How do you dress for formal night(s)?

For the first night my husband usually wears a suit and bow tie, and I will wear a semi formal evening gown. By the second formal night we are a little more relaxed. I wear scrubs most of the time so when I get an occasion to dress up I enjoy it.

I wear dress pants, a dress shirt, and tie. My wife wears a nice dress. All the cool kids are doing it. :-)

Our next cruise is a 4 day with one formal night. I will wear boat shoes, tan pants and a button up collared shirt like Tommy Bahama or Cubavera, untucked as is the style

It varies.

We've done tux/ball gown, or suit/black dress, depending on, well what fits and the season, and if I remember to go to the dry cleaners. :eek:

my kid will dress fancy every night, the more sparkle and glitter the better!

I'll wear tea length dresses...the last wedding I was in gave me a great bridesmaid dress that is perfect for formal night. Some people go all out, but mostly it's church or semi dressy clothes.

My husband wears his tux and I wear a long gown for every formal/elegant night and we have been on 59 cruises (46 on Carnival) so we're not newbies. We stay dressed up the whole night. If the clothes fit properly they should be comfortable.

I usually wear my tux, as it fits and it's the only time I get a chance to wear it. I may also bring a suit because I have a better tie collection than a bow tie collection (~100 vs. 2).

May 9th 2015 cruise on the Breeze

I made the effort to pack a suit, shirt, tie etc

Surprise! There were maybe 30 men wearing suits on the 2 formal nights. Vast majority did not wear jackets and tuxedos are almost extinct.

Leaving on the Pride in 3 weeks. You know what I am packing this time.

May 9th 2015 cruise on the Breeze

 

I made the effort to pack a suit, shirt, tie etc

 

Surprise! There were maybe 30 men wearing suits on the 2 formal nights. Vast majority did not wear jackets and tuxedos are almost extinct.

 

Leaving on the Pride in 3 weeks. You know what I am packing this time.

I'm sure my husband would love that plan. Alas he is married to a horrible woman who requires a suit because we WILL be getting pictures done. I couldn't care less what he wears at any other time.

Maybe these guys prefer elegant night as defined by Sweet Dutch Girl.

 

I assume you're joking?

I'm guessing these guys simply photobombed your portrait on their way from the pool or spa...

Given the topic of this thread, are you actually suggesting they were going to the MDR in this attire?

We always dress up. Never regret it:D. We get nice pictures/memories and a good feeling. Yes, most of the times we feel a little out of place but no, still don't regret it;)

We dress in what I call Carnival Cruise Ship Casual, just nice comfortable clothes...

We have been on over 50 cruises on several lines and we dress formal on Carnival, RCL, HAL

or which ever line we are on. Like a previous poster said there are not many places anymore that you can do that, and yes my hubby wears a tux or dinner jacket:)

For the people who don't care to do that, I feel it's their choice.

I like Carnival because it is a laid back cruise line. Do not think I am Princess material.

For 1st formal night I plan to wear a dressy casual dress...no sequins or bling. DH is wearing dress slacks, dress shirt and tie.

For 2nd formal night a simple dress and DH in button down collared shirt and dress slacks.

The rest of the week, capris and casual top. DH, probably dress jeans and collared polo shirt.

I will not fault anyone for loving to dress up. I will not fault anyone for wearing dress jeans and collared shirt. Swim suits, shorts, t shirts should be banned.

I wear a LBD (little black dress). Maybe not so little! :D

I come out of it immediately after dinner and get back to my vacation shorts!

This is the dress I wore on the Carnival Splendor this past April on Elegant night. DH wore dress pants and a button up collared shirt (no tie or jacket).

I used to have a green dress very similar to that but it came with a little matching jacket

I usually dress up for formal night in an actual formal.

We like the "formal" dinning experience which appears to becoming less popular based on our last cruise in October. Over time I see Carnival along with other lines dropping the formal nights and/or up charging for this type of cruise experience.

On other cruiselines my DH wears a suit. On Carnival on elegant night, he wears dress slacks, long sleeve button down dress shirt and dress shoes. I wear a cocktail dress or black dressy pants with a dressy top. If not flying I might bring one of my heavy long dresses. On casual nights DH wears a golf shirt and khakis. Even on Carnival he won't wear shorts to dinner. I wear capris, long linen pants or casual dresses. We follow the rules, no cut offs, flip flops or baseball caps.

We agree JMAE we too enjoy the Gala evenings on HAL, I wear a Tux and the Misses wear the Bling. It's one of the things we enjoy and stay in the dress for the evening, like a night out on the town.

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We used to dress up more than we do now. The last time we went formal (DH in a Tux and me in a long gown) was for a Holiday Cruise on HAL. Since then we've done mostly summer Caribbean and formal night has become elegant night on Carnival. Now I do an LBD with bling and DH wears a dress shirt and tie. Still nicer than our everyday w ear as I am in business casual most days and DH in "retired casual".

Slacks, dress shirt, and tie. I used to do the suit thing, but got tired of packing it.

I love to dress up. My husband and I are actually looking for a cruiseline where some people are willing to dress up. I plan on wearing an evening gown and my husband will be wearing a tuxedo even if the folks seated next to us are in jeans. I think the trend to dress casually as been carried too far. Does anyone know of a cruiseline where formal still means tuxedos and evening gowns?

:p

We like the "formal" dinning experience which appears to becoming less popular based on our last cruise in October. Over time I see Carnival along with other lines dropping the formal nights and/or up charging for this type of cruise experience.

I agree!! What cruiseline still offers formal nights that are actually formal?!

My DW and I like to dress up from time to time as we don't get to do it very often so I will wear a suit and DW just bought a beautiful retro gown to wear on the first formal night for our upcoming cruise and we will also dress up a bit for our 25th anniversary dinner in the steakhouse the following a night.

On formal nights my wife usually wears a nice dress and I tend to wear dress slacks, button down shirt and depending on how I'm feeling a tie and dress shoes. I have nothing against those who want to dress down but these are the days my wife wants to take pictures and such so I have to dress nicer. On non formal nights it's either jeans and a polo or dressier shorts and a polo. If we are just doing the lido then it's short's (comfy ones) and a t-shirt with either my closed toe sandals or my sneakers.