lots of questions!

[caighr]

i have so many questions, i don't even know where to begin.

the formal nights....does everyone do them? i was thinking of only doing one if that. are they worth it? i don't do them at home and figure it will be an quite and expense with buying for myself and two teenagers.

excursions???best to go through the cruiseline or private?

well there's a good start....any other advice would be greatly appreciated!!

[CarolinaCheesehead]

I personally love formal nights. It does not have to be expensive. Dress up to whatever level you and your budget feel comfortable with. You will see some people with armani suits and some with just a dinner jacket. It is a fun night. Usually the captains cocktail party is that night and lobster night is almost always on a fomal night. I wouldn't skip it unless you feel stongly about staying casual. In that case you'd be more comfortable at the buffet dinners.

 

As for not going formal at home, I don't either. And that's why I like cruising. I'm normally a tomboy but even on non formal nights I'll throw on a skirt for dinner. It feels nice to dress up occassionally.

 

Shore excursions depends on where you're going and what you like to do. I've done a combination over the years. Some through the cruiselines, some booked privately and some completelly unplanned walking around the city.

 

Hope this helped a little.

 

Enjoy your trip.

[Jane110]

For the best answers, ask specific questions.

 

For formal night: You haven't told us what ship you're on. As I understand it, NCL has multiple dining options for both formal and nonformal dining. Some ships, like Oceania have no formal nights at all. On most lines, formal is formal and passengers are expected to remain in formal wear for the entire evening. If you don't, you won't be arrested by the fashion police, however, most people feel it's the polite thing to do. Some ships will not allow you into the dining room if you're not formally dressed. Many of the big ships offer dinner at the buffet for those who don't care to dress up.

 

I have no idea what "are they worth it?" means. You're not charged for dinner on that night and drinks from the bar are the same price as usual.

 

On formal nights there is usually a Captains Cocktail Party before dinner (complimentary cocktails) and you'll have an opportunity to have some nice formal photo's taken of your family. They'll be posted in the photo shop the next day and you're under no obligation to buy any.

 

You can wear the same dress on both nights or you can opt to buy one dressy skirt and wear it with two dressy tops. That should save some money. There are many places, like Ebay or consignment shops to buy formal wear inexpensively. You can try to re-sell it on Ebay afterwards or sell it back to the consignment shop. Some of the ladies on the fashion board find eveningwear for under $30. a gown at stores like JC Penny, Sear's etc. Or perhaps you can borrow something from a friend?

 

Excursions - on your own or with the ship...........

 

Hard to answer since you haven't told us where you're going. Alaska, Europe, Carribbean, South America?

 

Best I can say is some excursions are best done with the ship, some are best arranging your own small private tour group and some places are best just walking off the ship and picking up a taxi at the pier. All depends on where you're going, what you hope to see and what time the ship leaves the dock.

[caighr]

thanks, i appreciate the advice

[caighr]

going on the Carnival Valor....Belize Roatan Costa Maya and Grand Cayman.

[CarolinaCheesehead]

Grand Cayman has several excusions to stingray city where you can swim with stingrays. This is supposed to be incredible. We went just after a storm and most excursions were cancelled. We did a bus tour which is great for the history of the area. We also spent a great deal of time in the town area where the tenders leave you off. Beautiful area with great shopping. Want to go back. Next time might do stringray city or just wander. Either would be enjoyable.

[Bonnie J.]

We just got off the Valor. Carnival is a lot less formal than a lot of other ships. My husband bougt a tux on line and wears it the 1st formal night. Then on second he wears a sports jacket. This time he was the only one at our table in a tux and on both formal nights thre were men in polo shirts and dockers. You can also always got to the buffet but don't wait too long as Carnival has been known to run out of the carved meat. They take indivigual picy=tures on formal nights and those are nice with him in tux and me in my gown. Here on the NC coast we are very informail so enjoy dressing up.

WE ahve been to all your ports more than once and can reccomend good, safe tours that are not ship's tours and are almost 1/2 the price as same ones ship's offer.

In Belize cave tubing is fantastic- $45 vs $92 ship's tour! In Costa Maya, a port built JUST for cruise ships, touring the ruins with Ivan & David is good. In Roatan we like to go to Tabyanna, a geat beach to snorkle. In Cayman, you've got to swim with the sting rays with Captain Marvin! Email me and I can give you more info and how to get in touch with the tours. All these tours are quite a bit less than ship'd tours to same places! You can reach me at bonniejns@hotmail.com.....And, .............Smile!........

[Cotton]

Caighr - OK, since we now know you'll be on a Carnival ship, it helps to answer questions.

 

'Formal' is not for everybody; however, it would be a shame for you and your teens not to experience this. Somebody on another board recently advised folks to go to a local thrift store. You can get very nice (and almost new) clothes that would be appropriate for formal night. As a matter of fact, my dentist is going on a cruise soon, and she told me she got a lovely cocktail dress for $20 (!), and a nice sports jacket for her husband for $10. She couldn't see paying big bucks for clothing to wear ONE night.

 

Not that this is all-important, BUT if you want lobster on your cruise, it will have to be in the dining room on formal night. That is the only time it's served, and won't be available at the Lido buffet.

 

Only you can make the decision as to where to have dinner, but I hope you'll make it to formal night dinner in the dining room!:)

 

You might want to come over to the Carnival board for specific questions.http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=215&page=1&sort=lastpost&order=&pp=25&daysprune=-1

[Trevoli]

One thing to keep in mind as regards excursions:

 

If you are on a ship-sponsored tour, and you are late returning to the ship for any reason, the ship will wait for you.

 

If you are on a private tour and are late...

 

Bid your ship Bon Voyage as it sails away. And it's up to you and your $$ to get yourself to the next port.

 

I agree with other posters, please do try to attend at least one formal night. It's really an experience. If you don't like it, you never have to go again. There are lots of other dining venues, or there is always room service.

 

In any event, bring on more questions!!

 

T

[Kanukkacruise]

My suggestion would be to attend formal night. Don't let wardrobe hold you back as you'll see a little of everything. I bought a black Traveler's tank, a long skirt and also pants at Chico's. I have a lacy jacket that I sometimes wear and recently bought a smashing black beaded jacket onboard the ship on sale for $58! A resale shop is also a great place to find really nice expensive clothes at deeply discounted prices. Take fake jewelry, strappy shoes ... it's great fun. We don't like to dress up either but, boy, that lobster is good! My husband wears a black suit and blends right in. (Do you have Marshall's ... if so, the top brands of men's suits are available for under $200.)

[katz]

We did the cave tubing in Belize. Your teenagers would probably love that. We booked the excursion through our ship. We had a nice ride through Belize City and out into the "jungle". Once there, we were give life vests and tubes. Personal belongings were locked up. We trekked about thrity minutes through the "jungle", jumped into the river and floated down for quite a while. We had a guide from start to finish. Afterwards, a lunch was served. It was a lot of fun!!

 

In Costa Maya, we went on a dune buggy tour. We drove through their "jungle"for about thirty minutes to a private beach with a snack bar. There we could swim, kayak, relax in hammocks and have a snack. We drove back through a few small villages. We were not prepared for the children that stood on the sides of the road with their little hands out. We wished that we had known and brought more $1 bills. We saw a few monkeys, snakes and lots of dogs, who liked to chase us.

 

In Grand Cayman, we just found a taxi, at the dock, to take us to Seven Mile Beach ($7 each way). We found an area, right across from the Marriott. They rented snokels and chairs. I can't remember if they had towels. There was a little snack bar on the beach, where we had lunch.

 

I hope that this information will help you in planning your excusions. We were on the RCC line.

 

Have a great trip!!

[packercruising]

I personally love formal nights. It does not have to be expensive. Dress up to whatever level you and your budget feel comfortable with. You will see some people with armani suits and some with just a dinner jacket. It is a fun night. Usually the captains cocktail party is that night and lobster night is almost always on a fomal night. I wouldn't skip it unless you feel stongly about staying casual. In that case you'd be more comfortable at the buffet dinners.

 

As for not going formal at home, I don't either. And that's why I like cruising. I'm normally a tomboy but even on non formal nights I'll throw on a skirt for dinner. It feels nice to dress up occassionally.

 

Shore excursions depends on where you're going and what you like to do. I've done a combination over the years. Some through the cruiselines, some booked privately and some completelly unplanned walking around the city.

 

Hope this helped a little.

 

Enjoy your trip.

 

I agree. :) I'm not much on dressing up either and usually would just as soon eat at the buffet. But it's fun to dress up at least one night during the cruise. It doesn't have to be anything fancy. Plus then you are all set for the entertainment. Something I didn't find out until later, on Costa Magica they served the same menu as at dinner so you could get your lobster without getting dressed up if you wanted.:D

 

As for excursions, whatever suits you best. Just know that if you tender, those with excursions booked through the ship get first priority.

[TennisLover]

We were on the Valor last year. It's a great itinerary. We didn't book any excursions through the ship and hooked up with a guide in each port (except Cozumel -- there we just went to the beach by cab). It was our 3rd cruise, so my DH was confident and a bit experienced about how to work with the locals in the port. Each day was great and less expensive than if we booked through the ship.

 

We always dress up on formal night. Don't have to spend a lot, as others have said. I ask my family to humor me and take whatever pictures I want. Those are the ony formal pictures we do all year.

 

I prefer to stay dressed up all evening; my DH, DS and DD usually change right after dinner.

[DonnaK]

There's no reason why you can't wear the same outfit on both formal nights. No one is paying that close attention. Just get an inexpensive basic black dress (I bought one for $11 at Target) and dress it up with different jewelry, a wrap or other accessories. You'll fit right in, and no one will notice. Many people change right after dinner, myself included.

[PAISANO]

There's no reason why you can't wear the same outfit on both formal nights. No one is paying that close attention. Just get an inexpensive basic black dress (I bought one for $11 at Target) and dress it up with different jewelry, a wrap or other accessories. You'll fit right in, and no one will notice. Many people change right after dinner, myself included.

 

I have to agree. Wear the same dress twice. Don't worry about it.

I have 2 black formals and if you didn't know it you would think

I was wearing the same dress.

[Fredr]

hello,

 

After 15 cruises and one more for 2006, I believe that a formal night means looking dressed up but this does not mean paying a lot for clothes or wearing dark colors. On the 3/27/2006 sailing of the Mercury to Mexico, on Formal night I saw a man dressed in a white suit. While the suit was obviously expensive it was so nice looking that I complimented him. I also saw another man in a very nice light beige suit that looked great.

 

Attend the formal nights because this is an important part of the heritage of sea travel and there is a magical sense on the ship, that is, a New Year's party with special food, entertainment, the crew is all dresssed up and so on.

 

Hope that this helps,

 

Fred

[caribbean dreams]

We always dress formal for the first formal night (captains cocktail party) and yes, i buy my 3 teen daughters and my dresses at the thrift store and pay $3 - $12 for beautiful long dresses probably only worn once. This is the only opportunity we all have to dress up and take family pictures and besides, the lobster is really good.

We always wait until we get to shore to find an excursion, but being this is your first cruise, you may feel safer doing it through the cruiseline.

[Jolimont]

i have so many questions, i don't even know where to begin.

the formal nights....does everyone do them? i was thinking of only doing one if that. are they worth it? i don't do them at home and figure it will be an quite and expense with buying for myself and two teenagers.

excursions???best to go through the cruiseline or private?

well there's a good start....any other advice would be greatly appreciated!!

We don't particularly care for formal dress-up in our family, but we do play along to some extent. We don't buy anything special, we just use what we have. Husband puts on a tie and jacket and daughter and I put on dresses and do our hair and makeup a bit. No jewelry, no fancy purses, no trip to the beauty parlor, no fighting over the tiny bathroom. We don't want to distract from the occasion (it's a giggle to see how hard some people try and miss!) but we don't want to spend time and money for something we don't care about. I think as long as you're dressed "conservative" you're fine. Imagine you were going to a funeral or a christening at a church, how would you dress? That's how we do formal night.

 

And for those who do not with to play along at all there's the buffet/hamburger/pizza bar. Come to think of it, the hot tubs might be quite empty on those nights!

[motherchic]

Good advice

I am a mom of 4 and never do "formal" usually.

Because of that I love formal eves on the ship. I bought a simple sleeveless black dress, mid calf length. Then bought a $10,( mock ) pashmina shawl, and two simple jacket tops and different jewelery. Same black shoe. We sail on Celebrity which is more formal then many of the cruise lines and i never ever felt out of place or under dressed. Dont worry about repeating your oufit.

Excursions :

check out these boards for ideas. We usually always go thru a recommendation for a private tour and they have been fabulous. Always give yourself extra time when you take these tours so that if "something" does happen- you dont worry about missing the ship. Use good sense when booking your tours and i dont believe you will have any problems.

Grande Caymen-- Cpt. Marvins was recommended. Excellent- dont miss it- you and your girls will love it. And if something happens- bad weather and you cant tender- no charge

Whatever you decide--enjoy !

Nadine

[imacrusing]

I NEVER do formal nights!!!!! I stay in Suite and have lobster and steak delivered. Some folks love it ...we dont.

 

However, we do not go out to dinner not dressed appropriately..thats why we dont go.

 

We eat most nights in Lido...hardly ever went to Rotterdam dining room...just a bit crowded and stuffy for us.

 

We love to sit on balcony, eat breakfast, luch and dinner most days. Thats why we LOVE THE SUITES..we get full menus delivered daily to cabin.

[Cotton]

I NEVER do formal nights!!!!! I stay in Suite and have lobster and steak delivered. Some folks love it ...we dont.

 

The OP said she is going to be on the Carnival Valor, so your information is moot.:)