New Informal Trend Permanent?

[LocoLoco1]

Need I even keep my Tux? Seems HAL/Princess have moved to a MUCH more informal ambiance. Wife & her Gal-pals report nary a Tux on their recent Princess 10-day. During Covid we dined exclusively Lido/Poolside on a HAL 15/day Carib. Q: Where’s Tuxes? Cunard? Seabourne? Or has the entire industry moved on??

[bookitdanno]

I still wear a tux or dinner jacket. Why? Because my wife likes to dress up for dinner, and I do it for her. 

[Haljo1935]

10 minutes ago, bookitdanno said:

I still wear a tux or dinner jacket. Why? Because my wife likes to dress up for dinner, and I do it for her. 

Awe - that is soooo sweet.

[POA1]

I still have my tuxedo but I am on the fence about taking it on our upcoming cruise. It's a little 7 day trip and I might just take a couple of sport coats.

 

I'm keeping my tux because (1) it's paid for, (2) the style isn't going to change, and (3) making sure it fits keeps me on the straight & narrow. It'll definitely make the trip on a longer cruise. We're not self conscious about being overdressed and I have to keep my bow tie tying skills sharp somehow.

[Haljo1935]

We saw 1 tux in May on Eurodam AK - Canaletto on dressy night. Young man, probably <30yo. He was accompanied by a woman in a very sleek gown who was wearing a wrist corsage. It was so cute.

I say, although the norm is to be more casual, dress to the level that makes you comfortable (so long as it's not swimwear in dining venues) - it's your cruise, be happy!!

[ExArkie]

30 minutes ago, LocoLoco1 said:

Need I even keep my Tux? Seems HAL/Princess have moved to a MUCH more informal ambiance. Wife & her Gal-pals report nary a Tux on their recent Princess 10-day. During Covid we dined exclusively Lido/Poolside on a HAL 15/day Carib. Q: Where’s Tuxes? Cunard? Seabourne? Or has the entire industry moved on??

From my experience, Cunard does still have formal nights (a.k.a., “Gala Nights”), although their frequency and number have decreased over the years. I am also told that the UK-based lines P&O and Saga both still have formal nights, but I have sailed on neither. We were on Seabourn several years ago and there was no tie required for any night. 

 

There appears to be some degree of increased pressure from the cruising public for Cunard to relax their dress code even more than has already occurred. A dozen years ago, our transatlantic had three formal nights (dinner jacket, tux, or dark suit and tie), two informal nights (jacket and no tie), and two semi formal nights (jacket and tie). Last year, there were two Gala Nights (same as previous formal nights) and five Smart Attire nights (dress shirt, no jacket required). So, formality appears to be generally on the way out even there.

[Mosaic]

And so has quality of food and services.

[St Pete Cruiser]

The longer cruises, 14 day and longer, still find a fair number of us with sport coat or more. Also, those of us who dine at the assigned MDR have higher numbers of dressed up diners.

[cbr663]

Tuxes have been relegated to the past on HAL.  Been so for a while now.  So has the cruise experience that warranted a tux.  Yes, there are still some passengers that wear them.  They are the exception though.  It's your choice.  For some, over dressing is certainly more preferred than under dressing.  😆

[FlaMariner]

1 hour ago, LocoLoco1 said:

Need I even keep my Tux?

 

Personal decision but I ditched mine several years ago.....Same with the coat and tie onboard.  And we consider that a more sane way for us to travel/live.....but I understand others feel differently and therefore wear the tux if you want.......

 

It's your choice now.....and no matter what the cruise critic folks say about "longer cruises being dressier", as long as I am complying with the dress code, I am good to go. 

 

Enjoy the journey......

[RD64]

I think it may depend on the itinerary. On my recent Alaska cruise B2B, there may have been 20 suits / sports jackets in total - no tuxes at all. I wore my suit the first dressy night, but it stayed in the closet for the other three. I would not pack it again for this itinerary.

 

 

[OlsSalt]

Recent invitation to a young relative's "destination wedding". Black tie. A new generation is not giving up on formal dress.

[robotpony]

I have ditched the tie in recent years, but I still like to wear a sport coat and button up, with nice slacks or dark jeans. I'd love to own a tux, but it wouldn't be very convenient to fly with anymore, especially given the cost of flying with extra baggage. My goal is to look sharp, while still being comfortable and pack modestly. 

[OlsSalt]

Dressy fabrics today are some of the most lightweight and packable items of them all. Including a decent dinner jacket. 

[3rdGenCunarder]

2 hours ago, OlsSalt said:

Recent invitation to a young relative's "destination wedding". Black tie. A new generation is not giving up on formal dress.

 

My BF's daughter's wedding was black tie. It was lovely. And I agree about packable fabrics. DH's tux did fine in a garment bag, even for a week pre-cruise. Five minutes with the shower on hot and it steamed out perfectly. My dresses are the same. Good quality fabrics travel well. And if something turns out to be a wrinkler, it doesn't get invited on the next trip.

[Infi]

Recently returned from a long cruise on HAL (VOV) and dressy night seemed much more casual to me. Maybe it was the fact that it was a cold weather cruise, which requires packing more heavy weight casual clothes like jackets and sweaters, but dressy night was not very dressy at all. A small handful of tuxes, some jacket/sport coats, and many even without jackets or wearing polos that night. Women have more flexibility on dressy night, but even so, saw a lot of black outfits and very few fancy dresses/tops. 

[3rdGenCunarder]

3 hours ago, cbr663 said:

Tuxes have been relegated to the past on HAL.  Been so for a while now.  So has the cruise experience that warranted a tux.  Yes, there are still some passengers that wear them.  They are the exception though.  It's your choice.  For some, over dressing is certainly more preferred than under dressing.  😆

 

Sad but true on HAL. I don't like loud music, so there's little going on in the evening that I want to do. It isn't worth dressing up just to have a drink in a bar with no entertainment. 

[slidergirl]

3 hours ago, OlsSalt said:

Recent invitation to a young relative's "destination wedding". Black tie. A new generation is not giving up on formal dress.

There are still brides who want that classic fairytale wedding.   But, it's comparing apples to oranges to try to tie it to a cruise.  

[DesertRat46]

My tux stays home, but I do wear a sport coat (no tie) on the dressy nights. On my last TA, Celebrity, there were maybe 5 men with a tux and maybe 50% with a sport coat, and very few ties, More women were dressed for dinner.

[scooter6139]

Didn't see any tuxes on Westerdam last week.  Rarely saw any full suites.  Some sport jackets, but mostly just nice buttoned shirts and slacks.  

 

Most of the ladies looked very nice.  

[cruisemom42]

New informal trend?

 

You’re killing me! 🤣😭

[RD64]

There was one woman southbound on the Noordam August 13th - from Connecticut - on Orange Party Night - wore a truly stunning orange dress. All eyes were on her. The other nights - dressy or not - she was definitely the best dressed on the ship.

Edited August 29, 2023 by RD64
Additional

[OlsSalt]

When posting dress-up observations, it can make a difference whether it is early, late fixed or as you wish dining times.  Late-fixed has tended to be more dressy in the past. 

[kazu]

The dress code makes it easy to dress up as much as you want or as little as you want (assuming you follow the guidelines)

 

DD DH and I tended to do more European cruises towards the end and I noticed that a) Main dining was dressier b) more people dress up in Europe and c) there were no fashion police.

 

DD DH’s tux stayed in the closet for the last couple of cruises and I actually preferred him in his suits with his stunning ties.  But there were tuxes on board.  not a lot but they were there and the men were pretty stunning.  the ladies partnering them were dressed equally elegantly.

 

Personally, I don’t think it matters.  Everyone can dress nicely without wearing a tux but no one dressed nicely is ever out of place on a HAL ship IMO.  They are usually admired.

[0106]

7 hours ago, LocoLoco1 said:

 

Need I even keep my Tux?

 

Nope, but here’s my philosophy…