What's the situation with the relaxed dress code for Caribbean?

[Naveron]

We are sailing on the Legend (Caribbean Hideways) in March. My husband is in a tizzy because he wants to pack lighter this time around. We know that there are no formal nights. He is thinking he needs a suit. Would a jacket be okay? What is the general situation on dressing for dinner on the Caribbean cruises this winter?

[Host Dan]

We are sailing on the Legend (Caribbean Hideways) in March. My husband is in a tizzy because he wants to pack lighter this time around. We know that there are no formal nights. He is thinking he needs a suit. Would a jacket be okay? What is the general situation on dressing for dinner on the Caribbean cruises this winter?

Your husband will be fine with a jacket. No need for a suit..

 

Host Dan

[lord of the seas]

We are sailing on the Legend (Caribbean Hideways) in March. My husband is in a tizzy because he wants to pack lighter this time around. We know that there are no formal nights. He is thinking he needs a suit. Would a jacket be okay? What is the general situation on dressing for dinner on the Caribbean cruises this winter?

 

Smart casual and casual will be the two types of requirment

I always wear a jacket in the restaurant when it's casual and with a tie when it's smart casual.

[Martita B.]

While in the Caribbean in Dec. the fellows wore jackets and ties ~~we did enjoy a Captain's reception but very few men wore suits.

I think a navy blazer for gentlemen always looks smart.:D

Have fun!

Martita B.

[LaPaloma]

Smart casual and casual will be the two types of requirment

I always wear a jacket in the restaurant when it's casual and with a tie when it's smart casual.

The Lord has it right--this exactly what I will do starting March 25th! Don

[hugandger]

Just two types of dress code:

 

for gentlemen:

 

casual : slacks with a sweater or shirt

 

elegant casual: slacks with a jacket over a sweater or collard shirt

(no tie)

[lord of the seas]

Just two types of dress code:

 

for gentlemen:

 

casual : slacks with a sweater or shirt

 

elegant casual: slacks with a jacket over a sweater or collard shirt

(no tie)

 

You will see quite a few ties worn on elegant casual nights and a few jackets on the casual evenings.

[LaPaloma]

You will see quite a few ties worn on elegant casual nights and a few jackets on the casual evenings.

 

Thank goodness! The dining room is served in such a gracious manner...it is shameful to see fellows in golf shirts. We dress in such a casual manner in "real life", it is a pleasure to dress in a more refined manner while on our wonderful ships. Lola

[lord of the seas]

Thank goodness! The dining room is served in such a gracious manner...it is shameful to see fellows in golf shirts. We dress in such a casual manner in "real life", it is a pleasure to dress in a more refined manner while on our wonderful ships. Lola

 

Here,here

 

I always think that if the staff can dress properly then so should the guests.

Another thing that I do not get is, when a women has gone to a lot of trouble to look wonderful then her man should make an effort as well.

Sorry,if some of you "Gentlemen" don't like that last bit, but it makes such a difference.

[Martita B.]

I was distressed when friends related to me on a Christmas/New Year's voyage last Dec. some guests ignored all dress codes!:confused:

Went on to describe parents bringing babies into the Club ~~feeding them at the cocktail tables ~then getting up and strolling out leaving the empty baby food jars on the cocktail tables!

Frankly, babies should NOT be in the Club ~~before or after dinner.

I thought guests were well dressed on the Spirit Dec. 16th sailing and upheld the dress codes.

I agree as to those dining in the restaurant should respect their fellow shipmates and the hard working servers in dressing apropos.

Martita B.

[writer100]

I find the posts on this subject interesting because they reveal the social attitudes of the posters, as well as illuminating the suggested shipboard dress codes. I would hope that "refined" has more to do with sensitivity to the arts and a sort of restrained sensibility than a dress code. And surely dressing up--or down--to the levels of the service staff would be, well, odd. In some very fine restaurants in New York and London the staff are formally dressed, and the clientele not. Indeed, in New York, most men--gentlemen or not-- do not wear ties for dinner, whether at Le Bernardin or any other Michelin-starred restaurant. That is, to my eye, neither good nor bad. Merely contemporary. The one SB cruise we were on--Odyssey in December-- did indeed have formal nights, but they were easily avoided by escaping to Restaurant 2 or The Colonnades. Yes, I understand that "escaping" carries a certain valence. I don't begrudege people their option to "dress up". It just seems slightly farcial. I will admit I have seen circumstances where formal clothes really did seem mandatory. One was years ago at the Imperial Hotel in Torquay, where several Colonel Blimps entered in full tux, medals blazing. That was quite a sight. The other was when I was alerted by Peter Ustinov to wear formal clothes for a dinner at his club so that, it appeared, cigar ashes would have a place to rest.To his credit, Ustinov--certainly the most refined and accomplished of men--referred to his formal clothes as his "blimp skin." I would agree that how we dress can affect behavior. The affect can be positive--as in more "refined" --or negative--as in pretentious.

[scm]

Yes, I understand that "escaping" carries a certain valence.

 

Guess I'm just slow, without a very good education. But I wonder what any of this has to do with "a decorative framework to conceal curtain fixtures at the top of a window casing"?

 

I love reading people smarter than me -- helps improve my vocabulary. Just wonderin', that's all.

[LaPaloma]

Guess I'm just slow, without a very good education. But I wonder what any of this has to do with "a decorative framework to conceal curtain fixtures at the top of a window casing"?

 

I love reading people smarter than me -- helps improve my vocabulary. Just wonderin', that's all.

 

I love your sense of humor! Well done....pomposity is not necesarily smart.

[curiousx]

valence (chem): the capacity of an element or radical to combine with another to form molecules

 

valence (bus.): Negative or positive psychological value assigned by a person to another person, event, goal, job, object, outcome, etc., based on its attractiveness to him or her

 

valance (decor): a decorative framework to conceal curtain fixtures at the top of a window casing

 

My family members like dressing up and are sad to see the end of formal nights on the Seabourn Caribbean cruises. Hope this is not a harbinger.

 

For the record, I've only rarely seen or heard of the 2nd usage of valence before though it's intuitively reasonably clear how it is derived from science. That said - on a jargon scale of 1-10, this usage has to rank pretty high!

 

Thanks for the entertainment.

[writer100]

Well, goodness. A nerve has been struck. For the record, the valence usage isn't rare, at least in the lower 48. It would appear that if Seabourn has relaxed their dress codes or eliminated formal evenings, there probably is a good sound business reason. That is: the presence of the formal evening was more of a deterrent than an attraction to a growing market segment. For those of us who were forced into black tie a couple of times a month for mandated business dinners honoring similarly dressed penguins, wearing a tux on a vacation is a serious contradiction in terms.I do, however oddly, agree with Martita B.'s observation. If there is a formal night on a ship, not dressing to that evening's code tends to lessen the effect for those who do.To wit: if I were to attend --perish the thought--I wouldn't be the one in the bermuda shorts.

[hugandger]

Just two types of dress code:

 

for gentlemen:

 

casual : slacks with a sweater or shirt

 

elegant casual: slacks with a jacket over a sweater or collard shirt

(no tie)

 

I always follow the announced dress code, nothing more, nothing less.

 

Is that wrong ?

[curiousx]

For those of us who were forced into black tie a couple of times a month for mandated business dinners honoring similarly dressed penguins, wearing a tux on a vacation is a serious contradiction in terms..

 

You have a good point - being compelled to dress up to honour others (and eat the accompanying rubber chicken and listen to the endless speeches) gets old quickly. For mu family, it's a different story when one puts on the glad rags in order to enjoy looking one's best in the company of one's special friends and partners, and enjoying a Seabourn experience at the same time.

[lord of the seas]

Writer,

Did you enjoy your Odyssey cruise last year.Any good or bad points to share with us?