Any women ever rent the formal clothes offered through Princess

[LILynn]

Hi All

 

I am on the Grand going to Eastern Med in Septemeber for 12 days. Since I am obviously flying to Rome - I can only bring 2 suitcases with a 50 pound limit. Since the cruise is 12 days, with 11 ports trying to decide what to take for the trip is a little overwhelming to say the least.

 

I was thinking about renting the formal wear - the men do it all the time. Have any women out there done this and if so how did it work out?

 

If it was up to me I would just go to the biffet the two formal nights and not bother to dress up at all but I am going with my mom and she loves formal nights.

 

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

[bjcanady]

Hi All

 

I am on the Grand going to Eastern Med in Septemeber for 12 days. Since I am obviously flying to Rome - I can only bring 2 suitcases with a 50 pound limit. Since the cruise is 12 days, with 11 ports trying to decide what to take for the trip is a little overwhelming to say the least.

 

I was thinking about renting the formal wear - the men do it all the time. Have any women out there done this and if so how did it work out?

 

If it was up to me I would just go to the biffet the two formal nights and not bother to dress up at all but I am going with my mom and she loves formal nights.

 

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

 

I have never rented formal wear as i wear sequins every nite but if i wanted to go light and look glamerous i think it would be much easier and cheaper to buy either a long black skirt or black silky slacks and a couple of sexy tops, or a basic black with a scarf or jewerly to change for second nite.........just my suggestions.

[custompcsys]

If it was up to me I would just go to the biffet...

Its amazing what you learn on these boards....I never knew Princess had a biffet on their ships :D

 

(I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist :) )

[Mrs. Gump]

I agree with bjcanady - I pack the long black skirt and some black pumps then change out the top and accessories. Fit is very important to me, especially in formal wear, so unless you are the perfect size 6 (or 8 or 12...) I wouldn't rent. As far as I know, tailoring their clothes is not an option.

[Kudos2Fly]

If you don't care what people think. Just bring one dress. You may just want to bring something simple... like the other poster said. Frankly we will be doing a Med. cruise in the future also.. But we may be doing Carnival.. We may skip formal nights altogether but if you can't.. I would just bring one dress or frankly rent. I have never done it so can't help you there.

[flamomo]

What they show for women, at least the photos, looks frumpy to me. Maybe it's just the photos.

On a 15 day cruise in January, I took one "LBD", and a fancy beaded black silk stole, a short black sheer jacket with embroidery, and 3 sets of jewelry. That way I could wear just the dress one time, and add the beaded stole another, and used the jacket the 3rd formal night. I felt that made the packing simple, and the accessories took up almost no suitcase space. And the appearance of each was different enough that I didn't feel like I was obviously wearing the same thing 3 times.

[LonghornKJK]

I just realized another advantage to Anytime Dining -- you can wear the same formal dress twice and no one will notice! :)

[cruzzers]

I have a simple long black dress made out of that slinky knit. I take 2 or 3 different glittery tops to wear over it for a different look. I have a pair of black silky kint pants that I do the same with. I can wear the same black heels with the dress and pants. People will notice your jewelry and tops but not likely the clothes below the table at dinner.

Happy packing!

[Lynda90]

Black velvet pants, comfortable suede pumps and a 2 different dressy tops. Also, if you wear the same thing, only you will know the difference. No one will really care or notice what you are wearing as long as you are dressed appropriately.

[TheHappyWanderer]

When some crazy lady in the LA airport decided for some reason she liked my suitcase better then hers, I set sail with only my carry-on...which contained my swimsuit and an extra pair of panties. My suitcase did not catch up with me for many days, and the cruise line kindly offered me the formal women's wear at no cost so we could do dinner in the dining room.

 

It was frumpy.....a long black skirt and white dressy blouse....but at least I got my lobster!

 

I have four pieces of the "slinky" stuff....pants, dress, two jacket tops. They take up absolutely no room at all and weigh next to nothing. Mix and Match is the word of the day.

 

HNow if I can only convince DH just to take his good suit on our Baltic cruise this summer.....he can swith ties and have a whole new look. I do not want to schlepp half our wardrobe halfway around the world.

[macusr]

I wanted to rent for our upcoming Alaskan cruise leaving 5/22 out of Whittier. After we placed the order online, I received a phone call indicating that women's formal wear was not available for cruises leaving Whittier. So apparently, not all ports are equal when it comes to availability of formal wear for women (of course no problem for men's wear!). You'll want to call the formal wear phone number and confirm whether your departure port is one that will offer women's wear.