Formal Night Dress

[Desert Princess]

Formal Dress Night..Is Casual Elegant good enough for the men (Sportcoat and slacks, no tie)?

[Ravenscroft]

From the Seabourn website :

 

For Evenings:

After 6:00 p.m., suggested attire for all venues on board will be one of the following:

 

• Resort Casual: Slacks and a sweater or shirt for men; sundress, skirt or slacks with a sweater or blouse for women. Jeans are not considered appropriate in The Restaurant.
  
• Elegantly Casual: Slacks with a jacket over a sweater or shirt for men. Dress, skirt or pants with a sweater or blouse for women. Jeans are not considered appropriate in The Restaurant.
  
• Formal Optional: While Elegantly Casual is always appropriate during the evening, a Formal Optional evening will be provided for guests who wish to dress more formally at least once each seven days. Formal Optional attire includes a tuxedo or dark suit with tie for men, cocktail dress or other formal apparel for women. On Formal Optional evenings, we request no jeans in any of the lounges or dining venues.
  

 

 

The itinerary in the preliminary document booklet will inform you of the number of Formal Optional evenings to expect during your voyage. As a rule of thumb, Formal Optional evenings are scheduled as follows:

[Grandma Gilly]

We are going on our first Seabourn cruise in two weeks time. I have read all the info and find this 'formal optional' dress code most disturbing. I am totally confused about what to wear.

We have sailed on other 6* lines and their dress code is far easier to understand.

 

I can't imagine wearing a smart cocktail dress to find other guests in more casual attire.

[frantic36]

We are going on our first Seabourn cruise in two weeks time. I have read all the info and find this 'formal optional' dress code most disturbing. I am totally confused about what to wear.

We have sailed on other 6* lines and their dress code is far easier to understand.

 

I can't imagine wearing a smart cocktail dress to find other guests in more casual attire.

 

Don't worry, a smart cocktail dress will fit in perfectly on formal optional night. Even though this is our first Caribbean cruise I will be taking a nice dress for Formal night. Based on my experience from previous Seabourn cruises I am confident that the majority if not all will want to dress up. If that is not the case well at least I know my husband will appreciate my effort :).

 

To the OP may I suggest your husband take a tie just in case as it doesn't weigh much or take up room. Then he has the option to decide on the night whether he thinks it is suitable or not.

[MrsWaldo]

IME women and men are mostly dressed very nicely, even on Elegant Casual nights.

 

There seems to be a few who can't be bothered to make the effort, but you will not feel out of place if you dress according to the guidelines.

[Patti22]

DH has worn black blazer and slacks both with and without tie. He hates ties but will occasionally acquiesce. No problem either way. I normally wear long black skirt and sparkly top. However, we have been told that this would never do on another cruise line which we have considered. Hence, we sail on Seabourn and Regent and are very comfortable on both.

[Ravenscroft]

Don't worry, a smart cocktail dress will fit in perfectly on formal optional night. Even though this is our first Caribbean cruise I will be taking a nice dress for Formal night. Based on my experience from previous Seabourn cruises I am confident that the majority if not all will want to dress up. If that is not the case well at least I know my husband will appreciate my effort :).

 

To the OP may I suggest your husband take a tie just in case as it doesn't weigh much or take up room. Then he has the option to decide on the night whether he thinks it is suitable or not.

 

I agree with this.

 

The dress code has been done to death on this board. There's even a sticky about it. A quick search or even just a read back through some older thread titles will bring up loads of information and heated discussion about the appropriate dress code.

 

There's really no need to stress about it.

If you don't like to dress up then just follow the dress code as laid out by Seabourn.

If you do like to dress up, then go for it. I wear a smart cocktail dress on Formal Optional nights. My husband wears a dinner jacket (tuxedo).

Follow the rules, and within the rules wear what you feel comfortable in. And enjoy your cruise. :)

[lincslady]

Yes, a lot already on this topic. If you like to go with the flow, and not stand out, I do suggest jacket with tie, and more formal than cotton trousers - definitely not jeans, these are not allowed. Some do without tie, but I personally think they look a bit underdressed for the formal optional.

[conchyjoe]

We are going on our first Seabourn cruise in two weeks time. I have read all the info and find this 'formal optional' dress code most disturbing. I am totally confused about what to wear.

We have sailed on other 6* lines and their dress code is far easier to understand.

 

I see you have previously sailed on Silversea. The dress code on Seabourn is basically identical.

[Pop-I]

Formal Dress Night..Is Casual Elegant good enough for the men (Sportcoat and slacks, no tie)?

 

If you would like to dine in the main dining room (referred to on this board as MDR), a sportcoat will be shunned. You can do it - although you DO need a tie - but if you don't want to dress, go to the Colonnade.

Edited November 11, 2013 by Pop-I

[Patti22]

PoP-I,

I respectfully disagree. There is no "shunning" on Seabourn. You do not have to have a tie (altho I like them, DH hates them on vacation). Also, kind of harsh suggesting that someone who does not wear a tie go the the Colonnade. Our group went to the Colonnade on one of the formal nights because we wanted to, not because we were not dressed appropriately. Also, "optionable" means just that. There are a million posts regarding this issue.

[ab21au]

Certainly don't stress about it (as we did too). And we found it was totally unnecessary, we were fine just following the SB guidelines (coat, slacks and tie - not sure if tie is required but always wore it in the MDR and did not even notice if others were not wearing ties, and DW in her cocktail dress). We were certainly not out of place either way. A chap we knew was given a coat to wear by SB in the MDR, wasn't allowed in without a jacket which is fair enough, it is clearly stated.

[Miss Jet Set]

As we always prefer to eat in the MDR I have often noticed passengers turned

away for not wearing a jacket. With regard to wearing a tie I cannot comment on

that as I never took that much notice. I think it depends who the M'D is some are

more friendly than others.

[Pop-I]

PoP-I,

I respectfully disagree. There is no "shunning" on Seabourn. You do not have to have a tie (altho I like them, DH hates them on vacation). Also, kind of harsh suggesting that someone who does not wear a tie go the the Colonnade. Our group went to the Colonnade on one of the formal nights because we wanted to, not because we were not dressed appropriately. Also, "optionable" means just that. There are a million posts regarding this issue.

 

Perhaps the use of the term "shun" is ambiguous. I found that those w/o ties were relegated to the outer reaches of the MDR, and no, not the windows, but the area adjacent to the main entrance, and the area by the rear of the MDR. Just something we noticed. And guests stared. I could care less, but all that was brought to my attention one evening by dinner companions. And some time ago, when the ship was more formal, tie-less as well as jacket-less men would not have even been allowed in the MDR. And yeah, there are a million, and maybe even a gizillion posts on this, but the original poster says he or she is new, so give 'em a break; they should not have to scroll through countless posts to see if this was a topic posted before. Not everyone is on these boards every day. And, BTW, what exactly does "optionABLE" mean?? Is it something you can option?

[Patti22]

Pop-I,

Please excuse my incorrect spelling of optional. Just a typo. We have never been seated in the far reaches of the MDR when DH is not wearing a tie. Always seated at a window table for two if one is available. The only reason I replied at all was because the OP was new.