How formal is formal night?

[ReneeFLL]

7 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

…You probably can count the number of men in tuxes on one hand on the entire ship. And then very very few men with ties after that.

 

Not sure what ship’s you’ve been on, but I have always seen more than that.

 

2 hours ago, nelblu said:

On Allure now and a very relaxed dress code.  I stopped bringing suit or sport jacket in a number of sails as I felt overdressed 🤣

Also on the Allure now and I seen quite a few dressed up in gowns and tuxedos. Not that many compared to the total passenger count, but still plenty.

 

52 minutes ago, poocher said:

I love the couples who clearly can’t agree.  She’s dressed to the nines (do people still say that?) and he’s in shorts & a tee shirt!

If DH tried that I’d tell him not to walk with me, but he’d never do it. We still wear a gown and tux on formal night and dress your best night.

[orville99]

14 hours ago, Babyjax12 said:

I, too, miss the good old days (Midnight Chocolate Buffet anyone?😉)

We go back far enough to remember the Midnight "Show" buffet with marzipan sculptures, Ice carvings (that were created earlier in the day by the pool), mounds of shrimp, lobster, and too many other delicacies to count. (and the huge chocolate fountain😇)

 

[orville99]

1 hour ago, poocher said:

I love the couples who clearly can’t agree.  She’s dressed to the nines (do people still say that?) and he’s in shorts & a tee shirt!

Probably everyone told him he married a 10, so he felt that if she dressed to the nines, he only needed to dress to the ones😇

[graphicguy]

51 minutes ago, ReneeFLL said:

 

 

If DH tried that I’d tell him not to walk with me, but he’d never do it. 

Seriously?  WOW!  Would elicit a much different response and action from me if my girlfriend told me not to walk with her.  

 

I have taken 3 Celebrity, 2 NCL and 1 Royal Cruise in the past 18 months.  I think I saw one couple in a tux/gown on all of them combined.  A few more in ties and suits/dresses, a few more than that in sport coats and pant suits.

 

But, the vast, vast majority were dressed "normally"...collared shirts, sun dresses, jeans, tops with sleeves.

[ReneeFLL]

58 minutes ago, orville99 said:

We go back far enough to remember the Midnight "Show" buffet with marzipan sculptures, Ice carvings (that were created earlier in the day by the pool), mounds of shrimp, lobster, and too many other delicacies to count. (and the huge chocolate fountain😇)

 

Marzipan? Oh, my favorite.

 

15 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

Seriously?  WOW!  Would elicit a much different response and action from me if my girlfriend told me not to walk with her.  

Yes, seriously. Guess you haven’t been married for 35 years and he respects me to much to even try something like that. Also, he enjoys dressing up too.

[graphicguy]

5 minutes ago, ReneeFLL said:

Marzipan? Oh, my favorite.

 

Yes, seriously. Guess you haven’t been married for 35 years and he respects me to much to even try something like that. Also, he enjoys dressing up too.

You have a very different view of what respect means than we do, I suppose.  I would never allow my Girlfriend to walk alone when we're together.  And, if she rebuffed me from walking with her, we would have a very dour conversation about her desire to do so.

 

 

[geneticsguy]

Like others have said, it's pretty casual. However, I'd say only about 60-70%+ dress up, and by dress up, I mean, not wear jeans and a t-shirt. Some will legitimately wear shorts and t-shirts.

 

The culture is changing a bit on cruises. Even Holland America, a more upscale cruise line known for their older crowd is switching to more "Business Casual" dress instead, so they won't let you wear shorts and t-shirts, but nice jeans with a sports coat is perfectly acceptable. I think if you want the more traditional formal nights you are going to need to sail on ships like Vikings or Cunard for that experience. I enjoy it.

 

However, be aware that a large portion of the ship still dresses up, still goes all out. On a 7 night sailing, my wife and kids and I will go all out. She wears and evening gown, I wear my nice suit (I don't do the tuxes), and my kids wear some fancy ballroom type outfit. It's a lot of fun. Then, on the 2nd formal night, we'll dress up, but go more the business casual/church type wear dress.

 

You will fit in whichever you decide. Personally, I find the opportunity for these type of things to be rare in life, so I like to take advantage of it and make the most of it, so my family takes formal night seriously. I've never been offended because someone else didn't though.

[mpk]

34 minutes ago, geneticsguy said:

Even Holland America, a more upscale cruise line known for their older crowd is switching to more "Business Casual" dress instead, so they won't let you wear shorts and t-shirts, but nice jeans with a sports coat is perfectly acceptable.

 

Several years ago, a relative showed up jacketless in the MDR on HAL.  He was stopped by the host, and given a jacket to drape over his arm and hang around the chair.  The jacket was a gaudy bright green color, presumably to prevent people from wanting to steal it, lol.

 

If HAL is now relaxing, I guess that would leave Cunard as the final hold out.

 

Edited September 7, 2022 by mpk

[shellunderwater]

5 hours ago, fenton04 said:

The reason given in the past was that dressing up for work and dressing up for formal night was an over reach for the guest.  Then COVID hit now the same guest are working from home (casual, street clothes, pajamas) you would think that guests would welcome dressing up.  Naw.  

Why would I welcome dressing up when I'm on vacation to relax?

 

Naw, not gonna happen.

[fenton04]

Like I told my kids.  You can find a million reasons to do something,  and you can find a million reasons. NOT to do something.   I guess it depends on the person.  just sayin...

[PGPVA72]

I was on Oasis last week, and was surprised how dressed up people were on formal night. Sure, there were some (a few?) folks who wore shorts and tee shirts, but the majority vibe was that people were "observing the occasion" - with everything from your plan of nice slacks, dress shirt & tie all the way up to very showy gowns and tuxedos. I wore a fairly non-formal embroidered cotton sheath dress, gold sandals and some blingy jewelry and didn't feel at all overdressed. OTOH, I suspect that the fact that many people drive to sail on Oasis means they can bring more luggage - I know I certainly did.

[George C]

Most lines don’t have a true formal night , no dress codes . I still bring a sports jacket, my wife  dresses up. I stopped wearing tux about 5 years ago.

[TravelGirlinDallas]

We dress up, both because we like to, and also for the photo ops. There are always still plenty of dressed-up folks in line with us for pictures and for dinner. There are also plenty of people dressed casually. You'll be fine either way.

[Mapleleafforever]

I would have written something that I'm positive I have written at least 20 times on here but instead I'll just increase my post count. 

[shellunderwater]

9 minutes ago, Mapleleafforever said:

I would have written something that I'm positive I have written at least 20 times on here but instead I'll just increase my post count. 

And I enjoyed not reading again something I'm sure I've read from you many times in the past.

 

Huh, there goes my post count too.

 

Kewl

[Moon Orchid]

How about formal nights on Hawaii cruise ? Is it the same as caribbean cruise or more casual ? Thanks.

[walker1887]

8 hours ago, orville99 said:

We go back far enough to remember the Midnight "Show" buffet with marzipan sculptures, Ice carvings (that were created earlier in the day by the pool), mounds of shrimp, lobster, and too many other delicacies to count. (and the huge chocolate fountain😇)

 

Those were very special days!!

[loman]

44 minutes ago, Mapleleafforever said:

I would have written something that I'm positive I have written at least 20 times on here but instead I'll just increase my post count. 

I wouldnt mind reading it again so i can offer a response and increase my post count as i just past the 1000 mark 😂

[George C]

1 hour ago, TravelGirlinDallas said:

We dress up, both because we like to, and also for the photo ops. There are always still plenty of dressed-up folks in line with us for pictures and for dinner. There are also plenty of people dressed casually. You'll be fine either way.

One of my favorite diamond perks is free 8 by 10 pictures we have dozens since. We turned Diamond a decade or more ago . 

[OCSC Mike]

1 hour ago, Moon Orchid said:

How about formal nights on Hawaii cruise ? Is it the same as caribbean cruise or more casual ? Thanks.

 

MORE casual? Not sure how much more casual it could get.

[Moon Orchid]

1 hour ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

MORE casual? Not sure how much more casual it could get.

Sorry, English is my second language☺️. What I meant to ask was if the dress code on Hawaii cruise more relaxed than Caribbean cruise. 

[OCSC Mike]

1 minute ago, Moon Orchid said:

Sorry, English is my second language☺️. What I meant to ask was if the dress code on Hawaii cruise more relaxed than Caribbean cruise. 

 

No worries, I was being a bit sarcastic/humorous. It's VERY casual/relaxed in the Caribbean. My point was it's not really possible to be that much more casual/relaxed than it already is in the Caribbean.

[Airbear232]

18 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

This would be totally over dressed compared to everyone else. 

 

Some folks like to dress up, and it's fine. We stopped packing gowns and tuxes long ago.

 

You probably can count the number of men in tuxes on one hand on the entire ship. And then very very few men with ties after that.

 

You are on vacation. Dress resort casual. Have fun! 

Sorry, it’s their vacation.  If he wants to take BB why does anyone need to dictate otherwise.  You can dress up and have fun.  

[mpk]

On 9/7/2022 at 6:01 PM, OCSC Mike said:

No worries, I was being a bit sarcastic/humorous. It's VERY casual/relaxed in the Caribbean. My point was it's not really possible to be that much more casual/relaxed than it already is in the Caribbean.

 

So in the Caribbean, there effectively isn't a formal night on Royal?  I have a sailing in the next year.

[CanHardlyWait4NextYear]

1 hour ago, mpk said:

 

So in the Caribbean, there effectively isn't a formal night on Royal?  I have a sailing in the next year.

There is a formal night in name only. People from tux to tee's and everything in between is what you will see. Many split the difference with polo shirts and long pants. It's sooo very up to each his own. I think most who are really done up do it for a nice professional photo. And really have never seen more then 2 tux per 4 to 6 thousand guest on any trip. We personally only did it because of the photo. But Airlines didn't use to charge extra per bag back then. You will see everything on formal night. Dress to make yourself happy.