Lets talk dress...again.

[bigbreeze]

I've searched the forum and didn't exactly see what I want so, let's ask a few questions.

 

Firstly, we do like to dress up for dinner most nights. After a day of sun and fun, we enjoy going to the stateroom and getting cleaned up for the evening. So...

 

Formal Night: Does anyone wear Tuxes on NCL? Is a suit too much? The gf will have on a beautiful dress.

 

Other Nights: She would like to wear more low key but good looking dresses. I will wear slacks and a nice shirt. We'll carry this over from to dinner to a show and for drinks. On most ships, this is perfectly normal and fine. Is NCL and the Pearl too casual for this?

 

Just don't want to stick out too much but want to have fun with our cruise and our "nights out" together every evening.

 

Thanks!!!!!

[OceanDreaming2]

On the optional "formal" night, you'll see anything from tuxes and formals to Dockers and polo shirts. That's the joy of freestyle cruising. It's dress up if you like, or not.

 

You will not be out of place in any restaurant (or the shows) on the Pearl.

 

It's your vacation so you can dress as you please.

[bigbreeze]

On the optional "formal" night, you'll see anything from tuxes and formals to Dockers and polo shirts. That's the joy of freestyle cruising. It's dress up if you like, or not.

 

You will not be out of place in any restaurant (or the shows) on the Pearl.

 

It's your vacation so you can dress as you please.

 

Thanks! So, on non-"optional" formal nights, many ladies will still be sporting dresses?

[ute_fan]

I noticed several ladies dressed up on our recent cruises on both the Pearl and the Jewel. I definitely don't think it's the majority, but there's enough that she won't feel out of place.

[Leafpeeper]

We cruise on Carnival, Princess, NCL, and Royal Caribbean and see just as many people wearing formal attire on NCL on formal night as on any other cruiseline--same thing with smart casual nights.

 

On our last RCCL cruise, we saw many men in the dining room wearing a shirt and tie with no jacket (even a Hawaiian shirt) on formal night.

[newmexicoNita]

I've searched the forum and didn't exactly see what I want so, let's ask a few questions.

 

Firstly, we do like to dress up for dinner most nights. After a day of sun and fun, we enjoy going to the stateroom and getting cleaned up for the evening. So...

 

Formal Night: Does anyone wear Tuxes on NCL? Is a suit too much? The gf will have on a beautiful dress.

 

Other Nights: She would like to wear more low key but good looking dresses. I will wear slacks and a nice shirt. We'll carry this over from to dinner to a show and for drinks. On most ships, this is perfectly normal and fine. Is NCL and the Pearl too casual for this?

 

Just don't want to stick out too much but want to have fun with our cruise and our "nights out" together every evening.

 

Thanks!!!!!

I would forget the tux, but on Lobster night and and one other your suit is fine to wear the entire evening. Tell your girlfriend to feel special and wear her cute dresses. That is what makes freestyle what it is.

 

Nita

[bigbreeze]

Thanks for the thoughts, insight and opinions. I don't want to be one of the few dorks in a tux...if that's a somewhat more rare appearance.

[mummsie]

When we were on the Sun in May, the 'formal' night had everything from jeans to tux's. We always dress up as well - except this time we didn't take real formal clothes as we were travelling from Australia and there was just no room. I wore jeans one night and to tell the truth I felt really uncomfortable even though this was normal. It just didn't feel right so from now on I will stick to nice dressy clothes. But as a previous poster said its up to you whatever you feel comfortable with. They have the photographers out every night so you can pick which night you want as your formal night. Mummsie:D

[dadof2]

The one thing that we have noticed on our past few NCL cruises is the men in tuxes are usually elderly. We haven't seen any young men in tuxes. Mostly sport jackets and slacks or slacks/shirt.

[southmoor1314]

We were on the Star several weeks ago in Alaska. There is a wide variety of dress. One thing for certain is that on our cruise there were fewer than a dozen men in tuxes on the formal night. Women dressed anywhere from glitzy gowns to cocktail dresses.

On other nights the Star has one main dining room that is set to a pretty strict dress code. All other places you saw men in dockers to suits and women in pant suits to dresses. Except for the "designated dining room" you can even wear nice jeans with a collared shirt. This was great for me since I managed to leave my dress pants at the house...:eek:

[Warmer Climes]

Here are DH and me on the NCL Majesty in July. We saw plenty of people dressed up to this degree on optional formal night, plenty dressed more casual than this.

 

Barb

[grumpycajun]

We took DS and DD on the Sun out of N.O. this past January and we all dressed in our "Sunday best" on one of the formal nights so we could get a picture. It's the best picture of all of us that we own. Treat yourself well and get a great picture for the wall when you get home.

[Zeno]

On our 3 NCL cruises, I don't recollect seeing any men in tuxes but I defintely saw men in suits and sports coats (still the minority but not so much that you would feel out-of-place) and I saw women in nice dresses.

[mcpepe]

Thanks! So, on non-"optional" formal nights, many ladies will still be sporting dresses?

 

Not me. I wear slacks/tops on every night. I may bring a dress for formal night, maybe not. NCL is very relaxed, which is what I love about it.

[msescada]

I've searched the forum and didn't exactly see what I want so, let's ask a few questions.

 

Firstly, we do like to dress up for dinner most nights. After a day of sun and fun, we enjoy going to the stateroom and getting cleaned up for the evening. So...

 

Formal Night: Does anyone wear Tuxes on NCL? Is a suit too much? The gf will have on a beautiful dress.

 

Other Nights: She would like to wear more low key but good looking dresses. I will wear slacks and a nice shirt. We'll carry this over from to dinner to a show and for drinks. On most ships, this is perfectly normal and fine. Is NCL and the Pearl too casual for this?

 

Just don't want to stick out too much but want to have fun with our cruise and our "nights out" together every evening.

 

Thanks!!!!!

 

My other half , No Pirates Please, NPP, will have posted this somewhere else, but here goes....after cruising, excuse me - "sailing' - on Cunard for years, we moved to NCL. Cunard is very formal, so NPP owns his own tuxedo and a white dinner jacket and ties his own bow ties. We were on the dawn a couple of years ago and on formal night, I dressed to the max (very fancy beaded/sequined something or other, can't remember which one but it was a gown and blinding), so NPP wore his tuxedo. We had reservations at Le Bistro, arguably the most formal restaurant on formal night. We were waiting to be seated when a sweet little old lady and her daughter came up to the podium.

 

Says sweet little old lady to NPP, "Sir, could you show us to our table?"

 

Says embarrassed daughter, "Mom, he's a passenger, not the maitre d'."

 

That's how many passengers wear tuxedos on NCL....VERY few. But there are some and they are, as someone else once said, usually older passengers. I'd say, if you own it and don't mind standing out, wear it if you want to. If you don't want to, you won't be out of place.

 

Usually he wears the tux, as he did that night, with a black shirt just so he won't look like the maitre d's. Now he wears the dinner jacket and no one mistakes him for either a waiter or a penguin.

 

Tell your GF to go for it. If you can't dress up on a cruise, where can you? Your job, I hope you won't mind my saying, is to be a frame for her gorgeousness....

[bmacri]

Lots of threads about what to wear. Always.

NCL is a "Freestyle" cruise and everyone should not forget that.

It means whatever style you choose should be acceptable.

On formal nights, yes, there are tuxes but they certainly are not necessary. Other nights you see everything. Just wear what you would be comfortable wearing if you were at home and went out to a nice restaurant.

No worries. That's what makes Freestyle so nice.

[dragonfly08]

I was on the Spirit last week. No tuxes at all, that I saw, but lots of men in suits and ladies in evening gowns on the optional formal night. On other nights, I saw plenty of slacks, ties, some sport coats on men and nice dresses on the ladies.

[AnnapolisCruises]

I have to say that every cruise on NCL we have always enjoy one fromal night. Yes I even own a Tux that I wear.. I will change late in the evening to party but a few hours in a Tux is a enjoyable night out

[pathubia]

I wore a dress to dinner most evenings, the kids wore jeans.....

[snorklinbarb]

Why leave the tux at home? If you like to dress up, go for it.

 

But it's nice to know it's your choice and not dictated by the cruiseline - you're dressing up for each other cause you like to.:)

 

That said, you won't see too many others. One time there were 3 Latitudes parties, 2 in the afternoon and 1 in the evening, as there were so many repeaters. DH and I went to the evening one and he had on his tux. I actually heard him utter, "Welcome Back" to one lady who mistook him for part of the receiving line.:eek::D:D

[CanadianTwosome]

I'm with Barb - if you own a tux and enjoy wearing it, WEAR IT!! On our last NCL cruise, I wore a floor length gown on formal night, and my husband wore a beautiful dress suit... he doesn't own a tux. I don't think I would be comfortable in a formal dining room if I weren't 'dressed for dinner'... but I LIKE dressing up, and so I choose to take advantage of being on a cruise to pull some of my nicer things out of my closet and get some wear out of them.

 

Whatever you wear, you should not feel that you would be a 'dork' (well... NO socks and sandals!! ha ha), or that you would be out of place. As has been stated repeatedly, the freestyle concept means that it is your choice. If others choose not to dress as well as you, how does that make you the 'odd' one? Keep in mind you're going to be surrounded by strangers that you will likely never see again... is their opinion worth more than yours? Wear what you enjoy wearing and have fun!!

[Chrislynn55]

Take the good stuff! One thing I've noticed though, is that those who dress up are usually dining later rather than earlier. Earlier diners generally look more casual. DH, DS, and I will be all dressed up for formal evenings on the Gem this winter....it's one of the things we enjoy about cruising (well, not our DS, he'd like to be permanently attached to his jeans but we won't let him).

 

Kathy

[dr.d]

msescada:

 

Oh, you activated beautiful memories of our past cruises --- my husband in tux and/or white dinner jacket for formal nights! Hmm.......... delightful memories and experiences.

 

Love the memories but I'm also glad to have choices and build new memories. NCL is perfect for us right now and we love freestyle cruising!

 

Donna

[Ronni G]

Have been on two NCL cruises - the Crown and Spirit. We found the majority of people dressed casually on most evenings. Jeans were not allowed in the main dining rooms - most of the men were in dockers and knit shirts; the women in slacks and blouses. For formal nights, some folks really went all out while others were casual. Will be leaving on another NCL ship - the Dawn - in a few weeks and am not even packing anything other than casual slacks and tops.

[helpthejuggler]

There could be some element related to the part of the world, timing and the number of days at sea. On the Jewel just over 1 week ago, we were on the Classic Med II route.

 

Being early September in the Med, there were only around 40 or so kids onboard. These ports/timing maybe plays a part in raising the average age of the passengers - which will affect the style of evening dress.

An average age above 45 probably means there will be some passengers who prefer to dress up really well on a couple of nights.

 

We've not cruised the Carribean but expect the style there to be different. Any views from more experienced cruisers?.

 

On 'day at sea nights' - more time to plan the evening?? We saw everything right through to very formal. This also depends upon where poeple were eating - evening dress in the Garden Cafe would be odd, but not elsewhere.

 

There is enough dining choice to select clothes according to your mood and the time you have available that day.

 

Each night you will see a variety of styles. Choose what makes you feel good/comfortable and matches your plans for the evening.

 

Most people make some effort to dress up a little, and those in shorts/dressed down were very much the minority.