Dinner attire on the Royal Clipper

The documentation we received said "polo or dress shirts" (no jacket or tie) for dinner.

For a Caribbean cruise are Hawaiian shirts ok?

We have cruised on other ships before with "formal nights" but not on the Royal Clipper before.

Absolutely!

Star clippers dress code on Royal Clipper last week stated "Whilst there is no formal Dress Code on board our ships, appropriate attire would be appreciated for the evening meal in the Dining Room (no shorts or flip flops)" In practice men are also expected to wear a shirt with sleeves and a collar, not "muscle vests", but apart from that just about anything goes as long as it is clean and tidy.

Denarius has given the complete policy above.

In practice - polo shirts and Hawaiian shirts are the most common men's dress for dinner. Long pants are required - sandals but not flip flops are OK. The rest of the day is shorts or swimwear. In 6 cruises on Star Clippers I can only once recall a gentleman wearing a blazer. This was at the Captain's table and he was British so he must be excused :D Sometimes the ladies will wear the proverbial "little black dress" for the captain's dinner but more often slacks with a nice top or sundresses and similar attire.

We are leaving next Wed for cruises 7 and 8 on the Royal (BTB Grenadines and Windwards) and I will be wearing Hawaiian shirts most evenings :cool:

Robbie

A couple of points - in the Caribbean one sees more Aloha shirts worn at dinner and I certainly wear my share. In the Mediterranean, men tend to take the dinner dress up a notch. I generally wear a jacket when I travel so the option of khakis, seersucker, and jacket are available to me. Dressing for dinner aboard SC really isn't meant to be a dressy affair - believe me , you're gonna have a great time!

I take a tie with me and a suitable shirt just in case we are invited to the Captain's Table on the Captain's Dinner night - it has happened. I feel that is respectful to the Captain who is in his whites.

I take a tie with me and a suitable shirt just in case we are invited to the Captain's Table on the Captain's Dinner night - it has happened. I feel that is respectful to the Captain who is in his whites.

I guess we have not been on the same cruises :). We have been at the Captain's table twice - Tahiti and Carib. Other than the Brit mentioned above, no jackets.

We cruise on Oceania a lot which has a similar country club casual policy which gets discussed ad infinitum on this board. Jackets (and ties) are neither required nor expected. If wearing one makes you feel better or more comfortable - feel free to do so. For me, I am packing my snorkel gear in place of my jacket :D.

Enjoy your cruise.

Robbie

We've been at the Captain's table twice as well - both times I wore a jacket as did other fellows. We had table mates who didn't wear jackets and no one seemed to be uncomfortable either way. No one wore ties though - just nice shirts. As I said, I wear a jacket when traveling so since I have it, I wear it - occasionally. We used to take our scuba stuff with us when SC offered dive excursions but alas, now it's just travel fins, mask, and snorkel. We miss those days of back-rolling off the Zodiacs.

We will be going on our first Star Clipper cruise in a few weeks and wondered about slacks for the gentlemen. Would new, dark pleated blue jeans be appropriate?

So looking forward to the smaller and true sailing experience!

I suppose jeans meet the requirement of "no shorts'. Might be a trifle hot though :D I find the dining room to be a bit warm sometimes. On the smaller ships there is a low ceiling in the dining room and it tends to get warm when everyone is there. The Royal has the atrium to release some of the hot air.

Robbie

PS Overnight lows on deck in the Carib tend to be in the low 70's. That's a really hot daytime high where I come from.:)