Formal nights--how formal?

[lowestar]

We are going on our first Princess cruise in January 2006. My mom and I have been on a cruise before (about 15 years ago), but this will be the first cruise for my husband, aunt, grandmother, and our two kids (ages 6 and 3 by then). I was wondering just "how formal" people tend to get for the formal nights.

 

Men--do most men wear a tux on the formal nights, or is a nice new suit okay? My husband needs a new suit anyway, so I thought we could buy one later this summer and take that with us. We'll bring some different shirts/ties to change it up a bit, but if most people wear tuxes, maybe we should go that route.

 

Kids--I just bought two sleeveless dresses for my daughters that are quite fancy. They are longer, satin material, with some pretty detailing. Certainly nothing they would wear everyday around here. Do most kids also wear formal wear on formal evenings? We signed up for early dining, so they would be with us. Thoughts?

 

Women--can anyone give me an idea of the kinds of outfits most women wear on formal nights? My mom, aunt, grandmother, and I have nice dressy outfits, but I am thinking we will need something much more formal. What types of dresses/skirts/shirts, materials, etc. do you wear?

 

With many thanks,

Tara

[AliceJ]

Tara:

 

We were on the CB in April. People did get dressed up for formal nights. The "dressiness" varied quite a bit.

 

Your husband will be just fine in a nice suit. The majority of the men I saw were in nice suits, not so many in tuxes.

 

For your daughters, the dresses sound wonderful. My 5 y.o. daughter wore similar dresses and she looked perfectly appropriate. The children we saw in the dining rooms were more dressed up than they normally would be, but nothing overly formal.

 

For women, I saw cocktail dresses, floor length gowns, nice "church/Sunday/brunch" dresses, elegant pantsuits, skirts and tops.... I would say, if you have nice outfits that you really feel great in, then by all means wear them! While I didn't see anyone in jeans or chinos, there was about every other level of dress.

 

If you haven't thought about the kids' club for your daughters, I'd really recommend that you do. My daughter LOVED the kids' club - it was a good thing the kids' club closed periodically or we never would have seen her!

 

Happy cruising!

 

Alice

[sunprincess]

You will see alot of variation on Formal Night. Some go all out with gowns & tuxedos, while others tend to dress down. The ideas you have sound fine. The tux for men is not required. A nice suit is always good. Different shirt & tie & they are set to go for the second formal night. The dressy outfits you have will be fine. Dress as you would for a wedding.

Have a great cruise:)

[sunshine426]

Just back from a 15 day cruise on the Island Princess. Three formal nights, I was surprized how many men had tuxes on. It looked like well over half, but the population was a little older that average. My husband wore a very nice suit,and felt perfectly dressed, but he did say he would have worn a tuxedo, if he already owned one! I wore one floor length evening dress, and the other nights wore very nice cocktail dresses, and felt perfectly dressed each night. I did see lots of long dresses, and beaded dresses, but this was a long cruise.:cool:

[bdjam]

Sunshine is right – the level of dress on Island Princess was a bit higher than on my recent Princess cruises. I noted a number of couples who were dressed in cocktail dresses for her, jacket and tie for him on the casual nights. So I think it really depends on the cruise. For the most part, using the guidelines on dress found in the Cruise Answer Book will keep you within the safe boundaries.

One word of caution – some people have mentioned that one does not need to dress on the formal nights – that you can still get into the dining room. Again, I think it depends on the ship – I saw people turned away from the dining room on formal night because they were not dressed within the boundaries of the guidelines.

[yancycruiser]

Agree with all comments by previous posters. I've always taken a dark suite, white and blue shirt, and a couple of ties. We've had three weddings in our family over the past five years and she takes those dresses she bought for the occassion. Worked out well for us both.

 

Personally, I feel that those who prefer not dress up or follow the guidelines, should not attend formal nights and opt for the Horizon Court. However, on most of the cruises we have been on there were about 5% who did not dress up and they were allowed in teh dining room on formal nights.

[Times Prince]

The cruise line offers a sevice where one can rent a tuxedo onboard ship (rent in advance). It is not really that expensive and beats buying a suit. I rented onboard for the first cruises, and it worked just fine, and left room in the suitcase. I didn't think I would like the tux thing at first but found the overall atmosphere and elegance of the cruise experience was enhanced by it. When we started cruising there were both formal and semiformal nights, and the suit/sportcoats were worn on semiformal. Now it is either formal or casual, so why not go all the way for two nights?

 

My wife has worn both mid length and full length gowns, and bought a real nice one with sequinned flowers on the bodice.

 

I found I like getting dressed up - it gives me a "James Bond" feeling. When we took our Panama cruise I was arranging the rental late, and couldn't use shipboard rental. My local rental place cost so much it was cheaper to buy a tux - and I've had it for all cruises since. And I am sure it fits.

 

The formal wear for the girls sounds fine - I've seen many with similar sounding outfits.

[sunshine426]

I agree with bdjam about the level of dress on the island princess. My husband wore a sports coat several evenings, in additon to a dark suit on formal night. I dressed up more than I would at home for dinner out.

[LMCAT123]

Your clothes sound just fine, do not go out and spend a fortune on alot of new "formal wear" that you won't use at home. If your husband needs a new suit, fine, otherwise what you described sounds perfectly good. Remember, alot of extra clothes (and related stuff,i.e. shoes, purses, etc.) can fill up up your luggage fast).

 

As everyone stated you will see a variety of dress for formal nights. The majority of people on the cruise we were on last month (Sun) looked nice,but did not go "over the top" so to speak. Most men wore suits and the women a variety of "dressy dresses", pants suits, etc. A few looked like they were revisiting their Prom days but only a few :-) I've found that a nice pair of dressy black pants (sort of silky material) and a few different lightweight dressy tops surfice just fine for formal night and take up very little extra space.

 

We had only a few kids on our cruise but the ones we did see were dressed up for formal nights too -- sort of their "Sunday best".

[Love Cruis'n]

I own a tux, and enjoy wearing it. In addition, I also get a Bond - James Bond – kind of rush. Oh yea, one more thing, I need to drop a few pounds to fit into my tux, so that’s motivation. It’s a win / win / win situation – now if I could just remember that trick on tying the tie….left is long – over and through….. :rolleyes:

[Aquarian]

A long black formal skirt or pants can take you through many cruises. I have several different formal beaded/sequined tops that I alternate with them. My husband wears a dark charcoal pin-striped suit, white shirt and conservative ties. A good time to buy formal wear on sale is right after the holidays.

[captainron]

If you're on active service in either the Canadian or US forces there is nothing wrong with wearing your mess dress for formal evenngs whether you're male or female.

I have been on RCCL and Carnival and have seen mil personnel from all branches of the service proudly wearing their uniform.

 

Ciao for now!!!

[Love Cruis'n]

But if you wear your military dress uniform, be ready for folks like me that are going to want to buy you a drink and say "thank-you." :)

[land lover]

I have even wore a dressy pair of capris(longer length) and brought two fancy tops my husband just goes for the black suit, white shirt, tie on a ten day wears it twice.

When our 3 boys were little they all dressed in suits sooo...cute....love those formal photos...great memories...and just think we live in casual Southern California...I noticed on our cruise to New England last fall....more tuxes but the the crowd beat us by 10-15 years. My take... above 60 crowd and people who have cruised more than 10 times have tuxes others still wear their business suits.:)

[Guest Snorkelbunny]

In my experience it seems to depend on the length of cruise how "dressy" the overall tone of the ship seems to be on formal nights.

 

For the seven day cruise, you will see men in tuxes and women in full length sequined gowns as well as men in simple dark suits and women in the proverbial little black dress or even black slacks with a sparkly top. All were appropriate and fit just wonderfully. There seems to be a good mix. The first formal night of these cruises seemed to be dressier than the second on both of my seven night cruises.

 

Now, on the fourteen night cruise I took, it was an older, more experienced cruise crowd and I have to say that the majority of men were in tuxes and women in full length gowns. If you are taking a two week or longer cruise to say, Asia, South America, etc. you will be sailing with well traveled passengers who have the attire in their closets at home and enjoy breaking it out on the formal nights. I would suggest dressing up! Again, the first formal night was the dressiest of the three.

 

On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, I took a three night coastal earlier this month which had one formal night. The crowd was very young overall and included a high percentage of first time cruisers. I felt completely overdressed in my long sequined dress. Most people were dressed as they would be for church, suits for the men, but not necessarily dark, and the women overwhelmingly wore short simple dresses. It seemed the minute dinner was over, people changed into casual clothes again. It was a learning experience for me!

 

Hope that helps a bit.

[where next?]

Now that I've read this thread, I'm wondering if on our upcoming 10-day Coral Princess Panama Canal sailing my husband and son should rent tuxes? It seems like they might feel out of place if they don't. On our 7-day they both wore suits.

 

On a side note, does anyone know when Formal Nights are on the Coral Princess 10-day Panama sailing? The search function isn't working for me right now!

 

Thank you.

 

Bobbie