Formal nights.......help!!!

What is the availability of food venues on nights that OTHER cruise lines have formal nights?

As a few of you know, I'm a huge fan of O but find myself planning yet another cruising family reunion (several decades represented) and on cruise lines that won't be O. Therefore I need all the help I can get from y'all since I have little knowledge of other lines.

Probably looking at one of the large ships that sails the Caribbean and will be sailing about 7 days, maybe the western Carib itinerary and by carefully choosing dates, hopefully avoiding most of the spring break bunch. There seem to be more ports and fewer sea days on the western itinerary and several in the family have not been to Mexico.

All of the ships I'm looking at have formal nights and our bunch isn't into formal anything on vacation so if we were to sail on NCL or X or Princess or any of the others, do some of the other restaurants remain open for those who want no part of formal nights?

I know there is room service, but besides that suggestion...... HELP!!!!

NCL would be your best bet. Freestyle cruising, no mandatory formal nights.

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Formal nights easy to avoid. Usually only applies in mdr. You can book specialties or do buffet or room service Works on everything from celebrity to seabourn

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Celebrity is now Evening Chic instead of formal. Hope this link works. http://www.creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/General_Info/Flyers/15047638_CEL_Evening_Chic_Overview_Flyer.pdf

Regal Princess sails that itinerary and has a first rate buffet for dinner with LOTS of choices and good service levels. We would choose that ship for that type of group.

HTH

We did this sort of research before deciding on O for our forthcoming cruise.

We did a number of P & O cruises many years back but ceased to enjoy the formality and didnt cruise again until fairly recently (and then a very casual NCL one). Cruise lines do seem much more relaxed than years back and it looks as though it is easy to avoid a formal (or semi formal ) night generally by using the buffet. Informality, such as that on O, is important to me - I choose not to eat in restaurants where jackets are required (mercifully few here in Europe) and certainly wouldnt book any sort of holiday where one was going to be required.

This link should be of help - https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/articles.cfm?ID=545

Great suggestions everybody!!!

One group doesn't want to cruise & would rather go to a resort but is willing to cruise if i can give them places they haven't been to....like eastern Mexico.

Another group WANTS to cruise--no resorts-- and Mr Wonderful and I don't care just as long as everybody else is basically happy!!!

EVERYBODY agrees no jackets and NO tiaras. Men can be sooooo picky!

I'll look at X since one group likes them, and another is going on Princess to Alaska so I'll look there as well!

Anybody have opinions on western Carib itinerary? Sea days aren't wanted...more port days, the better!

Princess is also pretty relaxed about formal nights. You can dine in the MDR on formal nights in what you'd wear to a specialty restaurant on O (I would suggest long sleeve shirts for men). At worst, a tie is easy enough to pack for men (without a jacket).

Even Seabourn no longer requires jackets - times, they are-a-changin'.

Of course, buffets on all ships are not formal.

Princess would be my LAST choice..NCL number 1 and Celebrity number 2..and Ive been on all many times..

Jancruz1

Princess would be my LAST choice..NCL number 1 and Celebrity number 2..and Ive been on all many times..

Jancruz1

Except for Alaska where Princess (& HAL) have best itineraries and accesses.

Jancruz....thanks for your input....and Paulchili....you're totally right! We told our family to take Princess on the Inside Passage but to also get the tour package that offers Denali by train and stay in the Princess Hotel.

No brainer if you only have a short amount of time to visit Alaska...let Princess do all of the heavy lifting!!!

Jancruz....thanks for your input....and Paulchili....you're totally right! We told our family to take Princess on the Inside Passage but to also get the tour package that offers Denali by train and stay in the Princess Hotel.

 

No brainer if you only have a short amount of time to visit Alaska...let Princess do all of the heavy lifting!!!

cbb,

I agree with you. We too plan on taking an Alaska Princess cruise with a Denali package in the near future. I would not worry about formal nights on Princess - they are not that formal.

For just about everything else O is our first choice (except for going to places they do not go :)).

i actually found a couple of cruises that go into the Panama Canal Gatun Locks. We've been through both ways, but the others haven't, so this will give them at least a taste of the Canal. Almost all are engineers so there will be excited discussions.....well, as excited as the left brain people can get!

so that might be a thought! And I agree with you Paul....it's pretty much all O with us. (4 for next year!)

We love, love Oceania but agree that Princess is a good option, especially for Alaska. Their so called formal nights are not really. Many men wear a collared shirt with or without tie and women are fine in a nice blouse or sweater over nice pants. Not much different than Oceania.

We have found that Princess has become more relaxed on main dinning room for formal nights. I like to wear my suit (never wear it any other time) but the kind of shirt men would wear with a suit is fine along with neat pants. For women something a bit nicer than normal is fine. If you are a group of 6 or 8 taking up a whole table there is even less issue.

hey wayne! How are you 2 doing?

Cynthia -we are doing well - studying for our next trivia games.

We will spend 2 months this winter bouncing around the Caribbean and are hoping to do the 2019 W/C but still no accessible cabins available.

What company did you use to make your w/c photo books? I still plan to do one but want to make one around 200 pages.

wayne,

Prepare for hours of fun doing a book or two, but realize that you will get pickier and pickier as you go through the process!!!! Freda may not see you for weeks!!!

we used shutterfly. We did 2 books with 1 or 2 pages for each port (sometimes more!) for a total of 60-70 pages in each book.

Probably used 5-7 photos for each page. You can choose the background color, the type & type size, borders, cute stickers, in other words customize each page. We have a picture of Sydney Opera House that is like a centerfold shot!

watch for Shutterfly to have specials; we were able to save $$ by doing that.

We used the picture of the Insignia from the ATW16 brochure for our covers but used 2 different colors for each book and titled one "Miami to Hanoi " and the other "Hong Kong to Miami" and on the back of each was the "real" Insignia!

hey, have fun!!!

We have found that Princess has become more relaxed on main dinning room for formal nights.

This is very true. "Formal nights" on Princess can be anything from a decent looking outfit you'd wear out to a nice restaurant to a gown/tux. You see those plus everything in between. I just wear a nice blouse and black skirt with nice sandals; never had anyone say anything. Men do not have to wear a jacket. I gave up wearing real formal clothes on formal nights years ago.

OP, you asked about food on formal nights......Princess usually has lobster tails, filet mignon, prawns, Beef Wellington, and escargots. Not all of these are on the same night - a 7 day cruise will have 2 formal nights. These foods are served in the MDR. In the buffet or specialty restaurants, they don't have these same foods. The specialty restaurants serve their usual menu like every other night.

We have done all three, but Princess was more formal. I would go by itinerary though. Celebrity is no longer formal and neither is NCL. I felt Princess was stuffy.

Having done approximately 18 Celebrity cruises the standard of dress is pretty similar throughout the cruise, some dress up others are just smart and the occasional tux/party frock is seen. My husband would wear a smart long sleeved shirt and nice trousers for more formal nights and short sleeves rest of nights, I wear trousers and smart top or dress with some bling to make it look a bit more dressy! Obvious rules for dining room attire in a smart restaurant would apply though that does not mean Michelin Star or Woolworths Cafe Standards. The buffet in Celebrity is in no way any comparison to Oceania as an alternative for dinner, it is most definitely Woolworths Cafe standard, formica tables, no service and ghostly atmosphere!!!

we'll probably be doing some itinerary in the Carib, maybe a western one, so getting the men into long pants in the evening will require negotiations at the highest level...but thanks to y'all we'll find something for them to eat.

The guys aren't picky about food choices, just don't want to dress up, so thanks for everybody's great suggestions and your time!!!

we'll probably be doing some itinerary in the Carib, maybe a western one, so getting the men into long pants in the evening will require negotiations at the highest level...but thanks to y'all we'll find something for them to eat.

 

The guys aren't picky about food choices, just don't want to dress up, so thanks for everybody's great suggestions and your time!!!

My husband wore linen trousers in the Caribbean.Long but cool.

What is the availability of food venues on nights that OTHER cruise lines have formal nights?

 

As a few of you know, I'm a huge fan of O but find myself planning yet another cruising family reunion (several decades represented) and on cruise lines that won't be O. Therefore I need all the help I can get from y'all since I have little knowledge of other lines.

 

Probably looking at one of the large ships that sails the Caribbean and will be sailing about 7 days, maybe the western Carib itinerary and by carefully choosing dates, hopefully avoiding most of the spring break bunch. There seem to be more ports and fewer sea days on the western itinerary and several in the family have not been to Mexico.

 

All of the ships I'm looking at have formal nights and our bunch isn't into formal anything on vacation so if we were to sail on NCL or X or Princess or any of the others, do some of the other restaurants remain open for those who want no part of formal nights?

 

I know there is room service, but besides that suggestion...... HELP!!!!

Food quality on NCL not so good overall. On X it's now "chic" nights. Just wear something a little nicer. Princess sometimes(but not always) enforces the dress codes. Usually a nice collared shirt(NOT polo type)& nice slacks(again NOT jeans)wil pretty much get you in on all the lines you mentioned. If your friends hope to dine in shorts..Well, that's the one area at night still frowned upon. They'll be relegated to the buffet.

Having done approximately 18 Celebrity cruises the standard of dress is pretty similar throughout the cruise, some dress up others are just smart and the occasional tux/party frock is seen. My husband would wear a smart long sleeved shirt and nice trousers for more formal nights and short sleeves rest of nights, I wear trousers and smart top or dress with some bling to make it look a bit more dressy! Obvious rules for dining room attire in a smart restaurant would apply though that does not mean Michelin Star or Woolworths Cafe Standards. The buffet in Celebrity is in no way any comparison to Oceania as an alternative for dinner, it is most definitely Woolworths Cafe standard, formica tables, no service and ghostly atmosphere!!!

Not sure WHAT Celebrity ship you were on, but it does NOT reflect on the Eclipse.

Not sure WHAT Celebrity ship you were on, but it does NOT reflect on the Eclipse.

We've been on both the Solstice and the Reflection (sisters of the Eclipse) and that's exactly how I would describe their buffets. The lighting in both venues after dark made me distinctly uncomfortable. Ghostly is as good an adjective as any. I'll take the Terrace on O any time.