Dress Code Question

[starq1]

I know that on formal nights my husband will need to be "Fancy" but on casual noghts would jeans and shirt be ok? Or does he need to have dockers?

[calflamesgirl]

Have a good cruise and be happy whatever you wear!!!

[Sophie]

Jeans are not allowed in the dining rooms.

To say they are "not allowed" is a pretty strong statement. I've read countless posts on this board from cruisers who have seen jeans in the dining room. So to say they are "not allowed" is not exactly true. I'll let you know for sure in 10 more days.

[calflamesgirl]

Sorry for offending you, the guidelines advise against wearing jeans in the dining room. I think you are the one being a little harsh on me. I personally dont care what anyone wears!!

For evening wear, count on three basic types of attire: Casual: Dresses or slacks and blouses for women, sport shirts and trousers for men

Smart Casual: Dresses or pantsuits for women, jackets for men

Formal: Cocktail dresses for women, suits and ties or tuxedos for men (you can arrange to rent a tuxedo onboard).

[lanabanana]

IMHO jeans and linen tablecloths and napkins go together like oil and water. I didn't see a single pair of jeans anywhere on my Explorer cruise. Please invest in some Dockers and enjoy and add to the ambience.

[starq1]

I don't know if this helps but we will be on the Rhapsody. I have read on here alot about how those "dreadful texans" do as they want. We are however not from here, just stationed here for the moment. He feels more comfortable in jeans but if it is not allowed we would not want to offend anyone by doing so.

[starq1]

I do have one more question, you say cocktail dresses for women. I just bought ny dress the other day and it is a floor length dress (I would say it would be nice for a bridesmaid) will I be overdressed? I hate feeling uncomfortable when I know that maybe I am more overdressed then others. Would a cocktail knee length be better?

[Folgy]

They way I seem to be seeing things go as far as the *recommended dress attire for dining . ..irregardless of the recommendation people will dress in what ever suits them.

You will not be chastised or asked to leave the dining room of you show up in jeans

 

It just seems to be the way things are going on mass family oriented cruises.Dressing down is becoming more popular than dressing up. :(

[calflamesgirl]

Personally I would say wear what makes you comfortable. It would not take from my dining experience if I saw someone in jeans. This is a highly debated issue on these boards.

[Sophie]

I don't know if this helps but we will be on the Rhapsody. I have read on here alot about how those "dreadful texans" do as they want. We are however not from here, just stationed here for the moment. He feels more comfortable in jeans but if it is not allowed we would not want to offend anyone by doing so.

DREADFUL TEXANS?

[calflamesgirl]

Floor length gown will be beautiful for formal night, that is what I am wearing also. The guidelines I posted were from the rccl website.

[starq1]

DREADFUL TEXANS?

 

I didn't mean anyting by it, I swear. My husband is from San Antonio! I have just read alot of posts from people saying that they wear whatever they want because of the cowboy thing! Trust me I love my cowboy and those jeans are what got him his second look ;)

 

 

Ooops I just did read my original post and it did say we but I meant me! Sorry!!!

[starq1]

"Dress yourself to please only you...and of course the eye's of your soul mate. If you want to make the evening special and appreciate that longing and admiring look in the eye's of the love of your life....then take the time to feel special on your special vacation that you have spent so much time (and money) waiting for. If you don't care what you wear, then by all means go that route.

It is all in the choice. The main thing is to enjoy your vacation, feel comfortable, and appreciate the opportunity to be there!

Cheers!"

 

 

I just read this on another thread and I think it hepls me alot! I guess maybe I should have done some reading before I posted! Thanks to all who have responded!

[bUU]

I've seen as many, if not more, messages in opposition to that point-of-view. What can you do?

[Sophie]

I didn't mean anyting by it, I swear. My husband is from San Antonio! I have just read alot of posts from people saying that they wear whatever they want because of the cowboy thing! Trust me I love my cowboy and those jeans are what got him his second look ;)

 

 

Ooops I just did read my original post and it did say we but I meant me! Sorry!!!

Don't worry...I was just kidding! I've heard much worse descriptions of us Texan's!

[CAT GIRL]

You will see many floor length gowns so you will not feel out of place.

If you are on a 7 night cruise I believe you will have 2 formal nights.

You could bring a knee length dress for that. You will see all different

versions of what women call formal so you will be fine no matter

what.

[TERRY223]

Get hubby a pair or 2 of DOCKERS,- they look good and they are very comfortable. He'll look sharp, you will look ravishing in your floor length gown - LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL. :D Have a wonderful cruise!!!

[stillfrantic]

A few of these comments have me wondering.....We're from Virginia and going on the Rhapsody. Will we be the only "foreigners" on the ship? Is it all people from a single state? The reason I ask is we sailed on Disney during NJ Teacher's week. For those who have done similar, you know what NJ Teacher's Week means.....anyone not from NJ is an obvious minority.:p

[Sophie]

stillfrantic, all that means is that you'll be surounded by some of the friendliest people on earth!

 

Enjoy your cruise!!!

[dougp26364]

I know that on formal nights my husband will need to be "Fancy" but on casual noghts would jeans and shirt be ok? Or does he need to have dockers?

 

I can only tell you what I observed on our recent Explorer sailing. Because of all the hubub about dress in the dining room, I thought I'd pay attention to see what others were really wearing.

 

For the most part, I didn't see many pairs of jeans but, there were two or three I saw at every meal. I figure there is about 500 people possibly seated per floor per seating so that probably works out to about 0.5% of the people wearing jeans. Please not these were nice jeans that were not faded, frayed or have holes in them.

 

On formal nights suits and ties were the majority for men. There weren't that many tuxes that I saw and in looking at the formal portraits I'd say less than 10% of the men had on a tux. Woman were dressed about as casually and very few had what I would term a formal gown. Most had nice dresses and there were several pants suits worn on formal night. Many of the woman were dressed in what I would consider casual attire for what is supposed to be a formal dinner.

 

I did not see any T-shirts or shorts at any time in the dining room. I did not see anyone attempt to enter the dining room dressed in a T-shirt or shorts so I don't know if they would actually have been turned away or not.

 

On casual nights the majority of men had on slacks and a shirt with a collar. Most women seemed to wear slacks with a blouse or a casual dress.

 

Keep in mind that I was only observing one level of a three level dining room and one seating. For the most part, I was only observing those in proximity to us and those entering the dining room as we did so it's really a pretty small sample IMO.

 

My opinion is that if they are nice jeans and a shirt with a collar, no one is likely to say anything.

 

BTW, just before the cruise I found out that the "slacks" my daughter SO had were actually work pants and, shall we say, not the nicest looking things to wear to a dining room. The night before the cruise I took him to Walmart and did some shopping. They had some nice looking slacks for less than $10/pair. I bought him 4 pairs of slacks, a belt and some black socks and paid less than $70 for everything. I even picked up a couple of pair of slacks for myself while I was at it.

[lvcruiser]

On our 10/23 Navigator cruise, I noticed basically the same thing as dougp26364, with a few exceptions.

 

On the first formal night, I would guess that 90% of the people dressed accordingly, with probably 25% of the men in tuxes rather than suit and tie. On the second formal night, it appeared fewer people realized it was formal night, because there were many who dressed as you would for smart casual instead of formal. And there were no smart casual nights on our 7 night cruise. I saw numerous men dressed in a collared shirt and sports jacket with no tie.

 

There were jeans in the dining room, but limited to only a few people who really did look out of place. On one of the formal nights, one man wore a tux jacket, ruffled white shirt, black tie, and a pair of faded jeans, and strutted around the entire ship as though he was making some sort of statement.

 

Shorts and t-shirts are now allowed in the dining room, at least for earlier meals. DW and I both wore shorts for lunch and fit right in with everyone else wearing them. During dinner, I saw a few pairs of shorts, but just like jeans, they were few and far between.

 

You can forget whatever your cruise documents or RCCL's website says about suggested dress code. Once you get onboard, you will realize there no longer is a dress code, suggested or otherwise. In the daily Compass, instead of printing out the suggested dress code for the evening like they used to, now you will find the three things that are not allowed in the dining venues at any time: bare feet, wet bathing suits and tank tops. That's it. I guess if someone really wanted to cause a scene and take these exceptions literally, they could wear a "dry" bathing suit to the dining room. RCCL apparently has become extraordinarily lax with their dress code for dining in order to appeal to the broadest possible audience. I overheard someone complaining to one of the staff about the dress seen in the dining room and the lady was told by the staff that although they were sorry this lady was disappointed, the best thing for her to do was to sail with their sister line, Celebrity, if she wanted a stricter dress code. I was surprised to hear that come out of the mouth of one of the staff, but in reality, it was the best thing that could have been said.

 

Personally, I won't wear jeans to the dining room for dinner for the simple reason that I equate the dining room on the ships to be on the same level as a fancy, upscale land based restaurant, and I won't wear jeans to one of those. If I don't feel like dressing up for dinner on any particular night, I'll eat in the Windjammer instead since they serve basically the same food as the dining room. However, on today's RCCL, you can wear jeans, shorts or practically anything else without fear of being turned away at the door.

[Merion_Mom]

I think that lvcruiser stated the situation perfectly.

 

Personally, I think that dress codes should be followed, but I'm a teacher - we are trained to enforce our school's rules. :)

 

I also believe that the cruise line has developed and publishes dress codes for the benefit of those who truly want to know: "I haven't cruised before" or "I've never cruised on this particular line before" and "I want to know what is expected of me."

 

The codes/suggestions/rules/meaningless ruminations are NOT there for some to make fun of, deliberately try to avoid, use as weapons against people that they perceive as dressed incorrectly, or otherwise pick apart.

 

Carol

[PriorCruise85]

Thanks for the information. Very helpful. My wife and I are going on RCCL's Vision of the Seas departing San Pedro on 12-5-04. My wife's first cruise. I've taken 4-5 cruises (in the 80's) in a previous marriage.

 

Someone....please tell me how to get the "Meet and Mingle" thing started for our cruise...I'm new to these boards.

 

Thanks,

 

 

PriorCruise85

[Merion_Mom]

Prior: Your meet-n-mingle is scheduled for Monday, 12/6 at 11:30:00 AM, Viking Crown Lounge. You can access the information at http://www.royalcaribbean.com/ccConfirmedPartyList.do?src=CCC. You also have a roll call at http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=45930&highlight=vision

 

Have a great cruise.

 

Carol

[Firefighterhoop]

I am a firm believer in wearing what you want. Personally, I would wear the dockers, but if jeans are what you are most comfortable in, do it.

 

On the rhapsody I did see people in jeans, but 99percent of them had cowboy boots on and nice western shirts.

This is one of those topics that come up about once a month and turns into a world war 3, and basically turns in to MIND YOUR OWN BUISNESS, dont worry about what everyone else is doing. If people wearing jeans ruins your vacation, go sit on a private island somewhere by yourself!