Cruise & Maritime formal nights

About to take a first C&M cruise on Discovery and just wondering how formal formal nights are, dress-wise? I don't have a problem either way but don't want to look too out of place. Thanks

We did a Cruise and Maritime in 2010. (It was the Ocean Countess, though)

From what I remember formal nights were mixed- think the staff made more effort than the passengers! There were some men in formal attire and ladies in cocktail dresses, others in lounge suits, and ladies in trouses with smart tops. Didn't see any long ballgown type dresses (apart from said staff).

As the Discovery is new to C&M, it will be very interesting to hear what you think of it. We enjoyed being able to sail from a local port, but unfortunately the dates/ number of sailings/ itineraries are not as extensive now.

Have a great time,

kate

Thanks Kate. Yes - it was the novelty of sailing from Avonmouth which really sold it to us. I will report back in due course!

I'd like to know too - we are going on Marco Polo Fjord Splendour May 17th, the little booklet has arrived but as it says both evening and cocktail dresses for Formal Night I was wondering which would be the most popular choice. I love dressing up, but don't want to be the only lady in a long dress!

We are booked on the 'Celtic Explorer' cruise on Discovery sailing from Liverpool to Harwich and got our pre cruise information yesterday.

There is a booklet that includes a table of what they call 'planned format' for the season (regarding dress codes). It is a 6 night cruise and the table shows that we could expect two formal nights, two informal (defined as jacket for Men) and two casual nights.

We expected a formal night and were rekoning on taking formal clothes, but we are returning by train and staying another night on route, so we were not envisaging my husband taking a second jacket which would increase the luggage to carry home. Is the 'jacket required' theme commonly followed, or can he get away with perhaps a shirt and tie and still eat those nights?

I've decided on one long formal outfit and three shorter ones that I would class semi-formal on other ships. We have no sea days so I think it will be fine. I'll report back in three weeks time!

How did you get on? Tell us all about it.

Well - it was interesting! I have posted a full review - link below. The weather was pretty bad, but no one can do anything about that. The tendering though was a bit hairy to say the least. We never did get a safe in the cabin, despite several requests but then I guess you do get what you pay for and this was a very cheap cruise.

In the event I wore the dresses i had taken for informal for formal nights and my smart casual for informal.

I may try them again IF the price was as cheap and the ports were places I really wanted to visit.

There were a huge number of virgin cruisers and I can't tell if this affected the social atmosphere (lack of) or not.

http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=218892

Oh - and I should never have said we had no sea days - we ended up with two!!

Hi- I enjoyed reading your report. Seems very similar to our experiences on the Ocean Countess. The small ship experience is more enjoyable for us, the organisation was fairly good- certainly in regard to free shuttle buses and excursion organisation. We did, however, find it a very friendly ship.

I've still got my eye on one for next year so watching the reports with interest! The weather has been so dire this year that many early cruises seem to have experienced some disruption. And I know from experience that tendering in rough seas is no fun!

kate

Don't get me wrong Kate - I love small ships and had no problem with Discovery. Even in the rough seas she rode it exceptionally well and I didn't feel remotely seasick although it was a following sea which probably helped. The only thing I actively disliked about the ship itself was that the dining room had no windows. I just found the entertainment a bit .. dull I suppose. Maybe not the right word. It wasn't making people mix. Jakkalo for example - a sort of shove halfpenny - ok when you play but no-one else can see what is happening and it doesn't involve more than one at a time. I know being confined to inside didn't help but there again I only saw low sunbeds which I can't manage with my knee problems, and the hard folding garden style chairs, so not sure I'd enjoy sitting out on deck either. I managed it on the last day for about half an hour when the sun actually shone, before my rear end went numb and I had to move.

We are just back from Marco Polo Norwegian Fjords and to update about the Formal Nights on board it was a very mixed bag. Some long dresses but not 'ball gown' type, some cocktail and some ladies in trousers and sparkly tops. There were men in evening suits, and others in loung suits. The Informal Nights were again a mixture, for the ladies I would say it was very varied, some were dressed in what I would say was 'casual' but most of the men did wear a jacket, but not necessarily a tie. Hopefully this might help someone!