Formal Dress Nights on a Med Cruise?

[Paul S]

Still waiting to receive tickets for our Eastern Med cruise leaving in 12 days. Maybe the answer to this question will be with the tickets, but I would like to start planning what clothes to take and whether I can keep within our baggage allowance.

The question is whether there will be any formal nights requiring a Dinner Suit(tux) on a seven night Med cruise, or any semi-formal nights requiring lounge suits or blazers?

Regards

Paul S

[dougnewmanatsea]

According to Orient's information, in the Med there will be informal nights (jacket, no tie) but no formal nights.

I hope this is right as I hope to be doing a Med cruise in May or June (not sure which one yet - I will know by the end of this week, I hope!!!) and don't feel like getting dressed up on a cruise like this. I really do enjoy formal nights, on sea days on non-port-intensive cruises. On cruises like these, with a port every day, I can do without them.

[franu]

I will be doing the Med this fall and would appreciate any returning passengers posting which gives current information on formal nights. I also wonder about formal nights on the reunion cruise. I will be doing both and would like to be appropriate.
Fran

[mancunian]

Paul - nothing to do with dress but there has been a report that Marco Polo is looking very good after latest refit. They have apparently done the public areas not done last time and given the cabins a facelift - new soft furnishings, carpets, bedding and mattresses. The person concerned also said he thought the service good and the food was fine.

Just thought you would like to hear this after some reporting on here.

On the dress code apart from one cruise in the winter to the Far East my husband has never taken his dinner suit on Orient. Depending on the month we cruise he takes either a linen jacket or a dark sports jacket for informal nights. This is always an area of confusion - not sure why because Orient say very firmly no formals in summer, formals in winter and as has been said informal is jacket with or without tie.

Franu - I don't think it really matters for the reunion cruise - my experience is that the women still dress up even though the men not in tuxedos. I would not wear a long dress but there are always lots of sequins around on cocktail dresses/tops and you do even see a few long dresses.

Paul we are depending on you for feedback when you return on your view of the cruise/ship. Thanks in advance.

[Paul S]

Mancunian,

Thanks for the info, and I'll be delighted to provide feedback and some photos. I haven't quite worked out how to upload photos to the forum, but can e-mail to anyone who wants to see them.

Franu,

We've received our tickets today, and the pack confirms that on Med cruises there are no formal nights, only casual (resort wear and "smart casual" clothing) and also semi-formal (which for men requires blazers/jackets with or without ties, and for women a dress, skirt or pant/trouser suit).

I have a question about the electrics in the cabin - the info pack confirms that there are both 220 volt and 110 volt supplies. My question is upon the type of socket, i.e. can we use English plugs, or need continental adaptors or US adaptors? On our only previous cruise, on Adonia, we had only one socket in the cabin. Will an H class inside on MP have the same? If so I will need to take multi-way adaptors to charge the camera batteries, ipod, PDA, mobile phones, etc!

On an aside I see that on the P & O forum, postings are still complaining about the standard of the long haul charter flights - it's one of the reasons why we won't go back to P & O, and its reassuring that we are booked by Orient Lines with BA scheduled from Heathrow. We are getting really excited now - have been out today and bought a couple of guide books, new bigger card for the camera, etc. We do lots of travelling - it's our third short vacation this year plus a trip by train to Paris for the day and another day in France for shopping, however a cruise is still something special.

Paul S

[trishfish]

Hi there

We are off tomorrow for our Med Highlights cruise, but did not read the info about not having formal nights. However, our bags are packed and we will leave the glitter stuff in the cases :) as no doubt there will be plenty of cruisers dressing up for the occasion.

I will let you know upon our return.

Have fun

Trish

[mancunian]

Hi Paul
You will need an adaptor.

Glad your tickets sort out the formal issue. I think the confusion is really that some passengers would like it to be formal. I guess the choice on the passengers part is something like 40% would like formal, 60% prefer not to carry the stuff. At least that is my interpretation from what people say on the ship and the formal people always hope something will have changed. My husband is not really bothered either way except that he tends to hate ships with three dress codes and having to take dinner suit and informal suit. As I said to Franu however, most women do still wear cocktail dresses for the Captain's cocktail parties, so your wife need not fee deprived.

Have a great trip.

[wvdleek]

Hi Paul
You will need an adaptor.

As I said to Franu however, most women do still wear cocktail dresses for the Captain's cocktail parties, so your wife need not fee deprived.

Have a great trip.

Like one very good friend said to us on our formal dress question: Dress as you would go to church.

[trishfish]

Hi

Arrived back yesterday from Athens. On the two Captain's (semi) formal nights, hubby wore same Dinner Suit and I wore cocktail outfits as did most of the ladies.

The boat looked great, the food was just fine, but coffee awful, but hey, you cannot have everything!

We were all disappointed that we did not sail into Sorrento as apparently it was a day of mourning for two local ladies who died in a freak accident, so we sailed to Naples instead. Initially was not interested in seeing this city, but we had an great time!

We also had to pay for all our transfers as we booked the deal through an independent cruise company which had some very good deals. We received an upgrade as did one or two other passengers who we spoke to.

The ship was in Berth C at Barcelona ferry terminal, a taxi ride away from the local attractions.

[mancunian]

Glad you had a good time but what a shame about Sorrento.

You say your husband wore his dinner suit but can I ask how many other men did? Were the majority not in dinner suits. Another report on here says that there were six men in tuxedos on their trip recently. The women do all still dress up, as I have said before plenty of sequins around.

[trishfish]

Hi there

About 30 per cent of the men wore Dinner Suites or Tuxedos, (shame it was not more), but they all look spendid.

The actual wording for dress in the programme says 'Semi Formal, A tuxedo suite or blazer/jacket with or without a tie for men. Cocktail dress, skirt or pant/trouser suit for ladies'

I hope this helps!:)

[frankh]

Glad you had a good time but what a shame about Sorrento.

You say your husband wore his dinner suit but can I ask how many other men did? Were the majority not in dinner suits. Another report on here says that there were six men in tuxedos on their trip recently. The women do all still dress up, as I have said before plenty of sequins around.
last week i was on the 6 pm dinner on the semi formal night there were a maximum of six men wearing tuxes maybe less

[Maamaa]

Got back yesterday from "Best of the Med" - ship looks fantastic, coffee - yep, is yuck!!!!!, but then I drink espresso, so my expectations are high - bought one or two from the Polo Club, but they were pretty ordinary too............saved my coffees for ports!

Had the same experience in Sorrento as Trishfish, but that was our second stop and we had the BEST time in Naples.

My husband took a black suit (not tux) and that sufficed for the trip with different shirt and a tie on occasion. the "tux guys" were in the minority - you really don't need it. Ladies - it is your mission to dress up, go for it!

[dougnewmanatsea]

I'm glad to hear the worst thing about this ship right now is the coffee ;) !

I'm no coffee connoisseur but the coffee on most ships is, frankly, dreadful. In fact, we have a whole article on it here (http://www.cruisecritic.com/features/articles.cfm?ID=219).

Admittedly, in the past few years it has gotten better on many lines, as people have gotten much more particular about their coffee lately (at least in the US), but it is still a frequent point of complaint.