Costa formal nights.

[Irishcruiselover]

Will be doing my first Costa cruise in February 12 night Med on the Magica.
Question about formal nights.
How many do you think there will be on a 12 night cruise?
What percentage of men wear a full tux,? a lot of weight in the case .
Usually bring the tux, but last cruise was NCL so did not need and before that was Silverseas and Hal so brought it with me.
Thanks.

[zijlweg]

Do not worry...at the most 5% will wear a tux. And 90% of those will be American. Europeans are not up to dressing formal. Only some Brits will still do it.

[starjumpr]

When my husband and I did an 11 night Eastern Med Cruise on Costa Pacifica we had 3 formal nights. I don't remember really anybody being in a tux during the formal nights for dinner. My husband and the other male dinner mates we had wore suits and ties and they seemed to fit in just fine. We also some guys just in khaki's and even one guy in jeans. As for the women some were dressed as if going to a very formal dinner and others weren't.

[Irishcruiselover]

Thank you both for your comments, much appreciated.

[beerbarrel65]

Just back from the east med on the Pacifica, there were 2 formal nights on the first i wore a suit and tie and felt overdressed, the second one i just wore trouders and shirt and was still a little overdressed but not too bad.

[UKBayern]

Originally Posted by zijlweg

Do not worry...at the most 5% will wear a tux. And 90% of those will be American. Europeans are not up to dressing formal. Only some Brits will still do it.

This Brit went on exactly the same 12-day cruise on Costa Magica at the end of November and never felt so overdressed in her life. I think there were about 10 ladies in evening wear, 2 of them being my mother and me. There were about 5 guys in a tux, two of which were our significant others. The absolute biggest nightmare was that the rest of the ship looked at us as if we were Martians. There were 3 formal nights, the first two nights I took my gown off directly after dinner, the third night I did not even bother anymore.

The generalisation "Europeans are not up to dressing formal" is not true by the way, it depends on the price paid for the cruise, the age of the cruisers, the cruiseline, etc. This particular Costa cruise was sold dirt-cheap (clientele who do not own a tux), the lack of pre-cruise information was staggering (we did not know how many if any formal nights there would be) and a lot of cruisers were first timers of a certain age (no clue how things work on a cruiseship including dresscode). It might be totally different on your sailing. On previous Princess and RCCL Med cruises, everybody was dressed up, including all Europeans.

[Capricruiser]

Costa formal nights are normally the same on all ships and itineraries: Two formals on the one week cruises; three on the 10-14 day cruises, and four or more on the longer itineraries. A dark suit for the males and a long/short dress for the ladies is the norm. The tux crowd will be no more than 5% and is usually British.

[Irishcruiselover]

Originally Posted by Capricruiser

Costa formal nights are normally the same on all ships and itineraries: Two formals on the one week cruises; three on the 10-14 day cruises, and four or more on the longer itineraries. A dark suit for the males and a long/short dress for the ladies is the norm. The tux crowd will be no more than 5% and is usually British.

Thank you, still trying to decide, most likely space & weight in case in be decider.

[chrispb]

Smart casual is the way to go. Formal is no longer "gowns" and tuxes (unless you're over a certain age and wish to think cruising is still stuck in the forties). The rest of us have moved on, thankfully, and keep our formal wear for real formal functions that we attend.

Despite the outrageous remarks of the previous poster, who probably doesn't have the opportunities to wear her/his formalwear unless on a cruise, it has nothing to do with the price of cruises. Even 6 star cruiselines have changed to smart casual.

Some people just cannot move with the times, sadly and are either still hankering for the "good old days" or like to think that if they dress formally they are better than those who don't.

[UKBayern]

Originally Posted by chrispb

Smart casual is the way to go. Formal is no longer "gowns" and tuxes (unless you're over a certain age and wish to think cruising is still stuck in the forties). The rest of us have moved on, thankfully, and keep our formal wear for real formal functions that we attend.

Despite the outrageous remarks of the previous poster, who probably doesn't have the opportunities to wear her/his formalwear unless on a cruise, it has nothing to do with the price of cruises. Even 6 star cruiselines have changed to smart casual.

Some people just cannot move with the times, sadly and are either still hankering for the "good old days" or like to think that if they dress formally they are better than those who don't.

You are a nice person aren't you?

[GEORGET]

Hope you enjoy the cruise let us know.
Last cruise some of the guests thought formal night meant a clean t shirt and shoes.
very few of the italians showed fashion sense as we thought they were renound for.
When we first cruised with Costa everybody dressed up , not now

Mind you our table of all english speaking at least made the effort of suits and Cocktail dress's but we were the very minority.
one cruise if a man wore a tux they thought he was a waiter or a bouncer.

In the Med they now last minute discount to fill the ships and are aimed at families
so do not expect the same as rccl, cunard p&o etc
would recommend the drink package if you like a drink as it saves money and included coffee and water. g

[GEORGET]

tip need euros
if the casino fruit machines takes your on board card you can load it with the the max play (was 300euro)and then take it as winnings,(slip) then cash in at the cage, this avoids the 3% casino charge. you will only get away with it once unless you are a gambler on the tables.

[Jack McHammocklashing]

Originally Posted by chrispb

Smart casual is the way to go. Formal is no longer "gowns" and tuxes (unless you're over a certain age and wish to think cruising is still stuck in the forties). The rest of us have moved on, thankfully, and keep our formal wear for real formal functions that we attend.

Despite the outrageous remarks of the previous poster, who probably doesn't have the opportunities to wear her/his formalwear unless on a cruise, it has nothing to do with the price of cruises. Even 6 star cruiselines have changed to smart casual.

Some people just cannot move with the times, sadly and are either still hankering for the "good old days" or like to think that if they dress formally they are better than those who don't.

You could always go to the MDR in shorts, gym vest and flip flops
Then we will have reached the bottom
TUX
DARK SUIT
CASUAL SUIT
JEANS and Quality shirt
Shorts and T shirt
Shorts gym vest and flip flops
Loincloth

The quality holiday cruise is now the boating lake in BLACKPOOL

(Or are you the one that returns to work telling collegues of the fantastic cruise, rich seven course dining, people in Tuxes, evening gowns, huge theatre, the splendor to which you played no part)

Jack

[ombrelle]

If Costa has 3 formals for a 10 to 14 days voyage, how many semi formals?

Thank You

[AnonymousCruiser69]

Originally Posted by ombrelle

If Costa has 3 formals for a 10 to 14 days voyage, how many semi formals?

Thank You

no such thing as semi-formal on costa.

[hoytlakes]

just back from pacifica in the western med. had a couple of formal nights inwhich most dressed up. I'd say 90% of the women had on dresses and skirts of various lengths & dress shoes. About 70% of men were dressed in something other than jeans. most men had dark pants w/ dress shirts. abt 25 % were in dark suits and about 2-4% were in tuxes. don't know which nationalities were dressed formal as it would be hard to tell just by looking at them. i wore dresses and my husband a black wool suit w/ white shirt and a 'music print' bow tie that we bought him before the cruise.

[ombrelle]

Originally Posted by AnonymousCruiser69

no such thing as semi-formal on costa.

So, 3 formals and the rest casual? What do the men wear for casual, long pants and shirt, no tie? First time on Costa. With other cruises we usually had formals, semi formals and casual.
Thank You

[AnonymousCruiser69]

Originally Posted by ombrelle

So, 3 formals and the rest casual? What do the men wear for casual, long pants and shirt, no tie? First time on Costa. With other cruises we usually had formals, semi formals and casual.
Thank You

long pants (or trousers) and a shirt without ties are more than acceptable. a few years ago, costa stopped enforcing any sort of dresscode .

while on a Dubai to Savona cruise, I kept seeing people wearing shorts/t-shorts in the dining room in the evening. I spoke to the maître 'd about this and he told me the 'front office' directed him to not enforce the suggested dresscode anymore.

[AmoMondo]

Just back from 7 night cruise out of Dubai. We had 2 formal nights, 3 informal. 1 Arabian and 1 red, White and green (for Italian night). Almost everyone ignored the last 2 recommendations, probably because like me, did not have anything with us that matched it!

[hoytlakes]

As for the formal nights I have already posted what peeps wore. Most were in some sort of nicer dress than normal. Most women in dresses/skirts/dress pants. Most men in at least dark pant and collar polo shirt, or dress shirt. Many men in suits & ties, a few in tuxes. Someone said he saw shorts on a cruise. I did not see anything of the sort on our cruise last wk in the western med. No one wore tee shirts or shorts in the pm except at the pizza place. Most peeps made an effort.