Dinner dress on port days in Asia

[ggo85]

We are doing an Asian cruise this fall on Muse.   On our last SS cruise (transatlantic), dress was (for us, unexpectedly) casual on nights the ship was in port.  For packing purposes on a port-intensive cruise, would like to know what to expect.  Yes, I know we can alway dress up but don't want to if I don’t have to. 

 

Appreciate any insight from recent cruisers on in Asia. 

[Port Power]

I am currently on Muse heading to Japan. There are only two sea days of the 14 day cruise. The dress code is still 50/50 between casual and informal. Having port excursions does not mean casual dress at night. Sometimes departure from ports is 2:30pm, which allows plenty of time for for dressing up even the formal nights.

 

Expedition cruises are mainly casual, but I don’t think Asian port days are of any significance as far as the dress code goes.

[ggo85]

Thanks.  Sounds as if there are full day tours offered, it’s casual and informal if ship leaves port early.   Do you have any ports where you stay overnight?  We have several. What is dress code for those?

[drron29]

I really don't think that their is or will be a set dress code for nights that the ship is in port. It will be decided by the length of the particular voyage you are on. It has been quoted in the past the break up of numbers of formal, informal and casual for the number of nights of an individual cruise.

[Port Power]

16 hours ago, ggo85 said:

Thanks.  Sounds as if there are full day tours offered, it’s casual and informal if ship leaves port early.   Do you have any ports where you stay overnight?  We have several. What is dress code for those?

I agree with @drron29.  And as I said previously, dress code generally has no relationship to the country of a port or the time of departure from a port.  Perhaps if the ship overnights, I can see casual dress code being more convenient.  

[ggo85]

I'm aware of the stated requirements based on # of nights.  On our last SS cruise, I followed them in packing.  However, we had more casual nights than was the "norm."  Thus, I overpacked informal and underpacked casual.  I'd like to get it right on this cruise so I don't bring stuff that I don't end up wearing (prefer not to dress up if we don't have to).  I'll ask my TA to contact SS to see if we can get info for our specific cruise.

 

 

[ggo85]

To follow up (and end for me) this discussion, the TA called SS. They said there would be 2 formal nights (not the 3 that are typical for a 14-night cruise).  

 

They also said casual vs. informal for the other 12 nights "is at the discretion of the ship."  

 

While guys just need to throw on a jacket to go from casual to informal, for most women, the difference is more pronounced: different tops, pants / skirts and shoes.  I'm a pretty minimalist packer -- hate dragging around clothes I never end up wearing (other than to account for weather variation).

 

I'll manage (a first-world problem, I know), but s it really so hard for SS to include dinner dress information in our cruise planner???? 

 

 

Edited September 21, 2023 by ggo85

[drkitkat123]

please remind me when we get told how many formal nights there are. Our time line for Jan cruise has the formal icon at the bottom of the page but none of the days seem to have the icon allocated

[Lois R]

I guess I am just lucky because I wear the same attire for both informal and casual nights so it doesn't make any difference what night is what. A pair of slacks and a long sleeved knit top is my "go to" outfit. 

It has always been acceptable and will continue the same for my upcoming Nova cruise.