:  The second night may be billed as "Dress to Impress"  (DTI).

Thanks. Would there be a theme for the first formal night?

[waltd]

In the past Princess had many themed dinners.    Now not so much.    I think it will just be themed Dress To Impress.   Do your own thing and suprise everyone.   Have a good time.

[Steelers36]

17 minutes ago, jimbo1683 said:

Thanks. Would there be a theme for the first formal night?

No one has reported this (that I have seen this year).  They also used to have Caribbean night (in that sector), Italian night (pretty much every voyage I have been one, but I have read the old green & red striped suits are gone), USA night (especially when cruise returning to a US port).  I cannot recall what else.  They do have some themes in the buffet on certain nights and the Patter should indicate those.

 

Edited August 13, 2022 by Steelers36

[jimbo1683]

6 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

No one has reported this (that I have seen this year).  They also used to have Caribbean night (in that sector), Italian night (pretty much every voyage I have been one, but I have read the old green & red striped suits are gone), USA night (especially when cruise returning to a US port).  I cannot recall what else.  They do have some themes in the buffet on certain nights and the Patter should indicate those.

 

I'll keep my fingers crossed that none of those themes make an appearance🤣

[Lady Arwen]

23 minutes ago, jimbo1683 said:

I'll keep my fingers crossed that none of those themes make an appearance🤣

I think you’re safe!  We never enjoyed them and it was a relief to see them gone.  Just give us good food, good wine and good service.  We don’t need a Carnival atmosphere lol. 

[JF - retired RRT]

2 hours ago, jimbo1683 said:

My questions for the Princess cruise are:

- How formal is formal - what will be appropriate to wear? I think you'll find that what you wear on Cunard for non-formal nights would be what you wear on Princess for "formal" nights.

 

- What happens on formal nights - is there a special menu (in club MDR?) Im trying to figure out which nights we might want speciality dining. The Club Class menu is the same as the MDR menu with the exception of one or 2 extra dishes.

 

[PrincessAmore]

They still have an Italian night, of sorts, in the MDR but the staff is not required to dress in those stripped Italian clothes they use to wear.

[jimbo1683]

10 minutes ago, PrincessAmore said:

They still have an Italian night, of sorts, in the MDR but the staff is not required to dress in those stripped Italian clothes they use to wear.

Is it just themed as in the food is italian inspired though?

[c-boy]

1 hour ago, jimbo1683 said:

Thanks. Would there be a theme for the first formal night?

sure, if your celebrating an event such as anniversary , birthdays getting back to cruising etc ...

[Torfamm]

Since tuxedo rental is no longer available on cruise ships, you won’t see too many in formal wear but there are always enough that you won’t stand out in tuxedos. My guess is that fewer than half will follow the dress code of tuxedo or dark suit.

 

You can see which nights are scheduled as formal nights in the Journey View activities timeline in the app. Every evening will show either “casual” or “formal” portraits. I’ve seen it populate as much as a couple of months before a cruise

[caribill]

10 hours ago, jimbo1683 said:

Thanks. Would there be a theme for the first formal night?

 

Princess formal evenings do not have a dining room theme other than "formal."