Formal Nights on Alaska Cruise (Princess)

Can anyone tell me if Formal nights are more or less formal in Alaska than, say, a Caribbean cruise? Are there usually 2 Formal nights? Will a sportcoat and silk tee be acceptable for gentlemen or must it be a suit and tie? Thanks.

There will be 2 formal nights and I found Alaska less formal then the Caribbean on my Princess cruise.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Coral:

There will be 2 formal nights and I found Alaska less formal then the Caribbean on my Princess cruise.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Coral -- What do you think about the sport coat and silk tee for my husband? Too casual?

We brought and wore our tuxedos last summer on the Star Princess. I'd guess that 25 percent of the men wore tuxedos on formal nights. There was a higher percentage at the past passenger cocktail party than among the overall passengers.

I think a sports coat with silk T-shirt is too casual for formal night in the dining room. I had heard that Alaskan cruises are more casual than others, but did not find this to be the case. We had late seating traditional dining. Perhaps the passengers in the PC dining rooms dressed more casually.

What about for women? I am booked on Princess for July and I really don't have a desire to dress up. To me, it is just something uncessary to pack and I am on vacation! Do you have to dress up to eat?

I will be going to Alaska on a 7-nite cruise. For formal nights I am taking 2 different pair of black pants. Satin and black crepe with beading. I have got black sparkle tops for each pair of pants and Gold flat shoes. I'm also bringing a shwal along for one top which is thin spagetti straps in-case the d.r. is cool.

Hope this helps.

Angela: There are casual alternatives to the dining rooms on formal nights. You can order anything on the dining room menu and have it delivered via room service. There's also the Horizon Court buffet. They serve many of the same dishes there that are served in the dining rooms. Since we had second seating, we would frequently go up there early (around 5) for a small snack.

The Princess website says, "On formal nights, typical black tie formal wear is appropriate. Items include evening gowns and cocktail dresses for ladies and tuxedos, dinner jackets or dark suits for men." As ajdegumbia said, women can also wear a dressy pants outfit if they don't want to pack a dress.

I was on the same cruise as geoherb but had PC dining and there was a large number of tuxes and if not in a tux men had on dark suits.

Star Princess 7/03

I read that as well, and had planned to pack 2 "gowns" (ie long dresses like you might wear to a black tie wedding) but recently, all I've been hearing is "no one wears gown" and slacks and a sequin top are fine, or a cocktail dress. Am I going to look stupid in a long "gown"?

If my husband had to wear a suite, let alone a tux, he would never cruise! We do go to the anytime dining room, and or to the Sterling Steak House on formal night and have never ever been turned away.

He wears a very nice expensive Tommy Bahama's shirt and slacks, and I will wear a dress, or nice capri outfit. I figure Princess is not going to push me over board because we are NOT dressed formal! And that's what I tell people when they ask me if they have to dress up for formal nights. If other pax have a problem, OH WELL! We are on vacation and want to do as we please!

Just recently returned from my 2nd Alaskan cruise. Having cruised the Caribbean 8 times, I noticed that people did not dress up for formal night as much for the Alaskan cruise as compared to the Caribbean cruises we have been on.

I saw few gowns, but did see cocktail dresses and nice pants with a nice top sort of outfit for the ladies.

The head waiter in the dining room on the Diamond Princess told a couple who was standing next to us that for men on formal night, either a tie or a jacket is required. So if your husband or male traveling partner does not want to risk being turned away make sure he has a shirt with a tie Or a sport jacket or suit. The man next to us was wearing a button down shirt with a sweater and was turned away from being seated in the dining room on formal night.

I figure the best way to handle "dress code issues" is to read what the cruise line publishes on the topic, and do your best to adhere to those rules. They can't turn you away if you follow!

While I sympathize with the "it's MY vacation" theory, (and given free reign, would follow that simple idea myself!), you have to remember that you picked a vacation that freely admits to having certain rules.

So, going to the MDR in a golf shirt, (even a NICE golf shirt), on formal night just invites the embarassment of being turned away. Even if your cousin's uncle's brother says HE wore just a nice golf shirt, it's still open to new interpretation on YOUR ship.

I'll have my dark suit. I won't LIKE having to wear it....but I know the rules that are published.

Tom

I don't take gowns (other than NIGHT) on Alaska trips.

What I pack for the formal nights is a long easily packed skirt and a nice top. Both are washable and can be packed any which way.

Haven't missed a dinner yet.

Easy for the ladies --still bulky to pack jackets for the men! Any solutions for the guys?

Recently back from the Coral Princess. First formal night my brother and dad all wore sports coats with shirt and tie. DH wore a sports jacket with a dressy tee (not silk but nice). They all felt "overdressed" and on the 2nd formal night just wore the jacket and shirt without tie. No one said a thing.

Can anyone tell me if Formal nights are more or less formal in Alaska than, say, a Caribbean cruise? Are there usually 2 Formal nights? Will a sportcoat and silk tee be acceptable for gentlemen or must it be a suit and tie? Thanks.

We were on the Diamond Princess last month and most people did dress up. Most guys were in suits at the late seating. I think Alaska might be more "formal" then the caribbean IMO.

I have found the formal nights on Princess to be the same in Alaska as they are in the Caribbean. About 25/30% of the men will in tuxes, about 65% will be in suits, the rest will wear sport jackets and then there are a few who push the envelope and try to get away with just a shirt or shirt & tie. If you refer to the Princess FAQ on their website you see that no change is made for the dress code in Alaska.

On Island 2 weeks ago it was really a mixed bag. Not as many long dresses as I've seen in the winter, but enough so I felt comfortable wearing one. Fewer tuxes than in the winter also, but men (and even a few little guys) did wear them. The first formal night was a sea day, but the second was after Glacier Bay and fewer people seemed to dress up. Overall, I'd say there were more dressy cocktail dresses and dark suits.

I wore a long gown (my mother-of-the-groom dress I wanted to wear again) earlier this month on a Princess Alaska cruise. I fit in fine. There's a wide variety of what the women wear.

We cruised SB from Whittier to Vancouver on the Coral Princess 6/11-18. Our dining was in the Traditional Dining Room, early seating. On both nights it seemed that the majority of people on the ship dressed up. The majority of the men wore dark suits and ties. Women wore cocktail attire - either a short dress or black slacks with some type of beaded top. There were also several long dresses worn by women. It was nice that everyone dressed up.

In fact, the entire time we were there it seemed people dressed very nicely for dinner. In the Traditional Dining I never saw anyone wearing blue jeans/t-shirt.

:mad:Wow, so much to say about a very simple solution. Formal night means that you dress up on those nights -- if you don't want to dress up, don't -- but don't go to the dining room. It is offensive to those of us who are also on vacation and take the time to adhere to the ship rules, to show up in blue jeans -- shame on you. I have never seen the blue jean clad cruiser turned away, but why shouldn't you be. It's formal night!!!

I don't know.....My wife just informed me that she expected us to dress up for our planned trip to the specialty restaurant on a non-formal night! :eek:

If you think the Princess rules are too intense, try living a through a cruise in my (dress) shoes! :o

:D

We are cattle ranchers and my husband is not happy at all about having to put on a pair of dress slacks for formal nights on our cruise to Alaska. Although I'm pretty sure he'll wear the slacks for me, I just don't have the heart to make him put on a tie also. He's a cowboy. Yes, a real cowboy. He lives in Wrangler jeans, works in Wrangler jeans, he married me wearing Wrangler jeans, and we have attended black tie charity events in our town with him wearing Wrangler jeans. (No, we don't live in Texas, hahaha.) But to think that he could be turned away from the dining room (or that someone would actually be offended) on formal nights for wearing his Wrangler jeans (non-faded, starched to perfection with a perfect crease down the front) with a pair of $500 ostrich skin boots, starched white shirt and sports jacket (we must leave his cowboy hat at home due to luggage space), is a bit irritating. After all, did we not pay for the food served on formal nights as well as the opportunity to be waited on in a full service dining room just like everyone else? As long as we are clean, respectable and dressed to a level at which we are comfortable, why should we not be allowed to eat in the same dining room with people who choose to dress a little fancier than we do? (I promise we won't be offended by the light flashing into our eyes from all of the sequened tops and crystal necklaces ;)) If it bothers someone sitting at another table that we are not dressed as "formally" as they are, but just as respectably, perhaps they should look down at the steak they are eating and realize that it's people like us that helped get it to their plate in the first place. (Of course, if the steak is tough, we had nothing to do with it. That calf must have come from someone else's ranch. :D)

After all, did we not pay for the food served on formal nights as well as the opportunity to be waited on in a full service dining room just like everyone else?

No you didn't. You paid for food every day on your cruise. That's it. Did they surprise you after the fact that there were formal nights. (Not talking about the fact you may not have read that their were formal nights). If you want to treated "just like everyone else" than dress appropriately.

That being said we just returned from our Europe vacation and we had some people come to the main dining rooms on formal night with men wearing slacks and polo shirts. That were seated away from the majority of the diners. But you could cut butter with the glares that these people received. You don't want to participate, you have alternatives.

No you didn't. You paid for food every day on your cruise. That's it. Did they surprise you after the fact that there were formal nights. (Not talking about the fact you may not have read that their were formal nights). If you want to treated "just like everyone else" than dress appropriately.

 

That being said we just returned from our Europe vacation and we had some people come to the main dining rooms on formal night with men wearing slacks and polo shirts. That were seated away from the majority of the diners. But you could cut butter with the glares that these people received. You don't want to participate, you have alternatives.

Yes, we knew about formal nights on the cruise before we booked it and, yes, we can read. (Perhaps at some point in your life you have been misinformed about cattle ranchers and their literacy.) If you will go back and read my post, then you will see that our only problem with formal night is the fact that the gentlemen must wear nothing less than dress slacks to be allowed into the dining room. Nothing was ever mentioned in my post about a tee shirt or polo shirt being worn and I even went so far as to mention that my husband would be wearing a nice white dress shirt and a sports jacket on formal nights. I also stated at the beginning of my post that although my husband is not happy about the "no jeans" rule, he does intend on following it. That way maybe we won't be stuck in a corner by ourselves for all of the other dinner guests to glare at us because we have ruined their meals by wearing denim rather than permanent press. Then again, the more I think about it, that doesn't sound like such a bad place to be.