Dressing up!!

[mascara]

We were on the Golden this summer and I would also concur that Alaska formal nights are a lot LESS formal than anything I've ever seen in the Caribbean. I can't tell you why that would be. But to say that someone without a tux would be in the minority would be patently untrue for the ship I sailed, the itinerary I was on, the week I was on the ship. I recall that during the cruise I even commented to my husband about how uncomfortable I probably would have felt if we had packed the tux and the beaded gown, etc., we usually bring for formal nights.

 

I did notice, however, that at the CC party one gentleman was turned away for not having a jacket on. The look of irritation on his wife's face read something like, "I TOLD you you to wear the jacket," as she stood by the door in her pretty floral dress waiting for him to return.

[NthernLgts]

Yes most people do dress on the formal evenings- some go all the way with gowns, tuxes, etc. to impress the others & some like myself throw on a jacket which allows me into the dr. After diner we proceed to the show lounge to hold seats & both my wife & I take turns to go back & get into our comfortable clothes. A lot stay dressed for the evening - their choice of course. :rolleyes: .....

RC, you've heard many people here try to explain on several "dress" or "dress code" threads in which you have participated that the way they dress has nothing to do with impressing anyone, yet you continue to state this. You may not agree with their opinion on dressing formal onboard during formal nights. That is fine. However, you do the rest of us a disservice when you continue to mis-characterize why people participate in formal nights by interjecting your own opinions on why others do, especially when you have had it explained to you by many here that your characterization is wrong. Most of us get that you arent a fan of formal nights. We've read the threads. Leave it at that. Is there really a need to opine on why people (gasp) think differently than you?

[rcacace]

RC, you've heard many people here try to explain on several "dress" or "dress code" threads in which you have participated that the way they dress has nothing to do with impressing anyone, yet you continue to state this. You may not agree with their opinion on dressing formal onboard during formal nights. That is fine. However, you do the rest of us a disservice when you continue to mis-characterize why people participate in formal nights by interjecting your own opinions on why others do, especially when you have had it explained to you by many here that your characterization is wrong. Most of us get that you arent a fan of formal nights. We've read the threads. Leave it at that. Is there really a need to opine on why people (gasp) think differently than you?

 

You seem to think you view is the only way to dress as being appropriate. I'm only letting the op know that not all people view it as such. Is it such a horror in doing that? You want to dress all decked out for the evening, shows, casino, etc, do so for whatever the reason, but at least let others know there are some who don't agree & do things perhaps a little differently than yourself & can still enjoy cursing.

You seem to be the one who has their panties in a wad.

[pekachryn]

My husband certainly does not consider it disrespectful to dress nice but not too formal. Far more disrespectful was the couple we sat with on one of our cruises who dressed to the "9's" every night and was always at least 15 minutes late for dinner every night,then would complain that their wine that was waiting for them was too warm!They did nothing but complain about the whole cruise but they sure looked nice-her dripping with diamonds and him in his tux. Give me a nicer couple and I don't care if they are a little casual.

Laura

 

Reminds me of why we always get a table for two.

 

I don't eat beef or pork, so look forward to the lobster (the waiter will give you more than one tail) and crab legs that have been missing from the Horizon Court when we've gone on formal nights. Not to mention the baked Alaska and creme brulee-yum. We always check the dining room menu for the night sometime in the afternoon, then decide which venue we will eat in. But, we do dress up when eating in the dr on formal nights, but not as much as we would for the inaugural ball. :p

[Cruisin' Chick]

Maybe you can try one formal night in the dining room and have the other night in the buffet. Many people do that, especially if the spouses prefer one over the other.

 

My hubby brings a regular suit and just varies it by wearing different ties. He'll often take off the jacket and hang it over his seat. I usually wear a cocktail length dress to make packing easier (I put any dresses in my hubby's garment bag). We had three formal nights on our last cruise, and I wore a black full length one-piece pants outfit, a LBD (my one clothing purchase for that cruise, on special at JC Penneys) and a mini dress.

 

On our Alaskan cruise, the male tablemates at our table wore tuxes, but that was probably just the lack of the draw. Hubby didn't feel underdressed at all.

[skf]

Do what we are doing...we are leaving the blazers & ties in the closet & doing the specialty restaurants on formal nights.

Just as a politeness, if you are going to another restaurant the next evening, you should inform your tablemates & waiters so they won't wait for you.

Steve & Pete

[Chesie]

Getting dressed up for what Princess passes off as lobster anymore isn't worth it unless you just like getting dressed up.

 

IF the OP decides to give formal a try, keep in mind a tux can be rented online and it will be waiting in your room (with 2 shirts and all the accessories and shoes if desired) - then just left in the room when you depart. Makes packing (for the man anyway) a lot easier!

 

That's exactly what I did for DH & DS. I am in scrubs all day at work and DH is in construction with jeans all day. We don't dress "formal" back home much so to us we are looking forward to the formal nights and a change from our normal wear. I ended up renting tux for both. It will make packing to the Med. alot easier.

 

This is our first Princess cruise and really looking forward to it!

[Chesie]

My husband certainly does not consider it disrespectful to dress nice but not too formal. Far more disrespectful was the couple we sat with on one of our cruises who dressed to the "9's" every night and was always at least 15 minutes late for dinner every night,then would complain that their wine that was waiting for them was too warm!They did nothing but complain about the whole cruise but they sure looked nice-her dripping with diamonds and him in his tux. Give me a nicer couple and I don't care if they are a little casual.

Laura

 

If you were that disenchanted with that couple arriving late and complaining through the whole cruise, why did you not ask to move to another table?

[rcacace]

If you were that disenchanted with that couple arriving late and complaining through the whole cruise, why did you not ask to move to another table?

 

That's what's so great about pc dining. Find a group where you have something in common & then reserve a table for the group each night. When you doing traditional, it might be difficult for the maître d' to start shuffling people around especially when the ship is at full capacity.

[Laurab23]

If you were that disenchanted with that couple arriving late and complaining through the whole cruise, why did you not ask to move to another table?

 

I know we could have done that,but I just don't feel right about doing it. I really did think they would get better.But that didn't happen.

[flag fan]

Do what we are doing...we are leaving the blazers & ties in the closet & doing the specialty restaurants on formal nights.

Just as a politeness, if you are going to another restaurant the next evening, you should inform your tablemates & waiters so they won't wait for you.

Steve & Pete

 

My understanding is that the formal dress codes apply in the specialty restaurants, just as in the regular dining rooms, on formal nights. It is only the buffet where there is no dress code. (In practice, I do not know whether people in the speciality restaurants are less likely to follow the formal dress code.)

[Barbie075]

I would say that you should chose Princess. Just my personal choice. If you don't want to dress to formal night go to the buffet and enjoy a wonderful evening. Other nights in the dining room are restort casual. No sweats!! Don't know who has seen that on Princess but I certainly have not. Way too casual. The buffet is a nice alternative if you really feel like being casual for the evening. My husband wears a sport coat and tie on formal nights and I dress up. He fits in with the majority of diners. You will see poeple with Tuxes an really really formal wear and then those who just dress extra special for the eveing without being too formal.

 

Don't worry about it. Book your Princess Cruise and enjoy yourself.

[jean s]

Don't let the formal nights steer you away from Princess. I have cruised on a number of cruise lines but Princess remains my favorite. As for formal nights we have done it both ways. Sometimes we will get dressed up and sometimes we will just have a laid back casual dinner in the buffet. On our last cruise I had wonderful lamb chops at the buffet. I even went back for seconds. On the formal nights the buffet has napkins and silverware on the table and a decent (and improved) selection of food to choose from.

[Hojo's redbeard]

After the annual cruise became a staple in our household, I finally decided to just buy a tux. I think DW has 15 dresses now, "but Dillard's had a 75% off sale". No matter what other people wear to dinner, we'll be dressed to the 9's on formal nights, and she'll be decked out every other night. I'll be more than likely in slacks and a funky Robert Graham shirt the other 5 nights. (off to google with lots of you :D )

 

Part of the reason we picked Princess for this next cruise is that we'd heard people dressed better for dinner in general, hope it holds up on the Crown in November.

[NthernLgts]

You seem to think you view is the only way to dress as being appropriate. I'm only letting the op know that not all people view it as such. Is it such a horror in doing that? You want to dress all decked out for the evening, shows, casino, etc, do so for whatever the reason, but at least let others know there are some who don't agree & do things perhaps a little differently than yourself & can still enjoy cursing.

You seem to be the one who has their panties in a wad.

 

Did you not do a good enough job by yourself in stating that people view this topic differently? Did you even notice that I didnt even disagree with you? Positions on this topic have been stated ad-nauseum and the OP can decide for themselves. My only problem here was in your insistance that it has to be because there is some inherent reason to impress others. Let it go. Not once in this thread have I suggested what the OP should or shouldnt do. My only problem is with your mischaracterizing hyperbole in order to try and make a point.

[sultan_sfo]

Freudian Slip? You do "enjoy" cursing?

 

...

but at least let others know there are some who don't agree & do things perhaps a little differently than yourself & can still enjoy cursing.

You seem to be the one who has their panties in a wad.

[tvaud]

Yes most people do dress on the formal evenings- some go all the way with gowns, tuxes, etc. to impress the others & some like myself throw on a jacket which allows me into the dr. After diner we proceed to the show lounge to hold seats & both my wife & I take turns to go back & get into our comfortable clothes. A lot stay dressed for the evening - their choice of course. :rolleyes:

 

On casual nights you'll see everything form sweat pants, jeans, dockers to people wearing suits & ties in the dr's or the buffet area where you can wear anything at anytime, excluding bathing suits - although they do require shirts & shoes. ;)

 

On the land portion of the tour, casual clothes will be fine for everything.

 

I beg your pardon, but I do not dress to impress anyone. I dress up on formal nights because I enjoy it...and my DH enjoys it and enjoys seeing me dressed up. Following the Princess dress codes adds to the festive atmosphere and personal enjoyment of the cruise. If all you want to do is wear jeans and flip flops, go to a casual land resort instead.

By the way, I've never seen sweat pants in the dining room for dinner.

[rcacace]

Did you not do a good enough job by yourself in stating that people view this topic differently? Did you even notice that I didnt even disagree with you? Positions on this topic have been stated ad-nauseum and the OP can decide for themselves. My only problem here was in your insistance that it has to be because there is some inherent reason to impress others. Let it go. Not once in this thread have I suggested what the OP should or shouldnt do. My only problem is with your mischaracterizing hyperbole in order to try and make a point.

 

It's finished.

[Iamcruzin]

I have to say that over the years my attitude towards dressing up on a cruise has changed. When I was 25-30 we looked foward to dressing up. At that time they had two Formal nights (Tux and Gowns) and two semi formal nights (Jacket Tie and Dress). Now 47 I have learned to travel with much less clothing. 2yrs ago I brought one suit with 2 pants and 2 dress shirts. My wife brought 2 evening dresses. We also were traveling with our sons who at the time were 11 and 14. We packed a suit for each of them and 2 pairs of pants. Needless to say they never ate dinner with us in the dinning room and I had to fight with them just to put on the suits to take a family photo. On causual night I wear a polo shirt and pants. My wife wears a cusual sundress or capri pants with a nice top. After dinner its back to the stateroom to change into shorts. During the day we live in a bathing suit. For what it's worth my wife paid more for her bathing suits than she paid for the Cocktail dresses. But she claims that the bathing suit sucks everything in at the middle and pushes it out on top. My bathing suits have cargo pockets and double as shorts. These are great when touring the islands.

 

This time I think that I am only taking one suit and am going to try to convince my wife to take only one cocktail dress or that least narrow it down to one pair of evening shoes and bag. Maybe she can find a fancy wrap to go around one of her bathing suits to wear on formal night:D . As far as the boys now 13 and 16 I think I will still pack at least on pair of pants and a shirt and tie. You never know with kids. This may be the year that they want to eat in the dinning room. What am I saying they are teens. We probably will not see them until we go through customs at the end of the cruise.

[cleavesteam]

The last cruise we did, I didn't even bring a suit. We ate in the buffet on formal night because as others have said, it is quite good and even has more to offer than the dining room in some cases. In fact, I think we only went to the dining room once the whole cruise.

 

We like to stay in full suites, so if you book one of those, you also have the option of having the formal meal or any meal delivered to your room which is what we did. It was great, but there was also some really nice food in the buffet that wasn't offered in the dining room, so we bellied up there to have some of that as well.:D

 

Don't let the fear of having to dress up force you to go to a cruise line that you may not necessarily like. You will find that there are many people on Princess that feel the same way you do and dress accordingly without facing the wrath of the fashion police. Now if you were on some cruise line like Crystal or Seabourne, that may be an entirely different story.:cool: