Conquest Dress Code & Formal Night... Not so Formal!!!

[Ted]

Carnival food and service are great. However, put simply, in my experience Carnival is the line where there is the largest proportion of people who do not know how to act. Don't get me wrong, I like Carnival, and will be on Miracle week after next. However, of the nine cruise lines I have been on, this is simply something I now accept as a given. As an example, last year we sat in the upper level in the Pride dining room, and were amazed to see people loudly calling out to each other across the dining room, and carrying on conversations.

 

I will have my tux on for formal night because my wife and I enjoy dressing up. Nevertheless, we have no illusions that there will not be a substantial number of our fellow passengers who will not comply with the recommended attire. We long ago got over it, and enjoy Carnival for what it has, and accept what it lacks.

[serene56]

Before we jump all over this-- we do not know the situation of the cruisers. If they had their luggage lost are they not supposed to eat in the dining room because the cruise lines lost their luggage?? that really isnt fair either.

 

On our last cruise 6 cabins did not get their luggage delivered. (because it was sent to the wrong cabins and 6 other cabins never told anyone the luggage wasnt theirs. This went on til half way through the cruise. First night formal night these people didnt have the proper clothes. Are they supposed to miss out?

 

Or how about the honeymoon couple that told us--no one told us we needed formal clothes-- (its in the documents) he replied-who reads those things anyways- I was planning a wedding.

[L2J]

Before we jump all over this-- we do not know the situation of the cruisers.

 

Or how about the honeymoon couple that told us--no one told us we needed formal clothes-- (its in the documents) he replied-who reads those things anyways- I was planning a wedding.

There ARE a FEW exceptions. "I don't like to dress up" is not a valid excuse in my book.

 

Yet another excuse. They had time to plan and book the cruise but were too lazy to read their docs?

 

I order my tux this week and will be wearing it on formal night.

[QTPieRye]

At approximately 2:00 a.m. Monday morning as the Conquest neared the Gulf of Mexico.... I noticed a VERY loud noise from outside the balcony. I was surprised to see a boat pulling up to the side of the ship delivering luggage!!!! This guy really knew what he was doing. He just pulled up, hooked on and jumped off with some suitcases in hands... then within 10 minutes he was gone!!!

 

This is really funny................

I met a really nice couple from Tennessee. Emily was a few months pregnant and when formal night arrived, her dress didn't fit. Ironically, another lady two cabins down from her overheard her mini-crisis and asked what size she wore. She said she would be flattered if she'd wear one her formal dresses to dinner .... funny as it may sound, not only did she borrow the dress, she borrowed the slip and matching accessories too! Now that is a friend for life!!! Emily was nice enough to buy a formal picture of her in the dress and return it with the dress ;)

 

What a great idea!!!! Next cruise, I will accidentally forget my formal and then try to find someone around my size..... keep telling my sad story until somebody offers a dress that I like!!!

[Izzy Bee]

And of course, when you are dressed up in formals, the food taste so much better...

It's my vacation, my money, my cruise.

I am dressing up for formal night because I want too..but if someone else decides they want to wear..OMG!!! capri's...guess what..my food taste the same.

Just my thoughts on this subject.

Amen

[JJS2K3]

What a great idea!!!! Next cruise, I will accidentally forget my formal and then try to find someone around my size..... keep telling my sad story until somebody offers a dress that I like!!!

 

That is very funny :D

 

What if you didn't like the dress someone offered ;)

 

I'll bet you'd find a suprising amount of folks who would help you out too.

[madelinerose]

DH and I are wearing our pjs on formal nights and at Nick & Nora's. ;)

[hstrybuf]

DH and I are wearing our pjs on formal nights and at Nick & Nora's. ;)

We want pics! Will those be sequined? :D

[mojo2rusty]

My friends & I will be on the Conquest in December and my friends and I will be dressed to the 9's and 10's! We have been planning since last Dec for this cruise and part of the fun as been the shopping for the formal wear. We also plan to dress for the other meals in the dining room. We will be in dresses and we''re all really looking forward to being able to have a good excuse to dress for dinner. Although I remember on my first cruise pointing out a few men that were in teeshirts and jeans and a few women that were more casual than I would have thought the dress code called for, it sure didn't ruin my dinner or my eveing or my cruise. Guess they looked up formal in a different dictionary than the rest of us.

[vic from ark]

I only saw people running around & eating in bathrobes one night. They had a late nite bistro & bathrobe night, I think it was Sat.???

vic

[QTPieRye]

Vic from ARk~ Not sure if you were on the Conquest last week....... there were tons of people eating on the Lido Deck by the aft pool in their bathrobes during the late evening... NOT JUST ON SAT. NIGHT. Also on Thursday, 2nd night formal and night of the Grand Buffet.... there were three girls in front of me in their PJ's and one in a robe. Very obvious...... I opted to stay dressed up, as did most people.

 

What did you think of the people on that ship? A BIG Party or what???

[Island Annie]

hmmmm, I like the idea mentioned above about there being a specific area designated for those dressed in true "formal" attire. How about those dressed in "formal" attire on formal nights will dine in the "exclusive supper club", rather than the dining room. I'd have to bet that we'd see a LOT more people dressed appropriately! And it would also seem to me that "formal" nights would be viewed as a more "special" evening:-) for everyone.

 

Just a thought.

 

Carnival . . . are you reading???

[WEDINDISNEY]

Ok after reading this post Im starting to get a little scared... For the 2 "formal dinners" that we will have on our cruise (Conquest) The men are wearing suits and the woman are either wearing pant suits or dresses... The other nights for dinner the men are wearing dockers and polo style shirts and the woman are wearing dress pants and a nice blouse.... Is this ok?

We all talked about it and thought that this would be ok..... Now Im wondering if maybe its not ok.... This is our 1st cruise for all of us so we are still learning as we go....

Thanks

[hstrybuf]

Sounds just fine to me. :)

[Perrys100]

Just a quick note as to dress code. If you choose to dress so be it..if you choose not to dress so be it. Carnival will have about as much luck enforcing a DRESS CODE as the highway patrol has enforcing the speed limit. Some people will obey and some will not. I have never let speeders bother me and I refuse to let a "non-dresser" bother me. I agrees there need to be set guidelines and getting everyone to follow them is IMPOSSIBLE. So I guess just accept that the social savey of some folks is not up to par with others.

 

A cool story..our first cruise was our honeymoon and we were wisked to the airport and took our wedding attire for formal night. At the cocktail party preceeding the formal dinner We were intervied by ships TV, and on the way out an elderly lady dripping in jewles chastized me saying, "Young man you get that lovely wife of yours out of that wedding dress and into a proper formal evening dress immediately. I replied, "Id love to, except besides these clothes all we have are the bath robes provided in our cabin and I fugured that formal night in thoes would be a bit inappropraite. I gave her a wink. She blushed and said, OH thats different, do carry on!

 

Remember one thing folksTOLERENCE will go along way. Everyone on a cruise is there for the same reason reasons to have fun fun fun. Some of us love to buy new cruise attire and dress for formal night, While others prefer to remain in their bathing suits as LONG as they can.

[L2J]

I agrees there need to be set guidelines and getting everyone to follow them is IMPOSSIBLE.

 

Here's a simple solution to get people to follow the suggested dress code......don't let them in the dining room.

[vic from ark]

qtpie,

yes i was there last week, 19th-26th. we were on lido quite a bit in the late eve. and didn't see anyone in robes until that night. hmmmm.

i did hear a woman on the elevator talk about a little boy running around in his robe ALL THE TIME. :D he must have taken one home, he loved it so much. :)

 

wedindisney,

your dress attire will be fine. there were men in tux's, suits, and dress pants for formal. women were in everything from VERY nice formal dresses, pant suits, skirts, and even just plain dresses.

i think after jamaica, EVERYONE was more laid back--no problem mon. :D

 

we stressed over clothing before our trip too, and after all is said & done, we brought too much, and who really cared what "we" looked like, they were more concerned with themselves. (hope that made sense)

vic

[btrtigerfan]

At approximately 2:00 a.m. Monday morning as the Conquest neared the Gulf of Mexico.... I noticed a VERY loud noise from outside the balcony. I was surprised to see a boat pulling up to the side of the ship delivering luggage!!!! This guy really knew what he was doing. He just pulled up, hooked on and jumped off with some suitcases in hands... then within 10 minutes he was gone!!!

 

The guy with the suitcases was one of two river pilots that were on the ship. Read more on this link. http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index_pantheon.ssf?/newsstory/04mainbar1.html It probably deserves it's own thread on the board. Happy sailing!

 

Btrtigerfan

[NewCruzer1]

A prediction: if Carnival decides to strictly enforce its 'dress code' on formal nights, there will be enough complaining passengers that formal nights will be done away with within 6 months. Because, as some here cavalierly suggest, a significant number of cruisers will switch to NCL or some other line where they aren't required to 'dress up'. Lost business goes to the bottom line. And Carnival is a corporation, where the bottom line is king.

[TinaB]

On our GALS cruise last weekend, the Maitre'd announced the first night that there were a few men in shorts. They should not wear them to the DR again as we didn't want to see their ugly legs. A lot of laughter followed.

[Cotton]

My recommendation would be to make only the main dinning rooms formal. Allow passengers to dress casually in the other restaurants.

Hello? That IS the policy already. It's just not enforced.:o